Shaved Fennel Salad

Another solid salad from 101cookbooks!  I've been wanting to make this recipe for a while, but due to my fear of the mandolin slicer, I have been putting it off.  Because even the sight of the mandolin makes me cringe, my sweet husband sliced the fennel and zucchini for me.  I was also on a cooking rampage the night I made this, therefore I forgot to take a lot of pictures (sorry!).  I also have to confess that I made this a while back...but June was a crazy month and I got behind on blogging.  The fennel in my garden are ready to be harvested, so I figured now was a good time to post this recipe since I have fennel and a ton of dill that I've been using for pickles.

• 2 medium-large zucchini, sliced into paper thin coins
• 2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed and shaved paper-thin
• 2/3 cup loosely chopped fresh dill
• 1/3 cup fresh lemon juice, plus more if needed
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• sea salt
• 4 or 5 generous handfuls arugula
• Honey, if needed
• 1/2 cup pine nuts or almonds, toasted
• 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

-----

1.  Combine the zucchini, fennel and dill in a bowl and toss with the lemon juice, olive oil and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Set aside and marinate for 20 minutes, or up to an hour.

2.  When you are ready to serve the salad, put the arugula in a large bowl. Scoop all of the zucchini and fennel onto the arugula, and pour most of the lemon juice dressing on top of that. Toss gently but thoroughly. Taste and adjust with more of the dressing, olive oil, lemon juice, or salt if needed. If the lemons were particularly tart, you may need to counter the pucker-factor by adding a tiny drizzle of honey into the salad at this point. Let your taste buds guide you. Serve topped with almonds and feta.

White Bean Salad with Zucchini and Parmesean

 

This is a good, simple recipe to prepare and enjoy during these hot days. I modified this recipe and think it turned out great.  The original recipe calls for the veggies to be raw, but I decided I would rather cook them.  So this can be a super simple recipe, I just chose to make it more complicated.

I also chose to make this recipe more difficult by cooking my own beans.  I do not eat beans that come out of a can, and while it's more work to make them yourself, it's definitely worth it.  Canned beans are soaked in not only a lot of sodium, but also highly toxic BPA.  In addition to being a hormone disruptor and causing a slew of other health problems, BPA is now being linked to brain cancer.  I strongly urge you to avoid canned goods whenever possible.  Don't forget to soak your beans the night before, and then they only take an hour or less to cook, so it's not that much of an inconvenience.  The recipe calls for cannellini beans, but my sweet husband accidentally bought cranberry beans instead.  They turned out pretty well, so if you can find them, I definitely recommend them!

And while I'm on my anti-can goods soap box, remember to never buy pre-shredded cheese (it's full of chemicals and other crud like wood pulp!).  Freshly grated cheese is awesome :)

• 1 1/2 pounds cannellini beans (or cranberry beans)
• 3/4 pound zucchini (about 2-3 small), trimmed, quartered lengthwise, and thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 4 ounces green beans, trimmed and thinly sliced on the diagonal
• 1/2 cup fresh Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• Grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon grapeseed oil for cooking (or olive oil if you prefer)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper

----

1. Soak beans overnight.
2. When you are ready to start cooking, drain beans and add them to a pot of water with a pinch of salt.  Bring to a boil.  Depending on the type of bean you use, cook for 30 minutes to an hour.

Cranberry beans ready to be cooked

3.  Fill a medium size pot with water and bring to a boil (for blanching green beans).

4.  Chop zucchini and green beans.

Beans from the CSA

5.  Add grapeseed oil to a skillet.  Saute zucchini with salt and pepper for a few minutes.  At the same time, add green beans to the pot of boiling water.  Allow them to boil for a few minutes (depending on how crisp you want them, this can be anywhere from a minute to five or more). 

Zucchini from the CSA also

6.  Drain cannellini beans and green beans.  Run cold water over the beans to stop them from cooking further.

7.  In a medium bowl, place cannellini beans, zucchini, green beans, Parmesan, basil, lemon zest and juice, and oil; season with salt and pepper. Toss to combine.

The finished product

Spicy Zucchini Frittata

Note:  Don't forget to put oil your skillet or it will burn and stick like mine did.

