Grits!

Guys, I just wanted to let you know I've welcomed grits into my life with open arms. I never ate them much growing up and only realized how incredible they were while carb-loading on spring training trips when they were served with cheese at breakfast (oh, spring training was the life! row, eat, sleep, repeat). Now, I know they're not the healthiest thing, but really, they're not so bad. A serving is 1/3 cup and is 130 calories. Totally doable if it's your starch, and it's a pretty substantial serving. 

There's a fancy pants food cart at work sometimes that serves grits for SEVEN DOLLARS. I got them once, and it was incredible. And then I though, oh hell no. I'm from the south! I will make this myself! And save that shit, I don't make mad money. So I ordered a container of quick grits that probably cost $3 and has about 20 servings, and now I make them for dinner or on weekends to go with a range of eggs, cheese, greens, and more. I make them on the stove, it takes about 5 min longer than eggs, and it really ups the ante and fills me up. Plus if I slip just a smidge bit of butter in the water before it cooks, they have a really great flavor. 

Anyway, that's all. This is just a PSA that grits are good and you should probably have more in your life.

paleo salmon salad

My friend, a rower/teammate who is now a workout trainer in Colorado, recently got hooked on the paleo diet. She posted about this salmon salad in her blog (about working out and eating paleo), and while it struck me as a strange combination of ingredients, she was really enthusiastic about it so I figured I'd give it a try. I didn't have blueberries or coconuts and subbed in dried cranberries for cherries, but man! It was delicious! I am impressed and very happy that I tried it. I'll be stocking up on canned salmon now so that this can be a go-to for me as well. Give it a try!

Apologies for the pictures - I snapped a couple on my phone, but the quality was sub-par (and worse than they normally turn out) plus the color scheme here was a bit rough to manage well. Don't let appearances fool you! You want to eat this.

1 can of salmon (wild salmon has a great omega 3 to omega 6 ratio btws)
½ cup blueberries [didn't have on hand]
¼ avocado
¼ cup unsweetened coconut flakes (the BIG kind, not the shavings) [I didn't have this]
2 Tbs golden raisins
2 Tbs dried cherries [I used cranberries instead]
dash o’salt, pepper, and onion powder
hefty drizzle: olive oil and balsamic vinegar

Basically, just mix it all together and enjoy! Also, I bet this would be pretty good if you put it on top of lettuce like a chicken salad or if you weren't paleo, mixed with quinoa or cooled pasta or something. I don't know, but it seems pretty flexible and is really just satisfying.

Nutritional Information (full recipe with my version of ingredients):
427 total calories
28.3 g total fat [but it's all good fat - salmon, avocado, olive oil]
0 g cholesterol
20 g total carbs
5 g fiber
10 g sugar
22.5 g protein

pasta, broccoli, and garlic-red pepper sauce

Yes, I have been horribly MIA, but enough with the excuses. As of this past week, I have a 2 month paid internship doing market research, which I am very excited about. As a result of that and working my other part time jobs and have more friends and therefore fun, I am really busy but also increasingly happier here. Thus I signed my lease to stay in ATX another year! Eep!

Today I got up to go take a stand up paddle board yoga class (mouthful), but it was already full when I got to the gym. So I did a spinning class, rented a stand up paddle board and paddled around the quarry for a while, swam a bit, went grocery shopping for some snacks, made a quick lunch (and by lunch I mean my favorite uncooked meal, pictured below - at least I'm getting my 5 daily colors in!), and then took off to Zilker to play sand volleyball for a few hours. It was a great day, but by 6 pm when I got home, I was pooped and thrilled to shower and relax.

I was going back through all the SK recipes I've missed over the past few months, and decided to give this one a try for dinner. I only had frozen broccoli on hand, but I figured I could make it work enough for my standards. It ended up being good - I'm not huge on spicy, but I think my estimations were perfect for my heat level and still being flavorful - and filling, so I was happy. Then I got all sorts of ambitious and dedicated the next four hours to making tartlets, but more on that separately.

1 pound pasta [I used a single person serving of what looked good to my hungry eyes of penne]
1 pound broccoli rabe, heavy stems removed, remaining stems and leaves cut into 1- to 2-inch sections [I used handfuls of frozen broccoli - and put them in still frozen at the same time as she calls for the rabe]
1/2 cup olive oil [I used about 1/4 cup for one serving]
5 garlic cloves, peeled and minced or pressed [I used 2 cloves]
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more or less to taste [I used about that much of a mix of red pepper flakes, chimichurri mix, and bruschetta mix]
About 1 heaping teaspoon Kosher salt (or more to taste)

To serve: Grated Parmesan or Romano cheese [I used white cheddar because that's all I have!]

Bring a huge pot of salted water to a boil. Add pasta and five minutes before its cooking time is up, add the broccoli rabe. It will seem like too much for the water, but with a stir or two, the rabe should wilt and cook alongside the pasta. Drain rabe and pasta together and pour into serving bowl.

In the same pot or a tiny one, heat the olive oil with the garlic, pepper flakes and Kosher salt over moderate heat, stirring frequently for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the garlic becomes lightly golden. Pour mixture over pasta and toss to evenly coat. Shower with freshly grated cheese and eat at once.