cucumber

Crunchy Green Salad with Dilly Chickpeas and Avocado

There are all kinds of salads. Dinner salads. Main-meal chef salads. Caeser salads. Caprese salads. Fruit salads. Seafood cobb salads. A list of salads you may never have enough days to make. Holy crap, does the salad train ever end??

I for one hope not. Because I am a salad QUEEN!

Thanks tp growing up with my mom’s nightly dinnertime routine, dinner simply can’t start without a crunchy green salad to get it all started with. Mom, you raised these tastebuds right!!!

And for lunch? If you ask me my druthers between a salad, a sandwich, or a burger? I’ll take the salad every.single.time.

Why? Because they’re easy to pull together, super fresh and super delicious, and when you make ’em right like this baby here, they just taste so good. And, they’re perfectly primed to make you summer time swimsuit ready in no time.

And this salad is exactly one of those salads I have for lunch more often than not. It’s one of those that doesn’t take much planning and you can really just pull together depending on what’s in the fridge. In fact, that’s how this salad was born.

If you’ve heard anything about the Mediterranean Diet, you’d know that vegetables and good fats are at its core, with leafy greens, tomatoes, and cucumbers all playing a part and avocados taking center stage.

And I ask, when did avocaodos EVER not take center stage?

The Mediterranean diet, Weight Watchers, and so many more nutrition programs promote the obvious health benefits of proteins that come from fresh fish and protein-packed-veggie-sourced proteins like chickpeas, a staple ingredient in my lunch time salad routine.

That’s why this salad has been—and still is—a staple in my lunch time routine.

And one of the reasons I love it so is there’s no dressing involved, just lemon-flavored olive oil (or olive oil with a squeeze of lemon) and an herby quick marination of the chickpeas with dried dill, garlic, the olive oil (and lemon) for some serious flavor.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Bookmark this recipe and leave a comment below, or take a photo and tag me on Instagram with #foodiecrusheats.

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Crunchy Green Salad with Dilly Chickpeas and Avocado

I use a lemon-infused olive oil for the dressing on this salad, or instead, you can use extra-virgin olive oil with the juice of 1/2 lemon.

Servings 1 salad

Ingredients

1 cup canned chickpeas drained and rinsed
2 tablespoons lemon-flavored olive oil or regular olive oil with the zest and juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tablespoon dried dill
1/2 clove garlic pressed
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 cups chopped lettuce like red leaf or romaine
1/2 cucumber peeled and sliced
Handful of cherry tomatoes sliced
1/2 avocado cut into chunks
Sliced shallot or red onion
Feta cheese
Fresh basil leaves

Instructions

In a small bowl, mix the chickpeas with the olive oil, dried dill, garlic, and kosher salt and pepper, adjust the seasonings to taste, and set aside.
In a serving bowl, layer the lettuce, chickpeas, tomato, cucumber, avocado, shallot, and feta cheese. Drizzle with more lemon flavored olive oil and season with more salt and pepper and a few torn fresh basil leave and enjoy.

More Salads That Make a Meal

Citrus Shrimp and Avocado Salad (the best for using up leftovers from this shrimp recipe)
Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe
Autumn Cobb Salad
Southwest BBQ Chicken Salad Recipe
Chopped Mexican Kale Salad Recipe
Avocado and Greek Yogurt Chicken Salad (perfect for using up this meal-prepped chicken)
Roasted Beet, Avocado and Goat Cheese Spinach Salad with Chicken
Outrageous Herbacious Mediterranean Chickpea Salad
30 Days of Healthier Salads That Make a Meal

As always, thank you for reading and supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.

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Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

This better-than-P.F. Chang chile-flavored orange chicken lettuce wrap recipe is incredibly easy to make thanks to the Instant Pot pressure cooker that does double duty as a self-serve, low-carb appetizer or as a healthy main meal that’s quick to make and even more fun to eat.

Just ask any three year old—or my 13 year old daughter’s best friend Elise who has yet to conform to the norm—eating with your hands is supremely gratifying.

Her parent’s say she’s “expressive and artistic.” I think she’s just laser-focus hungry and doesn’t want to play by anyone else’s rules. Either which way, lettuce wraps are a fun way to “nosh-on-it” and this Asian chicken lettuce wrap recipe proves it.

