You say “Tomato”, I say “Kumato”

The thing about dogs is that they don’t understand when you say “it’s too hot for a walk.”

When I tell him that, I’m met with a head-tilt to the right and then to the left.

So off we go. I wear the only shoes I can bear to wear in this heat. Much better for walks than flip-flops but not as hot as sneakers. Yes, they are TOMS. Yes, they are kind of ugly. But they are stupidly comfortable and I suppose I’m almost approaching that point in life where I accept comfort over style. Almost.

I read this face to say “come on lady, quit taking pictures… let’s go!”

Of course we stop at every hydrant/telephone pole/STOP sign for a sniff around.

When we made it home, both panting, I needed sustenance and remembered these “brown tomatoes” I picked up the other day.

Kind of weird or kind of cool? A Kumato, developed in Spain, is often referred to as a “gourmet tomato”. It is sweeter than a regular tomato due to a higher level fructose. The Kumato also has a longer shelf-life than a regular tomato.

Buying these on a whim, I had no idea how I was going to use them. After some consideration, I went with a simple salad.

I couldn’t have picked a better way to showcase these tomatoes, I mean “kumatoes”.

{Cold Kumato Salad}

• 6 Kumatoes, quartered and then quarters cut in half
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 1 T olive oil
• 1 T red wine vinegar
• 2 oz goat cheese crumbles

Whisk olive oil and vinegar together. Add Kumatoes and scallions to a bowl. Pour olive oil and vinegar mixture over them. Mix together. Gently mix in goat cheese crumbles. Chill salad for at least 30 minutes before enjoying.

*Serves 2-4 as a small side

Have you ever seen/cooked with Kumatoes before? How are your pets fairing in this heat wave?

Grown-Up Franks & Beans

Well there is no question about it, summer is here.

All I want to do is drink these. Go here. And make/eat food that doesn’t require the use of heat-producing appliances.

The other night I whipped up what I’ll call “Grown-Up Franks & Beans”. The franks are actually Smart Dogs which were kind of meh, in my opinion. I warmed them up on my grill pan (love, love, LOVE that thing) and served ketchup alongside. They were a bit too smoky tasting for me but I’ll give them another shot. Using one whole organic zucchini I made zucchini fries, recipe here. I used whole wheat panko on mine which resulted in an uneven coating. They were still very tasty though.

I made a quick dip for them: 1 container Greek yogurt, 1/2 Italian style diced tomatoes and lots of fresh basil from my basil plant which is amazingly still alive.

The real stunner here though? This incredibly simple bean “salad”. I don’t even know if salad is an appropriate term because it’s really just beans.

{Cannellini Bean and Basil Salad}

• 1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• ~20 basil leaves, cut into strips
• 1 t olive oil
• juice from 1/4-1/2 medium sized lemon
• salt and pepper, to taste

Combine cannellini beans, olive oil and lemon juice. Toss until well combined. Add basil leaves and gently toss until evenly distributed. Garnish with salt and pepper to desired taste. Serves ~4 as a small side.

All The Colors

Summer is finally here, well at least that’s what the calendar says. It seems like the weather hasn’t quite decided yet but hopefully soon warm weather will be here to stay. With that said, I did take advantage of the warm weather earlier this week to make a delicious “summer themed” dinner.

First up, a delicious fruit salsa.

I used:

• 1/2 c mango chunks
• 1/2 c pineapple tidbits
• 1/4 c red pepper, diced
• 1/4 c red onion, diced
• 1 T lime juice
• 1/4 c Boston Olive Oil Company coconut balsamic vinegar, reduced over heat to 1/8 c

I mixed all of the ingredients and chilled salsa for about 30 minutes before serving.

On the side, I made a Chili-Lime Corn and Heirloom Tomato Salad.

I used:

• 2 c corn kernals
• 1 c baby heirloom tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 t cayenne pepper
• 1 T LeRoux Kitchen butter flavored olive oil
• 1 T lime juice

In a grill pan, I heated up the olive oil and then cooked the corn until it started to brown. I added cayenne and lime juice and finally the heirloom tomatoes.

I grilled up a few chicken tenders in my grill pan and then served the chilled fruit salsa on top and the corn and heirloom tomato salad on the side. It was not only quick to prepare, but it was full of delicious summer flavors.

Happy Summer!

Not to be corny…

but, you must make these amazing corn fritters! Like, now.

And then eat them atop a big pile of sweet baby greens. With lightly fried Roma tomatoes on top.

And green onions. Those are important too.

Oh and sandwiched between your fritters you’ll want to spread a layer of spicy Greek Yogurt and feta sauce.

