Strawberry Salsa

Well, we are still slowly transitioning into the Paleo diet. Mr.Surly is following it stricter than I am. I'm finding it a bit stressful to think of various meals that fit the criteria. Mr.Surly has already lost some of his winter weight (a pant size) from the diet and exercise. I think I'm down about 5 lbs, I'm trying to gain that back; I can't lose any weight. I'm still trying to maintain my weight and even gain 5 lbs to be at a healthy weight for my height. Mr.Surly wants to lose weight and get back in shape. Mr.Surly noticed an immediate positive effect from the diet. He feels fuller, needs less snacks during the day, and no longer needs his usual afternoon coffee.

The diet is also supposed said to be good for autoimmune diseases . I can't vouch for how it affects my GI issues because I'm still using dairy and eating wheat.

Guest Post: Moroccan Carrot and Cumin Salad

I'm saved, I'm saved! I have a guest post for you all! I want to eat this like now, iit has two of my favorite things, Morrocan flavor and cumin. If you haven't been to Brigitt's blog you must check it out. She is much more of a foodie than me, plus more gourmet. I love her blog. And I am honored to have her guest posting for me today.

Take it away Brigitt, my angel sent from God to save my blog......

Hi everyone! I'm Brigitt over at Cook With B. When I started blogging about a year ago, Surly Kitchen was one of the first blogs I read so I'm very excited to be guest posting today!

About a month ago, I took a Moroccan cooking class at a great recreational cooking school here in NYC called Haven's Kitchen. Jeff Koehler was in town promoting his new cookbook, Morocco, and highlighted a few cooking techniques (like a 15 minute no-cook couscous) and recipes from the book.

The class was so much fun because it was very laid back (I definitely wasn't sipping wine during my classes in culinary school!), but I still learned a lot from Jeff. Mostly, I was surprised at how simple the recipes he showed us were.

I know in my own kitchen I tend to shy away from exotic cuisines, because I assume the recipes will include a long list of ingredients I don't have on hand, but I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my two favorite recipes from the evening actually had a rather short list of (mostly) familiar ingredients.

Take this carrot salad for example:

The only thing I had to buy to make this recipe was sweet paprika, and I know that won't go to waste--especially once winter comes and I'm cooking up some soups and stews!

Salsa

This post marks Mr. Surly’s cooking debut. Are you as excited as I am? I'm always happy when he makes food. And this time I was able to photo document it, though I don't think he was too happy to have me hovering around with a camera, even though I tried to stay out of the way.

This salsa is so good and so simple; it's his family's recipe.

Wicked Good Salsa

This recipe is courtesy of my good friend, Carolyn. A few years ago she had a housewarming party and this was one of the foods she served. It was so good I couldn’t stop eating it. I had to have the recipe and she kindly obliged. I was skeptical of the Italian dressing in salsa but Carolyn assured me that it was necessary to the recipe.

This salsa is so addicting. I like to use Tostitos Scoops because it makes for an appealing presentation. A perfect snack for a weekend of watching football.

Cilantro-Jalapeno Hummus

This hummus is Mr.Surly’s favorite. I was waiting until my cilantro grew big enough to make this dip for him. He likes things hot and spicy, so I use serrano peppers instead of jalapeno peppers. Whenever I make this, it’s lucky to last 2 days. We prefer our hummus without tahini, so I substitute almond butter or cashew butter. I don’t really notice much taste difference between almond vs cashew butter. I've also used a lime instead of lemon, it makes it equally delicious. This time I used a lemon because I was all out of limes.

This is ridiculously easy to make; you just put everything in the food processor and puree. It only takes about 10 minutes to make, if even that. Gotta love easy, delicious dishes when the temps are in the upper 90’s/low 100’s.

Apple Cranberry Stuffing

My favorite ingredients strike again; I just love the combination of apples and cranberries. And this fall I’m definitely satiating my craving for them. For Thanksgiving I like to make two different kinds of stuffing, regular (onions, celery, bread and spices) and this apple cranberry version. Last year, Mr. Surly was a bit skeptical of the apple version but this year he was all about it. I have made a couple batches since Thanksgiving of this deliciousness.

When I make stuffing I don’t follow a recipe. I just throw everything together in ratios I like and bake it. I love stuffing. I also love how easy it is to make. Below is the general recipe I use.

