salad

Miso-Lime Salad Dressing

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My courtship with salad dressing has been long and slow.

For the longest time I liked my greens dry.  Then little sprinkles of salt and pepper made their way to my bowl.  Next came the vinegar phase, which was eventually joined by a little olive oil.  Ultimately, my palate shifted and my salads are now dressed to the nines.

In fact, these days one of my favorite parts of making salad meals is whisking up the dressing.

Today’s key ingredient was lime to enhance the southwestern theme of black beans and avocado.

 

Miso-Lime Salad Dressing
Prep time: 2 mins
Total time: 2 mins
Serves: 2-4
Ingredients
  • zest from 2 limes
  • juice from two limes
  • 2 tablespoons light miso (soy or chickpea)
  • 1 tablespoon mango jelly or honey
  • 1 tablespoon nutritional yeast
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • pinch of red pepper flakes
Instructions
  1. whisk everything except the olive oil together in a small bowl or jar. keep whisking as you drizzle in oil.

 

Miso, jelly, and nutritional yeast are staples in my dressings these days, they all add a nice thickness and aid in keeping the mixture emulsified.

Miso also adds probiotics and the nutritional yeast provides a great dose of B vitamins and protein.

I still haven’t braved ranch or ceasar but I know better than to say I never will!

What’s your salad dressing staple?

Ego Checked

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Well that was totally embarrassing.

I should have told him I am an executive secretary not a group exercise instructor/trainer!

Yeah, my training session seriously kicked my ass.

I am pretty sure I shot myself in the foot by going to Kettlebell Conditioning this morning and drinking too much coffee (two cups, late morning).  Whatever it was, I was messed up.  No, seriously, I started getting blurred vision and everything sounded muffled.  I got nauseous and had to excuse myself (luckily nothing happened with that if you know what I mean).

I have never experienced that before.  We’re talking true muscle failure.  After 35 or so minutes I was toast.  Burnt toast.

He was apologetic and I was embarrassed but I think we both handled it pretty well.   It was a hell of an ego check and awesome to see that I rarely actually push myself to my edge.  Not that I need to see that edge quite so closely again anytime soon.

I was all fueled up from an awesome lunch so I know that wasn’t the problem!

Beets have never been my thing.   I love the greens (they’re salty!) but the root I could take or leave…until lately.  The local beets seem to be getter sweeter with storage and I’ve been hooked on them for the last few weeks.  They are so good that Tate, a true beet detester, has been enjoying them in moderation.

My favorite way to eat a beet is roasted.

Last night I roasted a big batch for dinner and leftovers, along with a turnip.

And today they topped a salad for lunch.

One of my other favorites lately has been raw kale in salads.  It adds a nice heartiness that makes a green salad seem more wintery.

 

Served with pineapple bbq tempeh…mmmmm

And lots of Snap Happy Ginger Snaps!

I am still working on the final name for these guys

Sunday night my brother-in-law brought over some Whole Foods ginger snaps and asked could I make some “ginger snaps but make them extra snappy?”.  After clarifying that for him the snap was more about flavor than texture I started to get excited.  I love ginger.  The snappier the better. 🙂

The Dry

  • 2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/4-1/3 cup brown sugar
  • 1 packet Sweetleaf stevia
  • 2 tsp baking soda
  • salt
  • ample amounts of ground ginger, fresh ground nutmeg, and fresh ground cinnamon
  • itsy pinch of cayenne pepper
  • 2 tsp cocoa

The Wet

  • 1/2 cup molasses
  • 1 Tbs honey
  • 1/4 cup plum sauce (or apple sauce, I just had plum in the fridge)
  • grated knob of fresh, peeled ginger
  • 1 egg
  1. mix wet into dry
  2. make small balls
  3. place onto parchment covered cookie sheet
  4. flatten with fingers
  5. bake at 375 for 12-15 minutes

Makes 2 dozen plus some cookie dough to snack on.

The cookies will still be soft when the come out of the oven but will become crunchy snappy as they cool.  At first I thought, yuck, these are too dry but then I remembered that ginger snaps are supposed to be on the dryer side and that they are best served with tea/coffee or peanut butter.  Or both.

I got so caught up in cookie making that I sort of forgot to tell my brother-in-law to come in and collect his cookies when he picked up his car last night. 😉

Next time!  I am scheming up how to make these even healthier by replacing the brown sugar with mashed banana.  Tate is skeptical but we all know he’ll eat them anyway!

Make It Snappy Ginger Snaps?  Snap Happy Ginger Snaps?  Extra Ginger Snaps?

Right now I am calling them Snack Happy Ginger Snaps 🙂