So Simple, yet so Delicious!

One of the things we love to eat for dinner in our house is salads. But when we do salads, we always mix it up. Most of the time, it ends up being a bed of mixed greens with our entree on top. It bulks up dinner, adds some veggies, and is really a filling meal.

We made this dish this past summer and it was so fresh and flavorful and good that we keep talking about making it again.

This dish will certainly get your taste buds ready for spring/summer!

Green Bean Salad with Egg

1 pound of green beans trimmed and cleaned
4 hard boiled eggs, sliced
2 tomatoes chopped
6 oz. cooked Yukon gold potato or other potato
homemade vinaigrette
green onion or chives

Steam your green beans and let cool a bit. Plate the beans with the hard boiled egg - two per dish - 3 oz. of potato, tomato and drizzle with your dressing.Sprinkle green onion or chives on top. ENJOY!

A Side Dish Transformed to an Entree

First off, I want to apologize for neglecting my blog since August.  But between work, working many weekends, a hurricane, some vacations, and the winding down of one job to start another, things have been a little chaotic - leaving very little time for blogging. Or let's be honest, very little interest in blogging.

But I have a folder filled to the brim on my computer with pictures of dishes we've made that I'm just dying to share.

For Christmas a year ago, my mom gave us the Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It book. She sent it because that fall (in the fall of 2011) we road tripped and made a point to visit as many as the DDDs we could.

Really, everything we've made out of this cookbook as been fantastic. But this is one of my favorites. It's actually meant to be a side dish, but we turn it in to an entree by lightening up the cooking process a bit and then adding some tofu to make it a full meal.

The recipe that Guy uses calls for frying the beans in oil, 2 cups of oil. I just can't imagine using that much for a dinner, so instead of deep frying the beans in oil, we just pan sauteed them. So I'm writing the recipe below how we make it. But the recipe as Guy makes it can be found on the Food Network site here.

Szechuan Green Beans with Realistic Eats Changes to make it dinner!

• 1 T canola oil1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger1 tablespoon minced garlic1/4 cup soy sauce1/2 T Siracha1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  1 tablespoon mirin or white wine1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
  1 - 2 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 container mushrooms1 pound green beans, cleaned and trimmed2 tablespoons chopped peanuts
• 1 brick extra firm lite tofu
• 1 avocado sliced or diced

Directions

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Dice your tofu in to small cubes and place on the lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 350 for approx. 30 minutes - or until the tofu is dry and has a light brown color.

While the tofu is baking...

In a large skillet, add 1 T canola oil and heat it up.  When the oil is hot, add in the green beans and mushrooms and cook them until they are tender but start to brown a bit.  

In another skillet or a small pot, spray with PAM, then add in the ginger and saute until you can start to smell it. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until it turns light brown; add soy sauce, siracha, rice wine vinegar, hoisin, mirin, sesame oil. I let this simmer a bit to get the flavors blended then turned it off..

When the green beans are done, and the tofu is done, place in a big bowl or pot and toss with the sauce that you made.  Then toss with some fresh chopped cilantro and the chopped peanuts, which I admit I did toast up first.  Plate that and top with the avocado. 

While I know the meal has enough fat between the peanuts and fried green beans, the avocado makes this recipe with the cool creaminess in contrast to the great salty flavors in the dish.

I did serve this with a 3oz. side of rice noodles as well.

My Thankful Duh Moment!

The hubs and I spend a LOT of money on broth - like way more than we should. When it comes down to it, we don't eat that much chicken that I have enough to use the carcasses (Hmmmm I love that word) to make broth out of. So we end up buying broth in boxes and cans anytime we find them on sale.

Then, about a year ago, I had an A-Ha moment! I had a weekend where I was making, God knows what, and had so much veggie waste it was ridiculous. And let's be honest, since our yard is not really conducive to easy composting, it all goes down the garbage disposal. I figured there had to be something I could do with all of this waste - which it's veggies, so it's not really waste!

So I got out a big storage bag and put in the ends of broccoli, carrots, some mushroom stems, celery heart and leaves and onion ends that were otherwise going to be trashed and tossed the bag of the veggie bits and pieces in my freezer. Slowly but surely, I filled the baggie up when I prepped veggies with the ends and stems and stalks and pieces of what I was using. And before you know it, I had two whole bags of veggie bits and pieces.

