Salad Daze.

It's been awhile since I posted a favorite recipe so I thought I'd share 2 salads that I made recently. It's been hot and I love to eat salads for lunch and dinner when the temperature soars.

Curried Quinoa Salad with Zuccini, dried cranberries and Pumpkin Seeds.

1 C cooked Quinoa (follow package directions)

2 small zucchini, halved and cut into slices

1/2 small yellow onion, diced fine

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp. curry powder

1 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, for frying

1-2 tbsp. water

salt and pepper, to taste

2 tbsp. dried cranberries

2 tbsp. pumpkin seeds

Heat oil in pan and add diced onion. Saute until tender, Add curry powder and saute for another minute. Add garlic to heat through and then add water. This will make a curry paste. Add sliced zucchini and fry for a minute or so until tender crisp. Then add quinoa and cranberries, stirring until mixed through. Transfer to serving dish, salt and pepper to taste and top with pumpkin seeds. This can be eaten hot or can be put in the fridge overnight and enjoyed cold.

YUM

Market Salad with Bocconcini Cheese and Balsamic Dressing.

This salad is best when made with ingredients you've picked up fresh from the farmers market. Use what you like. Toss all ingredients together with dressing.

Romaine lettuce, torn

English cucumber, sliced thin

radishes, sliced thin

Roma tomatoes, quartered

green onions, sliced thin

fresh parsley leaves, torn

fresh basil leaves, torn

cocktail sized bocconcini cheese

salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic Dressing

1 tbsp. good balsamic vinegar

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

I'm always throwing together ingredients and playing in the kitchen to come up with tasty creations. You may remember my big salad recipe here, or my veggie chili recipe. If you're a foodie, or just love to create and cook please feel free to direct me to your blog, or share one of your favorite recipes in the comments.

Cheers!

Weekend Round-up, Mixed Media Monday.

Hi. I hope your weekend was enjoyable. I did a little bit of everything. Shopping, cleaning, chores, painting, and a little relaxing too. I even managed to get in a little baking. I don't bake very much in the summer but when the temperature cools I like to bake some treats now and then. So far this fall I've made 2 plum tarts an apple pie and some pumpkin muffins from a recipe I found over on Heather's blog. Yum!! They were a big hit here. Sometime this week I'll try my hand at making date squares.

Continuing from last week I've spent most of today working in mixed media on Jill's book. It's part of Inner Works, an altered book round robin that I've been involved with since the beginning of this year. Here's a sneak peek at a few of the pages. I think I'm just about done just a few more things to add. I'll be receiving my book soon and will share the wonderful work that's been added by Seth, Jill, Roxanne, Veronica, and Supria.

I've also enjoyed exploring Caterina's blog (new to me) La Dolce Vita. Her mixed media work is fabulous, the bird songs are very soothing-and the cats love it!

A Yummy Start to the Week.

Good Monday morning. Did you have a fabulous weekend?? I hope my many U.S. friends enjoyed their 4th of July celebrations. Now it's a new week with new possibilities. Contrary to that popular 80's hit, I DO like Mondays and here's what I started my day with today. It's been a while since I shared a recipe with you here and here so today I'm sharing my favorite smoothie recipe that I created. Yes, we are a household of foodies here! Try one of these heavenly banana smoothies when you want a light breakfast or snack. It's yummy!!! Oh, and sorry about the somewhat blurry photo, by the time time I looked at the photos my smoothie was done. Cheers.

Heavenly Banana Smoothie

I frozen banana
1 to 11/2 cups soya milk
1 tbls. ground flaxseeds
1/4 tsp. cinnamon

Whiz all ingredients in a blender and enjoy.

What's for Lunch??

Hi and happy Monday. With all the prep done for an upcoming show, I spent the morning straightening up the studio and organizing my long "to do" list for the week. I sent off an image list and all the images to the gallery, got caught up with emails and started preparations for another gallery show in August. All this and three loads of laundry before lunch-it's great to be able to take care of household chores while working on my biz-one of the perks of having a studio at home. I was craving something really healthy for lunch today so I threw together a little salad with my famous Miso dressing and enjoyed it with two Yves veggie burgers (no bun!). Yes that's a generous squeeze of wasabi-I think it goes great with the veggie burgers. The salad part is easy. I used chopped romaine lettuce, green onions, cucumber and carrots sliced on a mandolin, and lots of fresh mung bean sprouts. Sprinkle with raw sesame, sunflower and pumpkin seeds for extra crunch. Here'smy recipe for the Miso dressing.

1 tbls. rice wine vinegar
1 tbls. extra virgin olive oil
1 tbls toasted sesame oil
1 tbls. organic miso paste
1/4 packet stevia sweetener, or pinch of sugar
pinch salt and pepper (to taste)

wisk all ingredients together and toss with salad. This dressing is enough for one large salad, enough for two to enjoy.

Now it's back to work for me. What did you have for lunch today???

My "Big Salad" Nicoise

It's another Tasty Tuesday!! We are all so busy these days that sometimes it can be a real challenge to get a meal on the table. Especially one that's made with real food and can be prepared in a hurry. When life gets super hectic around here I like to make a "big salad" for dinner. Here's my version of a "big salad nicoise". As I'm quite casual in the kitchen, this recipe can easily be changed up in ingredients and amounts to suite your specific needs and what happens to be in season. If you don't like one of the ingredients that I've used here, by all means substitute something you like. You can even take this dish up a few notches and use fresh seared Ahi tuna. The "Big Salad Nicoise" pictured above easily fed 2 adults and a 16 year old son for dinner with no leftovers.

Salad Ingredients

1 small head romaine lettuce
1 small red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 English cucumber, diced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
fresh green beans, steamed
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 can tuna, drained
1/2 cup kalamata olives,
9 cocktail size boccaccini cheese balls
6 slices black Forest ham

Dressing

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper
1/2 small shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard

Arrange salad ingredients onto a platter. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour as much as is needed over salad. Store any leftover dressing in refrigerator. Enjoy with a nice glass of chilled white wine, and some good conversation.

Another Tasty Tuesday

Smokey Turkey Grilled Panini

I love a traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I don't however like eating turkey this and turkey that for weeks on end afterward. So I take as much of the meat off the bones as I can, put it in an airtight container and stick it into the freezer. Then a few weeks later I'll pull it out and throw together something that's fast and easy. Sandwiches are a good thing especially when they're hot and toasty and have big flavor. I threw together this Smokey Turkey Panini for a quick lunch. You don't need a fancy panini press to do this. I use a brick covered in tin foil and it works great. Here's my recipe but you can change this up with any ingredients you like. I just happened to have this on hand.

2 slices bread brushed with a little extra virgin olive oil
leftover turkey breast
a few slices smoked gouda cheese
Tabasco Chipotle sauce-to taste
a few leaves baby spinach
a few slices vidalia onion

Heat a fry pan on medium heat-I find a grill pan works best and gives you those nice grill marks.

Brush the bread with olive oil and flip over so that the oiled sides are on the outside of the sandwich. Layer your ingredients. Place sandwich in pan and put foil covered brick on top. Grill 2-3 minutes per side but check so that it doesn't burn.

I really enjoy cooking but it has to be quick and simple. I'm not into making big elaborate seven course meals or dishes that have a hundred ingredients. Let's face it who has the time!!! Sometimes I'll start out following a recipe but then change it up a bit to make it my own. Just like when I'm painting. If I feel it needs something here, I'll add it. What about you? Any wannabe chefs out there??

And don't forget to enter my Holiday giveaway!!!