A Little Bit of Sweet and a Little Bit of Savory

Jan here with a reminder that desperate times call for desperate measures...and they usually involve chocolate!

Sometimes on our trips to Sam's Club, we'll indulge in a treat for ourselves. The last time we went, it was my turn to choose...

The background is my Susan Branch
desk blotter calendar. I get one every year to add a bit
of whimsy to my office.

Yes, those are Dove Chocolate Promises. YUM! I've been making them last, only having one or three at a time....

The one in the green wrapper is salted caramel. The gooey salted caramel is wrapped in delicious Dove dark chocolate. I wish the entire container had been filled with that one flavor!

But it made me start thinking about that blend of sweet and savory - salt & caramel, apples & peanut butter, salted peanuts on a hot fudge sundae, etc. 

One of my favorite ways to blend the two tastes is in this salad idea I got from our friend Pam Hillman.

Yes, that is a can of tuna. And yes, that is an apple. You can substitute soy sauce for the Bragg's Aminos, and mayo for the wedge of Light Laughing Cow Cheese. Just dice the apple and blend everything together according to your taste...and don't knock it until you've tried it!

This is a delicious and filling low-fat, healthy-carb lunch!

Another sweet and savory combination I often have for lunch is a baked sweet potato. But not the way you're thinking - I don't load my sweet potatoes down with butter and brown sugar anymore! (Unless it's Thanksgiving...)

Do you see my secret ingredient? Yes! It's cumin!

When I want to have a sweet potato for lunch, I put it in the oven right after breakfast. I cut the ends off (to minimize the stringiness,) wrap it in foil, and bake it for 3 hours at 325° or 2 hours at 350°. By the time I'm ready for lunch, it's baked to perfection. The skin pulls off easily, then I split it in two and 1 teaspoon of butter, a dash of salt and pepper, and then plenty of cumin. 

What makes it so delicious? I'm convinced it's the combination of the sweet potato and the savory cumin. I'm always a little sad when I get to the last bite...

What is your favorite sweet and savory combination?

In doggy news, we had a couple gorgeous spring days before our snowstorm last week, so we took Sam to Custer State Park for the first time.

As soon as we were out of the truck, both pups had their noses to the ground! 

This is a service road, not an official hiking trail, but it is inside the park so wildlife is at large. We saw signs of bison (the buffalo chips were fresh!) and we know that deer, elk, antelope, coyotes and a huge number of other animals frequent this area. Smells abound!

Every dog's favorite hobby is finding sticks, right? Especially these two!

And especially when the "sticks" are actually trees that fell after some long-ago forest fire.

How much fun can a pup have?

We walked "in" about 15 minutes, let the pups rest, and then walked back "out." A nice easy hike for early spring.

The pups have a favorite treat on an occasional evening - 

I fill their Kong toys with a mixture of plain yogurt and puppy kibble, 

then throw them in the freezer for a few hours. They keep the pups busy during that freak-out time between supper and bed, especially when a storm keeps us inside all day.

Ah, the joys of raising puppies! I'm glad it doesn't last forever!

Jan Drexler is an author by day who is addicted to counted cross stitch and sauntering through the Hills with her dear husband and their puppies - goofy corgi Jack and baby border collie Sam. You can find Jan's books and other fun things on her website: www.JanDrexler.com.

Something Green for St. Patrick's Day

Missy Tippens

Happy St. Patrick's Day! I hope you're wearing green today. I used to have a cool pin that said "My Roots are Green" that I could wear. But it's long since disappeared. I'll have to remember green clothes today!

So...you're probably expecting some fun green dessert--like the pretty Green Velvet Cupcakes shaped like shamrocks that I pinned on Pinterest the other day.

But, no. I'm sorry. I won't be posting too many fancy desserts for a while because I joined Weight Watchers this week! I hope to be posting more healthy foods in the upcoming weeks.

So I'm sorry to say the green I'll be posting today is...


LETTUCE

Hahaha

I made one of my favorites this week. Mediterranean Tuna Salad. It's a recipe I found on a tuna pouch a few years ago (actually, it was called Tuscan Bean Salad), and I have altered it as I've made it.

Here's where I posted the original recipe back in 2013. I share some photos in that post.

This time, I didn't think of taking photos until I finished and it looked so beautiful! As you know, a lot of my foods don't look Pinterest ready. LOL But I think this one does. I made some changes this time when I made the salad.

I left out the onion and canned tomatoes. This time I had bought a beautiful pack of small grape and cherry tomatoes--some yellow and some red.

So here's my food to celebrate today. :) How many of you love tuna like I do?

www.missytippens.com

Apple Tuna Salad and a Cute Owl

Since apples seem to be the theme of the week (and deservedly so), I went back into my recipe file to see what I could find to share that would complement the wonderful recipes Mindy and Jan posted.

I discovered my apple tuna salad, and decided that would be a nice counterpoint to apple desserts.

I’m always looking for healthy, portable lunches that are high in protein because I need that protein to get through the busy school day.

Tuna salad is great, but all that mayonnaise no longer agrees with me.

I was looking for an alternative and sort of accidentally created a tuna salad that is extremely healthy and tastes great too. The key is shredded apples.


I’ve always loved adding apples and walnuts to my tuna salad but one day when I was tired of cutting up apples, I grabbed my vegetable grater.

  I shredded the apples and added them with a smidgeon of mayo (for flavor) and the walnuts.

WOW!


The shredded apples were the perfect counterpoint to the dry tuna so I didn’t need a lot of mayo or dressing. The walnuts added some extra crunch and filling protein.

Now I don’t think of eating tuna any other way.



Do you have any healthy ways you’ve changed up some traditional recipes?


And finally, I wanted to share my cute little owl. He's the happy byproduct of an unhappy event that made me so angry I wanted to vent.

I needed to buy a new bathmat so I headed to a local store after work today. I didn't see the bathmats where I expected them to be, so I went over to ask the owner where to find him.
I never got the chance, because the conversation I overheard made me SO angry that I stormed out of the store.

The store owner was talking to another employee about how he was going to fire two of his cashiers because they were handicapped. He went on to belittle these men with the most offensive language (I won't even repeat the mean words he used.) So instead of asking for help, I looked him in the face and informed him that he had just lost a customer.


But then I found myself on the street - still in need of a bathmat. There was really only one choice - a drugstore that sells medical items. I figured I'd give it a try. I was in luck. But they only had one color - light blue.

Okay, I thought. I can stand on a light blue bathmat in order to stand up to injustice.

And when I got home and opened it, this is who was inside.

So, now when I see my little owl bathmat, I shall smile.