Spring Equinox Salad with Roasted Beets, Goat Cheese, and Pecans

Here's a little salad that's perfect for late winter / early spring, and / or for when you have only four days left before you (well, me actually) have to squeeze into a bikini.

I mentioned in my last post that Hubs and I had just been in New Orleans for 10 days, and now we are off to Mazatlan on Friday.  We are officially on a salad-only dinner regime until we leave. New Orleans is one of our favourite cities in the whole world, but low-cal it is not...from all of the deep fried food to the massive portions to the sweet alcoholic drinks, it's hard to come back without a few extra pounds to call your own.

For instance here's The Hubby looking unimpressed by the size of his dinner order, 'Catfish Dinner with a side of fries and onion rings.'

Weeknight No-Brainer BBQ Chicken Salad

The Hubby and I were recently in New Orleans for ten days for a combination of work and pleasure, and so it's pretty much been deep-fried catfish, and deep-fried shrimp po'boys, and deep-fried french fries and deep-fried chicken, and deep-fried crawfish, and deep-fried bacon (didn't even know this was a thing!), and deep fried chicken wings, and deep fried boudin, and deep-friend beignets, and even deep-fried pickles, jalapeños, and mushrooms.

One time I tried to be healthy and ordered a salad, and the only vegetable on my plate was 11 sprigs of arugula topped with fried green tomatoes, huge croutons, bacon, and a creamy dressing.  Another time The Hubby ordered a 1/2 sandwich, and what arrived was the biggest sandwich I've ever seen in my life.  I told the waitress that there was an error because we only ordered the half-size, to which she laughed and told me that was the half-size.  Makes sense, since it was the size of a small baby.  We were doomed a delicious, delicious fate.  Which leaves my waist-line in a bit of a predicament because The Hubby and I are off to our friend April's wedding at an all-inclusive in Mazatlan in just a little over a week, and I'm pretty sure that appropriate sun-bathing attire isn't my most comfortable pair of extra-large pyjamas.

Butternut Squash, Italian Sausage, and Spinach Pasta

Secret:  The butternut squash is the sauce.  No, like it actually is the sauce.  Like, there's no tomato sauce, and instead it's butternut squash.  Does that mean it's healthier?  I have no clue.  But tasty?  Oh my gourd, yes!

But, first things first (and I know I'm a little late)...WAY TO GO TEAM CANADA!

This is what Canadians live for!

We had 26 people crammed into our tiny living room to watch Canada win gold over Sweden in Men's Hockey in the Sochi Olympics.  And with a 4am game start time, why wake up early when you can stay up partying all night long?  We didn't crawl into bed until close to 8am, but it was worth it.  Well, except for The Hubby who was sawing logs by the end of the second period after doing a well-executed 'classic slip-out*' exit from the party.  He was discovered minutes later, in our bed, with drool already on the pillow...it was too late to drag him back to the party.

*During a classic slip-out, you must tell no one that you are leaving, and 'slip out' of the room without saying goodbye, for fear of being told by anyone in the room that you are actually, in fact, not allowed to leave because leaving would be super lame.

So, Pinterest is awesome and something I could become easily obsessed with.  Just kidding, I already am obsessed with it.  You can follow me here if you like.  Actually, I have pinned something like 1500+ recipes (with probably a lot of duplicates, because with 1500 recipes who could remember which ones you've laid eyes on before), and have only made a few things.  A couple of weeks ago I challenged myself to make something, anything, from one of my Pinterest boards, and that's when I stumbled upon the Pasta with Butternut Sauce, Spicy Sausage, and Baby Spinach from the Skinny Taste website.  It looked like exactly what I was going to need in my life that night, so I went to my favourite store (COSTCO!!), and picked up some butternut squash, 18 other things that I didn't plan on buying (48 granola bars!  16 cans of soup!  6 boxes of crackers!), and Italian sausage.  I changed up the recipe a little bit, with one of the main differences being that I roasted the squash instead of boiling it in water, which I felt would help to retain more flavour.