Because who says eating with a knife and fork should be the norm anyway? Cultures all around the world have eaten without utensils for centuries, and even more. Indian. Ethiopian. From Asia to Africa to the Middle East. As quoted in this New York Times article, cookbook author Julie Sahni emphatically states, “Eating with the hands evokes great emotion,” she says. “It kindles something very warm and gentle and caressing. Using a fork is unthinkable in traditional Indian eating. It is almost like a weapon.”

Okay. It looks like I need to give Elise a break. But I will NOT ease up on reminding her to wipe her hands and her face, even if I get that teenage “look” in return nearly every single time.

When Williams Sonoma Test Kitchens sent me their new The Instant Pot Cookbook to review, I was more than happy to say, heck to the yes, let’s do this. Their cookbooks are some of my very favorites and I regularly refer to their entire Dish of the Day series and every single Williams Sonoma cookbook authored by Kate McMillan who is one of my favorite recipe developers because of the series.

But this cookbook is different, just like the Instant Pot itself.continue to the recipe… about Instant Pot Orange Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crunchy Asian Cucumber Watermelon Salad

All it takes to make this super simple, totally fresh, cucumber, watermelon and red bell pepper salad is a few minutes of chopping and an easy sesame and lime-flavored Asian dressing for a totally crunchy bite.

“But wait, I was going to make my Mediterranean panzanella salad…”

My recipe making plans were foiled once again. I had my heart set, but when my husband told me he was making his favorite Asian chicken lettuce wraps to take with us for our outdoor concert picnicking with the Drive By Truckers at SLC’s Red Butte Gardens, I said, “Hey, no big deal, I can switch things out to go with that.”

So with a simple pivot and a few ingredient swaps, I created a salad the fit right into my husband’s Asian-inspired menu plans.

That’s what I love about super simple recipes like this one: it doesn’t take much to change it to fit any ethnic flavor profile, creating something totally fresh and totally new that fits into whatever you’re craving now. Plus,because it’s sturdy ingredients, this one is a great salad for potlucks or brunch, lunch, or dinners, and it holds up in the fridge, even for a few days.continue to the recipe… about Crunchy Asian Cucumber Watermelon Salad

Summer Melon Cous Cous Salad with Avocado, Grapes and Mint

Hail all things green! Pillowy pearl couscous provides the bulk of this fresh honeydew, grape, cucumber, and avocado salad tossed with fresh herbs laced in a a ginger lime dressing that goes from breakfast or brunch to lunch and dinner with loads of summer’s seasonal flavors.

While I’m not one to watch much daytime TV, the other day I sat down to lunch and flipped the old telly on while I ate my ad hoc salad made from random tidbits of dinner from the night before. I swear, if anyone bore witness to some of the combinations of odds and ends I toss together for my daily lunches I would surely lose all of my food blogging cred.

If you haven’t watched daytime television in a while, you aren’t missing a dang thing. After trolling up and down all 687 channels trying to avoid marathon episodes of Hoarders!, I flipped over to The Cooking Channel where an episode of The Kitchen was airing. There I saw always poised and perky Katie Lee sharing a recipe with GZ for an exceptionally green quinoa salad, but not green with lettuce as one would expect in the traditional way.continue to the recipe… about Summer Melon Cous Cous Salad with Avocado, Grapes and Mint

Fresh and Easy Vietnamese Noodle Salad

This light and refreshing vermicelli noodle salad gets its inspiration from one of my favorite dishes of all time, Vietnamese bun salads, with fresh slivered veggies in a tangy Vietnamese rice vinegar dressing, making it a simple side dish to serve with grilled meats and chicken.

The first time I made a version of this salad was when my husband and I were newlyweds. One of our wedding gifts was a version of this countertop roaster/griller contraption. The first dish we made with the roaster was from the recipe book that came along with it, a version of Asian roasted chicken in a peanut sauce that was served with a simple vermicelli noodle salad very similar to this one I’m sharing today. Or at least that’s what I remember.

That chicken dish was pretty much the only thing we ever made in the roaster. It became yet another gadget to add to our assortment of kitchen appliances that begs one to question, “But do I really need it?” We admitted it just didn’t justify the room it took up in our cramped kitchen so we eventually parted ways.

