Category: Mouthwatering Mondays
Spinach with Pine Nuts and Raisins
Ingredients:
1 lbs fresh spinach
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/4 cup raisins, dried cranberries, or dried currents (or all THREE!)
1/2 tablespoon + 1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
Directions:
Soak raisins, cranberries, or currents in warm water for 10 minutes while you wash the spinach, then drain.
Melt 1/2 tablespoon butter in a pan and toast the pine nuts. (You can use olive oil, but I just like the favor butter adds to the nuts.) Remove pine nuts once lightly brown and set aside on a plate.
In the same pan, melt the rest of the butter and wilt the spinach a handful at a time. Keep it moving so the leaves don’t stick to the pan.
Once wilted, toss in berries and pine nuts. Serve.
Minted Summer Salad
Ingredients:
1 cucumber
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
1 cup fresh garden peas or petits pois
3/4 cup feta, crumbed
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Mix. Enjoy.
This last one I ate before I could photograph, but I found something similar from Southern Living. It was very yummy and used most of the same ingredients from the potato soup. (Bacon optional, but recommended)
Creamy Potato Salad
Source
Ingredients:
1 pound red potatoes, cut in to 1-inch cubes
6 hard-boiled eggs, quarter
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon course ground brown mustard
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped bacon, optional
Directions:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Add potatoes and cook for 8 minutes or until slightly tender. Strain, place in large bowl and let cool until slightly warm.
While potatoes are cooking, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, dill, salt and pepper, and optional bacon.
Add green onions, hard-boiled eggs, and potatoes and gently combine until well coated. Serve immediately or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
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As an aside, I went to high school with a girl named Summer Sides. She was never mean to me, but she also wasn’t very nice. I just remember that her name was embroidered on the bib of her jumper, because yes, we all wore uniforms and yes, we went to Catholic school.
I wore a Catholic school uniform for twelve years. Not the same one, of course, but one appropriately sized at each grade level with the exception of an “as-short-as-I-could-get-away-with” hemline. I always got away with it because I was HOT. My friend, Amber, however got fined every year.
It was because she had a huge ass and her skirt rode up in the back. I can say that because she wasn’t a very good friend. If you really want to know, she was very bitchy and still is.
So the funny thing about my Catholic school uniform was that in spite of sporting the whole getup… knee socks, Mary Janes… no boys ever noticed me because of it. None. Then, the second we graduated it was all… “Ooohhh baby, Catholic school girls”.
My boyfriend in college, who also went to Catholic school all of his life, would always ask if I just so happened to have saved old uniform.
Heh! Wouldn’t you like to know…
Anyway, I have no idea what ever became of Summer. I don’t even know why I brought it up.
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For more great recipes, drop by A Southern Fairytale for “Mouthwatering Mondays”.
6 hard-boiled eggs, quarter
1 bunch green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon course ground brown mustard
1 teaspoon dried dill
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Pinch freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup chopped bacon, optional
Directions:
Bring a medium pot of water to a boil over medium heat. Add potatoes and cook for 8 minutes or until slightly tender. Strain, place in large bowl and let cool until slightly warm.
While potatoes are cooking, mix together mayonnaise, sour cream, mustard, dill, salt and pepper, and optional bacon.
Add green onions, hard-boiled eggs, and potatoes and gently combine until well coated. Serve immediately or keep covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
————————————
As an aside, I went to high school with a girl named Summer Sides. She was never mean to me, but she also wasn’t very nice. I just remember that her name was embroidered on the bib of her jumper, because yes, we all wore uniforms and yes, we went to Catholic school.
I wore a Catholic school uniform for twelve years. Not the same one, of course, but one appropriately sized at each grade level with the exception of an “as-short-as-I-could-get-away-with” hemline. I always got away with it because I was HOT. My friend, Amber, however got fined every year.
It was because she had a huge ass and her skirt rode up in the back. I can say that because she wasn’t a very good friend. If you really want to know, she was very bitchy and still is.
So the funny thing about my Catholic school uniform was that in spite of sporting the whole getup… knee socks, Mary Janes… no boys ever noticed me because of it. None. Then, the second we graduated it was all… “Ooohhh baby, Catholic school girls”.
