Recipes for Cold Cukes Soup, Chickpea & Tomato Salad and Garlic Bread

A couple of months ago, I bought a new cookbook. It’s called Fresh Food Fast by Peter Berley and Melissa Clark. I've tried a number of recipes from here and loved them all. There are several that I have made a bunch of times. After I've made a recipe a couple of times, I tend to make little changes here and there. Sometimes I do this to experiment with a new taste. Sometimes it is because I’m missing an essential ingredient to the recipe and have to scramble for a suitable replacement.

Below is my “unintentional” variation on Peter Berley's Chilled Cucumber Soup with Mint.  I served it with a chickpea salad and some tomatoes I picked up during our weekly trip to the farmer’s market, as well as some garlic bread.

So why am I telling you all of this? The other evening for dinner, I gave Eliana some of the soup and salad. She went CRAZY for the soup. She actually started “crying” when I so rudely took the spoon away to try to snap a photo of her eating it. The nerve of me, right? I hope you and your little foodie enjoy these recipes as much as Eliana did!

Cold Cucumber Soup

·     3-4 cucumbers, peeled, seeded and roughly chopped

·     1½ cups low-fat plain yogurt

·     1 scallion, white parts only

·     1 handful of fresh basil leaves

·     Fresh garlic, salt, pepper, chili powder to taste

Put all items in a blender and puree. Taste and adjust seasoning as needed. Put soup in the refrigerator for an hour or more before serving.

Chickpea and Tomato Salad

·    1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

·    1 handful of parsley, finely chopped

·    1-2 red tomatoes, chopped

·    1 yellow tomato, chopped

·    2 scallions, white parts only, chopped

·    Fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary)

·    Garlic powder and chili powder to taste

·    Lime dressing

Make the dressing and set it aside. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Adjust seasoning as needed.

  

Jory’s Garlic Bread

·     1 whole wheat baguette, fresh or day-old

·     1 small handful of parsley, chopped

·     Around 3 tablespoons of butter-like spread or softened unsalted butter (I like Brummel & Brown yogurt spread)

·     Shredded Parmesan, garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oven to 350°. In a small bowl, mix the butter garlic powder, salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings. Mix in the parsley and ⅓ of the Parmesan. Slice open the baguette lengthwise. Spread the butter mixture over both sides of the bread. Sprinkle the rest of the cheese over the bread. Lay the bread, face up, on a large piece of tin foil. Wrap the tin foil, over the bread making a loose tent. You don’t want the top of the bread to be touching the tin foil or it will all stick to the foil. Bake around 25-30 minutes until golden. Slice and serve.

Happy Cooking!

How could you do that to meeeee???

The soup! I want the soup back!!

That's good stuff.

I'm going to bite down on the spoon so you can't take it.

You took it away.
Meanie.

Listen, I think I can get in on this creating recipes thing. I've got an idea.

Give me the soup, Mommy.

Really! I have an idea.

Trust me. Let me just grab some chickpeas.

What are you doing? Get. Me. The. Soup!

Come on, come on, come on, COME ON!!

Chickpeas dipped in the cucumber soup. It's gonna be yummy!

Squashed

Well, I’ve done it! I’ve literally eaten my words. I figured out how to make yellow squash taste good! Yes, I know, you’re shocked, right? Especially since I spent the better part of a post a few weeks ago complaining about how gross squash is and how it is everywhere blah, blah, blah. So, here is how it all happened…

At the farmer’s market a few Sundays ago I was scouting out the vegetables when a gorgeous yellow caught my eye. I looked at it for a moment, dumbstruck.

Nooo! Waaaay!

It was freakin’ yellow squash! And it looked beautiful. (Yeah, you read that correctly. I said yellow squash looked beautiful). After I picked my jaw back up off the floor, I knew I had to have it. I mean, how could I not buy a vegetable that looked so tempting? I only bought one because I wasn’t ready to commit to liking it. After all, I have been burned by yellow squash my whole life. But, we all have to start somewhere, right? So I added a medium-sized yellow squash to my bag.

