HOWDY THERE INTERWEBS!!

so mom and i went to the farmer’s market and picked up some choice heads of lettuce among other things (such as a bunch of tomatoes, a bunch of asparagus, a cucumber that i might’ve eaten in one go, two quarts of strawberries, and a quart of red potatoes that are super yummy) and upon arriving home to a plastic tub full of mixed spring greens, we now have a plethora of salad material.  shoot.  i don’t really like salads.  “molly, you’re a vegetarian now.  you kinda signed up for that.”  haha.  yea, no.  i’ve done fine without them.  so. far.  salads are so blaaaand and boring.  at least that’s what i thought until i was reading around.  there are some sweet-looking salads out and about.  so i tought i’d use up some greens.

for lunch mom and i used up the rest of the asparagus left over from last night’s mostly failure of a goat cheese and asparagus frittata (sigh.  i say mostly ’cause while it was over done and didn’t flip right, it was still intact and tasted alright) in an asparagus and goat cheese salad.  i roasted up some asparagus (450 degree oven with a little olive oil, salt and pepper for 6-8 minutes) and put it on top of mixed greens with chopped strawberries, pine nuts, goat cheese, and a homemade balsamic vinegrette (1/4 c balsamic vinegar, 2 tsp sugar, pinch of salt and pepper, and 2-3 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil whisked in slowly).  i think it would taste better with some toasted walnuts, but the pine nuts were pretty tasty.  all in all i only regretted not having more asparagus.

mom brought out some salmon to thaw this morning and we still have a lot of greens!  “wait, wait, wait.  salmon?  last i heard that wasn’t no veggie.”  yea.  i know.  i guess i’m technically a pescatarian.  it’s mostly for mom.  she kind of jumped on the wagon with me but more in a “we’ll add more veggies to our diet” kind of way.  i’m all for having a friend in my carnivorous household, so i will concede with fish.  anyway, we decided to go asian–hoisin glazed salmon salad with asian dressing.  i got this hoisin glaze recipe off of an online blogger who got it from martha stewart–she’s got some smart people working for her, i’ll tell you that.  it’s so simple–1 tbsp of oj, 2 tbsp hoisin sauce, and 2 tsp of honey, generously brushed on to salt and peppered salmon filets, then put under the broiler for 8 minutes for medium-rare goodness.  these lovelies were put on top of greens with halved steamed brussel sprouts and homemade asian dressing (1 tbsp rice wine vinegar, 1/4 c sesame seed oil, 1/2 tsp tahini–peanut butter’d be a good substitute–some thinly sliced green onion, salt and pepper, and a dash of cayenne).  yummy!!

i like homemade dressings.  they’re so easy and they’re so much better for you and i think they taste better.  and the thing about dressings is, they don’t keep well, so all those bottled dressings have to have some kind of preservative in them right?  no, thanks.  dressings are too easy to make to not make them.

in other news, I FOUND POTATOES GROWING IN MY COMPOST PILE.  yea. sorting throught all of it though, it’s more of dumping ground.  i’ve got this bucket of two-week old food scraps that my mother has affectionately named ‘toxic waste.’  it’s pretty bad.  so, i’ve decided to make my little bed in the back half potato bed half compost… i’m getting some stakes and chicken wire tomorrow to separate stuff.  i also need to get some mulch to put around all of my other veggie plants (tomatoes, bell pepper, cucumber, and zucchini, along with some herbs) so they’ll keep some moisture, fight weeds, disease, that kinda thing and something to hold up my tomato plants–what i got is too big!  anyway… i hope they all live and produce etc.  it would make my life.