I really enjoy Whole Living magazine.  It's a great resources for all sorts of interesting and useful information, including great recipes.  I saw this recipe in the latest issue and thought I would give it a try.  I've been using a lot more animal products than I would like recently, but it's sort of a compromise since no one else I cook for is interested in trying to be vegan.  So while I won't budge on meat, I do cook with cheese and eggs every once and a while (ok, I always cook with cheese...I love cheese!).  

In addition to the zucchini the recipe calls for, I also threw in some pattypan squash from my garden. I also put a little dusting of parmesean cheese on the top, but this is totally optional as well.

• 2 tablespoons grapeseed oil
• 1 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
• 1 zucchini, thinly sliced
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels
• Coarse salt
• 8 large eggs

----

1. Heat broiler. In a medium ovenproof (preferably cast-iron) skillet, heat oil over medium heat and cook onion and jalapeno, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes. Add zucchini and corn and cook until tender, about 7 minutes more. Season with salt.
   
   

   

   Baby zucchini from my garden (well they would have been more baby in size if I had harvested them early enough).  They are a really tasty heirloom variety that I plan to grow next year as well.

   

   I used a jalapeno from my garden too :) 

2. In a bowl, whisk eggs with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pour into skillet with vegetables. Cook until sides are just beginning to set, 2 to 3 minutes.
   
   
3. Transfer skillet to oven and broil until just set in the middle and lightly golden and puffed on top, 2 to 3 minutes.
   
   

   

   I promise, I'll start working on better photography!  I realize my pictures make my food look less than appetizing.

   
   

Zucchini Noodles with Tofu and Tangy Peanut Sauce

I got this great recipe suggestion from my pal Christine.  It turned out really well!  We've been getting a ton of squash and zucchini from the CSA, so I'm always looking for creative ways to use it.  I used tofu instead of chicken, but if you eat meat, I'm sure this would be good with chicken too.

Recently, my friend Wendi reminded me that olive oil becomes toxic when you heat it.  It's really intended for dressings and things of that nature, so I  have made the switch to grape seed oil.  I actually like it a lot better and I like the idea of avoiding toxins whenever I can.  So feel free to use olive oil or another kind of oil in place of the grape seed oil if toxins don't bother you.

• 1 package of extra firm tofu
• 1 tablespoon of grape seed oil
• 4-6 medium-sized zucchini and summer squash
• 2 large carrots
• About 1/4 cup chopped cilantro 
• About 1-2 tbsp sesame seeds

Peanut Sauce:

• 1/2 cup peanut butter 
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp minced garlic (or more)
• 1/2-1 tsp granulated sugar (depending on taste) 
• At least 1/4 cup water (add 1-2 more tablespoons depending on texture)

----

1.  Cut your tofu into small pieces and begin to cook (Note: I've always struggled with cooking tofu.  I added a small amount of grape seed oil to a pan over very low heat.  I kept the tofu cooking the entire time I was making the rest of the dish, flipping it every few minutes to prevent the tofu from sticking.  It turned out very crispy and good!)

Tofu

2. Next, make the peanut sauce by whisking all the ingredients together in a medium bowl. Start by adding 1/4 cup water as the recipe suggests, and if the sauce is too thick for your taste, add additional tablespoons water to reach desired consistency.

3. Lastly, prepare the zucchini, squash, and carrot ribbons by using a mandoline or by using a peeler designed to julienne vegetables. If using the peeler, hold the stem end of the squash in one hand and drag the peeler from the top to the bottom to create the ribbons. Julienne all the vegetables, keeping the carrots separate from the squash and zucchini. 

Carrots from the CSA

Squash and zucchini from the CSA too!

 4. Briefly blanch the vegetables in a pot of boiling water by adding the carrots first for about 2-3 minutes, and then adding the zucchini and squash for another 1-2 minutes (it gets tender very quickly). Drain the hot water, immediately add cold water to stop the cooking, and once the vegetables have cooled, drain the water again.  (It is really important to make sure all the water is drained out or your dish will be a soggy mess)

5. Assemble the dish by putting some of the vegetable ribbons on a plate and topping them with the tofu, then the peanut sauce, and chopped cilantro and sesame seeds. Serve at room temperature, but can also be served cool (if you would like to refrigerate ingredients before serving).

