Kids Dish

This is a perfect, seasonal salad right now- fresh corn from the farmer’s market, tomatoes from my CSA and my brother-in-law’s garden, and basil from my own back yard in a light vinaigrette. Sam tends to pick out the tomatoes even though he likes them plain, but he loves the corn and doesn’t mind the vinaigrette at all.

Corn, Tomato and Basil Salad
3 ears of corn, blanched and cut off of the cob
1/2 pint (or more) cherry tomatoes halved
a handful (or more) basil thinly sliced
1/2 smallish red onion minced

To blanch the corn bring a large pot of water to boil. Drop in the corn and let it cook for five minutes. It’s okay if the water doesn’t return to a boil. Remove the corn and plunge the ears in a large bowl of ice water to stop them from cooking. When they’re cool enough to handle stand the ears upright and cut off the corn into a large bowl. If it’s easier, you can cut them directly over a rimmed baking sheet to contain the stray kernels, but I like to use the bowl I’ll use to serve the salad. Separate the kernels using your fingers. Add the red onion and tomato halves to the bowl. To slice the basil stack the leaves on top of each other and cut thin slices. It doesn’t bruise the basil as much as mincing so it looks prettier in the salad. Add a small amount of vinaigrette and add more to taste. Garnish with a few extra basil leaves

If you don’t have cherry tomatoes you can use any fresh tomato- just seed and dice it. I like cherry tomatoes because they look pretty, but any tomato you like will work.

Vinaigrette
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, made into a paste
1 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon dijon mustard (optional)
1 shallot finely minced
salt and pepper

To make garlic paste, peel and mince a clove of garlic. Sprinkle the minced garlic with a few grains of kosher salt. Using the flat side of the knife, crush the garlic, scraping it back and forth on a cutting board. After a few scrapes in either directions the garlic will become sticky and a little pulpy. In a small mason jar, combine the garlic paste, oil, vinegar and mustard. Put the lid on the jar and shake until all ingredients are combined. Add salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

salads, corn, tomato, basil, fresh ingredients, eat local, summer salad

Quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) is a quick cooking, protein packed whole grain. I called it a grain, but it’s actually the fruit of an herb that’s cooked like a grain, making it a good substitute for rice or couscous. What makes quinoa especially good for you is that it’s a complete protein, containing all nine essential amino acids. Complete proteins are essential for vegetarians, especially vegans, and children like mine who treat most meat like it’s poison.

Though you can buy it in bulk at a health food store, I prefer to buy prepackaged quinoa because most of the work has been done for you. That means you only have to rinse it once before cooking, not the five times recommended in many quinoa recipes. I usually make a quinoa pilaf, similar to rice pilaf, but I saw a few recipes for different quinoa salads that piqued my interest but were a bit too labor intensive. So I scaled them down, switched a few ingredients and came up with this.

Curried Quinoa Salad

1/3 cup plain yogurt
1 lime, juiced and zested
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon finely grated peeled fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons peanut oil (substitute vegetable oil if you don’t have peanut)
1 cup quinoa
1 firm-ripe mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/2-inch chunks (2 cups)
1 red bell pepper, cut into 1/4-inch dice
1 fresh jalapeño seeded and minced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup salted cashews, chopped

Prepare quinoa according to package directions.

Whisk together yogurt, lime juice and zest, curry powder, ginger, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add oil in a slow stream, whisking until combined.

Toss quinoa with yogurt mixture and remaining ingredients in a large bowl. This can be served warm or at room temperature, but I think it’s better cold.

quinoa recipe, vegetarian recipe, vegan recipe

Hummus, tabouli salad, and pita is a low effort, high protein, healthy meal that’s doesn’t require too much time on a hot summer night. Last night wasn’t as hot as it has been lately, so I threw caution to the wind and fried some falafel to go with it and made a quick tahini sauce. This Middle Eastern feast is easy to make, especially if you cheat and buy a box of falafel mix a bag of pita bread, and a container of hummus like I did. *

Tabouli salad is bulgur (also called cracked wheat) mixed with an olive oil and lemon juice dressing and combined with minced tomato, parsley, scallions, salt and pepper. It tastes best after sitting for a while, so make it the night before, or earlier in the day if you have time. Traditionally it’s scooped up with lettuce or cabbage leaves, but I like it on a pita with falafel, tahini sauce and hummus. It’s also great on its own.

