BLT Benedict!

Bacon.  Poached Eggs.  Avocado.  Fresh, sweet, summer cherry tomatoes.  Tender baby lettuce.  Sliced sourdough bread that has been brushed with olive oil and toasted outside on the grill until it is just the right amount of charred.

You're with me, right?  Yes, this is Eggs Benedict meets BLT meets Guacamole...it's the perfect mash-up of some of my favorite comfort foods, all on one lucky plate.  You want to soft cook the poached eggs so they are just the right amount of runny, because they are going to take the place of the million calorie and tricky to make hollandaise sauce that usually goes on Eggs Benedict.

Meantime, you are going to marinate those gorgeous baby tomatoes and the avocado in a little dressing of garlic, fresh chopped basil, olive oil and a teeny bit of wine vinegar.  That's where you get just a little of the guacamole taste...not exactly the real thing, but a close cousin.

Now send someone reliable out to the grill to toast up the sourdough bread...or any other substantial bread that you have on hand.  One slice per person, because this is an open-faced sandwich.  (I'm going through an open-faced sandwich phase this summer.  I love them.)

You cook up the bacon and the poached egg in the meantime.  Or do it in any order you like - one of the great things about this sandwich is that you can make the other stuff ahead of time and have it at room temperature and save cooking the egg for the very end.

Now the assembly: spread a little mayo on the grilled bread, then layer on some some lettuce, then the bacon, then some of the tomato mixture.  Pop an egg on top and break it just enough for the yolk to spread over the whole thing.  Drop a few more tomatoes on top.   It's going to be the one of the best things you ever tasted, I promise.  Almost as good as a practically empty jar of peanut butter.

Almost. 

Here's the recipe!

BLT Benedict! adapted from My Recipes via Southern Living

• 1 cup halved grape tomatoes
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar, divided
• 6 large eggs
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise
• 6 slices sourdough or other hearty sandwich bread, brushed with olive oil and grilled until toasted (or if you MUST, you can put them in the toaster!)
• 3 cups baby lettuce
• 12 thick bacon slices, cooked

1. Combine tomatoes and next five ingredients and 2 1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar in a small bowl.
2. Add water to depth of 3 inches in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil; reduce heat, and maintain at a light simmer. Add remaining 1/2 tsp. red wine vinegar. Break eggs, and slip into water, 1 at a time, as close as possible to surface. Simmer 3 to 5 minutes or to desired degree of doneness (but the runnier the better for this recipe!). Remove with a slotted spoon.
3. Spread mayonnaise on one side of each bread slice. Layer each with 1/2 cup lettuce, 2 bacon slices, some of the tomato mixture and one egg. Top with remaining tomato mixture.

Print this!

Tuna Cobb Salad Sandwiches

This quick and scrumptious recipe is an ode to three things.  Here they are, in no particular order.

1.  Cobb Salad.  I am SUCH a sucker for Cobb Salad. It's not like it is a rarity or anything - it's actually a frequent player on a lot of menus, but there is something about the combo of blue cheese, avocado, bacon (of course), chopped egg and lettuce that sings some kind of siren song to me.  I love it, and that's all there is to it.

2. Open-faced sandwiches.  I mean, for so many things, this is just such a logical thing.  Why spend your time putting the top of your sandwich over some deliciously messy filling only to have it spill out on to your plate with the first bite?  Open-faced sandwiches, people!  It's the only sensible way to go.

3. Sandwich Night.  Is there anything happier than Sandwich Night, especially on a Monday?  You walk into the kitchen at the end of the day and suddenly you feel wonderfully free!

Okay, now that I have gotten all THAT out of my system, let's get down to it.  This is a quick and different version of cobb salad with a special guest star, and that is tuna fish.  And a surprise twist, which is that that blue cheese is not actual blue cheese (which I sometimes find can take over a cobb salad with it's super-strong taste), but blue cheese salad dressing.  Splurge and use one of the nice ones you can usually find in the refrigerated section of your supermarket - it's worth it for this recipe, and you can always use the leftover as a nice dip.  The tuna and the dressing get mixed up with the usual cast of characters from cobb salad - avocado, chopped egg and (yes!) bacon.  But instead of tossing it all together with lettuce, you lightly toast a couple of English muffins, lay on some chopped lettuce and a slice or two of tomato, and then top with the tuna mixture.

A little ground pepper, and you have a Sandwich Night to be proud of.

