PINK! (beet carrot apple radish salad with orange dressing)

This is a perfect Valentine's salad. :) It's very simple, but sometimes in the winter you just need some color on your plate and some raw veggies. I grated 2 carrots, 1 beautiful chioggia beet (the candy-striped kind), 1 radish, and 1 apple. I added a simple dressing of the juice of 2 clementines plus some olive oil. 

This is great served on top of an open-faced sandwich, either with plain cream cheese, or some of the butternut squash spread I made earlier this week. 

quick grated kohlrabi carrot salad with dijon vinaigrette

I don't think I've introduced my new friend yet... my Cuisinart. It was a birthday present from Michael, and is everything I always wanted and more. We actually even watched the DVD that came with it. :) So we've already made hummus, pizza dough (so easy!), grated potatoes for latkes...and much more. The grating feature is amazing. Here is a simple and delicious salad that takes mere minutes with the help of the food processor. And with veggies from our weekly farm share (carrots + kohlrabi).

ingredients:
1 medium kohlrabi
3 medium carrots

dressing: 
olive oil, apple cider vinegar, honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper

Peel the carrots and kohlrabi (kohlrabi is best peeled with a knife - it has a tough skin). Push through the grater attachment on the food processor (or grate by hand). Mix dressing and combine everything.

exploring Providence: another morning at the farmer's market (and another slaw recipe)

Today was another gorgeous Saturday morning, so after a short jog I biked up to the market to get some veggies for the week. Our CSA share starts in two weeks, so after that I probably won't go to the market anymore. And the weather probably won't be as nice, so I wanted to appreciate it while I can. I still was surprised the farm stands didn't have more greens (didn't see any fresh herbs, salad greens), but they did have lots of end-of-summer fruit - and one stand even had winter squash already! Below is a nice assortment of what they had. Lots of tomatoes, peaches, plums, pears, some corn, watermelon, green beans, potatoes, onions. Lots of good produce!

I also stopped at this Indian spice store (Not Just Spices) on Hope St on my way up there. That will be a good resource. I will really miss By The Pound, an amazing bulk spice/food store in Ann Arbor. But now I at least know where I can get some cheap spices and dried beans. Maybe it will inspire me to try cooking more Indian food. that's something I've always wanted to learn. I also need to explore that area (Summit?) on Hope Street more. They have lots of shops and restaurants and it's really cute looking.

moroccan-style quinoa with chickpeas and chard

This seemed like a good make-after-breakfast-and-bring-for-lunch salad...however, it's very very hot today. So I will now need to go for a swim before heading to the office for the day. Literally sweating over a hot stove, as the expression goes. I need to get more no-cook recipes to survive the end of August (oops - that's coming up pretty quickly... I mean the end-of-summer heat, which looks like it's extending into September).

ingredients:
oil
1 small onion, chopped fine
1-2 carrots, peeled and cut in small dice
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp ground coriander
1/ tsp red pepper flakes
1/2-1 cup quinoa, rinsed (depending if you want this to be slightly larger)
1 1/2 cups broth (or water)*
3/4 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed (or whole can)
2 T golden raisins
salt and pepper
6 ounces kale, stemmed and chopped (or chard)
2 T pine nuts, toasted
1/4 tsp lemon zest plus 1 tsp juice
2 T crumbled feta cheese (which I didn't have...but would be delicious!)
fresh herbs to garnish (mint, cilantro, and/or thyme)

*use slightly less liquid if using chard (releases more water), and err on the conservative side. it's easy to add a bit more water while cooking, but a bit of a mess if you end up with too much water

instructions:
1. Heat oil in a saucepan over med-high, add onion and carrot, cook 5 minutes (until onion softens). Add garlic, coriander, and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant (30 seconds). Add quinoa and cook, stirring, until toasted and aromatic, about 3 minutes.

2. Stir in water/broth, chickpeas, raisins, and 1/8 tsp salt. Place kale on top, and bring to simmer, cover, reduce to low, and simmer until quinoa is cooked (about 15 minutes). Off heat, gently stir in pine nuts, lemon zest, and juice, and sprinkle with feta, salt and pepper. Drizzle with olive oil if desired.  I also garnished with a bit of fresh mint and thyme.

recipe from Cooking for Two, from Cook's Illustrated

carrot, parsnip, dill and white bean salad with toasted almonds

I remember when Synne made this for us in Berlin, a recipe from 101 Cookbooks. I have wanted to make it since then and finally got around to it. Plus added some parsnips we had from our CSA. When the carrots and parsnips caramelize in the pan, they get really nice and sweet. Dill seems very spring-like to me - fresh herbs always add so much. :) It's a great healthy and flavorful salad, and the beans make it very substantial.

As Heidi Swanson writes, if you used canned beans this recipe can come together in a flash. I thought the raw shallots were a bit intense.  Maybe add them in part-way through the cooking time to take off some of the raw edge. I also would have liked more dill flavor. Add in some raw dill to the dressing if you also have a taste for it.

winter to spring? a cheery carrot-ginger soup with orange

Well we're 2/3 the way through April and it is not feeling very spring-like. Minnesota has 30 inches of snow...and here in Michigan we still don't have any leaves on the trees--hardly even visible buds. It's getting old. Although as soon as the warm spring sun comes out, all I want to do is sit and bask like a lizard in the sun, so I guess the unusually cold spring is good for my dissertation.

In fact, my infrequency of posting is correlated to two things: first, I started a new chapter and have been very productive and making good progress in my work; and second, I have jumped on the sandwich-train. Two guys in my office starting bringing sandwich fixings to the office, and having lunchtime sandwich time. It's been a while since I have made sandwiches for lunch...and it seemed super practical, not to mention economical. So I got a good loaf of bread, avocado, cheese, turkey breast, some spreads (humus and a spicy black bean spread), brought in some of our good CSA greens...and that is what I have been eating all week. Rather boring and not too blog-worthy. Although Joy the Baker did a fun sandwich post a while ago: on baguette and bagel.

Anyways, it is the weekend and it's time to cook again. I am feeling very vegetable-hungry and wanted some bright colorful meals.  Carrot-ginger soup is perfect because it feels vibrant and sunny without requiring spring veggies. :)  I posted another variant of this from Sara here, as part of our soup swap. This one forgoes the coconut milk, and adds a little tomato and orange. It feels so healthy and so flavorful - always a good combination. I used quite a lot of ginger (a 2-inch piece), which gave it a nice spiciness.  

root vegetable ragout with tarragon wild rice "pancake" topping

Tonight's Saturday day night dinner was a delicious, veggie-packed feast. We got a big new load of vegetables from the CSA on Friday, including parsnips, and flipping through cookbooks (a weekend hobby...) I saw this tasty-sounding recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Suppers. This helped us clean out the odds-n-ends of the vegetable drawer (some beets, carrots, parsnips). Jessica and I cooked together, which helped cut down the somewhat long prep time. But it is worth it. It makes a lasagne-pan size casserole of root vegetables, topped with a tasty wild rice "pancake" topping. It was a nice, fitting comfort-food for this unseasonable April weather (blgh).

Deborah Madison points out you could also make wild rice "crepes" and serve the ragout filling inside. I love any form of pancakes...but this makes the cooking time less hands-on than making individual pancakes.

Like all brown food, it didn't photograph super well, but I just have to convince you of the deliciousness: crunchy wild-rice tarragon topping...bright pink root vegetables and cabbage with a goat cheese sauce underneath. Yum.