Tabouli Salad

1 cup bulgur
½ cup hot water
¼ cup lemon juice
¼ cup olive oil
1 small tomato, diced
4 green onions, minced
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Soak the bulgur in water with a dash of salt until the water is absorbed, about half an hour. Stir olive oil and lemon juice into the bulgur. If your making the tabouli salad in advance, let the bulgur sit in the dressing for a couple of hours. Add the other ingredients. Add additional lemon juice to taste.

Depending on what you and your family like and have in the pantry, cucumber, mint, avocado and feta cheese can be added at the same time as the chopped vegetables. I’m not generally a fan of cucumbers (or raw tomatoes, for that matter), but I enjoy them in tabouli.

*Ordinarily I make my own hummus and falafel, but sometimes I just don’t feel like going all out. If you, however, feel like going all out, epicurious has excellent recipes for both hummus and falafel. Hummus is especially easy to make. Sally posted a quick recipe recently at Living Without Meat.

easy meals, Middle Eastern Food, tabouli recipe, tabouli salad, no cook meals

Tomorrow I pick up my vegetables from the CSA for the week. I’m unaccustomed to dealing with so many leafy greens so this past week was a challenge. Here are some of the meals we’ve enjoyed.

Since I had an entire head of red leaf lettuce I made a salad with dandelion greens, goat cheese and strawberries in a balsamic vinaigrette. It was so good I ate it for lunch two days in a row and Bob had it for dinner one night when I was out. Sam liked it too and shocked me eating the salad off of my plate. He seemed to be most interested in the slightly peppery dandelion greens, which are a little bitter. I incorrectly assumed he’d gravitate more towards the strawberries.

Sam ate some of the broccoli steamed over whole wheat pasta with a little olive oil and parmesan cheese for dinner one night. He ate the rest of the steamed broccoli plain or on the side of whatever he had for lunch or dinner and I dipped some in hummus for a snack.

I stir fried the bok choy in peanut oil with garlic and ginger and topped it with a bit of reduced soy sauce. Sam unfortunately slept through this meal and there were no leftovers. I’d never had it before and now I know that bok choy is delicious. I originally wanted to make a recipe that called for a peanut/hoisin/red pepper sauce, but I didn’t have any hoisin on hand so I’ll have to do that one another time. I hope it’s available for next week’s share since I placed my order for tomorrow before I knew how good it is.

I cooked the spinach and swiss chard together in a white sauce, like Kelly suggested. But I added a bit of feta to the sauce instead of nutmeg, and served it over whole wheat pasta. Sam, who generally doesn’t like feta, seemed to really like this combination.

The recipes are after the jump.
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In my house, chef’s salad is synonymous with ham or turkey, so I’m posting a recipe with ham. But you can serve it without meat, too.

Chef Salad

Lettuce (I like romaine, mom used iceberg - you can try a mix)
Tomato, sliced
Egg, hard boiled and sliced
Cheddar cheese, cubed or sliced
Ham, cubed or sliced (you can substitute turkey or bacon)
Black olives
Avocado, sliced
Cucumber, sliced

Like I have to tell you how to make a salad? Combine! Top with dressing and croutons! Eat!

There’s no way that I could do a series of green bean recipes without mentioning Three Bean Salad… It’s a classic.

Three Bean Salad

1 lb. green beans, trimmed
1 lb. yellow beans, trimmed
1 lb. kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 large onion (the kids like red or purple for color), chopped
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/3 c vegetable oil
1/2 c sugar
salt and pepper to taste

Steam green and yellow beans until crisp tender - about 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and chop into 1-1/2 inch pieces.
Combine green and yellow beans with kidney beans. Add green pepper and sliced onion. Whisk together remaining ingredients; mix well with vegetables. Chill for at least 2 hours.

It’s great at picnics with fried chicken. Where’s my napkin?

green beans, three bean salad

I know, I know. It sounds fancy for kids. But that’s only because it has a French name. We think all French names sound fancy.

But salads are great for kids. The problem is that they are often too, well, plain for kids. Kids want to eat something with a little pizazz. Kids need garnish. Kids like frou-frou.

Simple Salad Nicoise

6 small new potatoes
1 lb. green beans
1 head romaine lettuce
2 tomatoes, quartered
3 hard boiled eggs, halved
1/2 c black olives (my kids love olives, so I keep extra on hand for more garnish)
1 (6-ounce) can tuna packed in water

Dressing:
3 T white wine vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
9 T extra virgin olive oil

In a bowl, whisk together white wine, Dijon, garlic, salt and pepper. Drizzle in olive oil.

Arrange salad decoratively on a platter. Top with dressing (or if you’re not sure the kids will like it, serve it on the side).

Serve with crusty bread.

green beans, salad, nicoise