Powered By Blogger

Pages

Tuesday, April 8, 2014

Not Just a Sandwich....

 
 
Today, I did something radically different for lunch! I found a bag of meat-free "chicken" strips, and since I'm contantly fascinated by how vegans and vegetarians manage to eat healthy food without skimping on flavor, I decided to do it myself! Voila - this is a Vietnamese Bahn Mi sandwich, made with meat-free chicken strips.




I simply sauteed the strips in low-sodium soy sauce with a little raw sugar (to simulate teriyaki sauce), and grated some carrot into a little rice vinegar, for a quick pickled carrot. Then, simply layered lettuce, cilantro, the fake chicken strips, green onion, cucumber, the drained carrot, and a little jalapeno and hot sauce.

The verdict? Amazing. The "chicken" strips had virtually the same taste and texture as real chicken, and the sandwich tasted fresh, healthy and, well....zingy! I really did not notice that I was eating a healthy sandwich....just a delicious one!

Eat well, my friends and stay tuned for gourmet sweets, and other wonderful treats!

Love and kindness to all,

Pixie

 


Thursday, April 3, 2014

Of Life, and Rubberband wars

 
 
I don't have any cool food photos to post. Heck, I only have one, reasonably nice picture to show you today. Here you are, my plum trees are blooming.

 
Yes, I am actually quite happy about that. Although, you would not know it to talk to me, right now. I recently found out that my job is ending. You know how losing a job is like a sort of death? You kind of mourn the loss of new friends, things like, oh, I don't know....a paycheck? Well, I think I'm in that phase.
 
You know what I miss even more? Cameraderie. Yup, good old-fashioned FUN AT WORK. You think it's not possible, dontcha? Well, let me bring you to a time in my life when I worked at a magical place. A TV station in Northern California  ~ click here to see where I worked. Not that they were giving away free candy or something....it was (as it always is) the people I worked with. A dedicated team of professionals, who worked hard, but had fun with each other all day, as well. As I sit back and remember it, I cannot help but smile, even on my darkest days.
 
It begins innocently enough...I'm at my desk, staring into my computer (undoubtedly focusing on some issue which will either bring about world peace, or at least departmental peace), and I see a rubber band plop down near my keyboard. Oh my......it's ON! Now, don't go getting all preachy on me, we did not shoot each other in the face, and the only satisfying THWUNK! one got to hear, was when one's rubber band hit the side of a cubicle, or if you were really lucky, it hit the persons hanging paper calendar with a loud SWACK! The key to successful workplace rubberband wars, is....detecting the enemy. It was considered bad form to shoot your rubber band into the cubicle of someone who was NOT the instigator of the latest skirmish...and also brought about a new battle. The real trick here, is....listening. This is because invariably, whomever shot the first volley into your cubicle would be unable to suppress, at first....a mild giggle. And since, you probably STILL don't know who that is, or cannot hear them...you wait.....because that giggle became an overwhelming, gut busting, serious laughing fest. Then, it (sadly) was all over for them...because now...you knew.
 
I personally waited an hour or so, to give the offending party a false sense of security....but then....THWAK!! I got 'em, and I got them good!
 
 
Eat well, my friends.....and may all your workplace endeavors be productive....AND fun.
 
Love and kindness to all,
 
 
Pixie


Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Salad Days...

 
 
Let us just say, that returning to the workforce has been...um, rather detrimental to my waistline. Yeah, that's the polite way to say either; A: I'm packing on the pounds faster than humanly possible, or B; I bring enough food to work to feed a small village. Ahem. With that in mind, I busted out my cute new take-to-work salad kit. Only $3.97 (at Wally World, if you get my drift)!
 
 
 
Is it not cute? it came with two salad bowls, two different-color lids, two dressing cups, and even it's own fork!
 

 
I'm dying from the cuteness! Anyhoo, since I'm all about being good today, I started with a base of nice, crunchy romaine...
 

 
 
Then, put sunflower seeds in one of the dressing cups for some crunch, and dried blueberries in the other dressing cup, for a little sweetness. Oh no ~ those cups are simply NOT large enough for the amount of dressing this Pixie requires...
 

 
 
I layered in some beautiful vegetables ~ from left to right...

 
Cherry tomatoes, scallions, cucumber, shredded carrot, bleu cheese, hearts of palm, and some green olives. The UBER close-up? Why certainly.....
 

 
Rest assured, I will not feel deprived when I munch on down with this tasty lunch today! Oh, and making sure Dear Husband eats his veggies, too...was a cinch...

 
I poured in his favorite raspberry vinaigrette, salt and pepper, and sealed it up for him to snack on. Now, the moral of this story is that, although it DID take me a good fifteen minutes of my morning to put this together, let's look at it this way.....I was already in the kitchen, placing supper in the slow cooker, and just exactly what do you think you'd pay at a nice restaurant for these salads? That's right, probably about ten to fifteen bucks. I think not! That's money I could use for.....hmmmm....more pleasurable pursuits...garden plants, garden seeds, garden soil...oh, well, you get the idea.
 
 
Eat well, my friends. Eat healthy, and save your dollars, too! Love and kindness to all,
 
Pixie