I hadn’t even thought about posting/sharing this one.. I was assuming it was universal. But.. I had multiple people ask for the recipe. So – here goes nothing. This may be my shortest/easiest one yet. And not many pictures to share outside of the above.
Fresh peaches.. I mean it’s summer. We were grilling leg of lamb and I wanted a nice, refreshing, light side. I grabbed a few fresh peaches from the store. Sliced into small pieces. In Arizona, mid-summer, gardens don’t grow so amazing… I mean, I can’t complain. My tomatoes are still growing, but most of them are smaller. So.. I didn’t have the large gorgeous heirlooms to slice for caprese. Instead, I just do a bite size caprese. Slice/dice your peaches.. then same thing with your tomatoes. I bought the pre-made mozzarella in the little pearls/beads. You can also slice/dice larger mozzarella. Next, Basil. That is one thing that is growing so well for me this year. I have an abundance planted with my tomatoes under my shade cloth as well as about 10 volunteer plants that have popped up throughout the garden. Maybe I can thank the birds, maybe the wind, maybe the bunnies?? Either way, I’m happy! I just tear the basil or use some herb scissors if you have them. Mix your peaches, tomatoes, basil and mozzarella together. Drizzle with some fresh, local honey and some good quality balsamic.
That’s it – enjoy! So fresh, so yummy, so summer.. I’m not even putting a recipe card together for this one 😉
Refreshing Broccoli Slaw
This is the slaw I was telling you about – the one we topped the Turkey Burgers with! This was pretty simple and turned out really yummy! I used the bagged (or boxed) broccoli slaw to start. It holds its crunch better 🙂 Still, when making slaw I like to make ahead a few hours if possible to let the flavors really mix together.
This is the base that I started with. Mostly broccoli with a few carrots and red cabbage mixed in. Next, I very thinly sliced some fresh radish. About two small ones. Same thing with a cucumber. I had a 1/4 of one left so I used that and another.
Add those to your bowl of broccoli slaw. And lastly, before the dressing I threw in some raw, organic kraut. Basically it’s fermented red cabbage. Fermented foods are good for your gut! I found the jar at sprouts in the refrigeration section. Here is a picture and link to their website for more information on the products!
After mixing those together well, we make the “dressing.” I started with my meyer lemon olive oil. This is something I will be keeping in my pantry from now on. I only used about 1 ounce. I then added in another ounce of citrus champagne vinegar. This is another item we keep on hand. Especially because we make our own salad dressings – as we all should. So much tastier and better for you! Next, I added in some dill weed and some greek yogurt. Probably about 2 tablespoons of the dill and about a 2/3 cup of yogurt. And the final touch, pure maple syrup. I’m also guessing about 2 tablespoons. You can start with less and add more to taste. You can use an immersion blender to mix this or just a tiny whisk works great too. Just mix together really well until it looks like this…
Mix Pour this into your bowl of slaw and stir together really well. Let it sit in the fridge to incorporate. Preferably a couple of hours, but at least 30 minutes. Enjoy it alone as a side or as a topping on your burger!
Refressing Broccoli Slaw
Ingredients
- 12 oz broccoli slaw
- 2 radishes
- 1.5 cucumbers
- 1/4 cup raw, organic kraut red cabbage
- 1 oz meyer lemon olive oil
- 1 oz citrus champagne vinegar
- 2/3 cup greek yogurt plain
- 2 tbsp dill weed
- 2 tbsp pure maple syrup
Instructions
- Thinly slice your radishes and cucumbers. Mix together in a bowl with your slaw and kraut.
- Mix together remaining ingredients until you have a smooth, creamy texture.
- Add your dressing to your slaw mix. Stir together thouroughly. Sit in the refrigerator to let incorporate for at least 30 minutes, but 2+ hours is best.
- Enjoy alone as a side or as a topping on a burger or anything you can imagine!
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Last night.. I actually got my husband to eat fresh green beans – and he loved them. Polished off the pan! I am so happy. I will share that simple recipe with you later this week. It’s absolutely gorgeous weather in the Phoenix metro right now. We are all trying to enjoy this and soak up as much as we can before the ovens are turned on.. and ran all summer long. So I often take my lunch to the patio and enjoy it outside this time of year.
