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yellow tomato + corn gazpacho
I’ve been dreaming about yellow gazpacho ever since Meghan + her friend and I shared one over lunch about a month ago when she was in town. We had a delicious brunch at a restaurant around the corner from where I live, and the star of that meal was the gazpacho we ordered. We wondered if it was weird to share soup as a starer, but after one bite no one cared. We were so happy we ordered that dreamy gazpacho.
A few weeks after that yellow gazpacho, I had another one that was just as delicious with Michael and my Mom. This one had corn and a few other goodies. It sounded so good, we each ordered one. That was the right decision.
I'm not sure why yellow gazpacho has got me all hot and bothered this summer, but there is something about the yellow vegetables that make it just right. I think it is maybe because the yellow fruits and vegetables have the perfect balance of sweet and tart. And that color! I cannot get over how bright and happy it is. It makes you feel happy when you eat it.
I've been waiting to make my own yellow gazpacho, because the later in the summer we get, the better the corn and the tomatoes get. So the other day when I took a trip to the farm stand and found perfectly ripe yellow tomatoes and loads of delicious looking corn ... I knew it was time.
I like easy recipes, but in the summer I like realllly easy recipes. Why? Because that means more time outside, at the beach or in the pool. In the summer, I do not really feel like slaving in the kitchen, or eating something hot for lunch. Salads and cold soups are the way to go.
This recipe can be whipped up in a quick 10 minutes. Your friends can be outside soaking up some sun, while you run inside, throw these ingredients into a blender, pour them into little cups and place the fancy garish on top. They will be so utterly impressed.
falafel tacos with avocado + green harissa
Today is my birthday. I am not someone who does not like people to know it is their birthday, Obviously. I am a little like a 10 year old when it comes to my birthday, and I'm not ashamed to admit that. I don't mind getting older. Actually, I enjoy it. I like that I am slightly wiser (emphasis on slightly), but I have more energy than I did 10 years ago, and I hope that 10 years from now I will be lucky enough to say the same thing.
I don't love the spotlight aspect of birthdays (I really don't), and I don't necessarily want gifts of free things, or 15% off at Anthropology (however, I will not turn them down). I love my birthday because it is the one day all year when I get to connect with all the people in my life that I love.
I love all the phone calls, texts, facebook messages and conversations that you don't always get to have on a normal day. I love getting friends together and celebrating, eating great food, and having a good time. That's what it's all about.
So before I run off to do birthday things, I wanted to share this recipe that I have been dying to get out to you. I know you love falafel as much as I do, and tacos, I know you love tacos too ... so this is how we are going to celebrate my birthday today.
Throw some spicy harissa in there, and avocado (OF course) .... and we're having a birthday party in a warm corn tortilla.
raw summer pad thai
A funny thing happened the other morning. I was going about my morning routine, running a few errands, when I was stopped by a man on the street. He goes:
"Excuse me, would you happen to know where the nearest place is that I can buy a julienne peeler?"
To which I responded "Well, that's funny, because I am actually on my way to buy a julienne peeler."
(whaaaaaat .... soooo random)
Me: "A few blocks away in the Chelsea Market there is a store called Bowery Kitchen. They sell everything, I am almost certain they will have a julienne peeler."
Guy on street: "Thanks! I am trying to eat healthier, so I thought it would be great for me to buy one so that I can eat more raw veggies."
Right on guy. Right on.
The story does not stop there. So, I continue on my way, run a few quick errands, and head over to buy my julienne peeler .... and there's the guy. Scouring the peeler section. I went over to him and said "Looks like you found it!"
Guy: "Hey! Yeah! I did, but I don't know which one to buy."
Well, then, of course I went on a bit of a tangent about different peelers, what purpose they each serve, as well as different things you can make with raw vegetables. Raw veggie pasta, raw veggie salad, raw veggie noodle pad thai.
In fact, that's what's been on my mind. Raw pad thai. That's was why I was buying a julienne peeler.
Last summer I bought this crazy, clunky Japanese spiralizer that I would make noodles with. The problem was, I hated using that thing. It was not very user friendly and it was taking up a lot of precious cabinet space.
There's been a lot of talk recently about a julienne peelers, so I thought maybe that would a better solution than my cumbersome spirilizer. WELL. I am telling you. This $5 piece of kitchen equipment will CHANGE YOUR LIFE. Seriously people. Life changing.
