Toasted orzo salad

As most of you know - making the same thing day after day is not my thing.

But I do have the same goals each morning - get in some healthy fats, protein and a bit of carbohydrates.

Toasted orzo salad.

 When I woke up I realized I had this to work with:

Red corn on the cob, leftover green apple slaw, orzo, chicken broth, a carrot, leftover lemon dressing from Panera and a hard boiled egg.

At this point I have no idea where this is going either.

Then I spotted this recipe and I figured that might do with a lot of modifications.


I toasted a 1/4 cup of orzo in 1/2 Tbsp of olive oil.

Toasted orzo.

I minced one clove of garlic and shredded 1/2 of the carrot, 1/2 of the red corn (the kernels cut of the cob) and added that to the pan after the orzo had browned.


Then I added in some chicken broth and let everything simmer. No measurements on the broth because my skillet has a wonky lid and lets out a lot of steam.

Just add more broth if the orzo looks dry and let the moisture evaporate off after the orzo is plump and tender.

At this point in the venture I decided to drop the lemon dressing issue, the thyme and I realized chopped egg would be just the thing.

I whole egg (the dogs split half of the yolk) chopped with a teaspoon of Parmesan.

It was simple, fast (about 10 minutes) and filled with protein - just what I wanted to start my day. 


Toasting the orzo made a big difference - it added a great nutty/roasted flavor to the dish.

Toasted orzo salad adorned with a light dusting of dried parsley.

I am sure I am biased but my green apple slaw was stupendous after hanging out in the fridge for a couple of days. I strongly encourage you to make it - as soon as possible.

I did scale the recipe down for one portion and it still yielded 2 generous size portions. 


I am off to bring some DVD's to a friend who is recovering from shoulder surgery. I really want to bring her Otis - but I figure the whole dismemberment theme may not sit well after surgery:-)


I kid - I am bringing her Under The Tuscan Sun and 27 Dresses - light and cheery girly movies.


But I will watch Otis later today - hmm, either Otis or Black Christmas - it is a toss up.

Green apple slaw

Tonight's dinner was simple and delicious.

It started with this:

Four pieces went into the oven at 400 degrees. They cooked on each side for 8 minutes.

And then I combined:

1/2 of a green apple sliced into thin strips
1/8 of a red cabbage sliced fine
1 Tbsp of diced red onion chopped fine
1 carrot sliced into thin strips
2 tsp of Vegenaise
1/4 tsp of white wine vinegar
1/8 tsp of sugar
salt and cracked black pepper to taste


I mixed this altogether and let it hang out in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.


The meal all put together:

 And, yes, Connor is still looking at me like this:

He is either plotting world domination (after successfully figuring out how to open the kibble bin) or sussing out how to peel the duct tap off the food container and again have free access to unlimited food.

Night all!