Warm Cabbage Apple Salad

There's something about cooked cabbage that I just love. A good coleslaw is always appreciated, but if you really want to do me in, give me an egg roll stuffed with shredded cabbage or maybe some hearty borsch. And since I've been craving cabbage lately, I found this apple-cabbage salad to be pure fall perfection.

Garlicky Flash Zucchini

Yep. Another zucchini recipe. This one is super simple (note the tag) and frankly there's not a whole lot to say about it. So let's get right to the point. These zucchini are cooked on high heat in a flash with plenty of garlic, leaving you with firm, flavorful squash. You know. The kind people actually want to eat.

Try serving alongside one of the following: Grilled Cuban Chicken, Jerk Chicken, or Broiled Tilapia Parmesan.

Roasted Beets with Barley, Greens and Feta

This is the last time I'm going to expend any more energy urging you to give beets a chance. I've already shared two of my favorite beet dishes here and here; if they weren't enough to convince you, I'm unsure that this dish will. Maybe you need to read my top 3 reasons to eat beets: 

1. They're pink! Or is it purple? Somewhere in between.
2. They're full of tons of vitamins and minerals, including folate, manganese, beta keratin, anti oxidants, and lots of fiber.
3. They taste good when you eat them. (especially when they've been roasted into sweet tenderness rather than pickled in a can). 

Are you convinced?  

Turkish Carrot Salad

After spending 2 weeks in Turkey during June, I have two major regrets: 1) that I got dreadfully sunburned, making the idea of a scrub down and massage at a Turkish bath sound an awful lot like torture. So no Turkish bath for me; 2) that I never ate Turkish carrot salad even once. The first time I ever had it, I'll admit I was a little afraid of the consistency/appearance (shredded carrots + yogurt really doesn't look very pretty), but since one of my Turkish students had made it, I felt obliged to try it. After my first few bites, I was looking for reasons to finish the pan.

We ate a lot of other delicious things, mostly fresh from the market. I swear Turkish peaches have more flavor and juice than the ones found in American supermarkets. I wish I could share some of the kilos of pistachios, figs, or apricots that I brought home with me, but since I couldn't, think of this recipe as my gift to you. And while you're at it, please enjoy a scene from the Spice Bazaar in Istanbul. It will make you feel a little like you're in Turkey...the air there really does smell like spices. 

Turkish Carrot Salad
Recipe by Kelly's Turkish student
Picture by Kelly

2 cups plain Greek yogurt*
4 cups shredded carrots
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 large cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
parsley or mint, for garnish

1. On medium low heat, heat 2 tablespoons oil and minced garlic together. Cook garlic until fragrant and just beginning to brown (don't burn it!). Remove garlic bits and add to yogurt. 
2. Pour remaining oil in the pan and heat on medium. Add carrots and sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender, but not soft, about 7-10 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool about 10 minutes.
3. Combine carrots, yogurt, and salt in a large bowl. Chill at least 30 minutes and serve topped with roughly chopped parsley or mint.

*You can use regular plain yogurt in this salad as well, but it must be strained or your salad will be too soupy. Use a very fine mesh sieve or, preferably, line a colander with muslin or a coffee filter and place in a bowl. Pour in the yogurt and let it sit and drain for about 20 minutes before adding to carrots.

Creamy Coleslaw

This is a very basic, creamy coleslaw, nothing fancy here. But it is beautiful, with bright greens, purples, and orange. And it makes a great side to really almost anything, so it is a great go-to recipe.

And because this really is a basic recipe you can feel free to add other flavors to make it your own. This particular batch I added caraway seeds. You might try adding fresh ground pepper, dill or perhaps even some oregano. Oh yeah, one last thing, because this recipe is basically just fresh vegetables it is good for you!

