strawberries are delicious!

So i apologize to my readers i am MAJORLY on a salad kick, i believe its mostly because a year ago i was told i had to limit/regulate my Vitamin K intake and i was terrified of salads, asparagus, broccoli and those sorts of things mostly green stuff. But now i am more of in a whatever mode and i feel healthier when i eat those sort of things, so i am. This salad no lie is the most delicious salad i have ever eaten in my life, it is sweet, salty, savory, nutty, and awesome:) As you may know i live in Lower east Michigan, and there is a foot of snow on the ground and more keeps falling, and rather then soup i turn to salad.

Strawberry, Kalamata & more!
*note i did not measure i just tossed on the amounts, i have a small-medium sized hand so maybe 1/2 a cup for handfuls.

1 plate full of lettuce(per person or use a bowl for a big group and triple the amounts)- for my lettuce i used a trio i can't remember the type but dole sells it in a box.
1 handful of dried cranberries
1 handful of pine nuts
4-6 pitted kalamata olives
2-5 pitted cherries ( i used bing)
2-3 sliced strawberries
1 pinch of sprouts
2-4 grape tomatoes
1-2 tbsp of strawberry balsamic dressing, or regular balsamic. (i included a photo of my favorite dressing.)
*note- the dressing has very little calories, no fat, low sodium, low carbs, it is amazing and the best balsamic dressing i have EVER had.

On another note, i went and saw 'bride wars' with Kate Hudson & Anne Hathaway, it was surprisingly good, not great mind you, but good quirky & funny. The wierd thing was the theater was full of chicks(no surprise), but behind me was a group of 5 guys just hanging out and they were not making fun of the movie, they seemed to be enjoying it. :D It was fun though and i recommend seeing it if you can.

That's all hopefully next post won't be a salad :D

Pineapple, Avocado, Black bean, Pine nut, Summer in the winter salad.

Wow life gets crazy and before you know it... Its January. Many exciting things are happening for me in the coming months... In April i graduate with my bachelors of psychology (yay!) i NEVER thought i would actually finish when i started, so go me! Now as i am nearing the end of my impossible task, i am thinking of all the things i can do. I am planning in about a year and a half to go to graduate school somewhere, so that alone is a huge accomplishment for me, let alone my family who not a single one went to graduate school, and most did not get their bachelors. Letsee in May is my bridal shower, June 19th is my 23rd birthday, June 22nd is my fiancee's 25th birthday, and June 27th i am getting married to my sweetie of 4 years ( anniversary a few days before the wedding:)) After that who knows what life holds, but i am definately excited to experience it:) Moving on..... I actually have a recipe finally! Its VERY simple, and can be made vegan or vegetarian. It is the salad above, oh and it is VERY customizeable.
My version is Vegetarian, but i am going to post in parenthesis next to it a suggestion for customizing. Now also note that this is being made in January, by a VERY broke college student who has not gone grocery shopping in a long time and picked up and avocado on a whim.

PineAvoBBPNSumWin- Great for the winter,and canned goods

1 stalk or whatever of romaine Lettuce/ any lettuce
1 handful of pinenuts= about 1/4 cup for my tiny hands
1 handful of dried cranberries= about 1/4 cup
1 morningstar farms black bean burger= substitute- (black beans/ vegan black bean burger)
2 slices of pineapple from a can= substitute- (fresh pineapple)
1/2 of an avocado
a drisle of your favorite dressing mine is a strawberry balsamic vinigarette that is fat free and low calorie. (i can look in my fridge if you really want, otherwise there are recipes all over the web for it)

Again you can add and subtract, i find that the fruity notes, compliment the savory pine nuts, and the creaminess of the avocado- delicious! :)