This was a super easy dish! I was excited to be able to use up some more goodies from our CSA box (lettuce and cucumbers this time). I’m a big fan of easy, no-fuss dishes in the summer. What made this dish even better is that I had every single ingredient in my kitchen already! I love it when I don’t need to make a trip to the store to make a dish 🙂
I was impressed with how long the lettuce from our CSA lasted. They sent it to us with roots (and a little dirt) still attached and wrapped in some plastic wrap. It didn’t look wilty or sad when I finally got around to using it a week and a half later. I wish all lettuce looked this good after such a long time!
PS – Mike and I are en-route to Myrtle Beach today! I’m so excited for a week of sun and relaxation. There are some new recipes scheduled to be posted during the week I’m gone. Hope you all enjoy 🙂
Chicken Salad with Honey Mustard Dressing
1 head lettuce or salad greens of choice
2 limes, juiced
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons mustard
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 cucumber, seeded and diced
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, minced
1 large mango, diced
In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, mayonnaise, honey, mustard, salt and pepper. Slowly add in oil, whisking constantly.
In a large bowl, toss chicken, cucumber, bell pepper, onion, and mango with the dressing.
Place greens on plates and top with chicken salad. Serve immediately.
I had said yesterday that I’ve only made one meal in the last week. I now have to admit that the only reason I made this was because I had signed up for a vegetarian recipe swap and the reveal is today. If it weren’t for this, I probably would’ve survived on random junk in my fridge and Sour Patch Kids. So, thank goodness for this tasty meal because it fed us for a really long time!
The recipe I was assigned was Eggplant Parmesan from Tasty Treats by Tina. The last time I had made eggplant parm was just over 3 years ago. Holy smokes! I love how Tina’s version is unbreaded. It cuts down on the prep and I think that her recipe is to die for!
1 large eggplant, cut into 1/2 inch slices
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
4 tablespoons olive oil
8 ounces fat free ricotta cheese
6 ounces mozzarella cheese, shredded
4 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup basil, chopped
4 cups tomato sauce (recipe follows)
 Sprinkle both sides of the eggplant slices with salt. Place slices in a colander, and place a dish underneath the colander to capture liquid that will sweat out of the eggplant. Allow to sit for 30 minutes – 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, mozzarella, and 1/4 cup Parmesan. Mix in egg and basil.
Rinse the eggplant in cold water until all salt is removed. In a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium heat. Place one layer of eggplant in the pan, brown each side. Repeat with remaining eggplant slices, using additional oil if necessary.
In a 9×13 inch baking dish, evenly spread 1 1/2 cups of pasta sauce. Arrange a single layer of eggplant slices on top of the sauce. Top the eggplant with 1/2 of the cheese mixture. Repeat layering process until all the eggplant and cheese mixture is used. Pour remaining sauce on top of layers, and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese.
Bake 30 to 45 minutes in the preheated oven, until sauce is bubbly.
I had previously said that I don’t really like kale. I would like to take back that statement. It turns out that I just didn’t like whatever dish I had made with kale. I really really like this chicken and kale dish!
I ended up throwing this together after I spent a good 5 minutes staring at our (empty) fridge. I pulled out a few things that we did have (chicken, scapes, and kale for starters) and got cookin’!
Spicy Chicken with Kale
1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shao Hsing rice wine
1/4 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon cornstarch
salt and pepper, to taste
1 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, cut into 1/2 – 3/4 inch pieces
2 teaspoons olive oil
5 garlic scapes, chopped
1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
1 bunch kale, stemmed and washed
2 teaspoons sesame oil
In a small bowl, combine soy sauce, rice wine, chicken broth, cornstarch, salt and pepper.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. Cook chicken until no longer pink in the middle and juices run clear.
Add in garlic scapes and jalapeno and cook for 1 – 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add in kale and cover, stirring occasionally for an additional 3 – 5 minutes, or until kale is cooked.
Add the soy sauce mixture and sesame oil and stir fry for one more minute.
Remove from heat and serve immediately with steamed rice.
I make a lot of food that I love, but I try not to make repeat dishes. This dish is an exception. I keep shrimp in my freezer for one reason – salt and pepper shrimp that I can whip up in n a half hour. It’s delicious with the cabbage or served with plain steamed rice. I choose the rice-only route when I’m running short on time. I just add some extra bell peppers into the shrimp itself to boost up the veggie count in the dish.
Salt and Pepper Shrimp
1/4 cup lime juice
1 tablespoon reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon sugar
1 small head napa cabbage, thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon five-spice powder
1 pound raw shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 large onion, sliced
1 jalapeno pepper, thinly sliced
steamed white or brown rice, optional
Whisk lime juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, and sugar in a large bowl until sugar is dissolved. Add cabbage and bell peppers and toss to combine. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
Combine cornstarch, salt, pepper, white pepper, and five spice powder in a medium bowl. Add shrimp and toss to coat.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook 3 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring often, until pink and curled, 3 – 4 minutes.
