Avocado-Corn Salad

Avocados are one of my favorite summertime foods.  They have such a smooth, cool taste that’s perfect for warm weather months and—if you’re anything like me—the limited amount of actual “cooking” you’re willing to do when the temperature maxes out over about 85.

I’ve been staying with my mom for the last few weeks while I transition to Chicago (next week! omg, so excited!), and I was ecstatic to see avocados in her fridge when I got home!  I eyed them up for about a week before I figured she didn’t have any specific plans for them and I could do whatever my heart desired with them!

Now, my heart usually desires guacamole when I see avocados.  I’m fairly addicted to tortilla chips, so making guacamole is usually the perfect excuse for me to legitimize buying—and consuming—an entire bag of tortilla chips in a couple of days.  In fact, I was planning to make guacamole the day I ended up making this salad instead.  You just have to learn to be flexible when you can’t get the ingredients you originally want (cilantro, in the case of my guac) for a meal, and sometimes that flexibility really pays off!

This salad is a great alternative to your run-of-the-mill lettuce, cucumber, and tomato salad.  I usually refuse to make salads most of the time, and especially not for dinner, because I just find them so boring.  Maybe for my lunch at work or something, but for dinner?  No way, a salad is usually SO lame and boring.  With avocados and an interesting blended dressing, however, this salad is anything  but boring.  I’d happily make this salad just for myself and my roommates, or to serve to guests.  It’s so different that you’re bound to get asked about the recipe, I did!  I served it on the side with a light chicken dish, but the avocado and corn really add enough weight to make this a great main course salad for dinner on those days when you think you’d rather starve than adding to the heat by turning on your stove.

Ingredients (serves 4 as main dish, 8 as side):

2 heads of lettuce (I use romaine, but that’s really just a personal preference)

1 red pepper, chopped

2 (14.5 oz) cans of corn, drained

2 avocados, peeled, pitted, and cubed

For dressing:

3 tbsp blue cheese salad dressing (ranch would probably also work if you’re really anti-blue cheese)

1/3 cup red wine vinegar

1/3 cup olive oil

1 tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Combine lettuce, pepper, corn, and avocado in a large bowl, stir carefully to avoid smashing the avocado.  Refrigerate until ready to serve.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together the blue cheese dressing, red wine vinegar, olive oil, and honey.
3. Pour the dressing mixture over the salad immediately before serving and toss to coat.

Lemon-Garlic Green Beans

 

Green beans are probably among my favorite vegetables, and definitely have been for as long as I can remember.  They go with everything!  We ate a lot of green beans growing up.  Not fresh green beans, though.  Actually, I refused to eat fresh green beans for the longest time.  They were too crispy, and I thought that was weird.  Besides, they tasted too green.  No, with all the culinary sensibilities of a kid, I refused to eat green beans unless they came from a can (don’t even try to give me that weak frozen crap).  They were the best, especially if they were the french cut kind, and they were my mom’s go to.  Open a can of green beans and a can of corn, throw them in a bowl, and microwave for 3 minutes and you had vegetables all three kids would willingly eat (I refused to eat corn, while I think my brother didn’t like green beans).

I don’t know if I my kid self would have willingly eaten these, but adult me loves them!  With only about 10 minutes more effort than my childhood canned beans, these lemon and garlic beans pack a lot more flavorful and delicious punch.

 

Ingredients (serves 4):

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lb green beans, trimmed

1/2 onion, cut into thin slices

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Cook garlic in olive oil over medium heat until fragrant.  Add the beans and onions, saute for 10-15 minutes, until beans are tender, but still crisp.  Stir in lemon juice, salt, and pepper before serving.

Roasted Asparagus

Asparagus is one of my favorite vegetables, and I’m always looking for new ways to prepare it.  This oven-roasted asparagus with just a hint of lemon is a perfect light and flavorful side dish.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 lb asparagus, trimmed

3 tbsp olive oil

1 1/2 tbps Parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, minced

salt and pepper to taste

1 tbsp lemon juice

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2. Place asparagus in a bowl, combine with olive oil, Parmesan, garlic, salt, and pepper; toss to coat.  Arrange asparagus in a single layer on a baking sheet.

