YUM!

Jason went off to play Arcane Legions this morning, and I headed to Rivals to demo some SJ Games. Nobody showed to mine, but Jason's gonna be busy all day. So I cleaned house...and then....COOKED.

I'd bought the ingredients for my broccoli salad so I made that. Only I left out the bacon to try and make it healthier.

http://www.recipezaar.com/broccoli-salad-392715 (note: I recently got my first review! They loved it. YAY! I'm inspired to put some of my others up there.)

I always mix up the dressing in another bowl and pour it over the brocolli mix before mixing the whole thing together. And I pour it to one side. This is so I can then pour part of the un-dressed broccoli mix back into the dressing bowl, mix it, and get the dressing remnants out.

I did this, but still had some dressing bits. It's impossible to get them all out. So I shrugged, and threw some raisins and cashews in the dressing bowl after my salad was put in the fridge to chill. Maybe a quarter cup of each. And mixed. They were good...just coated enough to be slightly sticky and have the flavor - but not enough to SEE the dressing.

However, at this point I was TOTALLY smelling that apple cider vinegar and I wanted to do something more with it. And something way lower calorie/carb then my raisin cashew mix.

Green beans popped into my head. I don't know where. And so I opened a can of green beans, drained them, and popped them into a skillet. Then I used some of my leftover red onion and sauteed it with them. I added a bit of apple cider vinegar when the onions started to get translucent and mixed it up. Later, when the onions were carmelizing, i pulled it off heat and used more apple cider vinegar. There's no sauce to this, the vinegar cooked off almost immediately.

While I was cooking my beans, I was thinking about all the recipes I'd ever seen with beans AND nuts. I thought about mixing in my raisins and cashews, but decided that was a) too high calorie, b) something jason wouldn't help me eat, and c) a little too strong a flavor.

Inspiration hit. I opened up my fridge and found the spagetti squash i'd cooked friday. I heated up about 1/4 cup of that. I paired it with 1/4 cup of my beans and then sprinkled some cashew/raisin stuff over it and MIXED it.

omg yum.

then, just for fun, because now i was thinking italian, i sliced up a couple tomatoes in thick slices. I put them on top of a pam-sprayed baking sheet and sprinkled them with salt & pepper. Then i covered them with mozzerella and liberally sprinkled italian seasoning over them. Stuck them in the oven for about 5-7 minutes at 350 and MMM. the tomatoes hold together well but have that roasted flavor, and the cheese is melty and YUM.

So I had a couple slices of tomato to go with my little faux-pasta dish.

*content and happy* I do love cooking when I get the chance. :D