Tri-Colored Spiralized Salad With Orange Zest Vinaigrette

October 28, 2016October 27, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 4 Comments

Happy Friday!!! Who is ready for the weekend? Do you have any fun things planned? We are headed out of town tonight for a friend’s wedding and I can’t wait! I love weddings! But before I start packing (yeah..still haven’t started) I have a new favorite recipe to share with you all!

Even though it is technically fall, the 82 degree weather yesterday hardly leaves me craving warm soup. This recipe is perfect for the in between summer/fall season when you just aren’t quite ready for hearty warm meals, but are still feeling festive!

I am all about my spiralizer these days. It is such a simple kitchen gadget, but it can make boring vegetables so much more fun. I think I got mine on amazon for around $30.

Tri-Colored Spiralized Salad With Orange Zest Vinaigrette

Serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a side dish.

Ingredients:

1 beet, peeled

1 cucumber

1 apple

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 walnuts

goat cheese (add to your liking)

Orange Zest Vinaigrette

3 garlic cloves

zest and juice of 1 orange

2 TBL onion, chopped

1 TBL honey

1/2 cup olive oil

1/8 cup red wine vinegar

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

Directions:

After peeling the beet and washing the cucumber and apple, spiralize all 3 and add to a bowl.

Next, add all vinaigrette ingredients in the food processor and blend until mixed. You will have extra salad dressing. You can store it in the fridge for up to a week.

Pour vinaigrette over spiralized ingredients and toss.

Next, add walnuts, dried cranberries and goat cheese and toss.

Add orange zest strips for some extra color!

This salad is the perfect light fall meal and looks beautiful next to fall table decor. ENJOY!!!

Have a wonderful weekend friends!!

Questions:

Favorite fall meal?
Do you like beets?
Do you own a spiralizer?

Salads on Repeat After Vacation

April 13, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 4 Comments

Good morning everyone!! How are you doing today? I am still trying to get over this stomach issue, but other than that I am feeling pretty good and this week is flying by!

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It is no secret that I love to travel. My husband and I love exploring new places together and going back to old familiar places that bring back great memories. While on vacation I do tend to eat pretty close to my normal eating patterns so that I don’t feel sick or bloated from a lot of new foods. I do, however, like to indulge in a ~~lot~~ few alcoholic beverages and some desserts. It is vacation after all. But I try to be mindful because I am also not usually doing the same types of hard workouts that I do at home. As fun as indulging on vacation is, I am always SO ready to get back to my normal eating patterns when I get home. Have I mentioned that I love routine? I could eat the same thing for breakfast, lunch and dinner everyday for a week and be happy. I don’t only because my husband would fire me as head chef if I made him eat the same things every single day. Marriage is all about compromise. 😉

You all know by now that I LOVE salads! In order to keep the hubs happy, I try to mix them up a bit to keep them interesting! It has been so nice to be back in my kitchen making salads bigger than my head. 🙂 Here are some recent eats that I am loving!

Romaine lettuce, craisins, chopped almonds, strawberries, leftover grilled salmon and this raspberry walnut dressing! So good!

I love fresh corn on the cob!! It makes an excellent addition (raw) to a salad! Romaine, fresh corn, strawberries, grilled tofu and zucchini and raspberry walnut vinaigrette.

Terrible picture (sorry!) but a yummy salad with lots of veggies (carrots, cucumber, corn), grilled tofu and zucchini, almonds, and lots of homemade guacamole! (We have managed to keep our cilantro plant alive, which is a miracle if you know me.)

I love veggie burgers for an easy dinner with a salad, sliced avocado, and oven-roasted sweet potato fries!

I just needed to show you guys this picture of my grilled tofu because I LOVE grill marks (I know, I am so strange) and I think I have perfected my tofu grilling technique! I used to put the tofu in a veggie basket on the grill, but lately I have been putting the tofu straight onto the grill and I am loving the way it turns out. I hate mushy tofu so the extra texture from the grill marks is amazing!

Have a great Wednesday everyone!!

Questions:

What are your favorite salad toppings?
What is your favorite salad dressing?
What is one meal your are loving right now?

Salads Don’t Have To Be Boring

March 9, 2016March 8, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 6 Comments

Hi everyone! We have made it to the halfway point of the week! This week has been pretty busy, but is flying by!

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It is no secret that I love salads. A lot. But, I totally understand that not everyone likes them. I think the main reason people get bored with salads is that they never change up the greens, toppings, and dressing. I would get bored too if I ate the same salad everyday. Instead I like to switch my salads up often so they always taste exciting to me. Today I thought I would show you some of my favorite salad combinations that I have posted to rayandtaynutrition (instagram) to hopefully inspire you to keep salads in your meal rotation.

Raw Veggie Salad

Recipe.

This salad is perfect for springtime lunches to keep them light and healthy!