Kale and Cucumber Salad With Avocado-Tahini Dressing

I don't mean to brag, but I have 5 tomatoes happily ripening on one of my tomato plants in my garden that doesn't get quite enough sun and has struggled with a serious aphid problem. Five. And one looks like it just might be ready in the next week or so. I can hardly wait- the first crops of the season! Hurrah! (If you're from Arizona, please don't rub it in that you can have tomatoes all stinking year. It's at least 140 degrees there all summer which basically makes it uninhabitable in my opinion. If it weren't for that, I'd move just for the lemon trees). My smaller-than-usual-garden is also working on: some kind of butter lettuce (that claims to be slightly sweet but is quite bitter), Swiss chard, arugula, bush beans, 2 other tomato plants, a bell pepper, and 2 eggplants (which are struggling. Perhaps the lack of sun). I used to have marigolds, but they were eaten by a mysterious rodent...possibly squirrels.

Roasted Spaghetti Squash with Parmesan and Herbs

I was rummaging around in my cupboards the other day, struggling to find a serving dish that I knew had to be in there somewhere, when I was startled to encounter a spaghetti squash rolling around. Oh! You're still here! How nice. It was a fortuitous find since I had very little idea what to make for dinner that night, no desire to go to the store, and an odd and unhelpful collection of produce in the fridge.

So although it's May, and in truth I did feel a little strange roasting squash in May, this ended up being a most delightful dinner. I caramelized the onions until they submitted to their sweet brown coloring and topped the squash with a healthy handful of parsley from my garden and a bit of cheese. We ate our squash with  some slightly crusty bread from the farmer's market that had been well slathered with garlic butter and then broiled for a few minutes. Simple but delicious.

Qunioa and Spring Vegetables

I had the day off yesterday. Completely off. It wasn't Saturday, so I didn't have to clean. It wasn't Sunday, so I didn't have to go to church. Yesterday was my day. And take a look at all the things I accomplished: got up (major accomplishment for a day off) made steel cut oats for breakfast, prepped the flower beds for more planting and moved some dirt to our future vegetable plot, made this quinoa dish for lunch, exercised, read outside in the sun, showered (yes, that's also an accomplishment), purged my email inbox, made dinner, went for a bike ride, finished doing laundry, watched the documentary Ingredients (which I highly recommend), and chatted with the husband.  The only thing I didn't do was make rhubarb crumb bars (coming soon, I hope) because rhubarb was nowhere to be found today.  All in all, I think I'd like to order 3 or 4 more such days, please.

Cuban Black Beans and Rice

I first had this dish at my brother and sister-in-laws house years ago when they lived in New York. They have since moved, but the dish still remains a favorite of mine. I love this recipe for a many reasons. It is good. It is vegetarian. It is inexpensive. It can easily be doubled, tripled, or even halved to feed whatever group is sitting at the table. You can add beef and it becomes even hardier. And it makes great leftovers. Oh, and one last thing, because it uses olive oil it almost has a silky texture. Oh, and one more last thing, it is easy to make.

Brussels Sprouts with Bacon and Raisins

I don't know if it's because I'm living near the south or if brussels sprouts are making a comeback, but I find them everywhere. I see them in bags in the frozen food section, looking like some kind of alien creature on the stalk, or rolling about precariously in the bulk veggie section (I may or may not always drop at least 3 when I'm trying to scoop them up). So with all these baby cabbages hanging around, aren't you surprised that we haven't posted a single recipe yet? I was. Quite, actually.

Vegetable Pancakes

Tired of salads? Tired of steamed vegetables? Looking for a new way to eat your veggies? Try these fun vegetable pancakes.

Baba Ganoush

I decided to work from home this morning because I want to share this with you. I want you to know that I really like Middle Eastern food. Give me a platter of hummus, baba ganoush, cucumber salad, kebabs, rice with vermicelli, and the delectable banana pudding with honey and pistachios from Layla's in Old Town Alexandria (which is really amazing because I normally loathe anything with bananas), and I lose all self control. Even when you can clearly see my stomach expanding, I can't stop myself. It's just. That. Good.

Creamy Sweet Potatoes

There is something wonderful about sweet potatoes. Perhaps it is that somehow I feel like I am being extra healthy when I eat them, even when they are smothered in cream and cheese. Perhaps it is that while it is a potato it is chock full of vitamins, specifically vitamin A. Or perhaps it is just that they seem to be one of my new favorite vegetables; I didn't eat many sweet potatoes growing up, none that I can remember in fact. And more importantly I purchased a large box of them recently and am experimenting with them in different recipes.