Frozen bag of veggies boiled - carrots, broccoli, asparagus, celery, onion, mushrooms

I then took all of those veggie pieces and placed them in a big stock pot, covered with copious amounts of water, added in some fresh onion, garlic cloves, peppercorns, a pinch of salt and some bay leaves and let it boil for a good hour or two. When it was done I was left with this - the most wonderful, glorious, flavorful, rich and cheap/free vegetable broth I've ever had!!

I tossed the soaked mushy veggies at this point and let the broth cool. I then froze the broth in to one cup measurements and froze them. Once they were frozen, I popped them out of the containers and wrapped in parchment paper and stored them stacked in a freezer bag. Now when I need broth, I go to the chest freezer, grab one or two cups out and defrost and voila! Free broth, on hand, all the time!

I highly recommend doing this, if you aren't a composting family. It gives those ends and odd pieces of veggies one last hope before just tossing and gives you a great result in the end. I think this past year alone we've probably saved about 50+ bucks on broth - and I"m not lying when I say that!

Look at that rich, hearty broth that would have otherwise gone down the drain - literally!

It's so easy - just keep a bag going in your freezer of veggie pieces - add anything - I've done tomatoes, onions that were about to go that I salvaged what I could, carrots, celery, spinach on its last leg, mushrooms, you name it. It's always turned out so hearty and rich!

If you try it, let me know how it works for you in your house!

A New Go To Salad

Typically when I make Mexican food for dinner I make my Mexi-slaw to go with it, and we devour it! But I recently found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen for an avocado and heart of palm salad that had cilantro and lime as the seasoning - how perfect for a side dish for a Mexican feast?

This has become a staple in our house now - so much so I just had to buy two two pack jars at BJs - knowing this will get me 8 salads.

If you like heart of palm and avocado, make this STAT! It's just so perfect!

Ingredients: I typically half this recipe for just the hubs and I as a side dish for our dinners. It still makes MORE than enough!

2 (14 oz) cans or 1 large jar (26 oz.) hearts of palm

2 avocados

2 T + 1 T fresh-squeezed lime juice (or more)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (or chopped red onion) - I omit this each time, we just don't love raw onion enough and for some reason each time I make this, I buy or have green onion for it but totally blank on putting it in - it's still great without it!

sea salt to taste for seasoning finished salad

Instructions:

Drain the hearts of palm into a colander placed in the sink, and let them drain well while you cut the avocado. Dice avocado and toss with the 2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Cut the hearts of palm into slices about 1/2 inch thick, breaking it apart into rings or cutting the larger slices in half if they don't break apart. Chop cilantro and thinly slice green onion.

Add the sliced hearts of palm, chopped cilantro, and sliced green onion to the avocado and stir gently to combine. Add the final tablespoon of lime juice (or a bit more if desired) and season the salad well with sea salt and pepper (my addition).

Bangers and ... Mash???

So we all know the hubs makes sausages, and he makes the best bangers! Out of this world!

Instead of doing potato with it, as usual, I opted to try a recipe I found on Pintrest for Cheesy Cauliflower Cakes, they looked easy enough and delicious so I thought I'd try them out. Oh heavens! YUMMY!!! They were truly easy to make and really quite tasty! I can't wait to make these again. They were a great alternative to mashed potatoes or potato pancakes.

The best part of these little buggers was that they were incredible leftover the next day warmed up a bit and placed on a salad with some chicken pieces and veggies. SO good on the salad (and a little ranch dressing doesn't hurt!)

Cheesy Cauliflower Pancakes

1 head cauliflower

2 large eggs

1/2 c cheddar cheese, grated

1/2 c panko

1/2 t cayenne pepper (more of less to taste)

salt & pepper

I used canola oil here instead of olive oil to eliminate burn factor.

Cut cauliflower into florets & cook in boiling water until tender about 10 minutes. Drain. Mash the cauliflower while still warm. Stir cheese, eggs, panko, cayenne & salt to taste.

