Lunch, Dinner & Plants

For lunch I decided to go the extra mile by making some really yummy salads for Q & I. The meal was inspired from a recipe in Cook This Not That (Kitchen Survival Guide). The meal called for avocados and I have to say that I am quite dissapointed by a pin I found many months ago about "freezing" avocados. Well unless I am doing something wrong, this simply does not work. I wrapped each half of avocado in saran wrap then put in ziploc bags and as soon as the fruits start to defrost they turn brown and are complete mush. Oh well, sometimes these things just don't work. I am pretty bummed about it though. So I omitted the avocado from the recipe.. again I didn't measure anything for the salad just eyeballed it as I went along.

What I put in it:
• 1 boneless, skinless chicken breast (I cooked mine in a cast iron skillet on medium high, season with S&P, garlic powder and olive oil). Cook on both sides until you get that nice char and the breast is cooked through. Let rest on cutting board for 5 mins then slice thin at an angle.
• 2 or 3 handfuls of arugula
• Craisins
• plain goat cheese crumbled into salad
• 1/4 red onion thinly sliced
• handful of walnuts, roughly chopped (don't buy the chopped nuts, just chop them yourself & save a buck)
• Honey Mustard Dressing (recipe follows)

Toss all the ingredients together in a salad bowl and serve with honey mustard dressing on top. This will make 2 salads. I made an extra chicken breast so I can have the salad for lunch another day this week.

Honey Mustard Vinaigrette Dressing
1/2 T honey • 1 T Dijon Mustard • 2 T red wine vinegar • 1/4 c canola oil • S&P
Pour all of these ingredients in a small mason jar, put the lid on and shake until all ingredients are combined well. This should last in the fridge up to a week. The longer it sits the better it tastes!

Salad with chicken, cranberries, goat cheese & walnuts

Now onto tonight's dinner... I picked out the Steak Pizzaiola & Pasta recipe from the Everyday with Rachael Ray magazine.

Steak Pizzaiola & Pasta

I used regular block mozzarella and it was still quite delicious! For the pasta I added garlic, red pepper flakes and extra arugula to the linguine at the end of the cooking process. We had NY Strip steaks in the freezer so I used those and trimmed the fat before cooking. I also topped the linguine with freshly grated parmesan right before serving.

I finally got to start planting my mini garden this year... I have missed my plants all winter! I've been wanting to plant a bay leaf plant since last year and picked one up at Whole Foods 2 weeks ago... it is supposed to be like a little tree from all the research I've done so we will see how big she ends up getting. I also picked up more of the usual suspects that I use so frequently in my cooking. I have more to plant but this is all I got to so far...

Bay Leaf, Rosemary, Parsley, Chives, Sage, Dill & Thyme

 Ahhh succelents are such a beauty! This is my 3rd planter of these beauties and I just can't get enough... hope to have some in every room of our house one day!

Succulents

Enjoy!