The Salad Box!

I shared this over on The Beans Blog just now

but I'm so excited about it that I decided I'd post it here too!

I am so excited about this!  I've only been doing it just over two weeks but I LOVE IT!  It makes healthy lunches so much easier!  Originally, I saw the idea over on Khrista's blog.  I thought it was a great idea but didn't have the containers or the motivation to go find them.  When Shay was visiting, we were talking about a similar idea and I was reminded of the salad box.  That same day we were in the grocery store and there were some tupperware containers on sale that I thought might be perfect.  I bought them, came home and assembled the box and haven't looked back.  It is so great!  I'm not kidding, there have been days where I haven't menu planned and I'm like, what will we have for dinner and just can't come up with anything ... we have salad!

I add some beans or some chicken and it becomes a meal!  And lunches, on nights that we decided to eat out or just don't have leftovers for the next day, we have salad!  It's perfect.  It's all cut up and ready to go and it literally takes me less than 5 minutes to make a beautiful salad!  

My salad box consists of two large containers filled a bunch of smaller ones, and a box for greens ...  It isn't always full, as you can see in the photo above.  I fill it full every time I do a big shop and then it sort of lives in various stages of fullness which I like because it means our salads are varied.  Here's a closer look at what's inside it ...

Tomatoes (mostly out of our garden!), cucumber slices, cauliflower chunks, onion slices, mushrooms slices (marinating in olive oil, vinegar, garlic powder and an Italian blend herb mix).  Radishes (in water so they don't dry out).  Salad ... washed and in a separate container.  I often have a can of beans sitting in one of those tall containers ... but I had just finished one when I was taking the photos and I try not to open one until I'm ready to use it, to preserve its life in the box! 

Capsicum (Red Bell Pepper) almost gone, Avocado, Nuts, Seeds, Leftover Funky Lime pizza garlic, the end of a jar of black olives, and some dressing ...

The dressing is great!  I love having it packaged up all ready to go.  Once the salad (specifically for lunches) is ready, I just pop in one of the dressings and it's done!  Seriously, it's fast food ... only you can't get much healthier!

It has its own section in the fridge. So far, I haven't had any trouble with it taking up too much space.  Most of the things last us through the week, some things less, some things more.  We are wasting much less produce since we've started the salad box.  Probably because stuff doesn't get left at the bottom of the crisper drawer!  I look at all of it every day and use it up!

It's not just great for salad either!  We used it to make stir fry the other night and then last night we used it to make omelets!  It was awesome!  EVERYTHING WAS ALREADY CUT UP!!  I'm serious, I love the salad box!

A Room With A {Corner} View & Typical Family Dinner

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.  It is bloggers from all over the world, posting photos of a specific weekly theme.  To join, just post to your own blog and then link up over at Francesca's Corner View for the week.  Then, visit the other Corner Views ... that's my favorite part !  Seeing the interpretations of the themes, visiting different cultures, learning something new !

Last week I was really excited about the theme "Typical Family Dinner" but I ended up having to work on my {usually } day off.  I was bummed that I missed out.  This week, when I saw the theme was "A Room With A View", I was excited again, because I can tie the two themes together ! 

Had I not wanted to tie them together I probably would have posted photos out my front window ... to our blooming garden and birds feeding and bathing in our peaceful little scene.  But instead, I bring you ... the view from our kitchen !

In this first photo you can see the view from a different angle ... That's the kitchen bench you can see behind the dining room table.  But I love that from the kitchen, I can see everyone who may be here, waiting to eat.  When I'm cooking, people are sitting at the table ... kids doing homework or playing games, or sitting on the lounge ... reading or talking to me.  Actually, this view has changed since I took that photo.  The piano now sits in that room as well.  The children practice six days a week so I often cook to live piano music !  Or sometimes guitar, if my husband is playing ....

Here is the view looking out from the kitchen itself ...

As for the Typical Family Dinner ... well, we are anything but typical. So, I guess for us, typical would be 'trying something new'. Yes, we have a few favorites and of course, I do cook things more than once, but I love to try new things. When life is crazy busy, we tend to fall back on old favorites that are easy to cook but when life is more 'normal' we try new things all week long.

I started, at the beginning of 2012, posting at the end of the week "What We Ate" to my cooking blog. If you'd like to see those posts, you can check them out here. I have so loved posting them ! Here, in photo form, is a 'taste' of our typical family dinners.

You can find all of these recipes over at The Beans Blog ! Let me know if you want one in particular and I'll hook you up with a link !

After visiting, if you like what you see ... why not LIKE The Beans Blog on facebook to keep up with the new posts !

Back to Work

In Australia, many businesses shut down from Christmas Eve, until after New Years Day. It's getting less and though ... I remember when we first got here, the grocery store would be closed for days. This year, it was only closed Christmas Day itself and then it had some funny hours but other than that, it was pretty much business as usual for the shopper ...

Rory and I have had 10 lovely days off of work ! We didn't go anywhere far away. We didn't do anything planned. We just did what we wanted. Sometimes that was nothing. Sometimes it was a whole day in the garden. Either way, it was nice to be home. To be together. To not have to think with our work brains.

To do fun things we don't always get to do ...

One fun thing I did was make Chive Flower Vinegars ... I showed you the Garlic Chive Flower one the other day.  Just a couple days ago, I made one with regular chive flowers ! Look how pretty it is ...

And look what I found when I went out to take the photo above ...

An eggplant flower !! 

I love when my plants start flowering because it means that soon we will have fruit ! 

I can't wait to cook up our first eggplant !!

Exciting ! 

Garlic Chive Flower Vinegar

Look ! 
I made garlic chive flower vinegar today ! 
It was so easy ... go check out how I did it over at the beans blog ....

{A Different Corner} View

Corner View was created by Jane at Spain Daily and is now hosted by Francesca.

Join us as we travel the world each Wednesday ...

Today's theme is "A Different Corner"

I have a number of corners on the web.  Today, I want to introduce you to my cooking corner ... The Beans Blog.

I love cooking.

I love teaching other people to cook.

The Beans Blog started out as a place to share recipes between family and friends.  I am not the only one who posts to it ....

850+ posts later, I love what it has become. You will find an assortment of recipes, menu plans, cooking information. 
The Table of Contents is pretty comprehensive. (but for some people only works on a smart phone !)
Let me just give you a little taste of what you'll find there ...

Sushi, sushi, and more sushi !



Breakfast Burritos



Granola



Roasted Garlic and Potato Soup


Cheeseburgers ... heaps of cheeseburgers !



Salmon with an amazing pineapple salsa



Egg Salad Sandwich

Funky Lime Pizza

The ganache ... and lots of other yummy desserts !

Head over to The Beans Blog and check it out !
We're on Facebook too if you want to "LIKE" us there !!