The DragonLady is at it again. Hopefully for the last time for a few days. That said, I still have a few veggies in the fridge that will need to be cooked or frozen. Actually, I made 2 dishes Monday night, and 2 last night. I called myself done, but there is still some veggies in the fridge that need something done with them. I really hope they will make it until Saturday ’cause I’m tired.

Monday night I made Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad and Vegetable Tian. First a confession. I’ve never had any dealings with avocado beyond guacamole (already prepared) and sushi (again, already prepared). So as I started peeling the avocado, I was hit with unexpected sliminess. I had to quickly message the avocado “expert”, Karyn with the question, “Is avocado supposed to be slimy?” She has never had a slimy one, so I tossed that one, and the second one wasn’t quite so bad, but it was still on the soft side. I’m thinking they were just overripe?

Slimy avocado or not, the Zesty Lime Shrimp and Avocado Salad turned out alright:

It’s quite oniony. It would seem as though I saturated myself with onion as that is all I could taste yesterday.

In the meantime, I figured it would probably be a good thing to feed the kids since I bought some chuck steaks just for that purpose. And to be honest, I needed a “main” to go with the Vegetable Tian, which was pretty good, but I couldn’t get it to ring around a squared off dish. So it didn’t look as pretty as the photos in the recipe. Not that I took a photo of the finished dish, just an overflashed bad photo of the serving on my plate.

The taste made up for the presentation, though I sliced a few of the potatoes a bit thick and those didn’t get quite as done as I would like.

Tuesday is run day, so no cooking. Not that there was any running either because 1) I overslept and didn’t have time to pack my gym bag, and 2) I ran over something on the way home that got stuck in one of my tires necessitating me changing the tire. That cost me 45 min, so I would have missed the run anyway.

Last night, though, I went back into the kitchen like a mad woman. Mad because it was day 4 of a headache (which I still have, but I think today’s is weather and not food withdrawl), and I’m ready for the detox to be over and to start feeling great like this healthy, chemical-free diet is supposed to produce. So I started in first on the Quinoa Cakes. I eat quinoa and amaranth for breakfast with bananas, blueberries, and cranberries. I love quinoa, and it’s all kinds of protein & nutrient rich.

Makes a sticky mess of a “batter”:

Made the patties by scooping it out with a 1/4 cup measuring cup per hint in the recipe.

The first batch was iffy because the skillet wasn’t quite hot enough. Nothing sticks to that pan unless you drop something in oil that isn’t all the way hot. FYI…

The second and third batches turned out fine with no sticking, and this stuff is the BOMB!!! I know I said that about the taco salad too. But this is all fried. I love fried.

So finally, I was ready to finish off the last of the recipes I had picked and printed out. Roasted Eggplant Salad with Smoked Almonds and Goat Cheese. Ok, I didn’t have any smoked almonds, nor the desire to turn the almonds I had into smoked almonds, so I used raw almond slivers…because I have way more than I needed for the one recipe that called for almond slivers. I also did not have fresh parsley. I don’t think either of those would have made any difference. However, there wasn’t anything in the ingredients list I didn’t like, and the picture looked appetizing so, I went for it.

Pre-roast:

Post-roast:

Final product:

Not so great. Not bad, and I’ll be able to eat it, but I won’t be making it again. It’s not that good.