Only the lonely

What a lonely SBT today. Jamie is in Germany, Amy couldn't get herself dressed to come and work in Hyannis today and Karen took a day off. However, since we knew this beforehand, the treats were abounding. No vegetarians, no one worried about fat flushing, it was bring whatever delectables are available. So we had several new items today from salami to salmon, from roast beef to Portuguese bread, from blackberries to oatmeal raisin cookies. There were only three of us and we all brought Lettuce...hahaha that will never happen again! The usual red pepper, avocado, celery, cherry tomatoes, dried cranberries and cheese was still a plenty, in fact enough to snack on this afternoon too. There was enough meat and hard boiled eggs for each of us to make two chef's salads! But alas, Jamie was flit flitting away in Bavaria, Amy was too lazy to put on clothes, David has decided that he is not interested in our salad festival (must be a man thing) and who knows what Karen was doing while the rest of us were slaving away here in the freezing fluorescent flickering four walls we lovingly refer to as an office!

Looking forward to when the gang reunites next week, although maybe i will, maybe i wont attend as Dave Matthews will be calling my name and I might need to prepare in other ways than chopping vegetables if you know what i mean :)

And then there was one more...

So we have a new addition to our Cape Cod Original Salad Bar Team. This week we welcome Dave Sigler from the Dow Jones Coop Marketing dept. Despite being somewhat tardy...he was prepared for today's event yesterday. However, I don't think he realized exactly what he was getting into.

Today was also a belated birthday celebration for Karen so besides the delicious spread of vegetable chili, roasted chicken, caprese salad, pea pods and much much more Catheren brought in a double chocolate trifle. Since we have already posted the link to one of the top favorite friends episodes where Joey makes trifle, so this is a tribute out to the birthday girl!!

Sadly this blog is cut short due to work constraints, but hopefully this will jump start some more blogs now that the fall is in full swing.

The definition of Salad

Today we found ourselves with a conundrum. No one had brought any lettuce. Ms. Amy "Lettuce" Littlefield decided she didn't need to grace us with her presence, but failed to mention that to anyone prior to 730am this morning. Turns out everyone had lettuce at home, but no one thought to bring it because "someone else" always does. With no farmer's markets open nearby, and no supermarket within walking distance, we found ourselves in a pickle...and Karen had made some of her own to boot.

So the board of SBT had to make a critical game-time decision....to eat or not to eat.... We rallied together and based upon the wiki-definition of salad, we decided to travel through unchartered territory.

What does an SBT sans salad consist of you ask??? Well its not pretty, so there was no photographic evidence today sadly. But we managed to create bowls of yummy goodness without the popular leafy green that we have all taken for granted!

• Home made bread and butter pickles
• Homemade guacamole
• Pasta pinwheels
• Cuke,Campari & Kalamata salad with feta and mint
• artichoke hearts
• homegrown tomatoes
• homegrown basil
• avocado
  
• chick peas
• carrots
• red pepper
• roasted chicken
• grilled steak

We have had some trouble resuming this Tuesday tradition, I think we are still in summer mode. We also had a suggestion made that we change days to rely on the local farmers market for our menu, and all board members will take suggestions to the next meeting and we will keep you posted.

Ode to a Salad

Oh Salad how i've missed you....Let me count the ways
5) lonely days eating alone
4) leftover dinner reheated
3) Wendy's drive-thru between meetings
2) cold cuts on stale bread
and the number one reason I have missed you dear dear salad is for the return of my waistline!

How quickly this year has passsed. I'm glad for the return of our favorite day of the week. Friends, fun, and good health!
Salut!

Man, this year went by fast

Today is the official Anniversary of Salad Bar Tuesday, can you even believe it? I remember just like it was yesterday when Catheren and I brought in the meager makings of a salad and look at us now! Although we did take the month of July off, we are back at it again today with fabulous selections from all our our SBT friends.

It has been an interesting year of salads, expansion and competition. We will never for get when the Cape Cod Originals beat the Merry Men of Middletown in our first SBT challenge. Or when Mike Siebach decided to launch a satellite SBT in Seacoast.

We have had ups and downs and weeks where only 3 people have participated, but we still have provided a wonderful bounty of delicious vegetables to feed the masses. From goat cheese, to home made bread and cupcakes, to dried cranberries and peas, we have seen it all. This year will be a fun year, time to challenge the contributors to get more creative with our feasts, and challenge other sites to bring the joy of Salad Bar Tuesday into their lives.

Thank you every one for a fabulous year of Salad Bar Tuesdays - it really makes for a fun work week and has always been a great way to return to work after a bad case of the Mondays.

Cheers!

