Start-of-Summer Potato Salad

Growing up, I was always a big fan of potato salad. The creamy, artery-clogging mayonnaise based salads were always a part of summer family picnics. As a kid I was all about the mayo. I'd even bring mayonnaise sandwiches to school in my lunchbox. Thankfully, I've outgrown this preference. Even then though, my favorite potato salad was the light, vinegar-dressed one that my mother made in big batches to have on hand for dinner every single night once it got warm out. (And I'm not exaggerating about having it every night. Just ask my siblings.) Potato salad was a signal that summer was truly arriving and that the evening meal would be eaten out on the back porch looking at my mother's gorgeous garden.

This summer, I'm still taking classes every day, so it doesn't feel quite right. With the intense classes and the incessant rain, I felt like summer decided to take a year off. For a student, the year resets with summer, and I needed a reset. I was carrying way too much stress around with me, and stress can be heavy, especially to a certified weakling like myself (I've been known to open plastic bottles of orange juice with my swiss army knife when I just couldn't get the twist-top off). What better way to signal summer to myself than taking advantage of a rare day off by sitting in the sun and making potato salad?

This potato salad is somewhat of a cross between the mayo-type and vinegar-type salads. It's made with plain greek yogurt, lending it just enough creaminess while still maintaining the tang of vinegar that I love so much. Using fresh herbs that I picked barefoot in my mother's garden made me feel that maybe - just maybe - summer really was arriving after all.

I didn't follow a recipe, but rather just followed my tastes, which is my favorite way to cook. If you do the same, you'll always end up with something you love, rather than a dish made to suit someone else's palate. With that in mind, I've left my measurements approximate.

Ingredients:

• 1 quart new red potatoes 
• 1 can (15.5 oz.) pinto beans
• 1/2 large red onion, chopped to the size you would want in your salad
• 1 single server container plain Greek nonfat yogurt (I used Oikos - 5.3 oz)
• a few tablespoons red wine vinegar
• fresh lemon-mint (you can use regular mint too. I just happened to have lemon-mint in the garden)
• fresh basil

Instructions:

• Cut the potatoes into bite-sized pieces. Cutting them into halves or quarters should be enough with new potatoes.
• Boil the potatoes in salted water until tender but still firm - about ten minutes - check early though, because you don't want mushy potatoes in your salad.
• While the potatoes are cooking, mix together your Greek yogurt, vinegar, mint, and basil in bowl big enough to hold the finished salad. You can throw in the onions now too.
• Drain the can of beans (you could always use your own beans prepared from dried, but I didn't have any on hand) and add to bowl.
• Add the drained potatoes, toss, chill, serve, and eat.

I love this recipe because it's light, quick, and tastes like the start of summer. (Of course summer has a taste! A very, very delicious taste.) I had planned to add some asparagus to this too, but left it out because although I love me some veggies, my Dad's not such a big fan of asparagus, and I was cooking for my parents. I think it would be a wonderful addition. Fresh green beans would be delicious too. As a matter of fact, I'll probably add them in when I make another batch of this soon.

All gone!

Simple Roasted Grape Tomato and Artichoke Heart Pasta

This past week held some unexpected hiccups for me. I had planned on sharing another recipe with you soon after my last post, but my chronic klutziness decided that it didn't like that plan. I was walking into the living room carrying my open laptop, when suddenly I felt my foot catch on a cord and I tumbled forward. As cliche as it sounds, I really did feel like I was in slow motion as I tried in vain to keep my computer from crashing onto the hard floor. Not able to react in time, I ended up with a broken computer and a few unpleasant bruises. Bruises fade, but unfortunately, a MacBook does not possess the same power of healing. I honestly thought that poor Johnathan was done for (Yes, I named my computer. I know. I'm weird.). Luckily, the apple store was able to come to the rescue (for free!) but I went a week without a computer. It wasn't really that bad and was actually quite nice to be free of my technology tether, but it did disrupt my plans a bit.

Plus it rained all week. Which I declared "icky" because I'm a four year-old at heart.

So after that long and boring preamble it's time to get to what really matters: food!

This is one of my absolute favorite dinners. My original inspiration was this recipe from How Sweet It Is. It's quick and easy, which is important when the semester (or life) gets a little crazy. I eat variations of this probably at least once a week.

