MamaManagement

photo from pinchofyum.com It's been a while since I shared a recipe and this one was so good, I knew that it would be my next post. Sadly, I did not realize this until after we'd devoured the entire batch...so I have no pics! I'll likely make it again next week, so I'll come back and add some pics then. So, this quinoa salad is pretty simple; it's nice and light, making it perfect for spring/summer; it's healthy, so you can feel good about eating; and, of course, it's delicious! Let's get to the recipe! Spring Pea and Quinoa Salad with Honey-Lemon Vinaigrette * For the salad: 1 cup uncooked quinoa 3 cups frozen, organic peas 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese 6 slices turkey-bacon, cooked and chopped 1/2 cup raw almonds, pulsed in a food processor until crushed (or super finely chopped) For the dressing: 1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice 1/3 cup olive oil 2-3 tbsp raw honey (or to taste) 2-3 tbsp basil paste (or to taste) or 1/2 cup f...

Look! A bird! A plane! No, it's more cucumbers! Yes, I know. Just go with it. So here's a lovely, light little summer side dish for you! (And another great way to use those cucs!) Sesame-Ginger Cucumber Salad recipe adapted from www.reciperunner.com 1 large cucumber, thick sliced and quartered 1 1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar 1/2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice 1 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp honey 1/2 tsp fresh, grated ginger 1/8 tsp garlic powder salt and pepper to taste 1/2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds Cut your cucumber in half lengthwise. Put the flat sides down on your cutting board and slice each half in half again, lengthwise. Then slice the four spears into half inch slices so that you end up with nice chunks of cucumber. Put the cucumber in a medium size bowl and set aside. In a small bowl, whisk together all remaining ingredients except sesame seeds. Pour the dressing over the cucumbers and toss to coat. Sprinkle sesame seeds over the t...

Spring had finally sprung! Hurrah! Time to move more and eat lighter. Which means...it's SALAD TIME! Soooooo..... Here's a yummy salad recipe. It's my new Southwestern Chopped Salad with Cilantro-Yogurt Dressing. And it would be fantastic enjoyed as a nice, light dinner on a warm evening while relaxing on your back patio. It's pretty simple, maybe 15-20 minutes to prep. Feel free to tweak your salad ingredients with what you like-- though I really recommend the creaminess (and healthfulness) of the avocado, if you like them. You could certainly add chopped tomato, just get rid of the watery insides so it doesn't get soupy (or use grape tomatoes). Also, tweak the dressing as you like it. The way I've written the recipe, you'll end up with something slightly sweet (because of the honey) and with a little southwestern flair (because of the cumin and cilantro). If you like more bite to your dressing, decrease the honey and up the cumin and maybe throw in som...

Here's a great little summer dish. A perfect side for whatever you've thrown on the grill. A great dish to pass for that neighborhood BBQ. A lovely salad to just make up and leave in the fridge for easy lunches on a hot day. It's Ramen Noodle Salad. Now, I'm not sure this dish actually qualifies as clean eating, despite the word "salad" in it's name…what with the ramen noodles and the seasoning packet. But it is so seriously good that I could have eaten the ENTIRE giant bowl of it. Seriously. When I made it last week I could not stop eating it. It might actually be a little addictive. So, don't say I didn't warn you... Crunchy Ramen Noodle Salad 2 pkg uncooked ramen noodles 2.5 oz sliced almonds (or just a big handful) 3/4 c. sunflower seeds 1/2 c. finely chopped onion (whatever kind you have) 1 bag broccoli slaw 2 ramen noodle seasoning packets 3/4 c. oil (use what you like; I used canola oil) 1/2 c. white vinegar 1/3 c. sugar ...

Salad dressing is a funny thing. I find most restaurant salad dressings to be yummy, but most bottled salad dressings to be yuck. (Especially ranch…I don't know what they do to bottled ranch dressing, but it's terrible and they need to stop.) Consequently, I typically don't enjoy an at-home salad nearly as much as I do a restaurant salad (which I have been known to swoon over). That was, until I started making my own salad dressing. For some reason, I was sort of afraid to make my own dressing for a long time. I remember staying with my cousins in Chicago many years ago when I was doing an internship in the city, and my cousin, Nancy, would always make her own dressing for our salads. I would watch in amazement as she, without measuring anything, seemingly randomly put various ingredients into a bowl and whisked them up, and moments later I would have a deliciously dressed salad in front of me. But it all seemed a bit wizard-behind-the-curtain to my 21 year old self. I...

Okay, so I know it's not Summer yet...hell, it's just barely beginning to look like Spring around here...but this is such a tasty little salad that I had to share so you can enjoy it all Spring and Summer long. Here's the thing with salads, for me: I love a great salad when I'm out at a restaurant, but most of the salads I make at home are just "fine." I think I've finally figured out why. Store-bought salad dressing generally sucks. And every salad should have some sort of toasted or candied nut on it. I think that might be it. Here's something else I just learned: making incredibly yummy homemade salad dressing is ridiculously easy! I don't think I'm stretching the truth when I say I do not plan to buy bottled salad dressing ever again. I have had three different homemade dressings in the last month and all were both easy and DELICIOUS. So this little ditty I'm sharing with you today is a fabulous mix of flavors...strawberries + su...

I've been out of the blogging loop for a bit again. I don't know what happens, exactly. One week I'm plugging away, and the next week things just fall apart on me. And fall apart they have. I'm not certain what prompted my most recent breakdown (like an old car on the side of the road), but something happened after a Father's Day spent in happy servitude and, well, Monday, the wheels came off the bus. I think it'd been building for a few weeks. Not enough "me time" (read: not ANY me time, really), not enough sleep, too much going on, no two mornings a week of preschool for Portia...maybe it was my baby turning one that pushed me over the edge, I just don't know. Anyway, I am working on putting the pieces of my sanity back together now (read: babysitter, yoga and wine...not all at once, though) and thought I'd take a few minutes to share some recipes we've enjoyed in the last couple of weeks. Summer salads! It is HOT here this week, so who...