sunshine and salad!

a few days ago my cousin gwen said some nice things about me on her blog and, as if that weren't enough, she gave me a sunshine award! now, i don't know what a sunshine award is but, i'll take any kind of award i can get these days.  thanks gwen!

she told some folks i have a great blog and i really appreciate this although i realize that lately, it's not been so great.  i guess i have been busy?  not really.

really, our grocery budget is tight lately with the husbands employer asking each employee to take an unpaid day off each month for the next six months.  i have a hard time not sticking to my "go to" meals when i'm trying to pinch pennies.  but, that doesn't mean i haven't been cooking.  actually, we've had some yummy things as of late such as this wonderful recipe for barbecue chicken sandwiches grilled with smoked gouda and sliced apples.  it was good, we had it more than once but, the gouda isn't all that nutritious, just really delicious.

we've been enjoying lots of homemade ice cream too.  maybe a little too much.  and one day last week i made some amazing coconut cupcakes to "sample" before i serve them to a large group of people here soon at my cousins bridal shower.  i'll have to share that recipe on my other blog, amazing!

mostly though, we've been sticking to the basics and eating lots of leftovers.  here's one concoction i came up with using what i had on hand which turned out to be super awesome.

spinach salad with teriyaki chicken, mandarin oranges and toasted almonds

this salad was super easy to throw together.  i had some leftover teriyaki chicken in the fridge and a box of mini bow tie pasta that took 5 minutes to cook (rinse with cold water).  i toasted some almonds and sesame seeds in a small saute pan over medium heat for about 7 minutes and then drained some canned mandarins (packed in light syrup).  throw this all together with a bunch of spinach and top with newman's sesame ginger dressing = YUM!  (p.s. i like cold chicken so i didn't heat it up but, it be great either way).

give it a try, okay?

in the meantime, i'm going to share the sunshine award with my friend melissa.  her blog isn't technically a "foodie" blog but, she's a mom (a great one at that) and, she posts a lot of super yummy and sometimes even nutritious recipes so, go check her out!

here's what you do:

1. put the award on your blog and/or within your post.

2. pass the award onto other bloggers.

3. link to nominees within your post.

4. let them know they received the award by commenting on their blog.

5. share the love and link the person from whom you received the award.