"Heisenberg" salad dressing

Don't let the image of this simpleton fool you... The dressing on it, will make you addicted to salads.
Now, I do realize that is quite a statement to make, but I'm just THAT confident. 

Make this and you will thank me!

(For those of you who are wondering who Heisenberg is and why does he have anything to do with my salad, it's a TV series I've just started watching, and there is top notch crystal meth involved... I'm not promoting drugs, I'm just saying the salad dressing is addictive like meth... not that I would know what that is like LOL!!! But you get the point! *exhale*)

Very simple:

• 1 part soy sauce
• 2 parts balsamic vinegar
• 4 parts olive oil
• a bunch of mint leaves, washed and chopped thinly (a good 10-15 leaves for every 1/4 cup of dressing)
• french shallots, minced (one small one for every 1/4 cup of dressing)

Mix everything together until well blended and let sit for 15 minutes or so.

Assemble you salad mix and make sure you add fresh Italian parsley (I made mine simple: lettuce, chopped tomatoes and parsley)

Toss salad with a few spoons of dressing (mix it well before) Let sit for another 15 minutes or so. Now, see??? It's frigging delicious!!!!!

P.S: I ate that whole bowl for dinner. I still want more.

Simple salad

It's going to be a short and sweet post today. Right to the point. What you see is what you get.
It's healthy. It's yummy. It's quick to make. It requires no cooking. And did I mention that it's yummy?

It's a salad packed with good-for you things.

• 1 can of beans of your choice (I used a mix) rinsed under cold water.
• 1 ear of corn, cooked, shaved
• 2 stalks of celery, cubed
• 10-15 cherry tomatoes, washed and halved
• a handful of sliced olives, black or green
• a handful of pickled pearl onions, halved
• a bunch of parsley (curly) washed and chopped
• a few splashes of olive oil
• 1 lemon, zest and juiced
• a couple pinches of sea salt 

Mix everything together and let sit for about 30 minutes. Ta-da!

Serve with some grilled chicken on top, or with a sandwich if you like. I was content eating it as is. Simply happy food :)

Spinach, berries & smoked salmon salad with strawberry balsamic reduction

We just got back from Miami and a cruise in the Caribbean and now we are back to the freezing weather of Montreal. So usually, I would have opened this post with something along the line of "reality sucks!", or "it's like ripping the bandage off", but with all that is going on in Haiti, it just sounds... well... bratty and inappropriate. I don't think I need to say more on the horrible situation, as I'm sure everyone are well informed. I do sincerely hope that everyone there will get all the help they need, and that everyone over here continue to support all the volunteers who are working hard to make that happen (And here is one of the many ways to show it)

As for the cruise, I think we definitely brought winter along with us. The trip was great nonetheless. We had a few sunny, warm bikini days, but the rest was more like I-will-be-in-denial-and-wear-short-shorts-but-I-am-bringing-my-sweater-along kind of weather. It was our first cruise, and although it was an awesome experience, I don't think we would do it again anytime soon. Maybe when we are more like... 60-70 years old? (Not because of any negativity, but because we prefer to do a little more than just being pampered all day)

They had a great entertainment program for us every night. The crew was awesome: exceedingly polite, caring and friendly. And boy, did we eat...I'm not kidding when I say that we would go to a sit down restaurant, have the whole 3 course meal and then get up and go to the buffet for a second round... Needless to say, we were in the gym everyday running all that food off keeping ourselves in good health. It was so good.

So after a whole week of being spoiled, I haven't felt like cooking again just yet. I'm eating out, pulling out things from the freezer and and making meals that require no effort. And I successfully achieved my goal tonight.

It's a straight forward what-you-see-is-what-you-get salad: avocado, baby spinach, berries and smoke salmon with a strawberry balsamic reduction. Ok, so the reduction is the most "work", but I made this in advance, and keep it in a squeeze bottle in the fridge. Initially, I made them separately, and then mixed only part of both so I have 3 different sauces on hand.

Balsamic reduction  

(makes about 1 cup)

• 1 bottle of balsamic vinegar 500 ml
  
• A few cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
  
• Dried herbs: rosemary, parsley, thyme, etc

Put everything in a medium sauce pan, bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let simmer for 40-60 minutes, depending on how thick you like it to be. (The result will reduce significantly to about 1/3 of what it was in the beginning, and it is so worth it) Strain if you'd like and bottle once cooled.

