Kale Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Roasted Butternut Squash

Thoroughly 'massaged' kale ribbons, fresh Pink Lady apple chunked and soaked in lemon juice, dried cranberries, pumpkin seeds, roasted cubes of butternut squash, a small handful of Feta cheese  and there you have last night's dinner.

Hokumpoke Creamy Corn Pasta with Peas and Basil

This past week I made my way over to Hancock, New Hampshire to a start-up CSA called Hokumpoke Farm. Isn't that an awesome name ? First of all, it's just plain fun to say and second it is not a name to be forgotten, so it's easy to toot it to my friends. Anyway, I was drawn there because Colleen had the brilliant idea to market the CSA to more folks by offering a weekly opt in/opt out share program. Now, SB and I have our own vegetable garden, but we also are pretty basic in what we grow. My herbs are sketchy this year, we never grow leeks or kohlrabi or fennel or heirloom tomatoes or cabbage ... and guess what? Hokumpoke Farm does! You can guess what weeks I'll be trotting over to pick up a bag of produce!

Ina Garten's Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Pasta

 Fourth of July picnic fare was all dolled up yesterday with pulled pork, burgers, hotdogs, pimento cheese and crackers, boozy coconut pineapple chunks, chips, pickles, and this pasta salad. Thank you, Ina Garten for giving me a wonderful base recipe! I used gemelli pasta instead of rotini because I like its 'bite'. I also added the pepperoni, sweet yellow peppers, and sweet white onions. You can add whatever you have in your produce drawer - perhaps red and green peppers ? In addition, I omitted the Parmesan cheese and halved the mozzarella measure, because I felt there was enough cheese in the recipe. Here's the base recipe ! Have at it !

Black Bean Salad with Shrimp and Pickled Onions

This salad has such interesting colors, temperatures, and textures. A lime vinaigrette binds things together. Add a piece of crusty bread for mopping up the juices and you have a wonderful summery meal. To boot, the pickled onions can be doubled and used to top sandwiches or grilled meats or fish. They're that tasty and incredibly simple to make.

Start the salad early in the day by making the pickle brine and then briefly cooking the onions in the brine before placing them in a jar and refrigerating them to chill and crisp up. Peel and devein the shrimp and marinate in olive oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes in the fridge also.

When it's time for dinner, warm the bread. Drain a couple cans (or one large one) of black beans, rinse and set in a warm salad bowl, toss them with the lime vinaigrette, sear the shrimp, crumble the feta, and chop the scallions and cilantro. Simple, fast and perfect for a hot day when you don't want to be in the kitchen for any length of time !

Here's the recipe.

Quinoa and Spinach Salad with Almonds and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

This very easy salad came together in the heat of that oppressive day we had this week ... the first really hot day of springtime here in New England. The recipe comes from a summer line-up of terrific side dishes posted at a food blog called COOKIE + kate.  You can follow Kate's recipe to the letter or do what I did. I used double the spinach, added lemon zest, and slivers of basil in my version.

It was a delicious way of using the first picking of our spinach greens and the basil that I topped out of my plants so that they'd fill out a bit and not bolt to blossoms and seeds. This salad was perfect sitting on the plate beside a pan-seared salmon filet. Add a glass of super chilled Sauvignon blanc and it was a super summery supper. Say THAT three times fast !

The recipe makes a large amount of quinoa mixture - enough for two hungry people to have the salad as a side dish and enough for bowls of the quinoa/tomato/almond mix the next day for easy lunch. An easy way to serve is to plate the amount of spinach you would like and add a serving of quinoa mix over top each serving. Save the rest of the fresh greens for leftover lunch or second servings.

Crisped Cauliflower Salad with Citrus and Aromatics

Happy New Year, folks ! More veggies and less meat is what I say for 2018! Here's my first platter of salad. A warm salad of crisped cauliflower slices, shallots, rosemary, garlic, red pepper flakes, orange zest, flat leaf parsley, toasted hazelnuts, and a drizzle of olive oil and orange juice over top to finish it.

Hedy's German Potato Salad

Simple flavors combine to make a warm and tart take on potatoes, onions, ham, and parsley ... German Potato Salad. SB and I are just back from a visit with German friends and I'm feeling the nostalgia for all that German brauhaus food that we enjoyed while touring. Every small village has its little pub/restaurant that serves the local specialties and potato salads come a few different ways.

Greens and Pasta Salad

Yes, this salad has pasta in it, but the stars of the dish are the peas, asparagus, and arugula that really turn it into something much healthier and more complex than the typical summer pasta salad! The recipe comes from the a Food & Wine magazine that was kicking around the house. I'm so glad I browsed it one last time before passing it on! Not only did I get a great new pasta dish for summer picnics, but the dressing used would be terrific on mixed greens or used as a dipping sauce for crab or salmon cakes.

Roasted Butternut and White Bean Salad

A cool vegetarian option for a lazy evening in front of the ball game ... it's Red Sox season and we're timing meals around 'first pitch'. This easy supper was a way to have a meatless meal and work the fresh herbs that are coming on strong in the gardens. Paired with some of the first fresh lettuce greens, it made for a perfect springtime meal.

The Weirdest Salad I Ever Loved ...

Up til just a few years ago, you couldn't pay me to put a Brussels sprout in my mouth. No offense to my Mom, but she'd ruined the little cabbage for me. Her one and only method of preparation was to boil the heck out of the poor things until they resembled khaki bits of Army fatigues and serve them plain as can be with a pat of margarine and some salt and pepper. She also always bought the biggest (and thus more bitter) sprouts she could get. Why, I'll never know. Consequently, this little vegetable made it real fast to my shortlist of BLECCH!

