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

Life is Like... (Caprese Chicken Sandwich)

Life is like a box of chocolates, right?  You never know what you are going to get inside.  Or maybe life is like a roll of toilet paper; the closer it gets to the end, the faster it goes.

How about this one?  Life is like a piano.  What you get depends on how you play it.

Life is like a turtle.  You won't get anywhere unless you stick your neck out.

My favorite?  Life is like a hot bath.  It feels good while you're in it, but the longer you stay the more wrinkly you get.

So, what do all these life metaphors have to do with this sandwich?

Nothing.  I just like them, as I like life.  And I like this sandwich.  There's a whole lot of 'like' going on.

Help me finish the sentence below in the comments: Life is like...

CAPRESE CHICKEN SANDWICH

Inspired by Everyday Food’s Pesto Chicken Burgers

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 15 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 15 MINUTES

ingredients

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 cup fresh spinach
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¼ cup pine nuts
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 1 lb. grilled chicken breast (from the deli section – or make your own)
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 4 oz. fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 4 pieces of focaccia, halved

directions

1. In a food processor, puree basil, spinach, garlic, pine nuts, oil, and 1 tablespoon water.  Season with salt and pepper.
2. Sliced the chicken breasts into four flat pieces.  Heat.
3. Assemble sandwiches with pesto on the top and bottom slices of focaccia, chicken, tomato, and mozzarella.

COST: $11.99              COST PER SERVING (4): $2.99

Apologies + Tomato Salad

Dear Friends Who Leave Me Voicemails,
I am sorry I never reply to you.  Actually, I am sorry I never even check your messages but just delete them and call you back when I have time.  I would like to say I have some good excuse, but I don't, other than I simply don't like checking my voice mail.  Sorry.

Dear Other Drivers on the Road,
I am sorry for all the times I wished the CHP upon you when you ticked me off.  I wouldn't like it if you did the same in return... oh wait, I am pretty sure you do do it in return.  Oh well.

Dear Friends Who Invite Me Over,
I am sorry for all the times I brought lame, store bought food to potluck dinners.  I know that you expect more from a woman with a food blog, but it's just so easy to hit up Safeway on the way over...

Dear Digestive Track,
I am sorry for all the times I fed you cheese or popcorn, knowing full well that it would make you miserable, and therefore make me miserable. I apologize for thinking more about the taste buds than I think about you.

Dear College Roommate,
I am sorry that I showed up to your wedding in the wrong colored bridesmaid's dress. You said 'blackberry' and I wrote down 'black', only to find out the day of your wedding that 'blackberry' was code for 'dark purple'.  Oops.  (And thank you for still being my friend, despite that.)

Dear Husband,
I am sorry for all the times I made you sit through The Bachelor with me. I know you have about 1,287,658 things you would rather be doing, but you power through so I can have someone to comment to.  You are a trooper!

And, Meu Amor, while I am at at, I am sorry that I never feed you Brazilian food anymore.  You have given up your country and your language and all the people you knew, and I don't want you to have to give up your food, as well.  I hope this tomato salad can help put us back on the half-American-half-Brazilian track again.  Besides, with fresh tomatoes, onions, cilantro, and lime juice it is delicious and there is no reason not to have this on our plate, regularly.  Kind of like pico de gallo as a side dish...  Yum.

Whew!  It was good to get that all off my chest ;)

// Day 13 of Blog Every Day in May //

BRAZILIAN TOMATO SALAD

SERVES 4  •  PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES  •  TOTAL TIME: 5 MINUTES

ingredients

• 3-4 large tomatoes, thinly sliced
• ½ onion, very thinly sliced
• 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• juice from 1-2 limes or ½ lemon
• salt, to taste

directions

1.      Mix tomatoes and onions together.  Add cilantro and lime/lemon juice with salt.  Enjoy!

 COST: $3.14       COST PER SERVING (4): $0.79 

Tomato Pizza with Ricotta and Oregano

I live in a cave.  No, not literally.  Figuratively.  (Although living in a cave literally could be pretty awesome if it was outfitted correctly.  And there were no bats.  None.)

The problem is this: there are windows facing the East and windows facing the West, but not a single window facing North or South.  So if I get really early in the morning I can catch some good light in the guest room (AKA sports equipment room + ironing room + art supply room + random box holding room).  But that doesn't work on days I have to go to work.  Or if I am in the right spot at the right time in the evening, I can catch some good light on my kitchen floor.  Yes, floor.  Hey -- my options are limited.

But today I discovered lighting gold.  If I move my toaster and my olive oil and -- well, you get the picture -- I have a little area that has pretty good light.  Not perfect, but better than most places in my cave.  This may sound pathetic, but I did a little happy dance over that.  Taking pictures on the counter so beats taking pictures on the floor!