3. Bake until tender, about 10-15 minutes.  Sprinkle with lemon juice before serving.

Stir Fried Carrots and Garlic

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 tbsp olive oil

2 c baby carrots, sliced into quarters

2 cloves garlic, sliced lengthwise

2/3 c water

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. In a medium skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat and stir-fry carrots until they begin to turn golden.  Add garlic and stir-fry for another minute.

2. Add water and butter, simmer covered until carrots and tender, about 3 minutes.  Boil carrots, uncovered, until most of the liquid has evaporated.  Stir in lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.

Soy-Garlic Asparagus

Asparagus is one of my absolute favorite vegetables.  The flavor combinations in this recipe seem a bit weird, but they really do go together!  Don’t question it, just go along for the ride.

Ingredients (serves 4):

1 tbsp olive oil

3 c asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 c onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tbsp Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. In a skillet or wok, heat oil and stir-fry the asparagus, onion and garlic over medium-high heat until tender. Add the lemon juice and soy sauce; toss gently to coat. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese to serve.

 

Italian Spinach and Chickpeas

I sort of made up this recipe a while back when I was making dinner for a vegetarian friend.  It’s vaguely based on a recipe for Italian Chicken and Chickpeas from allrecipes.com.  The original recipe is delicious (I made it about a year ago), but I realized it was so flavorful that it really didn’t even need the chicken!  So I decided to experiment by scrapping the chicken and adding LOTS more veggies.  The result is a great vegetarian dish that totally works as a main dish if you want, but would also be a great side dish to any Italian inspired main dish.  If you want the meat I’d recommend keeping everything about this dish the same (the added veggies really make it so much better) and cube a few breasts of chicken and saute them in olive oil with the rosemary before adding the rest of the ingredients.

Ingredients (Serves 6)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 can tomato sauce

1 (15 oz) can Italian-style diced tomatoes

1 tsp Italian seasoining

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tsp sugar

1 bay leaf

1 cup mushrooms, sliced

2 cups zucchini, halved and sliced

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (15 oz) bag frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Directions:

1. Saute onions and garlic in oil until onions are translucent. Add the tomato sauce, diced tomatoes, Italian seasoning, cayenne pepper, sugar, bay leaf, and red pepper flakes to the skillet; stir. Add mushrooms and zucchini and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until zucchini are tender, 10 to 12 minutes.

2. Stir the garbanzo beans and spinach into the skillet; continue cooking until the beans are heated, 2 to 3 minutes more.

Roasted Red Potatoes and Squash with Apple Juice

Last time I cooked with butternut squash I had quite a bit left over (it was a BIG squash), so when I decided to make a fall inspired meal today (check out the Apple Stuffed Pork Chops) I knew this squash would be the prefect side dish.  Allrecipes.com once again gave me inspiration with this recipe for a delicious apple juice-white wine reduction to roast my squash and some red-skinned potatoes in.  (As a side note, I’m totally making the original recipe with root vegetables for Thanksgiving, yum.)  Delicious.  The apple juice-white wine reduction gave the squash and potatoes an amazing flavor, but the best part of these vegetables was the onions!  They really took on the flavor of the reduction and were amazing…I could have eaten an entire plate of these onions by themselves, so good.

Ingredients:

1 cup apple juice

1/3 cup white wine

1 tbsp butter

2 cups butternut squash, cubed

2 cups red-skinned potatoes, cubed

1 onion, sliced

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1.Preheat over to 425 degrees.

2. Boil apple juice and wine in a saucepan until reduced to 3/4 cup, about 2o minutes.  Whisk in butter.

3. Place vegetables in a baking dish and pour apple juice mixture over them.  Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat.

4. Roast until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes.

Sesame Green Beans

I made these delicious fresh green beans a while back and just remembered that I had the pictures, but never posted it.  This recipe came from my favorite Taste of Home magazine in the lovely “weeknight solutions” section.  So helpful, there were quite a few quick and delicious sounding recipes there!  This recipe takes virtually no prep and is really incredibly simple, yet produces a delicious (and impressive) side.  Serve these green beans as a side for any Asian inspired main dish, like cashew chicken (that’s what I did!).

Ingredients:

1 lb fresh green beans

1 red pepper, sliced

1 tbsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 425 degrees.

2. Coat green beans and red pepper with rice vinegar, sesame oil, and soy sauce.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes, or until tender.