This particular night I was craving some of this pasta for dinner, and being the college student that I am, I headed to one of the build-your-own-salad places on campus to buy my ingredients using my meal plan. I picked up grape tomatoes and some red onions and baby spinach, and then my eyes fell on a bowl of artichoke hearts between the grated carrots and dried cranberries. I know that some people aren’t big fans of artichoke hearts, particularly the kind typically found at salad bars, but I was excited. I decided to try roasting them with the tomatoes for my pasta, and I’ve got to say that I’m glad I did. This ended up being one of my favorite versions of this pasta I’ve made in a while. This recipe yields one generous serving that is a perfect full dinner for a night dining alone and can easily be scaled up for a group.

Roasted Grape Tomato and Artichoke Heart Pasta

Ingredients:

• 1 chicken Italian sausage
• 2 oz. dried fettuccine or linguine 
• 3/4 cups grape tomatoes
• 1/3 cup artichoke hearts
• 1/2 cup sliced red onions
• 1/2 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
• A few handfuls of baby spinach
• 1/2 teaspoon chopped garlic
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400°F
• Toss the tomatoes and artichoke hearts in a bowl with 1 teaspoon olive oil. Spread on a baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes until the tomatoes burst.
• While the veggies are in the oven, boil the water for the pasta and cook according to the directions on the package
• In a small frying pan add remaining teaspoon olive oil and garlic over medium heat. Add onions and mushrooms and saute until almost soft. 
• Add the sausage to the frying pan. I just squeezed it out of the casing and broke it up with a wooden spoon, but if you feel squeamish about the raw sausage, but cut open the casing with a knife and cut it before adding to the pan. Heat until sausage is cooked through and onions and mushrooms are soft.
• Add drained pasta, baby spinach, and roasted veggies to the pan. Saute until the spinach is just wilted. Dump entire dish onto your plate and enjoy!

The juice that bursts out of the roasted tomatoes and the olive oil creates its own sauce, but sometimes I add some anyway, like the Quick Yogurt Tomato Sauce that I ended up using on this particular batch of pasta.

                      

This next picture is a variation on the same pasta that I made for my mother last week. I made it with rotini and without the artichoke hearts and it was equally delicious and was  perfect quick dinner for before my Mom had to run to her dance class.

I hope you enjoy this dish and make it soon. Let me know if you make any adjustments and how they turn out!

Quick Yogurt Tomato Sauce

Two weeks ago I was in the middle of the frenzied wrapping up of the semester and preparing for my finals. I didn't have much time to make dinners and was eating a lot of frozen ravioli and other quick meals.  I was a little bored with it, so I decided to change it up a bit by making a sauce for my boring cheese ravioli that night.

As most of my meals start on nights I've got essays to write, I started by opening the fridge to see what I had. The first thing I grabbed was my tub of plain greek yogurt I always have on hand. I love it and I use it in everything from deviled eggs to a dollop on a bowl of soup instead of sour cream. The next thing my eye fell on was the half a lemon I had left over from the day before. Three tablespoons of the yogurt and the juice I managed to squeeze out of the lemon went into my little red bowl and got mixed together with a dash of "Italian Seasonings" that I found in my cupboard (one of those spice blends that McCormick makes). It definitely needed something more, so I looked in my fridge yet again and grabbed my jar of my favorite marinara from a local restaurant and added a quarter cup to the sauce. It made my boring meal of plain cheese ravioli so much more enjoyable.

the sauce in progress

Recipe:

• 3 tbs plain greek yogurt
• juice of half a lemon
• 1/4 cup marinara sauce 
• Italian spices

Mix all together in a small bowl and enjoy over pasta with parmesan cheese. As simple as that!

I really enjoyed this as a pasta sauce and used it again the next night over a plate of roasted grape tomato and Italian sausage pasta. It’s quite tangy though, with the greek yogurt and the lemon. I found that with the parmesan cheese over top (I’m a liberal cheese-sprinkler) it balanced it out perfectly and reminded me somewhat of my favorite lemon alfredo, which is made with cream cheese. If you aren’t going to add the parmesan, I would recommend adding something to balance out the tangyness of the yogurt and lemon, perhaps increasing the sweetness by increasing the tomato sauce.

over the next night's pasta

This sauce was absolutely perfect for a night when I couldn't take much more than five minutes for dinner but wanted something interesting than plain cheese ravioli. It takes all of two minutes to put together, which is perfect for a busy college student during finals.

On a side note, I'm now on vacation, today was absolutely beautiful and I even got a little bit of a sunburn. Life is good.