Being able to eat more raw veggies in the summertime, being able to eat my favorite pasta dishes subbing veggies for the bad carbs .... amazing. Yes. Run out and buy one right now.
Hold on, I am sure that many of you probably already have a julienne peeler, and many of you have probably already told all of your family, friends, and the checkout person at the grocery store how amazing it is. So, those of you can realte to my level of enthusiasm.
The first thing I made with my julienne peeler was this creamy pesto zucchini dish. Seriously delicious.
The second thing I made was this raw pad thai. I have been dying to make raw pad thai ever since we moved away from my favorite raw foods restaurant, and I am no longer able to order it on the regular. So now that I have my handy fancy julienne peeler I will be making my own. On the regular.
So the story ends with me the and the guy each buying our own julienne peelers ... and we go off on our merry ways to live happy, raw veggie filled lives. And, I hope (if you don't already have one) you will go out and do the same.
popsicles two ways: blackberry + basil + yogurt | mango + coconut
grilled cornbread panzanella
Last week on a trip to the market I found the most ripe, delicious, local, organic heirloom tomatoes. I've been waiting months and months for that day. It's finally here. #SUMMER
I went to the market that day because A - I needed some produce, and B - I needed some inspiration. A trip to the market is always the best for that. I walked around aimlessly for about 30 minutes before I decided what I was going to make for Michael and his sister that night.
When I was walking around, I stumbled across the most amazing assortment of herb plants. Every kind of basil you could think of and then some ... purple basil, thai basil, spicy basil ... you name it. And mint. So many kinds of mint. I could not resist buys several kind ... of everything. And now our backyard is adorned with some unique varietals of herbs, and I love it.
With the purchase of those new herbs and those gorgeous heirloom tomatoes, it was only natural that I would be making some sort of salad. But I wanted something a little more than a salad. Panzanella. I wanted to make a panzanella.
If I were to #hashtag this recipe it would look something like this:
#summer! #yum #beachfood #gluten-free #picnictime #healthy #vegan #YUM #breakoutthegrill #cornbreadinsaladisreallygreatandevenbetterwhenitisgrilled
Last summer, panzanella salads were my go-to beach picnic food. I would throw some stale bread together with whatever leftover vegetables we had in the fridge and dress it with nothing more than some really good olive oil, some really good vinegar, and minced garlic. By the time we had made it to the beach and laid our picnic blanket down, the bread had sopped up just the right amount of oil + vinegar + garlic. So darn good.
I've been trying to stay away from white bread recently, so homemade gulten-free cornbread seemed like the perfect, if not better, substitute to throw into this panzanella. Grilling the cornbread makes it a bit crispy on the outside, mimicking that stale bread texture. It's pretty awesome.
You can make a panzanella with just about any kind of vegetable you have in your fridge. Later in the season, the summer vegetables like corn and zucchini would go so well in this salad.
I'll let you in on a little cornbread secret. Bob's Red Mill makes a really great gluten-free cornbread mix ... so if you want to make this in a flash, you can use that instead of making it completely from scratch. I am always one to say that from scratch is best, but if you want to take a shortcut for this ... I won't judge. I'd just be so happy that you made this grilled cornbread panzanella.
#ILOVEPANZANELLA #ILOVESUMMER
pickled strawberry + beet salad with an herbed vinaigrette
Sometimes life gets busy. You know, real life. And, I'm okay with that.
There are birthday parties, baby showers, visitors, weddings, places to go people to see ... and sometimes you might even throw a dinner party in there because things are not just busy enough.
As you can tell from my lack of posts over the past week, life has taken over recently. It's been all good and all fun things though. On top of all of the fun life events taking place right now, we moved ..... again. It was a good move though, and I think we are going to stay put for quite some time.
But now the boxes are unpacked and life is slowing down a bit. I am finally getting a chance to spend more time in my {new} kitchen.
So when I got back into the kitchen, there was one thing I was dying to make.
Pickled. Strawberries. Yes.
A few weeks ago Michael and I took a pickling and preserving class at the Stone Barns. I signed us up for this class for two reasons.
First, I have always wanted to delve into canning, but despite having read my fair share about it, I have always been incredibly intimidated and paranoid about all of the boiling and sterilizing involved.
