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Beefy Southwest Salad

beefy salsa salad

Last month I hung up my shackles as a part-time office worker and made the leap to freelance writer. It has many perks, including a business casual attire that centers on the classics …tshirt and jeans. Now I don’t have to hurry off every morning, I can take my time, go for a walk with Lovejoy and listen to the birds chirping like crazy in the trees outside my office. I admit that I’m decidedly more relaxed even though I’m working about the same number of hours each day, it’s just that these hours are on my terms, and I think that’s perfect.

I also love my lunch break. It usually starts with me trying to ignore the fact that I can’t concentrate because I’m hungry…that can go on for almost an hour if I’m not careful and it’s such a waste of time. I’m sooo easily distracted when I’m hungry…I’ll check email, my project bids, google news. Then I might tinker with some html work I’m doing on a new theme for the blog which will then lead to reading other blogs. All the while I’m still trying to work, so I’ll flip back to the screen with whatever I’m writing and I’ll ponder some paragraph or fiddle with some punctuation. Absolutely nothing serious, just wasting time until I finally realize that I’m hungry! Then I head into the kitchen and whip up a salad for lunch.

Today’s salad was my favorite yet. In a bowl I put one chunked up avocado, some diced red onion, a handful of chopped cilantro, and some cherry tomatoes cut in half. I dribbled on some olive oil and lime juice, hit it with some salt and a sprinkle of ground cumin and ground chipotle and gave it all a good toss. Then I plated in on a bed of iceberg lettuce. I absolutely love iceberg for its crunch and its crisp, cool texture. On the side I laid on some nice rare beef that I rolled up and sliced and on the other side I added some pepper jack chunks.

This was my kind of salad with the spicy, tangy, southwest flavors of the salad playing nicely against the beef and cheese. It all eventually gets mixed together but I really do like a salad that let’s me compose each bite…at least a little bit.

I’m still doing phase one of South Beach and I’m sticking to it. But I will say this…I miss granola in the morning and wine in the evening. But I’m almost half way through phase one, so I’m cool.

June 4, 2008 | Filed Under South Beach, beef, fish, poultry, pork, food, low carb, low cal, soup, salad, sandwich, spicy 

comments

4 Responses to “Beefy Southwest Salad”

  1. Kalyn on June 4th, 2008

    Love the looks of this salad. I could definitely enjoy that for lunch any day. Still doing phase one myself too, and hanging in there. Saturday I’m going to San Diego for three days though, which I’m afraid will be the end of phase one until I get back. I am committed to no sugar on the trip though!

  2. Erin @ The Skinny Gourmet on June 4th, 2008

    As an academic, I know the ups and downs of the flexible workday as well. snacking is the constant evil temptation. but it sounds like you just need to work out some simple high protein/high fiber snack that you can grab around 10. otherwise your mind wanders too much to really work. or at least, mine does :)

  3. Erin on June 5th, 2008

    How fun that you’re just writing now. Office work is no fun, but for now it pays the bills for me. What kind of writing are you doing? You’ll have to keep us posted on what’s getting published!

  4. vanessa on June 5th, 2008

    Kalyn, mmmm, sugar. Have fun in SD.

    Erin (skinny), that’s exactly what happens…after I eat I settle down and work without even looking at the time. I’ll get the hang of the new routine soon.

    Erin (chicago), I wish it was something that cool…right now I’m just a hired gun for people who need words. The interwebs must be fed and I can write 500 words on anything.

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