Amazing, right? The one from Migliorelli Farms (left) just looks so much more appetizing than the pale one from the supermarket (right). 

So, now, what the heck was I going to do with it? I started with something simple and quick. I love the texture and shape of the zucchini strips when peeled, so I figured I should go with what has worked in the past and do the same for the yellow squash. I ended up with a salad of yellow squash and carrots.

Pretty, right?

Then, serendipitously, a few days later a reader named Susie commented on my post about how much I hate yellow squash. She wrote a recipe for making the squash with pasta and it looked really tasty. (Thank you, Susie! What a great idea to post a recipe in the comments section!) It was like the universe was telling me that I needed to be eating yellow squash. The following Sunday at the farmer's market, I bought a few yellow squash.

I took Susie's recipe and played around with it a little bit. Here’s a photo of the end result.

Such pretty colors too, right?

So I guess the moral of this story is: Never say “never” because one day it could come back to squash you.

Here are the recipes:

Yellow Squash and Carrot Salad

·    1 yellow squash, peeled into strips

·    3-4 carrots, peeled into strips

Add vegetables to a bowl and toss with lime dressing.

Lime Dressing

·    Juice of 2 limes

·    Olive oil or avocado oil

·    Salt and pepper

Add ingredients to a bowl and whisk. Taste and adjust levels as needed.

Fettuccine with Yellow and Green Squash

·    1 medium yellow onion, sliced

·    3-4 squash, peeled into strips (I used a mix of yellow squash and zucchini)

·    1-2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed

·    1 box of wheat fettuccine (I ended up using around ¾ of the cooked pasta)

·    A mugful of reserved cooking liquid from the pasta

·    Fresh herbs, chopped (I used parsley and basil)

·    Parmesan cheese to taste, peeled into strips

·    Salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and olive oil to taste

Cook the pasta according to package directions. Meanwhile, heat a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add some oil, the onion and a bit of salt. Stir and let it cook for around 3 minutes until onions begin to soften. Add garlic, stir and cook for around 2 more minutes. Add the mixed squash to the pan and stir. Add salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, stir and cook for around 2-3 more minutes. The squash should be cooked but still firm on the edges. Add some of the reserved cooking liquid from the pasta, stir and adjust seasoning as needed. Add about ¾ of the chopped herbs and stir. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and stir. Add more liquid and/or seasoning as needed. Transfer pasta to individual bowls, top with herbs, shaved Parmesan and serve. I also added some cubes of ricotta salata cheese that I had in the fridge.

Happy Cooking!

Here's Eliana enjoying the pasta dish.

Hmm, stringy things! This looks fun.

Tasty.

Oh. My hands are still full of yogurt.
This is a perfect time to show Mommy my new  favorite trick...

"Oh, no!"

What, Mommy? You don't like it when I do "Oh, no!" with food on my hands?

Oops.

I don't know what to say.

Sorry Helicopter Mommy.

Recipes for White Bean Salad & Lemon Garlic Dressing

Here’s the white bean salad I made for lunch the other day. As you will see from the photos, Eliana loved the tomatoes and corn. She wasn’t really into the cannellini beans. Next time I think I'll use northern beans or chickpeas. She has had both before and liked them. Also, I will finely chop the kale. She had a hard time swallowing the kale in this salad. Live and learn, right?

White Bean Salad

·    1 can white beans, drained and rinsed (northern beans, cannellini beans or chickpeas)

·    1 handful of baby kale, finely chopped

·    1 tomato, chopped

·    1 ear of corn, kernels scraped off

·    2 scallions, white parts only, chopped

·    Fresh herbs, chopped (I used rosemary)

·    Shredded Parmesan

·    Lemon and Garlic Dressing (recipe below)

Make the dressing and set it aside. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Adjust seasoning as needed.

