In A Nutshell

This is adapted from Food and Wine. You can easily substitute sliced, leftover, grilled chicken for the tuna.  It has a delicious peppery bite to it and you can feel it fending off evil as you ingest... Salad: 2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed 1 bunch dandelion greens, chopped (just the leaves- no stems) 1 can wild-caught tuna, drained or 1 grilled chicken breast, sliced 1 small can sliced green or black olives (as you like) thinly sliced red onion (I like to soak these in the dressing for about 15 minutes while I'm preparing the rest of the salad to take the sting out of the onion and thereby my breath slightly less horrendous after eating this salad) 1 can chopped hearts of palm, drained Dressing: 1/4 cup EVOO 1 t grated lemon zest 1/2 t salt freshly ground pepper 1/2 t honey 1/2 t Dijon mustard 1- 2 T fresh lemon juice (depending on how tart you like your dressing) Toss salad ingredients with dressing; season with salt and pepper to taste.  Refrig

2 wild caught Salmon fillets (this was skinless Coho from Trader Joe's) 1/4 cup Greek yogurt (or plain yogurt) juice from half a lemon 1/2 t kosher salt 1 t tandoori spice (I purchased this at T.J. Maxx) 1 T EVOO Mix all ingredients and spread on both sides of the salmon.  Let the salmon sit in the marinade for at least 1 hour.  Grill or broil for around 7 minutes or until done. The salad consists of Cara Cara orange, yellow and red beets, feta, avocado and almond slivers with a balsamic dressing.  I daresay the "penalty fish" actually tasted very good!

Meatballs: 1 jalapeño finely diced 1 lb ground chicken 1/2 cup coarsley grated zucchini 1/4 finely grated onion 1/4- 1/2 cup panko (you might need more to firm up the meatballs- I used 1/2 cup) 2 garlic cloves, pressed 1 egg, beaten 1 t ground cumin 1/2 t kosher salt Mix all ingredients together and form into 1" meatballs using moistened hands.  Arrange on a wax paper lined sheet pan. Soup: 1 T olive oil 1/2 small onion, chopped 2 garlic cloves, minced 1 T ancho chile powder 1 t ground cumin 8 cups chicken broth Vegeta seasoning to taste or 2 Knorr caldo de pollo cubes 1 cup coarsely grated zucchini 1/4 cup rice 1/4 cup fresh cilantro 1 T fresh lime juice (or to taste) Sauté onion and garlic until tender in the olive oil.  Add chile powder and cumin; stir 1 minute until fragrant.  Add broth and seasoning cubes or Vegeta and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.  Stir zucchini and rice into soup and cook about 10 minutes.  Gently drop

I would have never in a million years tried these (no butter, oil, flour or sour cream... what???) except that Julie swore by them to give her energy throughout the morning and more importantly for those dreaded runs. Now I am hooked on them!  I eat one every day either for breakfast or lunch (and I'll admit that I eat 2 at lunch...) They taste kind of like if a granola bar married a cupcake. 3/4 cup mashed bananas (from about 2 smallish very ripe bananas) 1/2 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1/2 skim milk 3 cups oats 2 t baking powder 1/2 t salt 1 t vanilla 1 t cinnamon 1/4 cup raisins (golden raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries... etc.) 1/4 cup mini-chocolate chips 1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional- my addition because I'm crazy about walnuts) Mix all ingredients.  Scoop into 12 greased muffin tins and bake at 350 until center comes out clean (around 16 minutes or so).  Delicious warm out of the oven but then store in the fridge well wrapped and reheat in

This is adapted from Trisha Yearwood; the original recipe called for 1/2 stick of butter!  It's not that I'm unwilling to eat half a stick of butter because you know I am-- just not in a salad! Dressing: 1/4 cup sugar 1/2 cup red wine vinegar 3/4 cup vegetable oil (I used 1/2 cup veg and 1/4 cup almond oil) 1/2 t paprika 1/2 t salt 2 cloves of garlic, pressed Salad: 1/2 can of rice noodles 1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted 1/4 sunflower or pumpkin seeds (roasted and salted) 1 head of romaine, washed and chopped 5 oz. baby spinach 1 cup grated Parmesan Sprinkle on the crunchy business right before serving.