Easy summer dishes a la Katie Lee

I stumbled across this video of Katie Lee from today's morning show on CBS - poor Harry sliced his finger on her mandolin, but even blood and gore didn't divert me from Katie's task at hand - to provide three great no-cook dishes to serve in the summer time!

The three recipes (and the mandolin video) can be found on Katie's website but are also below.  With sweet corn, ripe red tomatoes, zucchini and peaches in full summer season right now, you must try these recipes - all are great for a picnic or a summer BBQ or an easy weeknight dinner for your family.

I really like her first recipe, which is quite similar to the one my friend Tina shared with me earlier this summer.  Feel free to add cut up mozzarella and red pepper flakes and add those in to make it your own!

No Cook Tomato Basil Pasta Salad

1 pound fusilli
1 pound ripe tomatoes, diced
Handful fresh basil, chiffonaded
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 Tablespoons Parmesan, grated

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Cook pasta according to package directions. Drain and reserve 1 cup pasta water.

While the pasta is cooking, in a large bowl, combine tomatoes, basil, garlic, oil, salt, and pepper. Add pasta and pasta water and toss to combine. Top with Parmesan and serve.
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Those of you who follow me regularly know that zucchini has been my go to summer vegetable.  It's really versatile and so good for you.  This recipe looks fun - just don't slice your finger on a mandolin! (you can make thin slices with a regular 10" knife pretty easy, or even use a vegetable peeler for long thin slices).  You can easily replace mint with basil or other fresh herbs of your choice.

Zucchini Carpaccio

1 zucchini
1 teaspoon fresh mint, minced
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly-ground black pepper

Use a mandolin to slice the zucchini paper thin. Arrange zucchini pieces, each piece slightly over-lapping the next, on a serving platter. Scatter fresh mint over the zucchini and drizzle with lemon juice and olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Refrigerate until serving.
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Fresh corn is so sweet and inexpensive right now.  Feel free to add cilantro for amazing southwest flavor!!

Raw Corn and Black Bean Salad

4 ears of corn, cut from the cob
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 red bell pepper, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
1 jalapeno, minced (seeds removed if you want it less spicy)

Lime vinaigrette:
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 teaspoon honey
Salt and pepper

In a large bowl, mix corn, black beans, bell pepper, onion, and jalapeno. Toss with vinaigrette and season with salt and pepper to taste.

To make vinaigrette: whisk all ingredients together until emulsified.
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This dessert is simple and can be enjoyed on the porch in the early evening... I would probably use less sugar if the fruit is really ripe and in season.

Ice Cream w/ Stone Fruit

2 peaches, peeled and sliced
2 nectarines, sliced
2 plums, sliced
1/4 cup sugar
Vanilla ice cream

In a medium bowl, combine fruit with sugar. Refrigerate for two hours, until the juices from the fruit have become syrupy. Serve over ice cream.
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Do you have a farmer's market near you?  Consider trying a new fruit or vegetable and getting to know the local farmers.  You may find a new favorite summer treat!

Chow for now! :)

In a Key Lime state of mind

It all started with my cousin sharing a link to a great baking blog after she made home made thin mint cookies.  I started perusing the site and stopped short when I saw a recipe for Graham Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting.  I knew I had to make them!

I happened to pick up a bag of key limes at the grocery store to make a key lime pie for a lunch I'm going to this week and I knew I'd have leftover limes... what better to make with those limes than CUPCAKES!

Key limes are smaller, thinner skinned, seedier, juicier and more acidic than regular limes.  They are not exclusive to the Keys in Florida but they were brought there years ago. I've never cooked with them and have always wanted to try them.  What a treat!

The cupcake recipe is below.  Stay tuned for my key lime pie pictures in a day or two.

Graham Cupcakes with Key Lime Cream Cheese Frosting

CUPCAKES
1 cup flour
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temp.
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup milk

Mix flour, graham cracker crumbs, baking powder, and salt. Beat in butter gradually. Beat in sugar and mix thoroughly. Beat in eggs, then vanilla and milk until just mixed. Pour into lined cupcake pan. Bake at 400 for 20 minutes, or until toothpick comes out almost clean. (Check after 15 minutes so they don't get over cooked).

FROSTING
4 oz. cream cheese
1/2 stick butter, room temp.
2 cups confectioners’ sugar
2 T key lime juice (approx 2-3 limes)

Mix together ingredients with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Frost cupcakes. Top with a lime slice and a sprinkle of crumbs.  Makes 12 cupcakes.

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They do taste as good as they look.  :)

A hint: I used a coffee grinder to grind the graham crackers down to fine flour-like crumbs for the batter, but you could also just place a few cookies in a ziplock and roll a rolling pin over them.  It's just as effective. 

What should I do with the remaining limes (if I have any?)  Perhaps a cocktail?  Do you have a favorite lime flavored dish or drink that you'd like to share?

Chow for Now!  :)

Wordless Wednesday

Birthday dinner - light, summery and delicious!

