salad days

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Three Things Thursday

I am incapable of launching into bullets without some sort of preamble.

New Summer Salad

I made a new-to-me summer salad to take to a friend’s dinner party the other day. A+, delicious, automatic new fave. Of course, because I am incapable of following a recipe as stated, I added blueberries as well. The other slight variations I made, based on recipe comments: I used nectarines instead of peaches, walnuts instead of pinenuts (walnuts are $5.99 at my grocery store; pinenuts are $8.99) (I forgot that I could use pinenuts to make pesto, so maybe I should have shelled out the $8.99), and I added a half teaspoon of honey to the dressing.

Oh! Since I was taking this salad on the road, I had to experiment a little with the best way to keep the nectarines and basil from browning. For the basil, I coated the leaves in a tiny bit of olive oil and gave them a quick chiffonade with a pizza cutter. Then I threw them in a salad bowl with the dry arugula.

For the nectarines, I mixed together two tablespoons of honey and two cups of water, then added the cut nectarines to the mixture for five minutes. After the timer went off, I drained them in a colander, rinsed them with cool water, and laid out them out between two dish towels to dry. Then I popped them into a Tupperware container with the blueberries.

(I found both the honey water and oil coat strategies via multiple sources online, and I was very grateful they worked.)

About five minutes before dinner, I added the dressing to the arugula and basil and tossed everything together until the greens were lightly coated. Then I added half the fruit, nuts, and goat cheese, added a bit more dressing, tossed, and topped with the rest of the fruit, nuts, and goat cheese. It was very tasty and summery and light. I will say that the basil flavor didn’t really pop out at me. I wonder if it all fell to the bottom of the salad bowl? Next time I will do a better job of dispersing the basil throughout.

I was super pleased with how well the nectarines lasted. Here is a photo of them the next morning.  The honey/water combo did not alter their flavor or texture at all.

Hmm. This isn’t the most persuasive photo. I will have to try a before and after at some point. In the meantime, just trust me that they looked and tasted as fresh as the instant I cut them.

Plant Problems

I am feeling some botanical despair. I love plants, and I have accumulated quite a few over the years. But they are not loving their lives, and I feel responsible. I am responsible. They remind me of Heidi, wasting away in Klara Sesemann’s urban mansion, longing for the sun and sky and trees of her grandfather’s alpine cottage. (Why yes, I am reading Heidi to Carla right now.)

Our house is full of windows, and yet it is not particularly sunny. Worse, possibly, is that the areas available for plants are on the north side of the house and get the least light.

I have tried to do my research and buy only plants that supposedly enjoy low light. And yet… they are leggy and/or dead. Even the African violet I bought – which is supposed to thrive in very little light! – is just barely living.

While part of me aches for these poor living things that are trying so valiantly to hang on under my poor care, and wants to nurse them back to health, I have TRIED. I have googled, I have bought special plant food, I have moved them around to different parts of the house, I have repotted several of them. I have babied them, I have left them alone. Nothing is working. Perhaps it is time to replace them? That feels so harsh!!! And also kind of fruitless, because I fear that the replacements will just die anyway.

You know what IS thriving? This mystery plant in my backyard. We had some landscaping work done last fall, moving things around, thinning things out. This space used to hold an enormous hydrangea that was completely overgrown and so old only the very tips were green. We moved some hydrangeas from the front of the house and they seem to be adjusting well to their new home. We also planted a vibirnum in the place where the old hydrangea used to be. Then, this guy showed up.

Wow, two for two on really unhelpful photos today. This plant is approximately four feet tall (so far), has no scent or milky sap, a round stem, multiple stalks coming from the same base, has very gentle fuzz on the leaves and stem, and, from above, has non-serrated leaves with a very pronounced whorled leaf pattern. There are no buds as yet.

I have NO IDEA what it is. It’s acting like a perennial that belongs there, but I have never seen it before. It’s possible that the previous homeowners planted it a long time ago, but then the old hydrangea took over and bullied this guy into submission. Now that the old hydrangea is gone, this little guy can finally shine. This little imaginary scenario, plus some extensive googling, has me thinking it’s a plant and not a weed. My current very non-expert guess is that’s something called an “obedient plant” or some kind of phlox or maybe some kind of aster. I guess we just wait and see if it produces flowers. Unless… do you know what it is?

Physical Therapy Update

I have been seeing a physical therapist twice a week for six weeks for tennis elbow, and just this week I moved to one time a week for the next four weeks. The reduction in pain and the improvement in mobility has been tremendous, and I am so pleased with the experience. Physical therapy is MAGICAL. I mean, it’s also expensive and hard work, but MAGICAL.

It is not, however, a cure. My physical therapist said his goal was for me to see an 80% improvement in pain/mobility. I have zero idea how a person is supposed to quantify such a thing; I still have no idea how to answer the “what is your pain on a scale of 1 to the worst pain you’ve ever experienced” question. But I will say that my arm is greatly improved, to the point that sometimes I don’t even think about it. Sure, I still have some soreness in my elbow. Sometimes I wake up and my arm aches for a while. I definitely still experience pain if I grip something wrong or lift something too heavy or don’t consider the best way to pick something up. But it’s SO MUCH BETTER.

