Recipe Share

I'm one of those people who hates trying new recipes because I can't stand going back and forth between instructions, ingredients, steps, measurements, photos (DSLR + iPhone) and managing my pandora playlist. #firstworldproblems.

This weekend I tried to challenge myself by making a special trip to the grocery store for ingredients to make a few recipe's I've been eyeing lately.

#1 Kale & White Bean Soup <--recipe

Saturday's weather was beautiful in Portland and probably the last thing on my mind during the day was making soup that night. Once the sun fell over the residential horizon I felt the wind chill kick in and was reminded that we won't truly put our trust in that summer air until July. Get used to it PDX!

Marisa at Uproot From Oregon always has great recipes to share and this one is full credit to her:

#2 Protein Shamrock Shake <--recipe

Something that Saturday afternoon did bring to mind was the Shamrock Shake from McDonald's for a limited time only. It's definitely been a guilty pleasure of Dan and I's and we've shown a lot of self restraint to avoid that drive-thru this March. When I saw Taralynn share a protein-shake version of the same creation I knew I would have to try it and especially have Dan be the master taste tester.

In the end I think I used too many mint leaves, but was happy with myself rather than caving for the McDonald's version. Plus nobody ever complained about whipped cream topping and sprinkles!

#3 Tempeh + Lentil Salad

This one is a home creation and I always get rave reviews from people who see, smell and want to taste what I'm bringing back to my desk around noon.

• 1 cup of Romaine Lettuce


• 1/3 cup of Trader Joe's Steamed Lentils


• 4 oz. of Trader Joe's Organic 3 Grain Tempeh


• Drenched in Sriracha (as much as you can handle)

Pack the lettuce separately from the other three ingredients so that you don't heat the lettuce. Pop the tempeh, lentils and sriracha into the microwave for 45-60 seconds until you can hear it steaming, then dump it onto the bed of lettuce. Ta-dah! There's a tasty and clean meal in front of you waiting to be devoured.

Sometimes I even add an avocado and pepper - live life on the wild side, my friends.

Go on, what recipes do you have to share with me?