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| Recipe of the week... Soprano Salad |
Time taken:
Quarter of an hour max
Ingredients:
Rocket, yellow pepper, cherry/plum tomatoes, black olives, sun-dried tomatoes,
salad dressing, mozzarella, Italian red wine
Hi readers,
How are
things today? How’s the weekend kicking off?? Have you had a fun start to it?
There are only 2 days in a weekend so you have to use them wisely! If you’re
looking back on today thinking yeahhhh great Saturday… then good for you! Keep
up the good work tomorrow!
If you’re
looking back on Saturday like… where did the day even go? This is meant to be ‘me
time’ it doesn’t look that way?? Do not fear, readers, for there’s still time!
You’ve got a whole other day to go at yet – you can turn this weekend around.
Sit yourself down and form a plan for tomorrow.
My plans
for Sunday tend to be either entirely things I will do – like I WILL feed the
squirrels at the park, and I WILL run a bath, and I WILL do a new colouring in
my colouring-in book. Or entirely things I won’t do like I WILL NOT check my
work email, and I WILL NOT put on make-up, and I WILL NOT spend any money online
shopping.
Will just
have to see how my Sunday outlook is in the morning! Either way, on quiet
weekends like this one I like to have a leisurely time on a Sunday. Often, this
involves lounging around in the morning watching Sunday Brunch and then breaking
out in the afternoon for some fresh air and human/squirrel contact.
And this is
great! I’ve barely been in my home all week, readers, with work and family
commitments. And with self-inflicted pressure to make the most of my gym
membership. And then today I’ve spent the whole day trying to clean the house –
to make it homely and habitable once more – and cleaning the clothes I’ve been
running around in all week.
Feels good
to have the chores all done. But if that were my last day alive... then I’d feel
cheated.
So tomorrow is the day for fun. Guilt-free! Four things happened this
week that make me realise just how important it is to take time to enjoy life…
· First, I read an article in Grazia written
about the singer Adele and the struggles she’s had, as many first-time mothers
and fathers do, with becoming a new parent. She's said that not a day goes by, where
she doesn’t at least once wish that she could just go back… to doing whatever
she wants, whenever she wants. Which you can’t always do as a mum.
· Then, after struggling for two months, one
of my best friends quit the teacher training course that they were enrolled on
this week, because it made them unhappy every day. They don’t know what else to
do in life – but know that it isn’t teaching that will bring them happiness.
· And my boss told me that he doesn’t care
what my working hours are as long as I’m well rested and able to do a good job,
working whichever hours suit me.
· Plus, this week my grandma finally got to
leave hospital after 2-3 months there. But she can’t go home and won’t ever go
home again – she has to go into a care home instead. If she’d know when she left the
bungalow in September that she wouldn’t ever get to go back again – would she
have taken one last look back as she walked down the drive?
Readers,
all of this adds up to me sitting here on a Saturday night with a large glass
of wine and a wonderful plate of food, watching back-to-back episodes of The
Sopranos, with nothing but fun lined up for tomorrow.
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| Not a terrible Saturday night in |
If I want
to read a Sunday newspaper on a park bench with a festive coffee? Then – so help me –
that is what I will do. If I want to swim? Go see a film? Give something warm
to a homeless person? Discover some place I’ve never been before? That’s what
tomorrow is for.
Readers,
whether you have ten children or none at all, whether you have a bath tub,
receive work emails, live near a park with squirrels, own a colouring book… or
just not at all. Enjoy the rest of your weekend. It’s important that you do.
So tonight,
fuelled by my newfound love for The Sopranos boxset, I’ve thrown together a
pretty impressive Italian-inspired insalata for my tea. Fancy rustling up your
own Soprano Salad in just 10 easy steps?? Course you do. Well here’s how it’s
done…
1. Light a candle and set the table
nicely. This is not on-your-knee settee fodder… this is a dish that demands Soprano-style respect.
2. Take either half of a full-sized
yellow pepper, or a few mini yellow peppers, and slice into bite-sized strips
of pepper.
3. Take a dozen cherry or plum tomatoes
and chop each one in half.
4. Fish a dozen black olives from your jar,
pat them dry with some kitchen roll, and then slice each one in half.
5. Fish half a dozen sun dried tomatoes
from your jar, pat dry with kitchen roll, and then chop into bite-sized chunks.
6. Tip a load of fresh rocket out onto
a dinner plate, until the plate is covered with leaves.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you don’t have rocket, or don’t like rocket, then
you can sub in any other leaf – but make sure the country of origin on the
packet reads ITALY.
7. Artistically sprinkle your pepper,
tomato, olive and sun-dried tomato over your plateful of rocket.
8. Drizzle your salad with any dressing
you like – I went for a balsamic vinaigrette.
9. Fish several mini mozzarella balls
from their pot, pat dry with kitchen roll, and then top your salad with these.
ChefBeHere Top Tip: If you aren’t shopping in the wonder that is Lidl (finding
weird and wonderful ingredients in the fridges!) then just sub-in a regular ball
of mozzarella – pat dry and use your hands to tear it into bite-sized chunks of
cheese.
10. Serve your salad with a generous glass of
Italian red and as you HAVE been terribly good throwing together a healthy
salad… maybe raid the freezer for ice-cream and tuck into some tasty gelato for
dessert??
What do you
think, readers? Is this good or is this good?? No fancy or expensive ingredients required
– just basic Mediterranean flavours thrown together to form a salad that defies
winter. You wanted something warm, I hear? Well, feel that wine warming your belly!
So many
people say Italian is their favourite kind of food to eat – but they mean pizza
and pasta. When there’s so much more of the Italian cuisine that you can enjoy!
From rice dishes like risotto and arancini, to a whole host of warm and cold salads
options… adorned with Italian meats, cheeses and breads (for those of us who
find life too short to be vegan).
I
feel like Soprano Salad could fast become a favourite of mine! Such flavoursome
ingredients and lots of colour on the plate. Very tempting and then very tasty
once you tuck in. What do you think?? Any ideas for how we can make this even
better? Fire away! If this can be bettered then Soprano Salad Take 2 it going
to blow everyone away.
Readers, I’ll
leave you to your boxsets. And your wine and Italian cuisine. But I hope this post
has inspired you to give a winter salad a go… and to plan a super fun Sunday
for yourself!
Enjoy life
safely,
Hayley
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| Give it a go! Soprano Salad |
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