Despite the improvements, it has occurred to me that I may not be able to resume lifting weights for a long time. I miss lifting weights, but I am also not eager to reinjure myself. So I have been dithering a long time about getting some of the same strength training equipment I use at my PT’s office. Two products are currently in my cart: a set of resistance bands with handles and a set of superlong resistance bands. In the office, when I do the exercises the PT prescribes, my arms get pleasantly tired and my muscles feel like they are being challenged. Working with resistance bands really does feel like a workout, even if I’m not sweating buckets or, like, grunting with effort. I am sure I could find some more intense routines online that I could adapt at home.

I’m not really sure why I haven’t just ordered them already. Maybe today.

Obligatory feline
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Inevitable Dinner Guest Stress, Dinners This Week

We’re having friends over for dinner this week, so I am of course fretting over what to make for dinner. My main priority is prep-ahead-able – I’m sure there’s a better word for that, but eh. The point is, I want to have everything made and ready to assemble before they arrive; I do not like to cook under pressure. A salad seems like a great option. Maybe a this copycat of California Pizza Kitchen’s Thai Crunch Salad? I’d want to include a protein, though, and I’m not sure how to do that. Teriyaki chicken in the crockpot? 

I wish I felt more confident grilling stuff. Our grill is not great. It needs to be replaced, but it’s a big built-in unit and I don’t even want to think about what a replacement costs. It works, sort of (the ignition switch no longer ignites and one of the burners has a broken gas valve, so no gas comes out), so maybe we could grill chicken or something and have that with a big salad. This chicken fajita salad sounds tasty. 

Our friends aren’t coming over because they want a gourmet meal, I do know that. I am also aware of things like delivery pizza and takeout. But I still feel stressed about the food. (How much of my life have I devoted to Stressing About The Food? So, so much. How does one not stress about feeding guests when one seems to be wired for stressing?)

Onto feeding my own family this week. Once again, I am stumped beyond all reason. Dinner? Sounds familiar, I guess. What does one make and eat for dinner? Surely there are options, but none are occurring to me… 

Dinners for the Week of July 7-13

  • Slow Cooker Honey Chipotle Chicken Tacos: My husband volunteered this idea, and I am not one to turn down dinner ideas so this we will have.
  • Air Fryer Chicken and Waffles: Carla’s newest obsession is chicken and waffles. I asked her if she had any ideas for this week’s meal plan, or if she wanted to make anything for the family, and she suggested chicken and waffles. It sounds complicated but I am not one to turn down dinner ideas OR voluntary help in the kitchen, so on the menu it goes.
  • Lemon Butter Ricotta and Zucchini Pasta: There’s too much chicken on the meal plan already, but are there other proteins? Have I ever heard of a recipe that uses beef, pork, or fish? Probably not. Maybe I can get away with this vegetarian pasta by pretending zucchini are full of protein?
  • Slow Cooker BBQ Pork with Coleslaw: The last time I suggested this to my husband, he declined to approve. This time I may just make it anyway. I have my reasons: It’s not chicken, we haven’t had it in awhile, it’s easy, I have thought of it.

It took me an hour to come up with this list. Reminder: two of the items were provided to me by my family members. So I’m going to call it good; we’ll figure out what to eat for the rest of the week when we get there. 

Anybody else suffering from dinner-related amnesia???? 

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Nearly No-Cook Dinners This Week

We are in the midst of a heat wave and I am still expected to provide meals for my family. I may have scoured every blog post and online article about “best no-cook meals.” No, I will never make gazpacho, every blog post and online article about “best no-cook meals.” My husband and I discussed the options I bookmarked and landed on a good meal plan for the week. There are a lot of chickpeas, quinoa, and pesto on the list. The dinners are kind of cilantro heavy, though, so if you hate cilantro, consider yourself warned. 

Dinners for the Week of June 23-June 29

  • Street Corn Pasta Salad with Cilantro Pesto: The original recipe calls for goat cheese, but I am going to swap that out for cotija. I am also going to get us some grilled shrimp from the prepared foods section to add as our protein.
  • Ground Beef Tacos in the Crockpot: The taco meat requires cooking, but I’ll make it in the crockpot to keep our kitchen cool. I usually heat up corn taco shells in the oven, so I will have to figure out if I can stand doing that or if I can make them in our air fryer.
  • Pesto Farmer’s Market Salad with Grilled Chicken: My husband and I are weary of the (delicious) salads in our regular rotation, so we’re going to give this one a try. Instead of my go-to balsamic, this salad calls for a pesto vinaigrette which is intriguing. I will “grill” the chicken in our air fryer.

I am hoping that many of these dinners produce leftovers because I don’t want to use my oven for lunch, either.

When you think of Good Bread, what do you think of? My husband requested sourdough; I am happy to oblige. What’s your favorite summery salad? What else do you like to eat when you refuse to use the oven?