But this noodle salad…it’s here to stay.continue to the recipe… about Fresh and Easy Vietnamese Noodle Salad

Greek Pasta Salad with Cucumbers and Artichoke Hearts

During the summer months, I make one variation or another of this Greek Pasta Salad at least twice a month, and because I have the basics down, it’s easy to pull together for get-togethers, potlucks and BBQs.

Just like a signature scent, song, and style, every home cook should have a defining mark that sets us apart from the pack. A signature dish. That one recipe to rely on, to go back to, time and time again. A recipe we know like the back of our hand, to pull out of our back pocket at a moment’s notice and feel 100% confident that THIS dish…this dish will deliver.

Friends, meet my signature pasta salad. My loaded Greek pasta salad.

It’s ultimately adaptable and flexible depending on the ingredients I have—or don’t have—in the pantry or refrigerator. continue to the recipe… about Greek Pasta Salad with Cucumbers and Artichoke Hearts

Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

These easy and full of flavor healthful chicken gyro sandwiches start with a simple 5-ingredient yogurt lemon marinated chicken that can be pan-fried, baked, or grilled, and then topped with a simple cucumber and dill tzatziki sauce. It’s as easy as that.

I’d have to say I’m just like 97.99% of the rest of the home cooks out there. We’re busy. Our days are full. And that makes our nights even fuller. It’s the reason why one of my most often heard of requests is for more meals that are easy to make, don’t take a whole lot of time or a laundry list of ingredients, but still have that from-scratch, seasonal-eats quality.

Well here is one recipe 97.99% of you and more are going to love. It’s simple. It’s fast. It’s practical with just a few simple ingredients. And it’s totally flavorful thanks to it’s Mediterranean roots. continue to the recipe… about Easy Chicken Gyros with Tzatziki Sauce

Tomato Avocado Cucumber and Maui Onion Salad

This simple tomato, cucumber, and avocado salad gets a spicy Mexican-flavor kick from jalapeños and a fresh lime and chile dressing that makes it a terrific side dish for any meal.

I’m not a chef. I’m a home cook. But many of my recipes are inspired by dishes I’ve enjoyed that were created by real life chefs. It’s one of my favorite reasons for eating out, to get new inspiration for le bloggity blog.

I had a rendition of this simple tomato salad at a restaurant called Monkeypod Kitchen while vacationing in Maui. A friend of mine who lived in Maui for a time messaged me while we were there that we MUST make it a point to eat at Monkeypod, it was one of her favorites.

Friend recommendations are always the best.

The menu was full of delicious, fresh fare, and being the tomato caprese salad lover that I am, once I spied this salad with a flavorful twist on their menu, I was immediately intrigued. continue to the recipe… about Tomato Avocado Cucumber and Maui Onion Salad

Thai Chicken and Cucumber Salad

My favorite Thai flavors are lightened up in this chicken and cucumber salad with almond coconut blend almond milk subbing in for full-fat coconut milk.

This post is in partnership with Almond Breeze

When my sister was in high school she spent her season year on a year-long foreign exchange school program with a host family in Thailand. She was just 17. And ready to expand her horizons. That’s only five years from how old Smudge is right now. Looking back I wonder if I could let Smudge go to a foreign land like my mom did with my sister?

My mom made it through that year (barely) and since then we’ve all been back to Thailand with my sister Holly, and thus the whole family has become enamored with Thai food. So this year when my sister and her family came home to spend the holidays with all of us, it was far from shocking that one very important item on the agenda was going out for Thai food.

My mom has a favorite restaurant she frequents for her favorite Thai chicken salad. After “borrowing” just one bite, I was a fan too. And I knew my version of that chicken salad was destined for you here on le bloggity blog.continue to the recipe… about Thai Chicken and Cucumber Salad

Soba Noodles With Sriracha Meatballs

Slow cooker Sriracha meatballs top healthy buckwheat soba noodles and fresh vegetables and herbs to make a simple Asian inspired salad that’s perfect for lunch or dinner.

Long noodle, long life. I’d say that’s a pretty great way to start the year’s resolutions off right.