Lemon and Garlic Dressing

·    1 clove of garlic, crushed

·    Salt

·    Pepper

·    Juice of 2 lemons

·    Olive oil

·    In a small glass bowl combine garlic, pinch of salt, and a smaller pinch of pepper. Combine and mash with a spoon. Then add the juice of 2 lemons and whisk. While whisking, pour in a light stream of extra virgin olive oil. Taste and adjust ingredients accordingly.

Variations:

·    Follow above recipe and add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard.

·    Follow above recipe except combine ingredients in a blender or small mixer. After adding lemon juice, add fresh parsley to taste and blend or mix. Then while blender or mixer is going add a stream of oil.

Happy Cooking!

White bean salad

What's she trying to get me to eat now?

Hmm, not bad.

I wonder if she will notice if I just eat the tomatoes and corn?

Who needs a teething toy?

Who needs a traditional teething toy when a piece of rosemary works just fine? Eliana and I harvested a bit of rosemary today for a bean salad I made for her dinner. (Recipe coming soon.) As I was cutting some sprigs, Eliana grabbed a leaf and stuck it in her mouth. And then proceeded to roam around chewing on it until she spit it out to eat lunch. 

Crazy Little Lady!

Rosemary rocks!

Haha! I have some and YOU don't!

What do you mean I'm supposed to chomp on a pacifier instead. Puh-leeze, Woman! You don't call me teeny tiny foodie for nothin'!

Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

Last week my mother-in-law, Lauren, asked me what to do with quinoa. That question inspired me to make this recipe for dinner for Matt and me the other night. I had wanted to make a salad with some fresh veggies we had. I figured that if I added a little "bulk" and some "protein", I could call it a one-pot-meal. Enter quiona. It is both bulk and protein. A-ha!

Before serving it to Eliana for lunch the next day, I cut the vegetables and halloumi cheese into smaller pieces. That took a lot of time. In the future, I think I’ll grate the zucchini and carrots and cut the halloumi into smaller pieces from the beginning. I didn't cook any of the vegetables, but I think this would be equally tasty if I had sautéed the vegetables and made a pilaf instead of a salad. 

Vegetable and Quinoa Salad

- 1 cup cooked quinoa

- 1 zucchini, diced

- 2 carrots, diced

- 2 scallions (white and green parts), chopped

- 1-2 ears fresh corn

- 1-2 tomatoes, diced
- ½ can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed

- Juice of 2 lemons

- Small handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (I use basil and rosemary)

- 1 package halloumi cheese*, sliced, grilled and diced

- Olive oil, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic powder to taste

Cook quinoa according to directions on packaging. Let cool. Mix vegetables, halloumi cheese and quinoa into a large bowl. Add lemon juice, seasoning and olive oil. Mix, taste and adjust seasoning as needed.

*Halloumi cheese is one of my favorite cheeses. It is salty, firm and tangy and, in my opinion, best when sliced and grilled on a grill pan at medium-high heat for around 3 minutes per side. It is a bit pricey so it is not in the regular rotation. I think ricotta salata would be a good substitute cheese. 

Hmm...

Hey, that's good!

Thanks, Mommy!

Happy Cooking!

How will our garden grow?

To me, part of making Eliana a teeny tiny foodie is teaching her not just to like a variety of tastes and textures but to have an interest in where her food comes from. On Mondays, we take our weekly trip to the grocery store and as we gather our goods I talk to her about all the foods we see and buy. We stop to touch, smell and, in her case, taste the green beans- see photo below. Or, whatever it is that we are looking at.

A view from above. She's in the carrier as we do our shopping. New meaning to eating on the go.

I’ve been thinking a lot more about how far our food travels as well. What is the cost to our health, and to the health of the planet, if our organic strawberries travel here from the other side of the country? There has been a constant debate going on in my head: local vs. organic? And then there is the seasonal factor as well. Obviously, produce that is in season is tastiest, healthiest and cheapest so we’d be silly not to buy it. We are lucky in that there are a few farmers markets each week that we can shop from, too. The farmers markets are also a place where I can get seasonal, local produce that might not be organic, but is very low in pesticides. So, we’ve been frequenting them more and more.

