White Bean Salad with Tomatoes, Avocado, and Smoked Salmon

Photograph by Britta Lokting

I've been getting tired of eating sandwiches for lunch; it's a classic go-to and easy to throw some ingredients on two pieces of bread, but I wanted to mix it up a bit and nix some of the carbs. The smoked salmon was a last minute add-in, but great for supplemental protein and omega-3 fatty acids. This white bean salad is a great alternative to the traditional lunch sandwich, plus it's light and fresh for Spring. There are many substitutes for this recipe and it would be a great one to experiment with. One can of beans yields about two servings.

Ingredients:
1 avocado; halved and chopped
1 can of white beans; drained and rinsed
Romaine lettuce; chopped
Bunch of cherry tomatoes; sliced lengthwise
Smoked salmon; sliced into 1 inch pieces
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves of garlic; crushed
Salt  & pepper

To make:
In a large bowl, mix the beans, avocado, lettuce, tomatoes and smoked salmon together. In a separate small bow, whisk the olive oil, garlic and salt & pepper. Pour the dressing over the salad and mix together. Season with more salt & pepper.

Earth Day

Photograph by Britta Lokting

Happy Earth Day! I celebrated by going back to my childhood and making dirt cups. I doctored it up a bit though because I a) hate pudding, b) don't like regular Gummies, only sour ones, and c) I wanted to make it a tad healthier than the dirt cups from back in the day. I love, love dirt cups though because to this day, my go-to topping on any ice-cream or frozen yogurt is always Oreos.

Aside from making these yummy pick-me-ups, I am also observing Earth Day every day by trying my hardest to recycle here. It is tough in New York because all trash goes into one bin-area, but I try to separate my plastics out and always recycle at work. And, thanks to my mom's great influence, insistence and knowledge-sharing, I use products and buy groceries without chemicals, pesticides, BPA, formaldehyde, and other harmful toxins for the environment and myself. :)

We only have one Earth, so take care of it!

Ingredients:
Chocolate Greek yogurt
Newman's "Oreo" cookies
Sour gummy worms.

To make:
Pour the yogurt into a plastic cup (or a small plant pot to get really into it).
Crush the cookies in a plastic Ziploc bag and sprinkle on top of the yogurt.
Insert the worms and enjoy.

Orchid Show

Saturday night Dave and I went to the Orchid Show at the Botanical Gardens - they have parties at night with orchid-inspired drinks and a live DJ. I went to this show last year, but it was much more of a fun, kind of romantic, party scene this time around. Orchids have always been my favorite flower; I love how many unique, different species there are and how each one looks as if it has been hand-painted. I also love that they are a tropical flower, which reminds me of warm rain forests and hot jungles. The orchids floated on still, black ponds and hung from canopies entwined with moss, ferns, and other bright plants I could not name. The show was beautiful. I especially loved the orchids that looked like they had faces and fangs.

Springtime in the Botanical Gardens.
All photographs by Britta Lokting.

Orchid House.

After-party portrait shots...

Barbecue Tofu over RIce

Photograph by Britta Lokting

Since moving into the city, I feel like I have had a lack of protein in my diet - I don't eat a lot of fish (if any) when I go out and I have yet to cook it. I'm not a huge fan of tofu by any means, unless it's deep fried at a Japanese restaurant or in my miso soup. But, in need of some substantial protein, I stumbled across this recipe on the vegetarian blog, Leaf and Grain and was intrigued. I ended up using different ingredients and concocting my own version, but I loved the idea of baking tofu - and better yet, spicy barbecue tofu. I would definitely make this again. It was cheap, easy and lasted me for three meals. Oh, and it's a good source of protein. I eyeballed the measurements for the most part, especially since the majority of them are condiments.

Ingredients: 
1 onion, chopped
Ketchup
Cayenne
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
Worcestershire sauce
Hot sauce
Salt & Pepper
1 cup rice
1 package tofu, pressed, and cut into pieces.

To make:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
Line the tofu pieces on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and set aside.
In a sauce pot, cook the onions until softened.
Add the tomato sauce and cayenne and stir until thick.
Add the remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly.
Paint (or spoon) the sauce onto the tofu pieces.
Bake for 20 minutes, flip the tofu pieces, spoon the remaining sauce onto the other side, and bake for another 20 minutes.
Serve over rice.

Spicy Tuna Melt

Photograph by Britta Lokting

In this city where everything is incredibly expensive, sandwiches are cheap to make. Tuna melts don't take much (if any at all) brainpower, but I like to add a little something-something to my melts  - other than just tuna and mayo - to give it a kick: hot sauce and dijon mustard. I love spicy and hot sauce is essential in making this happen.

Ingredients:
2 slices of bread
2 slices of sharp cheddar (or any other kind of cheese; I like to mix and match mine).
1 can of tuna
Mayo
Hot sauce
Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper
Butter

To make:
Combine the tuna, mayo, mustard, hot sauce, and salt & pepper in a bowl. The measurements are personal, so just experiment.
Butter the outside of the bread slices and cut in half.
Assemble the tuna and slices of cheese onto the bread halves.
Grill on a pan or panini maker, flipping them halfway through if using a skillet.