Second, I thought it would be really funny to see Michael take a class with all women, mostly over the age of 55, because let's face it, canning is far more attractive to women of older generations than mine.
And, I just love any reason to go visit the Stone Barns. Well, I guess that makes three reasons.
The greatest takeaway from the class was that you do not have to go through the whole canning process to pickle or preserve your garden gems. You will need to keep whatever it is that you canned or preserved in an airtight jar in the refrigerator, but you do not need to worry about the sterilization process unless you want to store your preserves somewhere other than the fridge.
Super valuable information. I can make pickles and not worry about all that boiling and canning? Yay! Although now I think I might even give it a go after seeing how easy it was.
So, what does this mean to you, or someone who wants to pickle something? It means it can be done, easily, and in about 10-15 minutes you can have yourself a pickle that can be enjoyed right away, or a preserve that can last about a year in the fridge.
So strawberries might not be the first thing you would think to run off and pickle, but I've got to tell you, my first pickled strawberry made me really happy and excited.
It's sour, it's sweet, it's crazy good. Because of it's crazy sour sweetness, it goes so well with so many things. I'm always one to say that I don't like fruit in my salad, but a pickled fruit is certainly an exception. However, it's more than an exception in this case, this is going to be a new staple in my recipe book.
sesame seared wild salmon over a bowl of quinoa, leeks, kale + broccoli
Sometimes I get caught up on coming up with unique recipes for this blog, that I get away from the real deal food I eat on a daily or weekly basis. Not today.
This meal right here is pretty much our go-to Monday night meal, especially this time of year when we're in the peak of wild salmon season. It's feel good food that is easy to make and hits all the right notes of flavor and health to makes this one of my favorite at home. A great dinner for just the two of us.
Since I post mostly vegan and vegetarian recipes on this blog, I thought twice about posting a seafood recipe here, but this blog is really all about overall health, and wild salmon is one of the healthiest foods on the planet.
Wild salmon is so good for you. You know this. Loaded with Omega3's, wild salmon is straight up food for your brain. When looking for salmon, the only word you need to look for is WILD. None of this organic farmed salmon. There simply is no such thing as "organic" salmon.
I am pretty picky about my seafood, just like I am my produce and most other things I eat and prepare. I eat salmon because of all of the health benefits, but I stay away from many other types of seafood, especially farmed seafood and deep water fish that contain high levels of mercury.
It's all about being a conscience eater and knowing exactly where your food comes from before it makes it's way back to your kitchen.
For my vegan and vegetarian friends, you can make this as a warm quinoa salad and omit the salmon all together. On days I cannot find a good piece of wild salmon, that's what I do. I am kind of addicted to the ginger sesame dressing that goes over this dish. You can put that dressing over anything and it will make it feel like a special meal.
sugar snap pea + cilantro slaw
When I chop a lot I think a lot.
Even thought there's a lot of thinking going on when I'm chopping, it's the kind of thinking that clears my head the same way running or exercise would.
I am not good at not thinking, I wish I was a little better at it. In yoga when they tell you to quiet your mind, that's right about the time that my mind starts to wander to some far-off bizarre places. It probably sounds a little like this:
I want to adopt another dog that is a cross between a newfoundland and a king charles cavalier
ahh! I forgot to email so and so back
I really want a yellow mixing bowl
a nice wrap dress for the summer would be a great addition to my wardrobe
I need to get a pedicure
I've had a lot on my mind recently. Nothing crazy, but we just have a lot going on right now. It's impossible to stay balanced all the time, so when things are a little off kilter, I need to find ways to make it back to my center place.
Yoga usually gets me there (despite my wandering mind), and chopping. Lots of chopping.
Maybe that's how this slaw recipe came to be. Maybe I just needed to chop it out.
As I am sure you know, I am a sucker for twists on classic recipes. This recipe takes a classic slaw and adds a lot of fun surprises. The cilantro mayo dressing is light, bright, and happy, and the snap peas add this lovely little unexpected crunch. It all goes so well together that this side dish might become the main event.
This slaw would pair well with so many things. It would be killer on top of these quinoa burgers I made recently, or maybe beside some shish kabobs, or a nice piece of fish .... or if you're like my husband, you can just eat it straight out of the bowl for lunch (yes, he did that).
