~~ "She has so many aliases, you'd think she was a spy!" ~~

Wednesday, June 27, 2012

Wrap't


I just got home from a trip to Atlanta, with one sister and my mom and I visiting my other sister (more on that later), and I’m leaving tomorrow for two Marillion concerts in Hollywood (they haven’t toured the US in 15 years, and I think we got to see them only once when we lived in Wales), so I don’t have time for a proper journal entry.

But!

I’ve lost about 10 lbs and about 4% body fat in the last couple of months, and long story short, several people have asked me about salads and wraps. I love me some salad, boy howdy. Real Salad, not some namby-pamby wilted iceberg lettuce excuse for a salad. Salad with lots of interesting textures and explosions of taste and a tempting variety of colors. Crunchy veggies, a smattering of cheese, healthy fat in the form of avocado, filling protein.

(The word salad now officially is looking weird to me.)

So here you have them.

Salad #1
Good for a small dinner salad or a big entrée salad, the latter depending on how much protein you need.
  • mixed greens of choice
  • spinach
  • fresh herbs if you’ve got them (I love basil)
  • broccoli slaw
  • tomatoes – I love little grape tomatoes, and I cut them in half so it’s easier to stab ‘em with my fork
  • yellow pepper (or if you like green or red or orange, go for it)
  • Persian (Trader Joe’s has them) or English cucumber (why do regular cucumbers have no taste?)
  • thinly sliced red onion
  • half an avocado
  • garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
  • bleu cheese (I like TJ’s crumbled Salem Bleu)
  • balsamic vinaigrette (see below) 

Salad #2
Good for a big entrée salad because it has more protein. I have this for lunch a lot.
  • same veggies as above
  • delete bleu cheese
  • add feta cheese
  • add Kalamata/Greek olives if you so desire
  • add single-serving packet of tuna
  • delete vinaigrette
  • add a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil
  • add red wine vinegar to taste

Balsamic Vinaigrette à la Dayle
  • 1 part extra-virgin olive oil to 2 parts balsamic vinegar – I usually do ½ cup oil and 1 cup vinegar, because that fits nicely in the bottle I use. Do what works best for you.
  • some sort of mixed seasoning of your choice. I like Trader Joe’s Italian seasoning mix because it has no added salt and is tasty.
  • dried mustard
  • finely chopped garlic if you want (I don’t because it’s hard to clean out of the bottle)
  • pour oil and vinegar into a measuring cup
  • sprinkle seasoning until it covers the surface of the liquid
  • sprinkle mustard to taste
  • whisk like a mad whisking person
  • decant into a nice bottle for serving

Wrap #1, aka Greek Wrap
  • Trader Joe’s organic whole wheat olive oil wrap
  • hummus (I love Trader Joe’s Mediterranean)
  • spinach
  • fresh basil if you’ve got it
  • thinly sliced red onion
  • sliced grape tomatoes
  • thinly sliced Persian cucumbers
  • Kalamata/Greek olives, roughly chopped
  • crumbled feta
  • sprinkle of red wine vinegar if you remember (I usually forget, dammit)
  • schmear wrap with two tbsp hummus
  • add veggies and feta
  • I like to add the spinach last and pile on as much as I can
  • wrap the wrap, baybee
  • eat up 

Wrap #2, aka Sandwich in a Wrap
  • Trader Joe’s organic whole wheat olive oil wrap
  • stoneground mustard
  • good thin-sliced deli turkey that isn’t full of preservatives and additives and crap
  • veggies of your choice (spinach unless you can’t keep it refrigerated, cucumbers, tomatoes, onion, etc.)
  • half an avocado