Citrus Salad and Cherry Jam (not together)

Mom just asked if I quit blogging, so it must be a week since my last one. Oops!

I was pretty sure I wrote on Sunday: All about the new salt and sugar scrubs that I made and how I'm inspired to get really organized during my week vacation that's coming up.  And about the amazing salad I had for dinner on Thursday.  But I guess I imagined writing that or maybe just thought about it a lot, because it's not here!

Here's a cute kitten picture to say I'm sorry for not blogging, Mom.  Trouble loves getting inside my pickling crocks (when they're empty).

Let's start with the super good salad from last week- I don't usually buy magazines or follow recipes from them, but I picked up a copy of the January Vegetarian Times for old times' sake.  I remember when I discovered that magazine when I was probably 12 or 13- It was a new best friend who understood how I ate and why.  But over the years I've stopped subscribing because I never ended up using the recipes and felt guilty recycling all those magazines.

I'll admit that when I first saw that the #1 staff favorite recipe was the Citrus salad, I thought b-o-r-i-n-g.  Throwing some citrus in a green salad is so yesterday.  But one look at the ingredients changed my mind- This salad is filled with tons of citrus, arugula, chopped peanuts, red pepper flakes, mint and shallots.  It is anything but boring!  Since the Texas grapefruit is over the top sweet right now, I decided to make this salad with my dinner.

But this salad became my entire dinner because I ate the whole batch and even added more arugula to try to stretch it further.  You can find this recipe "adapted" and printed on Recipe Zaar, but you should just buy the magazine because then you get other good recipes, too.

I went on a little cleaning spree on Saturday and finally tidied up my cookbook shelf.  The shelf was starting to bow in the middle, so it was about time I got things a little more organized. I took a picture because I was so proud of myself!

If you could see a "before" picture, you'd be impressed!

On Sunday I had a blast jamming a bunch of frozen cherries with my friends Nick and Sarah.  They had dabbled a bit in canning before, but wanted a private lesson.  About 6 batches of Cherry Jam later, they were experts!  I happily received a few jars of jam and slathered it on top of toast with Earth Balance.

Yum!  This makes me want to make toast right now!

So there you have it: This is everything that I meant to write about this past weekend.  Next up: Vanilla Bean Soda!