Now that summer is coming up, I love to have fun recipes like this handy for when we are grilling or if I need to bring something to a friend's BBQ. It's vegan (depending on the type of mayo you want to use) and gluten-free, so you won't have to worry about food preferences or allergies with this dish.
I realize that fresh sugar snap peas are seasonal and are only around for a short time so make this while you can. They tend to taper off around mid-summer around here. If you want to make this and cannot find sugar snap peas, a snow pea would be a okay substitute, or you can just make it without the snap pea. Even though the snap peas are the real treat, the cilantro mayo and cabbage can still hold it's own.
rhubarb ice cream with pistachio chunks | dairy-free
I don't like things that are complicated.
I especially don't like complicated recipes. I like things that are easy, intuitive, and make sense. I'm not lazy, I just like to keep things simple.
Ice cream is simple. I know, it may seem like a daunting task, but trust me, it is not. It's not complicated, it just takes time and patience. Something that I don't always have a lot of, but I am trying to teach myself to.
About two years ago, I bought the ice cream attachment for my Kitchen Aid mixer. When I purchased the ice cream attachments, I had visions of myself pulling out the ice cream maker over and over again to make fresh ice cream for friends and neighbors all summer long. Lovely thought, never happened.
This year will be different. This year I have learned to have a little patience in the kitchen, and a lot about planning ahead. Something I did very little of up until the past few years. Menu planning, soaking beans, cooking grains ahead of time all have given me a whole new respect for patience and planning in the kitchen.
You need to plan ahead to make ice cream, it not something you can decide to make for dessert at 5pm the night of, but it is totally worth the effort. It takes a leisurely two days to make, or one full day (starting in the morning and ending at night) but only about 30-45 minutes of physical work. I like that.
I am not going to plan ahead for just any type of ice cream, if I am going to break out the ice cream maker it is definitely going to be for something special. This ice cream recipe is something special. Rhubarb lends itself so well to ice cream and the pistachios are the perfect crunchy compliment.
When I was making this, I couldn't stop licking the bowl. It was almost impossible for me to not eat it all in one sitting ... It's ridiculously good.
This recipe contains no dairy, no refined sugar, and just a little maple syrup to sweeten it up. I fed this to a few dairy ice cream lovers and they had no idea that it was dairy-free. The coconut milk gives it a creamy consistency that you would get from heavy cream, and it does add a slight coconut flavor which only adds to the overall experience.
When you make ice cream at home, I find that is it best enjoyed right out of the ice cream maker. It's so good you probably won't have any leftovers anyways.
spring pea + fava bean guacamole with root chips
Today is the start of one of my favorite weekends of the whole year.
I'm a huge fan of summer and this weekend signifies the start of the summer for us here in the east coast. Although summer's official start date is not until late June, this is the weekend for us that the grill get uncovered, some new plants get planted, and the flip flops get dusted off.
One of my favorite things about summer is cooking and hanging out with friends. Grabbing vegetables straight from the garden or the nearby farm stand, and having people over for a causal meal is just the best.
Backyard BBQs, beach picnics, long leisurely brunches. That's what summer is all about.
I love to have nibbly bits around whenever we are entertaining, and guacamole is always a popular snack. Sure, you can buy gaucamole in the store, but it is so much better (and impressive) when you make it at home.
I love to fanci-fy otherwise simple foods. Adding peas and fava beans is a super easy way to make a regular guacamole a little fancier. Since it is not officially summer yet, this snack is a marriage of a few great spring vegetables that you can still find right now, and one of my favorite summertime snack foods.
I am keeping this short and sweet, because I am off to cook for a big girls dinner tonight. I am so excited to kick off the summer with a huge home-cooked meal celebrating friends.
Happy weekend!
4 delicious + healthy smoothies for summer
quinoa + white bean burgers with a ramp + chili pesto
I cannot believe that this is the first ramp recipe I am posting this season, since ramps have been on my plate at almost every single meal I've had at home over the past few weeks. Breakfast: side of crispy ramps, lunch: raw ramps in my salad, dinner: ramps any way I can think of.
Ramps, all day every day.
I'm hoping you have not been overwhelmed by onslaught of ramp recipes this year .... if you're anything like me, you'll never be sick of ramps.