And then there were three

Sadly, I think last weeks post says it all. We have let salad bar tuesday fall by the wayside on our summer priority list. Blisters on the feet for walking on hot sand, summer road trips, even looming deadlines are not true excuses people!! Some of us labor hard in oru gardens to provide the seasonal harvest that we have come to love. And when people don't show up, it makes us lament over the effort put in. We only had three participants today, and by far Judy was the hero with her fabulous acoutrements. Fresh lettuce, fresh pineapple, fresh blueberries, and eggplant briquettes were some of the beautiful array. One more week to go before my summer hiatus, which makes me sad to see that without someone to carry the torch on, Jamie and Judy could be left all alone. So please, get inspired, go to the farmers market, think of some fun ways to be creative this summer!

Kinda like an old relationship

So I can't believe its been 3 weeks since our last blog post!! Its kinda sad but true, the wooing is over!! No more putting SBT in front of everything else, no more getting excited about what the other people (chapters) are doing, in fact they don't even call (participate) anymore. Its like our love affair with salad has gotten so comfortable its no longer at the forefront of our workday! We have religiously kept up with it, and even taking pictures meaning to blog, but then something more important comes up. Something more likely to give us more satisfaction and our poor bowls of salad get tossed aside. No more are the days of gossiping around the lettuce bowl, now we have to take our salad and eat it at our desks.

I hate to say it, but this relationship just hasn't turned me on in a very long time! Even with Amy's plentiful bounty of home grown lettuce, and the wondrous pasta salads, homemade tabouleh and organic veggies it just isn't like it used to be. The Middletown Men were never to be heard from again (must not be able to take defeat well). And the Seacoast Chapter decided to use our platform and create a day for their wieners! Typical Men!! They woo us with their enthusiasm and their willingness to listen and participate, and then just like that, with no warning they are gone. Its disheartening really, being left to tend to our healthy eating by ourselves. And quite honestly, the magic just isnt there for me anymore.

Don't get me wrong....my girls are always there with a huge bowl of lettuce and enough trimmings to have a second round...but on this sad and lonely day when I am unable to attend (family always trumps salad relationships) I am forced to reflect back on this journey and wonder how I can improve upon myself to make it more enjoyable!!

So I am once again throwing down the gauntlet to see if we can make our Summer of SBT to the next level. We will be having our first anniversary soon and we need to revive that spark we once had! I'm open to all suggestions!

The story of a bowl

Oh SBT blog, how I have missed you.

Ever since the beginning of days of SBT here on Cape Cod, I have used the same awesome, huge, perfect bowl. Some of you may remember it featured in past posts, also featured to the right. Man, that bowl was awesome.

Well, as of two weeks ago I have some sad news to report. After coming into work with a sick child at home with my husband - just to participate in SBT of course - and rushing home to him after lunch, we had a casualty. After placing my huge lunch bag on my counter at home to go and give Jack a big hug, there was a soft thud, then CRASH!!!!!!!! Good bye salad bowl, hello huge mess of broken sadness. I couldn't believe it.

When the next SBT came around I was pondering what bowl I would bring with me that would do the same amount of justice that the deceased did. It was tough, because I did not have many options to choose from, and the larger bowls I really wanted to bring I didn't feel were fair to the rest of the SBT team. So, after a long thought process, I decided to give the black, square bowl a try. Come to find out, it was quite successful! It also received a compliment from fellow SBT Co-Founder as the "new bowl for photographing purposes". I am still in the testing phase, as this is week 2. I will keep you posted.

I need to get dressed!

I think it may be redundant, but today's SBT was by far the best over past gatherings. Not only did we chase the rain away with our collective good spirits (& Littlefield) but it was also Free Cone Day at Ben & Jerry's right across the street from our office!!

It is becoming a habit for all of us to manage our schedules so as not to miss this healthy feast. I was sad to miss last week's event (which clearly meant no one was reminded to blog either....hmmmm) due to April vacation week. But so glad I got up and dressed for today.

Along with our usual spread of now somewhat required acoutrements of tomatoes, carrots, chick peas, cucumbers and of course the variety of lettuce, this week we had home-made vegetarian bean chili, broccoli slaw, vegan lasagna (don't mock it til u try it), goat cheese, blackberries, pineapple (with healthy good for you cores included), edamame, sugar snap peas, red peppers and bread.

A completely filling and totally satisfying day of treats...next week however I might need the thanksgiving pants!!

Seacoast Media Group Gains Co-Founder's Approval

Last week I was scheduled away from my normal SBT routine and enjoyed a crazy road trip to Seacoast Media Group. Fortunately for me it was a Tuesday and our fellow comrades have started their own local version of the best day of the week.

