A package of fresh farmers market eggs and a bunch of celery in the frig says it’s time for egg salad.The bright yellow yokes are a sight to behold, thanks, I’m sure, to happy free range small farm chickens. With the salmonella egg scare gong on, it’s also a good idea to stay with locally grown.
I’m a kind of kitchen sink egg salad chef. I like to add oompf to the oeuf with a little sweetness: dried fruit and a fresh apple. I also like to do away with the bread and add spoonfuls to romaine lettuce, wrap them up lightly and eat like finger food.
6 farm eggs, hard boiled
1-2 ribs of celery, diced
1 tblsp finely chopped white or yellow onion
1 tblsp sweet relish (I prefer “India” relish)
1/4 cup raisens
1/4 cup of diced apple
1/4 cup mayonaise (I prefer safflower mayo)
Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl. Spoon heaping helpings on small romaine lettuce leaves.
Makes about 8-12 wraps.
You’ll never be satisfied with those other reconstituted veggie protein mixes or frozen veggie patties again. This Spinach-Chick Pea Burger was “meaty” and flavorful and so so satisfying. With burgers like these, who needs ground meat?
I topped the burger with shredded Monterey Jack cheese and a dollop of yogurt, and slid it between 2 slices of grainy bread with some lettuce and tomato.
Lukas Volger has taken veggie burgers to new heights. I suggest visiting his blog “Veggie Burger Madness”, trying the recipe, and buying his book, Veggie Burgers Every Which Way
Veggie Burger Madness
I gotta tell ya, beets are not on the short list of my veggie faves, but when I saw the recipe “Blender Borscht” on The Splendid Table, I was intrigued. A cold brilliantly red appetizer that had a minimal amount of ingredients and prep time, whose ingredients could all be thrown into a blender and served.
I have never prepared borscht before…. in fact I have never eaten borscht, save to take a spoon of it as a child when my mother prepared it for my Russian born father… just to see what all the fuss was about. As tastes tend to be acquired with many foods, this pre-teen back then was not impressed. I was particularly repulsed by the white blob of sour cream floating in the center–the typical topping for this Eastern European dish. Not the looks of it, mind you; It was very striking and artsy. It was the taste I couldn’t get past. I won’t go into detail about how my palate described the texture.
Decades later, I was game for giving beets another try. I think it was because of the addition of chicken broth, onions and wine vinegar in this rendition. The borscht of my youth had shredds of beets swimming in beet juice and nothing more, other than a little salt.
The verdict on Blender Borscht: spoons up!
Here’s a link to the recipe.
You’ve heard of cream cheese dip. Here’s a lighter version using cottage cheese and avocados. It’s creamy and very satisfying. I like to scoop it up with carrot and celery sticks.
1/2 cup small curd cottage cheese
1/2 avocado
juice from 1 small lemon
1/2 tsp sea salt
red pepper flakes
blend in small food processor until smooth.
Serve with cut veggies or pita chips
A collection of food carvings by an innovative foodie artist.
See it on PhotoBucket
When you produce something good, you’re proud to claim it as yours. That’s just what Luke Brown of Pecos Texas did when he put stickers on his watermelons and sent them to market.
I was cutting a slice of a seedless melon the other day when my knife came in contact with that sticker. Luke’s photograph was on that sticker, along with his name, city, and state, email address and the words” Comments Welcome”.
That was one good watermelon. Juicy and with a natural sweetness that Mother Nature can only produce. It felt kind of special to be eating produce slapped with the grower’s mug shot and info on it.
Real personal. I don’t recall ever seeing that on a piece of fruit.
I took up Luke’s offer and sent him an email. I told Luke how delicious his watermelon was…one of the best I’d ever eaten. I also told him how it made things personal, you know…knowing who the grower was… and how I appreciated being able to write him about it.
Luke wrote back promptly to thank me and to let me know his watermelons go immediately from the patch into the frig. I look forward to slicing into my next Luke Brown watermelon.
I can’t prepare hummus anymore without seeing an image in my head of Adam Sandler armed with a fire hose spraying garbanzo bean dip (You don’t mess with the Zohan, 2008).
And there are lots more hummus scenes in that very funny comedy. But the point is, hummus is such a staple of an appetizer, not only in the Middle East, its origins, but here in North America. It’s a bean dip you can really put your mouth around. It hits the spot for a snack with pita bread, chips or sticks of carrots, celery.
I’ve come across many variations of hummus. I was enamored for a while with one recipe that called for plain yogurt and minced flat parsley, but I’ve drifted back to a more basic approach. I’ve always felt that none included enough lemon juice, the mortar that holds this wonderful treat together, in my opinion.
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
15 oz. can garbanzo beans
3 tblsp tahini
3 tblsp lemon juice or to taste
1 tsp sea salt
Dash of crushed red chili peppers
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil
Fresh dill
Drain garbanzo beans, setting aside half of the liquid. Place all ingredients except oil and dill in food processor and blend until smooth. Place in small bowl. Stir in the olive oil. Top with fresh dill before serving. Serves 4-6.
It’s been about 3 weeks and I promised to report back on the “magic” tomato plants growing around my open compost heap. I’m happy to say they are doing very well and are bearing sweet red cherry tomatoes. My boyfriend has dubbed them Trash Bin Tomatoes.
In our very hot and dry climate and proliferation of grasshoppers, it’s a double miracle that these little juicy balls made it at all.
In contrast, my Black Russians, which I bought as small plants, have not fared well. They couldn’t take the heat and the grasshoppers have been having a feast munching on the leaves. (I thought grasshoppers didn’t particularly care for tomato plants…something about the acidic taste of the leaves).
I moved one pot of the Russians to a shady area near the compost heap, several weeks ago, to see if it would take off. It didn’t. In fact the leaves are withered and thinning. It’s a rather puny plant. I think I’ll chop it up and feed it to the compost heap. Maybe next summer I’ll have magic Black Russians…
You’ve heard tell that cigarette marketers would refer to a stick of tobacco as a “nicotine delivery device”? Based on my boyfriend’s habit of slathering the tossed salad with this dressing, I would have to say the salad is a Green Buttermilk Dressing delivery device. In fact, he pours it over the main course as well. He’s addicted.
If you have an avocado sitting in the frig you didn’t know what to do with, here’s your chance to make a luscious green goddess type dressing. Throw some greens in a bowl and toss it on.
1/2 cup low-fat buttermilk
1 small avocado
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
1 tblsp parsley
1 tbls green onion
1 tsp fresh ground pepper
1 tsp sea salt
Add all to a small food processor and process briefly until blended
Option: Serve with sliced tomatoes and cucumbers.
Makes 3/4 cups of dressing.
Banish boring salads and dish up a side of cucumbers swimming in rich, creamy yogurt.
This dish is claimed by different cultures. I’ve heard it’s a favorite in Sweden and Russia alike.
You’ll find just about as many recipes for this cucumber salad call for sour cream as they do yogurt. I say go for yogurt. It’s just as creamy and rich and on the sour side but healthier for the gut with its good intestinal bacteria. I experimented with several recipes and found the one that satisfied me most was a combination of several of them, with an adjustment to the amount of spices.
2 large cucumbers, peeled and thinly sliced
1 cup plain whole yogurt (I prefer the Brown Cow brand)
1/2 cup chopped sweet onion
1 tblsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried dill
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
Combine all the ingredients–except for the cucumber–in a small bowl. Cover and chill.
Put the sliced cucumbers in a separate bowl, cover and chill.Chill both for about 30 minutes. Top the cucumbers with the yogurt sauce. Garnish with chopped chives or green onion. Serves 4.
Njuta…or should I say polzovatsya!