Apple-Banana Bread with Chocolate Chips

Sometimes I buy bananas that I have no intention of eating. Sometimes, I hide bananas in the corner of my counter until they’re brown and disgusting and my roommates think I’m crazy. The reason for this? Banana bread. Delicious, easy-peasy banana bread. Usually, my fruit turning brown isn’t something I get excited about. When these bananas began to brown though, all I could think of was banana bread. I wanted to make it now. Unfortunately, I’m in college and I have all these pesky classes getting in the way of my food obsessions. I had to keep putting it off, and these bananas got positively terrifyingly disgustingly deliciously brown. I’m sparing you a picture, because trust me, they were scary, and I don’t want to give you nightmares.   

           This recipe is adapted from this banana bread recipe from Simply Recipes, which is usually my go-to recipe for basic banana bread.  This time though, I decided to switch it up a bit, mostly because I was craving chocolate. To be honest though, when am I not craving chocolate? (answer: never)

            I haven't done too much experimenting when it comes to baking, so I was slightly nervous, but everyone who ate it (including me, who had more slices than is strictly healthy) declared it to be a resounding success. I love it when that happens. Half of why I love cooking and baking is creating something delicious for my friends and family. It’s an incredibly satisfying feeling that gives me all sorts of warm fuzzies inside. (And now I have an image of me with a stomach full of these. Good job Ruth. Good job.)

I tried to get an essay done while this was baking in the oven, but I kept being distracted by the delicious smell of baking banana bread. Let’s just say I didn’t get it finished that night.

These are my changes to the original recipe:

• I only had two bananas so I cut up a medium apple and threw it in. I used an empire apple because that’s what I had on hand, but I can see any kind, or even two different kinds being equally delicious
• I initially added a ½ cup of chocolate chips, but then the chocolate craving part of my brain (all of it) decided there should be more, so I sprinkled in a few more for good measure
• I set my kitchen timer for 35 minutes because I’m paranoid about dry banana bread (which counts as a tragedy on the Shakespearean scale in my book) and I’m impatient and sometimes I like to pretend that my food will be done sooner if I set the timer accordingly. I checked it with a knife right in the center every five or so minutes and it was all done probably sometime around 50 minutes or so. (Sorry about the lack of a definite baking time. I’d go with 45 minutes as a guide for checking, but be prepared for the baking time to stretch to up to an hour)
• I added some cinnamon and nutmeg because I had it on hand (for once, despite being broke and spices being so darn expensive) and I always love the flavors in my banana bread. I didn’t measure (sorry! I really need to get better at this), just sprinkled some in while mixing. Feel free to leave these out if you’re not so keen on the flavors.

Quality Control

Ingredients:

• 2 overripe brown bananas (mushed)
• 1 medium apple, peeled and cut into pieces
• 1/3 cup melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg (lightly beaten)
• 1 tsp. vanilla
•  cinnamon and nutmeg (to preference)
• 1 tsp. baking soda
•  pinch of salt
• 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
• ½ cup chocolate chips (or a bit more if it strikes your fancy)

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 350°F
• Mush up the bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the melted butter. Add sugar, beaten egg, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sprinkle baking soda and salt over the top. Mix in. Add flour and mix. Stir the chocolate chips and apple bits into the mixture at this point. Pour into a buttered or sprayed loaf pan. 
• Bake 45 minutes to 1 hour. Remove from loaf pan and cool on a rack. Slice, serve, enjoy, and share(or keep it all for yourself. I’m not judging.)

Green Monster in a Guinness Glass

Earlier this year I discovered Green Monsters, delicious fruit smoothies turned bright green by blending in veggies. My veggie of choice: baby spinach. It sounds awful, but they're absolutely delicious. You don't taste the veggies at all. Just the yummy yummy fruit. I was running low on baby spinach this time, so it's a bit lighter green than usual. I usually just throw in whatever I have in the fridge/freezer or whatever I feel like. This particular green monster has:

• 1/2 frozen apple
• 1/2 frozen banana
• handful of baby spinach
• what was left of the Del Monte peach fruit cup in the fridge
• lemonade (and a bit of iced tea)
• a few ice cubes

Blended into smooth deliciousness and poured into a Guinness glass. 

I first used lemonade one day because I was out of my almond milk, and I loved the way it turned out. Sometimes if I remember to make it and put it into the fridge the night before I'll throw in a cup of iced tea for a little wake-up. I particularly like chai tea with the frozen bananas. 

Plus, it's fun to freak people out with the bright green color!