Tuscan Potato Salad

I picked up a nice bag of Yukon Gold potatoes tonight at the grocery store, and thought I was going to grill them up with olive oil, garlic & rosemary in an aluminum foil pouch. However, my sad little pile of coals was really only big enough for the pork tenderloin I was grilling, so I quickly adjusted.

After consulting with a few cookbooks (1,001 Vegetarian Recipes, a BBQ book, and the Professional Chef), I finally remembered I had the Monastery Salads book. So many potato salad recipes perfect for our warm California evening. I pieced together some ideas, and produced:

Tuscan Potato Salad

About 1.5 lbs yukon gold potatoes
1 Cup (approx) shredded carrot
1/2 Cup (approx) chopped celery
2 hardboiled eggs, sliced
1 T capers
Juice of one lemon
Olive oil
Salt & pepper

Boil the potatoes until fork-tender. Run under cold water to cool. Cut into bite-size pieces in a medium bowl. Add remainder of ingredients, to taste. Toss and serve.

It's really easy, and much lighter than traditional gloopy, mayonnaisey pot. salad.

While the Bug thought the capers were "shocking," Juiceboy and I really enjoyed the salad with our tenderloin and snow peas. (The Bug tells me he liked the snow peas all on their own.)

We now have a subscription to Arrowhead

Having great-tasting, cold water delivered in gigantic batches to your house is a great way to drink more water. It’s always there, glugging up great bubbles, grumbling at you as you walk by.

We have gone through four huge jugs in two weeks, and will need another delivery in about two days (we get five ginormous bottles a month), doubling our consumption this month.

It’s a hot one!

No Wonder We're Fat!

Last night we sat down to what I thought would be a healthy, homemade dinner. And I realized as I looked over the dishes, it's no wonder we're fat. I'm filling up my family with all the wrong things.

I'd made turkey tacos. And while the substitution of ground turkey for ground beef was a good start, I should have gone farther.

Here's what I made:

Turkey Tacos
(one serving; all measurements approx.)

6oz ground turkey sauteed with taco seasoning
Two corn taco shells, warmed in oven
3 oz Refried beans (fat free)
2 T Chopped romaine lettuce
2 T salsa
3 T cheddar cheese

I'll post the total nutritional content for this later today (Dietwatch.com is down), but I'm sure it's not good. Where are my veggies? The tacos felt greasy just coming out of the package. And it just didn't seem like a well rounded meal.

I could have done a very similar meal, but made it salad based, and thrown in lots of veggies, skipped the cheese, and used one taco shell, or chips, for all three of us. And I'd use the salsa as the dressing.

And what did we have for dessert? Ice cream. No wonder Juiceboy felt junky this morning!

What do you do with Fresh Coconut?

On a whim I purchased a coconut. It sounds nice and sloshy. Once I get it open, what do you recommend I do with it?

Thoughts, recipes…?

The Mexican Challenge

Juiceboy and I both love Mexican food. I also enjoy other latino cuisines; true South American restaurants are a real treat for me.

We find ourselves running to the local taqueria way too often. I know gigantic burritos are not healthy for us, just on the shear volume of the food. (What, us, not finish what's on our plates???)

While I've been successful in swapping black beans for refried, and pollo asada (grilled chicken) for carne asada (grilled steak) for ole Juicy, I can't get him off the dairy wagon. the more cheese and sour cream, the better!

I've been getting a black bean and cheese burrito, thinking it was healthier than carnitas, and it probably is. But I watched the cook throw about 87 cups of cheese on top of the burrito, and my heart spasmed. So last night I ordered a *SALAD*. Of course, it came in a fat-fried shell, and had a thick layer refried beans, iceberg lettuce, and another thick layer of a yummy cheese.

Not your Weight Watchers salad.

So my challenge to you: send me your best HEALTHY Mexican recipes. Taste, nutrition and ease of cooking are important. Post them in the comments area here. The winner will receive a package of my favorite tortillas and a California avocado!