But this recipe is not just about the ramps. They're sharing the spotlight with this quinoa burger. If you've been following along here for a while, you know that I have done a few variations of a quinoa burger, shifting ingredients and preparations around each time. This might be my favorite one to date.
The very first recipe I posted for a quinoa burger went internet famous on me. And by internet famous, I mean it has made it's way around Tumblr (not as exciting as being YouTube internet famous). To be honest, I don't even think it was the burger that was getting all of the love, I think it was the avocado spread.
Because let's face it, when it comes to a veggie-type burger, it is just as much about the sauce as it is the patty.
And with that, the conversation gets turned back to ramps.
I've tried some pretty interesting and awesome ramp preparations this year. There is so much you can do with them. They're great raw, sauteed, pickled, or incorporated into a sauce, like this recipe here.
Last night I watched my father-in-law chop a few up and mix them into some homemade guacamole (I'm pretty sure he thought it was green onion). It was so good.
Ramps are a little more pungent and exciting than green onion, but the two can be interchanged in almost any recipe. So if you cannot find ramps where you are, or when their short season is over, then go ahead and sub green onion.
Okay, back to the burgers. These burgers are super versatile. You can switch up, increase, or leave out pretty much any ingredient listed, including the egg, since I know some of you would prefer a vegan version. In the past, my quinoa burgers were made without egg, however the egg really helps to bind. If you prefer not to use the egg, by all means leave it out. Just be aware that they will be a little more delicate (they fall apart easier).
You can go crazy with the toppings. For mine, I just added some arugula and some thinly sliced red onion but you can also add avocado, and any other veggie you can think of. If you want a gluten or bread-free option you can leave out the bun and serve it over a salad or in a lettuce wrap.
The only non-negotiable part is the ramp pesto. You cannot leave out the ramp pesto, it really is the best part.
shaved asparagus + carrot salad with a toasted cumin vinaigrette
This past weekend, Michael and I celebrated out 1 year anniversary. Our anniversary is on Cinco de Mayo, and I kind of love that we share our anniversary with a silly, happy, tequila drinking, mexican food eating holiday. I cannot believe it has been one year already, this has undoubtedly been the fastest year of my life. Well ... know what they say .......
We didn't make a big deal over our anniversary. We spent the day attending a culinary class that Michael had gotten me for Christmas. For dinner, we had sushi at a no-frills, hole-in-the-wall sushi place down the street from us. It was peaceful, perfect, exactly how I wanted it to be.
In celebration, I thought about posting a fun cupcake recipe for you here, or maybe even a mexican-themed dish, but I just wasn't feeling it. I have been really into spring vegetables and salads recently, so instead I thought I would go with one of my newest and prettiest salads.
Simple, perfect, not over the top, just how our anniversary was spent.
We are in the height of asparagus season right now, and the asparagus that I've been finding at the markets have been so good that they are just as deliciuos raw as they are cooked. If you can find them, the white asparagus are a real treat. They have a slightly brighter taste than the green, and they go so well together in this salad, visually and taste-ually (is that a word? I don't think so).
The carrots add another layer of taste and color to the dish. I looked for colorful carrots, and could not find any, but if you are lucky enough to find some I am sure they would make for a stunning presentation.
Thinly slicing and marinating vegetables has a way of making raw vegetables taste "cooked". You can eat this totally raw, or if you want a little more umph to it you can add in rice, quinoa, millet, or any grain or you like. I loved the look of the red rice. I'm big into color coordination here if you haven't been able to tell.
the best olive oil cake you'll ever have
wild blueberry + pomegranate oatmeal breakfast bars
I realize that I've been lacking in the breakfast department recently, and I promise I'll make up for it. You see, my lack of breakfast recipes recently is probably a reflection of my breakfast routine which, albeit (mostly) healthy, can get a little mundane.
You know that during the week, I don't get too creative with breakfast for myself. I usually just make a green smoothie and call it a morning.
There are some days that the smoothie holds me over until lunch, and there are some days I need a little something in-between. Those days, my stomach starts to growl at 10:45am on the dot. It usually happens when I am running around doing a million things, so I succumb to buying some sort of sugary pastry because it is the easiest and most accessible thing.
Don't get me wrong, I love a good pastry once in a while, but if I am going to indulge I want to be leisurely hanging out with the New York Times in one hand and a perfectly made latte in the other. Not rushing around with the pastry shoved in my purse sneaking bites every once in a while just to hold me over until lunch.