Last night I cooked a belated birthday dinner for my brother in law.  As you may remember from past posts, Nat and Jenn are not meat eaters so when I cook for them I have to keep that in mind.  I have been trying to come up with recipes that take into consideration the season and local ingredients and ended up playing with a couple of recipes I found online to make them my own.

I started with freshly baked bread from my Breadman of course.  Feta and cracked pepper.  Really delicious plain, with butter or dipped in soup. 

Then I made a grapefruit, fennel, avocado and butter lettuce salad.  It was so pretty!  For the dressing I squeezed fresh grapefruit juice, added salt, pepper, agave and olive oil until emulsified.  Sweet fennel and avocado and tart grapefruit marry together and are truly delicious in your mouth!

For the main course I made a smoky sweet corn and zucchini soup.  This came out AWESOME.  The original recipe ended with a very pretty yellow soup but I decided to use additional summer vegetables to make it a really pretty pale green.  It had a very creamy texture even though there was no cream, milk or dairy at all (would be great for vegans as long as you leave off of the queso fresco!).

Sweet corn and zucchini soup

2 large poblano chiles (I used one Anaheim and one Pasilla because that's what they had at the market)
5 ears corn, uncooked
1 T olive oil
1/2  large sweet onion, chopped
1 serrano chile, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 small zucchini seeded and cut into 1/4-in. dice (about 1 c) (I used one dark green zucchini and one "cue ball" light green round zucchini)
1/2 c queso fresco cheese, crumbled

1. Turn on burner on top of stove. Place one poblano directly over flame and turn from time to time.  You may hear popping which is totally normal. Turn with tongs until most of the pepper is charred. Repeat with second pepper. Put charred poblanos in a bowl, cover, and let sit 20 minutes to loosen skins; then peel, stem, and seed. Cut poblanos into 1/2-in. dice and set aside.

2. Meanwhile, slice corn kernels from cobs. Heat olive oil in a large, wide pot over medium heat and add onion, serranos, and salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and corn kernels and cook 3 minutes more.

3. Pour just enough water into pot to cover corn. Bring to a simmer, covered, and simmer 15 minutes.

4. Put diced zucchini in a small saucepan with just enough salted water to cover. Bring to a simmer and cook until tender-crisp, about 2 minutes. Drain.

5. Add most of the cooked zucchini and poblanos into corn mixture (saving some for garnish). 

6. Using your immersion blender, blend soup until it is the consistency you want it.  I blended until almost smooth but left some chunky vegetables for texture.  If you want a smooth soup, pour through a sieve or cheesecloth to remove chunks.

7. Divide among 4 bowls. Top each bowl with a few pieces of zucchini, a few pieces of poblano and sprinkle each with 1 T cheese and serve the extra on the side.
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I used an immersion blender (if you've never used one, I say finish my blog then RUN out to HomeGoods or your local home store and buy one. I got mine for $20 years ago and it's paid for itself over and over by saving me from scalding burns trying to put a very hot soup into a traditional blender!). Using an immersion blender made the soup frothy and light.  We really liked the texture. I used farmer's market ingredients and the tastes were sweet and summery and the best thing is this soup can be served cold. We ate it hot because it was a cool night but next time I'll try it cold.

Of course a dinner isn't complete without something sweet... so, I made home made chocolate chip cookies with the remaining mini chocolate chips I had left over from my banana chocolate chip muffin recipe.  Yum!

Do you have a favorite light meal that you like to cook in the summer?  Please feel free to share here!

Chow for now! :)

Food inspiration provided by Olivia Ciel

This past month has been a series of ups and downs... Downs included two (unplanned) surgeries for me, one for dad (he's doing great) and missing lots of class time.  Ups included (unplanned) visit from mom, delicious delivery of cupcakes from R, spending lots of quality time with my family and the arrival of my niece, Olivia!

With all of the downs, it's been hard to get motivated to cook or do much of anything other than "take care of myself" as I've been advised by my family.  Lucky for me, the arrival of Olivia means I get to take care of my sister and her family!  I am currently staying at their place and helping them while they catch up on sleep and take care of their new addition.  One of my self defined duties includes cooking for them - talk about motivation!

I do have some limitations as I need to provide nutritious, mostly vegetarian meals that don't have a ton of spice/onion/garlic.  Last night I made an easy and delicious roasted summer squash (four different kinds from the farmer's market) and carrots served with couscous.  Light, easy, healthy and delicious.

For lunch today I made a fresh pasta salad that included lots of green veggies (sugar snap peas, arugula, zucchini from the farmer's market), a light vinegar and oil dressing, freshly shaved parmesan and fusilli.  Again, another summery, easy, affordable meal that everyone enjoyed.  Picture below.

At two days old, Olivia did not get a chance to try this food, however, through feedings, she will gain the nutrients her mom received from this meal.  Olivia has truly inspired me to provide nutritious meals for her family and I look forward to creating more for them to enjoy.