Roasted Beet & Tomato Salad

Although I love, love, love my weekly fruit & vegetable deliveries from Plow to Porch, I have to admit, sometimes I am frightened. The husband and I grew up in pretty traditional households where vegetables were usually corn, green beans, peas and maybe an iceberg lettuce "salad." I was lucky enough to live in central California, so I also got some yummy asparagus and artichokes from time to time. Not very adventurous. So when I first saw beets on the delivery list, I was scared. The first appearance of beets happened to coincide with a visit to my dad & stepmom up in SLO. They hadn't seen me in a while and I had lost a ton of weight in that time, so they were curious to hear about this fruit & vegetable delivery service that was encouraging me to try new things and focus more on fruits & veggies (since that was pretty much how I lost all the weight!). As I was telling them all about it, I mentioned that I was really nervous about the beets in the next week. I kid you not, both dad and stepmom, like 6 year olds, preceded to "eeewww" and "you are kidding, throw them out" in ridiculous ways. No freakin' wonder I have fears of certain vegetables! I'm pretty sure I ended up throwing away that first batch of beets out of not having a clue what to do with them, but soon enough, I was roasting them up in foil packets with a little bit of olive oil, adding them to salads. I actually really like them, and after the first time I made them, the husband admitted that they had them all the time when he was growing up (so weird to me, he is such a traditional midwesterner, I had no idea they ate beets!). Eventually, my husband admitted that he wouldn't mind having a salad that was entirely beet focused. I researched on the internet and found that the most common ingredient in a beet salad is (well, other than beets) goat cheese. Well... we're not fans (I know, take away my foodie license or whatever). I also saw that many like the flavor of balsamic vinegar and beets. That gave me the idea for this salad. Very simple roasted beets, chilled, with chopped ripe heirloom tomatoes and a light dressing of balsamic vinegar and olive oil. This was so delicious, and it might sound strange, but we get soooo many tomatoes with Plow to Porch in the summer that I'm really excited for another way to use them up. The husband doesn't love balsamic vinegar like I do (what, doesn't everyone want to drink it?), but he really liked this as well, even though I "poured a bunch of that weird brown stuff on there." By all means, go ahead and add goat cheese if you want. I might add some feta next time for some creamy texture. But don't fear the beets!

Balsamic Roasted Beets and Tomato Salad (my own creation)

4-5 small beets, tops and bottoms trimmed off (I used golden here, but all sorts of beets would work, I think)

1 large heirloom tomato

olive oil (about 3 Tbs)

Balsamic Vinegar (about 1-2 Tbs)

Salt & Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place trimmed, unskinned beets in foil packet. Drizzle with olive oil before folding the packet closed (I leave a little bit of air inside the packet to circulate). Place in heated oven for about 45 minutes or until beets are soft and skins come off easily. Allow to cool completely before removing skins. Chop into wedges or bitesize pieces. Refridgerate about 1 hour until chilled. Chop tomato into bitesize pieces. Mix tomato & beets in small bowl. Toss with approx even amounts of olive oil and balsamic vinegar or to your own tastes. Tomatoes and beets should absorb most of the dressing and there shouldn't be much pooling inside the bowl. Top with salt & pepper to taste and serve. Makes two servings.

Southwestern Quinoa

I definitely grew up in a household where dinner consisted of protein, starch & veggie most nights. As I'm doing my meal planning, my mind often goes back to this concept even when I'm trying to use up all our veggies from Plow to Porch. A big problem with this style of meal planning is that I have a tendency to inhale the starch part, whether it be a pasta, rice, potato or couscous side dish. To combat this problem, I have started experimenting a little bit with quinoa, which is similar in texture to couscous, but much more filling, has more protein and fiber, and is slightly less inhalable while still being quite tasty. I got much inspiration for this recipe from Mary Ellen's Chili Cumin Seasoned Quinoa with Jalapenos, Corn & Red Pepper. Mary Ellen recently had one of her other quinoa recipes featured in Cooking Light Magazine, so I knew she knows her way around a quinoa recipe! This was so fantastic and the fish I served with it worked with the quinoa very nicely (I had picked up a tilapia in lemon sauce at Whole Foods). I ended up making the same dish about a week later since my husband wasn't here to enjoy it the first time around and I of course ate all the leftovers! This recipe also has the honors of being the first time I cooked with a self grown jalapeno. That sucker was extra hot, of course, so this dish was particularly spicy, but I didn't mind! For you cilantro lovers, this recipe begs for some chopped cilantro to be added just after plating. Even this non-cilantro girl almost wouldn't have minded some, it would just have gone really well with these flavors!

