Salad Days

This is what I wore to go out to lunch with a friend yesterday. Talbots and Ann Klein. My friend wore a black and white top, with black capris. We matched! The company was great, but my lunch was a little disappointing. My BLT on sourdough toast was not toasted to be even slightly brown, and I swear it was just plain white bread. But I didn't want to bring down our lunch by complaining. As for my attire, I tried belting and tucking to give definition to my waist, but neither worked. In fact, calling attention to my waist made me look even frumpier. One issue was also that I got bogged down trying to set up a payment on-line, then realized I needed to be ready to go in a half hour -- so there was minimal planning and little to no time to execute!

Yesterday was a salad and chili day. The cheese is FlashFood Queso. I used a little FF guacamole on the chili too. Early in the week, I got three trays of meat at Save-a-Lot. I took slices of stir fry beef and cut them into small chunks to use for this dish. There's also fresh corn. Salad dressing was made with a fresh lemon. This is the type of meal I am trying to eat most nights.  My fella has lost almost 25 pounds this year, and I am trying to make it a healthy journey. I've dropped a few pounds too. Mostly because I can reliably swim now that he is retired. We both had chili for lunch today.

I ran out of iced tea concentrate, so today I had to make more. We are also down to our last slice of sourdough bread, so it was a dough day as well. I have been using bread flour, which costs more -- but it's still cheaper (and healthier) than store bought. Tommy picked up a half loaf at Wegmans a while back, which was $3.50.  A bag of bread flour is $4.99, and I can make at least three loaves. This batch was enough for one loaf and a pizza. It's important that I shape and size the loaf so it will fit in the toaster.

Speaking of the toaster... I was noticing that the percolator was covered in water spots and fingerprints. Even though it was clean, that was just annoying. Also, there were too many crumbs in the toaster. Tommy is supposed to be the toaster guy, but he thinks once a week is enough. So, I emptied it (it needed it) and gave it a quick wipe-down. After looking at this picture, I realized a few more prints needed to be wiped off. I address things a few corners of a room at a time. 

I also had to spend some time "out back." Our back porch/mudroom/grooming studio was just gross. While this might not look like it's been cleaned, it really has been reorganized. The floor was definitely gross. Tommy is going to clean the woodwork and windows tomorrow. We are having a party next week and people will be going in and out of the porch, so it can't be disgusting. Mudrooms look so orderly on TV, in magazines, and on Instagram. But if they are truly going to serve their purpose, they can't possibly stay pristine. At least not in my world!

I did also manage to hang some laundry to dry. This is my newer of the two lines and after this load, I have had to shorten it. Even on a cloudy day, it was still hot enough for it to dry in an afternoon.

My dough yielded this crusty loaf of bread, and thin-crust cheesy pizza. The topping is just cheese (FlashFood, the other half from the pie a few nights ago) and onion, with homemade sauce.

I made another romaine salad tonight. Bagged salad is allegedly a waste of money, but when I buy whole heads, I discard a lot too. Sometimes that goes into stock, but often it ends up as compost. So I am not so sure the pre-washed bagged stuff it that foolish. Tonight's salad had a few unconventional but extra healthy ingredients. For fiber, I chopped one heart of palm and also added in about a dozen Lupini beans. For meat, I cut up chunks of Perdue chicken strips. They are the ones that come in a bag already cooked.  They were FlashFood and in the freezer for a couple of months. It is topped with grated Asiago cheese, dressed with fresh lemon vinaigrette and a squirt of Caesar dressing. This was the perfect summer al fresco dinner.

What unconventional ingredients are you adding to salads? I like new ideas!