Meatless | I Can Cook That

Baba Ghannouj

My CSA share came with eggplant this week. My mind went immediately to Baba Ghannouj, which is sort of like hummus with eggplant substituted for the chickpeas. The eggplant is grilled or baked before pureeing it to give it a smoky flavor. I have never worked with eggplant before, so I used Eating Well’s recipe as a base for my baba ghannouj.

Ingredients:

1 eggplant
2 cloves of garlic (unpeeled)
2 tablespoons lemon juice, plus zest from the lemon
1 tablespoon tahini
3/4 teaspoons salt
Olive oil, as needed
Pine nuts, optional

Continue reading Baba Ghannouj

Zucchini Fusilli

Zucchini is another one of my favorite summer vegetables. It always taste so fresh and light, and really brightens up a meal. I usually just saute zucchini and summer squash or grill it, so I was in search of a recipe that actually incorporated zucchini into the main meal versus it just being a side. Sunset magazine had this delicious sounding recipe for Zucchini Fusilli.

Ingredients:

4 medium sized zucchini
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup pesto
1/3 cup pine nuts
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/2 teaspoon plus 1 tbsp. salt, divided
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
1 box fusilli
1 cup fresh finely shredded Parmesan cheese (about 2 oz.), divided

Corn Chowder

I have so much corn, it’s getting ridiculous. For the past three weeks my CSA share has come with 6 ears of corn and well, I’m corn-ed out. So I decided to make a corn chowder that I plan on freezing to enjoy when I’m craving corn in non-summer months. I’m hoping the texture of the chowder doesn’t change after freezing. I found this recipe on Simply Recipes, and chose to make it without the bacon. I also had green bell peppers from my CSA share, so I used that instead of buying a red pepper.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbsp unsalted butter

1/2 large yellow onion, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

1/2 large carrot, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 celery stalk, chopped (about 1/3 cup)

3 ears of sweet corn, kernels removed from the cobs (about 2 cups), cobs reserved

1 bay leaf

3 1/2 cups milk, whole or low fat

1 medium Yukon Gold potato, or Russet, peeled and diced

1/4 green bell pepper, chopped (about 1/4 cup)

Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Prepare all your vegetables.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until soft.

Add the carrot and celery and cook for another 4 or 5 minutes.

Cut the corn cobs in half and add them to the saute pan.

Add the milk and bay leaf.

Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a light simmer (low heat, maybe even the “warm” setting).

Cover and cook for 30 minutes. Do not boil; make sure it is just at a light simmer. This is to prevent the milk from burning.

Remove the cobs and the bay leaf. Turn the heat up to medium. Add the potatoes, green pepper, 1 teaspoon salt and pepper, to taste.

Bring to a simmer and reduce heat to low. Simmer for 15 minutes or until potatoes are fork tender.

Increase the heat again and add the corn kernels and thyme. Bring to a boil. (Last time) reduce the heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

I had a bit of this just to make sure it turned out alright, and it was really good! I wish I had cut the vegetables much much smaller, I found it to be a bit too chunky. This is a hearty colder weather dish, so I can’t wait to break this out when the leaves begin to change.

Cheesy Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas

I love corn, but after three weeks of having 6 ears of corn in my CSA share, I’m running out of ways to use all of it. I adapted this recipe from All You to use fresh corn kernels.

Ingredients:
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
2 ears of corn
1 tablespoon canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 jalapeño, seeded and finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 ounces pepper Jack, shredded
3 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
Salt and pepper, to taste
4 10-inch flour tortillas

Begin by cutting the kernels from the cob.

Prepare your garlic, onion, and jalapeño pepper.

Rinse and drain the black beans and add to a bowl.

Using a potato masher (or a fork), coarsely mash the beans.

Heat the corn over medium-high heat for about 4 minutes stirring occasionally until the corn begins to brown.

Add corn to the bowl with the black beans. Heat the oil in a saute pan. Add the onion and jalapeño and cook for 2 minutes.

Add garlic and cook for 1 more minute.

Add to the beans and corn. Allow to cool, about 10 minutes.

While the mixture is cooling, shred your cheese. If you can find it, grab pre-shredded cheese from the supermarket to speed up the process.

Add the cheese to the mixture and season with salt and pepper.

Heat up a griddle or a saute pan if you don’t have a griddle. Place a 1/2-cup portion of the bean mixture on half of a side of a tortilla.

Fold the tortilla in half and place on the griddle or in the saute pan over medium-high heat.

Cook for 6 minutes (3 minutes on each side if using a saute pan) or until golden brown and crispy. Cut into wedges and serve. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

Despite the jalapeno and the pepper Jack cheese, there really wasn’t much heat at all. If you want to turn it up a notch, either use another chopped jalapeno or use 1 serrano pepper instead.

This would be quite good with some fresh salsa if you have time, but this dish works well on its own as well.

Fried Okra

Okra. I have never made anything with okra, nor have a really had a hankering to do so. But it was one of my vegetables in my CSA share so I thought I’d give it a try. If I had time this weekend, I would have preferred to attempt to make a gumbo, but I’m short on time so I did the second best thing: fried them. Now I have zero idea how to fry anything, especially okra. Thankfully, All You had an easy looking recipe.

Ingredients:

1 pound okra

1 cup buttermilk

1 large egg

1 seeded and minced jalapeño chili

1/4 cup minced scallion

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

2 cups cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 inch of vegetable oil

Add 1 cup buttermilk, 1 large egg, 1 seeded and minced jalapeño chili and 1/4 cup minced scallions to a medium bowl.

Whisk to combine.

Prepare the okra. Trim off both ends.

Cut the pods into 1/2 inch pieces and place into the buttermilk mixture.

Mix together so that the okra is coated. Marinate at room temperature for 15 minutes.

While the okra is marinating, mix 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 tablespoon smoked paprika in a small bowl.

In another bowl, mix 2 cups cornmeal and 1 teaspoon salt.

Heat 1/2 inch of vegetable oil in a medium frying pan to 375 degrees. Take a few pieces of okra out of the buttermilk mixture at a time, shaking to remove excess mixture, and toss in the cornmeal. In batches, drop the okra into the oil and fry for 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until golden.

Drain on paper towels.

Sprinkle with the paprika-salt mixture and serve.

This was my first time eating fried okra so I honestly don’t have anything to compare this to. But fried food tends to taste, well, fried. And this does, but has a lightness to it that really surprised me. The jalapeño and smoked paprika add a little hint of heat at the end which is really nice!

P.S. My photos will (hopefully) be getting better now. I just bought a new toy suggested to me by my friend Mikey who always manages to take the most fantastic photos, be it of food (usually fried, hence my post choice to try this out), the Philadelphia skyline, or people. I picked up a Portable Photo Studio which should help with some lighting issues I’ve been having in my kitchen (no natural light). Any comments or suggestions about how to best use the photo studio are appreciated. Thanks again Mikey!!

Quinoa Salad with Parsley. Or…. Tabbouleh.

Have you ever started creating a recipe, and thought to yourself “Wow! This is going to be awesome! Why hasn’t anyone thought of this before?” Well, probably because they have. And you just didn’t know it. That is what happened to me this weekend. I was so proud of how my “Quinoa Salad” turned out, but then my boyfriend kindly pointed out that is was a take on Tabbouleh, without the mint. Whoops. Anyways, here is my mint-less Tabbouleh.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa

2 cups chicken broth

1 large cucumber, or 3 small cucumbers, chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 sweet onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, smashed
2 tablespoons parsley, chopped

Most quinoa you’ll find in the supermarket has already been soaked and rinsed. But another rise won’t hurt it if you prefer to do so. Measure out 1 cup quinoa and put it in a mesh strainer. Rinse under cool water allowing to drain out the bottom. This helps to remove the coating on quinoa, called saponin, that can taste soapy. Again, most quinoa is already pre-rinsed.

Begin by cooking the quinoa. Add the quinoa and chicken broth to a sauce pan and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat or until the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool.

While the quinoa is cooking and cooling, chop your cucumber and tomatoes.

Prepare your onion and garlic.

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion begins to soften, about 5 minutes.

Remove the garlic cloves. Allow the onions to cool. Combine the quinoa, onions, tomatoes, cucumbers, and the chopped parsley. Zest the lemon over the mixture and squeeze lemon juice over the dish.

Serve cold. Garnish with additional parsley, optional.

