Summer Pasta Salad with Green Beans

1/2 of red onion, sliced

3/4 pound green beans, trimmed and broken into 1.5 inch pieces

2 large tomatoes, cored and chopped

1.25 pound of small ravioli (Got this from our local pasta shop Gallettas.)

Big handful of fresh basil, chopped

3 Tablespoons of balsamic fig vinegar

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

2 Tablespoons olive oil

Salt and Pepper to taste

Saute the red onion in some olive oil until it caramelizes.  Add to a big bowl.

Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add the ravioli and green beans.  Cook until the ravioli is done and the green beans are nice and bright and still have a little crunch to them. (Note, you may have to stagger the addition of pasta to beans depending on the size of your ravioli and the cooking directions that come with them.)  Drain and rinse under cold water to halt further cooking.  Let all the extra water drain off before adding to the big bowl.

Add the diced tomatoes and fresh basil to the bowl.

Whisk together the balsamic vinegar and mustard.  Slowly add the olive oil and whisk until combined.  Pour over salad and toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper.

In this picture:

Spinach, Swiss Chard, Baby Turnips with Greens, Asparagus, Cucumber, English Shelling Peas, Strawberries, Green Beans, Greek Yogurt, and Eggs

Most of us don’t live in an area where we can enjoy fresh strawberries, or most produce for that matter, year round. But if you pick and preserve the harvest now, you will have fruit to get you through those long winter months and not have to purchase bland fruit that came all the way from the other side of the equator. Plus, when you pick directly from the farmer, you cut out the middle man and save a ton of money and packaging.

If you are looking for farms in your area where you can u-pick, check out this website, PickYourOwn.org.

It is super easy to do. Follow my simple steps below. I recently did this to 10 pounds of strawberries I picked.

1) Wash your fruit to clean it of dirt.

2) Make sure the fruit is completely dry. (I laid my strawberries out on a towel in the sun to speed up the process.)

3) If fruit is larger, cut into smaller pieces.

4) Place in a single layer on a large rimmed baking sheet.

5) Freeze until the fruit is frozen. (I did my strawberries in the freezer for 45 minutes.)

6) Transfer the fruit to freezer bags with a zipper top.

7) Wait until the doldrums of winter, open your freezer, and enjoy a taste of summer!

For my sanity, I decided to just back away from the blog at this point. I am going to work with my hosting service to see if there is some way to prevent all that annoying spam from being sent. But I wanted to let all you real humans know what is going on.

I hope to be back in the near future, more energized and spam free. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

The abundance of food we have in this country is astounding. And since our country is so large, it takes an enormous amount of resources to get that food to us the consumers. This is one reason why I am a big advocate of sourcing my food from local farms. When you add up the water is takes to produce the food, the oil it takes to transport your food, the electricity used to refrigerate your food, etc…, the cost of getting that food to your plate is much higher then the dollar amount you paid for it. When you look at it that way, allowing food to go bad and throwing it away takes a much bigger toll on your wallet.

I am always looking for creative ways to use all the food that is already in my house. This recipe was born out of the fact that I had cilantro and limes that needed to be used sooner rather then later. Flipping through a Vegetarian Times magazine I saw a recipe for a Cilantro Hummus. Since I just love hummus in any form I immediately set out for the kitchen. My recipe below is my version (and frankly I think it sounds much better then theirs). I made this hummus with ingredients on hand and did not have to buy anything to complete it. This is a much yummier way to use up cilantro and limes as opposed to throwing them in the trash.

Cilantro Hummus

2 15 ounce cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained

2 cups cilantro leaves, loosely packed

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

6 Tablespoons lime juice

3 Tablespoons olive oil

4 Tablespoons water

Combine the first 7 ingredients in a blender and process.  Stop to scrape down the sides as necessary.  Add the water 1 Tablespoon at a time until you have reached the correct consistency.  You may not need all 4 or you may need more, it will vary from time to time.

Broccoli rabe falls into the category of greens that I would refer to as bitter. To tame their bitterness you need to blanch them first. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the broccoli rabe and let cook for about 1-2 minutes. Drain and then press out all the water from the broccoli rabe.

The recipe below was inspired by something I saw in an Eating Well magazine. I modified to make it more of a main dish meal.

Broccoli Rabe, Cannellini Bean, and Orzo Toss

3/4 cup orzo

1 bunch of broccoli rabe, cleaned and chopped

1 small yellow squash, and cut in half on the vertical axis, then slice each half into 1/4 inch half moons

3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1.5 teaspoons herbes de provence

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

1 15 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

Juice from 1/2 lemon

1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese

Cook orzo according to package directions

Blanch your broccoli rabe following the instructions above.

Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add the yellow squash and saute until it just starts to turn brown. Add the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Add the blanched broccoli rabe, stir to combine.

Remove from heat and stir in herbes de provence, pepper, cannellini beans, lemon juice and orzo. Top with the feta cheese.

That piqued my interest.

It sounded interesting and worthy of something to try. My version, below would not be considered raw, for those of you out there that like to do raw foods. First and foremost because I did not use raw agave nectar nor did I use raw cocoa powder. Secondly, since I have a tree nut allergy, I cannot use almond butter like they listed. I used peanut butter instead which changed the taste of this mousse to something that is close to a melted chocolate peanut butter cup.

(Side note – A raw food diet consists of consuming foods that are uncooked, and unprocessed, and have never been heated to a temperature above 115 degrees Fahrenheit.)

My version turned out yummy. I served it with with some graham crackers and a little sprinkle of a shredded, sweetened coconut.

Chocolate Mousse

2 avocados (If you don’t know how to tell if they are ripe or how to cut them see this post here.)

1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons agave nectar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

Water as necessary for blending

2 Tablespoons natural creamy peanut butter

Place the avocados, agave nectar, and cocoa powder in a blender and process until smooth. Add water as necessary, 1 Tablespoon at a time, until you have a nice blended, and smooth mousse. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the peanut butter.