My boyfriend in college, who also went to Catholic school all of his life, would always ask if I just so happened to have saved old uniform.
Heh! Wouldn’t you like to know…
Anyway, I have no idea what ever became of Summer. I don’t even know why I brought it up.
————————————
For more great recipes, drop by A Southern Fairytale for “Mouthwatering Mondays”.
Warm, creamy potato soup is more of a winter dish, but pregnancy cravings know no seasonality…
I tossed in my favorite summer veggie, asparagus, which explains why it looks so… umm, green.
I told Mr. D and Scout the potato, plus the color was to celebrate our proud Irish heritage. (Mr.D=1/2, Scout=1/4, Me= in name only…) As testament to its yummy goodness, neither one asked what made it green until well after dinner.
Potato, Leek, and Asparagus Soup
Ingredients:
Directions:
Put the butter or oil in a large, deep saucepan or casserole over medium heat. When butter melts or the oil is hot, add the vegetables. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and cook, stirring, for 2 to 3 minutes.
Add the stock and cook until the vegetables are very tender, about 20 minutes.
Carefully puree the soup in a food processor or blender, then return to pot. Stir in 1/2 to 1 cup sour cream, and reheat gently.
Adjust seasoning to taste. Top with chives, cheese, and/or chopped bacon.
Serves 4.
This recipe comes from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, which I picked up while at the farmers’ market this weekend… along with the fresh asparagus.
As I stood in line to pay, other customers commented on what a GREAT book this is.
I agree, even if I did top the soup with BACON and didn’t necessarily opt for the “vegan option” provided. (i.e. replace the butter with olive oil. Skip the cheese and sour cream)
Enjoy!
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For more great recipe fun, join me at A Southern Fairytale for “Mouthwatering Mondays”.
I’ve been in a food rut lately. Too tired (and winded) from being required to… oh, I don’t know… get out of bed or tie my own shoes, there are days when the least… er, best I can manage for dinner is hot dogs. Blech!
Then just as suddenly, I’ll get a burst of happy hormones and I just have to bake something from scratch and whip up meals like this…
I found the recipe…. of all places… at the seafood counter of my local Safeway, but you can have it too!
Basa and Herbed Citrus Sauce
Ingredients:
3 tbsp light mayo
3 tbsp sliced green onions
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
2 tsp grated lemon
2 tablespoons milk
4 (6-oz) basa fillets, about 1/2 inch thick
salt and pepper
Directions:
Mix oranges, mayo, green onions, parsley, tarragon, and lemon peel. Cover and refrigerate until serving time.
Grill or oven broil fish.
Grill: Preheat grill to medium (300F-350F). Rinse and pat dry fish. Brush with oil on both sides and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Grill for 4-6 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Broil: Set oven to broil and allow to preheat. Rinse and pat dry fish. Brush with oil on both sides and lightly sprinkle with salt and pepper. Place fish under broiler for 8-10 minutes or until fish flakes easily.
Serve fillets with sauce. Serves 4.
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You’re welcome. Now, you can repay me with some advice.
My lunchtime routine still needs work. I manage just fine with leftovers, but my son… Oh my goodness! What to feed my son?!
I should preface this with… HE’S THREE and picks at anything that isn’t…
Annie’s Macaroni & Cheese and peas…
Cheese Toasties (you may know it as “Grilled Cheese Sandwiches”) and fruit, or…
PB & J. (He eats the PB side and smears the J on his face…Good times.)
He’s totally over chicken nuggets (even the ones shaped like dinosaurs) and barely touches pizza.
On the other hand, I should probably be grateful that he’s eating all. I assume he’s getting all the right nutrition. He’s certainly not lacking in ENERGY…
It just feels so bo-ring to feed him the same three things every… single.. day…
My fancy baby cookbooks suggest things like “fish souffles in individual ramekins”, “mini veggie strombolis”, and “pasta primevera”… to which I have ask, “Does anyone really do that?”
I have a hard enough time preparing (and cleaning up after) ONE involved meal a day.
So, tell me. What do your kids eat for lunch?
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For more great recipe fun, join me at A Southern Fairytale for “Mouthwatering Mondays”.
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