This great light captured some even greater today -- tomato pizza.

Did you know I don't like pizza?  I mean, it is OK, but I hate tomato sauce on pizza.  HATE it.  So I have to find a place that has pesto or white sauce like Round Table.  And then there is all that cheese.  Makes a body not so happy, at least in my experience.  Sure, the taste buds like it, but the digestive track?  Not so much.  At least not ooey-gooey cheese like mozzarella.  But this pizza?  Well, thank you Everyday Food for suggesting it to me!  No tomato sauce and instead of ooey-gooey cheese it is a ricotta and Parmesan blend.  Not as hard on my belly.  And of course, fresh tomatoes!

As for the oregano, I pulled a little bit out of my herb garden.  I always feel a little bit like Laura Ingalls Wilder when I eat something that I planted myself.

So, for this generally-non-pizza-eating-girl and her Brazilian-pizza-eating-husband (which, by the way, ROCKS and would beat American pizza in Rock Paper Scissors each and every time), how did this pizza score?

TEN!  From both of us.

Sorry, Round Table, but there is a new pizza love in town.

Tomato pizza with ricotta and oregano

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food, September 2012

INGREDIENTS

• 1 lb. fresh pizza dough (I used garlic-herb dough from Trader Joe's -- only $1.29)
• 4 T olive oil
• 1 c. fresh whole milk ricotta 
• 4 oz. grated Parmesan
• 1 egg
• 2 pints small tomatoes (either grape, cherry, or mini-heirloom -- I used the heirloom)
• 1 large heirloom tomato, any color, cut into half moons
• salt and pepper
• fresh oregano, to top

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 500F with racks at the thirds.  Take pizza dough and drizzle 2T of olive oil on top.  Roll out into a 16-inch oval and place on baking sheet.
2. Mix ricotta, Parmesan, and some salt (1/8 teaspoon maybe) in a bowl.  Beat in egg.  Spread on top of pizza dough, leaving a 1-inch border.
3. Mix the small tomatoes with the remaining olive oil (2T) and salt and pepper to taste.  Put in an oven-safe dish or rimmed baking sheet.  No need to cut them first.  Place the pizza dough on the top rack in  the oven and the tomatoes on the bottom rack, and bake for 15 minutes, or until tomato skins have burst.  Remove tomatoes and bake pizza dough about 5 minutes more, or until deep golden brown.  
4. Mix the large heirloom tomato pieces in with the cooked ones.  Place on top of pizza when it comes out of the oven.  Top with fresh oregano.  Enjoy! :)

COST: $9.84   Cost per serving (4): $2.46

Plus a side salad, $2.91 per plate

Brazilian Tomato Salad

Five simple ingredients.  That's all it takes to make my husband the happiest man alive. 

Yup, tomatoes with some onion, cilantro, and a little bit of lime juice and salt are the way to this man's heart. 

And I totally get it.  I mean, my idea of salad had always been lettuce/spincach/arugula with some veggies and dressing on top, but this is so light and so fresh there is no dressing needed.  And you can skip the lettuce and get straight to the good stuff... tomatoes.

Unless you don't like tomatoes.  Then I guess it isn't the good stuff.  But if you do, well, you need to try this.  We had it with a plate of rice and beans and some ground beef/veggie mixture and I just mixed it all up... so. incredibly. GOOD.  I went back to get some more but there was none.  Guess who ate it all?!

Happy me -- I still have some tomatoes at home.  You know what I will be having more of tonight ;)

INGREDIENTS:

• 4 Roma tomatoes, sliced
• 1 Tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Juice of 1 lime
• 2 thin slices of onion, cut if quarters
• Salt, to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Chop, slice, cut, mix, ENJOY :)

COST: $1.10       COST PER SERVING (4): $0.28

Soooo cheap!

Getting a little fresh...

The ingredients that I am working with.  Fresh and easy. 

Looks like salsa is happening, but it's not.  Check back tomorrow to see what is up around here :)

Some Non-Stories and a Vegetable Frittata

This is normally the part where I tell you some story.  You know... I did this, thought that, and then BAM, here I am, eating what you see above.  But I don't have that today.  What I do have is a really great and EASY recipe that I love, and some pretty pictures to go along with it.  Or I could tell you about cutting open pig hearts with my students yesterday and all the blo---- ok, never mind.  Like I said, recipe and good pictures.  Sounds about right for today :)



This is one of those quick-fix meals that is super cheap as well.  Vegetarian to boot.  I like meat, don't get me wrong, but I like vegetables as well.  Speaking of vegetables...

Alright, quick story.  (This is me typing this, are you surprised?)