I shared the recipe for these Slow Cooker Sriracha Meatballs a few weeks ago as a favorite meatball idea for sharing at the party. Which party? It doesn’t really matter WHICH party, because whenever these Asian-flavored babies show up it’s bound to be a party.

While I love these meatballs as an appetizer to share with friends, it is 100% acceptable, and in this case essential, that you be selfish and save the batch for yourself to top this fresh soba noodle salad. Or even better, make the meatballs JUST for this recipe to be sure nobody snacks up your leftovers before they make it to the main dish.

Get ready friends, it’s time to get your slurp on.continue to the recipe… about Soba Noodles With Sriracha Meatballs

Greek-Style Panzanella Bread Salad Recipe

This simple, healthy Tuscan bread salad recipe gets a Mediterranean makeover with the addition of kalamata olives, roasted red bell pepper, capers and feta cheese.

This post is in partnership with McCormick.

The first time I heard the word “panzanella”, I thought it was a dessert.

I mean, doesn’t it sound like something fabulously decadent you could only find in a European bakery with those cute little tables sitting outside on the sidewalk? Made by a chef in a white toque (fyi, that’s what they call those Chef Boyardee hats) with mounds of sugar, the sweetest butter and the flakiest crust, intended to be nibbled slowly through the afternoon side by side to a steaming cup of the most perfectly poured espresso?

Yeah, I was so wrong.

Panzanella is a traditional Tuscan salad made with the summer’s juiciest tomatoes, and get this: day-old, definitely-not-soft, hearty bread. Since our family is a family of bread dippers, the addition of bread in this salad makes it really popular—no additional dipping required.

To switch things up from the traditional Tuscan way this salad is prepared, I added a few Mediterranean-inspired flavors to our usual bread salad mix.

Yeah, and this time, I am so right.continue to the recipe… about Greek-Style Panzanella Bread Salad Recipe

Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls Recipe

Thinly sliced Korean beef Korean tops bowls of rice heaped with fresh vegetables, herbs and a spicy chile sauce for an easy weeknight dinner or lunch.

The other day an acorn nut fell from one of the scrub oak trees that create an awning over my driveway. When it hit my windshield, I heard the “ping” from inside the car, and my sunny summer disposition came to a screeching halt.

One might wonder why one little acorn falling from a tree could cause such a flip flop in my mood, but with that one little nut, I was jarred out of my summer vacation trance with the realization that fall is almost here.

Fall means that my easy, throw-it-together-because-we-can-eat-at-9pm-and-it’s-okay-because-it’s-summer weeknight meals hit the skids. It’s time for more dedicated meal planning. It’s time for making meals on Sunday or Monday that ease the pressure of fitting in the week-long dinner fixing and eating with homework, soccer practice and the return of Monday night football.

This is when we get down to real meal-time business.continue to the recipe… about Korean Beef Bulgogi Bowls Recipe

Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe

Chicken Caesar Salads are perfect for packing for lunch or enjoying as a light dinner, especially when topped with this creamy, homemade Caesar dressing.

The other day a group of us were out to lunch. The kids were all ordering what they wanted as the moms fitzed and fudged, trying to pry their angels from their culinary comfort zones with more interesting suggestions in lieu of the standard kiddo fare of chicken nuggets, hot dogs and grilled cheese.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that. I mean, I’m a kid at heart too.

And then there’s my daughter. “I’d like a Caesar salad with chicken, please.” I almost had to pick up one mom’s jaw from the floor who could not believe my Smudge not only would eat something so avant garde, (really?) but to order it for herself without her mama coaxing her, too?

I love to freak the moms out that way. And apparently, so does my daughter.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken Caesar Salad Recipe

Cucumber Basil and Watermelon Salad with Love & Lemons

Fresh fruits of cucumber, mango and watermelon are dressed with a zingy Asian dressing of soy sauce, rice wine vinegar and ginger, with a kick of spice from jalapeño.

Since 2011, we’ve been head over heels for the blog Love & Lemons. Run by Austin-based husband and wife duo Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Matthews, Love & Lemons is brimming with fresh, seasonal, healthy recipes, and bright, colorful photography.

Their little nook of the food blogosphere is one of our favorite spots to spend some time. It’s where we turn for inspiration when we’ve been in an unhealthy eating rut, or feel the need to meet our mostly vegetarian ways.

