Southwest Salad and Arthur Miller

I go through phases and lately I've been in a salad phase. We had dinner with Dan's daughter Alona, her boyfriend Nate and his mom to celebrate his birthday at the Surly Taproom last week. While not a beer drinker myself I understand the options were quite good. What I did sample was some of the best roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower I've had in a long time. Of course none of these are directly related to salads right?

While waiting for our food to come Alona was telling me about her new ventures in salads. She's been using mason jars and layering ingredients so that they stay fresh. Her new fav is a kale salad with other veggies and a simple oil, vinegar, salt and pepper dressing. Which got me thinking we hadn't had a giant salad; you know the kind that is a meal, all by itself for a very long time.

So as luck would have it, I had an idea. For those of you who've been to my house for dinner you know I rely on a balsamic vinegar with garlic and curry as my main dressing but I was thinking we needed to shake things up a bit and we had 2 ripe avocados so I did a quick search for a salad/dressing that could incorporate them. I found a keeper that is simple, requires few ingredients and is delicious.

I used ½ avocado, 1 cup of water, and the juice of ½ lime, cumin, salt, pepper and ½ of a jalapeno finely chopped. Place everything in and mix until smooth – you'll be glad you did. 

So now that I had an avocado based salad dressing, I realized that they only salad that would perfectly compliment it would be … of course a "Southwest Salad." I started with a mixture of spinach and kale (about 2/3rds spinach to 1/3^rd kale). To that I added, 1 can of black beans (rinsed), 1 cup of corn, 1 red pepper (chopped), 1 bunch scallions, 2 sweet potatoes (chopped and roasted with olive oil and maple syrup), 1 large tomato (chopped), 1 ½ avocados (chopped), and a large handful of chopped cilantro.  Pour the dressing on top, toss and serve. 

And what does all of this have to do with Arthur Miller; well it was dinner before we went to see his play The Crucible, which by the way was extremely well done. It had a 3-hour run time (including intermission) but it seemed like time just flew by. The acting was superb and everyone seemed perfectly cast. The sets were well done and the pacing and intensity just right – if you happen to be in Mpls, spend the time and money to attend the performance at the Guthrie. 

Have a great week - and don't forget to make a salad now and then. 

Rainy Days and Sundays Always Make Me Hungry!

They say too much of anything isn't healthy – and for the most part I agree. Too much red meat, too much fat, too many eggs, and too much tofu sometimes it's hard to know what to eat and not eat. I like to take things in moderation – balance things out, I actually think I got that from my mom, she was a big believer in vegetables, protein, and desert – especially pies. She made the best lemon meringue pie; the meringue was at least 5 inches high and the lemon filling creamy and tart – ah the delicious memories.

It's been a rainy day in MN and for me that means hanging out indoors, watching movies and at some point cooking. I did manage to get my 13,000+ fitbit steps in between the raindrops and a quick trip to the grocery store for some staples.

We had some tofu in the fridge and I'd seen a recipe on the Inspiralized site for a marinated baked tofu which sounded interesting so I thought I'd give it a try. The recipe is here but as you'll see I deviated from it to incorporate some of my favorite veggies and spices into the mix.

I asked Dan to cube and drain the tofu – three paper towels later it was pretty dry. To a large bowl I added 3 Tbsp. of soy sauce, 1Tbls. Maple syrup, 1Tbsp. grated ginger and some salt and pepper. I added the cubed tofu and let it marinade for about an hour, spooning the sauce over the tofu from time to time.

I then spiralized 2 large carrots and chopped the spirals into small pieces. I also took 3 large cauliflower florets and chopped them fairly small and defrosted ½ bag of Trader Joe's frozen kale.

I preheated the oven to 450 and then put the tofu in for 10 minutes, turned it over and then cooked for an additional ten minutes. While the tofu was baking, I melted 1Tbsp of coconut oil in a pan and added 3 cloves of garlic and 2 tsp. of grated fresh ginger. To the oil, ginger and garlic mixture, I added the cauliflower and sautéed it for 3 minutes, then added the carrot pieces and sautéed for another 2 – 4 minutes. When it was crisp tender I added the thawed kale, some additional garlic powder sea salt and fresh ground pepper and a couple shakes of pepper flakes. 

