30 Days of Salad Guest Blogger

It's Salad Sunday so you know what that means!  And today we have a super awesome guest post from Christina from Everyday Tastes!  So without further ado, her she is!

Hi there!  I’m Christina from It’s a Keeper, a food and cooking blog where I test recipes to see if they’re (you guessed it…) keepers.  Leslie has graciously let me take over Try to Keep Up and share one of my favorite salad recipes with you. 

I’m from northeastern PA and strawberry season is right around the corner so I thought I would share one of my favorite salad recipes that used strawberries!   I first made this salad last summer during a big family cookout.  Everyone was intrigued by whole grilling lettuce thing. 

This salad is a show stopper!  It’s absolutely gorgeous when it’s assembled -- the bright green and red colors topped with the dark, almost black, syrupy reduction.  It was a piece of art, if I do say so myself.  Even though this picture doesn’t do it any justice!

I particularly like the flavor from the charred lettuce.  It adds an interesting level of flavor.   And, the tangy-sweetness of the balsamic reduction was complimented nicely by the creamy gorgonzola.  Grilled perfection! 

While this recipe is great hot off the grill, it lost a lot of its oomph when refrigerated over night. So my advice is, eat this immediately! Enjoy every last mouthful of this delightful salad.  Finish it all and don’t save it for another meal.

Grilled Salad with Strawberry Balsamic Reduction

Compliments of It’s a Keeper
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
1-½ cup Sliced Strawberries
1 cup Balsamic Vinegar
¼ cups Sugar
½ cups Crumbled Gorgonzola Cheese

2 heads Romaine Lettuce

Light your grill and set to high. While the grill is heating up, slice the heads of lettuce in half, length wise, leaving the core in.  Drizzle with the olive oil and set aside. Slice the strawberries.

To make the dressing, in a small saucepan, boil the vinegar, sugar and 1/2 cup of the strawberries. Once boiling, turn heat to medium and let it reduce by 1/3.  The consistency should be slightly thick and syrupy.

To grill the lettuce, place it on the hot spots of the grill so that it chars slightly and gets warmed.  Be careful not to wilt the lettuce. Keep turning it so that it’s evenly charred. This will only take a few minutes.

To serve, place lettuce on a platter, drizzle with the dressing and top with the remaining strawberries and the gorgonzola cheese.

About Christina

Christina is the Cook and Bottle Washer at It’s a Keeper, a blog that provides tried and true recipes that are easy to make and, most importantly, taste great!  It’s a Keeper is also about sharing her passion for cooking, recipes, helpful hints and ideas on how to cook more despite busy life.  You can find more delicious recipes like this one on It’s a Keeper.  You can also connect with Christina on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.

Thanks so much Christina!  I love your blog.  If you're stuck for something to eat just head to Christina's blog, you'll find something new and delicious!  Thanks for being a part of 30 Days of Salad!

You don't make friends with Salad! {Jill}

It's Salad Sunday and today we've got a great post from my little sister Jill from Envirocraftiness.  I should mention that she is headed out to Vancouver on WEDNESDAY! and I can't wait.  We'll be doing SO MUCH CRAFTING-you're gonna be overloaded with amazing goodness.  BUT until then, enjoy!

Hey all you Try to Keep Uppers! This is Leslie's little sister Jill from Envirocraftiness!  I've been on a grain/gluten-free-paleo kind of diet, and this salad was one of my experiments along that path.  Thanks to my big sis for inviting me over here (although I handle the technical stuff for her, so really I can hop over whenever I like!) I'll probably be back with more salads later in the summer! Enjoy! 

This salad is pretty much an original creation.  It all came about because I was at work, thinking, what do I want for supper?  The answer was "a steak and eating an avocado with a spoon."  And then I remembered I'm a grownup, and probably shouldn't eat an avocado with a spoon.  SO I created this salad instead!

What you need:

2                ripe avocados, chopped

1/2             English cucumber, chopped

1                small roma tomato, diced

                  crumbled feta cheese (adjustable to personal preference)

                  balsamic vinegar (adjustable to personal preference)

Toss all your veggies and cheese into a bowl.   Pour balsamic vinegar over all of it, and stir! 

