Yummy Summer Salad

After testing a salad sample at Whole Foods yesterday,
I had to make something similar!

Yummy Summer Salad

• Romaine lettuce, cut into bite-sized pieces
• Cherry tomatoes, halved
• Olives, chopped a bit
• Goat feta
• Sunfl0wer seed

Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and drizzle a bit of olive oil over it then toss.

Summer Salad and Cucumber Soup

Lunch My favorite salad this summer is the one pictured above. Cut up about three leaves of romaine lettuce and add chopped tomato on top of that. Place half of an avocado, diced, in a smaller bowl and mince one clove of garlic through a press on top of that. Add the other half of the avocado if you like then stir the garlic into the avocado. Toss the avocado-garlic mix with the greens and tomato and eat up.

While perusing the fridge for more lunch eats, I noticed my leftovers from last night and decided to sandwich them in cabbage leaves. It was OK, but really left me wishing I had endive leaves or bread to make a sort of bruschetta.

Dinner

This was one of many recipes I found at Elaine Love's website, Pure Joy Planet, that sounded so good I couldn't wait to try them out.

Cucumber Soup

• 2 medium-large cucumbers
• 3 cups of spinach or another leafy green
• 1 handful basil
• 1 T. fresh ginger with skin
• juice of 1-1/2 lemons
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp. onion powder
• 1 small avocado, diced
  
• 1 tsp. dried dill, or 2 T. fresh

1. Place cucumber and lemon juice in a food processor. Pulse until pureed.
2. Add a handful of the greens and basil, pulsing until incorporated, and continue to do so until greens are gone.
3. Add in the salt, garlic and onion powders, avocado, and dill, pulsing until incorporated.

This recipe was pretty yummy. I added some chopped cherry tomatoes and onion on top, which was much welcomed flavor. Adding some sprouted grain bread with organic butter made it perfect.

Fall Basket - 25 October 2008

Basket items: 4 pommegranites, arugala, white radishes, red radishes, cilantro, 1 head of romaine lettuce, 3 small cucumers, 1 bunch of dark grapes, 2 pears, 1 sweet potato, and 2 yams.

Sunday

For dinner we had romaine and carrot salad in addition to stir fry on top of organic brown rice from Abundant Harvest.

Monday

Armand had a pear in addition to his breakfast waffles and a pear in his lunch.

Tuesday

For dinner we had sautéed green beans with shallots and marinated chicken covered with tarragon and parsley, plus my first time eating arugula.
(Made for delicious lunch leftovers the next day!)

Arugula Salad
I added feta cheese to this recipe and it complimented the bitterness of the arugula quite well.

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3 cups (about 4 ounces) baby arugula
• 1 small red onion, halved and cut into paper-thin half-moons

Put lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl. Whisking constantly, pour in oil in a slow, steady stream; whisk until emulsified. Add arugula and onion; toss.

Wednesday

This was a cookbook that I couldn't resist when going through a spate of homesickness for my childhood hometown, Bamberg. Zwiebelsuppe was one of the first recipes I tried and, being a firm onion fan and ecstatic onion soup fan, fell immediately in love with this recipe.

Zwiebelsuppe

• A generous 1 pound of onions
• 3-1/2 tablespoons butter
• 1 apple
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 4 cups hot meat stock
• 1/2 cup lager
• Salt and white pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rubbed marjoram
• Bunch of fresh chives, snipped

1. Peel, halve, and slice the onions.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and sauté the onions in it until translucent.
3. Peel, quarter, and core the apple. Slice it thinly. Stir the apple into the sauteed onion, allow to sweat for a few minutes, then sprinkle over flour.
4. Add the stock and beer, season to taste with salt, pepper, and marjoram, and simmer over a medium heat for about 2 minutes.
5. Just before serving, sprinkle the soup with snipped chives and grated Emmenthal, or croutons.
   

Cucumber Salad With Radish and Dill
This was pretty yummy — crisp and fresh and flavorful. It would be a perfect summer salad.

• 1 English cucumber or 3 Kirby cucumbers, halved lenghwise, seeded, thinly sliced
• 4 large radishes (about 6 ounces), thinly sliced
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 6 ounces feta cheese, coarsely crumbled (about 1 1/2 cups)
• 2 tablespoons white-wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh dill, plus more sprigs, torn, for garnish
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 garlic clove, crushed with the flat side of a large knife
• Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon olive oil

1. Put cucumber, radish, and lemon zest in a medium bowl, and add cheese.
2. Whisk together lemon juice, vinegar, dill, sugar, and garlic in another medium bowl, whisking until sugar has dissolved; season with salt and pepper. Whisk in the oil in a slow, steady stream until emulsified.
3. Add vinaigrette to cucumber mixture; toss well. Garnish with dill. Discard garlic clove before serving. Refrigerate salad in an airtight container up to 1 hour.