Coat the bottom of a griddle or skillet with olive oil over medium-high heat. Form the cauliflower mixture into patties about 3 inches across. Cook until golden brown & set, about 3 minutes per side. Keep each batch warm in the oven while you cook the rest.

On a side note, my head of cauliflower was so big, I got so many of these little buggers!

Why Didn't I Think of This Before?

I was reading through the Food section in our local paper at work a few weeks ago and as always, got sucked in to the piece where they post a recipe from a local restaurant. They posted a recipe from Z-Bar for Eggplant Francese. It sounded so delicious and made me realize that I never do anything new with eggplant, so this had to be tried.

I used the plethora of eggplants from our garden at the end of the season and we noshed on this for dinner with some pasta and veggies. And let me tell you, this was so incredibly good, worth the effort, and just simply tasty!

Eggplant Francese

1 medium to large eggplant * I used probably 4-5 eggplants of various sizes

1/2 cup flour

4 eggs

1/4 C. canola oil for frying

1 tsp. olive oil

1 tsp. cold butter * I omitted this

1 tsp. chopped garlic * I probably used closer to a T

1 tsp. chopped shallots

1/ cup white wine

1/ cup chicken broth

1 T fresh lemon juice

2 T capers, drained * I probably used 1/4 cup - we adore capers

2 T fresh parsley chopped

6 T cold butter, cubed

Parmesan

Peel the eggplant and slice it * I did ours in rounds but the recipe calls for lengthwise.

Preheat oven to 375. Lightly salt and pepper the slices so they don't soak up too much oil.

Put flour on a plate. Beat the eggs in a small bowl. Dredge the eggplant slices into the flour and then in to the egg.

Place a large nonstick pan on the burner and add in the canola oil and bring to a medium heat. Fry the eggplant on both sides until lightly golden brown. Place them on parchment paper when they are done and fry the remaining pieces. When the eggplant slices have all been browned, place in the oven for about 5 minutes until they are soft to the touch. Remove from the oven.

For the sauce: Drain oil from the pan and add a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of butter * I omitted the extra fat here because there was just a touch of oil left after cleaning out the pan. Add the garlic and shallots and saute until slightly browned.

Add the white wine and reduce by 2/3. Add the chicken broth and reduce by half. Add the lemon juice, capers and parsley.

When the sauce starts to thicken, remove from heat and whisk in the cold butter. Make sure you remove the pan from the heat because it will just break down the sauce. *I didn't use the full 6T of butter, maybe 4.5

Serve the eggplant slices with the sauce drizzled over the top and top with Parmesan.

A Delicious Use of Green Tomatoes

Our garden didn't fare so well this year. We tried it out in a new spot in the yard and it just never seemed to get enough sunlight. That combined with a very wet growing season early on, followed by scorching 100 degree plus days and then more heavy rains and gloomy days just made it a less than fruitful year.

Don't get me wrong, we did fare well. We had lots of tomatoes, some zucchini, eggplants, potatoes and cukes, but each plant only yielded a few rounds of crops. The other week we had a tomato plant on the way out, so the hubs rescued what was on it - all green tomatoes.

My dear friend had just given me a recipe for green tomato pickles that I wanted to try, but I was more interested in doing a relish to put on sandwiches. So I found a recipe online that looked

easy enough to try. Thank you Mommy's Kitchen for this great recipe.

This was so easy to pop together, and yielded a great relish in the end. I've been enjoying it on

sandwiches, and even a BLT today!

I didn't have a ton of tomatoes to make this recipe with but what I got yielded a mid size Ball jar of relish. And since I don't can (primarily because it freak me out that I'm going to die of botulism or some other horrid disease when I f-it-up) I just popped the jar in my fridge and have been using it up!

Below is the recipe as I made it.

Green Tomato Relish

about 12 green tomatoes - I used romas and 1 regular tomato so I had to tweak the original recipe.

1 cubanelle pepper chopped

1 large onion chopped

2 teaspoons plus a pinch more of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon plus a pinch more caraway seeds

2/3 cup white vinegar

2/3 cup apple cider

1/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 tsp. salt

Cut up the onion, tomatoes and pepper in to small pieces and then pop in a heavy pot and add everything else and stir and let simmer until everything is tender and comes together in to a relish texture. Let cool and enjoy!

