New Year! More Vegetables!

Are you tired of the heavy decadent dinners and deserts of the holiday season? If you're not, is your waistline? I have hit my holiday goodie threshold. Actually I was really good this year. I’ve been trying to get back into shape. I started at THE WORST TIME during the year: right before Thanksgiving. Am I cruel to myself or what?? I had to fight off every food pusher, do gooder, and Christmas cookie cache. 

So now that we’ve past the season of eating it’s time to get back to the better things in life. Now don’t get me wrong the family time is amazing. I just wish there were less eating at family time; or maybe less cream and butter all at once. It seems like a terrible plan to have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years in the same very short span of time. I guess we needed something to get through the winter? But it hasn’t really been winter here yet. I’m still waiting for it to snow more than a passing flurry. But I digress. 

To start the year off right (no resolutions here, just good intentions) I started eating more vegetables. I have to say I love baby carrots, they’re so easy to pack for lunch and I can sit and eat them at my desk without making a giant mess!  I have found however that making a salad tends to work out better than just eating a bag of carrots like a horse. I end up getting a better mix of vegetables AND I can add fruit and/or cheese! I love strawberries and oranges in salads or ham and cheese. Lately I’ve been going to the Reading Terminal Market at lunch (yay only 1 ½ blocks from my office) to pick up vegetables for dinner and to add to lunches. Frying peppers have been my favorite of late. It seems as though they are in season most of the year. Not sure how that works but I’m happy (I’m assuming they’re grown in a greenhouse). Actually all the peppers looked great today. I was tempted to pick up more but I think the6 frying peppers will do until I can get back next week. I’m trying to branch out a bit so I’m not stuck in my carrot and peppers rut. I picked up some mushrooms too. I’m hoping to add them into a chicken bake or something, more to come on that.

One of my favorite salads is as follows:

1 baked chicken breast

Spinach

Strawberries

Orange slices or mandarin oranges

Sliced almonds

Strawberry vinaigrette

Give me my Kindle and this salad and I’m happy as a clam for a lunch break.

The last time I made this salad (New Year’s Eve) I made my own dressing. This may have been more work than it was worth. I found it a bit glopy. It tasted great but it was a fair amount of work. I may start the search for a good vinaigrette. I’ll keep you informed on my search.