Southwestern Quinoa (adapted from Mary Ellen)

1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
1 cup chicken broth

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
1 jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped
1/2 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 of a small onion, finely chopped
1/2 can of black beans, rinsed & drained

3/4 cup frozen corn, thawed (I just rinse in cool water for a few minutes)

Optional: 1 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbs fresh chopped cilantro (I didn't use the lime because the fish was seasoned with citrus, but highly recommend some sort of citrus juice flavor with this dish)
Heat about half the oil in a small saucepan. Add the quinoa and toast for about 1-2 minutes. Add the chicken broth, chili powder, cumin and cayenne, mix well to combine; allow to come to a boil. Turn heat to low, cover and cook until liquid is mostly gone, about 12-15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat remaining oil in a medium saute pan. Add onion & peppers. Saute until just starting to carmelize. Add corn and cook until heated through. Add beans, stirring gently until heated through. When quinoa is done, pour on top of the mixture in the saute pan and gently fold vegetables into the quinoa until universally combined. Serve warm and top with lime juice and chopped cilantro, if desired.

Baked Zucchini "Fries"

From what I understand, a common problem with CSA subscriptions and/or growing a home garden is that zucchini comes in quicker than you can eat it. Sure enough, we got a batch of golden zucchini in our second week of Plow to Porch, but since so many of the blogs I follow are also CSA subscribers, I had already starred a few zucchini recipes. I knew I would make zucchini fries the first time we had a delivery. I love bread crumbs in all varieties, but I think panko is the way to go with this recipe, as it gives the zucchini that extra crunch that makes this dish reminiscent of french fries (they definitely don't taste like fries, though!). This did take a while to make, and since my usual veggie side dishes don't involve much prep work, that was the only negative. But this was a fun, tasty recipe and I know I will make these again (and I already have, actually!).



Baked Zucchini Fries (from Le Petit Pierogi)
1 zucchini, cut into sticks
2 eggs
splash of milk (about 2 tbsp)
1/2 cup flour
3/4 cup seasoned panko breadcrumbs (I'm going to grind mine in the Magic Bullet next time for a finer consistency)
2 tbsp. grated Parmesan cheese
salt
pepper (I added some cayenne as well)
Preheat oven to 425 degrees, and line a large baking dish with foil and spray with non stick spray.Set up a breading station. On one plate, add flour. In a small bowl, whisk eggs and milk together with a fork. On another plate add panko and cheese and mix together. Season zucchini sticks with salt, pepper and cayenne.One by one, dredge zucchini sticks in flour, then dip in egg mixture, then press into panko until completely coated. Place on baking sheet side by side, until all zucchini sticks are breaded.Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown - flip after 10 minutes and serve hot.

Trader Joe's-Like Homemade Tartar Sauce

We don't eat fish all that often, but when we do, we LOVE Trader Joe's Jalapeno Tartar Sauce. I knew I was going to be stopping by the fresh fish market this weekend, but I also knew we had no tartar sauce and there was NO WAY I was heading into Trader Joe's on the day before Valentine's Day. I've done it before and I just can't take the crowds. After doing a little research, I found that homemade tartar sauce is ridiculously easy and there really is no reason for me to buy store-made anyway. I mixed this up based on what I thought would work for our tastes and was pleasantly surprised at how perfect this was. The spiciness was right on par for our liking, and it ended up a little spicier than the Trader Joe's version, which was great. It is also a little lighter than the Trader Joe's version, since I used low fat mayo. It is almost too easy to blog about, and the picture is pretty bad, but here is my recipe:

Homemade Jalapeno Tartar Sauce (my creation)

1/2 cup light mayonnaise

1 heaping Tbs. sweet pickle relish

1 tsp sliced jarred pickled jalapenos, finely chopped

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/8 tsp onion powder

Mix all ingredients well in a small bowl. Cover and refridgerate, allowing flavors to marry for at least one hour. Serve alongside favorite fish.

Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins

One of our favorite restaurants in town serves freshly baked mini muffins instead of bread. The Palace is a Cajun restaurant here in Santa Barbara. They serve banana nut, molasses and cheddar/jalapeno corn muffins. I was making my Turkey Chili Pasta tonight and thought some "homemade" Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins would be a great accompaniment. I was worried about the ratios of peppers & cheese, but these were great! I might use one more jalapeno next time if I want a little more kick, but as a subtle side dish, the heat was perfect. I'm going to enter this into the "Tasty Tools" blogging event for April over at Joelen's Culinary Adventures, since this month is muffin pans.

Jalapeno Cheddar Corn Muffins

1 Package Corn Muffin Mix (I used Jiffy)

1-2 Jalapenos, seeds & ribs removed

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 Egg

1/3 cup milk

Dice jalapeno into very fine pieces (or pulse in food processor until chopped into fine pieces). Mix with all remaining ingredients. Allow to rest for 5 minutes, then pour into greased muffin pan or cupcake liners. Fill about 1/2 full. Bake 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition Info: Calories: 205.1, Fat: 8.5g (4.3 Sat, .2 Poly, 1.2 Mono), Carbs: 28g, Fiber: .1g