a breath of fresh air

It’s been awhile! I merged this blog with my other one, then didn’t food blog, then stopped blogging altogether thanks to a hectic semester, then decided to start food blogging all over again! Anyway, I’m in L.A. right now visiting my sister and decided to share some delicious eats from today: fish tacos from the boardwalk on Venice Beach. Enjoy!

winter has begun...

I woke up to this icy winter wonderland yesterday, and this morning was greeted with snow piled on top of all of this ice.  Crazy!  Apparently we're making some news here.  I think this was my favorite quote of the day:

"This is pathetic," said Bob Cott of Portland, Maine, who lost power for the first time in 10 years. "I'm already sick of winter and we have nine days to go before it officially begins."

Lol.  I went out to clean my car off late in the day, but I was afraid to venture out any earlier.

Again, sorry for the cell phone quality pictures...

 

Anyway, even though it was cold and awful out, I wanted a lighter lunch/brunch - I woke up at noon.  I've been waiting for the right time to make this absolutely amazing looking tuna salad, but sadly I am out of beans, onions, AND fresh herbs.  So instead I created my own recipe - not bad, I have to say!

__________________________________________________________________________________

Quick, Easy Tuna Salad (without mayo!)

Ingredients:

1 can chunk light tuna packed in water

1/4 cup diced tomatoes (I used from a can)

1 tsp olive oil (I used garlic-infused olive oil)

1 tsp honey mustard

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

1/8 tsp cumin

1/4 tsp Mexican chili powder

garlic powder to taste

salt and pepper to taste

 

Drain the tuna, then combine all ingredients and mix.  That's it!  This is especially good on top of a toasted English muffin, or on whole wheat bread in a sandwich.

my meals today, since i didn't get anything else done!

Although I did shrink wrap my window this afternoon...

Breakfast

 

Lunch (Trader Joe's Brown Rice California Sushi, toasted English muffin with cheese, clementine/grapefruit/mango fruit salad with fig balsamic vinegar)

 

Dinner (Turkey soup/stew with wild rice, recipe coming soon!)

Salmon and stomachaches

It has been much too long since my last post, but in my defense I've had some sort of weird stomach bug since Memorial Day and am finally seeing a doctor tomorrow about it. As you can imagine, this has sort of turned me off of food. The first few days, I resisted believing anything was wrong with me (not to mention I only felt sick when I first woke up/was just going to bed). And so I went out to breakfast with my mom (Cinnamon Bun French Toast with Strawberries, mmmm)....made omlettes for myself (Feta Cheese and Spinach)....had some Stewart's Ice Cream....this could only have made it worse, in retrospect. Although I have to say that after going out to P.F. Chang's last Wednesday, I realized how poor that decision was (but the food was so good! My stomach just...wasn't.).

So the past 5 days or so have been nothing but bread, rice, applesauce, Goldfish crackers, and more rice. Booo. I'm missing real food and not having stomach pains, so I thought I'd make this post to cheer myself up.

The weekend of Memorial Day, one of my friends had a graduation party at his parent's house in New Jersey. Let me tell you, they know how to grill. But after 3 days of eating nothing but grilled meat (delicious! But it was more meat than I usually eat in a month), Chris and I needed something lighter. Much, much lighter. Chris made me a salad he's raved about in the past, and YES it is worthy of all of that raving! I find salads in general refreshing, but the addition of strawberries and a balsamic vinaigrette to this one was outstanding, and went perfectly with the summer rainstorm outside.

I also made grilled salmon to go with the salad, using a variation of Jaden from Steamy Kitchen's Ginger Soy Whiskey marinade.  I made some changes, adding in some honey and (a very small amount of) maple syrup for added sweetness, and completely forgetting the ginger because I couldn't find it.  It turned out so well!  I grilled the salmon on our swanky George Foreman grill (haha), and the flavors were pretty delicious.

---------------------------------------------------

Strawberry Pecan Salad with Balsamic Dressing

Several cups mixed greens
1/2 quart strawberries; washed, hulled, and sliced
1/2 cup chopped pecans
sprinkle of Parmesan cheese

3 tbsp good quality balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup good quality, light olive oil
1/4 tsp minced garlic
Lemon juice
pinch fresh ground pepper
pinch kosher salt

Toss together mixed greens, strawberries, and pecans.  To prepare dressing, combine balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a jar and shake.  Add garlic, lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and shake some more to combine.  Add more salt or pepper to taste.  Top with Parmesan cheese.


Soy Whiskey Honey Grilled Salmon

2-3 salmon fillets
1/2 tsp minced garlic
3 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp honey
1-2 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp whiskey
freshly ground black pepper

Combine all of the ingredients (except the salmon) in a bowl, and whisk together.  Brush over fish a few minutes before grilling.  Once grill is hot, place fish on it and brush more of the marinade on.  Leave the fish on the grill for about 3-4 minutes on each side, until just opaque.