a very green no-cook meal for your first meal in a new apartment

Yesterday we moved into our new apartment in Providence. It was a lot of work, first moving down from a second-story apartment with very narrow, steep stairs, into a third-floor apartment. Every muscle in my body is aching today... People really should just offer to help random strangers move instead of going to the gym. :) Luckily we had the help of a friend, which made things go much faster.

So anyways, we did eventually get hungry, in the middle of our afternoon/evening of unpacking and organizing. One great thing about this apartment is that it's 2-3 blocks from the grocery store, so it's really easy to run out and get something. I was going to make a warm meal, but it turns out that our gas is not turned on yet. I went and knocked on some doors in the building to make sure we were doing it right...and got to meet a super friendly man who lives downstairs. He brought up matches and confirmed what we already thought: no gas flow yet. So... it had to be a cold meal. I ran out and got a good loaf of bread, avocado, and the ingredients for a simple green salad. I threw dinner together while Michael put the table together so we could sit down and eat.

It ended up being a very green meal and was just the thing for a hot summer night. We ate the salad with olive bread from Seven Stars Bakery in Providence, with avocado slices and a sprinkling of Maldon salt. (This is one of my easy favorites.) Oh, and full disclosure: to keep things super classy I got some chicken wings from the hot bar at Whole Foods to have with our healthy dinner. :)

Green Salad with Mango and Mozzarella
salad greens
mango, diced
fresh mozzarella, torn into pieces or cubed
squeeze of lemon
dash of extra virgin olive oil
grind of fresh pepper

black-bean and chard quesadillas with fresh guacamole

These quesadillas are heavy on the beans and veggies, and just need a little cheese to hold it all together. They're great with some fresh, garlicky guacamole on top. In a saute pan, saute onion and garlic, add jalapeno, and swiss chard stems. Cook until soft, then add swiss chard leaves until wilted, then black beans. Heat through. In a separate pan, heat a tortilla, then flip, squeeze with lime, and put filling on one side. Sprinkle some cheese on top, then fold over. Turn once more so it gets a bit crispy on the outside. Serve with guacamole and/or fresh salsa.

ingredients:
whole wheat tortillas
1/2 red onion (or 1 small), diced
1 clove garlic
1 jalapeno
swiss chard leaves, and stems chopped
can black beans, rinsed
shredded cheese (cheddar or bag Mexican cheese)
optional: add bacon

guacamole for topping:
1-2 avocados
1-2 cloves garlic, pressed
lime juice
salt
diced tomatoes
taste to get the mix of lime and salt just right. 

toasted millet with sugar snap peas, avocado, radish and ginger-honey dressing

This is another recipe inspired by Dennis Cotter (For the Love of Food). This one had a shorter list of ingredients, among some truly complicated recipes in his collection... :) He always has such enticing sounding combinations. I also love how in British English they say "spring onions" instead of "green onions." It's nice. This recipe did feel very spring-like. And it made a great packed lunch. I actually whipped it together in 25 minutes while I was having my morning breakfast and coffee, and then took it with me to the office.

Eating millet makes me feel slightly hippie-ish, bird-like...just because my sisters had parakeets when we were growing up, and they would put sprigs of millet in their cages. And now I am eating bird food. And it is delicious. As Cotter notes, you could easily substitute couscous or bulgur wheat here.

I made half of the below portions, and it made 3 largerish side-salad portions.
300 g millet / couscous / bulgur wheat
4 spring onions, finely chopped
150 grams sugar snap peas, cut in half
2 avocados, cut into slices or dice
4 radishes, sliced thin
optional: sprouted bean, handful of micro salad leaves
salt and pepper
garnish: toasted pumpkin seeds, chopped mint

First toast the millet about 7 minutes with a bit of olive oil in a saucepan. Add water (2:1 ratio, so 600 mL for 300 g millet) and let it cook, covered 15 minutes. Then prep the other ingredients. When the millet is done, mix everything together.

ginger-honey dressing:

juice of 1 lemon
2 T grated fresh ginger
1 T honey (or other sweetener)
125 ml olive oil

Cotter says to grind the pumpkin seeds and then mix them with the dressing. It seemed like an unnecessarily difficult step, to dirty the food processor...so I just tossed the seeds with the salad, and I liked them like that.