Summer Garden Biscuit Pie

Thanks to Joelen for pointing me to this delicious recipe.

Instead of staying with just making this a tomato pie though, I tweaked it and added a LOT of veggies.

I did double the biscuit recipe to make it fit to a 9x13 pan. I added a container of mushrooms, eggplants, tomatoes, and then topped it with a smaller combo of the mayo and some mozzarella cheese.

Do make this - it's great for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

James Beard's Tomato Pie

* again remember I doubled the dough recipe and made it in a larger dish

2 cups flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons fresh parsley, minced

3/4 cups buttermilk

4-6 ripe tomatoes (about 1 1/2 lbs), sliced 1/4-1/2 inch thick

2-3 small/medium eggplants peeled and cut thin

1 8 oz. container sliced mushrooms

10-12 basil leaves, thinly shredded (chiffonade)

2 cups low fat mozzarella cheese

1 cup low fat mayonnaise made with olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Begin by making the biscuit crust. Combine flour, baking powder, baking powder and salt.

Cut in the butter and add parsley and some basil. I also added in some salt and pepper and garlic powder.

Stir in buttermilk until the dough holds together, turn out onto a floured surface and knead a few minutes. Pat it into the bottom and sides of a 9 inch pie pan.

Cover the biscuits with tomato slices then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the basil over the tomatoes.

Combine the cheese and mayonnaise in a small bowl and spread the mixture on top of the tomatoes.

Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes, or until it is golden brown. Remove and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes before serving. *because I made mine larger, I actually cooked mine for about 40 minutes.

I served this as a side with some scallops.

Potatoes!!

No recipe - just had to post the picture of the hubs first potatoes from his garden of the season. This was his first year at growing potatoes and he did a great job - they were delicious!

It's like a flavor explosion

I love with quick and easy meals surprise you in a million ways. This meal was pretty much added to my reader because I liked the idea of having a great, new, flavorful meals to "clean out the pantry" a bit.

The main course was quick, easy, flavorful and delicious. The salad, I totally winged it and made it up on my own - but I'll share it here so you can give it a whirl.

Thanks to Branny Boils Over for this delicious, hearty, filling meal.

Pineapple Pinto Beans

2 cups pinto beans, rinsed

1 small jalapeno pepper, minced

4 oz crushed pineapple in juice

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add minced jalapeno and cook about 3 minutes over medium heat, until softened. Combine remaining ingredients in sauce pan and cook until heated through, mashing a portion of the beans, if desired.

Mexislaw

In a bowl, combine 2 -3 tsp. canola oil, 1-2 tsp. white vinegar, a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of cayenne and taco seasoning (remember I make and use my own). Whisk that up and give a little taste to make sure your seasoning and spices are ok. Then toss this with a half of a bag of coleslaw mix and let sit for 30 minutes to get the flavors to meld. I topped the coleslaw with a low carb tortilla that I cut in thin strips and sprayed with Pam and seasoned with taco seasoning and warmed until crisp in a non stick skillet. SO GOOD!!

The Best Thing We ate in Turkey

We can now make at home!

We had the most delicious eggplant salad in Turkey at this great little family owned restaurant and it left such an impression on us as one of the best things we ate during our trip. I searched for Turkish Eggplant Salad recipes when I came home, coming up with a lot of babaganoush of course! But that was NOT what we had.

Finally, I struck gold with a recipe that had a picture and it looked pretty close to what we ate.

We did a Mediterranean food night the other week and made the eggplant salad, enjoyed some yummy pita (ok store bought) and some grape leaves (also, purchased from a great little restaurant near my office for 3 bucks for a dozen!).

The salad was WONDERFULLY yummy - maybe I added more tomato than what was in it when we had it in Turkey but it was pretty close. I am thinking we may have had it with white eggplants though, as the texture of the eggplant seemed a bit different than what we had. Either way it was still fantastic.

I took a container of it in to work as well and it received rave reviews. This is surely something I think would be great to make this summer when the gardens and farmer's markets are plentiful - it would be great at a cookout with some pitas.

