foodie

i love food. i love everything about it. researching the perfect recipe, shopping for the ingredients, preparing it, and best of all eating it! unfortunately for my body, a lot of my favorite recipes are full of fat, sugar, carbs, you know all the good stuff! this makes for A LOT of running. so i've tried to lighten up my cooking with some fresh salads, plenty of fresh veggies, and seasoning with fresh herbs. 

one of my favorite food blogs simplysogood has helped with my fresh approach to food with some fantastic salads! sidenote: every recipe i have ever tried from her blog has turned out fantastic! she is my friend's mom and lives in my parent's neighborhood. 

for the past forever, i have only liked salads with very light iceberg lettuce or romaine hearts (the white part) smothered with hidden valley ranch. no nutrients... i know and i didn't care. i just recently started to buy spinach and *gasp* arugula. it's fantastic! so much flavor i don't even have to coat it with my ranch dressing and add a zillion calories to an otherwise healthy meal. i thought i'd share a few salads i have been loving.

Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad

(photo from simplysogood)

Dressing:

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon minced shallot

1 small garlic clove, finely grated

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt plus more for seasoning

Freshly ground black pepper

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Almonds:

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter

1/3 cup almonds with skins, coarsely chopped

salt

Salad:

2 large bunches of Tuscan kale (about 1 1/2 lb. total), center stem discarded, leaves thinly sliced

12 ounces brussels sprouts, trimmed, finely grated or shredded with a knife

1 cup finely grated Pecorino

Lemon Arugula Salad 

(also a recipe from simplysogood. photo from my iphone)

Baby Arugula

Lemon Olive Oil

Fresh Lemon Juice

Golden Raisins

Toasted Almonds

Parmesan cheese

Salt & Pepper

Caprese Salad

Baby Arugula/Spinach mix

Halved Cherry Tomatoes 

Cubed Mozzarella Cheese

Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

i also recently went to city creek downtown and had the most amazing lunch at Bocata. they have artisan sandwiches and salads. i got their grilled chicken bocata with arugula, (i'm slightly obsessed) aioli, tomatoes, and provolone. they make the amazing bocata bread right in front of you and cook it in a big wood oven. holy amazing! i also got a salad with fresh spring mix greens, pear, feta, dried cranberries, pecans, and a light citrus dressing.  the best part is it was only $6.99! i love it when you can get awesome food for a great price.

yummmmm.