Possibly the Most Delicious Salad Recipe Ever

This past weekend I taught a cooking class called "Summer Salads". One of the recipes I used in my class is this incredibly flavorful quinoa salad. I've made this salad lots of times, and it really is the perfect dish for summer. It's great for parties and barbecues, as it keeps well and makes a great big bowl. It's also nice to have in the refrigerator so you don't have to worry about making lunch or cooking dinner later in the week when you're hot and tired. The other cool thing about this salad is that it uses a lot of fresh vegetables, and you can be pretty flexible with what you put it. I found the recipe on epicurious, and though I've kept the ingredients pretty similar, I've changed the preparation method for the quinoa to simplify the recipe- it's a lot faster and easier to prepare.  It does take a bit of time to chop everything up, but other than that it's an easy and satisfying main dish that does a great job of showcasing fresh, seasonal summer produce.

Quinoa and Black Bean Salad
adapted from Gourmet  | July 1994
1 1/2 cups quinoa
1 1/2 cups cooked black or pinto beans (or a combination of both), rinsed if canned
1 1/2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar
1 1/2 cups cooked corn (cut from about 2 large ears)
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 chopped red bell pepper
1 small yellow summer squash, sliced into small pieces
1 small red onion, finely chopped
a few green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 pint (or more)cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1 avocado, cut into cubes
1/2 cup (or more)finely chopped cilantro
a few pickled jalapenos, sliced
For dressing
5 tablespoons fresh lime juice, or to taste
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons ground cumin, or to taste
1/3 cup olive oil
generous squirt of sriracha hot sauce

Prepare quinoa:
Boil 2 3/4 cups water . Add quinoa and reduce heat to simmer. Cook quinoa 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Remove lid and remove from heat. You do not want to overcook the quinoa! It is much better to err on the side of undercooking rather than overcooking.
While quinoa is cooking, toss beans with vinegar in a small bowl.
Make dressing:
In a large bowl whisk together lime juice, sriracha, salt, and cumin and add oil in a stream, whisking.
Assemble salad:
Add warm quinoa  to bowl with dressing and mix well. Stir in all vegetables and beans, taking care to add soft vegetables like avocado and tomatoes last and to stir them gently. Cool in the refrigerator until you are ready to serve.

Healthier Ice Cream Substitute

Tonight I wanted to make a sweet treat for a friend of mine who is injured, so I whipped up some "Nice Cream" in the food processor. Nice Cream is like ice cream, except instead of using dairy products as the base, you use frozen bananas. Nice Cream is easy to make, you just have to plan ahead a little.
What you'll need:
ripe bananas
a flat freezer safe dish
a food processor
anything you'd like to mix into your Nice Cream (For this batch I used coconut and pecans. I've also used peanut butter and hippie Nutella which are also both delicious, and a co-worker told me he's used figs. Really, anything you'd enjoy eating in regular ice cream should work fine)
Step 1: Peel the bananas and slice them onto the flat freezer safe dish in a single layer
Step 2: Freeze the bananas until they are solid (I usually freeze them overnight)
Step 3: Puree the frozen bananas in the food processor. They will go through some weird stages (big hard lumps, tiny gritty lumps, etc.). You want to keep pureeing them until they are still frozen but starting to get smooth. When they get to that point, mix in your other ingredients and give it one more whir. Scrape your concoction into a freezer safe container and freeze for a few more hours. Yum.
Happily, I made enough extra to enjoy some myself when I got home from my bike ride!

Breakfast In the Sound

Today after work, I went for a beautiful paddle. I saw an incredible array of marine animals, including seals (tons of them were hanging out on the log boom- they looked like a pack of dogs with bowling balls for heads!), blue herons, and jellyfish. This time, the jellies weren't the harmless moon jellies that I've written about before, but another type called a fried egg jellyfish. The fried egg jelly is much larger than the moon jelly, but has a sting that is mild, so I was careful not to fall in, but not too afraid. There were so many of them out in the sound, and they really do look like giant fried eggs floating in the water. It's a pretty weird sight to see.

I don't normally go paddling much on the weekends due to the potentially heavy boat traffic, and today was no exception. A few of the boats were zooming around really fast (despite the "no-wake" zone) and it reminded me of "THUNDER! THUNDER! THUNDER! On the Ohio"- a speedboat race on the Ohio river that used to happen in my hometown. Being on a paddleboard with heavy boat traffic is kind of like riding your bike on a busy street, except you have a much bigger bike lane to ride in! At any rate, despite all the boat traffic, I was glad to have gone out. It was a great way to unwind after work and a chance to get in a good workout too. 