I really needed to chill out on the mid-morning purse pastry eating habit of mine so I decided to come up with something - on the healthier side - that I can make and keep around for a mid-morning snack. But not just something healthy, I wanted something I would really enjoy eating.
Granola was out. I am not a huge granola fan, I mean, I will eat it if it is the only thing around but I don't really enjoy it. I do love oatmeal, nuts, and berries, but if I needed something to grab on the go, the oatmeal would have to be baked in the oven instead of on the stove.
Baked oatmeal bars were the winner. An on the go type breakfast food, or a mid-morning snack. Heck, you can even eat these for dessert with some ice cream if you like.
I know that my busy, on the go friends appreciate breakfast recipes like this.
These bars are loaded with healthy goodies. They are gluten-free (as long as you use gluten-free oats) and they can be made vegan omitting the egg. Chia seeds, cinnamon, oats, blueberries and pomegranates are all super ingredients loaded with vitamins and antioxidants. A little bonus added into the morning routine.
grilled artichokes marinated in garlic + lemon
Yes, this is my second artichoke recipe of the season. No, this will not be the last.
As you are probably well aware, I'm kind of obsessed with artichokes. They are one of my favorite foods of all time. I'm not sure exactly why I love them so much. My mom used to make big batches of steamed artichokes when I was growing up, and when they were in season, it seemed like we always had stuffed artichokes around. I'd come home from school and immediately run to the fridge with hopes that I would find something yummy to snack on, and if that yummy thing happened to be an artichoke, well then it was a happy day.
My mom always used the same recipe, and when I started making them for myself I used my mom's recipe. It was not until the past couple of years that I started to branch out prepare them in different ways.
When we were in Rome for our honeymoon last year, it was artichoke season. Lucky me. Lucky us. There was not a single restaurant in Rome that did not have an artichoke on the menu. Some as an appetizers, some as a side, and a few as a main course. They were prepared in every which way, steamed, fried, grilled, served in salads, dissected, or whole. And we tried them all. It definitely inspired me to branch out and try different preparations.
This marinating and grilling preparation has been my absolute favorite this year. So much so that I have not stuffed or steamed a single artichoke this season ..... (yet). It is a little easier because you don't have as much prep and cook time. You just steam them lightly, toss them in a bag with some olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and lemon and when you're ready to eat them just throw them on a grill or grill pan for a few minutes. As with most things, the longer you marinate the better.
I have made these about 4-5 time in the past few weeks. I have wondered if Michael is getting sick of artichokes, I don't think it possible for me to.
lettuce wraps with black beans, spring onion, pea pesto, + a homemade hot sauce
I’ve been making and eating a lot of lettuce wraps recently. For lunch, for an appetizer, for no real reason at all. I know it might not sound very exciting, but trust me, I'm talking about some high-maintenance lettuce wraps here.
High-maintenance in the best way possible. Bear with me now...
Not the kind of high-maintenance that would scare you away. You know I don't like things to be too complicated around here. Just the kind of high-maintenance that takes something that needs a little fixing up and making it a little fancier.
It all started when I found the most beautiful head of butter lettuce at my local Whole Foods, that was grown here, locally in Brooklyn. Beautiful lettuce from Brooklyn? I was smitten. This lettuce was meant for big, beautiful, veggie-filled lettuce wraps.
I started with a basic lettuce wrap with lots of raw veggies and some pea pesto that I had made recently. They were delicious. The pea pesto really made the wrap, but I thought maybe it could use a little something else.
A few days later, Michael and I wanted a snack, and I had a little leftover butter lettuce so I decided to make some more lettuce wraps. This time I added some black beans for some protein and a dash of hot sauce for some spice. These lettuce wraps rocked our world.
Because they were so good, I had to make them again. This time for myself for lunch, but I went one step further and I decided to make my own hot sauce. I have been dying to make my own sriracha for quite some time and in browsing some favorite blogs of mine I found this great recipe to make a proper sriracha (one that would taste exactly like the original but without the added preservatives) however it requires days of fermentation. Something I will be tackling soon, but not today. I needed some hot sauce, pronto.
