Avocado and Grapefruit Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

Hello May, hello summer food. It's not quite summer yet, but I am diving in to colorful food. I love indulging in seasonal dishes and this salad 100% fits the bill for the current season. 

The avocado and grapefruit combination is delicious, but the star of the show is the basil vinaigrette. The recipe comes from Gaby at What's Gaby Cooking. I've made this a few times and every time I'm reminded that I should make it more. It's amazing as a salad dressing, but also so good over fish, chicken, in replace of pesto, as a marinade, basically anything. I used it as a pizza sauce, so stay tuned for more on that. 

I've been making this salad for lunches and just keeping all of the components sliced and prepped in the fridge so I can toss it all together fresh once lunch time comes. Although, this salad would be great with salmon added to make it more filling or as a side with grilled meats or burgers. 

Avocado and Grapefruit Salad
yields 3-4 servings

Ingredients:
1 large grapefruit
1 large hass avocado
5 oz mixed green or spring green lettuce
3 green onions, whites and greens, thinly sliced
Basil Vinaigrette (recipe below)
Maldon salt

Directions:
Using a small sharp knife, peel your grapefruit. Start from the top and peel down as if you were going from the North to South Pole. Then slice thin rings and then cut each ring into fourths so you get triangular shapes. Then cut your avocado in half short ways. Remove the pit and slice into rings like you did the grapefruit, and then in half. Once your components are all sliced and ready it's time to assembly.

In a large bowl add your greens. Top with your grapefruit segments, avocado slices and green onions. Drizzle over a good portion of the basil vinaigrette. With two large spoons toss until the vinaigrette is incorporated. Top with a sprinkle of Maldon salt and enjoy! 

Basil Vinaigrette original recipe from What's Gaby Cooking 
yields ~1 cup

Ingredients: 
1 shallot, roughly chopped
2 cups tightly packed fresh basil leaves, stems removed (about 4 ounces)
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/2 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 tsp. salt

Directions:
Combine all the ingredients in a food processor or high powered blender and until smooth. It will be a little thiner than pesto. Store in a mason jar or sealed tight container. Vinaigrette will stay good for up to 3 days in the fridge.

Serve as a salad dressing, spread on pizza, sandwiches, and wraps or over pasta in replace of pesto. Also great as a marinade for fish or drizzled over the top. 

Annie

Bites of My Life

This past weekend is one of my favorite weekends in Oklahoma City. The Festival of the Arts comes to town and the Memorial Marathon is run on Sunday. It's always the last weekend in April, and it's always full of fun activities. You would think the last weekend in April would mean sunny spring weather, but we had buckets of rain and fridged temperatures. I'm ready for some May sunshine!

-My friend Malory posted this salad on her instagram and I enjoyed it all week. My version was spring greens, shredded chicken, dried cranberries, slivered almonds, bosc pears, green onions and a dijon vinaigrette.
-Turkey burger Monday with mom, dad and sis. So ready for summer food!
-I have a sensitivity to caffeine, so when we had a coffee tasting at work you can imagine the jitters I felt all day. Pictured here: our dirty chai. 
-Breakfast pizza coming to the brunch menu at The Jones Assembly.
-Felt like an oxymoron drinking my green smoothie out of a beer glass.
-The Malory Salad was on repeat all week!
-So many tastings for The Jones Assembly last week to get ready for our June opening, but nothing can beat our Steak Frites. 
-The Festival of the Arts is just as much about the culinary arts as it is the artists. The Beef & Blue Sandwich won best in show in my opinion!
-Made my M&M Cookie Pizza for Kathleen and John's housewarming party. What you can't see here is that I accidentally doubled the butter...it ended up being just fine and gave it that "melt in your mouth" taste!
-25,000+ people ran in the OKC Memorial Marathon, but we all woke up at 6am to see Maddie run the half in less than 2 hours! 
-After walking up abnormally early for a Sunday to watch the marathon, I had a long nap back in bed then a slow day reading some of my book and snacking on my faves. 
-Made a batch of What's Gaby Cooking's Basil Vinaigrette. I have lot's of plans for this stuff, stay tuned! 

Annie

Bites of My Life

Late night bites, but bites none the less. Happily jumping back into bed tonight after my lack of sleep from the weekend. All worth it though after being reunited with all of my best friends to celebrate our Madeline before she gets hitched this summer. The first to go in our nitch, so we had to celebrate accordingly. 

