the not so starving artist
Oatmeal and egg make a lovely meatloaf binder and are especially nice if you’re trying to avoid a carb crash! Don’t let the healthier profile fool you, they’re delicious! This makes 12 and if you have any leftover, they make a great found breakfast. It’s always better to find breakfast than make it! Read More
Ching-He Huang teaches a beautiful salad in Ching’s Everyday Easy Chinese where she combines tomatoes with plums and pears, and grates salted plums over it and dots it with basil. Tomatoes and stone fruit?! Yeah. It’s amazing. I have played with so many variations on that. My salad’s quite different from Ching’s, but hugs to Ching for the inspiration! She has so many cool veg dishes. I can’t wait to make it again when the peaches on our tree are ripe. They’re little but sweet and a gorgeous vibrant orange. This salad is killer as a BBQ or grill side dish! Read More
Broccoli Soup. This is my favorite thing to make in the Instant Pot. The original recipe was from The Healthy Meal Prep Instant Pot cookbook. I loved the concept, but it was unseasoned and light on produce. My version tastes a lot like that mall restaurant we all used to know and love, Olga’s. If you know that name, you were probably a teenager in the 80s, too! LOL!
I’ve made two batches in a row a few times so I can fill a few Mason jars to find in the fridge later. So good! Read More
I was in the mood for a lovely hearty steak salad. Hope you love it, too!
16-24 oz steak – Depends on how hungry your tribe is
Salt and Pepper
Season as early as you can to let the flavor penetrate the meat. Morning of is great. The night before is better. And two nights before is best. It’ll rest in the fridge, uncovered. Set on the counter an hour before you’re cooking it to let it come to room temp so it’ll cook more evenly.
Bacon – 1-2 slices per person, optional
Place in a single layer on a parchment lined baking sheet and put in a cold oven. Turn it to 400 degrees F, and set the timer for 20 minutes. Check it, and let it continue on its journey til it meets your strongly held conviction of the perfect bacon doneness level. Drain on paper towel.
1 red onion
1/2 Tablespoon butter or olive oil
Pinch of salt
Saute until softened and picking up a little color.
Grill the steaks or give them a stove top cast iron sear in butter and olive oil, turning often to desired doneness. Mine’s an internal temp 118 degrees F. Rest. Slice.
Spring Mix
Vinaigrette (Whisk 2 parts red wine vinegar (or whatever you have!), 3 parts olive oil, a squeeze of dijon mustard, and a pinch of salt and grating of pepper)
Toss and divide between 4 plates.
Top with:
Steak
Tomatoes
Avocado (1/4 – 1/2 per person)
Onions
Bacon (optional)
Blue cheese (optional)
Shin splints! I was running 9 1/2 miles a day and loving it! Then shin splints. Shin splints are the worst. I needed to deal with them so they didn’t become a stress reaction or stress fracture. I’m on a lady fitness site, and asked what people did to heal them. Foam rolling, deep squats to deal with a muscle imbalance, stretching, and compression socks. To my surprise, icing was really controversial and people felt passionate about their positions.
Okay, I ordered compression socks, foam rollers, and started going after deep squats and stretches like nobody’s business. I’d worked for a few years on that running endurance, and didn’t want to give that up. I decided to give CrossFit a try. Holy workout, Batman! You’re a sweaty mess and done in less than an hour. It’s totally scalable to every fitness level, so it’s custom order-type challenging, and a novice and a gymrat can work out side-by-side. Perfect. To my shock, my husband quit with his nautilus-type gym and started joining me. And then the kids showed up. Too neat. Read More
I’ve always adored avocado. My mother-in-law told me that when she was a little girl in Cuba, they loved pairing it in a salad with pineapple. Game changer. In Gran Cocina Latina, she caramelizes the pineapple spears under the broiler. So good! That’s inspired my breakamole this morning. If you have a sweet tooth, this will make your day! Read More
I was in the mood for cold sesame noodles. But I don’t want pasta, so I went with Sesame Spaghetti Squash. Well, Peanut Butter Spaghetti Squash, but that doesn’t have the right ring to it! Read More
