You don't make friends with salad. Or do you?

Any time I serve salad my husband runs around singing "you don't make friends with salad, you don't make friends with salad". To be completely honest it drives me nuts. I know it is one of those things that you love to hate, if I made a salad without that song... well it just wouldn't be a salad.

Speaking of my hubby, I thought I would pass along his favourite salad (asides Caesar which he has been eating all the time lately like some kind of weird pregnancy craving).

It could be eaten as a side, it can be eaten as a meal, you can throw anything in it that is left in the fridge, my kind of salad.

Here is what I threw in;

3/4 cup quinoa, cooked in 1 1/2 c chicken broth

1 can (19 oz) chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a couple of handfuls of cherry tomatoes, cut in 2 
1 English cucumber chopped  
3 green onions, thinly sliced 
1/2 cup chopped walnuts 
1/4 cup chopped fresh mint 
1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese 

Dressing: 
3 tbsp lemon juice 
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil 
2 tsp ground cumin 
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

I literately threw all the salad components in a bowl, and mixed up the dressing ingredients in a Tupperware and poured that on top, Served it next to some steak one night, and home made pizza the next!

Enjoy!

I love my veggies.

Seeing as I have been under the weather for a few days, my weekly meal plan has kinda gone out the window. Pretty much everything can just be shuffled down a couple of days to accommodate for an extra day of left overs and Pizza my hubby brought home. All that is except the veggies. You know you do your groceries with the thought that you will be super healthy, have at least 2 different veggies at every meal, you will even cut them up as a snack. In reality you snack on the box of cookies your mother-in-law brought over for the kids on the weekend... Not me, you .. hmmm.

So yesterday I raided the fridge for the veggies that wouldn't make it. The only casualties were my eggplants. Oh well, Eggplant Parmesan next week.

I found some red peppers, zucchinis, and asparagus. Everything else could make it another day.

Then I raid the cheese drawer, a bit of Mozzerella (I wish I had goat cheese), and some parmesan.

Since my bread machine died of over use, Pizza isn't an option.

Next step was to raid the freezer, I'm looking for Phyllo pastry... I'm out, but I find one square of puff pastry left. Success!

So I start by slicing my peppers, with an onion. Toss with some olive oil salt & pepper and a bit of thyme.
Pop it in the over for about 10 minutes at 400.


I cut up my asparagus into 1" pieces and quarter and slice my zucchinis. I wish I had mushrooms. I add this to the peppers and onions, and pop it bake in the oven, with a bit more salt, pepper, and thyme for another 15 minutes.

Once this is done the veggies should be pretty soft but not mushy (I hate mushy vegetables).

Then I roll out my puff pastry into a nice big rectangle, I do this on a lightly floured cutting board. There is a reason for this.

Then comes the cheese, topped with the roasted veg.

Fold it up like a little package.

Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

Place the line tray upside down on the prepared package, then flip over the cutting board so the veggie package is seam side down and you didn't break it in two. Good trick uh?

Brush with an egg white wash to make it nice and golden brown.

Bake at 400 for about 20 minutes.

Enjoy!