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The Hubster and I had a very rare 'spare' night; meaning we had a weekend night all to ourselves. So we got a dollar-rent-a-movie, and I, without wanting to go grocery shopping (that would take up our free night!), I made an easy dinner with whatever I had in the house. So with a box of organic pasta, some sour cream and a package of ground turkey I made some stroganoff in the crockpot while we went all-out leisurely. Since there was absolutely no lettuce in the house (HIGHLY unusual) I made a salad with what veggies I did have. Turned out to be a chunky salad(ish) with my own monkey dressing (I called it that because I use a little coconut water to make it, which makes me think of a monkey in a tree......plus it rhymes with chunky!) Needless to say, everything (including the rare-spare evening) was delicious! Life. is good.

CHUNKY MONKEY SALAD

2 carrots, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks

2 celery stalks, cut into bite-sized chunks

10 grape tomatoes, sliced in half

8 radish, quartered or halved

1/2 onion, chopped coarsely

Load all ingredients into a bowl and cover with monkey dressing! That's IT!

NOTES: I used some yellow heirloom grape tomatoes that were aching to be-used-or-go-bad. They were a perfect complement to the crunchier veggies.

CHUNKY MONKEY DRESSING

1 cup mayo

1/4 cup coconut milk (more if you want it thinner)

1 sprig thyme

sea salt, to taste

pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients in a jar or a container with a lid. Shake, shake shake! Pour over your salad!

NOTES: FANTASTIC for summer!

CROCKPOT STROGANOFF

1 pkg ground turkey

extra virgin olive oil

1 can (or organic box) cream of mushroom soup

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 1/2 cups sour cream

2 tbs Italian seasoning

sea salt

pepper

Sprinkle enough evoo to cover bottom of crockpot. Put all ingredients in crockpot and stir. Put on high heat, about four hours. If you are home, stir from time-to-time, if not, be sure to break it all up and stir prior to serving. Serve over pasta. Garnish with parsley, if desired.

NOTES: I don't use the cream of mushroom soup in a can because I really do think it affects the flavor. I use organic boxed cream of mushroom soup, which you can find in the natural section of your regular grocery store. You can replace the ground turkey with beef, if you want, but omit evoo if you do. I used a box of organic rotini, but since I'm low-carb and the kids are no longer living at home, I only used a little for Adrian. So be on the lookout for the leftovers to resurface!