The Empty Fridge Dins

So after my revitalizing Exercise TV Pilates workout tonight, I was sta-haaarving. For realz. Of course, I managed to do everything BUT grocery shop this weekend. Luckily, I was ready to try my hand at the infamous "Empty Fridge Dins": finding just a few, random ingredients I still had kickin' around to somehow create a fulfilling, healthy yumfest.

Luckily, I had some pretty good-for-me stuffs to work with, which gave me lesson #1: stocking up on veggies, whole grains, and proteins like beans or veggie burgers when you DO have time to shop is not a bad thing. Unfortunately, I live in New England, which means zero access to fresh produce via farmers markets in January, but this is what I DID have to work with:

From the fridge:
Bag of spinach
Feta
Carrots
Cuke

Kickin' around in the cupboard:
Leftover Great Northern Beans (from some AMAZING Quinoa Burgers I made last week)
Quinoa
Whole-wheat pita bread (toasted, for a little sustenance on the side)
Greek dressing* (see note below)

And I pretty much just threw it together in bowl. I rinsed and "quick soaked" the beans while I got my pilates on and prepared the other ingredients (it takes a little less than an hour - just boil them in some water, then cover and let sit). Now that the salad is sitting my belly, I kind of wish I had replaced the beans with chickpeas - but let's be honest. This chick(pea) hasn't purchased an actual chickpea in her life. Not yet, at least... it's only my third post!

The quinoa (which is actually a seed, who knew?) is just SO good for you and is really easy to prepare. I've just started learning all the fun uses for it - it did taste a little "eh" plopped on top of a salad though, so stay tuned for other ways to incorporate this wonder food into your mealsies.

*Ooohh and the dressing. Sigh. I bought a bottle of Ken's Greek Dressing eons ago and felt just shameful putting it to waste... otherwise, I would have cheerily made a homemade, simple dressing for this salad: balsamic vinegar, olive oil, black pepper, and maybe a little mustard. Yum! And you just need a teensy bit to coat your greens.

Yumfest indeed.

-NYAJ

PS- Ok I confess. I usually have a hard time having ONLY salad, no matter how big & tasty, for a meal. So I grilled up an Amy's Texas Veggie Burger (wicked awesome if you throw some red onion in the pan with it and top with cheddar and some bbq sauce) to get that "yes I am full" feeling. Ohh and it worked.

PPS- I also completely burned the bottom layer of quinoa while getting sucked into The Biggest Loser, which made the house smell like... well, really burnt quinoa. And I didn't even get Jillian Michaels' "answer after the break" health quiz correct: "Does snacking in between meals inhibit weight loss?" (Hint: It does. Darn!)