It's Still Summer + Tomato and Beet Salad

School has started and Labor Day weekend came and went... sounds like summer is over.

Except, it is not.  Don't let those shiny, new backpacks and rules about not wearing white fool you.  Summer is alive and well, and I intend to celebrate it a little more.  

It only comes around once a year, after all, and really is the best season. (Ok, maybe it is tied with spring. I sure do enjoy spring as well...)

If you look at a calendar or at the daily weather forecast, you will see that it actually is still summer, at least until September 22.  So I plan on rounding up, to October.  I will start celebrating fall in October.  Which means unlike the other blogs you are seeing out there, you won't see pumpkin and apple recipes popping up yet.  They will come, trust me, but for now I will enjoy the bountiful harvest of tomatoes, bell peppers, and summer squash.  I hope you enjoy them with me.

Long live summer!

PS -- How did I live this long without knowing how DELICIOUS roasted beets are?  They taste nothing like their might-as-well-be-eating-dirt raw/slightly cooked selves.  Expect to see more of these popping up in my recipes!

TOMATO & ROASTED BEET SALAD

From Everyday Food, July/August 2012

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 10 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME:  85 MINUTES

ingredients

• 1 pound scrubbed small beets
• 2 pounds tomatoes, preferably heirloom
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes
• ¼ cup crumbled feta
• ¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves
• ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Seal beets in a foil packet.  Roast on a rimmed baking sheet until tender, 75 minutes.  When cool, rub beets with a paper towel to remove skins; slice.
2. Slice large tomatoes, and halve cherry tomatoes, then arrange with beets on a platter.  Top with feta, cilantro, and olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.

COST: $6.75      COST PER SERVING (4): $1.69

Red Velvet (from beet juice) Cupcakes

It is the week of L-O-V-E!  And you know what?  I couldn't care less about Valentine's Day, honestly.

I know, I am such a February Grinch.

But you know all those years that you didn't have somebody to celebrate with except your girlfriends, going out together pretending that you would rather be with them than with some hot dude, all knowing you were lying to each other, but for the sake of the holiday, that lie must go on?  Yeah, that was me.  Forever.  And so at some point between passing out little grocery-store cards in elementary school and getting dressed up to pretend celebrate in college, I just gave up.

Of course, now I have my Valentine, and a forever one at that.  It does make the day seem a little more appealing... except all those people all trying to make dinner reservations for the same night, and all those expectations of roses and candy and cards and... AH!  It makes my head hurt.  Besides, Valentine's Day is celebrated on a completely different day in Brazil, so my husband would never even remember anyway.

But you know what we do remember, every single year?  President's Day.

Think about it: no crowds and you (or at least WE) get the whole day off, and it is close enough to V-day that you don't feel totally like a love-grinch.  And so, we celebrate President's Day.  I know, how romantic. ;)

In the spirit of President's Day - slash - Valentine's Day (for the rest of you), I give you kinda-red velvet cupcakes with no artificial coloring.  Ta-da!

For Sundays with Joy this week we were supposed to make her red velvet marble cake.  That sounded good and all, but I really wanted cupcakes, and not marbly ones.  And all that food coloring really just turned me off.  So I set out to see what I could do instead.  Google kindly informed me that beets were my go-to pigment changer and I just so happened to have some in the fridge, straight from the farmer's market.  Even though I didn't follow Joy's recipe, she did inspire me to create one that is amazing.  Very little sugar, no added colors, and a most-excellent taste.  PERFECT.  And just in time to celebrate President's Day... or Valentine's Day, if you are into that sort of thing.  :)

My Valentine.  (Ok, I guess I am not a total grinch!)

Red Velvet (from beet juice) Cupcakes
adapted from the Bake Cakery Blog

ingredients

• 2 large beets
• 3 tablespoons cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 heaping teaspoon plain greek yogurt
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup flour
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Wrap beets individually in tinfoil, unpeeled.  Bake on baking sheet for one hour or until you can pierce with a fork.  When finished, peel beets and cut into large chunks.  Reduce oven to 350 degrees.
2. Put beets, lemon juice, and vinegar in blender and blend until a puree.  Add other wet ingredients and blend again.
3. Mix dry ingredients in large mixing bowl.  Add beet mixture to dry ingredients and beat with cake beater until well mixed.  
4. Pour into cupcake liners (2/3 full) and bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until fork inserted in the middle comes out clean.