The recipe can be found here. The only changes I made were to serve it atop sweet baby greens rather than arugula and I omitted the red pepper.

This was seriously one of the best recipes I’ve made in awhile. I loved the sweet corn in these. Aside from corn on the cob, I don’t know of many ways to prepare corn.

What’s your favorite way to prepare corn/favorite dish made with corn?

Enjoy!

I used to dislike vegetables

Yup, I did. Most all of them. Ask my mother. I’d eat canned green beans, corn and maybe cooked spinach. I never ate uncooked vegetables. Tomatoes? Yuck. I remember my dad plucking one out of the garden once and taking a bite, I cringed. It was really too bad because we had a great garden… it was massive and one of my chores was picking & snapping the beans that I refused to eat. My biggest vegemy (get it? vegetable + enemy?) was the pepper. I detested them, thought they were horrific and slimy when cooked. Then one day, it changed. It was a slow change, at first I just liked lettuce then I added others to the list, squash, zucchini, etc. Today, the only vegetables I do not care for are cucumbers and green peppers. Yep, that’s just about it. I promise I’m going somewhere with this…

Here it is… last night I had one of the best, bold statement – I know, vegetable dishes I’ve ever tasted. I’m kicking myself now for not taking pictures because in addition to being delicious, it was so pretty. The fabulous dish that was prepared for me was roasted red & yellow peppers sliced and laid atop fresh mozzarella and then drizzled with a home-made mustard vinaigrette. Ahh, so good. The rest of dinner was awesome too… couscous with sesame oil, tomatoes and toasted sesame seeds and panko covered baked chicken stuffed with cheese and pepperoni. As much as I love to cook, I love to enjoy the products of others creativity and last nights meal was a great example of just that.

In other news, I finally got my car back the other day!! This allowed me to spend some hours at the beach yesterday and run some errands today, including picking up some ingredients for the chopped salad I made for lunch and the dinner I have planned for this evening.

My yummy chopped salad with romaine lettuce, tomato, blue cheese crumbles, turkey bacon and diced apples. I dressed it with a bit of leftover poppy seed dressing from a takeout salad I had the other day.

I can’t wait to make my dinner later on and I hope it comes out as awesome as I’m imagining so I can post about it tonight!

Heirlooms in the Air…

Tomatoes that is. If I could somehow find a way to transmit the INCREDIBLE smell wafting from my kitchen so that readers could experience it… Sigh, but I can’t so I’ll just tell you about tonight’s dinner.

I’m not going to lie, I have a love-hate relationship with corn on the cob. I LOVE the way it tastes, I just don’t enjoy any other part of it. I don’t enjoy the husking, cooking (too many burned fingers), or even eating it off the cob. Back in the day, when I had a mouth full of braces, this was completely impossible. For one, I risked breaking a bracket and setting my parents back the cost of a replacement and fix. Secondly, and perhaps more important to my 7th grade self, it was highly likely I’d get corn stuck in my braces and have to excuse myself to the bathroom to pluck it out with my special wire toothbrush. WAY too much effort. But back to the part where I LOVE corn…

I do enjoy it tremendously. I like it in fresh salsas, in my burritos and even by itself (when either cut off the cob for me or yes, even frozen). I don’t even mind it canned, nope, I really don’t. So when I picked up a can at Trader Joe’s today and recalled a bag of frozen white corn in the freezer, I set my mind to work deciding what I’d do with it. Then, I spotted the heirloom tomatoes… they were just sitting there in the midst of all the other tomatoes, looking beautiful and ready to jump into my basket. Come home pretty little tomatoes.

Then I thought, hmmm, what about a salad with corn and the heirloom tomatoes? Oh and some green onions and garlic? I was salivating right there in Trader Joe’s. What? Feta, too? YES.

I will admit that I did have inspiration from other bloggers and recipe sites. I know that the idea of a tomato and corn salad with or without feta is not something my little mind invented. But here is my version:

Note: I didn’t really use any formal measurements, so if you decide to recreate it, I invite you to use the quantities you would like.

Heirloom Corn Feta Onion Salad

1 can yellow whole kernel sweet corn, drained

cup or so of white corn (thawed if previously frozen)

2 chopped bunches of green onion

1 tbsp chopped garlic

2 tbsp butter or butter flavored spread (I used Brummel & Brown… I love that stuff)

Crumbled feta

Extra Virgin Olive Oil   (I used Gustare’s Persian Lime EVOO… you can use regular EVOO and add lime juice if you wish)

Directions: Heat olive oil in pan with medium-high heat. Add butter. When melted and olive oil/butter starts to bubble slightly add corn. Move it around in the pan for a few minutes, add green onions and garlic. Continue to move it all around in the pan. Note: always be careful with hot oil! If it starts to spit, turn it down. Remove from heat. When cooled a bit, put in heat-safe bowl in the refrigerator. While that’s cooling, cut tomatoes in half. I used about 1.5 cups but that can be increased or decreased. Remove corn from refrigerator, add tomatoes and feta. Season with salt and pepper if you wish. Mix with a spoon and serve.

