Spinach Salad

Well, I guess if you know how to make a salad dressing, then you should know the basics to make salad. Something that goes beyond the bag o' salad at the grocery store (which in a pinch are perfectly fine.)

A spinach salad is an easy way to go since you can either get a "bunch" of spinach leaves or a bag of "triple washed" spinach from the grocery. Here's the recipe:

Simple Spinach Salad

Fresh Spinach cut into fork size pieces
Purple Onion Sliced
Walnuts
Craisins
Avocado slices (about 1/4 to 1/6 of an avocado)
Shredded Parmesan cheese

Put the desired amount of spinach in a bowl. Add the desired amount of purple onion, walnuts, Craisins, avocado, and Parmesan cheese. Top with the Balsamic Vinaigrette from the previous post and there you go, "Anymonkeycan" make a Simple Spinach Salad!

Tips:

1. For the onion I will cut the onion in half and remove the dry, outer layer. Then I will use a vegetable peeler to "peel" the onion directly onto the salad.

2. For the walnuts I will take a few in my hand and squeeze to break them down a little bit more and then throw them on the salad.

3. Avocados are easy to peel. Google or search youtube.com for an easy way to slice the avocado.

4. Avoid at all cost the Parmesan cheese that is ground into a powder that does not have to be refrigerated!!

Once you have made this a few times, be sure to experiment with substitutions, omissions, additions, etc.

Instead of spinach use arugula. Add a hard boiled egg. Drop the Craisins and use fresh berries. Ignore the Parmesan and go with Gorgonzola or Bleu Cheese. Pine nuts or Sunflower seeds or Cashews can all be used instead of the Walnuts.

Here's an example made with Arugula, fresh berries, and Gorgonzola cheese:
See, "anymonkeycan" cook! Enjoy!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salad Dressings (Balsamic Vinaigrette)

Sure, the grocery store has about one side of an entire aisle devoted to salad dressing. Why should one bother learning how to make a Balsamic Vinaigrette then?

Making a Vinaigrette is easy and can easily impress those who don't cook. It's almost like a magician performing a card trick. Those who don't know the sleight of hand are often amazed and delighted!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

1/4 cup of Olive Oil

1/4 cup of Balsamic Vinegar

2 Teaspoons of Honey

2 Teaspoons of Spicy Mustard

Add all of the ingredients into a bowl and whisk until fully blended. That's it!

You can get as complicated or as simple as you want with the vinaigrette. You can change up the type of vinegar (Raspberry, Apple Cider, etc,) or add different herbs or different spices or different ratios of the above ingredients.

I've actually become quite lazy and normally just drizzle Oil and Vinegar straight onto my salad with a dash of Kosher salt!

See, "anymonkeycan" make a Vinaigrette! Enjoy!

anymonkeycan.com

I have been a slacker, plain and simple. I wanted to have a website/blog so that I could post culinary adventures I was on in my kitchen. So far I have posted...ZERO!! Blah!

So here it is. I am throwing it out there and ready to run the gauntlet of accountability. I will begin to post thoughts, comments, and recipes to prove that "anymonkeycan" cook! Seriously...cooking does not have to be hard, but it certainly can be.

I enjoy cooking, but I have spoiled myself. That is the one caveat of learning to cook. You will probably learn how to make something REALLY well that you REALLY like. This is a double-edged sword. Sure, you cook it, eat it, share it, and enjoy it.

BUT, you start to realize that you cannot order it at restaurants anymore because you know that you will be disappointed. If that is a risk you are willing to take, then I hope you enjoy future postings.

In the words of the Swedish Chef: "bork, bork, bork!"

A surcharge for tap water at restaurants??

Everyone needs principles and beliefs. One of my beliefs is that I can go into any...I mean ANY restaurant and request tap water with my meal and it should be free. Now, you can offer me bottled water or mineral water or even sparkling water and charge me for it, but I reserve the right to decline and request tap water and it be free.

Tonight we dined at "Aventino" over off of Camp Bowie. I have wanted to eat there for most of the 10 years I have lived in Funky Fort Worth but never remember it. Well tonight I remembered.

Up until early 2009 it was called "Aventino's Ristorante" but that was until one of the son's took over after Culinary School and working in NYC. He gave it a modern vibe, updated the menu, and altered the name.

The food is pretty good and the atmosphere is nice and the service was solid. We were offered "still" water or Sparkling water. I requested tap and was informed that was what the "still" water was. It was served in an opened glass bottle and because of that I was wondering if we would be charged for "tap" water.

We were.

They charged us the nominal fee of $1 per person.

