Strange But Good: Berry Corny Salad

June 21, 2013 By Laura

I don’t particularly like corn.

I really am a terrible Southerner.

On a cob it’s too messy, off the cob it gets all mushy when cooked. When Kat brought corn over to add to our dinner Monday night I realized something – I just don’t like it cooked. She cut the kernels off the cob and topped our salads with it… uncooked. Duh.

Raw corn has a pure, crunchy sweetness to it. That fantastic flavor was lost for me in all the cooked renditions I’d tried before! How strange to me! But oh man, it was good.

Inspired by the sweet, I decided to create a spring salad using corn and my latest berry-obsession: blueberries. The two treats were a natural fit! I also added cucumbers for a refreshing crunch.

Spinach was my base, but arugula would also be good here. Shallot was my last add. The mild onion provided a slight edge to the sweeter flavors without overpowering.

To dress the salad, I wanted to keep it light but thought a creamy dressing would be a nice contrast to my crunchy veggies. I used Greek yogurt as the base for a lemon and rosemary-laced creation.

It was berry good.

Berry Corny Salad

Spinach
Raw corn kernels
Blueberries
Cucumber
Shallot
2 T Greek yogurt
1 T lemon juice
~1 tsp fresh rosemary, finely chopped
1/4 tsp cumin
Pinch of garlic powder
Black pepper and red pepper flakes, to taste

Mix together veggies and berries in a salad bowl.

In a small bowl, stir together yogurt, lemon, rosemary, and spices.

Dress salad and enjoy!

How have you enjoyed making co-workers, friends, or family stare with strange but good creations this week?

The link up rules can be found here or by clicking on “Strange But Good” in the menu bar above. In short, I want to see what concoctions have earned you weird looks from co-workers, family and friends!

Post your Strange But Good creations, grab the logo below for your blog, and link up here.

Remember to use #strangebutgood in any Tweets and Instagrams of your creations. 🙂

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I cannot get enough raw food lately! It’s such a relief after winter to begin eating fresh, local veggies again.

Have you ever eaten raw corn?

What are your favorite salad toppings?

Post-Surgery Surprises + WIAW

June 19, 2013 By Laura

I’m baaaack!

You missed me, right?!

Just over a week after surgery, I’m feeling more “normal” (in my own, #strangebutgood way) and the swelling is starting to go down. They say some people freak out at first, but – thanks to many of you and some good friends – I had a good idea of what to expect post-surgery.

That’s not to say there weren’t some surprises…

5 Post-Surgery Surprises

1. All modesty will go out the window. You will not care that you are naked in the shower at your mom’s house and she is (gently) scrubbing the surgeon’s pen marks off of your chest.

Proof that mamma doesn’t mind – she gifted me with a little boobie prize. 🙂

2. Using a knife is impossible. I can cut most* things now, but at first I couldn’t apply enough pressure to cut a pear.

*I still cannot cut the kabocha squash taunting me on the counter

3. Surgery and/or anesthesia does a number on your digestive system. My muscles were so tight it took an effort to pee. And let’s not even talk about the issues with going #2.

4. Not being able to stretch your arms is torture, particularly after being propped up on a couch for days.

5. The boobs will not be a normal shape. I knew this and didn’t really freak out (thanks in part to the pain meds). They have to settle. No matter who warns you of this, it’s still bizarre the first time you see them.

This snack-themed WIAW is dedicated to post-surgery eats. Another observation to add would be my appetite. I have NEVER experienced a loss of interest in food. When I’m happy, I eat. When I’m depressed, I eat. When I’m bored, I eat. When I have surgery… I don’t care to eat. Instead, I snacked.

Read on for my post-surgery eats, and then check out Jenn’s link up for everyone else’s snack-y ideas.

Morning Snacks:

This was eaten just because I had to take my medicine. Bribe me with pain pills the day after surgery and I’ll find something to eat! I mixed almond milk with half a scoop of vanilla protein powder and cinnamon, added multi-grain Cheerios, and topped with sliced peach.

Greek yogurt did taste good to me. I finished off a container of Fage mixed with cinnamon and vanilla liquid stevia. Topped with delicious spring blueberries and cereal crumbles.

When you are stir crazy and just can’t get excited for breakfast, a good alternative is to walk to your local coffee shop (relax Mom, it was only 2 blocks) for an Americano and some ~~light-hearted~~ Wall Street Journal reading.