We did like it with the pita, but we had it with this wonderful fluffy light bread in Turkey. Thankfully I had a bit of Italian bread left in the house and we both agreed it was MUCH better with bread than pita, it really gets the juices soaked in and the flavors are stand out much more on bread than pita. But really both are equally yummy!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Adapted from Hayriye's Turkish Food and Recipes

2 medium eggplants

1-2 cubanelle peppers (one was PLENTY for us, we're not pepper eaters)

1 tomato, diced - or use some halved/quartered grape tomatoes

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup olive oil

½ lemon’s juice

2-3 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 tsp salt to taste

To prepare the sauce, place lemon juice, olive oil and minced garlic in a wide bowl and whisk to emulsify.

Now, you can roast the eggplants and peppers whole until they are tender, then remove them from the oven, remove the skins, etc. However, I was lazy and just peeled and diced the eggplant and roasted it with some oil and salt in the oven on 425 for about 40 minutes - tossing throughout. For the pepper, I roasted over my gas flame on the stove, then removed the skin, seeds/stem and chopped.

Now about 10 minutes near the end, I added the peppers in to the oven with the eggplant, and 5 minutes to go, I added in the tomato to soften that a bit too - but next time, I would not do that with the tomato - it was certainly more fresh how we had it in Turkey and not cooked.

Once your veggies are roasted (either pre-diced or dicing after they are roasted), toss everything in to the sauce and toss to coat.

Pea-Lafel

So, if you are a frequent reader you know my affinity for Aarti on Foodnetwork. Well did you know she has a blog?? Um, I didn't and I can't believe I haven't found it before. It's a great mix of recipes, music, culture, fun and more - check it out.

So back in Feb. we made these WONDERFUL pealafel sandwiches for dinner from her Belly Dance show. Oh my goodness they were so good and really more flavorful that traditional falafel. They were rich, crispy, smooth, creamy and had the most beautiful vibrant green color.

I do have to say though they did not re-heat in the microwave well the next day for lunch and became a bit greasy, but I think re-heating in the oven would be a much better route - that is if you have any left, because they are so good you'll want to eat them all!

We served with a simple tabouli salad and in pitas with the sauce - delicious!!!

This is certainly a great summer meal as tomatoes, cukes, and herbs start sprouting!!

Pea-Lafel/Fried Pea & Mint Sandwiches

Adapted from Aarti Parti, Food Network

For the Sauce

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 cup plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, finely chopped, plus 3/4 cup whole leaves

Kosher salt

For the patties

1 cup frozen peas, thawed and drained

1 cup frozen edamame, thawed and drained

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup flour

Canola oil, for frying

pitas, halved

2 large vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into large dice

1 large English cucumber, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds

In a small skillet, toast the fennel and coriander seeds for a couple of minutes until they're fragrant and slightly darker, about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and throw into a coffee/spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

For the yogurt sauce: Mix the yogurt with the 1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves and a generous pinch of salt. Chill in the fridge.

Throw the peas, edamame, ground spices, shallot, garlic, remaining whole mint leaves, olive oil, and salt into a food processor and puree until smooth. It won't get completely smooth because of the edamame, but process until it is as smooth as possible.

Scrape into a big bowl and stir in the flour. The mixture will still be pretty soft. Not to worry!

Pour enough oil into a large skillet - about 1/4-inch deep. Heat over medium heat until shimmering. Then shape the pea mixture into 12 small patties the size of a golf ball, and then gently drop into the oil. I did this by using my cookie scoop to get the rounded size I wanted. I then flattened them a bit between my hands before popping in the oil. Fry until the bottoms are browned and then carefully flip over. Brown the other side, and then remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel-lined plate - do drain them!! they retain a bit of oil and you'll want that to soak out before you put these in your pitas.

Serve warm in a pita bread pocket stuffed with the fresh veggies and a spoonful of the yogurt sauce.

It's El Torito, ChiChis & Every Other Mexican Restaurant At Once!

I grew up in northern CA and going to El Torito was probably a weekly occasion in our household. From a very young age, I was infatuated with the sweet little scoop of corn cake they used to give you on your plate - so much so I'd hurry and eat them off every plate I could on the table. When we moved from CA to the Midwest, finding a place that served these was quite a challenge. I didn't come across these little golden nuggets of deliciousness until college when we used to go to ChiChis.

