Out With the Sweets, In With the Salads

UGGGGHHHHH! Feel the bloat? Thankfully the holidays are finally behind us and if you are anything like me, you have spent the past couple of months over eating and generally pigging out on sweets, booze and all of the other over indulgences that the season brings.
     We left the tundra of Wyoming on Christmas day, in our bus and came to Texas to spend the month at our friends place. I like to think of this little get-away as "research," since my February cooking class is going to be Street Tacos. Texas is the land of the taco and we spent a week in San Antonio, eating a lot of tacos. For research sake...and I'm taking one for the team here, by eating all these tacos.

One of my trial taco creations: Flank Steak, Creamed Cilantro Corn and Lime Creme Fraiche

My research assistant, Karen, and I even signed up for an authentic Mexican cooking class, hoping to score some good ideas and recipes. The night before the class we decided to map the address from our San Antonio hotel, so we would know where to go. Well it turns out we didn't read the fine print and it was a real authentic Mexican cooking class because it was seventeen hours away from San Antonio. As in OLD MEXICO. My Mercedes (which, by the way is pimped out with a real bumper, four good tires, rear view mirrors, running boards and a hood ornament) was not a ride that I wanted to take deep into the heart of Mexico. I envisioned it would come back looking like this, only with less paint. Same could be said about us.

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We had to scrap the class and forfeit our pesos. But hey....we remembered the Alamo! Been there, got the T-shirt.

So for now I've sworn off fried food (unless its bacon) and anything else that leaves a trail of grease running down my arm (unless its bacon), meaning I'll be filling us up on some lovely salads, like these (with bacon).
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I do love a perfectly poached egg and they aren't just for breakfast anymore. In case you hadn't noticed, poached eggs are showing up on everything from salads to burgers and I'm on that bandwagon. When you cut into that egg and the yolk runs over the salad greens it adds another dimension to the salad. Almost like it's another salad dressing. 

This is what a perfectly poached egg looks like! Autographed photos available upon request.

Last night I made us a spinach salad with bacon, blue cheese and tossed in an apple cider and Dijon vinaigrette and then topped it with a poached egg. With plenty of protein in this salad it was a satisfying meal. You can find the recipe under the "Soups and Salads" tab or in the "Recipe Index."

I've also been busy making a few changes to this Blog. The new tab, called "Recipe Index" now takes you to an alphabetical listing of recipes, which are direct links to a printable version.
     Plus, if you go directly to a tab, let's say "Seafood", you now will see a photo of the dish with the name, and by clicking on that link it will again take you to a printable version. I'm hoping that this will make it easier to find recipes. If you run across any snags, please let me know and I'll try to fix them.
  The little page on the far right, titled "Yesterdays Sauce" is pretty much useless, other than to list recipes (which are under the "Recipe Index" tab) so it's just filling up space. I'll probably make it go away.

Anyhow, try out this salad when you are ready to step away from all the holiday treats.


PRINT RECIPE: Spinach Salad with Bacon, Poached Egg and Dijon Vinaigrette


Move over my Bobby Flay.....taco recipes coming up next!

Tuna-Avocado Taco

Shredded Beef in Green Chile, topped with Mango Salsa and Cojita Cheese