This was a light-tasting but filling dish, perfect for a hot summer lunch or dinner. I feel kind of silly for essentially making a pretty common dish, but at least I’m beginning to understand which ingredients work well together!

Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Sauce

I really try to make an effort to bring my lunch to work each day. My office is absolutely freezing, so I tend to gravitate towards warm lunches. Because of this, I am always looking for new pasta and rice recipes that sound like they would reheat well and still taste good. As usual, Cooking Light came to the rescue with the August issue’s Fried Rice with Sweet Soy Saucerecipe. I made all four servings so that I could have a batch for dinner, and get a few lunches out of it.

Ingredients for Fried Rice:

3 tablespoons peanut oil, divided

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

3 finely chopped shallots

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 serrano chile, seeded and chopped

4 cups cooked rice

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 thinly sliced daikon radish

1/3 cup fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced

1/3 cup fresh mint leaves

1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro

4 lime wedges

Ingredients for sweet soy sauce:

1/4 cup lower-sodium soy sauce (or coconut aminos to make gluten free)

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (The original recipe used dark brown sugar. I didn’t have any. Oh well)

Begin by cooking your rice. You can just cook the rice in water because the soy sauce will add plenty of taste, no need to waste your chicken broth.

While your rice is cooking. prepare your shallots, garlic and chile. I am a wimp about heat and serraro chile can really be hot, so I removed all seeds before chopping. If you like spicy food, keep the seeds in.

Slice your daikon radish. I used a mandoline slicer.

Prepare your herbs.

To make the sweet soy sauce, combine the soy sauce and brown sugar in a saucepan. Heat over medium heat. Simmer for 2 minutes or until the brown sugar is incorporated into the soy sauce. Set aside.

Add 4 eggs to a bowl and lightly beat.

Add 1 tablespoon peanut oil to a large saute pan over medium-high heat, swirling to coat the bottom of the pan. Pour eggs into the pan and cook for 2 minutes or until they set. Remove and set aside.

Increase the heat to high and add 2 tablespoons peanut oil to the pan. Add your shallots, garlic and chile and saute for 1 minute.

Add the cooked rice and cook for 3 minutes or until lightly browned.

Add cooked eggs and soy sauce mixture.

Season with salt and pepper and mix to coat. Add to bowls and top with radish and herbs. Serve with a lime wedge.

This meal was really tasty, not only the first time around but also when reheated. The serrano pepper gave a subtle heat to the whole dish which counteracted the sweetness of the soy sauce, great combination! When I packed it for lunch, I kept the rice mixture in one container and a few radish slices,herbs , and a lime wedge in another container. I heated the rice in the microwave and topped them with the radish slices and herbs, then squeezed the lime juice over the whole dish. Perfect!

Green Beans with Garlic and Pecans

Green beans are one of my favorite vegetables. When I found out they were going to be a part of my CSA share I was really excited to have my first of the season. Green beans are delicious on their own so you really don’t have to do much to them. Here is a simple side of Green Beans with Garlic and Pecans that can be made in 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

1 pound green beans
3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 tablespoon chopped pecans
Salt and pepper to taste

Continue reading Green Beans with Garlic and Pecans

Greek Yogurt with Warm Berry Sauce

I have a serious sweet tooth. To such an extreme, that I cannot have ice cream in my house or I will eat it in one sitting. It doesn’t matter if I buy a pint or a gallon. Sigh. It’s quite an issue I have. So I tend to try to avoid making dessert all together if I’m cooking, but this recipe seemed too good to pass up. Once again, this came from Cooking Light’s Quick & Healthy Menu Maker App to go with the Mango Shrimp Kebabs and the Grilled Corn with Chipotle Lime Butter. I adapted the recipe to work with a bag of mixed frozen berries I had in my freezer.

Ingredients:

1 cup frozen blueberry, blackberry and raspberry mix

1/2 cup water

1/4 cup sugar

The juice and zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoon butter

2 cups plain 2% reduced-fat Greek yogurt

Fresh blackberries, blueberries, and/or raspberries, optional

Combine the frozen berry mixture, water, sugar, zest and lemon in a small pan.

Bring to a boil and reduce the heat to medium low. Let simmer for 10 minutes.