Although my team did not have time to participate, we did stop in on the SBT festivities to see how they ran their ship. And let me tell you, it was pretty awesome. Huge bowl of lettuce, many salad dressings, toppings galore and to top it all off - COOKIES!! My favorite of course, and I was hooked. Mike Siebach introduced me to the new team and they were off! I think I can speak on behalf of my other SBT co-founder, Catheren, when I say that we are so excited, honored, ecstatic, overjoyed that another group of fellow local media people have become hooked to our new founded Tuesday adventure.

To put the icing on the cake their local food columnist Rachel Forrest wrote them/us up - check it out!

Thanks Seacoast - Keep up the good work!

Work work go away...let us have our salad day!

So while Amy was off site last week interviewing whales...and now this week Jamie has hopped the border... it seems as if it will be forever until we reconvene the original sbt gathering. We did have a good showing on cape cod last week, but i didn't get a chance to even eat the beautiful creation until dinner time I was so busy...don't know what jamie's excuse was :)

So today...despite our geographic seperations...Amy and I still held a mini chapter of SBT in Pocasset. With some delicious veggie chili, sauteed asparagus, tomatoes, cheese dried cranberries and spanish olives...this salad was well worth the wait

Rain, Rain go away on our Salad Bar Tuesday

Well on this rainy Salad Bar Tuesday - despite the fact that the ceiling is about to fall in outside of our offices - we had an excellent turn out, shocking I know. With everything from the normal lettuce, tomatoes and cukes to our new favorite Chow Mein crunchy noodles, pecans and Catheren's chicken orzo soup - YUMMY!!

Amy and I were hard at work while enjoying Salad Bar Tuesday - Google docs had our attention for a minute, but it was hard to work staring over my beautiful salad creation.


Catheren gets an A+ for her salad bar deliciousness

today - a great variety of flavors. Pam had a great showing as well with a beautiful array of fresh strawberries for dessert - or to add to your salad depending on your personal preference. I also have to give a shout out to Judy - she is relentless when it comes to Salad Bar Tuesday contributions - always bringing 5-6 things, including one of the groups personal favorites - PEAS!!

Thanks Ladies for making Tuesday the best day of the week - Spreading happiness, one salad at a time.

Introducing the Seacoast Salad Semi-Pros!

I'm not much of a fruits-and-veggies guy. I like a large, medium rare steak. In fact, that's what I had for breakfast. But I like the idea of a cheap and healthy lunch, which is why I brought the Salad Bar Tuesday franchise to Seacoast Media Group.

Even though the email invitations to participate in SBT were emailed late Monday afternoon at SMG, the response was still great! Admittedly, it was too late of a notice for some, but when they saw how great SBT was, they got excited to participate. Next week should be the best Seacoast SBT ever!

Let's look at what we had:
-Grilled chicken
-Onions
-Celery
-Santa Fe tortilla strips
-Croutons
-Spinach
-Raspberries
-Blackberries
-All manner of fancy dressings
-Broccoli
-Bread
-Mushrooms
-Carrots
-Cottage cheese
-Red peppers

The Seacoast Salad Semi-Pros' first SBT was a hit, and I know participation will be up significantly next week!

As our Membership Grows

The news of another chapter forming in Portsmouth, NH is very exciting and we here at SBT headquarters wish them all the best.

Anyone can form an SBT club wherever they work on Tuesdays. There is no minimum to the # of participants or contributions. And we are always open to suggestions and followers of our group.

To become an official chapter of SaladBarTuesday.com your group must have an original chapter name (i.e The Merry Men of Middletown) and elect one member to write the blog posts each week that you meet. If more than one person wants to be the blogger, than each person must submit a photo of his/her salad to saladbartuesday@gmail.com for the co-founders to vote on.

Once you have your chapter set up, the following week you will participate in the SBT induction challenge with the Cape Cod Originals chapter.

We had a slight change from last weeks challenge rules; the logo contest was vetoed, and the bowls were not ordered, but we will be working on them and hope to have them available before the next challenge. More details on that to come.

Here you will see the bowl spec, without our logo obviously. But it will be the logo featured at the top of this blog. Convenient for bringing in your toppings to share in a seperate tray and the bottom bowl for your personal creation.

Like? Dislike?

Our movement is spreading north

I'm so excited for the growth of our salad revolution, I can hardly finish eating! The Merry Men of Middletown chapter has led to other locations creating yet another group. With short notice to their fellow colleagues, it was wisely decided for this week to not be a challenge week. However, I was very impressed by their first time spread. It is a fun way to spend a rainy tuesday lunch, and not a bad way to make mondays fly by too.

