5-Fruit Salad

Here is a really easy recipe for fruit salad and it's called (drum roll, please): 5-Fruit Salad. You'll never guess why-- oh oh, yes, yes that's right, there are 5 fruits in it.

This is simple to make, but it takes about 20 minutes of prep work.

Ingredients
1 pint of blueberries
2 pints of strawberries, quartered or sliced
3 kiwis, quartered then sliced
1 cup of grapes (red or green)
2 apples (I used Pink Lady), cut into 8 wedges, cored and thinly sliced *You can also use nectarines instead of the apples*
1 1/2 cups of orange juice
1/2 cup of sugar or Splenda

Start with a large bowl- pour in the OJ and mix in the sugar or Splenda until dissolved. Then get to slicing those apples, kiwi, and strawberries. Add each fruit into the juice as you get it sliced (I start with the apples since they turn brown quickly-- plus, the apples really soak up the juice).

This salad is great as a healthy dessert and it's good to make for a crowd.

Warm Spinach Salad

Tonight this Warm Spinach Salad served as a side dish. It's really simple to throw together, and doesn't take too many ingredients.

This recipe is adapted from Food Network Magazine.

Ingredients
1 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup finely chopped parsley
10 ounces baby spinach
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup feta cheese

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onions and cook until golden brown.

Once the onions are browned, add the mushrooms and cook until golden brown, and then season with salt and pepper.

Turn the heat off and add the parsley, spinach, and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper and toss well to combine (the spinach will wilt down slowly). Top with the crumbled feta cheese.

This would also be fabulous with some bacon :-).

Citrus-Marinated Mushrooms

I'm usually not a fan of uncooked mushrooms-- they're dry. I much prefer them sauteed when they turn brown and soft and taste meaty. This recipe for Citrus Marinated Mushrooms changed my mind-- the 'shrooms soak up all the marinade and aren't dry at all. These don't have a strong citrus flavor either-the orange and lime zest give them a fresh flavor.

You'll need to make these a day in advance so they can marinate overnight. This dish would be great to serve at a potluck or barbecue since it can sit out at room temperature. (I suggest doubling the recipe).

You will need:
1/4 cup rice vinegar
2 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp. low-sodium soy sauce
3/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
1/4 tsp. salt
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp. grated orange zest
1/2 tsp. grated lime zest
2 tsp. extra-virgin olive oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 lbs. mushrooms, cleaned and halved

To make the marinade:
Combine the rice vinegar, sugar, lime juice, soy sauce, red pepper, salt, and garlic cloves in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Cook for 1 minute to dissolve the sugar. Take the pot off the heat and add the orange zest, lime zest, extra-virgin olive oil, and sesame oil.

Combine the marinade and mushrooms in a large bowl and toss well. Cover and refrigerate overnight. This recipe makes about 6 servings (2/3 cup per serving).

Super Veggie Salad

Super Veggie Salad with a side of citrus-marinated mushrooms and roasted rosemary potatoes with ketchup.

This is my favorite salad-- hands down! It's loaded with peppers, olives, cheese, and pine nuts and has a balsamic vinegar dressing. Salty and sweet!

It's really easy to put together-- the most labor intensive parts are slicing the peppers and toasting the pine nuts.

Dressing
1/4 to 1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard

Salad
1/2 lbs. mixed baby lettuce
1 cup broccoli slaw
1 cup shredded carrots
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup crumbled feta or goat cheese (I use feta because I like its salty flavor)
1 cup of kalamata olives
1/2 cup of pinenuts, lightly toasted

First, mix up the dressing. I like to do this a few hours before I'm going to serve the salad so the sugar has time to dissolve.

In a very large bowl, combine the ingredients for the salad. Add the dressing and then toss to coat. Serve!

Home Fries

Salty, crunchy, golden brown, garlic-ky, and slightly sweet= HOME FRIES. I cooked up a batch this morning for breakfast after seeing the recipe on the Cook's Country DVD I rented from Netflix. As soon as I saw the recipe I knew that these would be perfect to make for my hubby. While they take awhile to cook (about 35 minutes), the time is well worth it.

This recipe makes four "normal" sized servings. Between the two of us (who had worked up an appetite on a run in the morning) we got about three servings out of it.

The recipe also calls for 1/2 stick of butter. Now, I'm the total opposite of Paula Deen when it comes to butter-- I try and use as little as possible, but today  I figured I'd better follow the recipe to a "t", just since it was the first time making it. (And yes, the 1/2 stick of butter is totally worth it!)

You begin by cutting up the potatoes and nuking them and 1 tablespoon of butter in the microwave for about 7 minutes.

In the meantime, you saute an onion (in this case, half of a very LARGE onion) in 1 tablespoon of butter in a nonstick skillet until it turns golden brown.