But, still, I want Eliana to have an even deeper connection to the process of getting our food. So what did I do? I recruited my mom and Suzanne, “Susu” to Eliana, to help me plant a garden! Before I go into that story, you need a little backstory first.  Suzanne is my father-in-law Steve’s girlfriend and one of my favorite people. Suzanne keeps a garden at home so I knew she’d be a great choice to help me out. And then my mom, is obviously my mom so she is a top choice to help me with many projects, too. She has always been the resident horticulturalist who has cared for our houseplants and even coached me a few years ago, via Skype, to move one of our plants into a newer, bigger home. Every time she comes into town, she is tasked with caring for one plant or another that needs a little TLC. Mom and I have always talked about how “one day she would help me plant a garden.” But, last year when Matt and I moved to an apartment with an amazing outdoor space, and my mom and I could finally start a garden, I was very pregnant and stuck on bed rest. And then two weeks later, I was in charge of a newborn. Not optimal conditions for getting my green thumb on. Sigh, my garden would have to wait.

When the warm weather arrived this spring, I started getting really, really impatient about my lack of a garden. I wanted my garden and I wanted it NOW! But, my mom lives in Florida. (Where, yes, she has a drool-worthy garden.) And when she came in town for Eliana’s birthday party, there was a lot of other stuff going on so we didn’t get to our little garden project. Well, actually, any time she might have had was taken up by birthday related projects she was tasked with completing. 

Cupcake toppers had to be cut-out and glued onto popsicle sticks

Banner letters had to be cut-out

My mom spent forever stringing each photo so it looked perfect

Yeah, she pretty much rocks.

Anyway, with my mom not scheduled to come into town for a few more weeks, I set off on the gardening project with Suzanne. The other weekend, Suzanne and I drove to Lowes, gathered some vegetable plants, soil and supplies and came home to get to work. Suzanne knows a heck of a lot more about this gardening thing than I do so at the store the conversation mostly went like this:

“Jory, honey, what else do you want to get?”

“Uhhh, I don’t know Suzanne. What else do we need? I guess we need dirt, right?”

There were slim pickings at the store for a variety of vegetables that looked healthy. I’m realistic, so went for actual baby plants as opposed to seeds. Maybe next year I will plant from seeds. I’m also impatient and wanted to be able to eat these vegetables before the weather turns cold. So, we came away with 2 cucumber plants, 3 patio tomato plants, 2 okra plants, 1 leek plant and, wait for it…wait for it…2 yellow squash plants. Yep! I WILL make myself like those icky yellow squash plants. (Oh yeah, did I mention that I’m stubborn, too?)

So, we came home, called Matt and his dad, Steve, to come help us drag everything upstairs and got to work. Before we began, Suzanne soaked the deck where we would put the planter boxes so it would cool off a bit. Of course, we chose one of the hottest days yet to embark on this project. Then, we set up the two wooden boxes that would house the vegetables. Again, it was pretty much Suzanne directing me, which was just fine. She was the sensei to my karate kid. A little bit of soil into the bottom, a water-bath for the plants and then into the box with more soil on top. We also re-potted a basil plant my mother-in-law, Lauren, gifted me, and also put an herb garden and mandevilla plant that Steve and Suzanne brought over into new pots. Our garden was taking shape!

After a long and sweaty day, the garden was done. It was too hot for Eliana to stay outside with us, but Matt brought her out periodically to check on the progress of our work. And she plastered herself to the door to watch from the inside as well.

Aren't you done yet???

Over the past few weeks we’ve been enjoying a bounty of fresh herbs, but no vegetables have come up yet. With the exception of a little over-watering related illness that took out 1 okra plant and 1 cucumber plant, the vegetables seem to be thriving. Woohoo! 

My mom says the cucumbers will replace the flowers. Cool!

And, before you know it, I’ll be posting a recipe about preparing delicious yellow squash.