Add jalapenos and cook until shrimp are cooked through, about 1 more minute.
Serve immediately with the slaw and rice if desired.
This was so fun to make! I’m convinced that this is pretty impossible to mess up. After I had assembled the tarts, they looked like the work of a 2 year old. I was a bit horrified and slightly disappointed. I thought I had completely ruined a dish that was filled with delicious, tangy feta and beloved CSA mushrooms.
Then, they miraculously transformed in the oven into beautiful, perfectly puffed tarts. It’s magic, folks.
I did learn a lesson from my past week-ish of cooking – do not bake so many things during the summer! It is hot and uncomfortable, and it will inevitably lead to me being a crank. I’ll keep this important tidbit in mind as I plan out next week’s menu. Mike picks up our second CSA box this afternoon and I can’t wait to get my hands on it to see what goodies we have!
Now, on to the main event – the recipe!
Mushroom & FetaTart slightly adapted from Kitchen Wench
1 pound white button mushrooms
6 ounces feta cheese
6 ounces ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 lemon, zested and juiced
1 large onion, sliced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
2 sheets puff pastry
chopped chives, optional
 Preheat oven to 400°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
In a medium bowl, mix together the feta cheese, ricotta cheese, egg, lemon zest, lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper. Set aside.
Heat olive oil in skillet over medium heat and add onion and garlic. Cook until onions are translucent and golden.
Add onion and garlic to cheese mixture and stir well to combine.
Lay out one sheet of puff pastry on each baking sheet. Spoon half of the mixture onto each sheet and spread out, leaving a 1 inch border around the edge.
Evenly distribute mushrooms on top of the cheese mixture, then fold the edges up and brush with some olive oil.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until the pastry is puffed up and golden brown.
This salad is perfect in its simplicity. I’ve been eating it for about 5 days straight now (we got a lot of greens from the CSA!) and I still have a little more to eat up. Not that I mind. I could eat this day after day for a very long time.
I used up some strawberries that my mom had picked in this salad (the rest went into the strawberry rhubarb crisp). It doesn’t get much better than fresh picked mixed greens and strawberries!!
Strawberry and Goat Cheese Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
1 bag of mixed greens
1 cup strawberries, sliced
1/3 cup sliced almonds
4 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup olive oil
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
In a small skillet over medium heat, toast almonds until a light golden brown.
Place greens, strawberries, toasted almonds and goat cheese in a large bowl. Toss to combine.
To make the vinaigrette, combine balsamic vinegar, olive oil, brown sugar, garlic powder, salt and pepper in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously until well combined.
Today’s recipe is for the Blogger’s Choice Recipe Swap I participated in with a handful of wonderful and talented food bloggers. I received Eva Bakes for my blog and after looking through all her recipes, I finally settled on the da bing, or large Chinese scallion pancake.
I’ve had many scallion pancakes over the years, but I’ve never had one this… big. I decided to give it a try and I’m so glad I did! I served this with low sodium soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, and a black bean chili sauce.
Large Chinese ScallionPancake recipe slightly adapted from Eva BakesÂ
2 cups milk
5 cups all purpose flour
1 packet of yeast (not the instant kind)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
salt
1 bunch of scallions, chopped
oil
Warm the milk in the microwave so that it’s no longer cold. Do not scald or boil the milk.
Add sugar to the milk and stir. Then add the yeast and let it proof for about 5 minutes. You should see the top get foamy.
Add the milk mixture to the flour and mix until just incorporated. Set it aside and let it rise for about 10 minutes.
Roll the dough into a rectangle about 1 cm thick. Then, using a brush, coat the top of the dough with some oil. Sprinkle the surface with salt and chopped scallions.
Roll, jelly-roll style into a long rope. Coil the rope into a circle and flatten/roll out with a rolling pin. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise for another 2 hours. Your da bing should end up being about 10 inches in diameter and at least 1 inch thick.
Lightly oil a large nonstick skillet or pan. On LOW heat (do not turn this to medium or high heat!), slowly pan fry the dough. Once the bottom starts to get crispy and the dough looks done on one side (about 10 minutes later), flip the pancake over and brown the other side. This pan-frying step should take about 20 minutes total – 10 minutes on each side. Remember to go low and slow!
Once done, the top and bottom of the pancake should be crispy and the inside should be fully cooked. Cut into pie-sliced wedges and serve.
I fell in love for the first time when I had hummus. I fell in love a second time when I had jalapeno hummus. I fell in love for a third time last night.
Two of my favorite foods came together and created something beautiful: Sriracha + Hummus = Sriracha Hummus. Oh. My. Goodness. I don’t think I can ever eat plain hummus again. I might still have jalapeno hummus once in a while, but Sriracha hummus will be a permanent refrigerator item from now on. I got the idea from TasteSpotting, one of my favorite ways to waste time.
You might think I’m exaggerating my love for Sriracha (aka Rooster Sauce), but I assure that I am not. I dump that stuff on almost everything I eat. I had a friend post this lovely cartoon on my Facebook wall and I think it sums my life up pretty well:
Do you share my love for Sriracha? Do you love to feel the burn? Are you adventurous? Do you want to live a fulfilling and/or exciting life? If you answered “yes” to any of the above, then this hummus is for you.
Spicy Sriracha Hummus
2-15 ounce cans chickpeas, drained
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup tahini*
2 cloves garlic
1/4 cup Sriracha
1/2 cup lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/4 – 1/2 cup water
Combine all ingredients except for water in a food processor. Process until smooth, adding water until desired consistency is reached.
Serve with fresh cut vegetables, pita bread, pita chips, on a sandwich, or eat with a spoon.
*Tahini, or sesame paste, is made from raw or toasted sesame seeds. Personally, I find the toasted sesame seed flavor to be a lot better than the raw and prefer to use that.
I love challenges. I needed a dessert for a dietetic intern potluck. The catch – I wanted everyone to be able to enjoy it and one intern eats vegan and another gluten-free. Bring on the challenge, baby! I scoured the internet far and wide (ok, I only used Google and Pinterest) and ended up combing a bunch of different recipes to get this final product.
I got the base cake recipe from Eggless Cooking. It’s made with beets and chickpeas. I was really skeptical at first, but I decided to give it a try. Turns out you can’t even taste the chickpeas or beets! I used canned chickpeas and beets to cut down on prep-time and it turned out pretty well.
These cupcakes were soooo decadent. It’s not really cake-like. More fudge-like perhaps? They’re dense, rich, and definitely chocolatey!
(Sorry for the bad photo - I took this minutes before running outÂ
the door to get my butt to the potluck!)
Gluten-Free Vegan Chocolate Cupcakes with ChocolateFrosting yields 12 cupcakesÂ
For the cupcakes:
2 cups chickpeas, canned or freshly cooked
3/4 cup beets, cooked
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups vegan chocolate chips*
Remove the thin outer skin from the chickpeas. Enlist help if you can – this will take a while! Use a food processor or blender to puree until smooth with a tablespoon or so of water.
Puree beets into a smooth paste, using the cooking water.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a cupcake pan with liners and set aside.
Melt chocolate chips in microwave in 20 second increments, stirring after each until completely melted.
Combine chickpeas, beets, and sugar in the food processor or blender until completely smooth – no lumps allowed! Puree in coconut oil, baking powder, coffee granules, lemon juice, and vanilla extract until well combined.
Blend in the melted chocolate chips into the chickpea and beet mixture and let the food process or blender run for a couple minutes to allow chocolate to distribute evenly throughout the batter.
Pour batter into prepared cupcake pan and bake for 40 – 50 minutes.
Remove pan from the oven and place on a wire rack. Let the cupcakes cool completely in the pan.
Remove cupcakes from cupcake pan when cool and frost with chocolate frosting (recipe below)!
For the frosting: 1 can regular coconut milk, opened and refrigerated overnight – do not shake!!
1 cup Smart Balance, room temperature
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 – 6 cups powdered sugar
Scrape the thick layer off the top of the coconut milk into a large bowl. Add in Smart Balance and beat until well combined and smooth.
Mix in cocoa powder and vanilla extract until well combined.
Gradually add powdered sugar into frosting, 1 cup at a time, until desired consistency is reached**.
Use immediately or refrigerate, covered.
*I used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips and they were pretty darn tasty!
** I ended up using some of  coconut milk left in the can to thin out the frosting and give it another boost of flavor. I ended up using about 5 cups of powdered sugar in addition to about 1/4 cup of the coconut “water” that was left in the can.
I have two weaknesses in life: sour candy and salt & vinegar chips. Put either of these in front of me, I lose all self-control. I can demolish a bag of Sour Patch Kids in a day (or two) and the same goes for salt & vinegar chips. Obviously, neither of these foods are too good for me. You know, with all the sugar and fat and all…
It finally occurred to me that I should make salt & vinegar potatoes! I’m not sure why this didn’t come to me sooner, but I’m addicted to these. Are you a salt & vinegar chip enthusiast? If so, these are these are the perfect way to jazz up your dinner!
Salt & Vinegar Roasted Potatoes
1 1/2 pounds fingerling potatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 tablespoon olive oil
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
Kosher salt, to taste
White vinegar, to taste*
Preheat oven to 450°F. Toss potatoes in a large roasting pan with olive oil and pepper.
Roast potatoes, stirring occasionally, for about 30 minutes, or until golden brown.
Sprinkle with vinegar and salt to taste and serve immediately.
*I ended up using about 1/4 cup of vinegar, but IÂ love vinegar. I would start with a couple of tablespoons and work your way up from there.
DoughSeeDough 