I look forward to the upcoming weeks and despite one of our crucial members significantly absent today, we still enjoyed our healthy salads and my fabulous homemade brazilian black bean soup! The best (and yet original) contribution today was by far the crunchy chow meins noodles.

Salad Bar Tuesday begins at Seacoast Media Group Offices

As news spreads about the success of Salad Bar Tuesday in Middletown - took the silver, but had a valiant effort - others seem to want in on the action too.

Subject: SALAD BAR TUESDAY STARTS TOMORROW

Good afternoon.

This is late, I know. I am sorry. In the interest of eating healthy and enjoying good food, the Cape Cod-inspired Salad Bar Tuesday is starting tomorrow.

What is it? http://saladbartuesday.blogspot.com/

Salad Bar Tuesday: Bring in a salad topping/condiment of your choice. Bring in a couple if you’d like. Others will do the same, and with our ingredients combined, we can build some killer salads.

Salad Bar Tuesday is all about bringing what you already have and making a great salad with it? You have lettuce but no toppings? Bring that! You have leftover chicken from grilling on Saturday? Bring that!

You also have to bring your own bowl/plate and utensil. You probably already knew that, though.

Any questions? Think we can pull this off tomorrow?

Thanks,

Mike

Some ideas for toppings:

-Feta cheese
-Hard boiled eggs
-Basil
-Bourbon chicken
-Roasted Red Pepper Hummus
-Ham
-Peas
-Olives
-Dried cranberries
-Strawberries
-Raisins
-Dill mini gherkins
-Pepperoncini
-Whole grain croutons
-Cheese and garlic croutons
-Wheat Baguette
-Home made french bread
-Home made roasted garlic olive oil
-Home made Tabbouli

Smart move by Mike Siebach - suggest ideas from the winners list!!

Good luck tomorrow Seacoast!

Cape Cod Originals take the Gold!

What an exciting day. The birth of our first SBT Chapter. We have started on our quest to rule the world with at least one healthy day a week of fresh foods, homemade goods and fun creative lunch breaks. Who said you can't have fun and eat healthy at the same time? I believe Jamie Oliver is on a similar quest http://www.jamieoliver.com/campaigns/jamies-food-revolution/petition

I will admit this excitement did consume most of my lunch break and after work hours yesterday, and some might label that behavior as insane. However, when my competitive juices are flowing, there is no stopping me! The health kick is just an added bonus. Fun, friends and a reason to get up in the morning are all key elements in this phenomenom we lovingly refer to as SBT.

I welcome all new locations to gather together and start your own chapter. Its easy. Its fun. And best of all its good for you too.

Congratulations to all participants, pat the winners on the back (oooh wait....thats me...insert pat here) and a word of advice to the newcomers...the planning of next meeting's menu should start right about.....NOW!

And the Winner is...

Sorry for the delay folks, I know you have been "patiently" waiting. :)

Being asked to vote for or against your bosses would seem like it presents a bit of a dilemma. Do we want to get paid tomorrow? Or can we live off SBT leftovers for the next two weeks???

All of the judges admitted this was a close match, especially since the Merry Men of Middletown brought the thunder and noise. Thunder and noise seems like it should be an essential element in every SBT. A salad bowl is also on the line here, so the stakes are high.

In the end though, the judges decided.... (drum roll here).... that the SBT Cape Cod Originals are the winners this time.

Though Merry Men of Middletown you gave them an excellent run for their salad, and with a few weeks of SBT training, you might be able to win that salad bowl yet!

Salad Bar Tuesday heads West

The gauntlet was thrown. The challenge was on. Could we replicate the Salad Bar Tuesday experience on Cape Cod at the corporate office in Middletown, NY?

We think we've made a good run at it. Here's the list of participants and their contributions:

Patrick Mullen:

• Fruit salad
• Hummus
• Crackers
• Fresh mozzarella

Richard Hoover

• Sliced cantaloupe
• Fruit salad
• The thunder and the noise

Kurt Lozier

• Baby spinach
• Peas
• Chickpeas
• Dried cranberries
• Tortilla strips for croutons
• Tomatoes
• Cucumber
• Mushrooms
• Cutting board and Rachel Ray knife
• Feta cheese
• Shredded carrots
• Newman's Own Olive Oil and Vinegar

Sean Polay

• Spring mix
• Chopped celery
• Chopped green onions
• Mini pepperoni
• Smoked salmon
• Goat cheese crumbles
• Dried cranberry, raisin and strawberry mix 
• Spicy sprouts
• Snow peas
• Newman's Own Light Roasted Garlic Balsamic
• Riceworks Sweet Chili chips
• Snickerdoodles

The photographic evidence:



We have such an obscene amount of food, Salad Bar Tuesday is definitely extending into dinner for me. And I thought eating healthy on the road would be a challenge.

