Bloody Mary Tomato Salad

As I have mentioned before, I like taking well known flavors out of their usual form, to make it into something else. I realize that Bloody Mary's are of the love/hate category for most but hear me out when I say that my not-so-much-of-a-bloody-mary-fan husband bonded so well with these flavors, that he went back for seconds. I put a whole new twist on something he thought he wasn't crazy about and I just may have made him a believer.

Bloody Mary's aren't just for for curing a hangover from a fun night out. They also aren't just for sipping leisurely each morning on a Pawley's Island bachelorette beach weekend. On New Year's Eve, I turned them into soup shots (recipe coming next week) and this past week, I turned the beloved savory cocktail into a salad.

Fresh, tiny tomatoes mixed with salty olives, crunchy celery and pickled onions all swimming in a dressing made with horseradish, champagne vinegar and Worcestershire sauce. Don't leave out the celery seed. I believe it's the finishing touch that rounds out all of the flavors. This Bloody Mary Tomato salad was the star of the night on a plate with grilled steak and roasted asparagus bundles.

Bloody Mary Tomato Salad

recipe adapted from Epicurious

1 cup finely chopped red onion

3 Tbsp. champagne vinegar, divided

1 lb. cherry tomatoes, halved

1 lb. grape tomatoes, halved

1 cup chopped celery hearts

1/2 cup chopped green olives

2 Tbsp. olive brine/juice

2 Tbsp. prepared horseradish

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp. hot pepper sauce

1/2 tsp. celery seeds

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

Kosher salt & freshly cracked black pepper

Mix 1 Tbsp. of champagne vinegar and the chopped onion. Set aside for 10 minutes, tossing often.

Add tomato, celery and olives.

Whisk remaining 2 Tbsp. vinegar, olive juice, Worcestershire sauce, hot pepper sauce and horseradish in a medium bowl. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Add dressing to bowl with tomato mixture and add salt and pepper to season. Cover and chill for at least one hour prior to serving.

Oh the Weather Outside is...Weather

As I look out the window, it looks like a beautiful, giant snow globe! The snow has not stopped since is started early this morning and I kind of love it. A cozy day at home is one of my favorites found in the life category of "little things". There's also something about days like these that make me crave all of the music that I play nonstop from the time Halloween leaves us all the way through the 12th day, and then some, for good measure. Because I do try to save Christmas music for that special time of year (even though it pains me), I like to make Winter playlists to enjoy on snowy day. What is winter music? "Transitional" tunes that linger a bit longer than the rest and help ween me off of my holiday high but still give me that ridiculously warm feeling inside. You know. All those songs that are happy and joyful and festive but really don't really scream Christmas.

If this playlist comes as a surprise for you, you don't really know me at all.

The Perfect Winter Playlist

1. I've Got My Love to Keep Me Warm- Frank Sinatra

2. Winter Wonderland- Jason Mraz

3. Winter- Joshua Radin

4. Linus & Lucy- Vince Guaraldi

5. Baby It's Cold Outside- Zoey Deschanel & Leon Redbone

6. I Love the Winter Weather- Tony Bennett

7. Winter- Antonio Vivaldi

8. The Peppermint Twist- Joey Dee & The Starliters

9. Jingle Bells- Diana Krall

10. Sleigh Ride- Ella Fitzgerald

11. Let it Snow!- Michael Buble

12. Winter Song- Sara Bareilles & Ingrid Michaelson

13. Nutcracker Suite- Brian Setzer Orchestra

14. Frosty the Snowman- Harry Connick Jr.

Snack Time

My palate is that of a foodie adult but my eating schedule is pretty childish. I like to think it will keep me young. Ha! Three meals are a must and I even though I don't have much of an appetite in the morning, I rarely skip breakfast. If you are like me, a snack is an essential pick me up between lunch and dinner. Here are some of my favorite ways to spend snack time:

• Small cup of plain Greek yogurt with pomegranate seeds, a few crushed pistachios and a drizzle of honey
• Sliced apple/celery with 2 tablespoons peanut or almond butter
• Cucumber slices dipped in mashed avocado with lime juice and sea salt
• White bean hummus with vegetable dippers (cucumber, bell pepper, celery)
• Kale chips
• 2 hard boiled eggs
• Grapefruit (it's especially delicious this time of year when it's in season)
• Frozen grapes- these are so delicious and have the consistency of mini, bite sized sorbets!

Do you have any other healthy snacks that you love? Send them my way and I'll add them to this list. I'll link this post in the snacks section of my recipe tab.

Eating Seasonably!

I found this neat little chart via Pinterest and I didn't think it would be very nice to keep it to myself. If you are trying to eat fresh foods, use this as a guide as you plan your meals to focus on what's in season.

Source: matchstickmolly.com via Nina on Pinterest

Curing the Holiday Hangover

With the holidays behind us, so is all of the reckless eating. Cookies constantly within an arm's reach and an eggnog latte or peppermint mocha coffee break just to enjoy and savor the beloved red cup. And there always an excuse for an extra cocktail. Or five. I don't eat everything in site but I also don't spend my holidays worrying about every morsel I put in my mouth because honestly, I just enjoy it and know that we'll return to our regularly scheduled eating habits once the season comes to an end. What's fun about indulging if you have to rationalize everything you eat? This also goes for every extra dollar that has cause the grocery budget to just be completely ignored.

The cookies are gone, the red cups are no longer available at Starbucks (sigh) and it's time to focus on cleaning up a bit and getting back into our usual routine and stocking our refrigerator with healthy fuel. I have said this before, but I don't like the word diet. You can't stick to a diet. You CAN stick to a lifestyle. And that's how we do it around here.