Since then, I've tried the prepackaged kit in the supermarket from ChiChis and it just wasn't quite the same.

Today, let's be real, I was bored out of my mind at home. So I played around online to see if I could find a recipe for my beloved golden corn-y goodness. I found a couple, one was a little more baking work than I cared to deal with, so the other recipe won out.

And oh my gosh it's like being a child all over again! I ate 4 small cookie scoops full of the deliciousness alone tonight (and it's not even 7 pm and don't judge, I just may go back for more later on!).

I was so infatuated as a matter of fact, I didn't even bother to photograph this- but let's face it, we all know what these little scoops of sweet golden corn goodness look like.

Found this recipe on Food.Com and am quite pleased with the results - do try it if you're like me and love these little sweet corn cakes!

Recipe as is here. Recipe as I made it below.

Mexican Sweet Corn Cake

• 1/4 cup + 2 T butter
• 1/2 cup masa harina
• 5 tablespoons cold water
• 1 Can of Creamed Style Corn
• 3 tablespoons cornmeal
• 2 T sugar
• 3 tablespoons whipping cream
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350. Spray a square pan (you can also use an 8x10 for a thinner cake) with cooking spray.

In a bowl, whip the butter with an electric mixer. Then add in the masa and the water. Blend this mixture with your electric mixer and you'll get a crumbly dough - like cookie dough. Instead of getting another bowl all dirty - just add the rest of the ingredients in to this bowl and then stir to combine with a wooden spoon. Place mixture in your baking dish, cover with aluminum foil (or bake it in a Corningware Pan and use the lid). Bake for 40-50 minutes until set. Serve warm.

For real authenticity - serve with an ice cream or cookie scooper!

Haluski

God Bless You!

I made this tonight to serve along with some pork schnitzel. Delish!!!

It really couldn't be easier - and it's filling and warm and comforting on a nice cool fall night.

Thank you to Vegan Dad for this recipe - I had something like it growing up and this really brought back memories and was nice to kind of eat my way down memory lane!

The recipe below is how I made it. But Vegan Dad's recipe is posted above.

Haluski

1 T olive oil

1 large sweet onion, halved and sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large carrot, finely grated
1 small head of cabbage, cored and sliced
2 tsp smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbsp butter
cooked egg noodles

METHOD
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium to med-hi heat. Saute onions for 5-7 mins, until soft and translucent. Add garlic, carrot, cabbage, and a few pinches of salt and mix well. Once sizzling, reduce heat to med-lo, cover, and cook for 10-15 mins, stirring regularly. You want the cabbage to be nice and tender, but not soggy. Add paprika and parsley, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Remove from pan.
2. Add 2 tbsp of margarine to the pan over medium to med-hi heat. Add egg noodles and gently stir to coat. Fry for a few mins, then add cabbage mixture. Stir to mix, adjust seasoning and serve.

Mushroom Brucetta

We made this meal, get this, at Memorial Day. Yes, that's how long it's been since I've downloaded photos from my camera and blogged. WOWSA!

We had some wonderful fresh herb crusty bread from La Salle Bakery in Providence that I sliced up and grilled with a little olive oil on it. I topped the slices of bread with fresh tomatoes from the farmer's market, lightly grilled portabella mushrooms that were marinaded in oil, garlic, salt, pepper and balsamic, and some fresh mozzarella cheese.

DELISH! Great light summer meal!

The Perfect Summer Side Dish

I can not begin to describe to you how incredible these were. It was the perfect mix of sweetness from the tomato, saltiness from the cheese, crunch from the corn, and zip from the pesto. While the hubs didn't love them as much as I did - he liked the overall concept, he just doesn't love corn so it lost a few points there for him - we will make this again. We think next time we'll make it with just the cheese or maybe peas in it, or mushrooms, zucchini, the options are endless.

Do make these, they are just perfect for your summer dinners - and a great leftover for lunches with a little rice or pasta.

Thank You to Cate's World Kitchen for this wonderful stuffed tomato recipe!