Jeanine and Jack just published their first cookbook, The Love & Lemons Cookbook: An Apple-to-Zucchini Celebration of Impromptu Cooking, and it’s a new favorite addition to our kitchens.

The book features 100 vegetarian recipes (never before seen on the blog), including vegan and gluten-free options.

The cookbook is categorized by vegetable rather than the traditional appetizer, side dish or dessert categories and is reflective of Jeanine’s approach to cooking.

Her method? Finding “star” ingredients at the farmers market and using them with ingredients she already has on-hand.

“Since this is really the way I learned how to get inspired by cooking, I thought it would be helpful to write a book organized by vegetable rather than by meal type,” she explains. “I want to inspire people to check out their local farmers markets and not to be intimidated to cook with gorgeous fresh vegetables.”

continue to the recipe… about Cucumber Basil and Watermelon Salad with Love & Lemons

Vietnamese Curry Chicken and Rice Noodle Salad Bowl

Curried chicken and rice noodles dressed with a lime and rice vinegar dressing, loads of fresh veggies and leafy green herbs make create a clean and healthy salad perfect for lunch or dinner.

At our house, our food cravings tend to lean in the regions of ethnic. Don’t get me wrong, we love a classic American Sunday dinner of pot roast with mashed potatoes and gravy, but when it comes to those dishes that make our mouth water with just a whisper of a mention, you’ll more often find us in other hemispheres of eating.

This Vietnamese noodle salad is one of those recipes that has been hanging around as a favorite staple in our kitchen for years. Literally years. I can’t even tell you how many times we’ve made it. Correction: How many times my husband has made it.

That’s probably why it took me 4 trips (FOUR TRIPS!) to the store in one afternoon — and back, and back, and back — to get just the right noodles.

My man. He’s particular about his noodles. And his curry chicken. Yet one more reason of the many that make me love him.

continue to the recipe… about Vietnamese Curry Chicken and Rice Noodle Salad Bowl

Creamy Yogurt Cucumber Salad Recipe

Greek yogurt spiked with garlic, dill, lemon and mint dresses crunchy cucumbers for a favorite, refreshing and creamy summer salad that’s so simple to make.

Well would you look at that??!! I GOT SERVED!

No, I didn’t run a red light with sirens a-blazing in the rear view, and I didn’t get ambushed on my way into the nail salon by some sketchy looking stalker who then delivered papers to call me to court. Whew. Not this time anyway…another story for another day.

This is a good thing, and one I’m honored to share thanks to a fellow food blogger who I think is tip-top talented. In the words of David Byrne (with a slight alteration to the lyrics), “Wow, how did I get here?“

According to Kristin, it’s from recipes like this cucumber salad that put me in her sights.

continue to the recipe… about Creamy Yogurt Cucumber Salad Recipe

Cucumber Delight Cocktail

This cucumber cocktail inspired by Washington DC’s Founding Farmers restaurant will add a bright spot to brunch or dinner, thanks to its refreshing flavors.

This post, brought to you by Pearl Vodka, is inspired by my recent adventure of heading out solo.

Traveling alone isn’t something I’ve ever been totally comfortable with. Seeing new sights but having nobody to share them with.

Being the single soul at the table built for two, head bent down in pretend immersion in that totally engrossing book you just happened to pick up last minute at the airport’s Hudson News.

Taking selfies that are the true definition of selfies. By yourself. Until a yet-to-be-discovered, wanna-be-oh-so-suave boy band photobombs your monumental selfie.

But I’ve discovered traveling solo provides a bigger opportunity to see and hear what’s going on around me.

I’m not immersed in being a tour guide making sure everyone else I’m with is happy. Instead, traveling alone is the opportunity to do exactly what I want to do with no other opinion seekers along for the ride. To see what I want to see.

I’m not absent mindedly running into others, ignoring cues, flashing lights or missing out on the subtle nuances of the heartbeat of a city. Instead I’m in tune. I’m totally aware. And I see others and hear their conversations.

Eavesdropping? I prefer to call it politely observing.

