Sweet Love and Ginger

Jessica

Loaded Greek Salad

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Loaded Greek Salad
It’s Tuesday, and I’m posting because I was too busy recovering from bachelorette party shenanigans to put anything together for yesterday. I’m pretty sure that none of you noticed, but I still feel guilty enough to explain my reasons why.
So ok now that that is out of the way let get on with today’s post.
I was flipping through my previous posts, you know wondering at my own genius and taking note of a few things, when I realized that I never covered a recipe I meant to cover right after I did this post. It’s fitting because this is a great salad to help bounce back after a long weekend of champagne, rocking out, and too rich food.
This is one of my favorite salads to make at home. I love the bold colors, and different textures. If you want to up the protein add an egg, or some grilled chicken, but they aren’t necessary this is a super hearty salad that stands on its own for an awesome and easy summer meal.
Loaded Greek Salad
I think it’s pretty obvious that this one is clean and healthy, but it’s also packed with antioxidants and tons of nutrients. I paired it down to serve one, for ease, but it’s super easy to double.
Loaded Greek Salad
Prep time:
Total time:
Serves: Serves 1
Ingredients
  • 1 cup mixed baby lettuce
  • ½ cup baby arugula
  • A handful of cherry tomatoes
  • ½ a cucumber, sliced
  • 1 tbsp of red onion, chopped
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • ½ cup of low sodium chickpeas, canned, drained
  • ¼ cup of kalamata olive, halved
  • 1 tbsp of low fat crumbled feta cheese
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • Light drizzle of balsamic vinegar
Instructions
  1. In a large bowl toss all ingredients together and serve
  2. immediately.

Since we are on the topic what’s your favorite hang over cure? I sure could have used some good ones this weekend.

Currently.

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Everyone seems to be doing these currently, recently, what I’ve
been up to, kind of posts lately. I guess they’ve always done them I just never
really caught on to that band wagon, not that I haven’t tried once or twice. It’s
just not the kind of thing that lasts for me. Sometimes I just feel so separated
from this space; like you guys have no clue anything that goes on in my life. I
mean yeah, I come here a few times a week, and drop a few lines about my new
favorite recipe, or ideas for upcoming even menus, books, cocktails, link ups
and all that nonsense, but do you guys really feel like you know me? I guess
the better questions is do you want to know me?

I feel like you do. I love learning more about bloggers in
these kinds of posts so I’m gonna roll with it and you can tell me to stop at
any time. No guarantees that I will but you can feel free to throw it out
there.
Writing: my
workout plans and results to help keep me motivated. It’s really working well.
Eating: Everything
green. I cannot explain why I have been having these insane green veggie cravings.
Maybe it’s the season.
Working: my butt
off at work. I seriously need a break from all that. Memorial day weekend
please come sooner.
Wishing: I wasn’t
so busy so I could my butt in the woods. I’m feeling unbalanced right now.
Practicing:
creativity. Since it seems to have slipped away from me lately. 
Learning: A lot about
photography. I’m a slow learner so it’s taking me a while but I love the way my
pictures are improving. Thank you Pinch of Yum!!
Attending: Lots of
baby & Bridal Showers
And Searching: for just the right thing. It’s not easy when you want
to do more than just grab something off the registry.
Trying: Desperately to
reduce the amount of things that we have. It is another of those slow and
steady projects I have. Consumerism is a suffocating disease.
Listening: to Lana Del
Rey. I am addicted.
Loving: Being able to
sleep with the window open, and smell the fresh spring, post rain mornings.
Making: A real effort
not to be so hard on myself. If dinner isn’t on the table on time, or if it is
and it’s nothing special, it’s not the end of the world. If the house isn’t
clean I’m not going to die, it’s not like the queen of England is coming over.

Craving:
Doughnuts. I blame instagram.
Thanks for playing along. What have you been up to lately?

One Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff; A Classic Simplified

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

One Pot Ground Beef Stroganoff

It’s turkey hunting season in Vermont.

For those of you who don’t have a hunting obsessed significant other I will explain that this means I will be pretty much on my own for the next couple weekends since I don’t find getting up at 3:30am on the weekends all that much fun, especially if it means my old lady behind needs to be in bed by about 7pm.

