Summer has arrived, and with the heat comes simple fresh meals served with tart lemonade and buckets of beer. I adore summer evenings, sitting outside and watching the fireflies light up the yard, and nibbling on my favorite tomato basil mozzarella salad with a glass of crisp white wine and a chunk of fresh baguette. Summer is a season of simplicity, with days at the pool followed by evenings on the patio. Charlie checks out for bedtime at 730, and Josh and I move out to the deck to enjoy the evening hours. It's divine.
I've been fixing us my go-to summer salads, and tossing them with bright acidic dressings and freshly chopped herbs. This avocado shrimp salad is new to my summer repertoire, and pairs perfectly with a corona light and a few tortilla chips.
Zesty Lime Shrimp & Avocado Salad
from Skinnytaste
1/4 cup chopped red onion
2 limes, juice of
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt and black pepper to taste
1 lb jumbo cooked and peeled shrimp, chopped
1 medium tomato, diced
1 medium hass avocado, diced
1 jalapeno, seeds removed, diced fine
1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
In a small bowl, combine the red onion, lime juice, olive oil, salt and pepper. Let the onion marinate for 5 minutes to mellow the flavor.
In a large bowl, combine chopped shrimp, avocado, tomato, and jalapeno. Add the red onion mixture and cilantro and gently toss. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.
This quinoa salad is my new obsession because it's easy, healthy, and delicious. My friend Lexi made it for me on one of our fun baby play dates, and I've made it twice the last few weeks. We both decided that the recipe needed to be on the blog because it's AMAZING and ready in 30 minutes.
The sweet potatoes, black beans and quinoa are a great combination with the cilantro and lime juice. It tastes like summer, and I like to eat it hot or cold. I brought it for lunch at work today and snapped this picture before the contained disappeared.
One of my favorite Gretchen quotes that is ringing true in my life every single day is "Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good". This photo was snapped my iPhone in a Tupperware container that I packed the salad in. Maybe, hopefully, one day I will get back to snapping Saveur worthy pictures of my recipes, but for now I am just cooking, figuring out how to make the perfect pizza dough in my mixer, and muddling mint for mojitos. Let me just tell you - add a little cucumber to a mojito and muddle it with the limes and mint - so fresh and delicious! Right now, I am embracing the good, the wabi sabi. If you haven't heard of WABI SABI, look it up, right now!
Roasted Sweet Potato and Quinoa Salad
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1-inch cubes
1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth (I love Better than Bouillon paste)
2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can rotel tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2 limes (use 1 lime for more subtle flavor)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Avocado - for topping
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Toss sweet potatoes in olive oil, salt, and pepper and roast for 30 to 35 minutes or until done.
- Cook 1 cup of quinoa in 2 cups chicken broth.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine rotel tomatoes, black beans, lime juice, coriander, cumin, and cilantro. Add quinoa and stir well.
To serve, top quinoa salad with roasted sweet potatoes and avocado.
Since
purchasing my Paderno spiralizer on Amazon and catching crap from my
husband for buying yet another kitchen gadget, I'm trying to use it more often. This was the first time I tested it with cucumber, and it made
such a fun and pretty salad!
If you like Greek food, this salad has the right combination of kalamata olives, feta, red onion and hummus. I'm sure a little grilled chicken on top and pita on the side would be perfect for a dinner.
I was talking at work a few days ago about my favorite "healthy" kitchen gadgets - ones that encourage me to eat more fruit and veggies. Here are my top 3 -
1. Tribest persoanal blender - for protein fruit smoothies. This blender makes the perfect individual smoothie and only takes a couple of seconds to rinse out. I like using EAS lean 15 vanilla protein powder, unsweetened vanilla almond milk, and a handful of frozen berries.
2. Paderno spiralizer - for veggie noodles!
3. Breville compact juicer - anytime I'm craving a healthy juice I whip this baby out and feel like my life is back in balance, especially after those pizza & pasta dinners or big weekend trips.
Greek Cucumber Noodles
from Two Peas & their Pod
2 seedless English cucumbers
1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped
1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
4 Tbsp hummus
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
Salt and black pepper, to taste
Olive oil (optional)
Make the cucumber noodles using a spiralizer (I love my Paderno from Amazon)
Divide the cucumber noodles onto plates. Top with tomatoes, olives, and red onion. In the center of the noodles add a spoonful of hummus. Sprinkle feta cheese over the noodles. Top with a little olive oil (optional) and season with salt and black pepper, to taste. Serve immediately.
