Truffle oil again

mashed potatoes + truffle oil + just picked organic oyster mushrooms from the campus organic garden = AMAZING mashed potatoes. Just fyi.

Salad question

Okay, it's mostly me posting here, I know, but screw it. I have a salad question and I'm hoping to get some suggestions.

I eat a garden salad pretty much every day now. Sometimes twice a day. I really like a good garden salad. But there are a few things in a typical salad that I don't like, namely tomatoes and cucumbers. I'm warming up to the cucumber (well, you know what I mean) but I strongly dislike tomatoes. Sorry tomatoes.

So my garden salad is usually some version of spinach or 50/50 spinach and spring mix, celery, carrots, red cabbage, red bell pepper, and red onions. Sometimes I'll throw in some sprouts, sometimes some raw fresh green beans, sometimes some raw snow peas (in pod).

I don't love salad dressing, but I've grown to really like a tsp or two of Italian dressing, or just a little balsamic and olive oil. HATE ranch and all "creamy" dressings. Hate them.

Okay, all of that is to say, am I missing something? Should there be something in this salad that isn't? It's not that I'm sick of this salad -- when I'm eating it regularly (and i have to say this last week I've been eating HORRIBLY due to job stress), I CRAVE it -- but I'm wondering if there's something I might think about adding to it. Keep in mind, we're talking garden salad. No eggs. No ham.

Thanks for the (hopefully upcoming) suggestions.

Truffle Oil Follow Up

Follow up: black truffle oil is amazing. I pretty much succeeded in recreating the sandwich I wanted to. Let's be clear: this is a simple recipe. I've posted it before, I think. I sauteed a lot of (1-1.5 cups) sliced baby bellas in a little butter, garlic, and salt. Spread those mushrooms and garlic on some good bread (cut a small loaf, this time of 3 cheese bread, in half, then in half length wise, so that I have two slabs of bread, crust side down, of course), put some fresh mozz on it, and put it in a 300 degree oven for maybe 7 minutes or so, till the cheese has started to melt. Then I broil it for a minute or so until the cheese is just a smidge bubbly.
This is nothing revolutionary, nothing new. Often I put onions on it, too, sometimes olives, sometimes basil. But this time I just went with mushrooms and a two chopped cloves of garlic. Because I knew I had this black truffle oil, and I wanted to be able to taste it. So I took it the mushroom cheese bread out of the oven, let it sit for just 30-60 seconds or so, then drizzled the truffle oil over the top and added just a touch of sea salt.


Oh. my. GLORY! It was sooooooo good. And it was better, honestly, simply for the truffle oil. Totally worth the $, fyi.

Truffle Oil Suggestions

I've always wanted to cook with truffle oil. They do it on Top Chef all the time. So, when I saw that our local grocery store had some black truffle oil, I bought it. Now I don't know what to do with it. Tonight I'm going to try to recreate my favorite open faced sandwich from The Portsmouth Brewery -- sauteed mushrooms on fresh bread, truffle oil, and fresh mozz. Toasted, 'natch.

I'm also thinking there should be lovely things I can do with truffle oil and pasta. And maybe fish? Anybody have any suggestions?

Beej and I still haven't had time to try out the ahi tuna recipes. This week was MADNESS for me -- still is. But maybe next week.

Impending recipe update

I don't so much have a new recipe to post; instead, I have plans to post a new recipe soon. Beej and I are planning some grilled ahi tuna next week and I've been scouring the internet looking for good recipes. So keep an eye out next week for some ahi tuna recipe or recipes, and possibly a recipe for wasabi mashed potatoes. Who's excited?