Goodbye, Christmas + Hawaiian Style Salads

We finally took down our Christmas decorations this weekend. If our tree didn’t start to wilt we definitely would have kept them up longer. But I guess you have to let go at some point. Nyah-Nyah We neatly packed our ornaments away in the brand new ornament organizer Brandon and I got from the Container Store a few weeks ago.  It has a top layer for smaller ornaments and two bottom layers for larger ones.

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It’s pretty nifty! Brandon had wanted something like this for a while and we randomly came across it when we went shopping in Walnut Creek. The Container Store is an incredible store for all things related to organization and they have pretty much anything you can think of. Our tree was really big this year, probably about 8 feet tall and 5 feet in diameter at it’s largest section.

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Watching Brandon try to wrestle the Christmas tree was quite amusing. He refused to let me help because he is such a gentlemen and doesn’t like for me to get my hands dirty.

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So, instead I took pictures and laughed hysterically at him trying to shove it out of the front door. Laughing out loud It left behind quite a mess

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I helped clean up though. After all that fun, we settled on the couch for dinner and a movie. I threw together a favorite salad of ours which I call, “Hawaiian Style”.

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Ugh, Hawaii is a direct flight from where I live and only about 5 hours in duration. Must go to Hawaii…yes…

Anyway, back to reality. The salad included the following ingredients:

  • Romaine lettuce
  • Mixed baby greens
  • Baby carrots
  • Grape tomatoes
  • Fresh mango
  • Avocado
  • Macadamia nuts
  • One Quorn Chik’n Cutlet

If you haven’t heard of Quorn products, they have a bunch of good faux meat options for vegetarians.

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The Chik’n cutlets have a texture very similar to real chicken and are so easy to prepare. You simply take them out of the freezer and coat them generously in olive oil, top with a little seasoning of your choice, and bake in the oven or toaster oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, flipping once half way through. They are soy-free as well which is a good alternative if you eat a lot of faux meat since most of it is soy-based.

Coco and Gigi love carrots so they always come running when they hear me making salads.

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Gigi likes to photo-bomb sometimes. I have also used a champagne vinaigrette which went well with the ingredients. Serve with some whole grain bread and a glass of wine and you’re set.   I hope everyone is having a nice weekend! Do any of you still have your Christmas tree up?