The other day I wrote on my blog about all that I had learned this year (which you totally read, right?  RIGHT?!), the very first one being that "veggies have flavor -- and it isn't Ranch".  And then later that night I saw that Google Translate had sent traffic to my blog so I clicked on in to find out what that was all about.  Basically someone in Brazil was reading my blog (Ha!  Caught you!) and needed it translated.  Super cool.  I am all over that.  Interested in seeing how well they did, I started reading through... Home = Casa, About = Sobre, so far so good.  And then I see #1 of what I learned:  "Vegetarians have flavor  -- and it isn't Ranch."  I am a cannibal and I didn't even know it!  HAHAHA! 

Ok, back to the recipe and pictures.  (Yes, this is how my brain works, and no, I do not have ADD.  My mind just runs in circles a lot.)

Four easy steps to make this frittata happen:

1) Cook onion and green beans over medium (with a tablespoon of olive oil) for 8 minutes.

2) Add tomatoes and cook again, 2 minutes.

3) Add egg/sour cream concoction.  Cook 2 minutes until the edges are set.

4) Put in oven on 425F for 8 minutes.

From start to finish, 20 minutes.  My kind of cooking!  My guess would be that it is probably yours, too.

Recipe taken from Everyday Food, March 2012

• Yield Serves 4

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 8 large eggs, lightly beaten
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 medium red onion, diced medium
• 1/2 pound green beans, trimmed and cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 tomato, cut into 1/2-inch pieces (I did two.)
• 1 cup grated Parmesan

Directions

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together eggs and sour cream and season with salt and pepper. In a 10-inch cast-iron skillet, heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium. Add onion and green beans and cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 10 minutes. Add tomato, and season with salt and pepper. Add egg mixture and stir to combine. Sprinkle with Parmesan and cook, undisturbed, until edge is set, about 2 minutes.
2. Transfer skillet to upper rack in oven and bake until slightly puffed and almost set, about 8 minutes. Heat broiler and broil until cheese is browned and bubbling, about 1 minute. Run a rubber spatula around edge of frittata and transfer to a plate. Cut into wedges and serve with potatoes and garlic (which will be in another blog post, so just serve with whatever you would like).

Cost: $7.92                   Cost Per Serving (4) $1.98

Well, that didn't go as planned...

Yesterday, I planned to make guacamole. 

Scratch that. 

Yesterday, I made guacamole. 

See?  I even have a picture of my ingredients to prove it. 

And that's ALL I have to prove it.

Yup, that's right.  The lighting was right, the bowl was beautiful (a bowl from Mexico was going to make its official debut!), and the guac tasted good.  Not my best, but whatever -- you can't tell that from pictures, right?  And then we ate it. 

Without taking pictures.

Which might not be a tragedy if this wasn't a food blog I was keeping.  But this is a food blog I am keeping.  And I had a bought these beautiful avocados for a reason.  Sigh.

Oh well, at least we enjoyed some not-great-but-good guacamole.  On crackers.  Because I didn't have chips.  So really, even if I had taken pictures, that would have been a major fail, even though taste-wise it is what we prefer.

Whatever.

But really, this was all OK, because today I had a plan.  A super salad plan.  We are on a beans-and-rice-with-a-different-salad-every-night-for-dinner diet for the week (not because we think we are fat, but because we want to just kind of "freshen up" for a few days...).  So I had this plan.  I was going to come home right after work, make a beautiful salad, take some beautiful pictures, and then eat my beautiful food.

Except that's not how it worked.  I worked late and had to run to the grocery store to get rice.  By the time I got home the sun was setting, the light was ugly, and I realized I did not have some of the key ingredients.  Missing ingredients two days in a row?  What is going on with me???  Oh, that's right, I went shopping without a list.  For the first time in months.  See why I need my list?!  This is the best picture I got, poor lighting and missing ingredients not included:

I can't show you more of the salad because it is ugly. 

Very, very ugly.

This is the point where I did what any grown woman would do: I started to pout.  And whine.  And drop my feet heavily every time I stepped.  Just to prove my point. 

To whom?

The world.

Sometimes that's just what we need to do.

But then I stopped.  I breathed.  And then I realized I needed to let it go.  When I took a moment to look at it from not-smack-dab-in-the-middle, I began to understand how incredibly small and completely idiotic this cause for irritation really was.  So I relaxed my grip and let.it.go.

As annoying as it is to hear, Annie sang it best years ago. "The sun will come out tomorrow."  That's really the great thing.  For most things in life you always get tomorrow; this case is no different.  So, yes, the sun will come out tomorrow, and you better believe when it does I will be ready -- camera and the correct ingredients in hand.


(A special shout-out goes to my husband.  Thank you for letting me vent and laughing at me when I was about to fall apart in a way that encouraged me to laugh along with you.)