Later in the Day Snacks:

Greens are good for you. I tried to get my fill of the fresh stuff, and add protein where I could!

This salad was baby kale topped with no-salt deli turkey and nutritional yeast. Side of heirloom tomato and basil, shredded butternut squash salad (thank you, Whole Paycheck), and blackberries.

More salad with kale, turkey, butternut, and tomato. This time I added avocado and pineapple (good for inflammation!).

I also sprinkled lemon juice, pepper, red pepper flakes, and cumin on top for flavor.

That thing about not wanting food? I take that back. I always want #yolkporn.

On my first day home I grabbed a Tempeh Mole Muffin from the freezer and topped it with a delicious local egg. Eaten with a side if cucumber slices.

The nice people The Good Bean at sent me some roasted chickpeas to try out. I sampled them all… most were a bit salty (I prefer to make my own roasted chickpeas), but I really liked the cinnamon flavor! They also sent a few of their fruit and no-nut bars, of which I loved the chocolate (surprise, surprise).

Actual Meals:

I was really proud of myself on Sunday night – I cooked dinner for Mom and me all by myself! I started rattling off my meal idea to Mom and her reaction was “Have you ever made that before?” I said no… but doesn’t it sound GOOD? #strangebutgood

What resulted was a sort of fried rice. Except I used spaghetti squash instead of the rice, and topped the whole thing with sea bass (that wasn’t exactly cooked by me… it was leftovers). I started by sautéing some pre-cut veggies – red pepper, leeks, asparagus, and zucchini. Then I added the spaghetti squash, and then the eggs. Mix it together, plate, and top with sea bass! Easy. 🙂

The other “real” meal I ate was on my first night home. Kat (who blogs here every other Thursday), came over and made me a delicious meal! She made perfect shrimp and served it over a fresh salad of mache lettuce, avocado, raw corn, and cherry tomatoes.

It was all great, but The real star was her baked goat cheese balls (balls!). She simply formed a ball of soft goat cheese, rolled it in a mix of hazelnut flour and curry spice, and baked it. I don’t know if she’ll post her exact recipe next week (Kat???), but I’m going to have her write it out for me at least!

We also enjoyed it with a shared bottle of rosè. My first wine in over a week. Sweet nectar of the gods.

A Treat:

Mom surprised me with fro-yo! Chocolate and strawberry topped with coconut shreds… we added the blueberries and cacao nibs at home. Holla at ~~being cheap~~ saving money!

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I seriously considered posting a pic that shows how swollen and high the twins were… everything was covered… but that mayyyy be too far even for me. More appropriate pics will come when things calm down. 😉

Have you ever lost interest in food?

Do you ever bring your fro-yo home to add toppings yourself? I thought this was a brilliant move by my mom!

Hotel Food + WIAW

June 12, 2013 By Laura

This community blows me away.

That tickles my ta-tas.

All joking aside, I am so, so appreciative of everyone who stopped by and left supportive comments about yesterday’s announcement. I was fully expecting to get slammed by at least a few people, but I didn’t get the first negative comment! It is a personal choice and everyone seemed to acknowledge it.

My mom was surprised I posted about it, but I’m not going to act like I magically grew boobs overnight (wouldn’t it be cool if there was a boob fairy?) and randomly decided to take a break from working out. Keeping it real, y’all.

On top of all that, no one asked awkward questions! I guess you guys are more polite than I am. 😀

What I did love were comment from those of you who’ve had it done. I am really nervous about the recovery and you made me feel a LOT better.

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This day of WIAW is actually a day and a half-ish. I was traveling for work, and due to storms on the East coast I ended up spending 8.5 hours in the Atlanta airport. Preparation saved me.

Check out my travel eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see what everyone else is enjoying!

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Airport Snack 1:

I knew I’d need to eat one meal in the airport, so I’d come prepared with a crab salad. This was just crab, red bell pepper, raw zucchini, nutritional yeast, cumin, cayenne, turmeric, and black pepper.

The best part is the utensil I found at a fast food place to eat it with: a spork!!!

Airport Dinner:

Having to eat this meal in the airport was a surprise. Delta delayed my flight over and over before they finally cancelled it. In total, I spent 8.5 hours in the Atlanta airport. I (finally) made it out, but on another airline.

I always travel with emergency tuna packets and random spices in my bag. The little Ms. Dash was obtained from a cafeteria on a previous work trip. The salad was purchased from Quizno’s in the airport.