9 medium tomatoes
1 cup ricotta
1 cup cooked millet
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
black pepper

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Using a small, sharp knife, cut the top off each tomato. Carefully scrape out the flesh and seeds, so you’re left with a hollow cup. In a medium bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients. Scoop a some of the filling into each tomato so it is full but not over-flowing. Bake for about 25-30 minutes - I baked them in a Pyrex dish sprayed with PAM to prevent any sticking, or until the tops are golden.

A nice warm and flavorful salad

A big thank you and shout out to Cate's World Kitchen for this satisfying and delicious recipe.

This was an incredible salad and one the hubs and I both truly enjoyed. The meal was easy to put together, flavorful and a great entrée salad.

I did short cut and use canned chickpeas instead of dried and soaked ones. We also omitted the red onion, since it's not something we love, and I accidentally forgot the Pepita - even though I even had them in the house - but they would have added a wonderful crunch here!

Spinach, Butternut and Chickpea Salad

Recipe:
(adapted from Orangette)

Salad:
1 2-lb butternut squash
1 medium garlic clove, smashed and broken into a few pieces
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp ground allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 tbsp. olive oil
Salt
2 cups cooked chickpeas (drained) or 1 15 ounce can, drained and rinsed
1/4 of a medium red onion, thinly sliced
3 handfuls roughly chopped spinach
3 tbsp pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds), toasted in a skillet

Dressing:

3 tbsp tahini
3 tbsp warm water
3 tbsp lemon juice
pinch salt
1 clove garlic, finely minced
2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425.

Peel the squash and scoop out the seeds. Cut into bite-sized (1″) pieces. Toss with olive oil, garlic, nutmeg, allspice, and salt.
Spread onto a parchment or Silpat-lined baking sheet and bake 15-20 minutes, or until squash is tender.
While squash is roasting, whisk all the dressing ingredients together, taste, and adjust seasonings if necessary.
When the squash is done, discard the garlic pieces, and put the squash, chickpeas, spinach, and onion in a large bowl.
Add the dressing and toss well, then serve sprinkled with pepitas.

Ahhhhh Miso Good!

So after a tedious battle, I finally have procured a bottle of Quick Miso at our market. Let me tell you, it was a great day when I found this.

Ok, I know what you're saying - who the HECK gets excited over miso?? Um, this Japanese food eating girl.

So I decided to do a whole Japanese inspired dinner on Sunday night. Again - I'm a lazy blogger and it was so good and we were so hungry, so you get NO photos.... but that just means you have to have someone else read you this and imagine it with your eyes closed and what it would look like and how it would taste!

I kid....

Or do I?

So my inspiration for dinner all started with this delicious recipe from Zakka Life for Cucumber Namasu. Now, I finally had this salad for the first time at the sushi place a few weeks back and fell in love and remembered "I think I have something like this in my reader!" I did make a few alterations to her recipe based on our taste - but either way - you must make this! So fresh and clean tasting.

Cucumber Namasu Salad

Ingredients:
1 English Cucumber - I removed the skin and tiny pieces of seed
1 1/2 tsp Salt
1/4 cup Sugar
1/4 cup Rice vinegar
Sesame seeds for garnish

*** I used less sugar and salt and garnished with some fine chopped dried nori***

*** I also didn't read the recipe all the way and did not marinate in the fridge for 30 minutes, and I didn't heat the sugar and vinegar together - but tossed and let sit on the counter for about 20 while the rest of dinner cooked***

For a side dish - I wanted to use some buckwheat soba noodles. So I cooked those up and let cool a bit and tossed with 2T miso, 2 T rice wine vinegar, fresh ginger and garlic and green onion and a t or 2 of plain sesame oil (not toasted). Great flavor and a tasty little side dish - I did make a whole package of soba - about 10 oz. and those were my measurements for it - but again, adjust as you need to.

Finally, I had some beautiful large scallops in the freezer and I defrosted those and tossed in some miso and seared on my non stick griddle and cooked to done. DELICIOUS.

Great Japanese meal! If you can find yourself some miso - I recommend ALL 3 of these dishes! Not that the cucumber salad is dependent upon your finding and using miso.

ENJOY!

Shhhh.... There's a souffle in the oven!

Ok you don't really have to be quiet for this souffle!

