Mashed Chickpea and Avocado Sandwich

Recipes similar to this have been on my radar for almost 2 years and I am just getting around to making this! I have been craving avocados this summer. I swear, I put them in almost anything and it tastes better! This is a really simple recipe and perfect for a summer picnic. I think it would make a great dip too or even something you could just eat alone. I wanted to add curry powder too but I was out!

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 cups cooked Chickpeas (I prefer any canned brand from the middle-eastern store!)
• 1 small-medium sized avocado
• 1-2 green onions 
• a handful of fresh cilantro 
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• Dash of cayenne pepper
• Dash of garlic powder
• Bread (if desired, I used gluten free-Udis)
• Juice of 1 small lime
• Salt to taste 
• Lettuce 
• Tomatoes (fresh from the garden!)

Place chickpeas in a bowl and smash with a fork until most of the chickpeas are soft . Add avocado and smash into the chickpeas until combined. Chop green onion(s) and cilantro and add to mixture. Add spices and lime juice, mix throughly. Toast bread, add cheddar cheese and mustard if desired. Top with lettuce and tomatoes. It is a bit messy so you'll need some napkins!! 

Shaved Fennel & Arugula Salad

Another 95+ degree day = another delicious salad success story from 101 cookbooks. :) I made this Sunday night, and it lasted for 4-5 lunch size salads, and everything stayed delicious even after dressing it all the first night. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 2 medium zucchini, sliced into paper thin coins
• 2 small fennel bulbs, trimmed and shaved paper-thin
• 2/3 cup loosely chopped fresh dill
• The juice of 2 lemons
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more if needed
• fine grain sea salt
• 4 or 5 generous handfuls arugula (I jus tused the whole basket/bag from the store)
• Honey, if needed
• 1/2 cup pine nuts, toasted (I used toasted almonds)
• 1/3 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Directions

Note: If you're using a knife to prep here, do your best to slice things very, very thinly

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. 
3. Scoop all of the zucchini and fennel onto the arugula, and pour most/all 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. 
4. Serve topped with pine nuts and feta.

Serves 4 to 6

Carrot, Dill & White Bean Salad

So... after a week of 90 degree days, it's definitely summer salad weather! And after enjoying all the delicious salads the Detroit ladies made last weekend (Colleen and MB, I'm looking at you...), I decided to try a few recipes out this week. 


101 Cookbooks has been my go-to lately, and she didn't disappoint with this recipe for a Carrot, Dill & White Bean salad. I made this last night for the first time after a day at the beach. And it was awesome! Super easy to prepare, filling, and had some different flavors than the salads I usually make (I never think about warm carrots). I let this stand unit it came down to room temperature, which was perfect. 


Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

• The juice from 1 large lemon

• 1/4 teaspoon fine grain salt

• 1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots (I used a bit more)

• more olive oil for cooking

• 2 cups sliced carrots, cut 1/4-inch thick on deep bias

• 3 cups cooked white beans

• 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill

• 2 tablespoons honey (or brown sugar) (start small and add to taste)

• 1/3 cup sliced almonds, toasted

Directions

1. Combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt and shallots in a small bowl. Stir and set aside. 
2. In a large skillet over medium high heat, toss the carrots with a splash of olive oil. Let them cook in a single layer — they'll give off a bit of water at first. Keep cooking, tossing gently every 3 to 4 minutes until the carrots are deeply browned. About 12 minutes total. 
3. Add the beans and dill to the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the beans have heated through. You may need to add a bit more olive oil to the pan. 
4. Place the contents of the skillet in a large mixing bowl, add a bit of honey. I started small and tasted as I went since I didn't want it to be too sweet. 
5. Add the olive oil, lemon juice, shallot mix. Toss gently. Let sit for 10 minutes. 
6. Toss once again, taste and adjust with more salt, honey or lemon juice to taste/balance flavors. 
7. Finish by sprinkling toasted almonds just before serving. (I forgot to do this and was sad, it would have been good with them for sure.) 
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Summer Quinoa Salad

I have made up quite a few quinoa salads this spring. This one was one of my favorites and really easy to make. 

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups quinoa
• A few cucumber slices, cut into quarters
• Half of an orange (or red) pepper-diced
• 10 grape tomatoes -sliced in half length wise 
• 2 green onions-diced
• Half a can of white beans
• Half a can of palm hearts-sliced length wise
• 10+ fresh mint leaves-cut into strips
• Feta cheese 
• Juice of a medium sized lemon
• Avocado oil
• White balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper 

Directions:

1. Cook 1 1/2 cups quinoa according to package. Let cool. 
2. Chop all veggies and place in a large bowl. 
3. Once quinoa is cool add to the bowl. 
4. Add mint, beans and hearts of palm and crumble some feta cheese on top.
5. Comine lemon juice, a few splashes of vinegar and avocado oil. Toss salad with dressing, add salt & pepper to taste. 

I think salads like this are best if they can sit for an hour or so. If you don't have avocado oil, olive oil would work just fine. I also think you can substitute any type of bean. Add more or less veggies as you see fit.   

Enjoy!

Salad makes 7-10 side dish servings. 

