Trader Joe's Salad Hack

One of the nice perks of my office location is that I am a two block walk away from Trader Joe's and can pick up some last minute items for dinner. Alternatively, one of the not-so-great perks of working so close to a Trader Joe's is that I also pick up things that I really shouldn't be buying - like my favorite sea salt and turbinado sugar covered dark chocolate almonds or a prepared salad for lunch while I am at the store under the guise of "getting something for dinner." More often than not, I will find any excuse to go in there on my lunch hour (more on my lunch hour grocery shopping trips here).

When my husband and I play Rock, Paper, Scissors to see who wins the previous night's leftovers for lunch that day and he wins, then I just go to Trader Joe's for lunch. (Note to self: Watch linked video on how to win Roshambo every single time.) I try to find a healthy salad that isn't a total calorie bomb but will keep me filled for the afternoon. So while I am technically eating a salad almost every day for lunch, I am also paying about $4-$5 for these packaged salads which any person in their right mind would know is a royal waste of money. As I ate my favorite Vegetable & Grain Country Salad at my desk the other day, I took a quick look at the ingredients and realized that I was paying $4 for a whole lot of packaging and not a whole lot of salad. I resolved right then and there to make my own Country Salad (what, pray tell, makes it a 'Country Salad' Trader Joe's?).

This salad has simple ingredients and could not be any easier to make. The packaged version came with cooked bulgur wheat, garbanzo beans, two or three sad cherry tomatoes, some diced roasted red bell pepper and cucumber mixed together and placed on top of shredded cabbage.

Mine was the same but I threw in some basil and some edamame because I had it in the fridge. 

Vegetable & Grain Country Salad Hack
(Note: I cooked 1 cup of dry bulgur wheat in 2 cups water which yielded 4 salad servings for me)


Bulgur Salad:
1/2 cup bulgur wheat, cooked = .49 cents
1 Persian cucumber, peeled and diced = .17 cents (Six for a $1 at the farmer's market)
1/2 red bell pepper, diced (I didn't roast it) = .25 cents (2 for $1 at the farmer's market)
1/3 cup garbanzo beans = .33 cents
6 cherry tomatoes = Free from my garden
1 cup shredded cabbage = .15 cents ($1 per cabbage at the farmer's market)

Dressing:
(no measurements, just did it to taste)
Exrta virgin olive oil
Balsamic vinegar
Cumin
Squirt of lemon
Salt and Pepper                                                                                 

Total Cost:  $1.39

Crazy, right? All I did was cook 1 cup of bulgur wheat in 2 cups simmering water for about 15 minutes and  added extra virgin olive oil and salt and pepper as it cooked. I added a little more oil after it was done cooking, threw in the diced vegetables, mixed it together and put the mixture (about 1 cup total) on a bed of shredded cabbage. I made about four salads with 1 cup of cooked bulgur and then used the remaining ingredients for other things in our dinners that week.

This was a successful Trader Joe's salad hack in my book. I love that I can easily make this and can add in whatever vegetables I have in the fridge at the moment. I've added shredded carrot, minced shallots, green onions, edamame, etc. It's very adaptable and quite tasty. Hope you like it!

You Could Totally Make That

If you were to ever come along with my mom and I as we shopped together you would think we were nuts for the way we cluck our tongues and say, "Tsk... you could totally make that," to each other as we walk through a store. If we're in a fabric store and stop to browse through patterns, she'll  mutter, "Tsk... you could totally make that." As we stroll through Cost Plus and admire a hand-knit cowl she'll say to me in passing, "Tsk, you could totally make that."

And you know what? I could totally make those things if I had all the time in the world and no commitments and a staff of three thousand (I'm talking to you, Martha Stewart).

Still I love how we enable each other, often to the point of goading. Sometimes I'll bite and go for a project that is out of my league (and occasionally knock it out of the ballpark) and other times the project that I thought I could do in my spare time sits there as a reminder of how little time I do actually have and maybe I could manage it better.

The point of this long-winded rant is that last week I bought a bagged kale salad mix at a fairly high-end grocery store in my neighborhood. It looked good and I thought it might save me a few minutes in the kitchen one day. Sure enough, it did save me time but the dressing was so overly sweet that I threw it out and made my own quick dressing by copying the ingredients on the back of the bag and omitting the sugar. I could practically hear my mom say, "You could totally make this."

So a few days later I had a bunch of kale in the fridge and a lot veggies leftover from our New Years resolution week. I put the salad together and not only did I knock it out of the park in terms of taste, but it gained another fan - my two year old.

I sat down with her so we could eat our lunches together, she with her peanut butter and jelly sandwich, cheese crackers and sugar snap peas and I with my salad. I got up for a moment to get us a drink to have with our lunches and when I came back, I saw this:

And this 

(Disclaimer: No chocolate chips were used in the taking of these pictures)

And this

I have no explanation for this other than the Rapture is coming, ya'll.

Kale Salad With the Works (aka You Could Totally Do This On Your Own Without a Recipe)

1 bunch kale, washed and torn into bite-size pieces
1 handful chopped red cabbage
1 shredded carrot
1 handful pomegranate seeds
1/2 can garbanzo beans, drained
1 quarter of a preserved lemon, chopped fine

Dressing (shake in a jar to combine):
1 lemon, squeezed
2 Tbls. EVOO
1-2 drops of sesame oil
1 Tsp. sesame seeds, toasted
Few drops of hot sauce
1 Tbls. rice vinegar
2 green onions, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Mix the veggies in a bowl and toss with dressing. Let it sit for 30 minutes in the fridge before eating. The lemon does something magical to the kale to make it softer. If you happen to have a two year old nearby, leave them with this salad alone in a room and watch quietly from around the corner. It's like watching a leprechaun find his pot of gold. Seriously.