Traditional Gazpacho

Ingredients:

• 1 cucumber
• 2 red bell peppers
• 4 plum tomatoes
• 1 red onion
• 3 cloves garlic. minced
• 23 ounces tomato juice (about 3 cups)
• 1/4-1/2 cup white wine vinegar (I like it on the more vinegar-y side)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 Tbs salt
• 1 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Roughly chop cucumbers, peppers, tomatoes, and red onion.
2. Put each vegetable separately into the food processor.
3. Pulse until they are coarsely chopped.
4. Combine all of the vegetables into a large bowl and add the minced garlic, tomato juice, vinegar, olive oil, salt, and pepper.
5. Mix well and chill.

Chopped Thai Salad with Sesame Garlic Dressing

Greeeeeat Asian salad with some greens, and plenty of color! This one comes from pinchofyum.com

Ingredients (dressing):

• 1/3 cup canola oil
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 3 Tbs low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbs water
• 2 Tbs white vinegar
• 2 Tbs honey
• 1 Tbs sesame oil
• 1 Tbs lemongrass paste (ginger would also work)
• a squeeze of lime juice

Ingredients (salad):

• 16 ounces frozen shelled edamame
• 5-6 cups baby kale
• 3 large carrots
• 2 bell peppers
• 1 cup cilantro leaves
• 3 green onions
• 3/4 cup cashews, peanuts, or almonds

Directions:

1. Puree all of the dressing ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Taste and adjust to fit your preferences.
2. Cook the edamame by boiling them for 3-5 minutes in a pot of boiling water.
3. Drain and allow it to cool. Meanwhile slice up the kale, carrots, peppers, cilantro leaves, and green onions into thin strips or shreds.
4. Placed the cooked edamame in the food processor and pulse 5 times to get a minced texture.
5. Transfer to a bowl and repeat the same process for the nuts.
6. Toss the kale, carrots, peppers, cilantro, green onions, edamame, and nuts together until well combined.
7. Drizzle with the dressing; toss gently a few times and serve.

Spicy Chorizo “Migas” with Sweet Potato Noodles

Another great recipe from my inspirilized.com listserv. This is a good one with eggs that can definitely go with brunch as well as dinner.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Tbsp EVOO
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled, spirilized into noodles
• 1/4 tsp garlic powder
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1/2 pound chorizo links, decased
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 large red bell pepper, diced
• 2 tsp minced jalapeno
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp oregano
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1 Tbsp chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Place a large skillet over medium heat and add in the olive oil.
2. Once oil heats, add in the sweet potato noodles and season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper.
3. Cover and cook, uncovering occasionally to toss, for 5-7 minutes or until potato noodles are cooked to al dente.
4. Set the noodles aside in three plates and cover to keep warm.
5. Add the chorizo to the skillet, crumbling with a wooden spoon. Cook until browned, about 7 minutes.
6. Set chorizo aside and add in onions, bell pepper, and jalapeno. Season with paprika, oregano, salt, and pepper. Cook for 3 minutes or until vegetables soften.
7. Add in the cooked chorizo and the eggs. Cook until eggs are scrambled.
8. Divide chorizo-egg mixture on top of the sweet potato noodles. Garnish with cilantro and serve.

Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:

• 12 oz fusilli pasta
• 1/2 lb sugar snap peas
• 2 carrots, shredded
• 1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 – 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped fresh mint (optional)
• 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
• 4 oz goat cheese, crumbled

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
• Add the fusilli and cook per the directions on the box.
• Add the sugar snap peas, carrots, and bell pepper to the boiling water during the last 2 min. of the cooking.
• Reserve 1/2 cup cooking water, then drain the pasta and vegetables and return to the pot.
• Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook about 30 sec.
• Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp salt. Cook until the tomatoes begin to wilt, about 2 min.
• Stir in 1/4 cup of the reserved cooking water. Pour the tomato mixture over the pasta and vegetables.
• Add the mint, parmesan, and goat cheese. Toss to combine.