Roasted Sweet Potato Balls

Another dish I wanted to make for Thanksgiving was some kind of sweet potato appetizer. Not one that included lots of sugar and marshmallows. My body isn’t absorbing fat, so lots of excess sugar and fat makes me feel nauseous and sick. I prefer to sneak good fats into my diet to try to trick my body into absorbing it. So far it hasn’t worked; my body is too smart. But I’ll keep trying. Since I need the fat and calories, I use butter to grease my dish, otherwise I would just use non-stick coconut oil.

Anyway, back to the sweet potato balls. I didn’t follow any recipe, I just made it up as I went along. I think they turned out really well. I love bite-sized things, and these were perfect. I made these up on wed and popped them in the oven on thurs right before serving our appetizers. Simple and low key, just how I like things. Oh and they are healthy, too. If you’re not a fan of nuts the walnuts can be omitted. I added a lot of walnuts since they contain a lot of “good fat.”

I have other scrumptious recipes from our thanksgiving dinner, but I have no idea when I’ll get around to posting them. The medicine I’m on is really kicking my ass, leaving me really tired, drained and way behind in my posting. I’m really hoping my posts are at least somewhat coherent and my recipe instructions make sense.

Baked Cranberry Sauce

I love cranberry sauce. Mr. Surly, however, does not. I did not want to have a Thanksgiving dinner without cranberry sauce, but I didn’t want to make it just for me since I would only eat a tiny portion. I found this Bobby Flay recipe that claimed to have non-cranberry sauce lovers gobbling it up. With bourbon as an ingredient how could this not be fantastic.

I have a generous bar hand and added 1/3 c bourbon. It had a strong, distinct taste of bourbon, a little too strong for me. No problem, though, I just popped it back in the oven for a few minutes to cook off some of the alcohol.

I’m happy to say this is getting eaten up rather quickly. I really like Bobby Flay’s recipes, I might need to look into buying one of his cookbooks.

Cranberry Nut Quinoa Salad

I have a bunch of quinoa I need to eat. I would, for some reason, buy quinoa each trip to the grocery store, forgetting I already had some. This happened for about 3 consecutive trips. I don’t have any excuse for this, other than quinoa sounded good when I saw it on the grocery store shelf, then I’d go home and discover I already had some in the pantry—oops. Desperate to use some of it, I tried to make looking for interesting quinoa recipes. I came across this recipe someone gave me last year during my gluten free/vegan elimination diet phase.

For a recipe with few ingredients this was so good. I served it in roasted acorn squash “bowls.” The quinoa was just as delicious for lunch the next day minus the squash. I love just about anything that includes balsamic vinegar.

This would be a nice, different side dish for Thanksgiving. Speaking of Thanksgiving, I can't believe it's this week! I thought I had another week to prepare and plan. This is going to be a busy week in the kitchen. Is anyone else freaking out about Thanksgiving dinner?

Homemade Refried Beans

I finally made dinner this week, nothing special, we just had taco night. I did decide to make my own refried beans. I don't like the kind from a can, to me they have a tinny taste to them, like most canned foods. Thank goodness making my own refried beans is super easy.

Have you ever made your own refried beans? Once you make them you are unable to go back the canned kind. They are easy to make in a pressure cooker. I don't really use an exact recipe. I just throw the stuff in my pressure cooker, cook and season to taste. One cup of dry beans would be good for serving about 4-6 people. I make one cup for both of us because Mr. Surly likes to have a lot of beans in his tacos. And we always have left over beans for the next couple days. These beans are good on their on with a little bit of cheese and a dollop of greek yogurt (or sour cream). I'm sure you could make them in pot if you don't have a pressure cooker; they would just take longer to make and you'd probably need to soak the beans overnight.

Heirloom Bruschetta

I love bruschetta. Love it. It’s perfect to make in the summer because it is so light and refreshing As a bonus it’s quick to make and you don’t have to turn on the oven nor the stove. This was my dinner the other night and lunch the next day. Mr. Surly is lucky I can’t eat very much in one sitting, otherwise he wouldn’t have gotten any of this.

Of course you can just use any type of tomatoes (homegrown, roma, cherry, etc) you have lying around. But the better the quality of the tomato, the better tasting the bruschetta. I use heirloom because even though they are a bit pricier, the taste is worth it for bruschetta; it’s all about the tomatoes. If you’re feeling lazy you don’t have to seed the tomatoes, but then your bruschetta will be wet and soggy the next day (if it makes it that long).