It's the healthiest Tuesday meeting we've ever had, and we liked it. We're already plotting our strategy for the next one. We're ready for our chapter assignment, too, though we think adding Merry to our title -- making it Merry Men of Middletown -- has a nice Robin-Hood-like ring to it.

Cape Cod Originals Smack Down Contributions

Selections offered at today's gathering for the 1st SBT Smack Down, enjoy!

Feta cheese

Hard boiled eggs

Basil

Bourbon chicken

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

Ham

Peas

Olives

Dried cranberries

Strawberries

Raisins

Dill mini gherkins

Pepperoncini

Whole grain croutons

Cheese and garlic croutons

Wheat Baguette

Home made french bread

Home made roasted garlic olive oil

Home made Tabbouli

Home made ginger carrot soup

Selection of salad dressings - including Catalina, Caesar, Red Wine Vinaigrette and more

Butter Cream Cupcakes with dark chocolate frosting and chocolate shavings
(Happy Birthday Linda!)

The day we've all been waiting for!

It is on...The Official SBT Challenge is upon us in less than 52 minutes (but who's counting?) The rules have been distributed to all involved and the items for today's feast have been made lovingly or shopped for. It is time to announce today's guest judges.

Kari Richards- Technology Services (head judge)
Jeff Raper- Distributed Media team
Hakim Younsi- Interactive Media Services
Bryan Swallow-Technology Services
Dana Carrion-Technology Services

The requirements are that all food is either homemade or bought in a food/grocery store, i.e. Not from a restaurant or a restaurant brand.

The judges will each read both teams blog post list of ingredients and vote for which location they would prefer to eat at. The votes will be given to the head judge and she will post the winner on the blog no later than 1:30pm EST.

Good Luck to both Teams: Cape Cod Originals vs. The Men of Middletown

SBT Smackdown

At presstime, the date is now pending for the official gauntlet.....

However, as the official co-host of this healthy phenomenon, I am pleased to announce the opening of a new chapter of Salad Bar Tuesday. The Men of Middletown (name to be formalized at the induction ceremony...may change...don't personalize anything just yet) have been inspired to add a healthy day to their work week.

The rules of SBT state that in order to become an official member of the SBT family, your group must join the blog and your first entry must include all the elements of your feast. Our unbiased panel of non-participating judges (names withheld to protect their anonymity) will then vote on whose feast they would prefer to participate in. If the newest chapter wins for that week, their entire group will win a commerative personalized salad bowl.

Check back for the date of the vote for the official design. We are also holding a contest for the official logo. Details to follow.

Yet another plentiful bounty

NEED I SAY MORE????

..............................................................................

With twice as many people as usual, there was...you guessed it....TWICE AS MUCH FOOD!! Not that i'm complaining in the least..i'm just sayin'

So much yummy goodness i had to go back for seconds, I even brought a second plate for the baked goods section. We may need to continue that portion in weeks to come.

*home made rosemary + parmasan focaccia

*chicken

* ham

* avacado

*basil

*celery, carrots, tomatoes

*an assortment of jarred items (pickles, olives etc)

*feta cheese, olives, red peppers

*tiramisu cupcakes

*and of course one ginormous chocolate chip cookie

But this SBT certainly exceeded our expected level of caliber brought by our guests from a faraway land. With the appearance of superhero DM man, and the one and only person to ever bring only chocolate to a SALAD BAR, and of course the Lovely Linda, our afternoon of health and merriment was enhanced byt the multi-media creations of Sean Polay. We do hope our friends will return, and next time Jeff will heed the invitation to bring a salad item in addition to his dessert option (which were truly yummy! not as yummy as the cookie, but still good) :)

And you thought salad and polka were mutually exclusive

The Distributed Media team did drop into Salad Bar Tuesday, as threatened. For Linda, Jeff and I, our SBT virginity is nevermore.

We decided to add a little music to the festivities. We'll spare you the full song, but we will give you a sample:

The spread was fantastic. Overwhelming. I'm pondering thirds myself, but then there is my belated birthday cookie, courtesy of Distributed Media Bake Shop (Motto: Making dreams come true, one cookie at a time). It is hard to miss in this picture. Focus on the baked good bigger than my head in the lower left corner. It taunts. Beckons. Begs for indulgence.

So do the cupcakes. Gourmet jellybeans -- my kryptonite -- top each one. I've never seen such a healthy meal with so many additional temptations.

