Good day, fair bloggonians!
I am feeling extraordinarily chipper today, due in no small part to the fine spring weather that has decided to grace us with its presence this week. Boston is truly a wonderful place to be when the weather turns warm; people take to the streets en masse, smoothies and iced coffees in hand, wearing smiles and sunglasses and taking extra-long lunch breaks.
In addition to lifting my spirits, the arrival of springtime also tends to make me feel rather industrious. For example, this past week, I finally managed (after living there four months already!) to make a dent in my long list of things to do around our new house. I’ve also been doing some serious recipe-hunting and list-making, with every intention of cooking up some big-batch recipes. This is mainly because I’m starting a new job in a couple of weeks, which for me always means having to make some adjustments to allow for a new schedule, budget, etc.
In the past, I’ve found that having food prepared in advance makes any adjustment period a lot easier to handle. Often, I do this in the form of soups. However, lately all I can think about is spring produce!!! Hence, I have other recipes in mind.
As I am particularly excited for spring’s leafy greens, the Weekend Glow Kale Salad from one of my all-time favorite blogs, Oh She Glows, will definitely be on the menu. This recipe is a little time-consuming to prepare because of all of the vegetable chopping involved, but produces a lot of food and is therefore a great prep-ahead, eat-for-days recipe!
Look at all of the amazing ingredients that get mixed in with the kale base:
You’ve got your avocado, cucumber, bell pepper, tomato, red onion, carrots, and dried cherries (because I didn’t have raisins or goji berries).
Served on top of raw kale, with Lightened Up Tahini-Lemon Dressing:
You let it all marinate together and then enjoy! I adore this salad; its many flavors and textures all combine perfectly to make your tastebuds very, very happy. I have made this a number of times since last summer and it always lasts me at least 3 days, and sometimes up to a week, because it makes so much (I prepare it in the biggest mixing bowl I have and sometimes bits still fall out while I’m tossing it!). Obviously you could halve the recipe if you wished, but I personally love the feeling I get when I behold a massive mountain of salad. Also, after consuming this I always feel incredible. It’s hard not to when you’re fueling your body with such incredible, vibrant ingredients. I highly recommend making this!
Well I just realized that the other recipe I wanted to post about today is also from Oh She Glows, but oh well (seriously, it’s an amazing blog…check it out). This is her High Protein Quinoa Almond Berry Salad. A perfect recipe for berry season!
Strawberries, cherries, and [hidden] blueberries, chopped and ready for use.
All Mixed Up (like 311)
And who doesn’t love a good quinoa close-up?
This is another recipe that can quite easily feed one person for an entire week (depending on the freshness of your berries), and the quinoa turns an increasingly deeper shade of red/purple each day that it sits. Delicious, nutritious, and energizing, this recipe is perfect to prepare on a Sunday and use throughout the week as a pack-and-go breakfast. Alas, it’s still a little too early in the season to make this, but believe me, it’s on my mind and will be first up on my recipe roster once the warm weather truly rolls in to stay!
Enjoy the rest of this gorgeous week!
A.Cook in the Making 