WTF do I BBQ?

Today was so beautiful. Perfect enough weather to make you wish you lived outside. This is the time that it feels painful to tear yourself away long enough to make a meal. The neighborhood fills up with the delicious smells of.....bbqd animals. Sad face. The smell takes you right to family and holidays and warm summer days and happiness *siiiiigh*. So what is a hungry girl to do on days like this? Throw something bad ass on the grill!

I'm going to be honest with you. I don't think this picture says bad ass as much as I'd hoped.

Not having any buns turned dinner into salady bliss instead. I hate to admit how much I love salads- it's such a vegan cliche. Plus restaurants can't seem to get the hint that we like to eat more than that. When I make a salad, I make a SALAD. Thumbs way down for iceberg and cucumber with italian dressing. To qualify as a salad to me, it  must be able to be described as one or more of the following: huge, beefy (as in fill my tummy to explosion), loved up, bursting, just picked or raw . I also like to use my Vitamix. A lot. So this meal combined a whole lot of my favorite things. I'm going to do you a solid in two ways. First, I'm going to give you my recipe. Second, I'm going to teach you how to cut an avocado so that people from Texas won't laugh at you.

Christina's BBQ Portobello salad

Infused with happiness and belly rubs

4 Portobello Caps, washed and trimmed. Pat dry and rub with olive oil and steak/mesquite bbq rub.
1 zucchini, cut in strips lengthwise. Put on a plate and add about 1 tbs olive oil, 1tbs balsamic and salt.
1 carrot julienned, or sliced thin
1 avocado, halved. 1/4 reserved for salad dressing.

Grill portobellos until they are slightly charred on the edges, and soft/cooked throughout. The zucchini don't take as long, and are a good place to practice making fancy grill marks! Set aside until you're ready with the rest of your ingredients.

      Living in Texas became the first time I regularly cooked with friends. The first time I prepared an avocado, they laughed hysterically at their little Canadian. While I still maintain that they're jerks, it's more effective so I'll pass it on-they don't mess around with avocados!
First, you have to pick a good avocado. They usually ripen up really nicely in a sunny window after only a day or two. If you want to eat it tonight, look for one that is quite soft, but not squishy and usually brownish in colour. Once you've got an avocado in your possession, you'll cut it in half lengthwise. From there, open it up and take out the seed in the middle.

Don't make me cut you!

Use a pairing knife and make slices from top to bottom, taking extra care to not stab through the skin and revoke the vegan status of this meal.Then crosshatch so it's in a nice dicey pattern.

 From here just scoop out your avocado out with a spoon. Now it's time to dress this thing!

Dijon Maple Dressing

1/4 an avocado
1 tbs dijon mustard
1 tbs maple syrup
1 tbs braggs/tamari/soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1 tsp balsamic/red wine/apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup water

Blend to perfection! Layer greens, raw veggies, grilled veggies and dressing. Best enjoyed while sitting on a chair in the sunshine.

Postcard from Vitamix Heaven

It started off as a passing glance in a vegetarian magazine, right under the bitchin veggie cruise flier and above an ad for cloth menstrual pads. Then one day while perusing the isles at Costco, it happened. Love at first sight, a live Vitamix demonstration-available TODAY ONLY! Sorry for the shouty capitals, but they weren't kidding. The Vitamix train pulled out of the station before you could say "well researched decision", and thus started my obsessions with all things Vitamix. The reason for my obsession over a freakin blender? This isn't just a blender my friends (and at $350-$600, it better not be). This machine lets you make soup from scratch in 7 minutes (it's amazingly powerful motor makes things boiling hot!), ice cream (the salesman used raw cabbage in it, and my kid ate it up and screamed for more) sauerkraut, salsa, any sauce you can imagine, amazingly smooth smoothies, frozen drinks, commercial quality baby food and on and on. It does everything but watch your kids and give back massages. When I first told Bean that I wanted a Vitamix for Christmas, he thought it was a trick. I had to beg, plead and reassure that yes, I really, REALLY wanted a blender for Christmas. It didn't end up getting there on Christmas but the day it came in the mail is one of the top 10 days of my life. If there were a house fire, I can't promise I wouldn't run in to get her. In fact, at the mere thought of writing a blog about my Vitamix, I had to make a smoothie. I'm currently rocking cilantro, cucumber, melon, banana and strawberry fabulosity. You can almost tell who has a Vitamix at the grocery store. Their Vitamix syndrome gives them away. They almost always have a 312 lb bag of juicing carrots and possibly an assortment of mangy looking discount produce. Our first week with the Vitamix cost us 17 lbs in oranges-no joke. The beauty though is not wasting produce and actually getting your 5-12 servings of fruit and veggies-"look ma, I'm drinking a whole cucumber!" Vitamix syndrome also includes the impulse to blend up almost any crap you find in your fridge. Spinach/raisin/banana smoothie-you're on! I can't say they have all been edible, but experimenting is half the fun. Just this morning I made crepe batter in my Vitamix and it was perfect. Clean up is a huge reason that everyone loves this bad boy-no parts, just wash or blend some water and it's all clean.
In hindsight, this blog is nothing more than a glowing ad for Vitamix. I can't help myself-it is straight up hippie (or yuppie because of the price tag) street cred and other than my engagement ring, the best gift I've ever gotten. I love you baby (and by baby, I mean Vitamix)!

http://www.vitamix.com/index.asp