Happy Food

I absolutely love good, fresh, and healthy food. It makes me happy...so it's happy food!

Today I had two encounters with happy food. The first was my delicious breakfast. I had a toasted English muffin spread with part-skim ricotta cheese. Then I drizzled some Stone Fruit Compote on top and cut up a big bunch of organic strawberries.

Yum.

I may or may not have had a bowl of vanilla ice cream this afternoon and drizzled some of the compote on top of that, too.

My second happy food of the day was Fresh Corn Salad. I plan to bring it to a picnic with friends tonight and serving it with tortilla chips. I got this recipe from my good friend and posted it last year. I'll re-post it below because it's so darn delicious.

Fresh Corn Salad
~I was pretty much obsessed with this after my first bite~

*Fresh Corn is important - do not substitute frozen or canned.*
Dressing:

• 6 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp fresh lime juice
• 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 Jalapeno chili, stemmed, seeded, and minced (you can leave this out, if you don't like spice)
  
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Salad:

• 8 ears fresh corn, husks & silk removed (I used 6)
  
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved, or whatever tomatoes you have on hand (I used a couple large tomatoes that I chopped)
  
• 1 (15.5 oz) can black beans, rinsed
• 6 scallions (green onions), sliced thinly
• 2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro (I didn't use this because I don't like cilantro...don't hate me, I know everyone seems to like cilantro. But even the smell of it turns my stomach.)
• Salt & Pepper to taste

1. For the dressing: Shake all of the dressing ingredients together in a jar with a tight-fitting lid (or a plastic container or plastic baggie).
2. Cook the corn in a big pot of boiling water until tender (5-7 minutes). Drain and rinse under cold water. Cut kernels from cob with a paring knife into a large bowl.
   
3. Add tomatoes, beans, scallions, cilantro, and dressing and toss. Season with S&P to taste & serve.

*This salad can be made a day in advance.

I'm actually going to have a third encounter with happy food at the picnic tonight. It's kind of a secret happy food of mine. You see, I don't eat beef. I hate it. I want to like it, but I don't. However, whenever I even smell this happy food I practically start drooling with the anticipation of eating it. My secret happy food is....

Yes...all-beef juicy hot dogs with ketchup on top.

Ironically, I detest turkey hot dogs. I typically substitute turkey for beef in recipes all the time, but turkey hot dogs make me want to vomit.

Do you have any happy foods?