Hotel Surprise:

That night when I (finally) arrived in the hotel I had a surprise waiting for me:

Hotel Zasa‘s turn-down service includes a rice krispy treat!!! It was delish, but I managed to stop at half and eat an apple taken from their gym.

Pro Tip: Hotel gyms almost always have a fruit bowl. Perfect place to grab a free snack.

Pre-Workout:

Normally I eat before liftingin the morning, but I’d gotten in and had my snack so late I wasn’t starving. I DID have my morning cocktail (apple cider vinegar, water, Glutamine, and Fitmixer Aminos). It turns out that you can get through security with a small container of apple cider vinegar.

Totally patted myself on the back for this one.

Despite the late night I was motivated to go after seeing it the night before. There were chandeliers in the workout room!!! I’m also motivated by the fast that today is my last workout before surgery. I’m trying to enjoy it while I can!

Side note: The women in the background was with my client. We hadn’t met in person before, so I didn’t realize it until the meeting started a few hours later.

Breakfast:

Our meeting began early in the morning, so breakfast was supplied in part by the hotel. I got berries, eggs with some onions and red pepper, and a strip of bacon. The eggs weren’t good (hotel eggs never are), so I mainly ate bacon and fruit. And my own little #strangebutgood creation: chocolate protein powder mixed with coffee. Mocha protein pudding!

Mid-Morning Snack:

We had a working snack time. The hotel brough in mixed nuts and fruit. These nut mixes are salty and have those totally unhealthy little crackers in them. I enjoyed every bite.

I stole the mint garnish for the pic. #sorryimnotsorry

Lunch:

More hotel meeting food. I took the meat out of some dried out tortillas and ate it with the pico and guac. Only ate a few bits of the dry rice. Have I mentioned I dislike meeting-food?

Afternoon Snacks:

I would normally have eaten the tuna here, but Friday’s delay threw me off. I did have this mini Recharge bar leftover from Blend schwag bags. It was pretty good!

There were also the obligatory pretzels on the (delayed) fight while I worked away. I got over the Biscoff addiction, but can never say no to pretzels.

Dinner:

I was desperation hungry by the time I finally got home. I did have some veggies on hand, so I thawed a veggie burger and used collard greens to make a “taco.” The stuff on top was parsnip rice mixed with diced cucumber, basil, nutritional yeast, cayenne, cumin, turmeric, and pepper.

Dessert:

Since I’m having surgery on Thursday, I can’t eat after midnight Wednesday. And my surgery isn’t until 1p!!! Obviously, I am already worried about being hungry. Despite a late dinner, I had a double size Carrot Cake Protein Batter… after eating a lot of unpictured Muesli Fusion (also from Blend) straight out the bag. Bam.

It topped with with cacao nibs and peanut flour fluff (I do random peanut flour mixes – this one was with almond milk, flax, cinnamon, and chocolate stevia).

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While I’m recovering I have a few guest posts lined up… I know people sometimes ~~ignore~~ skim those, but as I got through them I’m really hoping you will take a sec to read. They are awesome! I even have a guest #strangebutgood for Friday. 🙂

Have you ever used a spork?

Honesty. Always the best policy? I sometimes wish I had a 5 second delay on my mouth…

International Blogger Fro-Yo + WIAW

June 5, 2013 By Laura

Blogger meet ups are always fun.

Yes, always. It’s a rule.

Meet ups with bloggers from the other side of the world ROCK.

Last night I had the honor of eating dinner with Hannah of Wayfaring Chocolate. She is in town from Australia (via Canada). I remember the day I added her to my Reader (RIP). I’d read a review of a chocolate bar she’d written and fell in love with the way she turned a chocolate description into poetry. If you haven’t ever read her blog, I don’t recommend doing so while hungry.

Me and Hannah

Hannah was staying with Alayna (who also has quite the way with words… and Japanese food!) and her husband. I’m so grateful to her for coordinating this meet up. And impressed with how amazing she looks while carrying a small human inside her. Only 6 weeks to go!!!

Read on for our dinner adventure…

Hannah, Alanya, and Me

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My WIAW meals should be re-title “meals of desperation.” There has been so much going to that I still haven’t done a big trip to the market since Blend! This means I was eating the last of everything in my fridge. By snack time I was 100% out of veggies and had convinced myself to ditch kickboxing for a grocery run.

Check out my (mostly) clean eats below, and then click here to head over to Jenn @ Peas and Crayons to get to see what delicious spring foods everyone else is enjoying!

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