So I found a few other recipes, this one from Winnie of Healthy Green Kitchen, via this post from Sarah from Sprouted Kitchen. It looked super easy so I gave it a go. This hot sauce is awesome. Although it is not exactly like sriracha, it is close enough for me. I made a large batch and have been putting it on anything and everything.
I have a thing for hot sauce if you couldn't guess.
Now, of course, if you are not a hot sauce person, you can totally leave it out. The lettuce wraps are just as great without it. You can also make up any combination of veggies and beans that you like. White beans and red pepper, chickpeas and carrots. This is a fridge leftover kid of recipe.
What's also great about these is that they are like a reconfigured salad. So if you are bored with your salad routine, go make yourself some fancy, high-maintenance lettuce wraps for lunch.
falafel + herbed tzatziki
There are a lot of food trucks where I live. Not the really fancy cool ones, but the ones that serve your standard NYC hot dog, pretzel, or more recently, cupcakes. They're probably not technically food trucks, more like food carts. Yes, let's refer to them as food carts.
Food truck food, however, is the greatest. Food that came from a truck used to be a bit iffy, but not anymore. Food truck food is cool and delicious. Don't most food lovers dream of having a food truck one day? I do.
You know what my food truck would have? Lots of awesome tasting farm fresh vegetables. Edgy vegetable dishes like veggie empanadas and maybe even some crispy grilled veggies on a stick with an awesome sauce. And falafel. My food truck would definitely have some really delicious falafel.
So now that I have my menu down ... I just need to name my food truck. I'm taking suggestions.
Back to the food carts. A lot of the food carts by me serve falafel. I've never tried one of theirs, but if I had to guess it probably tastes pretty darn good. My problem is, who knows who made that falafel, where it has been sitting all day, and what kind of oil it was fried in. Thanks but no thanks. I'll make my own.
Falafel is one of those things that can be so wonderful when it's done right, and so awful when it's not done right. The good kind of falafel is one that is not too fried, not to dry, crisp on the outside, made with fresh organic ingredients and loaded with lots of good spices.
That's the type of falafel I want to create in my kitchen.
See, when I make falafel at home, I know what I am putting in and I know what it will turn out like. I know that I am making a healthier version because I know my ingredients are good, clean, and organic. How often do you see homemade, organic falafel advertised on the side of a food cart? Pretty much never. You know my food truck would .... in pink neon flashing lights.
roasted baby artichokes + grilled radicchio + a garlic balsamic drizzle
There are several things that I get really really excited for this time of year:
The first day that I do not have to wear a jacket to go outside
Planting the first seeds in my garden and growing fresh herbs on my fire escape
Being able to eat meals outside again
Ramps
Wearing open toed shoes, and throwing my boots to the back of the closet
Mounds of artichokes in the grocery stores and farmers markets
Spring onions
Cute little sundresses in pastel colors
Peas
Stuffing artichokes
Roasting baby artichokes
Artichokes ......
I love spring, I love artichokes, I just love this time of year. {Although, I'm a little reluctant to call it my favorite because come summertime when it's 80º outside and the fresh tomatoes are coming up in the garden then I'll be singing a different song.}
I love artichokes big and small. A big stuffed artichoke is one of my all-time favorite things, but when I want a quick artichoke fix I go with the smaller ones. I never used to bother with the smaller ones until I learned how to handle them. I didn't really understand them. I thought, what's the fun if you cannot pull off the leaves and anticipate getting to that delicious heart?
Then I realized, the small ones are a totally different experience. There is no leaf pulling, prickly center removing, or juicy heart eating. They are much less time consuming to prepare than the big guys. Once the tougher outer leaves are removed you are left with a tender inside that is completely edible and so tasty. You can grill then, blanch them, roast them, fry them ..... love them.
Grilled radicchio is a wonderful thing too. It is fairly bitter on it's own so it needs a few accompaniments to mellow it out. The sweetness of the balsamic does just that, and so does savory mellow flavor of the artichokes. If you prefer something less bitter, this can be made with any type of hearty green or cabbage. Kale, romaine, red cabbage or swiss chard will all grill up nicely.
So, if anyone is looking for me over the next few weeks you're likely to find me outside, eating artichokes sprinkled with fresh herbs from my herb garden, wearing a pastel sundress with some open toed shoes, daydreaming about what I am going to make with all the ramps and spring onions coming our way.
