Spinach Salad

I love the convenience of bagged baby spinach, but I get a little tired of sauteing it, which is usually how I prepare it.  However, I'm not a huge fan of raw spinach. Quite the conundrum when faced with a bag of spinach from the co-op. I found a glimmer of hope last week when I made a delicious spinach salad.

I mixed bagged baby spinach with some romaine I had leftover, so it was basically half and half lettuce and spinach. I'm sure that helped mitigate my fear of raw spinach. I also had a few ripe strawberries so I sliced them and threw them on top. I buy the big bags of sliced almonds at Costco because Lily loves nuts and those are the only ones I'm not afraid she'll choke on. The almonds added a great crunch, and next time I'll toast them first.

The dressing is one I've been making a lot lately, but I think it was especially perfect for the ingredients in this salad. I used walnut oil but olive oil would have worked fine, along with balsamic vinegar, sliced red onion, a clove of garlic, salt and pepper. Simple as could be. I let it sit for about 30 minutes while I prepared the rest of dinner, and it helped the garlic and onion infuse their flavor into the dressing. You could either toss out the garlic and onion or leave it in when you dress the salad.

Spinach Salad with Strawberries and Almonds

Dressing:

2 T balsamic vinaigrette

1/3 c. walnut oil or olive oil

2 T. finely chopped red onion

1 finely chopped garlic clove

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients and let sit for 30 minutes - 1 hour

Salad:

1/2 bag of baby spinach

1/2 heart of romaine

4 strawberries, sliced

1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

Zucchini Three Ways

I think mushy zucchini is nasty, so I never steam it. I grew up eating it only one way, and it's still my favorite: grated, sauteed quickly on high heat in olive oil and sprinkled with a little salt and pepper and a lot of grated parmesan. If I'm feeling crazy I'll add some garlic. That's how my Nanni made it and it's really the only way I make it by itself.

I also love it sliced really thin (like into coins) and sauteed with garlic and tossed with whole wheat pasta. Costco has really good whole wheat pasta that tastes like normal pasta to me, and in our new quest to eat more affordably, we eat it about once a week. 

The only other way I like zucchini is cut into good sized chunks and grilled on kabobs. But it doesn't take long so you have to make sure not to put it on kabobs with longer-cooking veggies, like sweet potatoes. 

How else do you like zucchini?

Strawberry Shortcake

Nothing says summer like Strawberry Shortcake. And nothing piles fat and sugar on a perfectly harmless piece of fruit either, but whatever. 

There are a million ways to make the shortcake part of strawberry shortcake- pound cake, angel food cake, etc.- but I prefer a sweetened biscuit, and have made them with Bisq*ick in the past. However, I recently stumbled upon a brown sugar scone that I'll be using from now on, simply because I'm trying to find any excuse to make and eat them. 

Although the part with the fat is my favorite part of any recipe (in this case the shortcake) the key to how good any strawberry shortcake is is how ripe and delicious the strawberries are, so make sure you start with ripe, fragrant berries. 

I also prefer freshly whipped cream as opposed to the store-bought version, but you can use whatever you prefer.

Strawberry Shortcake

2 lbs. strawberries, washed, trimmed and quartered
1/3 c. brown sugar
Toss cut strawberries with sugar and let sit while you prepare the rest of the recipe

Shortcakes (brown sugar scones):
2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, diced
1/2 cup (or more) chilled whipping cream

Preheat oven to 400°F. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in medium bowl or food processor. Add chilled butter; using fingertips, rub in until coarse meal forms (or pulse food processor). Gradually add cream to dry ingredients, tossing with fork until dough comes together in moist clumps (or pulse food processor). Add more cream by teaspoonfuls if dough is dry. Gather together in a ball, press into a rectangle about 3/4" thick and cut to desired shapes. I cut it into even sized rectangles so I don't waste any of the dough. Bake for 15 minutes until light golden brown and let cool.

Whipped cream:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
Beat with an electric mixer on medium high speed until it holds a soft shape but is not stiff.

Cut each shortcake in half, top with strawberries and whipped cream and serve to very grateful guests!

Grilled Romaine Hearts

Yes, I said grilled romaine! I saw it on a cooking show and tried it last week. Yum! I have to admit, although I love salad, I don't always love all of the chopping, washing, etc. so this is a great way to have a delicious salad without a lot of prep work.

Slice 2 hearts of romaine vertically and wash thoroughly while leaving them intact (don't cut off the bottom). Place on a baking sheet and drizzle both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place on heated grill and grill for 2 minutes on each side. Serve with a vinaigrette of your choice. We each ate a whole half, so 2 hearts served 4 adults. But we're total pigs.

I ate half of mine without dressing and loved it (I forgot I had made a vinaigrette) but it is also delicious with a Balsamic vinaigrette. I made mine with about 1/3 c. olive oil, 1 T balsamic, finely diced red onion, salt and pepper and let it sit for about 30 minutes, but you don't have to be precise with vinaigrettes for them to be yummy. It would be great with shaved parmesan, crumbled bleu cheese or fresh lemon juice too. Let me know what variation you try.