Black Bean Burger

I have been doing a lot of experimenting over the past two months or so with making my own veggie burger. The biggest problem is that they always fall apart! I have a lot of trouble keeping it all together, but they really taste great. Sooooo I think this has been the best attempt, but I am still working with it so I will make updates as I test it all out. I think the trick is to make sure the patties aren’t too wet. Well, here is the recipe with some of my adjustments, originally from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

• 1 can black beans
• 1/2 green pepper
• 1/2 vidalia onion
• 4 peeled cloves garlic
• 1 egg
• 1.5 Tbs chili powder
• 1/5 Tbs cumin
• 1-1.5 tsp hot sauce/thai chili sauce (I used sriracha — the amount used depends on how spicy you want it)
• 1 cup breadcrumbs
• hamburger buns

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 or turn on your grill. I use a George Foreman grill for this and set it to 375.
2. Pour the black beans into a colander and rinse and shake dry. I didn’t realize how important this part was. It is hard to drain the liquid from the can just by pouring, but rinsing it really helps get all that goop out.
3. Shake out the excess water and pour beans into a large bowl and mash with a fork or potato masher.
4. In a food processor, finely chop the green pepper, onion, and garlic. This ends up being a little wet so dry to get some of the water our with a mesh colander or something. I didn’t have one so I just used as is.
5. Stir the pepper/onion/garlic mixture into the mashed beans.
6. Mix in the egg, chili powder, cumin, and thai/hot sauce.
7. Mix in bread crumbs and bake or grill! It is probably about 6-8 minutes on each side, or using the GF grill it was just 6-8 minutes total.

An estimate of nutrition information (without the bun and based on myfitnesspal.com) is:

	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Per Burger (makes about 5):	203	36	3	10	705	4

Black Bean, Corn, and Red Pepper Salad with Lime Cilantro Vinaigrette

Here is a recipe originally from seriouseats.com. I’m not sure where I found this one; could have been through pinterest. We made this earlier in the week and it is a great refreshing summer salad. It stays fine in the fridge and is a nice side dish, too!

Ingredients:

• 2 15-ounce cans black beans
• 2 cups of corn (fresh or frozen)
• 2 red bell peppers, diced
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbs minced shallots
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (I used chili powder instead and it turned out fine)
• 2 Tbs sugar
• 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbs olive oil
• 1 teaspoon zest and 6 Tsp lime juice (about 4-5 limes)
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 2 avocados, chopped

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients, except for avocados, in a large bowl and mix.
2. Cover and chill for about 30 min.
3. Add avocados before serving and garnish with cilantro.

Easy!

Veggie Stir Fry

This is a version of a recipe I found on vegetariantimes.com. I has great vegetables and a really nice home-made stir fry sauce. I like to use a lot of vegetables with different color and serve it over brown rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs soy sauce
• 1 Tbs toasted sesame oil
• 2 tsp corn starch
• 1 Tbs. vegetable oil
• 1 medium red onion, halved, cut into wedges
• 1 yellow bell pepper
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 cup raw nuts of your choice (I’ve used peanuts and almonds)
• 1 Tbs. grated fresh ginger
• 8 oz. sugar snap peas
• 8 oz. snow peas
• 8 green onions, cut into 1-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Whisk together soy sauce, sesame oil, cornstarch, and 1/2 cup water in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Heat vegetable oil in wok over high heat.
3. Add onion, bell peppers, nuts, and ginger, and stir-fry 2-3 minutes.
4. Add snap peas and stir-fry 1 minute.
5. Add snow peas and green onions, and stir-fry another 2-3 minutes.
6. Add soy sauce mixture and cook 1-2 minutes or until sauce has thickened.

 

An estimate of nutrition information is as follows. This is also based on upping the number of peppers to about 4.

