The Mighty Greenery {Dinner}

Tonight I was in the mood for salad. A lot of salad. With the winter season, I'm finding myself eating a lot more carbs (I love carbs, good carbs). It's much more pleasing to have a multi-grain toast with hummus than carrot sticks with hummus... This is the case only in the winter. Any other time of the year, I'm usually walking around with orange palms on my hands (I'm highly sensitive to carrots, and turn orange! No joke.)

And so, tonight's salad took care of that. And! I had two big raw carrots for a snack an hour before dinner. Orange hands, here I come!

A smaller side dish made a wonderful date for my salad. Potatoes pan-roasted with sauteed carrots and onion. The key to this dish's flavor = black peppercorn and bayleaf! Just as was the case in today's borscht. Russian cuisine is not known for exotic spices, but somehow, these two surely do a good job in every dish!

Post dinner treat: raspberry tea with lemon! The lemon slices were consumed in their entirety, but you didn't hear that from me! :)

And look at the new member of my grain family! Please welcome, wheat berries! These lil' fellas are quite mighty, with just 160 cal per 1/2 cup (cooked), 6g of protein and 6g (23% DV) of fiber per serving.

Come back tomorrow morning to join me and my wheat berries for breakfast! :)

A new favorite {Toasted Buckwheat Salad}

I think tonight's pictures actually do justice for just how beautiful and delightful the dinner was for me and my taste buds!

Have you ever toasted buckwheat?? As you already know, I love buckwheat and wish I would make it more often. We always prepare it the "normal" way - just like any other grain, we cook it in water. But the other day I was quite lucky to come across another one of Scandi Foodie's scrumptious creations that featured toasted buckwheat!!! And tonight I took the opportunity to experiment! The coolest part is that the buckwheat kernels pop! Yes, they pop! Like popcorn! They were doing a little dance on the pan. It was so adorable watching them wiggle around!

I was in the mood for a big colorful salad (made of kale, mixed organic greens, tomatoes, cucumbers, sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, parsley, dill, and yellow bell peper), which was promptly further adorned with the toasted buckwheat. On the side, a hunk of Russian rye bread with marinated mushroom.

Isn't she beautiful?

And tonight's dinner wouldn't feel complete without these lil' guys... Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate-Covered Almonds with Sea Salt. If you haven't tried these and if you have a TJ's near you --> run and get'em! They are such a treat!

A Happy Friday Night to All!