Necessity Is...

This week I got a bit of a sunburn on my back when I was working in the yard. Although I was wearing sunblock, there were a few spots I just couldn't reach. When I was talking to a couple of my co-workers about their weekends, they also mentioned getting burned on their backs in spots they couldn't reach.  If only someone would invent a tool for spreading sunblock on hard to reach spots, I thought...
This week, I made it my goal to figure out a way to get sunblock all over my back for those times when I'm alone and want to be out in the sun, and today I accomplished that goal- with a kitchen spoon! Before I went out on a fabulous after-work paddle, I wrapped a paper towel around my spoon, secured it with a rubber band, and loaded it up with sunscreen. I was able to reach my entire back easily, and didn't get a burn despite being out for an hour and a half. When I told Zach about my exciting discovery, he asked me why I didn't just use the spoon without the paper towel. I was worried about getting the spoon messy with a non-food product, but since my sunblock is largely olive oil and smells like mayonnaise anyway, maybe next time I'll try doing exactly that. Whichever way I go, it is nice to be able to spend the afternoon alone in the sun and not have to worry about having a red and uncomfortable sunburn on my back as a result.

Unintended Side Effects of Goal #6

A few days ago I went in for a dental cleaning. I may not have the straightest teeth, but I feel lucky that I am blessed with good dental genetics- the dentist always raves about my deep roots ( he once told me "you know, we never get to see teeth like yours in real life, only in text books when we were in dental school"). Maybe because of this, I work hard to take care of my teeth, and make brushing and flossing a priority. In January when I gave up chewing sugarless gum, I was a little concerned that it would decrease my dental health. I have read that chewing gum stimulates saliva production, which is helpful because saliva minimizes bacteria in your mouth and also contains substances that help prevent tooth decay and gum disease. When I gave up sugarless gum, I was also worried about having bad breath. I drink coffee and eat lots of fragrant foods, so I decided to carry a toothbrush and toothpaste in my bag and brush whenever I felt like I had yuck mouth (on average I'm probably brushing twice a day more then I used to). Fast forward six months, and as the hygienist starts to clean my teeth, she says "have you changed your dental routine since your last cleaning? Your teeth have virtually no stain or tarter on them at all. They look really great.". What exciting news to find that in giving up sugarless gum, I also unintentionally improved my dental health! Looks like I can keep smilin' and keep saying no thanks to artificially sweetened gum.

The Love Child of Salad and Potato Chips

Yesterday I made a ridiculously simple cucumber salad. It was so delicious, yet weirdly, reminded me of eating flavored potato chips. So for anyone who would really rather be eating potato chips, this one is for you:

Cucumber, Mustard, and Dill Salad

Gourmet  | October 2004

ingredients

2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar

2 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon mild olive oil

1 large seedless cucumber (usually plastic-wrapped; 1 lb), peeled

2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

preparation

Whisk together vinegar, mustard, salt, and sugar in a bowl, then add oil in a slow stream, whisking.

Cut cucumber into small rounds, first removing all or part of the peel if desired.

Add cucumber and dill to vinaigrette, tossing to coat.

Stopping to Smell the Roses or Read the Books

For the past year or so, I have walked by this cool little free library that someone set up just a few blocks from my house. Every time I've walked by, I've thought "Wow, that's so cool! I should take a book and bring one back". So this week, I finally did it. The first book I read from the little free library was Bold Spirit; it's about a woman who walked all the way across the United States in the 1890s. The book was completely fascinating and may have even inspired me to make walking across the United States one of my long term goals! There are so many things in life, like the little free library, that I think about doing and intend to do, but never seem to get around to. I think this is exactly what the phrase "remember to stop and smell the roses" is about- not living and working at such a frantic pace that you don't even take a moment to stop and appreciate all the cool things around you. Incidentally, stopping and smelling the roses is something my friend Justin actually did once when we were on a walk, and at that time I had the embarrassing realization that I had walked by that particular rose bush many times and never even noticed it was there. Thanks in part to Justin's inspiration, I've gotten better at taking the time to notice the beauty around me, but clearly, I'm still having trouble slowing down sometimes. The little free library is going to be my rose bush of the year, and I'm making it one of my goals to read at least three more books from it before the end of the year.