As I threatened aloud, there are likely to be more impromptu Distributed Media team meetings that just happen to coincide with SBT. As Jamie would say, just sayin'....

Be Our Guest

SBT is in full force today! Everyone has been preparing for our guests from the Distributed Media team, Sean, Jeff and Linda! Late last week Sean and I made the executive decision to move our monthly meeting to Cape Cod, on Tuesday, for SBT!! All guests were asked to bring a contribution as well as their own bowl and silverware and in return we would show them the best day of the week, free of charge. Little did they know that they are about to embark on an unbelievable culinary journey and will probably end up working their schedules around SBT. Be careful, it will get'cha.

So today, we invite the DM team to Be Our Guest - next time it could be you!

A Salad Bowl is...A Beautiful Medley

Creating the perfect salad bowl can be compared to composing a symphony and then hearing it come alive with a full orchestra.  That's how I felt today creating and eating my salad bowl of deliciousness.

Since everyone was participating the toppings were endless, but since about 3pm yesterday I knew exactly the direction I was headed....a taco salad delight.

I had made some veggie chili to share with the group along with assorted grated cheeses.  All of the participants had brought other bountiful treasures and my taco salad was in full swing.

I filled my bowl with lettuce on one half and chili on the other.  I topped the lettuce with one of the most scrumptious food items I have ever tasted, Jamie's Pilgrim salad.  I also included some sliced tomatoes and tortilla chips on the lettuce side.  On the chili side of my bowl I added some grated cheddar and mozzarella cheese and sour cream, that Catheren had so kindly contributed saving me a trip to the store.  And viola, my salad was complete.  I could say something like this salad was comparable to Beethoven's 5th, but it was really a Dave Mathews song today, courtesy of Jamie's iTouch and our Dave Mathews Salad Bar Tuesday.

The Masterpiece of Salad

You could feel that spring was in the air today with the golds, oranges, and reds that made up our edible pallette of options today. Everyone was participating today, birds were chirping it was a good day....you could say Sald Bar Tuesday made us JUMP for joy!

Despite the regrettable mistake of not bringing cupcakes to even the scales, today was a good day...so good in fact that we have convinced Amy to make her vacation travel plans for next week to accomodate one last appearance at SBT!

i made it!

not a moment too soon....I still don't really know whether salad has become my will to live, or the weekly catching up we do whilst crunching on whole wheat croutons that makes me schedule my work week around this blessed event. But either way my half vacation day was dictated by the overwhelming sense of urgency I had to get my sore, tired, hungry ass to hyannis for 12:00 on the dot! And oh am I glad that I made it...the orzo salad was out of this world...i will still be tasting garlic tomorrow, but it is all worth it for the past 24 hours of travelling hell I went through to get here!! Thanks guys...totally missed y'all!

The return of SBT

SBT is back and better than ever. Last week Catheren was on vacation and I was home sick, so although it did still occur with out us - Judy and Karen held strong - it was better than ever today.

Catheren arrived in the nick of time at 11:59 with bread and croutons in hand after going to bed at 1:30am after a long day of travel with 2 children and no husband to help, and Karen even squeezed in a salad before her dentist appointment! (Don't worry, she brushed)

Amy made a delicious orzo, white bean salad with basil, tomatoes and GARLIC, I wouldn't be surprised if you can smell it through the blog today. Oh my!! - but it was awesome. Amy also played the part of "Hero" and brought double chocolate chunk cookies and peanut butter cookies. I may have actually deemed her the Villain, but I fell for the cookies as well.

So great to be back in the swing of things. I don't know what I would to without SBT, it truly makes my day and my week!

flying from florida to make it home in time....

SO i was bumped off my flight this morning due to a delay on the orginal flight. I opted to not be stuck in standby at dulles with two small kids for the entire day as the not so pleasant woman told me there were no available flights to get me home today. So i believed her and booked me on the same flight for tomorrow, much to the dismay of my fellow sbt colleagues!!! After renting another rental car to go back to our house and getting online to get some work done, i was warned about impending bad weather...so I got back online and on the phone with expedia and after about an hour and a half of hold time transferred agents and a sob story...I was able to get all 3 of us on the last flight out of florida tonight. Barring any mid atlantic weather delays on our connection, i should be able to make the next installment of SBT!!! What dedication!!!
May not be contributing mouch more than dressing and a fork, but its a start!!

Are you kidding me with this???

So here I am riding in the way way back of a rented minivan on my way to Disney in SUNNY FLorida :) and I thought I'd catch up on my salad bar blog to see what people recorded that I missed yesterday...and lo and behold.......THERE'S NOTHING NEW TO READ!!!