Seriously?!? You have a menu where most of the entrees are more than 20 bucks a piece and you want to nickel and dime me with a one dollar surcharge for tap water!!

I hope that extra $2 you got from us was worth it because we will NOT be returning and will NOT be recommending this place to others. Not because of the food, the ambiance or the service, but because of PRINCIPLE.

UPDATE:

I received an email response from Aventino. Evidently they use the following "in house" filtration system.

http://www.naturawater.com/

They offered to refund the 2 bucks as well as throw in an ap or dessert if we dined with them again. I will give them the props of doing away with bottled water altogether, but for those of us that never order bottle water any way it just seems silly that we cannot order good ol' Fort Worth tap water. Oh well, lots of restaurants to choose from!

Happy Earth Day!!

My home is 82 years old and I have lived in it for 7. Originally it had no dryer just a clothesline out back. Out of necessity I dried my clothes on that clothesline. Within 2 months of moving in I had my dryer. But do you know what? I still use that clothesline for almost all of my drying and can do it almost the entire year!

I needed to buy new car last year. I really, REALLY wanted to buy the “green” standard Prius hybrid. I bought a Honda Fit instead. I am 6’4” so it is a bit funny being the tall guy in a small ride, but I don’t care. I had saved up enough money to buy the Fit out right. A loan would have been needed for the Prius and I didn’t want a car payment. Most of my friends may not understand my choice, but I think my future children and grandchildren will.

It has been reported that the combined air pollution from cows and other animals raised for meat is greater than the combined air pollution from automobiles. I may not be able to afford a hybrid and I cannot quite make the vegetarian commitment, but I can definitely eat less meat and more grains, rice, nuts, fruits and vegetables. What a great way to help the environment and be healthier as well! Since I am eating more fruits and vegetables I decided to start composting and to expand my garden this year.

Now that I am composting I have less garbage. Therefore I only need to put my garbage and recyclable receptacles out every 2-3 weeks. The waste trucks stop less at my house so there is less idling. This does not sound like much, but if my neighbor did this, and my street did this, and my neighborhood...

Last summer at the Salvation Army Yard Sale I purchased a Reel Mower (like the old-fashioned kind.) I now mow my yard with it. It’s great and does a good job! It is not perfect and I still have to use my power mower and weed eater about once a month, but I am OK with that.

Someday I’ll have a hybrid car. It will probably be a clean diesel that gets 60 mpg.

Someday I’ll have solar panels and maybe a wind turbine.

But for now I’ll keep doing what I can. From improving my weather stripping, to installing a programmable thermostat, to having my ducts sealed, to using my ceiling fans, I try to keep my home as energy efficient as possible. When I go to the store I’ll save the world one plastic bag at a time by using my reusable shopping bags. Each year I hope to use less energy and keep the air cleaner.

Why? It’s time to stop thinking about just ourselves and start thinking about several generations from now.

No Sweets in January Challenge

The end of this week will mark the end of "No Sweets" in January. This used to be known as "No Sugar" in January, but the self appointed word police (engineers, lawyers, etc) caused me to make the name change. Their questions just wore me down! This is something that I have done the last 5-6 years and I always invite a group of people to make the journey with me. Many start, but only 1 each year will meet my challenge. This year, like last year, that person was Danielle!

The "Challenge" was born from necessity to undo the gluttony of the holidays. It looks like I will lose 2-3 pounds again this January which goes towards erasing the 5-6 pounds I gained at the end of the year. I hope to be back to my fighting weight by March as I continue to limit sweets, eat healthy, exercise moderation with portions, and hit the gym.

I believe that my first act as a successful participant of the "Challenge" gauntlet will be to make and eat banana bread. It only seems appropriate for the "anymonkeycan" man.

Bratwurst

Yesterday I was leaving Lowe's around lunch time and I saw 2 guys walking away from the "hot dog hut" which is ubiquitous at all Lowe's and Home Depots. They were each carrying a plate with a bratwurst dog of some sort and a small bag of Frito's.

Now, I remember fondly going to the hot dog stand at Target with my Grandpa when I was a kid. It was pretty cool.

Seriously though, those guys would probably have a healthier lunch gnawing on a 2x4 from the store!

Learning the ropes of websites

I have decided that I want to create a personal website. Not for any real reason, I just want to know how to do it. I like to know how things work. Some people are wired that way, I guess.

I've done a bit of research and trial runs. I finally put up a facebook page after some cajoling from some friends. I have made a personal web page on google sites.

This evening my friend Jackson was dropping some crazy DIY knowledge on website design. It was good stuff. He suggested that I start here with a blog. So here I am.