Cucumber Bacon Salad

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Full credit goes to my sister’s co-worker who told her about this little gem and she passed it along to me! Threw it together yesterday and it is super tasty (odd combination I wouldn’t have normally thought to put together), but nonetheless will add this to my rotation! It reminds me of a BLT in salad form. I think it normally calls for spiralized cucumber but I just didn’t have time to do that over lunch yesterday and I’m also not sure if it has an official name. So, thanks to my sister’s co-worker whom I have not met 🙂

Cucumber Bacon Salad

  • Cucumber (sliced, spiralized, etc.)
  • Cherry tomatoes, halved
  • Bacon pieces
  • Mayo (I use Primal Kitchen)
  • Dash of salt/pepper

I didn’t measure any ingredients, I just eyeballed it so feel free to use as much of each ingredient as you prefer for your own taste. Toss them all together and enjoy fresh (this would be a great dish to make for any kind of party, tailgate, etc.)!

 

Italian Zoodle Alfredo

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I’ve been buying zoodles of all types to use in cooking lately – a way to eat more vegetables without the blood sugar spike of pasta, and the heaviness that comes with eating grains. I have a spiralizer, but for some reason buying them pre-spiraled just works better for me right now, plus they literally pack them in so tight there are a ton in each container! Currently in the fridge I have butternut squash, zucchini and beet zoodles!

I was wanting something warm and comforting the other night so I decided to make zoodles with marinara – simple, and tasty. I opened up my organic sugar free jar of marinara (good until August 2017), and there was what looked like a giant slimy booger on the inside of it…which later I think I determined was a “mother” that had grown? Still, not 100% sure what it was I tossed it and had to improvise. I ended up with an almost alfredo creamy garlic sauce with Italian flavors, and it was so good. Rich, hearty, full of healthy fats and there was none leftover.

Italian Zoodle Alfredo

  • 1/2 stick grassfed butter
  • 1 medium white onion, mince
  • 2 TBSP minced garlic
  • 6 oz heavy whipping cream
  • 8oz chicken broth
  • Butternut squash zoodles (eyeball it – maybe 2 cups?)
  • Zucchini zoodles (same as above, use as many as you’d like!)
  • 1 TBSP dried basil
  • 1 pkg crespone (or any uncured salami), cut up
  • 1 TBSP tapioca starch
  • Salt/black pepper

Full disclosure, I had random things in my fridge I wanted to use up which is how this came about (the heavy whipping cream leftover from the holidays – still if I have any dairy in my fridge it’s usually the full fat stuff). Add the 1/2 stick of butter to a pan and melt, saute the diced onion and two TBSP of minced garlic for about five minutes, then add the heavy whipping cream and stir. This thickened pretty quick, which is why I ended up adding the 8oz of broth. Add the butternut squash zoodles and saute for a couple minutes, then add the zucchini zoodles and saute for another five minutes. Sprinkle with the dried basil, cut the crespone with kitchen shears directly into pan, add the TBSP of tapioca starch (it was a little too thin after the 8 oz broth, so I thickened it back up – if you don’t mind more of a soup texture feel free to leave this out or use less broth) and season with salt and black pepper. Continue stirring until everything is well heated, serve!

Thursday Thoughts

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The secret of concentration is the secret of self-discovery. You reach inside yourself to discover your personal resources, and what it takes to match them to the challenge.

–Arnold Palmer

Goodbye, Puppy Lucy

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October 9, 2015 our favorite Golden, Puppy Lucy passed away suddenly. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t think of her in some form or another. I laugh about how funny she was, I smile at how she loved unconditionally and I cry that she is no longer here with us. I try to find solace in knowing with the tough life she had and all the health challenges she faced, that she is in a better more comfortable place now.

2015 was hard. Our year started with Seth returning home from a 7 1/2 month deployment, moving 10 days later across the country to Minnesota, me transitioning my job to remote, and then filled the rest of the year with lots of travel for the both of us. We barely saw each other, and my Dad got to spend a lot of time with his grand dog. That Friday in October we were really looking forward to date night. It’d been a while since we sat down in front of one another and enjoyed a nice dinner and conversation together. Lucy had been with my parents while we were both out of town, on the farm chasing squirrels and my Dad called me while I was in San Diego for work one day saying that all of a sudden she just wasn’t acting herself. I told him she had a little episode like that a few weeks prior, lasted a couple days and then she was back to her normal self again (she was still drinking, etc.), I told him to keep a close eye on her and if anything changed or escalated take her to the ER vet. He ended up doing that just a couple hours later when she wasn’t really moving and no longer wagging (if you knew Luc, you knew this was a bad sign). The vet diagnosed her with gastritis, prescribed antibiotics, and that seemed to help her snap out of it.

Fast forward to Friday, Seth goes down to the basement to do something and she follows him downstairs, but we realize a 1/2 hour later that she hadn’t come back up so Seth goes downstairs to see what shes up to. He found her laying at the bottom of the stairs, somewhat listless and breathing heavily. He came all the way upstairs to talk to me about it (I was getting ready for date night), and asked me to come downstairs to check on Lucy, he didn’t think she was doing very good. In that minute that he came upstairs to get me and me going down to the basement, she passed away. I found her at the bottom of the stairs with her tongue hanging out of her mouth. I knew immediately when I saw her and screamed for Seth, he ran downstairs and carried her limp body to the car while I called the ER vet with tears pouring out of my eyes, for directions and prep for them to come out immediately upon our arrival. We have never driven so fast in our lives.

We pulled right up to the front and they came out with a cart, we laid her down and they wheeled her back. We stayed in a private room, and then the ER vet came in and said attempts to restart her heart failed and there was no brain activity measured. They wheeled her back in so we could say our goodbyes and see her one last time. We opted not to have an autopsy done, most likely it was a seizure (she had canine epilepsy).

She was the best, most lovable, happy-go-lucky dog. Our little Puerto Rican Perrito we got when she was a mere 5 weeks old and 5lbs. She was a tiny fuzzball. I’m so thankful that she hung on through all of Seth’s sea time and deployments, made it to the farm, and got to spend the summer at the lake with Dad. I think she knew she had to wait for the best summer of her life.

We miss you, sweet girl ❤

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