Stir in butter.

Meanwhile, divide the Greek yogurt among 4 bowls.

Spoon the berry sauce over the yogurt and serve. Top with fresh berries if you have any on hand.

What a perfect way to indulge in a dessert without completely ruining your healthy dinner. The berry sauce is just sweet enough to cut through the Greek yogurt, but not overly so.

As good as it was for dessert, I still had some left over, so I had it the next morning for breakfast. It was just as tasty cold, which is great news because you can make the berry sauce ahead of time. I do suggest adding some fresh berries on top, just so there is some texture to the dessert.

Grilled Corn with Chipotle-Lime Butter

After reading just the title, how could you not be excited for this recipe? Grilled corn is one of my favorite treats in the summer, and I refuse to let my city dwelling keep me from it! I cooked this on a counter top grill and loved it, so I can only imagine how delicious this is on an actual outdoor grill.

This is another recipe from Cooking Light’s “Quick & Healthy Menu Maker App“. I cut the recipe in half, to make only two servings. We ate this along side the Mango Shrimp Kabobs.

Ingredients:

Cooking spray

2 ears shucked corn

1/2 tablespoon butter

1/4 teaspoon chipotle chile powder

Zest from 1 lime

Salt and pepper, to taste

Begin by shucking your corn. Take care to remove as much of the silk as possible.

Side note: this was probably the most stressful part of the process for me. I was using corn from my CSA share and had read a post from another CSA share member, One Curly Fry in a Box of the Regular, about the horror she found under the husk. Oh the joys of organic produce. Thankfully, I had a bit more luck than she did. Look how wonderful that corn looks!

Preheat your grill. I set mine for medium-high. Coat the grill with cooking spray and add the corn.

Cook until grill marks begin to appear, about 10 minutes (closer to 8 minutes for a normal grill). Turn the corn frequently to allow it to evenly cook.

While the corn is cooking, place the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave for 30 seconds or until the butter has melted. Add the chile powder, zest, pepper and salt.

ok. It’s not much to look at, but it tastes good!

Remove the corn from the grill and brush the butter mixture over the corn.

I loved the subtle smokiness of the chipotle chile powder with the corn. We had some leftover limes from the kebobs and took full advantage of the lime juice on the corn, which really worked well with the butter mixture. I honestly had trouble taking photos of this, because as soon as it was done, we couldn’t control ourselves and scarfed it down! Definitely a keeper.

Garlic and Rosemary Smashed Potatoes

I made Sauteed Chicken with Fennel and Rosemary, and needed something starchy to soak up some of the sauce. The recipe suggested polenta or mashed potatoes, so I thought I’d make smashed potatoes and incorporated some of the same ingredients found in the main dish. I had a bag of red potatoes from my CSA share so I luckily had all ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

1 bag of red potatoes (I had enough to fill up a medium sized bowl)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon heavy cream

1/4 cup chicken stock

Salt and pepper, to taste

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1 teaspoon fresh chopped parsley

Wash your red potatoes thoroughly, making sure to remove all dirt.

Halve any red potatoes that are larger than the average size. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the red potatoes and cook until fork tender, about 15 minutes.

Drain the potatoes and add to a medium sized bowl. using a large spoon or a whisk, smash each of the potatoes. Don’t go overboard, you want them to be chunky.

In a saute pan, add a small amount of the butter, rosemary and the minced garlic over medium heat. Cook for 1 minute.

Lower the heat and add the chicken stock, stirring. Add the rest of the butter and the cream and stir to combine.

When the butter has melted, pour over the smashed potatoes and stir to combine.

Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Top with parsley.

These were absolutely delicious. Creamy and flavorful, the rosemary and parsley worked so well with the potatoes. I prefer smashed potatoes to mashed potatoes solely because you get to keep the skins on the potatoes. Not only does it make the dish prettier, it also adds texture.

Beet and Carrot Chips with Tzatziki

I came across a recipe for beet chips recently and was intrigued. It seemed relatively easy, didn’t involve frying the beets (I don’t have a deep fryer, and the idea of deep frying something kind of makes me sick), and appeared to be a great way for me to use some of the beets I received in my CSA share. I decided to bring it a step further and try to make carrot chips at the same time as well as a dip to go with them. I had both normal beets and white beats so I was really hoping this would turn out colorful!