Couve

I didn't eat collard greens even once (to my knowledge) until I reached the age of 25. Collard greens were a weird vegetable that only southern people ate, most likely drenched butter and definitely fried, right? And they weren't called collard greens, they were "call-ahds" or just "greens." The fact that they are related to cabbage and brussels sprouts made them even less appealing. What 9 year old in her right mind willingly eats a leafy green that kind of tastes like cabbage and looks like spinach.

At least that's what I thought until my sister moved to Brazil brought her Brazilian husband back to the US (yes, this is another Brazilian story) and then introduced to me to how delicious collard greens could be. Called couve in Portuguese (pronounced ko-vee), these greens are a common side dish served with rice and beans at many a Brazilian meal. My husband has fond memories of eating couve during the time he also lived in Brazil, and to say he was excited about figuring out how to make it is an understatement.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes

Lately my husband and I, and even my baby, having been enjoying sweet potatoes prepared in different ways. I came across a recipe for sweet potato fries, which I had never tried, but thought sounded good. So I decided to try them alongside one of my hamburgers.

At first I was a wee bit disappointed with the results of these oven fries as they weren't crispy at all, even though the flavor was what I had hoped. Fortunately I had told Kelly what I was making that night and then told her the results; so under the direction of her great wisdom, I decided to revamp the recipe slightly and rename them Roasted Sweet Potatoes and once again I was happy with the results.

Curry Bread Puffs

So I made these "Hot Cheddar Puffs" for a Welcome to Autumn party. They sounded great and I thought they would be a nice Fallish snack. And they were. Only I didn't feel like the title of the recipe was descriptive of what actually came out of my oven at all, so I decided to rename the little puffs Curry Bread Puffs.

Cauliflower Salad with Orange Vinaigrette

Three more days. Three more days until I move into a new apartment with a real oven and stove. A gas stove. I haven't had one of those in a long time. And then a mere week until I get all my stuff out of storage, meaning the return of all my pots and pans. I can't wait. I've been perusing my cookbooks in anticipation...gingerbread, curry, raspberry rolls, berry slump, cookies...note that most of these happen to be desserts.

Parmesan Crusted Squash

This spring was a little wild where I live. It stayed cool into mid-May and it rained a lot. It was actually quite pleasant. The only draw back is that my garden did not flourish, in fact my garden did not grow at all, with the exception of my squash. And flourish they did; so much so that I have a vine growing up the side of my house, I even had to cut it back because it was interested in taking over the front door.

With the bounty of squash I am getting, and the lack of any other vegetables, I figured I'd better come up with some good recipes. I decided to try my hand at coating and baking this particular squash, which is a yellow summer squash, and I admit, I was very pleased with the results as was my dubious husband. The squash ended up being tender with a delicious, slightly crusty, outside.

Citrus Carrot Slaw

You're probably looking at this picture in awe of my chopping abilities. So even, so small, so thin. And with carrots, even. Aren't I awesome? Almost as if I'd been practicing...

But let's face it--anyone who has ever cooked with me knows that I'm a dreadful vegetable chopper. My sister is constantly getting after me for making my pieces too large. And when my Russian friend (the one who brought us this tasty Borsch recipe), saw the huge potato and beet pieces in my version of her Borsch, she was a little shocked; I had corrupted the soup with my lazy chopping. But I just can't help it. There are so many more interesting things in the kitchen to do than chop things small.

So the truth of the matter: I cheated. I bought these carrots pre-packaged and ready to go. And may I just say that this stuff was a great deal tastier because I didn't have to fight with my crummy knives to get the carrots this size.

Cookie Salad

Let's get one thing straight right off the bat: this really isn't a salad. So don't go thinking you can eat piles of it without spoiling your diet. And second of all, it's not just made of cookies, so it's not exactly a dessert. It is, however, so tasty it could melt your socks off.

The first time I had Cookie Salad, I think I may have consumed well over half the bowl. I actually think that nearly every time my friend Lindsey has made it for us, I definitely eat more than my fair share. I just can't help myself. I know you might be skeptical as you scan through the list of ingredients--I realize it seems like a strange combination--but I promise it whips into the loveliest of concoctions.