Tangy Dressing & Busy Eats

Whoa, almost Friday already – sweeeeet! The plus side of a really busy week is time flies. I’ll just say that it’s been another crazy week at work and today was particularly frustrating working with a software rep trying to iron out network and configuration issues for a large upgrade. Coming home to these sweet faces helps, Miko has been such a lover always ready for cuddle time when I finally crash in front of the TV in the evening.

Skipper is doing great as you can see.

He’s also been a sweetheart and seems to be feeling very good lately on his insulin, very energetic and one day I will get a video of his happy dance to post. He knows when it’s evening walk time and stands between us and the TV impatiently woofing letting us know we could get moving.

Sweet hubby knew it was a stressful day for me and had this amazing dinner ready when I got home that he created himself – curried quinoa with veggies, lightly steamed broccoli, and zucchini fries from Trader Joe’s.

All excellent, especially the zucchini fries which are vegan-friendly delights found in the frozen foods section. They’re a lot like tempura zucchini with a crunchy and greasy shell, but a fun splurge once in awhile.

I’ve been eating a lot of salads this week, like this huge kale salad I had for lunch with my mom. She also sweetly prepared artichokes and melon to go with it because I like a lot of fruits and veggies!

And leftovers, like this leftover tofu garam masala stir fry and steamed corn for lunch.

I also created a delicious dilly lentil and quinoa dish for dinner earlier this week that I free-handed with lemon juice, dill, salt, pepper, oregano… well I kept adding from the spice drawer until I hit a great flavor.

But the kitchen has been running low on fresh ingredients this week since I’ve had no time to get to the market. But that’s also a great time to use up items in the pantry and freezer like the bag of frozen juicer pulp in smoothies and finally using that frozen box of organic instant rice I grabbed awhile back. I used our last apple, carrots, and kale yesterday morning in an interesting smoothie for breakfast.

But finally made it to Trader Joe’s to load up after work so all is right in the world since I have a stockpile of ripe bananas to freeze.

And I found a seasonal goody in the frozen foods department that I can’t wait to try in smoothies – organic frozen figs!

Since I restocked with plenty of fresh veggies yesterday, I just had to make a huge salad for dinner and a new dressing to go with it. This ginger dressing is inspired by a recipe from Kirsten Suzanne’s Ultimate Raw Hemp recipe book, but I improved on it by subtracting the oil, using dates in place of agave nectar, adding more liquid for easier blending, using a better vinegar option, and making it easier with the ginger.

I coated a huge kale salad with it.

And called it dinner.

The dressing has a wonderfully creamy ginger miso flavor a lot like a restaurant quality dressing, I don’t think it needed the oil at all and really liked the tangy, slightly sweet, and bright flavor to balance the raw kale flavor.

Happy Friday eve! I’m ready and hope tomorrow goes smoother at work. This will be another fun packed weekend I’m looking forward to… mostly. After nearly 3 years of growing my hair out, I’m throwing the towel in since it’s officially hit my waist, well when wet since it’s naturally curly and that’s close enough! More on that insane journey later, but trying a new stylist is nerve racking especially for my naturally curly hair. Some get how it should be cut and some have traumatized me! So stay tuned! Plus my mom and I plan to try a new vegan/vegetarian place for Mother’s Day which I’m looking forward to!