It's not even 9am and I have had one of the most productive mornings. Kyle and I have taken the dogs out, fed them, had our morning coffee, ran/walked 2 miles with Sibbie, mowed the lawn, and I am now drinking one of the best smoothies I have made in awhile (carrot, strawberry, mango situation). I love productive mornings!
This weekend was pretty productive too. We were able to get a lot more work done on our house and we found a dining table set and chairs (on sale too!). We can't wait to have more people over and be able to have a place to feed them. Also! You may have seen on my instagram that we have a new addition to the family, Scout! She is an 8 week old black lab mix that we found on Craigslist. Ever since we knew we would be moving into a house and away from our extremely dog friendly apartment complex and built-in-unofficial-dog-park, we had been talking about getting another dog so Sibbie can have a playmate. Huskies are extremely social and we felt like she was getting lonely during the day here because there aren't many dogs for her to play with. Plus, we already knew we were ready for another dog.
I poured over the Craigslist pets section, the Texas husky group on Facebook, San Antonio Pet's Alive, and Texas Husky Rescue. Nothing felt quite right until I saw the listing for a litter of lab mix puppies from a farm family down in Floresville. After contacting them, we drove down there the next afternoon with Sibbie in the backseat, and when the guy opened the back door to his truck there was a tray of black puppies!! I held each one and let Sibbie sniff which one was to be her little sis before deciding on Scout. We are so happy we got her!
Of course, it's not even close to being all rainbows and butterflies. The first two nights we hardly slept at all, and are up at least 1x per night taking Scout out when she cries. And then there's the biting and chewing. And constant energy. But as someone recently said to me, that's why God made them so cute, so you don't want to kill them!
So far Sibbie and Scout are getting along really well. At first Sib was a little jealous, but now they play together for hours on end and usually are always together. I think they'll be bff before too long.
Anyways, enough about the dogs! I am not one for getting really excited about salads (although I do try and eat one at least once per day), but this noodle salad from Izy Hossack's new book is a salad to look forward to! When I was flipping through her cookbook I immediately stopped at this recipe because the ingredient list and combo of flavors intrigued me. First of all, halloumi. If you aren't familiar with it, it's a hard cheese that can be grilled or fried. It is salty and flavorful and just plain amazing. It also pairs extremely well with fruit. Noodles with halloumi and mangos and coconut milk? Sounds good!
We are in the middle of a Texas summer here and that means anything refreshing and chilled that is light and satisfying is welcome in our diets. We have made this several times for lunch and it is easily something I plan on making for many lunches to come. You need to try this because you will be pleasantly surprised at how simple yet delicious it is. All the right textures are here, it has the right balance of sweet and savory, and it is perfect for summertime lunch or a light dinner!
Izy's Halloumi & Mango Noodle Salad
barely adapted from The Savvy Cook
Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup frozen, shelled edamame
- 5-6 oz. package of soba noodles
- 4 oz. halloumi cheese, cut into 1-1/2 inch pieces
- 1/2 large mango, cubed
- 2 scallions, sliced
- handful of cashews or peanuts, coarsely chopped
- handful of basil, chopped
for the cilantro-coconut dressing
- 2 bunches of cilantro
- 1/4 oz or 1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tbl. soy sauce
- 1 tbl. sugar or honey
- crushed red pepper to taste
- 1/3 cup coconut milk
Directions: Place the frozen edamame in a colander over the sink. In a medium saucepan with boiling water, add the noodles and cook according to package directions. Pour the noodles directly over the edamame, thawing the frozen edamame at the same time as you drain the noodles. Let sit for 30 seconds, then rinse under cold water to prevent noodles from sticking together.
Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced halloumi and cook until light golden brown, and then flip over and cook the other side. Remove from the pan and set aside on a plate.
In a food processor or blender, blend all the cilantro coconut dressing ingredients together until smooth.
Toss the noodles and edamame with the mango cubes, scallions, basil, and nuts. Divide the salad between two plates and top with the dressing and cooked halloumi.