Topped with cilantro from the CSA as well

Quinoa and Grilled Zucchini

 

What would I do without 101cookbooks?  Her recipes are awesome!  This one is no exception.  My husband tasted it and referred to it as "good stuff."  Coming from someone who loves meat and probably only pretends to enjoy the food I cook because it's the only option, I take this as quite a compliment.  The dressing is amazing...and could easily be used for a number of other purposes.  I have an abundant amount of cilantro right now (from both my garden and the CSA), so I used a lot of cilantro in it.  I also got like 5 pounds of zucchini from the CSA this week...I don't know what to do with it all!

• 1 large avocado, ripe
• juice of 1 1/2 limes 
• a large handful of cilantro
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1 small container of Greek yogurt (about 1/4 cup)
• 3/4 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
  
• 4 large eggs
• 3 large zucchini, cut into 3/4-inch thick coins
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• couple pinches of sea salt 
• 2 cups quinoa, cooked, room temperature
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted (or pine nuts)
• 1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
• a bit of chopped cilantro for garnish

----

1.  Prepare the cilantro-avocado dressing by blending the avocado, lime juice, cilantro, garlic, yogurt, water, and salt in a blender (hand blender in preferred). Set aside.

Yummy freshly blended cilantro-avocado dressing

2.  Hard boil the eggs. Place the eggs in a pot and cover with cold water by a 1/2-inch or so. Bring to a gentle boil. Now turn off the heat, cover, and let sit for exactly seven minutes. Have a big bowl of ice water ready and when the eggs are done cooking place them in the ice bath for three minutes or so - long enough to stop the cooking. Set aside.

3.  While the eggs are cooling start preparing the zucchini by tossing it with olive oil and salt in a medium-sized bowl. Prepare your grill (medium-high heat). If you are worried about the zucchini coins falling through the grill you can thread them onto kabob skewers (stab through the green skin). Grill until zucchini are tender and cooked through, roughly 5 minutes on each side. Remove from the grill and cut each zucchini coin into quarters.

Fresh zucchini tossed in olive oil with Himalayan pink sea salt

The zucchini that did not fall through the grill (I recommend skewering for sure!)

4. Crack and peel each egg, cut each egg into quarters lengthwise. Assemble the salad by tossing the quinoa with about 2/3 cups of the avocado vinaigrette. Top with the grilled zucchini, pine nuts, eggs, goat cheese, and a bit of chopped cilantro for garnish. 

Serves 4 to 6.

 

Health Benefits

Cilantro - I learned some random facts about cilantro from this months issue of Whole Living.

• Prized throughout history for its ability to aid digestion, coriander was a common treatment for diabetes prior to the development of insulin in 1922.
• Cilantro is one of 3,000 members of the carrot family.
• Scientific studies have found similarities between the fat molecules in cilantro and those in soaps, lotions....and bedbugs.  The aversion that some people have to cilantro, in other words, may may triggered by their unconscious association of its aroma with inedible, even poisonous, substances.

Additionally, I found this list of health benefits here:

• Powerful anti-inflammatory capacities that may help symptoms of arthritis
• Protective agents against bacterial infection from Salmonella in food products
• Acts to increase HDL cholesterol (the good kind), and reduces LDL cholesterol (the bad kind)
• Relief for stomach gas, prevention of flatulence and an overall digestive aid
• Wards off urinary tract infections
• Helps reduce feelings of nausea
• Eases hormonal mood swings associated with menstruation
• Has been shown to reduce menstrual cramping.
• Adds fiber to the digestive tract
• A source of iron, magnesium, and is helpful in fighting anemia
• Gives relief for diarrhea, especially if caused by microbial or fungal infections
• Helps promote healthy liver function.
• Reduces minor swelling
• Strong general antioxidant properties
• Disinfects and helps detoxify the body
• Stimulates the endocrine glands
• Helps with insulin secretion and lowers blood sugar
• Acts as a natural anti-septic and anti-fungal agent for skin disorders like fungal infections and eczema
• Contains immune-boosting properties
• Acts as an expectorant
• Helps ease conjunctivitis, as well as eye-aging, macular degeneration, and other stressors on the eyes.