Then, remove the onion to a bowl and melt 2 tablespoons of butter in the skillet and then put the potatoes in the skillet, and pack them down. Leave them alone for 7 minutes, then flip and pack 'em down again. Don't touch 'em for another 7 minutes.

In the meantime, mince up 3 cloves of garlic and some herbs to add to the potatoes (I used thyme, parsley, and sage). And if I were you, I'd start getting some eggs together so you can scramble them.

After the potatoes have browned on side 2 for 7 minutes, then you can stir them around, and let them cook for another 10 minutes, just to get all the sides browned and crisp. With 5 minutes left in the cooking time, I added the garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs.

These were fantastic on their own, but I added a squirt of ketchup. I served these with herb scrambled eggs.

MMM mmm mmm!

Here's the ingredients:
1 1/2 lbs. Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 3/4 inch pieces
4 Tbsp. of unsalted butter
1/2 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves of minced garlic
salt & pepper to taste
1 Tbsp. of chopped fresh thyme, sage, and parsley

Here's the process:
Microwave the potatoes with a tablespoon of butter in a microwave safe dish covered in plastic wrap for 3 minutes. Give the potatoes a shake (don't remove the wrap), and nuke for another 3 1/3 minutes.
While the potatoes are in the microwave, saute an onion in 1 Tbsp. of butter over medium heat. Once that's golden brown, transfer it to a bowl.

Put the potatoes in the same skillet you used to saute the onion-- pack them down and don't move them for 7 minutes (it's tough, but you can do it). Flip the potatoes, pack them down, and cook for another 7 minutes. Then, cook the potatoes for another 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. With 5 minutes left on the cooking time, add the minced garlic, salt, pepper, and herbs.

Slower Cooker BBQ Beans

We had to barbeque on the 4th of July. To do anything else would just be, well, not patriotic. Come rain or shine I was determined to lounge by the pool and cook dinner. We had grilled chicken, corn on the cob, and beans. Since I try to avoid foods out of a can that I can cook at home, I went hunting for a recipe for baked/BBQ beans. In the past, I used a recipe from the Joy of Cooking, but I found that the beans baked in the oven weren't cooked enough or were way too mushy.

I stumbled across a recipe at Cooking Light's website for stovetop "baked beans." And of course I had to tweak it a bit. I like really tender beans (just shy of mush), so I decided to use the slow cooker. The results were tender and sweet.

2 slices bacon, chopped

1 tablespoon of butter

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1 small onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup of maple syrup

2 tablespoons of Worchesshire sauce

2 teaspoons of Liquid Smoke

2 teaspoons of prepared yellow mustard

1 (16 oz.) can of red beans, drained

1 (16 oz.) can of Great Northern Beans, drained

Combine all the ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low for about 5 hours.

Unfortunately there isn't a photo of the finished product (maybe it was the heat... or the adult beverages), but I forgot to take a final picture.

Summer Garden Lentil and Pasta Salad

To switch things up a bit this week, I made a pasta salad on Sunday for dinner with plans to eat the leftovers for lunch this week (I'm growing very tired of turkey sandwiches).

This is salad is very good, but if I make it again I would increase the amount on the vinaigrette to give it more flavor. Plus, the flavor of the dish seems to mellow after being refrigerated.

I started out making the vinaigrette in my handy-dandy mini-food processor. It's simple enough, just combine balsamic vinegar, shallot, garlic, dijon mustard, extra-virgin olive oil, salt, and pepper. I did this first and let it sit for all the flavors to meld together.

Next, I tackled the lentils. I had never cooked lentils before on their own, and suffice to say I managed to cook them without burning them. Simmering them in chicken stock gives them a lovely flavor.



While the lentils cooked, I set about cutting up the veggies and cooking the pasta shells. I used a whole red bell pepper (the recipe calls for red and yellow peppers, but the yellow peppers didn't look so great at the store), half of a red onion, a small zucchini, and a little over half of a container of grape tomatoes. All of the herbs came from my herb pot, with the exception of oregano. I had to leave that out since I was also out of the dried.



The Parmesan cheese was also (inadvertently) omitted, but the salad was still very tasty. I have been adding cheese to the leftover pasta salad and it does bump up the flavor.

This is suppose to make 4 servings, but I should get at least 5 or 6 meals out of the batch. It would be great for a cookout since there is no mayo.

Recipe

Vinaigrette:
* 2 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
* 1 tablespoon minced shallots
* 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
* 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
* 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
* 1/8 teaspoon salt
* 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Salad:
* 1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
* 1/2 cup dried petite green lentils
* 1 bay leaf
* 2 cups uncooked orecchiette pasta ("little ears" pasta)- These are also labeled as "small sea shells
* 1 cup diced zucchini
* 3/4 cup halved cherry tomatoes
* 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
* 1/2 cup diced yellow bell pepper
* 1/2 cup diced red onion
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
* 2 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
* 2 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or
* 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
* 1 1/2 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper