Wellness Lunch : Poached Salmon

My company, like many others out there, have an on site cafeteria. Which can be great, but can also be a funds sucker.

It is cheaper (of course) to bring your lunch from home.

Today however, I did not feel like eating one of my many cans of soups for lunch. So I took the 8 minute walk to the campus cafeteria, and after taking a look at everything, decided I should settle on the Poached Salmon Salad. I am not sure what makes it poached? Maybe the way it was harvested... Because it was in a fry pan before he put it on my salad.

It is a pretty interesting mix of food. There is some of that fancy curly lettuce, kalamata olives, raw green beans, raw green and red peppers and preciously fried potatoes, drizzled with a vinaigrette, with the salmon on top.

It's actually not that bad. I did feel the need to add some Parmesan cheese and sunflower seeds, which I think kicks it up a notch. And with all those leaves of lettuce- and size able piece of salmon, makes for a filling lunch.

Glad went out of my comfort box and went with the funny salad.

Have you gone out of your comfort zone and tried a new food in place of your regular meal?

Do tell!

Dinner : Sushi For Lent!

I am not Catholic.  The Hubster is.  I try to be accommodating.  He pretends he is hugely in to his religion.  But does not go to church, I have tried to get him interested in trying one out, or remember much of how everything works in his religion, or well, the Bible in general.

So in honor of the Catholic faith, and my Husband, I choose to not eat 'meat' on Friday.  So, I set up to have sushi at home.  I stopped by Lund's on my way home, and bought up some Spring Rolls(which, if they do not have any out, you can ask them if they are there to make them!), California Rolls, and some Squid Salad.  Generally Wednesday is the day they have $4.99 sushi, but it's Lent.  And all of it is considered Fish right?

Don't you just love the Beer Mugs?  They are a little hard to see, but they are like a wine glass, inside a mug, so when you fill it with a liquid, it looks like wine!

Very cheeky.

Lunch : Perfect Grilled Cheese

Grilled cheese. 

I get it, it's not hard.  My hubster and I make them differently.  He makes them as he is tossing pieces in the pan.  I assemble prior to heating up the pan.  I guess they both work decently.  But my way is better.  Because I said so.

Also, I will break up the Kraft Singles (and yes, I ALWAYS use the singles), to ensure that there is a really good gooey cheese ratio in each bite.  So this is how I roll.  I take the bread, butter the outer side, set it un-buttered side down on the plate, and then I take the matching piece, and I butter the outer side of that one, and set it butter side to butter side, break the cheese up and lay it out, and then do the same for any subsequent sandwiches I need to make.  Heat up the pan, and toss them in once at a time.

Once they are done, I cut them at a diagonal.  Basically because all sandwiches are better when they are in triangular form.

Of course I served it with tomato soup.  Duh.

Have you found a better way to make grilled cheese?  Let me know.

Happy Valentine's Day!

I do not quite understand people's draw to Red Velvet cake. I do not see anything truly special about it, other than most do not make it. Sure, it is a red colored moist cake, but, without the food coloring, it is still moist.

None the less, I made this Red Velvet Cake for the first time last year, and created a cream cheese/sour cream frosting to go with it. I will note, a little hint, is to the cake, and not getting red blood splatters everywhere, is to mix the red food coloring with the cocoa, and add the cocoa to the batter with the rest of the wet ingredients.

I think the frosting is what makes my Red Velvet enjoyable.

I have spent probably a total of 2 hours to try to find a good frosting for these, but never found one that looked correct. So I have joined a couple of recipes found on the Internet, to make what I feel is THE best Sour Cream-Cheese Frosting.

I made these filled ones, to make them extra special too!  Super simple, a little putzy, but, gives me more frosting!

For the Cream Cheese frosting, basically you need softened (room temp.) cream cheese, powdered sugar, and sour cream.  I used equal parts sour cream to cream cheese, and added powdered sugar to taste.  And then I added more sugar or sour cream based on my mood for the day.

To make them filled, it was pretty easy.  I used a paring knife, and cut a circle at about a 45 degree angle.  Popped the top off, and trimed a little off the bottom, and filled it, replaced the top, and topped it all with more frosting!  You don't have to worry about the top looking super pretty, because you are covering it anyways.

Finished Product

Update: I brought these in for the people I support at work, all said they enjoyed them, and nobody died. :) So basically a win in my book!

Manicure Monday : Heart

Simple design, and I was rushed. I appologize for it not looking as fab as it could have.

So I did a nude nail, and a purple heart as my accent nail.

You can find a tutorial here, if you would like to re-create it for yourself.  I used a little different tecnique.  I basically take 2 dots, and drag them to a point.  Same idea, but different.

 



Manicure Monday : Pink

I don't usually color my nails pink. This week I did because it is coming up on Valentine's Week, and the Hubster likes me to be girly.

Do not get me wrong, I love make up, hair and nails. I just have not ever enjoyed pink, or dresses.

When it is something special, I will wear a dress. The first time I wore one was our first Birthday dinner for him. The bummer about being 'girly' is I enjoy heels, and with a dress, I feel I need them. The Hubster is only about 3 inches taller than I.

I wear about 3" heels. I wore a pair for our wedding as well.

Which makes me just as tall as he. And, makes me feel less girly. I am not sure if you have ever tried to find shorter than 3" heels. It can be quite a challenge.

Anywho, this week's color is Pink.

What do you do to try to be 'girly'?

Hair We Go!

I am sure you have all heard of the 'ombré' look for hair by now, if you have not. Then I apologize. I let my friend do a variation of the look on my hair. She did a cross between 'dip dye' and 'ombré'.

There is nothing wrong with it. I just do not know how long I will keep it. I have had solid colored hair for about 8 months now, and think I have enjoyed it. And will probably go back to a solid color sooner than later, but, only because I don't know if I was truly ready for multi-tonal hair.

Sam is my stylist, she has been for 9(?) years I think.  She and I attended the same Beauty School, we both graduated, and started doing hair.  I never wanted to do it for a living, I was just taking a break from the 'corporate' world, and wanted to do something fun.

She, however, wanted this to be her career.  She set out with that in mind, and has worked hard to get to where she is now.  She has a fantastic space carved out in her lovely house, for her salon.  Shear Blonde.  Here is her Salon Facebook Page, and here is her StyleSeat page if you want to book an appointment.

You can see my before and after. Excuse the poor/blurry quality of the photos. My studly Hubster took them for me.

Have you ever tried something and decided that maybe you weren't ready for the change.. I mean, I think we all have chopped our hair off at some point, and regretted it 2 days later when we couldn't style it, am I right?