Archive | 10:59 pm

Taco salad

10 Jan

Dinner #1 (to be repeated tonight) this week is taco salad.

Taco salad isn’t sexy or fancy or ground-breaking, but it is delicious and healthful, when prepared lovingly. And if you have cooked beans on hand, it qualifies as a quick and tasty meal suggestion!

Here’s our variation on Taco Salad this week:

  • 1 bag of organic greens (the crunchier, the better, but we used baby romaine this time), squeaky clean and dry
  • 3 cups cooked pinto beans, warmed and tossed with spices (cumin and chili powder) – optional
  • 1 large or 2 small avocados, sliced
  • 1 jar prepared salsa (anything low in sugar, sodium and salt — I’m in love with Trader Joe’s garlic chipotle salsa)
  • 1/2 a bunch green onions, washed and sliced
  • Baked tortilla chips*

Just layer everything in order (or your preference) in a large bowl. Toss and enjoy! Serves 4.

Basic but delicious. In the interest of full disclosure, I’ll note that X topped his salad with low-fat sour cream, but mine remained dairy-free. I made the pinto beans from scratch — actually, Mr. X did! And the kitchen didn’t catch on fire! I’m so proud. I also baked the tortilla chips myself using an incredibly simple method. You just preheat the oven to about 375, cut tortillas (I use whole wheat from Trader Joe’s) into 1/8ths, lightly toss with olive oil and sprinkle with salt (and optional cumin and/or chili powder), and bake for a little under 10 minutes. I like to flip mine after a few minutes, but I think it’s unnecessary. I’m just paranoid of burning the chips, having done so on several occasions in the past.

It was lurve — healthy, spicy, beany love. Mr. X revealed to me this weekend that he loves salads, just not basic lettuce-tomato-dressing ones, so expect more slightly jazzed-up versions in the coming weeks.

On a slightly related subject, I’m aching to try making pizza next week, so I was hoping some of you might have homemade dough recipes to share. I prefer it to contain some whole wheat, and it cannot require a food processor or mixer, as I’m totally technology-less in the kitchen still. I’ll keep Googling, but a tried-and-true recipe from a reader would be great!

Going with the flow

10 Jan

The cooking plan I posted about yesterday hasn’t 100% gone without a hitch. Things like this honestly tend to bother me. I’m a planner and a perfectionist, so it annoys me when what I anticipate isn’t a reality. Another problem I tend to have is over-scheduling — expecting too much from myself — which only leads to failure, and, in turn, feeds a cycle of disappointment in myself. I’ve recently started trying to set realistic goals and expectations of myself and to try to cut myself some slack. So here’s how the meal-prep schedule has gone in reality:

Sunday: day — make quinoa soup in the slow cooker; night — soak pinto beans (for taco salad)
Monday: day — X makes pinto beans on the stove; night — soak black beans soak pinto beans because the first batch didn’t make enough
Tuesday: day — make black beans in the slow cooker and soak chickpeas cook pinto beans on the stove and forget to soak black beans and chickpeas so send X a frantic text to soak them before he leaves for the set; night — cook chickpeas and black beans on the stove
Wednesday: day — make chili (containing chickpeas and black beans) in the slow cooker; night — cook zucchini and make cilantro spread (for wraps)

Though I didn’t follow my own instructions to a T, laying out a plan did help me greatly in getting things together, so that’s a plus. I still intend to keep writing out the basic plan to keep myself on track each week.

On Sunday, I also had a goal of making a weekly cleaning schedule. I gave it some thought, but I never committed anything to paper. I still intend to complete the plan; however, it’s not something I need to do right now, so I’m going with the flow and trying to cut myself some slack.

I did make some good progress on my other goals, however. I:

  • Did yoga again — that’s twice in a week!
  • Made a (diabetic-friendly) meal plan and cooked a big pot of soup for my lunches and dinner Monday night. I should be able to eat homemade stuff every day this work week, though we may grab dinner out on Friday night anyway.
  • Scrubbed the stove and started thinking about a cleaning schedule.
  • Started taking steps to let go of a few things that tend to bring me down.

Pretty good progress so far! In the interest of staying on track, I’m going to tackle another thing I’ve been putting off this week:

9. Clear my name at the library. Time to square up. I want to start reading more again, and I can’t until I come clean.

I’ll be back later to share an easy, delicious taco salad “recipe.” I hope everyone’s having a great start to the week!

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