Veggie Week: Arugula & Alfalfa Sprout Salad with Chickpeas, Walnuts & Strawberries

The leftover alfalfa lurking in my refrigerator leftover from this heavenly sandwich endeavor conspired with the peak of strawberry season (at least here in Philadelphia) to inspire this salad. I won't lie, I bought two 1-lb boxes of beautiful strawberries at the store this afternoon, and currently there is exactly one box residing in my kitchen. But when they're this good, why resist?

Look at all that delicious biodiversity.

This salad is just as the title describes it, with just the sliced yellow and pale green parts of a green onion tossed in. I made a vinaigrette with canola oil (yep, I forgot to get olive oil at the store) and lime juice with a dash of salt and pepper. 


And about 3/4 lb of strawberries for dessert.


Quote of the Day #2: This special feeling we have towards fruit, its glory and abundance, is I would say universal... We respond to strawberry fields or cherry orchards with a delight that a cabbage patch or even an elegant vegetable garden cannot provide. ~ Jane Grigson

Hot-Sweet Shrimp Skewers and Minted White Bean Salad

This meal, like many that happen in my apartment, began with a recipe from EatingWell.com. And, like almost all of those meals, I edited a few things.

 The bean salad recipe calls for fresh sage and oregano, which besides being difficult to locate (understatement) in our local grocery store, I didn't imagine I would have much later use for. So I made the bean salad with some fresh chopped mint leaves, left out the tomato, and added a chopped radish instead. You could use chickpeas instead of the cannellini beans, or a mix of the two. This really couldn't be easier. My recipe serves two:

Ingredients:

1 can cannellini beans, or about 1 1/2 cups cooked beans

1 small handful of fresh mint leaves, chopped

1 green onion, thinly sliced

1 large rib of celery, finely chopped

1 radish, finely chopped

1 tsp. lemon juice

Olive oil

White wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Mix everything in a large bowl and refrigerate for at least 15 minutes, or as long as overnight.

For the shrimp (I cooked about 25, 5-per skewer), I made a sweet-spicy sauce. These measurements are all approximate, so definitely tweak it as you see fit.

Ingredients:

1 tsp dried cilantro

2 tsp sesame ginger salad dressing

1/2 tsp lemon or lime juice

Sriracha, to taste - I used about 1/2 tsp

1 tsp honey

25 shrimp, peeled and deveined

Directions:

1. Combine all, and mix with shrimp. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes.

2. Skewer shrimp and grill until cooked through.

 I used my George Foreman Grill, which was a little awkward with the length of the skewers, but it all worked out fine. I did have to rearrange the skewers to make sure they were cooking evenly, but the whole grilling process only took about 6 minutes.

I served the bean salad and shrimp with some warm bulgur wheat. The shrimp came out nicely spicy-sweet, the bean salad was light and summery, and might even be better the day after. There were no leftovers tonight, so I can't say for sure!


Quote of the Day: Weather means more when you have a garden. There's nothing like listening to a shower and thinking how it is soaking in around your green beans. ~ Marcelene Cox

Cold Avocado Soup & Grilled Cumin Chicken with Grape Tomato Salad

Some of you may recall a recipe from the infancy of this blog that involved a rather fail-tastic creamy avocado salad dressing. Since the inspiration for that actually came from an avocado soup recipe I had seen about a week before, I am happy to say that I finally got around to making the chilled avocado soup that I have been longing for since then. And it's good. Really good.

I didn't change this recipe much at all, except making the executive decision that 1 1/2 avocados were needed, owing to their substandard size. I also used a small bit of onion instead of the shallot because somehow, between my grocery store and my home, I lost the darn thing. From Delish.com:

Ingredients:

1 medium avocado, peeled and pitted

1 shallot, peeled and chopped

1/2 seedless cucumber, chopped

2 Tablespoons plain yogurt (I used fat-free Greek-style)

2 Tablespoons fresh mint, plus 1 sprig

4 teaspoons lime juice

1 1/2 teaspoons salt - I used 1

1/4 teaspoon ground pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground cumin

1 radish, chopped

1 cup cold water

Directions:

1. Place cucumber, avocado, shallot, yogurt, 2 tablespoons mint, lime juice, salt, pepper, cumin and cold water in a food processor and process until smooth.

