Try This Exotic Salad for Dinner Tonight!

 

Butternut Squash and Radicchio Salad 

The combination of the creamy squash, the crisp radicchio, the crunchy pistachios and the tart juicy pomegranate seeds really hit the spot. I dressed it with a Dijon- Shallot Vinaigrette. – from Blog supporter Grace Markarian

Peel, seed, and chop a medium-sized butternut squash into uniform half-inch pieces.

Toss with a tablespoon of olive oil, salt, pepper, 1/2 teaspoon thyme and 1/2 half teaspoon cardamom.

Spread on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and roast in a 375-degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until tender but not mushy. Let cool.

Chop one head of radicchio into pieces similar in size to the squash.

Depending on how much salad you want to make, mix one (or two) cups of chopped radicchio with one (or two) cups of squash, and some of the vinaigrette (see below).

Top with 1/3 cup of roasted, lightly salted pistachios and 1/3 cup of pomegranate seeds. 

Dijon-Shallot Vinaigrette

Slice or mince half a shallot. Place in bowl or glass jar.

Pour one tablespoon champagne vinegar and one tablespoon lemon juice over the shallot and let sit for 5 minutes.

Add half a teaspoon Dijon mustard, salt, pepper, and 6 tablespoons olive oil.  Whisk to mix or secure lid in jar and shake to mix. 

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Surprise!

 

Grocery shopping can be a chore or an adventure. I prefer the adventure part, even if it is 6 am, and I am one of only three shoppers in the store.  At the back of my supermarket there is a small piece of furniture filled with mesh bags full of overripe fruit and vegetables, Every bag is 99 cents, even the bag that held these colorful, stripy bell peppers. I couldn’t resist. I used them in a Chinese stir-fry, but they would be equally good raw.

I wonder what will be on sale next weekend.

             For more easy recipes, order "Help! My Apartment Has a Kitchen!"

Calling All Cherry Tomato Fans!

 

Cherry tomatoes are a perfect antidote to cold weather.  They make you think of summer—a memory I can use right now since we just had a hail storm in normally sunny California.

If you are lucky enough to find a box of cherry tomatoes in the produce department, here are 5 things you can do with them today:

Revisiting an Unliked Vegetable

I like bargains, so when I saw a 1-pound package of fresh okra on sale for 99 cents, I immediately bought it.  I didn’t begin salivating because a few minutes later I remembered that I wasn’t very fond of okra.

Get Your Vitamin D from Stuffed Mushrooms!

 

My friend Ilene was recently researching how to get more Vitamin D from food, and she discovered that mushrooms have quite a bit of it. And if they are left out in a place where they are bathed in sunlight for a day or two, the mushrooms make more vitamin D!

Salad Need Not Be Boring!

My ideas about salad often revert to iceberg lettuce, tomatoes and cucumber—the salad of my youth.  So I am particularly thrilled when friends send me their salad recipes.  My friend Grace Markarian shared a recipe that I would like to pass on.  It is an inventive use of cooked and raw vegetables, quinoa and spices.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 108

Every week grocery stores have sales on select items like these: whole chickens for 99 cents per pound, 8 ears corn for $2, 3 8-ounce cans tomato sauce for $1, cherries for 99 cents per pound. Shopping these sales can save you considerable money over time. Some stores may quietly offer daily sales of perishables—meat and fish, fresh fruit and vegetables and bakery items—if you know where to look. They’re usually hidden in some obscure corner at the back of the store. If the expiration date is close at hand, you can pick up items at half-price or less, although you will need to cook or freeze them within 24 hours.

                                 See all my Money-Saving Tips!

Raiding-Your-Vegetable-Bin Stir-Fry

Yesterday was a super-busy day, and by 5 pm I still hadn’t figured out what we would be having for dinner.  I thought about the package of chicken tenders in the freezer.  Boring!  Then I looked in the vegetable bin and saw bok choy, onions, mushrooms, an orange bell pepper and garlic.  What more did I need? 

Chard: What Is It and How Do I Cook It?

  

Chard, also known as Swiss Chard or Red Chard, is a leafy green vegetable with prominent veins and ribs as thick as celery.  Sometimes Chard is sold with the ribs still attached to the base, like celery.  Other times the stalks have been trimmed slightly so that the leaves are separate, and they are bundled together with a twisty tie.  Choose a bundle that is shiny and firm, not limp with a lot of brown spots.