	Calories	Carbs	Fat	Protein	Sodium	Sugar
Per Serving (4 total):	348	22	28	8	367	8

Grilled Corn Salad

I love love love a good corn salad. Actually, just corn in general. I am looking forward to the spring/summer for when we can get some good corn into our diet. Whether its fresh corn, or just using frozen, there’s something about the flavor and the crunch that I just love. Here is a corn salad recipe that I haven’t made in a long time, but I just found it sitting in my favorites, so I”ll post it here. Looking forward to making it in the next month or so (and then I can post some pictures).

Ingredients:

• 6 ears fresh corn, husked
• 2 Tbs oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 4 scallions finely chopped
• 2 cups packed arugula
• Dressing:
  • 1 lemon, juiced
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • salt and ground black pepper
  • BBQ seasoning: 1/4 cup paprika, 1/8 cup sugar, 2/3 Tbs. onion powder

Directions:

1. Preheat grill or broiler to medium heat.
2. Rub corn with some oil and season with salt/pepper.
3. Grill or broil corn for about 7 min or until ears are lightly browned.
4. Allow the corn to cool and remove kernels from the cob. Place them in a large mixing bowl.
5. Add cherry tomatoes, red pepper, scallions, and arugula.
6. In a small bowl make the dressing with lemon juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, and the BBQ seasoning (to taste).
7. Toss salad with dressing and serve.

 

Baked Gruyere and Sausage Omelet

My mom threw me a fabulous graduation party this past weekend. It was so nice to get together with friends and family to celebrate and of course… eat. I wanted to make something eggy, and I came across this recipe by Giada De Laurentiis on Foodnetwork.com. It was a big hit! The recipe says to make this in an 8 x 8 dish, but I thought that was too small for the party, so I nearly doubled the recipe and ended up baking it in a 9 x 13 baking dish. But the following recipe is for the original 8 x 8.

Ingredients:

• butter, for greasing baking dish
• 2 Tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1/2 pound mild turkey sausage, casings removed
• 8 large eggs
• 1/3 cup whole milk
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 and 1/2 (4 ounces) grated gruyere cheese
• 1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly butter 8 x 8 baking dish.
2. Heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook for about 3 minutes.
3. Add the sausage and cook until brown, about 5 minutes.
4. Set the pan aside to cool.
5. In a large bowl, whisk eggs, milk, salt, and pepper until smooth.
6. Add the red bell pepper, 1 cup of gruyere cheese and 1/4 cup of parsley.
7. Stir in onion/sausage mixture.
8. Pour the batter into the pan.
9. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
10. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Delicious! I will have to make it again so I can add pictures. We ate it too quickly to take pictures.

Israeli Couscous with Roasted Summer Vegetables

I have recently discovered how much I love Israeli couscous. I’m not sure why it makes such a difference, but it definitely seems to be a favorite among some of my friends, too. Here is a really easy, simple recipe that includes some israeli couscous. This is originally from foodnetwork.com, but I made a few changes to their recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 2 green zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 2 yellow zucchini, quartered lengthwise and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
• 12 cherry tomatoes, cut in half
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 1 yellow bell pepper, seeded and quartered
• 1/4 cup chopped basil
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 1 pound Israeli couscous
• Vegetable or chicken stock

Directions:

• In a small bowl, whisk together vinegar, mustard and garlic.
• Slowly add the olive oil and whisk to combine.
• Combine cut up vegetables in a large bowl and pour about 2/3 of the marinade over the vegetables and allow it to sit at room temperature for 10-15 minutes.
• Preheat the oven about 375 degrees F
• Put vegetables onto a baking sheet and bake until vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes.
• Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil over medium high heat.
• Add the couscous and toast until lightly golden brown.
• Cover the couscous with warm stock and some hot water and bring to a boil.
• Cook until al dente and drain.
• Combine the roasted vegetables and the couscous, pouring some more of the vinaigrette into the combination. Mix well.