Bean Salad

This is a quick and easy recipe that I've made several times. It serves as a great side dish to a meal or a popular party salad! The colors are beautiful and the flavors really open up and work well together to create a tasty and filling dish. This is a basic version of the bean salad that I make but you can add almost anything that you would like. Fresh basil or cucumber would be great additions!

 

Bean Salad Recipe:

2 cans white beans

1 can garbanzo beans

1 can red kidney beans

1 (2 oz) can sliced black olives

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

½ yellow onion, diced

4 green onions, sliced

Salt & Pepper

Dressing Recipe:

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 ½ tablespoons balsamic vinegar

½ tablespoon honey

Salt & Pepper

1. Drain and rinse white beans, garbanzo beans, and red kidney beans in a strainer.
2. Combine beans, tomatoes, olives, onion, and green onion in a large bowl.
3. Whisk ingredients together for the dressing in a small bowl. Adjust flavors to your taste.
4. Pour dressing over bean salad and stir carefully with a large spoon to combine well.
5. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for several hours before serving.

A couple notes:

This is a great recipe to make the day before and refrigerate overnight.

Enjoy!

Warm Beet and Spinach Salad

The New Year has inspired me to cook healthy meals and continue to expand my culinary creativeness. I had spinach left over from my Spinach and White Bean soup so a warm light salad sounded like the perfect recipe. This was my first time using fresh beets but cooking them was surprisingly easy. This recipe provides 4 servings and there is only 122 calories per serving! I found this recipe on the Eating Well website. One of my favorite resources for healthy recipes. The balsamic vinegar served as a delicious dressing on this salad and the beets were so filling. I was full after one serving and have left-overs for lunch tomorrow!

 

Recipe:

8 cups baby spinach

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup thinly sliced red onion

2 tomatoes, chopped

2 tablespoons sliced Kalamata olives

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

1 clove garlic, minced

2 cups steamed beet wedges, or slices, ½ – 1 inch thick

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

¼ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

To Prep & Steam Beets:

1. Trim greens and rood end; peel the skin with a vegetable peeler.
2. Cut beets into ½ – 1 inch thick wedged.
3. Place in steamer basket over 1 inch boiling water in a large pot. Cover and steam over high heat until tender, 15-25 minutes.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

Salad:

1. Place spinach in a large bowl.
2. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and cook, stirring until starting to soften, about 2 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, olives, parsley and garlic and cook, stirring, until the tomatoes begin to break down, about 3 minutes.
4. Add beets, vinegar, salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the beets are heated through, about 1 minute more.
5. Add the beet mixture to the spinach and toss to combine. Serve warm.

A couple notes:

The beets took longer to soften than I expected while steaming. After 20 minutes, I poked a couple of the wedges with a fork every 4-5 minutes to check their tenderness.

I didn't have Kalamata olives on-hand so I omitted them from the recipe. If I had included them, I know they would have added great flavor to this salad.

I added toasted pine nuts on top of the salad for a nice crunch.

If you would like to add some cheese, goat cheese would be the perfect creamy sweetness in this salad.

Enjoy!

Greek Pasta Salad

This is a dinner idea that I came up with because I had leftover whole wheat pasta and I wanted to create a fresh healthy dish. I had each of these ingredients already in my kitchen so the pasta salad came together quite easily. The only ingredient that I didn't have on hand was cucumber but it would make a very nice addition to this salad and I will definitely include it next time. This pasta salad makes 4-6 servings and a delicious lunch the next day!

 

Recipe:

½ pound cooked whole wheat pasta

1 can artichoke hearts, quartered

1 can white beans

½ jar Kalamata olives, halved

15 cherry tomatoes, halved

½ red onion, diced

crumbled goat cheese

shaved Parmesan cheese

extra-virgin olive oil

balsamic dressing

salt and pepper

1. Combine pasta, artichoke hearts, Kalamata olives, tomatoes, red onion and goat cheese in a large bowl. Drizzle about 2 tablespoons of olive oil over everything and combine well. Sprinkle a fair amount of salt and pepper over pasta salad for seasoning.
2. Dress pasta salad with balsamic dressing. Drizzle only enough to coat the ingredients, too much will sit at the bottom of the bowl. Stir well and top with a small amount of shaved Parmesan cheese. Add more salt and pepper to taste.
3. Serve over a bed of arugula.

A couple notes:

As I mentioned above, cucumber would be a great addition to this salad if you have it on hand.

Feta cheese would be a great substitute for the goat cheese in this dish.

Store leftovers in an air-tight container and enjoy for lunch the next day!

Enjoy!

Honey Mustard Salmon Salad

I was browsing the Whole Foods recipe collection and found this recipe for Honey Mustard Salmon Salad. I love to eat salmon and I am always looking for new ways to prepare it because of the omega-3 benefits. The rich salmon, lightly sweet honey mustard and crisp vegetables make this fresh take more flavorful than tuna salad. This recipe stood out to me especially because it does not include mayonnaise. This is a delicious lunch or dinner idea and can be served with crackers, on multigrain sandwich bread, or on lettuce leaves. I chose to serve the salmon salad with Multigrain Pita Bite Crackers from Trader Joe's. 