Most of the time I am looking for a super quick, simple and healthy lunch option. The spiralizer that I have is so easy to access, use and clean it really helps speed up the process for things like this. I knew that I had a few cucumbers in the fridge and wanted to be sure to use them up while they were still fresh! So I pulled 2 large cucumbers out, washed and cut off one end and started spiralizing. I used the coarse noodles – like spaghetti noodle size blade. So much fun.. I love transforming foods into noodles and such.
If you have ever made a cucumber salad before, or actually if you have ever eaten a cucumber before, you know that they are very watery. So – for the first time, I decided to use a little of the salt method for this. I sprinkled on some Kosher salt and mixed together well letting the (cucudooles) sit while I dug for what other ingredients I had in my fridge to turn this into a salad. Hehe.. I will have to think of a better name for them! About 5 minutes later – I squeezed the cucumbers between a LOT of paper towels to take out quite a bit of liquid. You will never get it all and if you do – I’d like to see what that looks like.
Next, I added some cherry tomatoes, cut in half. I cut them in half because it’s so much better when those tomato juices mix in with everything else. I also had some quick pickled onions already in my fridge – so I added the remainder of a jar. I have found I really enjoy keeping the pickled onions on hand and they are so easy to make!
I then added some dill weed – you can use a dried or fresh. And then top off with about 1/2 cup of plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt. (organic of course) That is something else I like to pretty much always have on hand. Much better than sour cream, so many uses and it really stays fresh for a long time. Mix this all together really well. You might want to cut up your cucudooles if they were in the really long strands. Just like you would cut up a kid’s bowl of spaghetti noodles at a restaurant.
There is is – that simple. It’s great when you eat it right away, but even better when you let it sit at least for a few hours. Great idea for a summer BBQ side or if you are like me, lunch. You could even throw in some rotisserie chicken if you wanted to add some protein for your lunch. This will still get pretty watery – that’s just what you get with cucumbers!
Spiralized Cucumber & Tomato Salad
Ingredients
- 2 large cucumbers
- 1 pint cherry tomatoes approx
- 1/3 cup pickled red onion
- 2 tbsp dill fresh or dried
- 1/2 cup plain, non-fat, Greek yogurt
Instructions
- Wash your cucumbers and cut off one end. Spiralize using the coarse noodle (spaghetti noodle size) blade.
- Sprinkle with Kosher salt and let sit for approx 5 minutes. Squeeze out the water between several paper towels as much as you can.
- Wash and cut your cherry tomatoes in half. Add your cherry tomatoes and pickled red onion to your cucumbers.
- Sprinkle in your dill. Mix in the yogurt and still well.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours before enjoying. OR – eat now if you don’t want to wait.
Grilled Romaine Salad
Before we moved to Arizona, we lived in a neighborhood called Napa Valley. Unfortunately for us, the grapes did not grow there, but thanks to some friends with a great little wine store – our cellar was stocked pretty well. The best thing about the neighborhood was meeting some of the best neighbors! People that enjoy to cook, love to eat healthy, try new things and share the experiences together!
These grilled romaine salads were almost always a hit (you can obviously modify salads easily) and of course the best is when you have garden fresh ingredients to throw in. I know – if you live in the Midwest you are probably rolling your eyes at me right now as I am posting this in January.
Here is my first attempt at walking you through one of my “recipes.”
First – let’s talk about the lettuce. Romaine is one thing I haven’t grown in my garden, yet. Lettuce is tough as it’s a first favorite among bunnies, bugs and other critters and when you are trying to keep it all organic, let’s face it, lettuce ends up being planted more for a barrier or distraction from your other prized plants such as tomatoes! Nothing better than home grown tomatoes! So – a bag of romaine lettuce from the grocery store is perfect for this.
Make sure you wash your lettuce and dry – I use paper towels. Then lightly coat with olive oil and place on a baking sheet to take to the grill. But – let’s grill it last so it’s still warm!
I had the privilege of tasting some of the sweetest corn growing up and although after braces in junior high I typically still take it off the cob, I do still love corn. For this one we are going to grill the corn. Pre-heat your grill to a medium high/high heat. Clean your corn and rinse all of the silks out. If you miss some – one of the best things about grilling – is most of them will char off! Lightly oil the corn and place directly on the grill, rotating about 4-5 minutes – until your corn is about 1/2 charred. Set aside to cool enough to handle. Once it’s cooled – I use a handy corn zipper to remove the corn from the cob.
