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.

Baked Shrimp & Veggie Egg Rolls with Dipping Sauce

I'm not too sure where the inspiration to make egg rolls came from, but I sure didn't fight it. Wrapping up food in other food is one of my favorite pastimes, so I guess it was just a matter of time before I tackled these crispy, tasty Asian treats. I remember making gyoza (potstickers) with my Dad when I was a kid, so I felt up to the challenge, even if I hadn't the slightest idea how to roll an egg roll.

These are not your typical egg rolls. In my opinion, they are much better - lighter, and just as crispy-flaky, but baked, not deep fried. This means less oil, which means less fat, and also much less cleanup. I chose to use carrots and bean sprouts with a bit of green onion, but you could also use Asian cabbage or even a cup and a half of an Asian bagged salad mix, like the kind with broccoli matchsticks in it. (That's a good idea, why didn't I think of that before?) You can use ground chicken, beef, or pork, or go all-veggie.

YUM. Also that is some sort of reflection in the sauce, not a foreign body.

I used Nasoya egg roll wraps, but you can use any brand of Asian style egg roll wraps. They provide a decent-looking recipe on the package, but I made a few changes. Instead of ground pork, I used shrimp, and I think I skipped a couple of ingredients altogether. No matter! These were delish, and MUCH easier than I was expecting, though I wouldn't really call this a "quick" meal fix. Most of the time of cooking these went into chopping carrots!

This recipe makes 6 egg rolls. Of course, if you use mini wraps, it will make more.

Ingredients:

6 egg roll wrappers - Nasoya or other brand

12-15 shrimp, shelled, and chopped

3 carrots, peeled and chopped into matchsticks

1 green onion, finely chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp. grated ginger root

2 T olive oil, and another T later

1 T sesame oil

About 1 cup bean sprouts

Directions:

1. Combine 2 T olive oil with sesame oil in a frying pan or wok. Add garlic and ginger. Heat on low for 1-2 minutes, then turn off heat. (This gets the oils from the garlic and ginger to mingle with the olive oil, making the flavor richer and more evenly infused).

 [This is a good time to chop your veggies.]

2. Stir-fry shrimp in oil mixture until JUST cooked - entirely pink and white, and opaque. This should take about three minutes. Add veggies and stir-fry for another two minutes, then let the mixture cool.

3. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

4. This is the fun part - really!

Lay the wrap on the counter with one point facing you. Spoon the filling across the wrap from left to right, leaving a bit of space from either side for wrapping. Take the bottom point of your wrap and fold it over top of the filling. Fold the sides in towards the middle and roll the filling towards the top point of the wrapper. The biggest threat to your successful wrapping will be bits of carrot trying to poke through, but this is easily fixed.

To prevent the egg roll from unwrapping, dip your finger in a little water or oil and use this as glue to seal the top point of your wrap and any openings where you feel the wrap needs to be glued together.

The risk of unwrapping is much greater if you're frying these, but it is still a good idea to make sure there aren't any major gaps in your wrapper. It's just not as critical.

5. Place egg rolls seam-side-down on a greased baking sheet, brush with olive oil and bake for 10-15 minutes. Ours took 12 minutes to get lightly golden and crispy. They definitely need a minute or three to cool down before they can be eaten, but they should be eaten as soon as possible thereafter for maximum deliciousness.

[While they're baking is a good time to throw together a salad, if you want to.]

Then there's the dipping sauce.

I can't claim much responsibility for the sauce, as fantastic as it was. I combined about half of a 7.5 oz. jar of Asian plum sauce (in the Asian condiment section of your grocery store) with about a teaspoon of soy sauce, and a half teaspoon of chili oil for just a little bit of heat. It. Was. So. Good. These even got a wordless, semi-comatose-looking mouth-full thumbs-up from Brady!

Plum sauce: The secret to maximum deliciousness.

These took about an hour from start to finish, and were well worth the effort. I will readily admit that mine looked more like "egg packets" than "egg rolls," so I guess I just need more practice! I served them with a green lettuce and radish salad with sesame ginger dressing.

Tuna Cakes & Baby Greens Salad

This recipe, which is from Web MD of all places, calls these tasty morsels "tuna patties." But for some reason I have always hated the word patty, so these will be called tuna cakes. At least by me.

My only grievance with this original recipe is its estimated portion size. Serves two, two cakes each, with one can of tuna? Please. I doubled this for the two of us, and it was still a very satisfying but sensibly sized meal. For me it made 8 cakes, we each had 3, and there were 2 left for some lucky person's lunch tomorrow.

This is another "get your hands in there" recipe. Mix it with your hands before making the patties, and its an even faster, easier meal to put together. Also, it is no mistake that this is the first recipe under Web MD's "cheap and easy" section. It is certainly both of those things, but it is also delicious and nutritious. (The new label for low-cost dishes is "Cheap Thrills").

I used dry whole wheat breadcrumbs instead of Panko breadcrumbs, and I didn't have any plain Italian salad dressing so I just used olive oil, vinegar, salt, pepper and a pinch of garlic powder.

Just started cooking. That weird green thing on the bottom left is an oddly large piece of pickle, from the relish.

In a hurry? You can make these ahead of time, layer them in a plastic container with wax paper and cook them when you get home from work. Or class. Or wherever you were. I also recommend cooking more than you know you will need, and eating two or three for lunch the next day in a whole-wheat pita with a mixture of Sriracha and either light mayonnaise or tartar sauce. Tartar sauce is preferable, if you have it on hand. This is a highly portable meal and/or snack.

Tuna cakes with baby greens salad

I served these with some baby spinach greens drizzled with light Caesar dressing, and some chopped radishes.

Quote of the Day: "I brought you a tuna sandwich. They say it's brain food. I guess it's because there's so much dolphin in it, and you know how smart they are." ~ Marge Simpson

[Note: This recipe was made with dolphin-safe tuna!]