Sunday salad #8- fruit salad

This is the last salad in this series, I hope you try some of these. This one is a tart and sweet, refreshing, healthy salad. You could eat this as a dessert alternative if you choose.

FRUIT SALAD
2 c pineapple
1 c mandarin oranges
1/2 c dried cranberries
1/2 c sunflower seeds
1/2 plain yogurt
chopped parsley
-toss all together

President's Day

Washington's Birthday is a United States federal holiday celebrated on the third Monday of February. It is also commonly known as Presidents Day. Titled Washington's Birthday, a federal holiday honoring George Washington was originally implemented by an Act of Congress in 1880 for government offices in the District of Columbia and expanded in 1885 to include all federal offices. As the first federal holiday to honor an American citizen, the holiday was celebrated on Washington's actual birthday, February 22. On January 1, 1971, the federal holiday was shifted to the third Monday in February by the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. This date places it between February 15 and 21, which makes the name "Washington's Birthday" a misnomer, since it never lands on Washington's actual birthday, which is February 22. While Washington's Birthday was originally established to honor George Washington, the term Presidents Day was informally coined in a deliberate attempt to use the holiday to honor multiple presidents, and is virtually always used that way today. In honor of Presidents Day, here are a few quotes by some of our most famous presidents, including Washington. 

"Associate with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation; for it is better to be alone than in bad company."--George Washington

"Facts are stubborn things."--John Adams

"With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."--Abraham Lincoln

"So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself—nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance."--FDR

"A child miseducated is a child lost."--JFK

"My fellow citizens, our Nation is poised for greatness. We must do what we know is right and do it with all our might. Let history say of us, "These were golden years - when the American Revolution was reborn, when freedom gained new life, when America reached for her best."--Ronald Regan

"Let us all take more responsibility, not only for ourselves and our families but for our communities and our country."--William J. Clinton

"Americans... still believe in an America where anything's possible - they just don't think their leaders do."--Barack Obama

Sunday salad #7- black bean salad

Here's a salad you can make straight from the pantry, of course you can use fresh ingredients rather than canned. This is a great recipe to take the help from the store, and again, easy and hearty.
BLACK BEAN SALAD
1 can corn
1 can black beans
1 can roasted tomatoes
3 cloves minced garlic
garlic powder
fresh chopped cilantro
-toss all together
-serve as a salad or salsa

SNOW!

valentines for my valentines

Saint Valentine's Day, commonly shortened to Valentine's Day, is an annual commemoration held on February 14 celebrating love and affection between intimate companions.The day is named after one or more early Christian martyrs named Valentine and was established by Pope Gelasius I in 500 AD. It was deleted from the Roman calendar of saints in 1969 by Pope Paul VI, but its religious observance is still permitted. It is traditionally a day on which lovers express their love for each other by presenting flowers, offering confectionery, and sending greeting cards (known as "valentines"). The day first became associated with romantic love in the circle of Geoffrey Chaucer in the High Middle Ages, when the tradition of courtly love flourished. (quoted from Wikipedia).

Here are some Valentine cards I created out of scrap paper, stickers, and markers. I cut them to fit in the envelops I had left over from the holidays.

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!!!!!!!

sunday salad #6- orange rice salad

Here is a refreshing nice salad that can be a meal, it has rice,fruit, veggies, nuts for protein. You can use any rice you would like for this, brown would be nice, I used arborio, as it is what I had on hand.
ORANGE RICE SALAD
3 c cooked rice
6 celery stalks, sliced
6 scallions, sliced
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1/3 c raisins
1/3 c pecans, chopped
-toss with sauce
1 c yogurt
1/4 c fresh orange juice(1 orange)
1 Tbsp honey
1/2 tsp grated ginger
-toss and chill then serve

Lincoln's birthday

Lincoln quotes:
"You have to do your own growing no matter how tall your grandfather was."


"Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing."


"You have confidence in yourself, which is valuable, if not an indispensable quality."


"and in the end, it's not the years in your life that counts. It's the life in your years."

Valentine atc's

Valentines Day is about a week away, to get in the spirit, here are some Valentine themed artist trading cards...

Sunday salad #5- faux chicken salad

Happy Superbowl Sunday! Here's a salad to put into a pita, I call it faux chicken because I'm a vegetarian, but you could certainly use real chicken or turkey breast in this.

FAUX CHICKEN SALAD

4 fake chicken patties (I use the grilling type with breading)

6 celery stalks, roughly chopped

2 apples (peeled, cored, chopped)

1/2 c craisins, chopped

4 scallions, chopped

dressing:

1 c mayonaise

1/2 c plain yogurt

2 Tbsp honey

2 Tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp onion powder

-whisk together

-pour over all other chopped ingredients

-toss all together
-serve in a pita