I had my still slightly warm but that’s because it smelled too good for me to wait. I did let the whole salad chill for a bit while I cooked up some spicy chicken sausages to have with it. What a fabulous, fresh Sunday night dinner! Now I plan on enjoying the rest of my Sunday evening by relaxing on the couch with Griffy and possibly catching the premiere of Shark Week. Night!

Full of Falafel

I had falafel last week for the first time in many moons. It brought me back to my stay in Florence, Italy back in 2005 while I was studying there. Near the center of the city, hidden down a little cobblestone street, I discovered falafel for the first time. I enjoyed it so much, I would go there at least once a week and get a falafel wrap to go and savor it on my walk home.

Since having the delicious falafel, I have been wanting to re-create it at home. I was browsing recipes for falafel and found one that sounded easy, healthy (baked rather than fried) and would be great on top of the salad I planned on making for my dinner. I was happy to also discover that I had the most crucial ingredients in my pantry at home and whatever I did not, I could modify.

This particular recipe is based on the Falafel Pita Pockets, published by Hungry-Girl.

Fantastic Falafel (makes about 15 balls)

1 can chick peas (well drained)

1/4 whole wheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp lime juice

1 chopped onion

Several chopped scallions

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp red pepper flakes

1.5 tbsp minced garlic

1 tsp dried parsley flakes

1 tsp dried cilantra

Salt and Pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix everything together in a bowl and using a potato masher, mash it all up until it’s still somewhat chunky, yet mixed well.  Using a spoon, form balls and place on cookie sheet that has been lightly sprayed with olive oil cooking spray.

  Spray the tops of the balls again with the cooking spray. Bake for 10-15 minutes, flip and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes until browned on both sides.

I enjoyed mine on top of a salad of greens, cherry tomatoes and feta… all topped with a splash of red wine vinegar!

Not your average potato salad

I've been meaning to post about the wonderful potato salad I made 4th of July weekend. As I'm not a huge fan of the traditional, mayonnaise laden kind, I was super thrilled to find a recipe that was completely different. The recipe also calls for red potatoes, which I absolutely love, so that was another major win.

Here's the recipe:
Dilled Potato Salad With Feta (adapted from Southern Living)

Ingredients:
2 lbs unpeeled small size red potatoes
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil
3 tablespoons fresh or 1 tablespoon dried dill (I used dried because that's what I had on hand)
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 large Red Bell Pepper, chopped
1/2 cup sliced green onions
1 (4 ounce) package of crumbled feta cheese
Optional: 1 cucumber, cut lengthwise & sliced (I omitted because I don't care for cucumber)

Making it:
Bring potatoes and water to boil. Reduce heat (to prevent overcooking and boil overs) and cover. Cook 25 minutes or just until they are tender. Check with a fork. Drain and cool the potatoes. When they are still slightly warm, you may go ahead and cut them into quarters.

While the potatoes are "cooling". Whisk together the vinegar, oil, dill and salt and pepper. Pour over the quartered potatoes while they are still slightly warm.

Stir in the chopped pepper and green onions, add the feta and toss of mix gently with a spoon to combine the flavors. Cover and let chill in the fridge for a few hours. Enjoy!

*Give it another gentle stir just before serving!

Hot Day, Cold Salad

Yes, again the heat influenced a meal choice. This time, a shrimp and red quinoa salad was on the menu. Quinoa is my new obsession. It really is a super-food, gluten-free, high in fiber, protein and low in fat. I've previously used it as a side-dish and this time thought it would be great as the base for a nice cold, summer salad packed with vegetables. The ingredients:
Vegetable broth, shrimp, organic red quinoa, black beans, sweet yellow corn, mushrooms, baby spinach and later on some added cherry tomatoes, lime juice, crushed red paper and cilantro. I started by cooking the quinoa in the vegetable broth and in a saute pan, began to cook the baby spinach and mushrooms. After the quinoa was cooked, I added it to the saute pan along with the rest of the ingredients and mixed in some chopped garlic. Finally, I put the entire salad in the refrigerator to cool for a few hours and enjoyed once thoroughly chilled. It was even tastier in the days to come!