This spring I was in Washington DC where I spoke at the IACP Conference, aka International Association of Culinary Professionals. The day before the conference started I lit out on my own to explore this nation’s Capital. No family. No blogging friends. Just me and my earbuds walking around DC as I listened to the final episodes of this podcast in hopes of a chance sighting of Michelle Obama with her watering can in the garden or a presidential motorcade.

Unfamiliar with the local eats, it only took a quick web search and a survey of Yelp recommends to land me at the counter of Founding Farmers for lunch. Somehow I wiggled my way to the last seat at the counter and avoided the 1 1/2 hour wait for a table. This is one place you are willing to wait.

Being Thirsty Thursday and just a smidge past noon, I promptly perused their cocktail menu and landed on the Cucumber Delight Cocktail.

You are so happy I did.

Founding Fathers totally delivered on the eats with my order of the deviled egg sampler and the most amazingly smokey shrimp and grits I’ve ever tasted. But the cucumber cocktail is what got me going.

I did indeed order all of that food for one and didn’t have to share one measly bite. That is, until I made friends with my fellow counter surfers Brian and Charmaine, a Canadian chef and his wife who were there with the plans of eating their way through DC. Hey, I couldn’t eat ALL of those eggs by myself. Or could I?

Would I have made those lunch counter friends sharing samples of one another’s lunch had I been with my own traveling companion?

If you know me, its a distinct possibility, but not a foregone conclusion.

I committed the cocktail’s bright, light, summery flavor to mouth memory (the sister to muscle memory) and brought it home with the happy anticipation of sipping it with friends as the warmth of summer days seep from our bones. And what do you know? I already have!

I’ve adapted the original recipe to create a simpler version with Pearl Cucumber Flavored Vodka so I could skip the muddling of cucumbers because the cucumber flavor comes ready to pour straight from the imported vodka’s bottle.

A simple syrup of equal parts super fine sugar and boiling water sweeten the cocktail to counter the punch of spice from a high quality ginger ale. If you prefer even more of a bite, ginger beer works well too. It’s just a bit more pungent.

A splash of sparkling water adds another layer of fizzy bubbles with a slice of cucumber and ball of cantaloupe that add color and a little something to much on. It’s an appetizing drink for sure. And one that’s made it’s way to my home to be shared.

If you make this recipe, please let me know! Leave a comment below or take a photo and tag me on Instagram or Twitter with #foodiecrusheats.

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Cucumber Delight Cocktail

This cucumber cocktail inspired by Washington DC's Founding Farmers restaurant, will add a bright spot to any brunch or cool off a summer evening thanks to its refreshing flavors.

Servings 1 cocktail

Ingredients

2 ounces Pearl Cucumber Flavored Vodka
1 ounce simple syrup
1/2 ounce quality ginger ale or ginger beer
1/2 ounce lemon juice
1 ounce sparkling water
1 slice cucumber
1 cantaloupe ball

Instructions

Add Pearl Cucumber Flavored Vodka, simple syrup, ginger ale and lemon juice to a shaker. Add ice cubes, cover and shake vigorously.  Strain into an old fashion glass, add ice, top with the sparkling water and garnish with a cucumber slice and cantaloupe.

This post is in partnership with Pearl Vodka. As always, thank you for reading and for supporting companies I partner with, which allows me to create more unique content and recipes for you. All opinions are always my own.

Thai Quinoa Salad

This power salad combines protein-packed grains with the healing nutrients from fresh veggies, for a lime-infused flavor bomb with crunch in each bite.

I think I’ve just been stung. By the looks of the welt beginning to swell, I’d have to affirm that I indeed I just did.

It’s what happens every year in spring. Wasps circle as the dogs try and nip them in mid air. This one got away from them, and headed straight to me.

I suppose that’s what I get for writing this post in the warmth of this spring afternoon on my deck instead of hunkered in front of my computer in my office.

I’ll take the sting. Sitting in the sun makes it worth it.

continue to the recipe… about Thai Quinoa Salad

Greek Salad with Avocado

Sometimes the classics are just what the doctor ordered. Especially when it’s Dr. SummerHasArrived who’s making the house calls.

Oh boy. Did I really just write that? I may have officially lost my mind. Hit writer’s block rock bottom. Scraped the lowest nadir. Really? Dr. SummerHasArrived? Heidi, you’re reaching, reaching, reaching. And you. just. didn’t. quite. make it.