Kale and fruit salad

Blackberries, pomegranate seeds, and avocado make for a delicious kale salad.

Shredded Kale Salad

Recipe.

Simple salad of romaine, onion, craisins, pecans, and goat cheese.

Questions:

Do you like salads?
What is your favorite salad recipe?
What is your favorite salad dressing?

Saturday Rambles

March 5, 2016March 5, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 4 Comments

Happy Saturday guys! How is your weekend going so far? Ours is off to a good start as we spent our Friday night binge watching the new season of House of Cards!

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Wednesday afternoon I was dreading my run, but knew I’d feel so much better if I just did it. I told myself I only had to run 3 miles, but thankfully, when I got going, I got into a groove and just kept going. Sometimes my OCD/perfectionist mind comes in handy and I made it to 5 miles versus stopping at 4. (I don’t know why, but it is hard for me to stop at 4. I like 3 or 5 better… I know, I am weird.)

This beauty has been on repeat in my house this whole week. Spinach, flaxseed, banana, coconut water, and frozen mango. Can’t get enough.

We are watching the sweetest pup right now. Her name is Scotch and she is 14 years old (!!!) but doing so well! She is just a darling.

And completely unrelated to Scotch, this is Simmonds. Simmonds is 5 and is the cutest thing ever. He just loves some lovin’.

Finally pulled out my juicer this week. I absolutely love fresh juice, but hate the prep of washing the veggies, cutting them and then there is the cleanup… that is the real pain. Each time I do use my juicer, I make sure to make a lot! This one included: carrots, ginger, lemon, apple, and orange. It was delicious! I also made another one with kale, cucumber, ginger, lemon, and oranges.

I could eat this salad for lunch every day! It had kale, romaine, almonds, craisins, strawberries, veggie burger and avocado. Hit the spot!

That’s all I’ve got for today! I am off to a body pump class and then we are hoping to take a little cruise on our boat because the weather is SO nice today! Enjoy your Saturday!

Questions:

What is your favorite juice recipe?
Do you like fruit on your salads?
Do you watch House of Cards?

Florida Day 3!

February 2, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 4 Comments

Good morning!! I am getting ready for a run this morning before we head to brunch! I’ll leave you with some pictures from our Monday in Florida, which ended up being a lot of food pictures.

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Big bowl of bananas, melon and blueberries for breakfast!

And some coffee on the front porch!

Then we set out for a long bike ride around the island. My husband programmed his drone to follow us so we were quite the site to see 😉 I’ll post the pictures from the drone later this week.

Lunch was a big salad with walnuts, avocado, and balsamic dressing and a big side of grapes!

I could eat this lunch every day.

Then I did some lounging in the backyard. It was about 81 so it was perfect.

Ofcourse, we have to have some snacks.

We decided to have dinner at home last night instead of going out. I made a big salad of arugula, strawberries, walnuts, and avocado with balsamic dressing.

And we grilled some salmon.

We made green beans and sweet potato fries to go on the side. It was delicious!

We ended the night with some chocolate while watching It’s Complicated. Have you guys seen this movie?? It’s so good!

I am off for a run before brunch! I hope you all have a fantastic Tuesday!!

Questions:

Have you seen the movie It’s Complicated?
Do you like coffee? How do you drink it?
Do you workout when you are on vacation?

It’s Friday!! a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

January 8, 2016 ~ Tasty Trials and Travels ~ 4 Comments

Happy Friday party people!!!! Woo the weekend is finally here and we are getting ready for a dinner party at our house tonight (my sister has called me everyday this week to add an extra guest to the party). The more, the merrier. Time to get to work!

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Here’s a little look at my busy Thursday!

5AM alarm goes off for my early morning workout class (body pump, ofcourse)… This one was not amused. Riley is not a morning person (dog) at all. If I get up before 7am, I usually have to pick him up and carry him to the door or he will not get up. Hey, I don’t blame him…sleep is good 🙂

Morning yawns and stretches. 5 more minutes mom, please.

Really mom? It is SO early.

Fine, if you insist, I’ll pose for you. But you must carry me downstairs.

Gym followed by a healthy breakfast omelette. Cook a few handfuls of spinach, whisk 1 egg and 2 egg whites together (add salt, pepper, chili powder, and garlic powder) and pour mixture over spinach. Cook for a couple minutes (left picture) then flip (right picture) and continue cooking for 1-2 more minutes until golden brown and both sides.

I think every omelette should be served with avocado (salt and pepper) slices on top and a side of sliced bananas.

I could eat this meal multiple times a day and be happy.

Riley was so excited to go on a car ride yesterday morning…

Until he found out he had to go get a shot at the vet… Mom, please don’t make me!

Looking through my new smoothie book for some new recipes to try. I thought these both looked good!

So off to the grocery store I went to stock up… party food on the top, fresh foods are covered (so many strawberries, bananas, and 4 pineapples…I sure do love my fruit).