The tiny ones are carrots, the others are red & white beets

Ingredients for chips:
2 white beets
2 red beets
2 large carrots
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water
2 cups sugar

Ingredients for tzatziki:
1 container of Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 a cucumber, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

To begin, combine the water and sugar in a saute pan and bring to a boil. While the mixture is heating, peel the beets with a vegetable peeler. Chop off most of the leaves on top, but leave a bit to use as a handle when using the mandoline slicer.

When the liquid has boiled, remove from heat and add the beets to the liquid. Let sit for 15 minutes.

I used raw sugar, which is why it’s brown

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the beets are soaking, use a mandoline slicer to thinly slice the carrots. After 15 minutes, remove the beets, dry them off with a paper towel, and thinly slice with the mandoline slicer. Arrange on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.

Cook for 40 minutes or until they begin to crisp slightly. While the chips are baking, prepare the tzatziki. Combine the chopped dill, lemon, zest, garlic, cucumber, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.

Mix in the Greek yogurt.

Cover and refrigerate until the chips are done.

Allow the chips to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. Carefully remove from the baking sheet.

The beets and especially the carrots really shrink up, so if you can, use quite large beets and carrots. I think mind turned out too tiny for my liking. I also think I sliced them a bit too thin, they really don’t seem like they’d stand up to the dip too well.

they are fun looking though!

Place the chips in a bowl and serve with the tzatziki. Enjoy!

This recipe makes a whole lot of tzatziki, probably more than you’ll use on the chips. Tzatziki is great with pita chips, as a condiment on grilled meats, stuffed grape leaves, and crudites so you’ll have plenty of options to use the rest of the dip.

Beet and Carrot Chips with Tzatziki

Cuisine: Appetizer, Sides, Vegetarian

Author: I Can Cook That

Ingredients

Ingredients for chips:
2 white beets
2 red beets
2 large carrots
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups water
2 cups sugar
Ingredients for tzatziki:
1 container of Greek yogurt (I used 0%)
1/4 cup fresh chopped dill
Juice and zest of 1 lemon
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 a cucumber, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

To begin, combine the water and sugar in a saute pan and bring to a boil. While the mixture is heating, peel the beets with a vegetable peeler. Chop off most of the leaves on top, but leave a bit to use as a handle when using the mandoline slicer.
When the liquid has boiled, remove from heat and add the beets to the liquid. Let sit for 15 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. While the beets are soaking, use a mandoline slicer to thinly slice the carrots. After 15 minutes, remove the beets, dry them off with a paper towel, and thinly slice with the mandoline slicer. Arrange on a baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper.
Cook for 40 minutes or until they begin to crisp slightly. While the chips are baking, prepare the tzatziki. Combine the chopped dill, lemon, zest, garlic, cucumber, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl.
Mix in the Greek yogurt.
Cover and refrigerate until the chips are done.
Allow the chips to cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven. Carefully remove from the baking sheet.
Place the chips in a bowl and serve with the tzatziki.

3.1.09

Pesto Pasta Salad

I am in a pasta salad making mood, so I decided to make one more batch for this weekend. I already made one pasta salad for this weekend, but I have a bunch of these ingredients on hand from other recipes and I don’t want them to go bad over the long weekend. I used a recipe from My Recipes as a base and substituted ingredients I already had, and ended up with this Pesto Pasta Salad!

Ingredients for the pesto:

1 or 2 bunches of packed fresh basil

1 bunch of packed fresh parsley

4 garlic cloves, minced

Juice and zest from 1 lemon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/3 cup walnuts (or toasted pine nuts)

1/2 cup olive oil

1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Ingredients for the salad:

1 box gemelli or other short pasta

1 small container plain 2 percent Greek yogurt

1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved

3 small cucumbers, sliced

1 red onion, chopped

1/2 cup feta cheese

Cook the pasta according to the “al dente” directions on the package. Drain and run under cold water. Set aside.

To make the pesto, combine the basil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper and walnuts in a food processor. (I ended up being just short of 1/3 cup walnuts, so I also added in a few toasted pine nuts.) Blend until smooth. Pour in olive oil and blend until there is a thick paste. Add the Parmesan and combine until blended. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.

