Memorial Day Hangover

Ah Memorial Day, good times. There were hot dogs, veggies and ranch, and maybe the occasional s’more. Now that the good times are over, you may be left with some random food items. Possibly a few hot dog buns that don't have a home. A few cups of random raw vegetables. However, I doubt you have any leftover s'mores. If you do, we are no longer on speaking terms. Here is a way to get rid of those homeless hot dog buns, make ‘em into croutons.

First, preheat the oven to 400'. Then take the hot dog bun and slice off the bottom part where the two openings connect. You should be able to take the openings apart, there should be three slices of bun. (See the beautiful photo above). Then slice each bun chunk into crouton sized squares. Try and make each square the same size. Arrange the squares on a greased cookie sheet. Then brush a little olive oil over each square. You don't want to drown the squares, more give them a wipe down. Then sprinkle the spice of your choosing. I used lemon pepper, but feel free to give any herbs or spices a try. Pop 'em in the oven for 20 mins or so, until there nice and toasty. They are so good, you may eat them all plain before you make a salad to toss them on.

Spicey Spectrum Saladz

so this is colorful, spicy, delicious, healthy and pretty. and if you feed it to people, you will look smart for knowing about a different kind of pepper! a poblano pepper! its a little hotter than a bell pepper, yet still delish. so lets start off with the dressing first shall we, whisk together
juice of 1 lime
juice of half of a lemon
drizzle of EVOO (until you have enough liquid there to call it a dressing)
few drops of Tabasco
finely chopped cilantro leaves.
once that is all nicely whisked, chop up equal amounts of yellow bell pepper, cherry tomatoes and poblano pepper. (it exist, if you cant seem to find one at your local super market, then your stupid. ask the guy there in the apron to help you find it). pour the dressing over the chopped veggies in a bowl and pepper (cracked pepper, ya know the one that's married to the salt) and cheese till taste. i also decided to throw some lettuce in because i like my salads to contain lettuce. the end!

Good Fat Salad

now, why would the words "good" and "fat" be in the same sentence ever? because all of the ingredients in this salad contain to what is referred to as good fats. i dont know what it means or why some fats are good or bad, and i am no hurry to get a degree in nutrition to find out. this salad is possibly the most DELISH thing ever, if you dont like salad you mind is about to be changed. this is great if you want to impress people with your culinary talent or you haven't had a solid meal in a few days. you need:
2 spoonfills grainy mustard (teaspoon if you are just making salad for yourself, tablespoon if for more people etc)
6 spoonfills EVOO
3 spoonfills balsamic vinegar
2 spoonfills maple syrup
1 avocado
crasins (cranberrys in rasin form, if you are unfimilar with the word)
pine nuts
and spring lettuce mix or romaine
in a bowl, whisk the grainy mustard, EVOO, balsamic and maple syrup together until they have the consistency of dressing. (your making a salad, and this is the dressing, you want the consistency of dressing for the salad now dont you?) Hold the avocado in your left hand and pick up a knife in your right. (other way around if your a lefty). stick the knife deep into the avocado and drag it around the 'cado in a circle. pretend the 'cado is a globe and you are drawing a horizontal line across it with a knife that connects to the other side. open the avocado and take the pit out. now, hold one half of the "cado in your hand with the green soft part (the part you eat) facing you. cut the avocado up into chunks while it is still in the skin. (drag the knife through the 'cado deep enough to touch the skin, but not poke through it.) then try turning the avocado inside out over the bowl you are planning on eating your salad out of. if done right, the avocado chunks will pop out into the bowl, otherwise epic fail. take out a small skillet and pour a handful or so of the pine nuts in it. toast them over medium heat. they are usually done when you can smell them or start turning brown. toss them around in the skillet a few times so there is an even toasting. while the nuts are a brownin' wash the lettuce and put in same bowl as avocado. also begin to sprinkle the crasins to taste over this epic bowl. to top off this magnificent ensalada, sprinkle over the luscious warm pine nuts and drizzle an ample amount of dressing as well. prepare for deliciousness times 10.

'MATOES SALAD

This is one of my all time fave salads. its beyond easy. and u can switch up the ingredients depending on whats in the fridge. so i use arugula, tomatoes and newman's own Caesar dressing to start. from there anything from pesto to taco meat can be added. (i dont know why one would want to add taco meat, but i could be done). any type of 'matos (tomatoes, duah) can be used. the grape ones can just be washed and tossed in, bigger ones cubed or if i am feeling indulgent, i will slice up some fresh heirloom 'matoes from the local farmers market. (its almost spring, they will be out soon!) arugula is a nice spicy lettuce. if you dont have any, iceberg would work too. the mixed lettuce with the purple leaves in it (mixed field greens i think is the correct term) dont work that well, but its do-able. if you dont have newmans own Caesar dressing, look for another not creamy Caesar dressing. (key point, NOT CREAMY). otherwise whisk together 2 parts olive oil, 1 part vinegar (balsamic or cider) a sprinkle of parm and salt 'n' pepa. its 10 pm on a Sunday night, and writing this is making me crave salad. until next time.