Recipe:

2 tablespoons honey mustard

2 tablespoons plain nonfat yogurt

1 (6 oz) can Wild Alaskan Pink Salmon, drained

1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 rib celery, thinly sliced

¼ cup finely chopped red onion

1. In a large bowl, whisk together honey mustard and yogurt.
   
   
2. Add salmon, pepper, celery, and red onion and stir gently until combined.

A couple notes:

I added 2 stalks of celery instead of 1 as the recipe calls for to add more crunch.

Season with Salt and Pepper before serving.

Enjoy!

Clove Garlic Soup with Arugula Salad

Dinner nights with friends are always fun! It's even more fun trying new recipes and tasting the result of an evening full of cooking and laughter. My friend found this recipe for Clove Garlic Soup in Whole Living magazine so we decided to give it a try! Living so close to the Garlic Capital of the World, this garlic soup recipe looked intriguing. The soup had a great creamy texture and tasted delicious. The garlic wasn't overpowering at all. Serving this soup in a whole wheat bread bowl made this dinner warm and cozy. We added a light arugula salad to the menu to add some freshness.

 

Clove Garlic Soup Recipe:

2 heads garlic, halved crosswise

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4 cups low sodium chicken broth

8 ounces Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and chopped

¼ cup freshly grated Parmesan, plus more for serving

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Drizzle garlic heads with oil. Wrap tightly in foil and roast until tender, about 40 minutes. Let cool, then squeeze garlic from papery skin and set aside.
   
   
2. Bring, stock, potatoes, and roasted garlic to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until potatoes are tender, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in Parmesan.
   
   
3. Let cool slightly, then puree in a blender until smooth. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with Parmesan and serve.

A couple notes:

I substituted vegetable broth for chicken broth.

It took longer for the potatoes to become tender than the recipe mentions...about 15 to 20 minutes total.

If you would like to add some heat to the soup, sprinkle a small amount of red pepper flakes to the bottom of the bread bowl.

We added a personal touch to the salad and used the top of the bread bowls to make our own croutons. Cut into small pieces and drizzle with olive oil. Turn the oven onto broil and place croutons in oven until crispy. Add to your salad!

Enjoy!

Wedge Salad and Curried Carrot Soup

Let me start by saying that I LOVE wedge salads! One of my favorite local restaurants has a wedge salad on their menu and I order it every single time I dine there (which is quite often). I've never made one at home so I thought this would be the perfect time to try! I really wanted to make this wedge salad my own so I decided to make the blue cheese dressing myself. I found the recipe on EatingWell.com.

Since I seem to be on a soup kick lately, I decided to make another soup. I've haven't used curry in any of my cooking so far but I love the flavor so this Curried Carrot Soup caught my eye. I found this recipe at MarthaStewart.com.

I paired a light red wine with this dinner, Peachy Canyon “Incredible Red” Zinfandel. Another discovery out of Paso Robles, that is fantastic. Can be paired with almost any food, it is light enough to drink with a salad and soup or can stand up to a steak. Excellent with a variety of foods and one of my favorite go-to wines!

Recipes:

Blue Cheese Dressing for Wedge Salad

1/3 cup reduced-fat mayonnaise
1/3 cup nonfat buttermilk, or nonfat milk
1/3 cup nonfat plain yogurt
2 tablespoons tarragon vinegar, or white vinegar
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon freshly ground pepper
¼ cup crumbled blue cheese (1 ounce)

1. Whisk mayonnaise, buttermilk (or milk), yogurt, vinegar, mustard, salt and pepper in a medium bowl until smooth. Add cheese and stir, mashing with spoon until the cheese is incorporated.
   

Curried Carrot Soup
2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped onion
1 teaspoon curry powder
Coarse sald and ground pepper
3 ½ cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 pounds carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons coarsely chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish (optional)

1. Heat butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion, curry powder, 2 teaspoons salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is soft, about 5 minutes.
2. Add broth, and 3 cups water; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover, and simmer until carrots are tender, about 20 minutes.
   
3. In a blender, puree soup in batches until smooth; transfer to a clean saucepan. Add more wather to thin to desired consistency. Reheat, if necessary. Stir in lemon juice.
   

A couple notes:

I love the flavor of blue cheese. In my opinion, this recipe could use a tiny bit less Dijon mustard and a little more blue cheese. The blue cheese crumbles were also a bit hard to mash so I suggest leaving them out on the counter for a few minutes to help them soften before adding them into the mixture.

The Curried Carrot Soup was much more sweet that I originally anticipated. The curry powder offered great flavor but I would have liked a little more kick. If you like some heat, adding red pepper flakes to this recipe should do the trick!

Enjoy!