Happy Wednesday! It’s lovely to be back with you on the internet. As I’m writing this in my head it sounds like a radio-show, so I keep wanting to say I’m glad to be back on the airwaves…but I suppose it’s more of a web wave? Is that why it’s called surfing the net? Not important.
Remember Monday’s post (beer waffles!)? I laid out aaaaalllll my plans for this year, and since that was only two days ago, I’m still pretty jazzed about it all. One of the things I mentioned was that I’ll be sharing more ‘real food’ recipes.
By ‘real food’ I don’t mean plants or non-sugar things, or anything like that. I’m not about to jump on the healthy blogger band-wagon, so don’t panic! What I mean is the food that I eat on a daily basis for lunch and breakfast and dinner! So if you see ‘I Ate That’ in the blog title, that’s what I’m talking about.
The stuff that fuels me on a daily basis. And yeah, a lot of that food does tend to be plant-centric and full of fresh ingredients, but that’s just how I like to eat! The main thing that these recipes HAVE to be is delicious. I want to eat right, but for me, that doesn’t mean cutting anything out. There will be cheese, and toast, and carbs and other good things …or there will be blood.
This is what I ate for lunch yesterday. All laid out and gussied up on a platter, this salad is a total babe. Perfect to serve with any marinaded meats, or even a roast chicken at dinner time.
But for lunch, I like to eat it just as is. To bulk it out and add a little crunch, I make simple goat’s cheese toasts and break them up into make-shift croutons. I’m a HUGE sandwich fan, and this is a great way to get that same level of satisfaction.
Also, you should know that I don’t usually go the full platter-presentation for lunch. I just peel the strips of zucchini (aka courgette) into my bowl, throw in the chilli and mint, and toss the whole thing with lemon, olive oil, salt and pepper right in there.
The toast is as easy as it sounds – you could do it in a griddle pan for that great char flavour, but I hate washing up, so I just bung a slice in the toaster (thinner bread = crispier toast). Then leave it to cool and crisp up, shmear over some soft goat’s cheese and tear it into chunks.
This is the kind of thing I’m more than happy to eat at my desk while editing photos **ahem** watching YouTube clips. It’s ridiculously easy to pull together and also super satisfying and – most importantly – delicious.
Are you digging on this kind of simple, easy, real food recipe? Or should I shut up about it and get back to cakes? Just trying to share ma real life witcha!
xx Sarah.
- 2 medium zuchinni
- 1 mild chilli
- About 10 mint leaves
- ½ lemon
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- salt and pepper
- 2 slices good quality bread
- 4 tbsp soft goat's cheese (or chevre)
- Using a peeler, take strips off the zucchini on each side, until you read the seedy core. Discard the cores.
- Finely slice as much chilli as you like (I use half a large red chilli) and add that to the zucchini, then tear over the mint leaves.
- Dress the salad with a squeeze of lemon, about a tablespoon, or slightly less of olive oil, and a good pinch each of salt and pepper. Toss well.
- Toast the bread until dark and crunchy and leave to cool and crisp up. When the toast is crunchy and cool, break it into chunks and spread each piece with goat's cheese.
- Divide between two bowls and serve.
I’m digging the simple food. You can only have so much cake! And BTW, what youtube videos are you watching? I need suggestions!
Thanks Heidi! For food on YouTube I love Jamie Oliver’s ‘Food Tube’ channel, and ‘Cupcake Jemma’ is another favourite, I guess I just love the brits? On the other side of the pond, Byron Talbott’s channel is pretty great for recipes. I’m also embarrassingly into a bunch of young British daily vloggers – like Ben Brown and Zoella. If you have any favourites I’d love to hear ’em!
Looks like a lovely salad I might have eaten somewhere in South East Asia… Glugs of olive oil and all. And i heard you on that crunch.. noms.
I’m surprised! I don’t think of olive oil as a SE Asian ingredient, but I can totally see it with the chilli and mint. Cool!
Totally obsessed with how pretty this salad is. Lovely!
Thank you for sharing this! You have such mouthwatering desserts, see this confirms you are food genius. Only a genius enjoy food as fresh and as simple as this :)
That’s so sweet of you, Belinda! Thank you!
you had me at “goat cheese toasts” – this looks delicious! I laughed aloud (weird thing to do alone at work) at “there will be blood” and also had a minor flashback to yesterday when I thought it would be a good idea to lop into two fingers with a chef’s knife. I guess one kinda bad cut every 5-6 years isn’t bad. right?
Hahaha – dude that is a TERRIBLE idea! You should not have done that! But having said that I haven’t cut myself in ages, so I’m probably due for one.
This salad is gorgeous! Love it!
That is absolutely mouthwatering! it’s just the kind of lunch i love–full of fresh, pretty things and won’t weigh you down. Bookmarking this!