Every since my trip to New York City in January, I’ve been on the losing end of the weight gain battle. Just as fast as you can say City Bakery’s pretzel croissant I’m suddenly about 10 pounds heavier.

Eeek!

I’m as vain as the next cream puff and with bathing suit season on the horizon, it’s time to right the ship.

Generally speaking, I try to eat a very balanced diet. I eat everything, I just try to make sure that I eat in moderation and that I get lots of fruit and vegetables. This has served me well in recent years as I’ve turned the corner on weight gain and slowly found myself looking more and more the way I want to look and feeling the way I want to feel.

Having said that, lately I haven’t been eating the greatest of lunches. I’m either grabbing whatever is available (usually not something good) or even worse, skipping lunch.

My favourite sort of lunch has a little bit of everything: some dairy, some carbs, some protein and some vegetables and the vegetables are almost always salad in some form.

But I have to be honest, as much as I like my lettuce it does get a bit boring after awhile. I decided it was time to try some of the kabillion salad recipes I’ve had bookmarked from various magazines. I finally got around to trying this salad recipe from the April/May 2006 issue of Body + Soul magazine.

I had to make a few changes to the recipe, the biggest being no strawberries. We’re at least a few months away from strawberry season here in Ontario and I don’t care how beautiful they look, those monster strawberries you see in the grocery store have absolutely zero flavour. What’s the point?!

Instead of frisee, which isn’t always available, I used arugula, red-leaf lettuce and Belgian endive. I loved this salad! It was refreshing and the walnuts and goat cheese gave the salad a nutty, creamy angle that was so flavourful. I cannot wait to try this salad again, especially when strawberries are in season.

For those of you that don’t know about Magazine Mondays, it’s the non-event I created to give all those of us with stacks of food magazines everywhere the chance to finally try some of those recipes we’ve bookmarked! There are no rules for this event and the only requirement is that you send me the link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted on your blog. I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays‘ roundup.

Here’s who has joined me this week:

A regular contributor, Janie of Panini Girl made a Berry Tiramisu with Lemon Curd from the June 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Peanut Butter Cupcakes from Taste of Home She also made Pasta with Chicken and Squash using another recipe from Taste of Home.

Another regular contributer, Tia of Buttercream Barbie made a Quick Raspberry Cream Cheese Brioche Ring from the Sept./Oct. 1995 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Banana Raisin French Toast.

Erica from the beautiful blog Cooking for Season made Green Tea Shortbread Cookies from the December 2001 issue of Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies.

Nova of Raining Potatotes made Poblano, Potato, and Corn Gratin from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Asparagus Ravioli in Parmesan Broth from the April 2008 issue of Gourmet.

Debbie from Cafe Chibita made Linguine with Seafood Sauce from the March 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.

Needful Things from the blog Needful made Dark Chocolate Dipped Apples from a lost magazine recipe (I feel your pain!).

My buddy Wandering Coyote from ReTorte returns with Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake from the January 2009 issue of Canadian Living and Marmalade Cake from Food Network magazine.

Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made BBQ Shrimp from Southern Living magazine.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!