for mustard lovers
so WOW it's been awhile since i've posted here! it's not that i haven't been cooking, but more that time just seemed to disappear!
so today i've got a mustardy creation for you. being a true lover of one of the greatest condiments around, i had fun trying this recipe for a dijon potato salad! with spring at our doorsteps i thought this would be a different and interesting dinner. and it hit the spot for me tonight!
here in dc spring lasts for about 6 days and then it suddenly becomes the muggy swampy summer again. so i'm embracing light and crisp while i can! lol.
dijon potato salad
-about 1 lb cooked, quartered red potatoes (i made them a tad bigger than bite size)
-1 cup fresh green beans, trimmed and cut, then boil for a couple minutes and then drain and rinse with cold water
-1 1/2 cups canned white beans, drained and rinsed (i put in two 14 oz cans, cuz i didn't want a half can of beans leftover :)
-1 small red pepper, rid of innards and diced
directions: toss above with the dressing below!
dijon dressing:
3/4 cup honey mustard
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
2 1/4 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp fresh parsley, minced (except i'm incapable of mincing anything)
3/4 tbsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
warning: the dressing is strong! but it has great bite to it along with the sweetness of the honey mustard. this recipe also makes a LOT of dressing, so i recommend not dumping it all on at once, so you can decide how much sauce you want! lol. i, of course, love me some mustard and love me some sauce, so i used it all!
YUM!
I totally made this recipe up, but dang it was good.
Stuffed Zucchini4 large zucchini
2-3 tomatoes
about 1/2 cup uncooked rice, cooked
olive oil
yummy spices
some cheese--shredded cheddar or something like it
cut a "top" off the zucchini length-wise. carefully scoop out the innards of said zucchini and toss 'em (unless you can think of something else to use them for). rub insides with olive oil, sprinkle with spices (I used garlic, salt and pepper, and oregano). turn cut-side down in a cake pan and bake for about 15 minutes.
meanwhile, chop up the long "tops" of the zucchini very small. chop tomatoes pretty small too. saute zucchini pieces in olive oil, add some spices here too (i used garlic, salt and pepper, and basil this time...and a dash of Emeril Spice without the BAM!)--for maybe 3-5 minutes. Add 2/3 of the chopped tomatoes. let them get all juicy together. after a couple minutes, add rice. You don't need all the rice--I probably used betwen 1/2 and 2/3 cup cooked brown rice. cook all this together for a couple of minutes, stirring until the rice has absorbed all the juices. I added more spices here--a teensy bit more garlic powder, some more basil, and emeril spice again. taste to see what it needs, add it if you want.
take the baking upside down zucchinis out of the oven. turn them over in the cake pan, and stuff with the rice/veggie mixture. put some shredded cheese on top (I used cheddar), then top with remaining tomatoes.
Bake again for about 10-15 minutes.
Eat. I served with spiced brown lentils (topped with chopped tomatoes) and mashed potatoes. yum!
i wish i had a submersible hand held blender...
I had a huge lentil soup triumph tonight. it was tasty AND still mostly orange! amazing. I put orange lentils (1c), an onion, a carrot, the insides of some tomatoes (I made stuffed tomatoes yesterday so I had the insides left over), a potato, and some spices in a pot with water, veggie broth, apple juice, and a little vinegar (8 cups liquid in all). cooked it for a while. then i put it in the blender (a little at a time, not wanting a repeat of the LAST lentil soup experience) until it was all blended up. Then a little lemon juice and YUM! It was good.
I also made mashed-potato stuffed bell peppers tonight. Stuffing bell peppers is totally labor-intensive, what with the gutting and all. but i did it. then i "parboiled" them for a few minutes, let them drain, and sauted up some onions, more green peppers (the recipe calls for red but we don't have those here), and some carrots (my own addition). i mixed that with the mashed potatoes i already made (before the parboiling), added some spices, then stuffed all that into the peppers. I ended up putting the peppers in a bread-loaf pan (lined with foil cuz it was kinda rusty) because it was the only thing deep enough. Then I put tomato sauce around the bottom half of the peppers, covered it all in foil, and baked it for 20 minutes. then i took the foil off and baked another 10 minutes (while I reheated the soup and the leftover mashed potatoes on the stove), and voila! yumminess in a nice little self-contained edible green package. :-)
for dessert: assir farowla (strawberry juice). about a pound of strawberries, and two lemons (deseeded and peeled because, umm, eew) into the blender (in two batches unless you want a mess) with a little apple juice and some water. pour into a cup. refrigerate a little while. stir, add water if needed, and enjoy. you can also freeze it in mugs or little bowls for a delightful sorbet-esque dessert. all natural!