I made this for Christmas dinner because, well I love carrots and I wanted to make an attempt at getting the hubs to eat cooked carrots - he hates cooked carrot with a passion so I thought maybe this would do it.

Well, his whole family was here for Christmas dinner and turns out it wasn't a hit with any of them - because none of them love cooked carrots.

Le Sigh...

Anywho, it was frigging awesome. I ate the whole thing practically myself over a week with the leftovers. Even though it didn't go over big with the hubs or inlaws they all agreed it was tasty and good, just it was carrots.

Do try this! It's so easy and so good! You won't be disappointed.

I made the recipe as is from one of my favorite blogs Simply Recipes. You can find the recipe here.

Carrot Suffle

INGREDIENTS

• 2 lbs carrots, peeled, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
• Salt for salting cooking water
• 1 cup whole milk
• 1 cup Saltine cracker crumbs
• 3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1/3 cup minced onion
• 1 Tbsp room temperature unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 3 large eggs

METHOD

1 Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter a 2-quart baking dish and set aside.

2 Place carrots in a saucepan and cover with an inch of water.
Add about 1 teaspoon of salt to the water.
Bring to a boil and cook for about 10 minutes, or until the carrots are tender.
Strain the carrots and purée in a food processor or with an immersion blender.

3 Place carrot purée in a large bowl. Slowly add in the milk, a little at a time,
whisking after each addition so that the mixture stays smooth, not lumpy.
Mix in the saltine cracker crumbs, the grated cheese, onion, butter,
Kosher salt, cayenne, and black pepper.

4 In a separate bowl, whip up the eggs until frothy.
Then whisk them into the carrot purée mixture.

5 Transfer the mixture into the prepared baking dish.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until puffed up a bit and lightly golden.

Serves 8.

WOW The hubs ate a vegan dinner!

I didn't set out meaning for it to be a vegan meal, but it really was and it was so tasty good!

It was so good - and such a late dinner - that I didn't get a photo. Sorry foodies!

I got this recipe for these Black Bean and Mushroom Burgers from the Brown Eyed Baker Blog. It so did not disappoint! I served them on the sandwich thins - so tasty! along with some avocado and some Garam Masala Roasted Cauliflower.

If you like cauliflower, you need to make this. Cut your head of cauliflower up - toss with oil and garam masala seasoning and roast at 375 until roasty, toasty tender.

I did double the burger recipe on everything so I could have some burgers to freeze - this ended up making 7 good sized burgers. I didn't cook them with oil, just dry skillet pan. It did end up using about a cup of bread crumbs and then I let it sit for a bit to stiffen up a bit.

Delicious dinner - it's a hearty burger, you'll love it!

Mushroom Black Bean Burgers

Black Bean Mushroom Burgers

Makes 4 burgers

1 Tablespoon canola oil, plus more for brushing
1 cup finely chopped onion
8 ounces cremini mushrooms, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ teaspoon cumin
½ teaspoon smoked paprika
4 slices whole wheat sandwich bread, lightly toasted - I just used bread crumbs
15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 ounces (about ½ cup) shredded cheddar cheese - omitted, because I forgot!
Salt and freshly ground black pepper - I did not season with salt or pepper.
4 English muffins, sandwich pockets, or hamburger buns, split and toasted
Salsa and sour cream, for serving (optional)

1. In a large skillet, heat canola oil over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until golden, about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in mushrooms, garlic, cumin and paprika and cook until mushrooms have released their juices, about 4 to 6 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside to cool slightly.

2. Tear toasted bread into pieces and place in food processor. Process until broken down into crumbs. Pour the crumbs into a medium bowl. Add the mushroom mixture and beans to the food processor; pulse until combined, but not smooth – leave some chunky bits. Scoop mixture into the bowl with the bread crumbs; add the cheese and season with salt and pepper. - *Again, I just used breadcrumbs *

3. Mix ingredients together and divide into 4 equal portions. With dampened hands, shape each portion into four thick patties. Lightly brush each side of all patties with canola oil.

4. Heat a grill, grill pan or skillet over medium heat. Place patties on the surface and cook until thoroughly heated through and the outside has crisped, about 5 minutes per side. Serve burgers on toasted English muffins and topped with salsa and sour cream, if desired.