-Scrambled with a side of matcha. 
-More Jones Assembly menu tastings last week and I single handily took down this whole jar of candied bacon. 
-Our chefs have been cranking out the most delicious eats, like this blood orange and burrata dish with lavender infused olive oil. On the menu this summer at The Jones. 
-When your friend texts you to simply come over to teach her how to make a moscow mule, but then your night turns into a quest around town to find the best moscow mule in the city. Stay tuned for more reviews, but Sidecar is already impressing us. 
-Because I can't drink alcohol and not munch on something. And because Sidecar get's all of their food from their sister restaurant Broadway 10, you know anything on their menu will be delish. 
-The week continued with brunch tastings for The Jones. Wood fired frittata, yes please!
-Wheels down in Scottsdale and first stop was for brunch and multiple mimosas. 
-First day in the sun in about 8 months and in traditional Annie fashioned, got fried to a crisp...
-#madsbach had all the views in beautiful Scottsdale, AZ
-I fell in love with the frozen mojito at Sumo Maya a year ago and have been counting down the days until I knew I would be reunited with it again. 
-All reunited for our gal!
-Serious restaurant crush at The Henry before heading out of town. 

Annie

Beauty Bites

When it comes to beauty and skincare, I am not a "product person." I'm a drug store mascara, forget to wash my face, sometimes my teeth, never get facials kind of person. As I'm getting more into my 20's, I'm trying my best to change my old ways. Every article I read turns into some rant about how important your skin regimen is, or "what I would have told my 23 year old self" turns into a lesson on taking care of your skin. I don't want wrinkles by the time I'm 30, so looks like it is time to grow up. at

Like I said, I've really been trying to invest in better products, take more time with my skin regimen and care more about what I'm putting on my face and body. Below is a list of my current "beauty bites." While I'm still a girl on a budget, one product is a pantry staple and nothing is over $30. 

LAZY DRY SHAMPOO
I am new to the dry shampoo world. I always swore it didn't work for me. My hair gets greasy after 24 hours, and have always washed my hair everyday if I want it to look decent. Once I joined the working world, washing and drying my hair everyday became a long and daunting task. Enter dry shampoo. It took a few weeks to get my hair used to every other day washes, but with some trial and error I've found some dry shampoos that actually work and help prolong the washing process. My current obsession is Lazy Dry Shampoo. It's all natural ingredients and locally made in OKC! You apply the powder with a soft brush at night, then you wake up and voila, non-greasy hair! It comes in two versions for light and dark hair. Lazy Dry Shampoo can be ordered here. 

RODAN + FIELDS FOAMING TANNER
I get pale in the winter, like sickly pale. When spring hits I get eager to add some color to my washed out winter skin, but it's not that easy. It takes weeks in the summer to get a tan. With my roommate's bachelorette trip in Scottsdale this weekend, I am in desperate need for some base color before being fully exposed to the sun. My good friend Bailey recently started selling R+F and raved about this tanner. I love that is is a foam, making it so easier to apply. The color shows up almost instantly giving me the color I dreadfully need.  Shop from Bailey directly here. 

COCONUT OIL
You've probably seen a million articles about all the benefits and ways you can use coconut oil, well it's true. I've recently started using coconut oil outside of just cooking with and more for topical use. Coconut oil has replaced my old make up remover. I have a jar in my bathroom that I use every night to wipe away my make up. It works better than any bottle remover you can buy at the store.  I have really dry skin so something that gently removes my makeup and moisturizes at the same time is a win win. I also apply a little extra on my lips and sometimes use it on my cuticles and elbows. 

DIY LAVENDER BODY SCRUB
My other roommate gifted me some lavender body scrub for Valentine's Day. Made from just coconut oil, sugar and lavender oil. My dry skin was obsessed. It became my ritual to go to hot yoga, come home light a candle in the bathroom, and use my lavender body scrub in a long hot steamy shower. A little home spa action. I found my skin not needing as much lotion post-shower because the scrub helped get off dead skin and moisturize with the coconut oil base. I ran out fast, but plan on using this recipe to make more on my own!

Annie

Bites of My Life

Nothing better than a holiday weekend, nothing worse than the end of a holiday weekend. It was so nice to just hang out with my family, enjoy the springy weather, and eat some delicious food. It was a relaxing weekend, but I'm tired just thinking about having to start a new week. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. 

-I've been so inspired by the dishes and ingredients in my new cookbook, I used them to create last week's dinner.  Sumac chicken thighs with garlicky broccoli topped with pomegranate molasses and tahini.
-So much hype for the gummy bears from Sprouts, I had to check it them out for myself. My opinion is still on the fence. Haven't had that "life changing" moment yet that everyone claims. 
-With this being the week leading up to Easter, I was surrounded with candy. And I gave in...
-Fried okra tasting at The Jones Assembly!
-Friday night flight. 
-#TABturns4
-Plants that don't succ. 
-"So urban" walking to dinner with these goons. 
-Sunday best. 
-Mom sets the best table!
-Jesus washed away our sins, so I didn't regret any of this sinfully delicious spread.
-Couldn't stop snacking on this combo of salty cashews and m&m's. No doubt Easter m&m's are the cutest.

Annie