I'm deeply saddened, but somewhat humbled that my absence caused a pause in our usual routine...however, our mission statement clearly states that come hell or high water, torrential rains or blizzards dont keep us away from having one day devoted to health and merriment. All I can say is that I hope my girls back east are regrouping today and wont let me down for another day today! T-17 mins for LOSBT so here I am waiting with baited breath.

I'm just sayin....

Today was a somber SBT...no pictures....no ruckus, just pure unadulterated vegetable lovin goodness!! There was a huge feast despite two members missing. A fortitude of fresh veggies, spinach leaves and bruschetta calzone-ish looking thing. But with every crunchy bite I was sadly reminded that I will be missing the one thing I love about tuesdays next week. I will have to endure the overwhelming pangs of hunger whilst laying on the Florida beaches this time next week!! I know its a hardship, and I am willing to sacrifice my helping for those less fortunate. I'm just sayin....Mickey better have some leafy greens, goat cheese and dried cranberries on hand or it just wont be the same!!! Never fear though, I scheduled my return flight to be home in time for SBT the following week!!!

You DO win friends with salad

Despite what some people think - Homer, Bart & Jeff Raper - you can win friends with salad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0W5x5kugnbs

We do every Tuesday!! It is amazing how many friends I win every week with a bag of spinach, an avocado, cucumbers, tomatoes, chickpeas, and mushrooms!!

SBT is not Exclusive

Contrary to popular belief Salad Bar Tuesday is open for general admission. It has been referenced to as an elite club, a small gathering of the finest women and I am here to set the record straight. We are not elitists (-ish) and men are certainly welcome. The by-laws clearly state that we offer a FREE trial membership. Any newcomber is welcome to try our variety of tasty offerings before committing to weekly contributions. There are other people who share this secluded office space and they have been repeatedly invited to join. Most of the time we get the cold shoulder and the popular response is "i'm not much of a salad person". We have even had people tell us they want to join and then they let us down by not being in the office on Tuesday to participate (Bryan, you know who you are). And most recently I caught Frank peering over the cubicle wall to admire today's fabulous spread which included:

• a variety of Le-Toose
• artichoke hearts
• goat cheese
• dried cranberries
• homemade tabbouleh
• bacon
• taco turkey
• celery
• shaved carrots
• homemade broccoli rotini soup

Let me hereby declare, that any man, woman or child is welcome to join us on any Tuesday at noon (EST) for a feast above all feasts. We do not make you sign a contract, donate blood, or make you promise to name your next child SBT, but we do ask for a commitment to whole hearted health and good fun every Tuesday from here on in!

The Countdown is on!

NINE more minutes until this week's SBT!! Thanks to Catheren's IM status I have been apprised of how long it is until SBT begins since 11am. We always start at noon sharp, but around 11am is when everyone's stomachs start growling and we all start getting SBTADD.

From the rumors floating around I hear we have soup from Pam today, Tabbouleh from Amy, and I see some chickpeas already out from Karen. My contributions today include lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, goat cheese, artichokes, avocado and crazy popcorn. I do see Catheren has her whole wheat croutons on her desk too - thank GOD!!

TWO more minutes!! It is just about that time though when everyone starts fumbling around to get there goodies, I will have to make a trip downstairs to the fridge to get my offerings seeing that our mini-fridge up here is too full today! Not that it is a bad thing!

I have my bowl, fork and knife ready to attack - don't you wish you could hang like us?!?! :)
On my way to retrieve my goodies!! WOOT WOOT!!

So much food, So few ladies

I had a great title for todays post about using leftovers, but the crunch criticism really threw me out of whack!!! Today was more about not wasting food. We had a saying in the A-B household "waste not, want not" and it basically taught me that no matter how brown or mushy something was we still ate it. The only things off limits was white fuzzy mold! So naturally in this economy and age of reusing and recycling, today's lunch was limited to what was left from SBT. Sadly, we were not the full gang today, but Jamie, Judy and I mauled our way through baby corn, brown basil, mooshy tomatoes and yolkless hard boiled eggs, we somehow were still able to create another yummy original concoction for lunch. Don't be fooled, the whole wheat croutons are definitely the pinnacle of any salad and I still have room for chicken corn chowder and chocolate peanut butter cookies!

Since we don't technically go anywhere for SBT/SBW I spent my ostercized crunching time searching for fun related Salad Bar entertainment. Enjoy!

Leftover Salad Bar Tuesday

No - it is not Salad Bar Wednesday, it is Leftover Salad Bar Tuesday. Just sayin'.