If my tomato plants would ever grow some cherry tomatoes I’d use those. I’ve never grown vegetables before and I heard tomatoes were easy to grow. Well, my plants are growing, it’s just taking forever for them to flower and produce tomatoes. I certainly don’t have the prolific amount I was expecting. Does that happen to anyone else?

Mediterranean Pepper Salad

I kinda broke a rule by eating this salad. Due to my GI issues I’m not really supposed to eat raw veggies because when I do my abdomen becomes painfully distended, making me look about 3 months pregnant and causing considerable pain. I have always enjoyed snacking on raw vegetables, especially bell peppers, because they are delightfully crisp and crunchy. Thus far I have been so good about following the diet put forth by both the nutritionist and doctor. I obediently stopped eating salads, quit snacking on raw carrots, gave up broccoli completely, etc. Therefore, I felt I deserved to eat some peppers, by far my favorite raw veggie. I decided a bell pepper salad would sufficiently satisfy my craving. Unfortunately, I was only able to eat one portion of this salad, and I paid the price for it, but it was definitely worth it. Once my stomach issue is fixed, I can’t wait to make this salad so I can enjoy it properly, without my stomach blowing up like a balloon within 30 minutes of my first bite of food. I made this the day before I planned on serving it so it could sit and marinate in the yummy dressing overnight.

Dolmades (Stuffed Grape Leaves)

I’m rather picky about my dolmades. My aunt and uncle lived in Greece so the first time I tried stuffed grape leaves, they were authentic Greek ones. Instantly, I was hooked. In Greece you can buy them in little tin cans, kinda like the size of a small can of tuna. Just stick a can in the fridge and they make an amazing snack anytime. Ever since then I have searched in vain in the United States for that same authentic taste. Any time I go to a Mediterranean restaurant that have grape leaves on the menu I always order them, each time hoping they will measure up to the ones from Greece. Each time I’ve been let down, to this day I still haven’t been able to find comparable ones. 

I always assumed they would be too difficult to make myself, but recently I found a recipe I thought I would enjoy and decided to give it a go. The result was pretty good. Still not as good as the real deal, but definitely better than the ones sold at Whole Foods. The recipe isn’t too difficult, just a bit time consuming. I found it enjoyable to stuff and roll the leaves. I would definitely make these again when I have another craving.

Spring Vegetable Orzo Salad

A nice, light dish perfect for any variety of seasonal vegetables. I came up with this recipe to use up some odd and end ingredients I came across while cleaning out the fridge and pantry. I threw them together to make this simple dish and I’m so pleased with how it turned out. The raw bell pepper and pinenuts add a nice crunch. Some fresh cucumber would be great in this, too. It was a great accompaniment to the lemon thyme grilled chicken we had for dinner. You could use any type of vinaigrette, bottled or homemade. If you like cheese it would be a nice addition. It was even better the next day when I had some for lunch. I added a bit more dressing to my lunch serving since I love love love vinegar (Mr.Surly, not so much, just the smell is enough to turn his stomach). I will definitely make this again, maybe experimenting with different veggies.

Roasted Green Beans

I love vegetables. I’m always trying to think of new healthy ways to make them. Usually I just steam them-- boring. I made this a couple weeks ago based on what I had on hand. I just didn’t feel like steaming vegetables again, I wanted something different. So I decided to roast the beans instead of steaming them. 

The first time I made them I just used green beans, a shallot, a few cloves of garlic, and a lemon that was threatening to go bad if I let it sit another day. But when I made them last night, I happened to have a red pepper in the fridge and thought it would add some nice color to the dish. Any color pepper would work, or it could be omitted altogether. 

 I used fresh green beans, I’m sure you could use frozen beans. I’m not sure about the amount of green beans I used. When I buy them fresh at the grocery store I just keep adding them to the bag until I feel like I have a good amount for two people. I guess it’s about 3 cups, but who knows, I’m not very good at estimating, and I didn’t think to weigh them. 

 This time I used my mini food processor to chop the shallot and garlic. Usually I just slice them up by hand, but I have cut two fingertips, one on each hand, which at the moment makes chopping difficult for me.