Prepare all of your vegetables. After chopping the red onion, run it under cold water to remove some of the bite. Slice your cucumbers and halve your tomatoes.

Combine the pesto and Greek yogurt in a large bowl.

Add the pasta and vegetables and toss to coat.

Because I am making this for the weekend, I only made a tiny batch fully mixed so I could taste it. The pesto mixture is so so creamy that you honestly might not even need the feta. The tomatoes and red onions add a wonderful contrast to the pesto and the cucumbers add a nice crunch to the salad. I will try to take some photos this weekend of the fully assembled salad, but if it is anything close to what I just sampled, I think my friends will be happy.

Yum

Pesto Pasta Salad

Total Time: 15 minutes

Yield: 8 servings

Ingredients

Pesto:

1 or 2 bunches of packed fresh basil
1 bunch of packed fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves, minced
Juice and zest from 1 lemon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/3 cup walnuts (or toasted pine nuts)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Salad:

1 box gemelli or other short pasta
1 small container plain 2 percent Greek yogurt
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3 small cucumbers, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
1/2 cup feta cheese

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to the “al dente” directions on the package. Drain and run under cold water. Set aside.
To make the pesto, combine the basil, parsley, garlic, lemon juice, lemon zest, salt, pepper and walnuts in a food processor. (I ended up being just short of 1/3 cup walnuts, so I also added in a few toasted pine nuts.) Blend until smooth. Pour in olive oil and blend until there is a thick paste. Add the Parmesan and combine until blended. Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
Prepare all of your vegetables. After chopping the red onion, run it under cold water to remove some of the bite. Slice your cucumbers and halve your tomatoes.
Combine the pesto and Greek yogurt in a large bowl.
Add the pasta and vegetables and toss to coat.

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Italian Pasta Salad

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It’s almost July 4th weekend, so I am preparing a bunch of dishes for me to trek down to the beach.

I tend to make food that can marinate for a day or two so that I have time to make it without rushing around right before we leave. This time around, I decided to make a pasta salad based off my mom’s version.

Ingredients:

1 box of tri-colored pasta
1 can of pitted black olives, sliced
1 package of cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 cup corn kernels
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed
6 mozzarella balls, halved
small jar of artichoke hearts, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 jar roasted red peppers, roughly chopped
Italian dressing (recipe below)

Ingredients for Italian dressing:

1 tablespoon garlic salt
1 tablespoon onion powder
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon celery salt
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white wine or rice vinegar
1 1/3 cup olive oil or canola oil

Continue reading Italian Pasta Salad

Roasted Beets with Tahini

There is a restaurant in Philadelphia called Zahav that serves modern Israeli food. I went there for my birthday last December, and am still thinking about their tasty hummus and absolutely fantastic salatim, a selection of 8 little salads that you scoop up with their house baked laffa. All of the salads were really delicious, but the pureed beet salad was by far the happiest surprise offered. So when my CSA share came with beets this time around, I knew exactly what I was going to make… or try to make at least. I basically made a hummus, substituting in roasted beets for the chickpeas. My version is probably not all that close, to the one served as Zahav but I’m still happy with the results.

Ingredients:

1 bunch of beets (mine came with 5)

2 tablespoons tahini

The juice and zest of 2 lemons

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1 tablespoon olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Walnuts, for topping

To roast the beets, preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Remove the tops, wash to remove all dirt, and arrange on a baking sheet. Drizzle with the olive oil and add a generous amount of salt.

Cook for 40 minutes or until you can easily stick them with a fork. My beets were on the smaller side, so you may need to up the time to 1 hour.

Allow to cool completely. Remove the skin of the beets by rubbing them with a paper towel. This is surprisingly easy, I promise.

Roughly chop the beets.

Add the beets, tahini, lemon juice, lemon zest, cumin, garlic, salt and pepper to a food processor.

Process until smooth.

Transfer to a serving dish and top with chopped walnuts. Serve with cucumbers, pita, broccoli, cauliflower, or anything else you’d like to dip in this lovely little dish.

If you’d prefer, you can add in a can of rinsed chickpeas to make a beet hummus. Another alternative would be to add some Green yogurt, to taste, to make a creamier version of this dish. Enjoy!