Serve up with a steak done your favorite way! We still had a solid wall of snow blocking the BBQ when I made this, so I settled for pan-fried (is that what you call it?!) with some Montreal steak spice.

There you have it - a quick, easy, and grain free meal!

 Heaven!
Feel free to visit me for more crafts, recipes and fun over at Envirocraftiness!!  

~JILL

Citrus Summer Scrub

I told you I'd have more!  And man, has it been beautiful here!  An amazing start to May here on the Lower Mainland - the last couple of days have broken records.  I love the heat, Ty doesn't.  I was so inspired by the sunshine and lovely weather that I whipped up this citrusy salt scrub to perk up your summer skin!

What You'll Need

Coarse Sea Salt or Epsom Salts

Glycerin or Olive Oil

Grapefruit Essential Oil

Lime Zest

Scoop out your salt in the container you'll be putting the finished scrub in and dump it into a clean, dry bowl.

Add in your oil.  I like Glycerin because of it's humectant properties (it draws and holds moisture to the skin! woo hoo!)  But never fear you can add in olive oil with it too!  Stir it all up to make sure it's mixed well.  You don't want it too wet, it should look and feel like wet sand.

Then add in your essential oil.  I LOVE grapefruit.  It's such a fresh scent, so I'm pretty generous with it in this scrub.  Then zest a lime and add that in.  Seriously this is my favourite scent combo.  I don't know why more beauty lines don't put these two together, because they are just awesome!  

Give it one last final stir and pop it in your air tight container.  When you go to use it the first time it will probably have separated, so give it a swirl with a dry finger first to re-combine all the goodness.  It's quick and easy and makes a perfect Mother's Day gift.

Salad Sunday #1 - Caprese Salad

Welcome to the first installment of 30 Days of Salad!!!  If you're new to 30 Days of Salad welcome.  Wanna know how I came up with this weirdo idea?  Here's the history for a quick laugh! 

This is one of my go-to salads during the summer and since it's nice and quick I thought it would be a good kick off to the 30 Days of Salads Bonanza!  Granted, it's a salad that I eat so fast I never manage to get a photo of it :(  That's how good it is!

2 Roma tomatoes

fresh basil

balsamic vinegar

EVOO

fresh mozzarella or boccaccini

Not much to do here.  Cut up your tomatoes into chunks and toss them in a bowl.  Slice up some fresh basil and throw that in too!

I cut my boccaccini in half so it matches the size of my tomato pieces.  Drizzled with balsamic vinegar and just a splash of olive oil.  Finish with some salt and pepper and go to town!

The great thing about this salad is it can feed 1 or 10 just increase all the ingredients!  And you can make it fancy like the incredible Ree Drumond aka The Pioneer Woman.  Doesn't hers look incredible, all layered and drizzled?!?!?! So gorgeous.

Stay tuned for next week's salad...which may or may not be from my little sister Jill from Envirocraftiness!  See you then!

Nail Art Again

After so many people complimented me on my funky nails last week, I felt compelled to do another set.  Polka dots for spring!

I started by rubbing this Aveda Cuticle Control into my cuticles.  I  left it on for a bit and then washed my hands thoroughly.  

I used Sally Hanson "Commander in Chic" (left) as my base, Essie "Ladylike" (middle) for the polka dots and OPI Nail Envy as my top coat (far right).

First I started with the "Commander in Chic", with a solid two coats to create a nice even base.  I had wanted to put white polka dots on the grey/purple, but the original white colour I tried wasn't white enough.  I so decided to go with the pinky Essie colour.

I used a head pin and dipped it in the Essie colour and proceeded with the polka dots.  As anonymously suggested I did my right hand first and then the left hand.  Sadly this time around my right hand looks much nicer.  Weird!

Do you have any nail art designs you'd like to see me attempt?  Let me know by leaving me a comment!  Thanks so much for stopping by!