Red chard has large, dark green leaves with red veins and a red stalk.  Swiss chard has similar large, dark green leaves, but its veins and stalks are white.

Sick of Your Vegetable Side Dishes?

Long ago I became dis-enamoured of that old standard veggie—frozen peas.  I can’t remember when I stopped eating them, but I do keep a bag in the freezer.  I use it for sports injuries, to reduce the swelling.

Turn Green Beans into an Athenian Delicacy

Years ago I spent a summer in Greece as a high school exchange student and learned a lot about Greek cooking.  I didn’t put it into practice, though, until I finished college and moved into my own apartment.

My first attempt was making Spanakopita, which are small pastries stuffed with spinach and cheese. I liked eating them, but making them was a disaster because I had no clue how to handle phyllo dough.  I still can’t do it well, so I order them at a restaurant.

Side Dish or Pasta Sauce – You Choose!

I was making Shakshuka for dinner the other night and miscalculated how many vegetables I needed.

The Biggest Vegetarian Sandwich Ever

The Joeyburger

Just how big is your mouth, Joey?  He laughed and said, “Big enough.”  And that’s how the Joeyburger came into existence.

Joey is the only young family member who has stayed vegetarian (except for pepperoni on his pizza) since he was a toddler.  He may be the only one at our table willing to eat any vegetable put in front of him.

Too Hot to Cook? Try Ratatouille!

Ratatouille with Brown Rice and Corn

Sometimes I forget that that I know how to make colorful vegetables dishes. It’s been awhile since I last prepared Ratatouille, an easy-to-eat French mixture of cooked eggplant, zucchini, bell peppers and tomatoes.

My friend Ilene found the recipe in our second book, “Help! My Apartment Has a Dining Room!” and cooked it for dinner the other night.  She wanted a vegetarian alternative to the hamburgers and fries she and her husband planned to eat the following night.

Pearl Onions: What Are They and How Do I Use Them?

Pearl onions are the size of marbles and have a gentle onion taste.  They are excellent additions to soups, salads, pasta and casserole dishes.  Fully cooked, they also make a good side dish on their own.

The big drawback of pearl onions is peeling, which can take quite a while if you don’t cook them in boiling water for about 30 seconds and then soak them briefly in cold water to loosen their skins. Trim off the root end. Then grab the other end and squeeze gently so the skin and top layer of onion pops off.

If Speed to the Table Is the Issue...

When I need to get dinner on the table in 20 minutes, the biggest question is what part of the meal is going to suffer.  Most pastas and white rice are ready in 20 minutes.  Grilled, pan-fried or stir-fried meat and fish can go from raw to cooked in 10 minutes, although you can forget about roasts—unless you are just reheating them.

The big challenge is the fresh vegetable.  The absolute easiest is broccoli.  Prep time is quick.

The Brussels Sprouts Revolution

Since my childhood Brussels sprouts always seemed to be the most hated vegetable on dinner plates.  I got used to choking them down and actually became semi-fond of them. To me they tasted better than mushy peas.  However, I quickly learned not to serve them for company unless I wanted leftovers for myself..

Now, though, roasted brussels sprouts have become a restaurant favorite in Southern California.  They taste nothing like the overcooked vegetable you have bad memories about.  These are cut in half, oven-roasted in olive oil and then sautéd in butter. Seasonings include garlic, lemon juice and a few other salty ingredients.

The dish is so popular at Tin Roof Bistro in Manhattan Beach that the chef has posted his recipe

Can Food Look Too Pretty to Eat?

I’m not a person who spends a lot of time in the kitchen trying to make what I cook look pretty.  For me, cooking serves a purpose—feeding my family and my friends.  That means getting a meal on the table almost every night.  How the dishes look is much less important to me than how they taste.

An Explosive Side Dish

Corn on the cob always heralds summer for me, but after eating it five nights in a row the thrill wears off. That’s when my mind turns to Fresh Corn Fritters.  Nothing could be easier to make, especially if you have a few ears of already cooked corn sitting in the fridge.

Mom Money-Saving Tip 104

Grocery stores often have an out-of-the-way corner full of net bags containing fruit or vegetables a little past their prime.  My local supermarket likes to sell its excess apples or oranges this way for 99 cents per bag.  The other day I found a 2-pound bag of fresh okra as well as a 2-pound bag of fresh yellow squash, each at 99 cents.  There were a few blemishes, but I overlooked them.

                                              See all my Money-Saving Tips!