Strawberry sauce:

(makes about  1 cup)

• 15 big strawberries, chopped (I froze some back in the summer, it works very well)
• 1 Tbsp water
• About 1 Tbsp sugar (more or less depending on how sweet the strawberries are)
  
• 1 Tbsp jam, optional (I used boysenberry because that's what I had)

Put everything in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a gentle boil and whiz everything up with a hand-held blender (or use a normal blender and then transfer back to the saucepan afterward) Mix well, then strain if you prefer the sauce to be seedless. Cool completely.

I mixed equal parts of both for this salad, but you can adjust it to your taste, to be more balsamic-y or berry-ish.


***You can use the strawberry sauce for ice cream or plain yogurt!

Enjoy the healthy salad, know how lucky we are to be alive and well. Send your thoughts to those in need today (contribution too, if you have!!!) We should all spread the love!!!

Tuna qui rit

The Laughing Cow Wedges was the only "cheese" at one point in Vietnam when I was a kid. I used to either just eat them right out of the wrapper one after another, or spread in "banh mi" for breakfast.

After moving to Canada, most probably due to the overload of varieties of other cheeses, I forgot about The Wedges. Then I eventually started dismissing the idea of "La Vache Qui Rit" being a "real" cheese, and always ignored that "spreadable cheese" section.

Fifteen years went by without a Wedge in my life, until recently "La Vache Qui Rit Light" commercials started to pop up on TV and they suddenly got me craving it. From that day on, I haven't stopped eating them. I actually had to start buying the big boxes because I inhale them so frigging fast.

I really prefer the light version. Simply spread onto toasts alone, or accompanied by a drizzle of honey, peanut butter or jam, and I am satisfied. But why stop there? They are so low in fat, I can replace them in other things....

There are loads of recipes on their website. But here is my interpretation:

Tuna Qui Rit

• 1 can of tuna
• 3 wedges of Laughing Cow Light
• 1 boiled egg, chopped
  
• about 10 black oloves, pitted and sliced
• 2 hearts of artichokes, chopped
• 2 hearts of palm, chopped

for garnish

• some roasted red pepper, chopped
• toasted pecan halves

Mix tuna and cheese together well until smooth with a fork. Mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve on toasts or crackers, garnish with roasted pepper & pecan halves. Add some freshly ground black pepper if desired.

An anything prosciutto salad

I am in for a lazy day. It's the long weekend with crappy weather, so going anywhere is not an option unless it's very important. I'm thinking of whipping up some ice cream, but I need to have my fix of vegging out first before I start doing anything.

So in order to achieve maximum vegging time, one needs to use minimum time for making lunch. Since my main course seemed to be a crusty loaf of baguette, I needed to have something to go with it.

Salad it is! An anything-I-find-in-the-fridge salad with prosciutto.

I love how prosciutto makes a salad taste better. Like bacon, but without the cooking and the visual pool of fat that collects underneath. Prosciutto is the ultimate time-saver for my day of vegging.

So what did I find in the fridge to accompany the prosciutto...

• Salad mix
• Avocado
• Ataulfo mango
• Edamame
• Pear

One drizzle of balsamic vinegar, two grinds of black pepper. I am going back to my 4th season of Six Feet Under

Stir fried pork & vermicelli

You know when you go to a Vietnamese restaurant, anywhere in North America, there will be a "Grilled chicken/pork/beef served with vermicelli/rice and salad and fish sauce" on the menu? Well this is the stir-fry version, for when you just have to have it NOW & got no patience for marinating meat.

Ok, this is not a recipe. Ready?

• Meat: chicken/pork/beef/shrimp/tofu, whatever you have on hand. Grilled or stir fried, with a bit of oil, sliced onions & garlic, and a few drops of pure fish sauce right before taking it off the heat
• Salad: iceberg lettuce/spring mix/romaine lettuce, bean sprouts, mints/Thai basil/coriander
• Vermicelli, cooked and drained according to package
• Sauce: prepared fish sauce
• Chopped peanuts (optional)
• Vietnamese "do chua" (pickled shredded carrots & daikon, optional)
  
• Chopsticks (oh c'mon! You can't eat this with a fork!!! It's just not the same!)

Make sure your bowl is big, so when you mix everything together, nothing flies.

Hmmm... I looooove it.... And of course, I ate too much...
***sigh***