2. Chill for at least one hour before serving. Serve garnished with radish and remaining mint leaves.

My mother recently treated me to some lovely new place mats under the promise that they would soon appear on this blog. I'm sorry, Mom - Next time! <3

 I was surprised at how pronounced the cumin was, but it was certainly not overbearing. You could cut it down a bit if you want to but I think it adds a lot to the soup. We had a soup course (fancy, right?) with some French bread followed by the chicken with a bit of tomato salad. This is one of my summer favorites: Just some grape tomatoes, cut in half, with some sliced green onion, olive oil, salt and pepper and a little white wine vinegar. So simple, summery, and yummy - with room temperature tomatoes, of course.

 The chicken portion of this recipe is lifted from this recipe, which I originally served with grilled nectarine, blackberry-raspberry salsa and grilled polenta. What is it about the combination of cumin and grill-marks? Yum.

Quote of the Day: The avocado is a food without rival among the fruit, the veritable fruit of paradise. ~ David Fairchild

Also, I just learned that avocado pits, when thoroughly cleaned and dried, make excellent cat toys because of the irregular rolling motion caused by their lopsided shape. The more you know.

Edit: Despite the chicken, I've marked this as vegetarian due to the soup recipe.

Thai Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I've seen recipes like this one floating around out there on the internets, so I figured I could kind of fake it. This approach worked much better than with last night's quinoa burgers.

That said, I'm not sure just how Thai these really are. For me, they are a fresh twist on one of my all-time favorite foods, the taco. Plus, as you might have noticed, cilantro, lime, and Sriracha are some of my favorite flavors, and I welcome any opportunity to use them.

This recipe happens to be very low-carb, which may be appealing to you, and if you pay attention to what soy sauce you are using, it is also gluten-free. Sriracha is apparently gluten free, and while many brands make gluten-free varieties of soy sauce, every one produced by La Choy brand is gluten free. Still, if this is a concern, read your labels to be sure.

I served this with hot brown rice, which you will cook according to package directions. You could also use quinoa or something similar.

Ingredients:

4 whole leaves of Romaine, Boston, or Butter lettuce, washed

1/3 - 1/2 lb ground turkey

1/4 red onion, finely chopped

1 carrot, finely chopped

1/2 green bell pepper, chopped

1/4 peanuts, chopped

1 handful fresh cilantro, washed and coarsely chopped

2 green onion, thinly sliced, or about 1 tbsp. chopped chives

1/4 - 1/2 tsp sriracha, plus more for serving

1 clove garlic, minced

2 tsp lime juice

2 tsp soy sauce

Canola oil

Directions:

1. In a medium to large frying pan, saute pan or wok, drizzle a bit of canola oil. Over medium heat, brown your turkey, breaking apart with a spatula.

2. Meanwhile, you can arrange your topping ingredients - your cilantro, chives, peanuts, and red onion - in small bowls for serving, if you wish. This is also a good time to wash your lettuce leaves. (We used two Romaine leaves each.)

3. In a small bowl or glass (okay, I used a jar) combine your lime juice, garlic, and soy sauce.

4. When turkey is cooked turn off the heat and drain the meat of excess oil, except for about 2 teaspoons. Pour in your lime juice mixture, add the carrot and bell pepper, and mix to combine before transferring to a serving platter.

This would be a fun dish to serve at a party with friends, or with family, if your family is sort of fun and not afraid of mess and/or Asian food. I think you could also use fish sauce, or basically any other Asian sauce in your lime juice mixture. A little sesame oil would also be good. (Since I don't know exactly what "Thai" is, I can't act like I won't use potentially foreign ingredients in these wraps in the future.)

 Basically, you should make these. They're fresh, yummy, easy to make and fun to assemble. Also, you could very easily pack this as a take-along lunch: just keep your turkey mixture separate from your lettuce, and pack a little container or baggie of mixed toppings, and as long as you're not trying to eat it in the car or something crazy, you're good to go. You might skip the rice unless you are able to heat it up come lunchtime, but I think the turkey would be just as good cold. Tah-dah!

Quote of the Day: Lettuce is like conversation; it must be fresh and crisp, so sparkling that you scarcely notice the bitter in it. ~ Charles Dudley Warner