Soup and salad. A very healthy meal if done right. We all know we have to do it everyonce in awhile. Get those noses out of the cookbooks and eyes off the food blogs. We have to stop looking for our next great creation and walk over to that refrigerator, drag out all that unused produce and use it up before it goes bad.
Pear, walnut, Maytag blue cheese salad with Cranberry Vinaigrette. A perfect salad for the holidays.
A few weeks ago, we were invited to our friends Tom and Kathy’s house for a dinner party. This is the scene of last Summer’s “Burb’s BBQ”, a blog post that you can review by clicking HERE. You really should take a look at that Summer party post because lurking there is Kathy’s famous shrimp appetizer recipe, a MUST try.
And darn it, Dan and Teri couldn’t make it to this gathering because Teri was ill. We thought about calling the whole thing off, but then realized it was our responsibility to drink the wine we had so carefully picked for the evening, so went ahead without them.
Kathy asked me to bring a salad, so I chose this pear salad with cranberry vinaigrette. Very festive for this time of year, and absolutely delicious I must say, and the Maytag Blue Cheese is a killer in this. I like to buy the red skinned pears, I just think it makes for a prettier presentation. Below you’ll find pictures of the party and the rest of the dinner. We had a fabulous evening.
A few weeks ago, I was sent samples of dried mushrooms from the very generous and food blogger friendly Marx Foods. You can visit their website at http://www.marxfoods.com
I was very proud of my first creation because it was delicious and all mine. Proud because I’m good at following recipes but not good at creating.
With 1/2 of the bag of dried Chanterelles still on my counter, I decided to make a version of a salad I found in Food and Wine. I love this salad. Delicious and crazy healthy.
Look at all of these beautiful, fresh and healthy ingredients. I’m trying to eat as healthy as I can before the month-long food gorge begins in a couple of weeks. And believe you me, I plan to whole heartedly participate in the Holiday food festivities. 
Whole Foods has been having what they call a “One Day Sale”. Each Wednesday they offer a very good “deal” and alert you to what is on sale by email the day before. I don’t know if they are doing this at all locations, but if you have a Whole Foods near you, you might want to sign up for their newsletter and receive these notifications. I’ve been loving the sales. This week, Crab legs for $9.99/lb. Prompting this crab salad recipe with avocado and asparagus.
Beautiful Pea Shoots
This is a new recipe for us, and we loved it. Also, easy as can be.
1. Cut tough ends off asparagus and throw away. Slice asparagus tops into 1 inch chunks. Bring a saucepan of salted water to a boil. Fill a bowl with ice water. Blanch the asparagus in the boiling water until just heated through, 10 seconds. Drain and transfer to the ice water to chill; drain well. Pat dry and transfer to a bowl.
2. In a blender, blend the oil, lemon juice, basil, shallot and 1/4 cup of the parsley. Season the dressing with salt and pepper.
3. Add the pea shoots, pistachios and the remaining 1/4 cup of parsley leaves to the asparagus. Toss with half of the dressing and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with crab meat. Serves 4
And enjoy! Not a great photo, but this is a beautiful salad. We served this with Rosemary Sourdough bread from Whole Foods. DEE-licious little meal. This meal was adapted from Food and Wine.
Crab Salad Recipe With Avocado and Asparagus…It’s What’s For Dinner.
A year ago, if you would have told me that one of my favorite neighborhood restaurants would be stuck in the far east end of the Super Target parking lot in the strip mall at Yosemite and Lincoln, I would have laughed.
Oscar Mayer died at the age of 95. So in honor, let’s all cook up some sort of wieners, or make a bologna sandwich or something - well, I’m thinkin brats, since I already had them purchased and planned for dinner:
Simple. Open up your favorite bottle of beer and pour it into your favorite fry pan, heat the beer and poke a few holes in your favorite brand of brats and let them steep in heated beer for about ten minutes.
Throw em on the grill and brown them until crispy on the outside. Make sure to watch them so they don’t burn. Serve them on your favorite bun and with your favorite summer salad. In this case I made a simple broccoli salad, you know the kind, with a sweet/sour mayonnaise based sauce a combination of broccoli florets, sunflower seeds, raisins, celery, onion etc. Just toss in what sounds good. If anyone wants an exact recipe, I can measure ingredients next time I make it. It’s just vinegar, sugar, mayo, salt and pepper. I will note here that I like to use seasoned Rice Vinegar, or plain old cider vinegar.
Enjoy a blast from the past with this Oscar Mayer Television Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmPRHJd3uHI
Thursday, June 25: We’ve been looking forward to and planning for our first camping trip for weeks. Our plans were to head to Turquoise Lake early Friday morning. Picturesque Turquoise Lake is about 2 1/2 hours west of Denver, near Leadville. An every summer destination. We love the trails for hiking, and the area is unique to add a couple of birds to our year list. Most years we find a Fox Sparrow in a marshy area on the North side of the lake and regular campground flyovers of Red Crossbills are always a treat. Continue reading
Montana Caprese
My long-time friend, Vickie, who now lives in Montana, sent me a photo of her Caprese Salad served on her patio. Great photo looks delicious, elegant and inviting. Below you’ll find Vickie’s description of the presentation:
“For my caprese, I sometimes add English cucumber to add a bit more veggie as well as adding another flavor – call it Montana Caprese if you’d like.