I meal plan every week. Ashley and I did it while living in our apartment and I have never gone back. At the beginning of the week, I sit down with my laptop, cookbooks and recipe binder and plan our dinners for the entire week. I find that one trip to the grocery store a week not only saves me time, but saves me money! Shopping with a well thought out list is key. I do most of my grocery shopping around the perimeter of the grocery store and besides a select few items, I try to stay out of the aisles since that is where most of the trouble is.

If you are in need of some healthy recipes to jump start your new year, keep reading! Below is a week worth of clean and healthy dinners, plus one for good measure. With the exception of the soup, all can be made in under an hour, making them ideal for your weeknight menus. I added many of these to our dinner menu for last week. Some are new, some are from my daily web browsing and some are my own blog recipes that I cleaned up with a few simple swaps.

Salmon roasted with fresh lemon & garlic

{salmon fillet, 2 cloves garlic minced, 6 lemon slices, salt,

pepper, brush of olive oil, 20 minutes on 350*. Easy!}

Roasted Red Pepper Pistachio Pesto

Simple baby greens salad with balsamic vinaigrette

The Culinary Couple's Tortellini Soup- one of my favorite all time recipes

(Double the sausage, skip the tortellini)

Grilled Chicken Breast with Olive Tapenade

Baby spinach salad with champagne vinaigrette

Garlic & Herb Dijon Roasted Pork Tenderloin

Green Beans Salad with Pickled Red Onions and Fried Almonds

Roasted Chicken Thighs

Spinach salad with sauteed mushrooms and Warm Bacon Vinaigrette

Asian Beef Lettuce Wraps

(Use ground sirloin and swap Hoisin sauce for 2 tbsp. natural peanut butter)

Seared Marinated Flank Steak

Pan roasted brussels sprouts

(I use olive oil instead of butter)

Tomato, cucumber and red onion salad with red wine vinaigrette

Grilled chicken breast over romaine & baby greens

cucumbers, grape tomatoes, green onions and avocados

Simple Caesar Dressing

Cheers clearing out the bad, shopping smart and to a fresh start in the kitchen in 2012!

Movie Night Popcorn

I'm known to fall asleep while watching movies at home. It happens, and I don't even try to fight it. Unless it's The Holiday. I always seem to stay awake for that.

Popcorn, however, is a game changer. Give me a little treat and my battery is instantly recharged. I'm totally a kid. We were feeling nostalgic last weekend while Meghan and Scott were here visiting, and we kicked off the weekend with popcorn made the old fashioned way- on the stove. I don't know that I will ever make popcorn any other way. If you follow these instructions to a "T", your movie nights will be forever changed.

Movie Night Popcorn

3 Tbsp. Canola oil

3/4 cup popcorn kernels

Melted butter & sea salt (we also like Morton's Nature's Seasons)

Heat oil in a large, heavy bottom pot on medium-high heat, about 5 minutes. To make sure the oil is heated, place 3-4 kernels in the pot and cover. When the kernels pop, add in the rest of the popcorn in an even layer. Cover and remove from heat. Count to 30. Return to heat and shake back and forth. Once the popcorn starts to pop, create a slight opening in the lid to let the steam out. When there are more than 3-4 seconds between each kernel pop, remove from heat. Cover and let stand for one minute.

Pour into a large bowl. Top with melted butter and sea salt or other delicious seasoning of your choice.

And don't fall asleep while you watch the movie.

All That Twinkled

The Christmas season seems to come and go too quickly. Or maybe I am just getting old. In my usual style, I enjoyed every morsel of Christmas cheer to the fullest! And then some. I don't like to rush through the holiday, and I savor all of my favorite things. In fact, our tree is still up and the lights are still twinkling. Growing up, our family tree stayed up through the 12th day of Christmas and I'm continuing the tradition in our home. Our holiday season was filled with lots of love, wonderful visits with our families and new memories together as we celebrated our second Christmas together as Mr. and Mrs.!

In a surprise inspired by my favorite Folger's commercial from yesteryear, I appeared in Charlotte a few days earlier than my family expected. Special thanks to my sweet husband for suggesting I spend a little extra time in Charlotte, and to my little sister Natalie, my blonde Sister Sophie and my little Elfin nephew, Jack for conducting a top secret airport pick-up. "Operation Peter" was a success. (I have to find a way to get the video that Nat recorded on my blog. Oh yes! We have video documentation to give Folger's a run for their money).

I surprised everyone (except Nat who kept her lips sealed) and enjoyed a few extra days of uninterrupted time with my sisters and parents all under one roof! There is nothing quite like it. And no explanation for these pictures. Extra dirty martinis and steamers anyone?

Have I ever mentioned we all plan our time according to what we want to eat? Peppermint chocolate chip milkshakes from Chick-Fil-A were a non negotiable treat. I only wish I could have gotten the ordering process on video. God bless the sweet 15 year old working in the drive thru.

Mark and I enjoyed Christmas eve with his sister, brother-in-law and 4 of our sweet nieces and nephews in Columbia. We even got to go outside the kids' windows with bells and play Santa!

Before going tucking in for the night, we drank peppermint hot chocolate and left out cookies for Santa.

Santa came!

Christmas day at the Nido house was magical, as usual.

How bromantic!

LOVE.

Annual sister photo shoot in front of the tree!

Santa Bears! 1985, 1987 and 1992 editions, respectively.

The food. Oh, the food. (plenty of cocktails, too!)

Homemade pasta is a post-Christmas meal must! Thanks, Andi!

The perfect way to top off the magic? Ringing in the New Year with our dear friends who came to visit, Meghan and Scott! (just wait until I post our New Year's Eve 2011 menu! TO. DIE. FOR.)

Wishing everyone much peace, love and joy in 2012!