**For the frosting, I used this buttercream recipe and added the beet juice that pooled inside the tin foil to make it pink. 

**My cupcakes came out dark, but adding more lemon juice is supposed to make it brighter.  You can play around with that.  The color was bright pink batter, but dark pink/brown when baked with my amount of lemon juice. The taste was fabulous, though.

COST: $2.52   COST PER CUPCAKE (12): $0.21

And the sun came out... (Arugula Salad with Oranges and Beets)

Remember when I quoted those ever-wise words of Annie?  Well, it happened.  The sun came out, both literally and figuratively.  There is sunshine everywhere today, including my soul. 

It started this morning.  I woke up with the ability to breathe again.  Yes!

Yesterday I was thinking how we so often say things like, "I will never take the ability to breathe for granted again!"  For example: I used to live on this little (and by little I mean teeny-tiny, 1/4 of a square mile in size TOTAL) island with about 15,000 people living on it.  Yes, it was a little claustrophobic at times.  But that was OK.  I am incredibly sanguine, so that didn't bother me that much.  But the showers, oh the showers...  Not only were they cold, but they were salt-water.  And sometimes, when the power went out, which really was more than "sometimes" and instead like half of the time, we had to go get buckets of said cold, salt water out of a well.  That had cockroaches crawling all over it.  In this dark basement room.  (No, I am not making this up, and no, I did not walk to school barefoot in the snow, uphill both ways.)  During these moments I would hear myself saying, "I will never take clean and warm running water for granted again!"  But then I returned to the States.  Sure, the first few days I was in awe at the beauty of the faucet.  It didn't take long, however, for me to forget how wonderful that actually is and now I totally take it for granted -- unless the water heater breaks.  Then I find myself remembering my little island and how this used to be the norm and I think, "HOW IN THE WORLD DID I SURVIVE COLD SHOWERS ALL THE TIME?!" 

The point is this:  I can breathe again, and I know I am going to take that for granted.  Shoot -- five hours into and I already do.  And that is OK.  I am ready to take that for granted again.  That cold is over and I can fully live again.

Sunshine.
Then, on the way to work, the sun was actually shining, and shining brightly.  It wasn't warm, but it was bright.  I slid open the sunroof, turned up my music, and tapped my toes along with the beat. 

Sunshine.

So I bring to you today a sunny side dish.  A little salad, to be exact.  The beets and oranges, when cooked, release some of their juice which is used a little olive oil and salt to create the dressing.  The arugula has its own wonderful (albeit slightly bitter) flavor.  Mix it all together and you get something light and yum.

By the way, if you don't like beets, try this anyway.  I used to think beets tasted like the ground.  Actually, I still do... but it doesn't taste bad to me anymore.  And these beets you see up there in the picture are awesome because they are already steamed and peeled and you just have to heat them up for this recipe, although they are also great cold.  This little box has six or so beets in it.  Much easier than peeling, steaming, and then cooking with the oranges.  You could also use regular beets, of course.  Either way though, use them!  They are some of nature's wonders.  And remember, it is March.  The time of sunshine is near... yesssss!

Salad from Real Simple, October 2011

Serves 4| Hands-On Time: 10m | Total Time: 45m (or 30 minutes if using the TJ's beets)

 

Ingredients

• 1 pound beets, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch wedges
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• kosher salt and black pepper
• 2 oranges, cut into large chunks
• 6 cups baby arugula (5 ounces)

Directions

Heat oven to 450° F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss the beets with 3 tablespoons of the oil, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Roast until beginning to soften, 13 to 15 minutes. Add the oranges to the baking sheet and roast, tossing once, until the beets and oranges are tender, 15 to 17 minutes more. Add the arugula and toss to combine.

Cost: $4.74                   Cost Per Serving (4): $1.19