Vegetables and Fruit

Healthy veggies that actually taste good.

Seared Tuna served with Black-eyed Peas and Peach Salad

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Seared Tuna served with Black-eye Peas with Peach and Raw Grated Beet Salads
Seared Tuna served with Black-eye Peas with Peach and Raw Grated Beet Salads

The Seared Tuna with the Black-eyed Peas and Peach Salad was served a few weeks ago, when it was too hot to cook. As this post is being written, the weather is cooler. Clouds fill the sky. The ground is damp from last night’s rain. Do I crave this meal in cooler weather like this? Not quite, but I’m posting this meal regardless of the weather. It’s still summer. It’s the middle of August. I’m hoping for more hot days, even if fall is quite a few weeks away. Right now, I’m focusing on this beautiful weather, rain or shine. Peaches, plums, figs, nectarines are at their best this time of year. It’s a coincidence that these fruits pair well with cinnamon and nutmeg, too. Perhaps, they’re sweet fruits warming us into the fall. Read more →

Salads for Breakfast

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Healthy Alternative Breakfast: Two Salads
Healthy Alternative Breakfast: Two Salads

The traditional American breakfast usually consist of pancakes, waffles, bacon, grits, sausages or frittatas. Honestly, these meals take too much time to prepare in mornings were time is short. There are faster alternatives. In the summer, an abundance of fresh, local produce are available that make great salads. Salads for breakfast, you ask? Yes. Let’s expand the concept of a salad. Some people think green leaves are too harsh to digest early in the morning. I agree, but baby greens are less harsh. Lightly sautéed spinach, beet and swiss chard greens can be prepared and served in less than five minutes (Meal planning tip: Wash and cut greens the night before). They pair well with Easy Fried Eggs that take less than one minute to serve. My favorite summer breakfast is the basic tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil salad. It’s delicious with drizzled olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper to draw out the flavors more. Sometimes, it’s garnished with toasted pine nuts and chopped kalamata olives. Another salad was made with the same dressing and garnish by using boiled eggs. No greens are included in those salads, and both paired well with crusty, wheat bread. Both salads are usually served as a side dish for lunch and dinner. Just as pancakes can be served for dinner, many light dinner recipes can be served for breakfast as well. Let’s think creatively about breakfast, and start our days on the healthy side. Read more →

Peanut Sauce with Udon Wheat Noodles, Vegetables and Shrimp

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Udon Noodles with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce
Udon Noodles with Vegetables and Peanut Sauce

Depending on how many Spring Shrimp Rolls are made, the amount of peanut sauce prepared could initially seem excessive. It was to me, and that sauce is too delicious to forget and let spoil in the back of the refrigerator. Taking a mental inventory of what’s in the kitchen, I remembered the wheat noodles left over from an incredible Asian soup made a few months ago. In the freezer, was a bag of frozen, precooked shrimp. The CSA share provided plenty of squash and carrots. However, broccoli, carrots, bok choy, bell peppers, water spinach, napa cabbage, baby corn, mushrooms (dried and/or fresh), daikon, snow peas, sugar snap peas, peas, cauliflower, celery, onions, scallions, garlic, ginger, parsnips, radishes, broccoli rabe, edamame, leeks, asparagus, bamboo shoots, and sweet potato all are delicious options to include. Was there a vegetable left out? Let me know, especially if it’s a vegetable not commonly sold in the United States. Read more →

Spring Shrimp Rolls with Peanut Sauce and Pineapple Tomato Salad

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Spring Shrimp Rolls served with Peanut Sauce
Spring Shrimp Rolls served with Peanut Sauce

Having around the clock hot weather equates to less time in a kitchen. That being written, those fancy spring rolls we adore in many Vietnamese restaurants are simple to make. Unless you’re a restaurant superstar chef, don’t worry if the spring rolls are not perfectly shaped with the shrimp perfectly aligned in the transparent wrapper. Just have fun making them. Perhaps, the carrots can be blanched, for small details do make a difference in contributing to the overall taste. Use small to medium size shrimp that are peeled, deveined and precooked with this recipe to avoid turning on the stove and to save time. The smaller shrimp is sweet, and defrosting them takes a few minutes. Serve them with Peanut Sauce, coconut rice and a Pineapple-Tomato Salad, and this makes a beautiful dish best served cold on a hot day. Read more →

Summertime and the Living is Easy Salad

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A Summer Salad
A Summer Salad

Summertime, summertime, summertime
and the living is, living is easy
Fish are, I know the fish are jumping
and cotton is so high
Your daddy is so, so rich and your mama good-
she had to be good-looking
so hush, little baby, don’t you cry
don’t you cry, no no, don’t cry
no need to cry, don’t cry, don’t cry
summertime, summertime… Read more →