Cést la vie.

Standard staple recipes in the kitchen are what I’m craving now. You know, the simple stuff. Recipes that let ingredients shine. And since I feel like I’ve been on a serious eating binge for the past few weekends, it’s now the season where it’s I clean up my act and binge on clean eating.

continue to the recipe… about Greek Salad with Avocado

Quinoa Tabbouleh with Chickpeas and How to Become a Kitchen Knife Slayer

Dull knife = Dull life. And lots of band-aids at our house.

We’ve spent a small fortune on cutlery in our home. We’ve tried lots of different brands and every various style. Chefs knives, carving knives, vegetable cleavers and santoku knives. They each have their place in the sun. But only if they’re sharp and only if you know how to use them.

Because Smudge had a hankering to help me cook in the kitchen and because this recipe for Quinoa Tabbouleh with Chickpeas requires a lot of chopping, I took advantage of the need-for-knife-education situation and put my girl to school. Let’s kill two birds with one stone, am I right?

Smudge has proven her place in our kitchen. She’s seen what cooking means to her mom and dad and she’s ready to graduate from cracking eggs and spreading butter on toast to wielding her way with the most savored utility in the kitchen. The home cook’s trusty sword. The extension of her right arm, or left if that’s your preference.

As Smudge comes around to her 10th birthday in 4 weeks (YIKES!) she’s ready to get into the good stuff, to graduate to the big guns. The knives that do damage. So before she does, she’s going to be schooled by the pros. And that’s where this lesson begins.

continue to the recipe… about Quinoa Tabbouleh with Chickpeas and How to Become a Kitchen Knife Slayer

Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce

There are several staples in our arsenal of grilling recipes but when the salmon are running, Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce goes to the top of the list every time.

While I’m as guilty as the next Twitter fan when it comes to guffawing about celeb stars new baby names or following the hashtag thread when events are happening around us that will have a much wider affect than my daily instagram of what I had for breakfast, one of the best parts about Twitter is keeping up with my favorite food producers and distributors.

So when I saw a tweet from my local Whole Foods about wild, freshly caught Alaska Sockeye Salmon being sold for one day only for just $12 a pound—half the price I normally see it—I took note. Then I retweeted it to share the good news and promptly cleaned out my freezer so I could stock up.

And that’s when I started daydreaming about my favorite grilled salmon fillet recipes and sauces to go with it.

continue to the recipe… about Grilled Salmon Fillet with Cucumber Dill Sauce

Chicken Nicoise Pasta Salad

The New Years resolutions have rung themselves in. And some of them, for some of you, are already on their way out.

This year I’m not making New Years resolutions. Instead, I’m setting goals that aren’t beginning-of-the-year-dependent, the kind that once the shiny sparkle of the New Year has faded so with it go the good intentions of achieving those rock hard abs and closets that look like they were ripped from the Container Store catalog.

That’s just not where I am anymore, looking toward the unknown of what might or might not work, what might or might not make me happy. It’s not that I don’t want to be in good health or have a clean and organized home, its just that I know time is precious and flies by too quickly. Instead, I’m going to go retro this year. I’m going to remember the way I used to behave, the way I used to enjoy, because I know what I did then worked and made me happy. The essentials are there, and can easily be adapted to where I am now in my now, much happier life. So, here are my goals for this year.

continue to the recipe… about Chicken Nicoise Pasta Salad

Friday Faves and Matsuhisa Cucumber Martini Recipe

Ah, nothing like topping off a week of work like a hard, HARD, HARD-shaken cocktail.

Back in the day when I was the Creative Director for a publishing company in Los Angeles, I made plenty o’ trips trans-US—to NYC for photo shoots—that were a total perk of the jobbie job because my husband usually tagged along and we’d make a vacation of it after all of the hard work was done.

On one of our first forays to the Big Apple we both knew we had to experience the best sushi in the City. We had our assignment thanks to our well-heeled L.A./NYC friendlies, who advised there was no place better than Nobu—the crown jewel of everything sushi of the moment—as our destination.

But there was a slight problem: No reservation = no service.

