Watermelon and Cherry Tomato Salad

Hi! It's been a while. I have been doing a lot of cooking but just have not found any time to put the recipes back on the blog. I'm back on my cleanse/diet which I was on a few years ago so mainly lean proteins and fruits and veggies. No grains really and no dairy. So the next few recipes I post may lean towards that a little. However, I'll be off it in a week and will just go back to dairy-free, gluten-free although I will still try to stick to lower sugar. Speaking of which I read the other day women should only have 24g of added sugar maximum a day (not including natural sugars in fruits etc). That's crazy considering just my "healthy" granola ceral has 9g in each serving! So although it will be hard, I think a lower sugar diet is probably worth it in the long run.

Sorry getting sidetracked- this watermelon and cherry tomato salad was great when all of that was in season this summer and depending on where you are some of it still might be (my cherry tomato porch plant is still going nuts) but if not just keep this one bookmarked for next summer! it's super easy, it sounds super strange but the flavors go together great!

Ingredients

• handful of fresh basil
• handful of cherry or grape tomatoes
• about 3 cups of cubed watermelon
• 1/4 cup of white balsamic vinegar

Steps

1. If you're watermelon isn't cubed already, try to chop it into 1" chunks. The smaller the easier to eat but it all depends on how much effort you feel like putting in.
2. Wash your basil then slice it into thin ribbons. If you've never chopped up fresh greens before the easiest way is to squish it into a little ball then slice it with your knife (careful of fingers!)
3.  Cut your cherry or grape tomatoes in half. I learned an awesome trick for this!! I saw it on a youtube video and maybe you have to but you turn a plate upside down, pile your cherry tomatoes on top, then put another plate on top, so the cherry tomatoes are held between the bottoms of both plates. Push down on the top plate to hold tomatoes in place (but not so hard you squish the tomatoes!) then take a serrated knife and cut through the middle of the tomatoes. Remove the top plate and voila, perfectly halved tomatoes (this also works on grapes for chicken salad etc). 
   
4.  Add all your ingredients to a bowl then toss well before serving (I like this salad best the second day as the vinegar has had some time to really soak in)

Slow Cooker Mexican Quinoa

I made this recipe yesterday and loved that it was so easy and not time consuming. I threw the ingredients in the crockpot before I left for work, set the timer, came home added the quinoa and an hour later I had dinner. It's also a super versatile recipe and I've seen similar things out there just with little additions or changes to ingredients so feel free to have fun with it. If you don't want this to be vegetarian/vegan you could definitely add some chicken or ground beef to it. I plan on trying that next time as well. I just put my entire crock pot in the fridge and will have leftovers for days.

Ingredients

• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 onion chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes (undrained)
• 14.5 oz can black beans (drain and rinse)
• 1 cup broth (chicken or veggie depending on your diet)
• 2 cups of water
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• *1 chopped jalapeno (omit if you don't want it spicy)
• 1 cup of quinoa (rinsed)

1. Add all ingredients except for quinoa to the crockpot. Cook on low for  anywhere between 5-10 hours.
2.  Turn crockpot to high and add in quinoa and stir. Cook for an additional hour on high. 
3. When you see white rings around the quinoa you know it's ready. Add any extra spices or salt and pepper and stir in before serving (I added in a couple tablespoons of smoky chipotle sauce). 
4. Enjoy!