It was SB who turned my attitude around. Oh, and Yotam Ottolenghi. SB showed me how to roast Brussels sprouts. YO showed me how to dress them up all pretty and sweet.

Black Bean Salad with Shrimp and Pickled Onions

This is an extremely fast and easy salad that is put together in the half hour it takes for the pickling brine to do its magic on the purple onions. While the pickled onions absorb the spices and tang, the black beans are drained and rinsed. Limes are juiced. The cheese and cilantro are prepped, some garlic is thinly sliced, and the shrimp are peeled and de-veined. Two minutes before you want to sit down to dine, do a fast pan sear of the shrimp in olive oil and slivered garlic, toss everything together and serve the pickled onions on the side. Delish!

I apologize for the picture quality ... eating at nine o'clock at night makes for poor available light when photographing. I had to quickly capture the salad plate before Kate, my oldest sprout and I fell on the salad like wolves! We'd spent the day at an art museum and came home late to sip wine and throw together a quick, healthy supper. I'd been telling her about a new cook book that was all about different salads, so we stopped to pick up the ingredients for this one.

Summer on the Terrace ... Virtual Supper Club's August BBQ

Come sit on the terrace, won't you? I've got a couple Paradise Cocktails poured and the grill pan is getting hot. SB and I are getting ready for a fast and furious weekend of activity, but this evening is meant to be an easy affair. I've got some Hendrick's gin, some peach brandy, some stellar Mineola oranges and plenty of ice. Let's have a cool cocktail and enjoy the greenery while the scallops soak up the peppery spices. I've got a beautiful start to the latest Virtual Supper Club's BBQ themed dinner, so get ready because this month's menu is a perfect late summer treat!

Virtual Supper Club ... A Jump on Summer Indulgence

May's Virtual Supper Club theme asks us to contemplate 'our favorite indulgence' ... and I am here to tell you that come May, my favorite indulgence is jumping the season to grab onto summertime seafood, fresh summertime vegetables, corn that I have stockpiled from last summer and placed in the deep freeze, and light citrus zest and juice to make a tribute to what's coming full speed in the next few months!

IHCC - Fast Pantry Supper

Disclaimer: This is not my pantry. My pantry is better stocked ...

A Tailgate Supper - Slow Cooker Pulled Pork and Creamy Cole Slaw

Fall's here in the Monadnock region of New Hampshire! No more knocking on the door with a tentative crisp day or a showy bright blue fall sky. Labor Day has come and gone and now it's back to busy school days, harvesting the final garden produce and beginning the buttoning up of things for the coming (say this word in a whisper!) winter. Soon we'll be raking leaves, planting spring bulbs, cleaning out the greenhouse and stacking the planters and hanging baskets for the season, cleaning out the gutters, stacking the wood up closer to the house,and enjoying the occasional high school football game. Busy days, indeed!

Panzanella with Chourizo

Dinner came right from the garden this evening ... the sun was still in the tomatoes. Really! They were warm from the sunshine. SB picked a big bunch of basil that smelled incredible! The corn that came from a friend's roadside stand was chilled from the burlap bag that held it in icy water. SB pulled an artisan loaf from the freezer that I'd baked a month ago and then shucked the corn in the back yard while I put together the rest of the tomato and bread salad. While the salad rested, we boiled up the corn. Such a simple supper that was so satisfying!

Straight from the Sea - Virtual Supper Club

Coconut Crab and Shrimp Salad coming right up! 

Curried Chicken Salad ... and a Hike

This is a healthy and lightened up version of chicken salad with a hot curry kick. It is a recipe found in a magazine called Delight- Gluten Free. I've had my eye on it for a while and was waiting for a day when I knew I'd be hungry for a substantial lunch-time sandwich. Today was the day! I started my day early, as it's really hot out. SB and I wanted to hike a piece of land over near Richmond, New Hampshire where the mountain laurel is in full bloom. We spent the morning exploring the forest trail along a small brook that feeds into Tully Brook and driving the back roads in the vicinity. By the time we got home, we were hot and hungry.

Really Good Chicken Salad

When I was a kid, Saturday mornings were set aside for cleaning. My Mom would give us breakfast and then tell us that it was 'time to clean your room'. I would putter around picking up clothes and stuffing them in the laundry chute, stripping my bed, putting away toys (or shoving them under the bed), dancing around to the radio or record player, putting away toys (shoving them in the closet), running the vacuum cleaner, putting away toys (sucking them up in THE KIRBY), and waiting a decent amount of time before racing for the back yard.

Occasionally, Dad would call me back in and tell me that my room 'looked like a dog's breakfast'. Hmmm ... I always wondered what a dog's breakfast looked like. One time, Dad ushered me up to my room and opened the closet door. What should have been a neat and orderly spot was not. He calmly asked me if I ever saw what the garbage cans looked after the neighborhood beagle had been at them. Yes, I knew. Well, THAT is a dog's breakfast and this looks like a dog's breakfast too! Hmmm .... mystery solved. Work ahead. So much for Saturday morning whiffle ball with the rest of the kids in the neighborhood.

Making this Jamie Oliver salad last evening reminded me of that old expression ... but it tasted really, really good!

IHCC - Royal Potato Salad

Oh, what a warm green mess this is and oh, how utterly delicious! I found myself humming Mellow Yellow as I peeled eggs last evening while making Yotam Ottolenghi's Royal Potato Salad.  Whirling the basil, parsley, Parmesan and pine nuts in the blender made me giddy with the luscious shade of green that resulted. I switched over to trying to remember the Seuss text to 'Green Eggs and Ham'. Whenever, I plopped warm potatoes and eggs, pesto, and peas together and added some mint and tossed, I could tell by the texture, color, and scent that we had a winner here!