Duck Egg Kale Frittata

I have been buying my eggs from a new farmer for the past few months. I always notice that he has duck eggs but I was apprehensive about trying them. I finally took the plunge and I am glad that I did. They are bigger than chicken eggs but I found out that (compared in weight) duck eggs have more vitamins, minerals than chicken eggs! They do have a slightly higher fat and cholesterol count but I am not really worried about that. Overall, I think they have a more distinct flavor than chicken eggs. I would buy them again!

I made this frittata with the leftovers that I had from making the kale stew. It was delicious. I think kale and eggs pair nicely together. Try it!

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

• 5 Duck eggs
• 5 leaves of kale, stems removed and chopped finely
• 1 veggie sausage, cut in half lengthwise and diced (I used sun-dried tomato Tofurky brand)
• 1 clove of garlic, chopped finely
• 4 mushrooms, chopped
• 1/4-1/2 of a medium onion, diced
• Parmesan, shredded-1/3-1/2 cup (I like a lot of cheese but you use as much as you want)
• Half and half (approximately 1 tablespoon)
• Salt and pepper-a pinch or 2 
• Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix duck eggs together in a bowl. While beating eggs pour in half and half and mix until combined. Coat a cast-iron skillet with plenty of olive oil. Heat oil in the skillet on medium heat. Add onions and cook for approximately 3 minutes. Add garlic and cook another minute. Add mushroom, sausage and kale, saute a few minutes, until kale cooks down, add more oil, if needed. Add the eggs, half of the Parmesan salt and pepper. Mix everything together and cook for another 2 minutes. Sprinkle the top of the frittata with the remaining Parmesan cheese. Place skillet in the over and cook for 5-10 minutes, until the top starts to brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Serve with hot sauce and leftover baguette.     

Kale and White Bean Stew

I have made several variations of this soup over the years so I thought it was about time that I posted one of them.  In the past I have added mushroom, used different greens (it is great with swiss chard), used tomatoes instead of sausage etc etc. I am not usually a big fake meat eater but for some reason it just sounded good, you can feel free to omit it or use real sausage. I think this soup always turns out delicious.  I made this variation a few weeks ago and it lasted for days which was good considering the fact that I had 3 exams that week! I served this with a whole wheat baguette with melted Parmesan!

Makes 6 main coarse servings

Ingredients:

•  3/4 pound dried white beans (I used cannellini)
• 1 large sweet onion (or 2 medium onions)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 5 cups veggie broth or veggie bullion
• 2 qt water
• splash of white wine
• 1 (3- by 2-inch) piece Parmesan rind (this really makes it!)
• 1 dried rosemary or dried thyme
• 3 veggie sausages, (I used the sun-dried tomato Tofurky brand) cut in half length-wise & chopped
• 4 carrots, halved lengthwise and cut into moons
• 1 lb kale (I prefer lacinato), stems and center ribs discarded and leaves coarsely chopped 
• vinegar (you choose!)
• Salt and pepper to taste
• baguette

Preparation:

Cover beans with water by 2 inches in a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and let stand, uncovered, 1 hour. Drain beans in a colander and rinse.

Cook onions in oil in an 8-quart pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook, stirring, 1 minute. De-glaze the pan with a few splashes of white wine, let cook another minute in the wine.

Add beans, broth, 1 quart water, cheese rind, salt, pepper, and rosemary (or thyme) and simmer, uncovered, until beans are just tender, about 50 minutes.

While soup is simmering, brown sausage (if using).

Stir carrots into soup and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in kale, sausage, and remaining quart water and simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until kale is tender, 12 to 15 minutes. Add a splash or 2 of vinegar, I used balsamic. Season soup with salt and pepper.

Adapted from Epicurious

 

Quinoa Cakes with Kale Pesto & Poached Eggs

Colleen and I made these a couple months ago and they were seriously delicious. I liked them so much that I made them 2 weeks later for a dinner party. They are really versatile, I think you can pretty much top them with anything. The second time I made them I served them with basil pesto and poached eggs as well as with a roasted beet & goat cheese puree. Thinking about them makes me want to whip some up right now, did I mention they were easy?

Here is the recipe for the cakes:
makes about 2-3 servings.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
• 2 cups water or broth
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/4 cup onion, finely diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 cup flour (I used whole wheat the first time & gluten free all purpose the second time)
  
• 1/4 cup Parmesan, grated
• salt and pepper to taste
• oil for frying

Directions

1. Simmer the quinoa in the water until the liquid has been absorbed and the quinoa is tender, about 15 minutes and let cool a bit.
2. Mix the cooked quinoa with the eggs, onion, garlic, flour, parmesan, salt and pepper, adding more flour if required.
3. Heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.
4. Spoon the mixture into the pan and form patties of any size that you desire and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 2-4 minutes per side, and set aside on paper towels to drain.

We didn't measure anything while making the kale pesto, here is a framework to work with. In my experience, pesto is something that can't be measured, you have to keep tasting.

For the Pesto:
4-6 cups kale leaves, ribs removed, coarsely chopped (lacinato works best, I think)
2 large fresh garlic clove, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup coarsely chopped, toasted walnuts
3/4 cup grated parmesan
1/2 cup olive oil
lots of salt and pepper

Mix everything in a food processor or blender.

Here is a great link on The Smitten Kitchen on how to poach an egg. The only advice I have in addition to her explanation is to add some vinegar to the water. It helps to keep the egg from separating and no, your egg won't taste like vinegar!

Original recipe found on Closet Cooking.