…

Read More

Spring Vegetable Couscous

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Spring Vegetable Couscous
Spring has sprung! Grocery stores and farmers markets are filling with wonderful, luscious, and vibrant colors. Rainbow Swiss chard, purple asparagus, green peas are just the beginning. My favorite part of spring, after the fresh post rain smell is the amazing vegetables that finally start their rotation on our plates. I could seriously eat a salad of some kind for every meal right now and never get bored.
In fact this salad I did eat for several days in a row. It’s super filling and wonderfully satisfying. I swear it’s like I can feel the sun shine in every bite that I take.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
I started out cooking the couscous in vegetable broth, just to impart it with a bit more flavor, an added the veggies at the very end of the cooking process to save on dirty dishes. I mean I was going to steam them anyway to why not do it all in one pot? Besides I wanted them still pretty crisp, so just a few minutes in a hot pan was all that was needed. Finish off the flavor with a handful of fresh chopped herbs, maybe a tiny bit of fresh cracked pepper and you have yourself a wonderfully flavorful salad type thing. I did also top it with some fresh alfalfa sprouts for a bit more protein, and a cooler contrast to the warm salad.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
It’s really enough to feed a group of 4 without anything else, but
if you wanted to stretch it I’d grill up some meat or veggies and then you
could feed more like 6 or 8.
Spring Vegetable Couscous
Ingredients
  • 1 1/2 cups dry couscous
  • 1 1/2 cups low sodium vegetable broth
  • 1 lb asparagus
  • 1 cup of fresh or frozen green peas
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh chives
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
  • Salt & Pepper to taste
  • ½ cup alfalfa sprouts (optional)
Instructions
  1. Cook couscous according to package instructions with the broth substituted for water. 5 minutes before cooking is complete, add asparagus and
  2. peas.
  3. Once finished toss with herbs, and adjust seasoning.
  4. Serve warm or cold with sprouts on top.

Quarter Year Goal Review

By

This post may contain affiliate links. I may receive commissions for purchases made through links in this post.

Ok so Last week marked the beginning of May. That puts us one
quarter of the way done with the year.  I
think that makes it a pretty good time to check in with all of my goals since
New Years. I’m including, fitness, life, and blogging in all of this so
sorry if it gets a little wordy on you.

Fitness:
I am pretty much on track with where I wanted to be with my
fitness goals. I have fallen back into love with lifting, and I am seeing someamazing results from it. However the
last few weeks there has been a lot of discussion about running events with
friends, and even triathlons. So I think it is time to reassess my goals and plan, maybe add a little more running in.

Life:
Maybe I should re-title this section to wedding/event planning.
I’m way behind on the wedding planning front, as I haven’t done a damn thing. In
my defense I have 17 months, and no I don’t want to hear that it will be gone
before I know it, or it will sneak up on me or any of that crap. I HAVE 17
MONTHS OK? In every other respect I am swamped with friends and family having
babies, weddings, and the usual summer events that I like to go to. So I guess that’s
good? It’s pretty overwhelming to be honest, and I would really love for everyone
to take a chill pill. Life is not pinterest
perfect people, get over it and enjoy the imperfections!!!!!
Blogging:
I didn’t really start off the year with any blogging goals,
but that has changed. I really enjoy watching this little space grow, and have
really fallen love with camera practice. I also really like how this space
helps cultivate my creativity and push my personal boundaries. Ideally I would
want to create a cohesiveness that can extend over to my shop and all of my
social media. I guess you would call this a brand, but what I am really looking
for is a unique style that I can carry with me for a good long while, instead
of redesigning my blog every few months, and not having it match anything. I
also want to challenge myself to create some new posts beyond the basic recipes
and adventures I usually post. I want to show more of myself, and my interests. 
Overall I think I am doing ok, and things are going good. I’m going to be adding more running workouts to my routine. I’m going to take every opportunity I can relax, since those moments are going to be few and far between soon. I’m also going to be making a few changes around the blog so keep an eye out.

What are your goals this year?
How are you doing with them?