Tonight's Menu: Love

I know it's a week after Valentine's Day, but tonight's dinner comes compliments of Whole Foods' "Share Your Love" recipes. I LOVE that Whole Foods has handy little recipes scattered all over the store -- and these ones were awesome! Even though I didn't make them for V-day (we had steak), I'm treating us to these tasty delights tonight. Yummers. (Click on each of the "whole foods" links to get to the recipe & enjoy!)

CHIPOTLE MUSHROOM & GOAT CHEESE QUESO

Source: wholefoodsmarket.com via Jillian Audrey on Pinterest

SMOKED SALMON AND CRÈME FRAÎCHE LEMON PASTA

Source: wholefoodsmarket.com via Jillian Audrey on Pinterest

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Couponing Win!

I’m writing an article for work about couponing. You’ve seen the show I’m sure, or if you haven’t you at least know about it -- EXTREME COUPONING. I had never actually seen it before… until last night. I had seen clips of it, when it was briefly being made fun of on something like The Soup, but I had never really seen it in its entirety. Well, I was in for a treat.

I knew what to expect though because two weeks ago I started to follow some coupon blogs. I started to LEARN. I came into this coupon thing as a total newbie. I seriously asked questions like: “Does Target take coupons?” “You can print coupons ONLINE?” “What is a circular?” “You can use more than one coupon at once?” But that’s all for a later discussion – and my work article.

What I’m here to tell you about is my first real coupon experience. Yesterday! And because this is a food blog, it’s food! But, here’s the catch, it’s not people food… it is kitty food.

I was a coupon superstar yesterday and was able to snag free cat treats at Target and now I’m going to tell you how you can do it too:

The usual price for the Whisker Lickin’s Cat Treats is about $2
There’s currently a SALE to $1 (until 10/22)
Target is offering a $1 off coupon on there website (which you can find & print HERE)
Final Cost: FREE! (Really, FREE! This still sort of blows my mind!)

Now, I’m not suggesting you waste an hour of your time or travel 20 miles to score a $2 bag of cat treats for free, but if you happen to be going to Target in the next few weeks, think about your fuzzy friends and maybe bring them home something special.

ALSO: There's a Living Social deal today for $20 worth of Whole Foods groceries for $10. (Click that link and buy it, seriously.) And my awesome 75% off J. Crew trench coat arrived yesterday. The world is just full of deals this week. How did I ever buy anything full price before?

Black Bean & Mango Salad

Hello loyal food blog readers, I have forsaken you and I am sorry! I have been so busy this past month (why the heck am I busy? I graduated!) that I’ve barely had time to post. But I’m back… and with a vengeance! I vow to be more consistent in my food blog posts and I’m kicking it off with a yummy recipe! (And lots of exclamation points!)

I went to Whole Foods yesterday with the intention of buying burgers to throw on the grill for dinner and stumbled upon a great (non-burger) recipe which I will now share with you. But let’s back up a moment…. That’s right foodie readers, I bought a grill. It happened over 4th of July weekend when I went to Home Depot with the intention of buying some potting soil. As you can see I’m an impulse shopper.

Anyway, Whole Foods has this awesome little flyer called “Meals for Under $15.” Since I just invested $1000 in a trip to LA for a writing conference I figured a less than $15 meal is just what I needed. Enter Black Bean & Mango Salad. Also, there is no actual “cooking” involved, it’s all chopping and throwing in a bowl. Score.

I think chopped up mango sort of looks like cubes of cheese....

This salad was so summery and delicious and I even got to use some fresh items out of my very own garden, including cilantro which has magically stayed alive! (Apparently, fourth time’s a charm when it comes to growing cilantro plants.) The salad was also a great accompaniment to the Au Poivre burgers, but I think it would also be tasty with some grilled chicken or fish.

Fresh cilantro!

BLACK BEAN & MANGO SALAD compliments of Whole Foods

Prep time: 20 minutes Total time: 20 minutes (aka, the whole thing is prep)

Ingredients:

• 1 (28 oz) can of black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 large mango, peeled and chopped
• 1 small red onion, minced
• 1 red bell pepper, minced
• 1 jalepeno pepper, seeded and minced
• 4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, minced
• 2 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• 1 fresh lime, zested and juiced
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
Mix beans, mango, onion, peppers, cilantro and garlic in large bowl. Toss with lime zest and lime juice, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve chilled. See how easy that was? Serves 4-6.

I also served mine with some taco chips. Yummmmm.

Happy summer, see you soon… I promise!