Winter Salad {Kale + Clementines}

It's winter in Ohio: cold and varying shades of gray outside. Winter dishes usually consist of meat and something beige so it's time to bring a burst of color to the dinner plate. Most people don't think of winter as salad time but I'm a year 'round salad lover. Salads are such an easy way to get your daily portion of veggies into your diet and to help you stick to that new year's healthy eating resolution. 

Hardy, crunchy kale paired with sweet, juicy clementines and some nuts come together to make a fulfilling lunch salad or a cheery side to dinner. It's good, it's healthy (what a way to load up on all kinds of vitamins!) and it's easy. Dress with a little olive oil and vinegar and boom, you're done.

Kale and Clementine Salad

6-8 leaves of Lacinato kale
2 clementines
¼ cup pistachios**
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt, pepper

INSTRUCTIONS
Holding one end of the stem of the leaf of kale, use your hand to strip off the leaves.
Rinse and dry the leaves then cut into ¼ inch strips and put in serving bowl.
Sprinkle with salt and massage into the kale.
Peel the clementine and cut each segment in half. Add to greens.
Roughly chop the almonds and add to salad.
Dress with oil and vinegar and season with pepper. Add more salt to taste, if needed.

**I have made this salad quite a few times and have used toasted almonds, pistachios, sweet chili pistachios, and toasted pine nuts. They're all good!

52 Haikus {#10...Birthday!}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#10...Birthday!

Today is my first

daughter's (second child) birthday.

Twenty-eight years young.

52 Haikus {#8 and #9...Marion's Pizza 1 and 2}

fifty-two haikus

three lines and seventeen beats

snippets for a year

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 

#8...Marion's 1

Marion's pizza

Cut into squares, not slices

Dayton's tradition.

#9...Marion's 2

warm pizza box that sits

on my lap makes the drive home

so very cozy

Hello 2015!

My mom, who is 83 years old, subscribed to an old wives' tale at the end of each year. It went something like this, "You need to have a clean house before the new year comes. You don't want to take old dirt into the new year or else your house will be dirty for a year." 

Growing up, our house was clean all the time. It was Mom's nature to have a clean and organized house. Amazingly she did this with four kids whose age difference was five years. She cooked all of our meals. She ironed Dad's shirts. She got down on her hands and knees and scrubbed and waxed floors. She volunteered at school, went on class field trips and was PTA president. 

Well, the clean house gene skipped a generation. My house isn't messy and dirty, but it keeps that lived in look. Every year after Christmas, this old wives' tale starts whispering to me and I do my darndest to put all my Christmas decorations away and have a clean a dust-free house and every year, I bring my old dirt into the new year. And it frustrates me.

So I needed to solve this problem.

Rather than focusing on a chore, I focus on something I enjoy, which happens to be cooking. On January 1, I fixed a meal which revolves around foods that symbolize good things for the new year.

Pork Roast: 

Pigs are a lucky symbol because they root forward, thus symbolizing moving forward in life.

Hoppin' John: full of black-eyed peas, lentils, ham and collard greens.

Black-eyed peas...show humility and invite good fortune.

Lentils...because they are shaped like coins, an abundance of the tiny seeds symbolizes wealth.

Ham...because of its fat, it is served to bring a new year rich with happiness.

Collard greens...green is the color of money so greens symbolize wealth.

My sister-in-law's pasta salad:

Noodles...symbolic of long life.

Grains...stand for abundance.

Sauerkraut Soup with Kielbasa and Potatoes

It is believed that eating sauerkraut will bring blessings and wealth for the new year. Before the meal, those seated at the table wish each other as much goodness and money as the number of shreds of cabbage in the pot of sauerkraut. There was a lot of sauerkraut!

Circular foods or coin-shaped foods bring prosperity to those who eat them. These foods also symbolize coming full circle.












We shared this New Year's meal with dear friends while watching the Ohio State Buckeyes ROLL OVER the Alabama Crimson Tide. 

May this new year be full of good things for you. Happy 2015!