What a bonus, almost everything from yesterday has filled my bowl again today - minus the dried cranberries that Amy so thoughtfully brought home - thanks Amy. Another added bonus is Catheren has joined me for lunch at my desk....CRUNCH, CRUNCH, CRUNCH on the croutons in my ear. Oh well, makes for good company. :)

Also, in the process of looking at another person's theme song, I happened upon our theme song


Enjoy.

What a difference it makes when everyone participates!

What a feast!!! Today everyone remembered, brought multiple offerings and even came back for more! We had fabulous extras like Chicken Corn Chowder, Beets, baby corn, hard boiled eggs, basil, garlic lovers hummus, dried cranberries and trader joes bagel chips!! The only thing missing today was CHEESE! In attendance today was the vivacious Amy, skinny Jamie, creative Pam, musical Karen, blonde bombshell Judy, and cookies by Catheren!

Wondering what's on the menu

It's only 9:30 and I'm already wondering who brought what for today's extravaganza. Is Amy coming? Is she bringing her garbanzos? What fabulous items do Catheren and Judy have? Does Jamie have any cookies left?

It stinks to be hungry at 9:30... maybe I need to have an apple or something...

You know you are addicted to SBT when.....

- It is the Wednesday after and you are already planning on what you will bring next week
- Your child is sick, but you HAVE to go to work just for SBT and will leave after to relieve your spouse
- You plan your Tuesday calls, appointments and child care around lunch time
- You are watching the clock at 11:52am on Tuesday knowing that SBT always starts at noon and you are not sure if you will be able to make it
- You stop at the grocery store on your way into work to purchase your SBT contributions so that you will not be left out
- You plan your weekly grocery shopping around what you will need for SBT
- You think it is a good idea to start a blog about it
- You begin to encourage friends at other work places to start up their own, but recommend other days of the week because Tuesday is your day
- You think there are enough ideas to write a blog on all of the reasons why we are addicted

Please feel free to add why you know you are addicted too!

Missing SBT is like forgetting to brush your teeth...you just DONT do it!!

Phew...we are back on schedule. Since August 4, 2009 I have not missed a Salad Bar Tuesday!! I have scheduled conference calls around it, made sure my laptop was in the office for Tuesdays and planned my kid's extended day times to make sure I can fully enjoy each and every tuesday right here at the Cape Cod Times!

Then, last week my youngest daughter was sick!! I was devastated. I even sent out an email reminder to everyone that SBT was still on because our co-founder had the audacity to go on a cruise, and then much to my dismay, my daughter refused to get better. I was heartbroken, hungry and worst of all forced to be unhealthy! Not because my 2 yr old had a 101 fever and refused to sleep, but because the one thing i have to look forward to routinely anymore in my life was not to be.

Now i realize there may be those naysayers out there who have a puzzled look on their face right now trying to figure out how anyone can be this addicted to salad, but trust me, it can happen to you! This economy has sucked us all dry, and since we have to go to work, it gives us that one thing to look forward to each and every Tuesday morning. The reason to get out of bed in the morning. Albeit, I have to get up slightly earlier on Tuesdays to slice, dice and prepare my fixings, but its all worth it.

In the name of health, happiness and good friends, I say welcome back SBT...its great to be a part of this fabulous tradition.

Oh, Yummy Croutons

I love salad.  Its one of the many joys in my life.  So good, so good.

But two weeks ago, someone forgot the croutons.  Its not one person's responsibility to bring the croutons, but there are always there and I love them.  They just add something special to the salad.  However last SBT, they were missing.  I was crushed.

But life is looking up and today must be my lucky day, as we have some yummy croutons adding to the crunch of the lettuce, balsamic dressing, red and green peppers, basil, pine nuts, goat cheese and tomatoes in my bowl.  As co-creator Jamie Bohlin said, "The goal of a salad is to have 50% lettuce and 50% of other goodies."  I think I reached that goal today.

Why Salad Bar Tuesday?

Salad Bar Tuesday (SBT) has become a weekly staple upstairs at 319 Main. It all started when Catheren and I were debating on what to bring to lunch the next day.
Jamie: What are you doing for lunch tomorrow?
Catheren: I don't know, I have salad toppings, but no lettuce
Jamie: I have lettuce, but no salad toppings
and so it began.

How does it work? Every Tuesday there are at least 6-8 of us in the office that bring in salad pieces/parts. From lettuce and cucumbers, to bread and cheese we have seen it all. Some of the favorite contributions range from Amy's chickpea salad to Judy's peas and Catheren's cracker croutons.

We have also started to incorporate soups or chili when one of us feels like getting fancy or we have left overs from the weekend.

It is a ton of fun and we highly recommend trying it at your place of work. You can make it your own too by starting it on your own day of the week! Try out SBW and let us know how it works for you!