Salads and a Splurge

I am so glad the long weekend is here because what a week at work! And a week of smoothies, simple stir fries, and salads for meals since I haven’t been grocery shopping in awhile and literally took the last two carrots from my fridge and some kale from the garden for a smoothie, I’m completely out of fruits and veggies now! I plan to change that at Costco later today, but I’ve had some fun salad creations for lunch and dinner salads this week like this kale salad with almonds, carrot ribbons, hemp seeds, and dressed with a mushroom dressing.

And this fun chopped mixture of red pepper, cucumbers, cherry tomatoes, cilantro, celery, pumpkin seeds, and more mushroom dressing.

A messy dinner salad of kale, zucchini and carrot ribbons, green onions, cultured veggies, and a curry hemp dressing.

And this lunch salad that’s a mix of the leftovers from the two above. :-)

I planned to do a grocery shop after work last night, but when hubby suggested we go to Il Fornaio instead, how could I resist?

Especially when the evening was started with a wonderful J Vineyards Pinot Noir.

And plenty of bread, their rosemary and olive breads are a serious weakness for me!

And we split the last bruschetta, my favorite vegan appetizer.

Il Fornaio recently started adding the calories to their menu for everything and it’s a little scary looking at the pasta dishes, especially the non vegan ones loaded with meat and cheese – about a day’s worth , or more, of calories for most people! The vegan minestrone had the lowest calorie count.

But I went with the vegan angel hair pasta dish which wasn’t too bad in calories either.

The sauce is amazing with chunks of garlic and basil, and the tomato chunks are fresh and crisp.

After we headed into the mall for a little splurge shopping at Lush.

I admit I’m kind of addicted to their amazing vegan soaps, but they’re a splurge since they’re not cheap at all!

This one smelled good enough to eat, so I ended up taking a huge bar home. :-)