Fig, Pecan and Blue Cheese Salad

You can’t go wrong with figs and blue cheese! For the longest time I stayed as far away as I could from blue cheese, because I didn’t like the smell. I’m not even sure how I came around to it, but I’ve come to like it in small quantities and with the right flavor pairings. Things like honey, balsamic reductions and other sweet things complement blue cheese or gorgonzola quite nicely.

Fig, Pecan & Blue Cheese Salad

Serves 2

4 figs, quartered

1 oz. pecans, toasted

2 oz. blue cheese

4 cups arugula and spinach mix

dressing:

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp best-quality balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp lemon juice

1/2 tbsp honey

salt & pepper

Whisk together olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and honey until emulsified. Add salt and pepper to taste. Drizzle dressing over bowls filled with salad ingredients.

*Variation: Candy or spice the toasted pecans: While warming on the stovetop in a skillet, add either sugar or chili powder to season.

impulse shopping

This is what happens when Holly goes to Wegmans for ‘a few things:’

Hey, at least it’s all healthy, right? Just LOOK at all those colors!

HAD to get:

-bananas and spinach (only one left in the house–yikes!)

-cottage cheese (I have a cut-up pineapple in the fridge just begging to be paired with it)

-avocado (remember all those Julio’s chips Andrew shipped home??)

-strawberries (because I’ve waited all winter long for them)

-red pepper and sugar snap peas (homemade hummus is in the fridge as we speak–or type, rather)

-wheat germ (for a bread recipe)

-frozen blueberries and a lemon (for a muffin recipe and because berries are expensive enough)

-deli ham and light swiss (Andrew’s gotta have lunch tomorrow…)

OK, I’ll admit, I totally got sucked into the Nature’s Market section (like I ever DON’T?) and some SALES caught my eye…

…like this one for Health Valley Organic cereal bars and ‘pop tarts.’ It was $1 off each, and the blueberry was just calling to me. (Blueberry totally has been these days! I already made a plan to make Ellie Krieger’s blueberry muffins this weekend…) I figured Andrew would like the strawberry bars and I could mix some warmed ‘toaster tarts’ into our morning breakfast routine.

And then there was the sale on granola:

It was $1 off, too! In my defense, we’ve been out of granola for awhile now and I said to myself (out loud, of course) that I should get some more soon. I initially saw the ‘vanilla blueberry with flax seeds’ (there is that blueberry again) variety and grabbed it, only to then see the ‘maple walnut with chia and quinoa’ and ‘oat and honey WITH COCONUT’ flavors… There was just no deciding between them. At least they’ll last awhile…

Side note: Some of you are probably wondering why I would BUY this stuff when I can make it all myself, which I actually enjoy doing. A couple reasons:

1. I’m EXHAUSTED, and surprisingly busy. I’ve been catching up on random stuff since finishing up with school, as well as tackling a bunch of things that popped up, like arranging summer travel plans and working out a new gym routine.

2. I don’t really enjoy cooking in this kitchen. It sounds bad, but it’s true. Until I have ‘my’ kitchen, it just isn’t the same.

3. I’m starting The Hunger Games soon (maybe this weekend!), which will consume me for however long it takes to read them all. Andrew, I apologize in advance–I’ll make sure we’re stocked up on the unhealthy food you insist on eating when I don’t cook. Or maybe not.

4. The bright colors and yellow SALE tags caught my eye. (Hey, I’m just being honest.)

5. And lastly, I am (unfortunately) about to become just as busy as before. My summer online class starts in a little more than a week and I already took a look at the online info… It looks INTENSE, to say the least. Fantastic.

So yeah, despite ending school, I won’t be found in the kitchen too much just yet…

OK, back to groceries….

The Justin’s was on sale ($6.99 instead of $8.99… still pricey, but oh, so good!) and I’ve been eyeing this Cinnamon Raisin Swirl variety EVERY TIME I GO TO WEGMANS. EVERY TIME. I pulled the trigger today–why not? Kath eats almond butter on her carrots sometimes, and ever since I saw one of those photos I’ve been intrigued to try it. I thought the Justin’s would be the perfect accompaniment for some carrot sticks. (Oh, have I told you all I’m eating raw carrots now? I went my whole life HATING them, and then all of a sudden, they’re fine. What’s with that?)

And this guy was hiding behind all the store-bought goodness the whole time…

Beautiful, wonderful-smelling homemade bread. What better with which to pair the new cinnamon raisin peanut butter??

National Spinach Day

Today is National Spinach Day! Who knew??? And of course, today is one of the RARE days I don’t have a giant tub of it sitting in my fridge. (Last time I was at Wegmans they were out of the all-baby spinach, so I settled for an arugula, radicchio and spinach blend, and I’m almost all out!)

Otherwise, I’d be eating green ALL DAY.

Check out WHY spinach is such a powerhouse food!

I use it almost every day in salads, on sandwiches or just IN things, like soups or smoothies.

In the interest of time (I have things I need to do today!), here are some links to some basic spinach recipes and some of my favorites!

Basic Sauteed Spinach

My favorite Spinach and Strawberry Salad

Berry Spinach Smoothie (it’s not green!)

Baked Spinach

Creamed Spinach–Andrew’s favorite! Serve with steak 🙂

Gotta go…must get the dog on a walk before I head off to school! Bring on the green 🙂 (At least when I started this post I was wearing a green t-shirt…)