If there’s anything about me and my man that you should know right now, it’s that we don’t always play by the rules. The parking lot is for VIP passes only? We tip the guy to let us in. The line to the bathroom is up the wazoo? We enter through the exit door. Those awesome seats right up front that we didn’t pay $250 for? Well, let’s just say we’ll give it the old college try. It’s just the way we roll, and we usually end up in the winner’s circle and nobody gets hurt in the process.continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and Matsuhisa Cucumber Martini Recipe

Friday Faves and Balsamic Skirt Steak Salad with Stone Fruit

I just stepped out of the orchard. No, I mean literally, I just stepped out of the orchard.

Today I stepped out of a van, into a picturesque Oregon orchard, to photograph, gawk and fondle some of the world’s most coveted pears and peaches grown and harvested by gifting company Harry & David. But more of that to come in a future post…

Ironically I had planned on posting this recipe before I actually visited the orchards, but I’m realizing the visit must have been on my mind when I started craving this salad since the nectarines have been ripening on my kitchen counter for the past week.

Some things happen for a reason. Right?

But first let’s talk about some of my Friday Favorites, stuff I’ve been crushing on this week via the www…

continue to the recipe… about Friday Faves and Balsamic Skirt Steak Salad with Stone Fruit

It’s Just a Simple Cottage Cheese Sandwich

This sandwich incited a near riot in our house.

After asking which image G-Dawg thought looked best for the opening shot for this post, my husband nearly lost his mind. In only the best and most sarcastic way.

With a flourish of his hand and a big old smile, he incredulously declared, “You KNOW the cottage cheese sandwich ALWAYS has chipped beef on it! This isn’t right! You have to do away with it, now! Be gone? And if not chipped beef (you know what chipped beef I’m talking about, the cheapest stuff in the deli aisle) then at least bacon. Come on, what are you thinking?”

And then the final blow, ” I can’t endorse this. I’ll be commenting on the blog.” Oh really? Bring it big guy.

continue to the recipe… about It’s Just a Simple Cottage Cheese Sandwich

Greek Lemon Pasta Salad Plus 5 Great Sides

Ah, Friday. Thank you for finally showing up on my doorstep.

It’s been a week of surprises and quick moves that have called for backbone, agility and patience. Some of the news has been trying for my family and some has given me drive and inspiration. For myself, things are a-changing and I’m totally ready for it. My dance card is filling up. But more on that soon enough.

Lately I’ve had a hankering for pasta. What’s my deal with carbo loading? I’ve been dreaming of salty plus crunchy the little pasta bowl in my head. Feta = salt. Kalamata olives = salt. I think I have it covered.continue to the recipe… about Greek Lemon Pasta Salad Plus 5 Great Sides

Pork Belly Sliders and Recipes for Superbowl Bites

I have a long tradition with the Superbowl, and most of them I even remember past the 3rd quarter.

Now let me just say, in my defense, those memories usually depended upon which team I picked to win. And sometimes I wasn’t such a good picker.

Back in the day when my friends and I still thought we could hang like we did in college, if your chosen team was scored upon in any which way, it was a side game bet for our fellow party goers to see just how easily us losers could traverse crawling OUT the living room window, dropping DOWN to the driveway and partaking of a penalty shot. Oh. How. Dumb. In. Our. Youth. Yet another reason I’m thankful my twenties are in my rear view mirror.

This year, given my beloved 49ers are out of the running, it REALLY, really, really is all about the food: making, eating and grazing again.

G-dawg was fiddling around with a recipe for Pork Belly—which turned out deliciously—to top Ramen—that failed miserably—so we had a bunch of the bacon-ey slabs of love left over.

Always a fan of pork in any form—especially when it’s salty, peppery and crusty—he pulled together a quick and delicious version of a Banh Mi sandwich but in a manageable mini variety.

He’s a good cook that boy.

continue to the recipe…

cucumber

Crunchy Green Salad with Dilly Chickpeas and Avocado

Crunchy Green Salad with Dilly Chickpeas and Avocado

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Instructions

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Friday Faves and Balsamic Skirt Steak Salad with Stone Fruit

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Greek Lemon Pasta Salad Plus 5 Great Sides

Pork Belly Sliders and Recipes for Superbowl Bites

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