The remaining ingredients/toppings are up to you, but here are my favorites: Tomatoes, I like a variety of colors, heirlooms from the garden are my favorite. Chop them up into small pieces. Peppers – again, fresh sweet peppers from the garden are a favorite and add even more color. I also like to add diced avocados and blue cheese. You can substitute the blue cheese for feta or in the past I have just left the cheese on the side for others to choose. I also love cilantro if you so choose or any fresh herb is a nice addition.
One really cool thing about living in Arizona are the citrus trees – and fresh lemons picked from your backyard!
The Dressing is totally up to you. Here is an idea for one that is light, easy and goes well with the grilled salad with all of your toppings!
- Lemon Juice (approx 1/4 cup of fresh squeezed)
- Olive Oil (1/4 cup)
- Champagne or White Wine vinegar (1/8-1/4 cup)
- pinch of freshly ground black pepper
- 2 tablespoons of Dijon mustard
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic
Place all of the ingredients in a container with a lid, or a salad dressing shaker, shake well. Ta-DA!
Once you have all of your toppings chopped and ready to go, grill your romaine! Medium heat for about 5 minutes should do the trick. You want to start to see a char, but not completely wilt the lettuce so that you leave some crunch. Place your romaine back on your baking sheet (or whatever serving platter you want to use) and start adding your toppings. You could make this a main dish or it’s super easy to cut the romaine into smaller pieces! ~Hope you enjoy!
Grilled Romaine Salad
Ingredients
- Romaine lettuce
- Corn (on the cob)
- Tomatoes – chopped
- Sweet peppers – diced
- Avocado – diced
- Blue Cheese – crumbled
- Cilantro – chopped
Instructions
- 1. Wash and dry romaine lettuce heads.
2. Clean the corn on the cob and grill on medium-high for approx 4-5 min. on each side until about 1/2 charred. Wait for corn to cool enough to handle and zip off the cob.
3. Chop remaining ingredients.4. Grill Romaine lettuce for approx 5 minutes until just starting to char, but not wilted.
5. Place the grilled Romaine on serving dish, add toppings (grilled corn, tomatoes, sweet peppers, avocado, blue cheese and cilantro).6. If serving as a side dish, cut the romaine heads into 3 pieces and serve with the dressing on the side.
Simple “Caprese” Pasta
I’m currently preparing my garden for another round of planting. This picture from last year gets me so excited to get to work! I just think there is nothing better than fresh produce from the backyard. Cherry tomatoes are a great option in Arizona as they grow abundantly and don’t take as long to ripen as the large heirlooms. Last year I grew several varieties including the darker ones you see that are labeled as black prince heirlooms. After sitting in my garden and eating quite a few right off the plant these are what I brought inside for the day.
My husband was gone for a work trip and I was craving a light dish for dinner for myself including these beauties. I also have an abundance of fresh basil – you cannot kill basil here in AZ. This one was also before I started trying to eliminate gluten and my biggest weakness is still – PASTA! If I’m not doing gluten free or making my own, I prefer a hearty, whole wheat pasta that’s a little easier to cook to the perfect al dente texture.
This is a super easy and quick, yet satisfying lunch or dinner that anyone can make! First, I would cook the pasta – follow the directions on the box. Again, I would choose a whole wheat option and whatever “shape” you like. While the pasta is cooking, slice your tomatoes in half – this helps incorporate the flavor and juice of the tomatoes into the dish. If you aren’t growing your own tomatoes I would choose the heirloom or organic cherry and I love the multi colored mostly because they are so pretty.
You have several options with the Basil – you can use herb scissors and cut right into the dish, you can chop it up with a knife, tear by hand or if you don’t have fresh basil you can use dried.
Once the pasta is cooked, drain and rinse with cool water. Add some EVOO, a little balsalmic (if you like), your basil and chopped tomatoes. Voila – that’s it. Grab a fork and enjoy!
*A couple of possible modifications are: a gluten free pasta (one that I actually enjoy is the Taste Republic that I find at Sprouts) and sometimes if you are ok with dairy I like to include some fresh mozzarella cheese.
Simple “Caprese” Pasta
Ingredients
- whole wheat pasta
- organic, heirloom, cherry tomatoes cut in 1/2
- fresh basil chopped
- olive oil extra virgin
- balsamic vinegar
Instructions
- 1. Cook your pasta following the package instructions. Drain and Rinse in cold water.2. Cut your cherry tomatoes in 1/2.3. Drizzle EVOO and a splash of balsamic vinegar over pasta and stir together.
4. Add cherry tomatoes to the pasta and using herb scissors (or tearing) add the basil into the pasta mixture.