When the tofu was crisp/tender I removed the veggies from the stove, added the tofu to the pan and served it with a side of mashed avocado for a bit of creaminess. We both named this a keeper and to be honest, you can make it with what ever veggies you have on hand or like – you could substitute spinach or bok choy for the kale and add broccoli and/or sweet potato the sky's the limit. Personally I liked the kale, carrot and cauliflower combo.

There was also banana cream pie for dessert – with a graham cracker crust – which as I recently found out is Dan's favorite.

If you stop by, feel free to leave me a message, I'd love to hear from you - have a great week!

For the Love of Sweet Potatoes

Ever had one of those weeks where the only thing that could make you feel better was sweet potatoes – well this week was one of those weeks.  Did I mention that sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods?  I love them mashed, roasted, roasted with a little maple syrup, curried, in veggie burgers, on top of shepherds pie, in place of pumpkin in a pie, as fries with ketchup …  – in my opinion they're good no matter how you choose to prepare them.

When the hubby got home tonight and asked the usual question "What would you like for dinner?" I knew that whatever we had it needed to include sweet potatoes.  My first inclination was to roast them with the carrots and cauliflower in the fridge but in the back in the recesses of my mind I recalled a delicious curry recipe, which had been absent from our dinner table for a while.

Actually the recipe comes from a cookbook called Savoring India – it's a Williams Sonoma cookbook by author Julie Sahni. The original recipe is Gobhi Masala, which is a fragrant cauliflower stew – and it calls for the standard white potatoes, which are not my favorite. Actually anytime a recipe calls for white potatoes I always substitute sweet potatoes I don't even think about it.

We started by heating 3 Tbsp. of oil. To the oil we added 2 cassia leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp. cumin seeds and fried them in the hot oil for 30 seconds until the seeds began to sizzle. To the spices we added 2 small onions finely chopped and cooked until lightly browned (about 3 minutes) then added 1 Tbsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger, 1 Tbsp. ground coriander, 1 ½ tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk and ½ cup of water.  Stir the mixture to combine and then add 2 lbs. of cauliflower (be sure to peel and chop the stem and the leaves they add an additional flavor) and 1 sweet potato chopped in 1-inch cubes. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat; cover, reduce heat to low and cook for approximate 35 – 40 minutes. 

We served it with basmati rice and a black lentil and kidney been dal – it really hit the spot – as you can see, there is no problem too big for a sweet potato solve.

For those of you in Minnesota – it's time to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather we're having.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ann

Seeds; New Beginnings and Old Friends

I've started my seeds! I know, I know for those of you who live in warm climates and have an endless growing season, I'm sure you're scratching your head and saying "Huh." Well here in Minnesota the growing season is short and we try to pack 12 months of flowers, fruit and vegetables into a little more than 3 months – we're efficient that way.

We've got 4 – 4 by 8 foot raised beds that we've been planting a variety of herbs and veggies in for the past 5 years.  We've had great success on the herb front and mixed success on the vegetables.  My favorite vegetables are swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, lettuce, turnips, carrots and green beans.  Each year I try a few "experiments," this year I'm giving acorn squash, wax beans and arugula a shot.

We've been working to empty out the freezer in anticipation for the coming season. I had some zucchini in the fridge that was begging to be eaten and I remembered that we still had some tomato sauce that I made and froze last fall; can you say spaghetti!

I set my chopping assistant (Dan) on a mission, onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, basil, sage, chili flakes, salt and pepper; I'd like to give you precise measurements but he works on the dump and taste method. He estimates; 1 onion, 1 cup chopped peppers, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. sage, 1 tsp. salt and a couple of shakes of chili peppers – modify to taste.

To the onion/spice mixture add approx. 2 cups of tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and 1 ½ medium sized zucchini – spiralized into noodles. Reduce heat, cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes – or until zucchini is crisp tender.

We served with a spinach and strawberry salad dressed with a balsamic dressing, some multi grain bread and a glass of wine.  

I enjoy reading your comments and posts. If you have vegetarian recipes you'd like to share please let me know.  I've not met many vegetables I don't get along with and I'm always looking to experiment.

Have a good week!