 Tuna Cobb Salad Sandwiches, adapted from Betty Crocker's Smart Cook : The Essential Everyday Cookbook 

• 
  
• One 6.5 ounce can tuna, drained
• 4-6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
• 2 chopped hard-boiled eggs
• 1 avocado, peeled and cut into small cubes
• 1/3 cup good quality blue cheese dressing
• Shredded lettuce
• 2 medium tomatoes
• 2 English muffins, split and toasted
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Mix tuna, bacon, eggs, avocado and dressing.
2.  Place tomato and lettuce on each muffin and top with tuna mixture.  Grind some fresh pepper on top.

Print this!

Open Face Sandwiches with Avocado, Egg and Smoked Salmon

Yes, I realize that this sandwich has a ridiculously long name.  I really need to come up with something clever to call it, like the Egg McSalmon, or the Guacascramble.  Not that those are clever at all.  I just can't wrap my brain around it, so in the meantime I'm just going to have to call it that crazy name above, and tell you that regardless of what you name it, it still tastes delicious!  I made it on one of those nights where I just couldn't bear to spend more than the 3 minutes it took me to scramble the eggs standing anywhere near a hot cooking device.  Yep, it was 98 degrees outside.  98.  Degrees.  

On days like that, you are pretty much reduced to salads and sandwiches, which is pretty much fine with me, as I love an excuse for Sandwich Night.  In an ideal world, this particular sandwich is AMAZING if you grill the bread on an actual grill...it adds that slightly charred, crispy taste and texture that you can only get on, well, a grill.  But even I couldn't bring myself to send the Southern husband out to the grill, what with the 98 degrees and all.  Nope, this version went in the toaster, which is not quite as wonderful but a whole lot more humane.  When it is 98 degrees.

Anyway...while your bread is grilling or toasting, scramble up a few eggs and let them cool a little.  Mash up an avocado with a little lime juice.  Now you are about two minutes from a rocking great sandwich that goes like this: bread, spread with mashed avocado, topped with scrambled eggs, garnished with some strips of smoked salmon, with a little fresh ground pepper on top. 

Sandwich Night.  Love it!

Open Face Sandwiches with Avocado, Egg and Smoked Salmon, adapted from Bon Appetit

• 4 slices sourdough bread
• Olive oil
• 1 avocado
• Lime juice
• 2 eggs
• Smoked salmon, sliced into strips
• Fresh ground pepper

1. Brush both side of bread with olive oil, and either grill them on both sides or toast them until they are golden brown.  Toasting them is easier, but grilling them gives them an out of this world grilled taste.

2. Mash avocado with a few squeezes of lime juice.  Set aside.

3. Beat the eggs and then scramble them in a skillet over medium heat until they are just set.

4. Assemble sandwiches as follows: spread avocado over each slice of bread, top with eggs and a strip or two of salmon, and grind a little black pepper over all.

Print this!

Tomato and Avocado Crostini

Okay, so usually I jump right into talking about the food and why I love it and how to make it and I promise I am going to get to all of that, but first I have to talk about what these scrumptious little crostini are sitting on.

It looks like a piece of wood, I know, and that's because I am addicted to photographing my dinner in super-close-up shots, but they are actually on a plate that is made out of a fallen palm leaf leaf that is steam-processed with water and dried and turned into a plate.  Here's a picture that gives a better look.



And another with an arbitrary apple on it, just to show the size.




They are described as being "single use" - in other words, equal to your garden variety paper plate - but I can tell you that there is NO way that i am tossing these babies after one use.  They are sturdy and beautiful and definitely being used a whole lot more than once.  Because they are made of separate leaves, each one has its own special look and feel.



So not only is it gorgeous but also environmentally responsible...how great is that?  I found them in a pack of four at Fairway (of course), but I know they are also at Whole Foods and a whole raft of other places.  They are made by a company called VerTerra - click here for more info,and if you can't find them locally click this link: VerTerra - Party Perfect Dinnerware 8 Leaf Pressed Plates (8 in. x 8 in.)  Just for the record, the Verterra folks don't know me, have never heard of me, and didn't send these to me...I found them my own self.  Well, actually the Southern husband found them while I was in a whole different aisle deliberating over canned plum tomatoes.  A man has to amuse himself somehow.

Meanwhile, back at the actual reason for this post, let's discuss the crostini.  I think that you can put pretty much anything on a piece of french bread that has been lovingly basted with olive oil and toasted and get away with it, but it doesn't get too much better in terms of speed and taste than this recipe.  While the crostini is toasting, you chop up some cherry tomatoes.  Then scoop out the inside of a nice ripe avocado, mash it up with some lemon juice and sprinkle a little coarse salt on top.

All that's left now is the assembly: spread a little mashed avocado on each crostini, sprinkle on a few chopped tomato pieces...I like a little cracked pepper on mine to give it a little bite, but some oregano would be lovely, or a teeny bit of sea salt...improvise away!   These are of course a fabulous and easy appetizer, but they would make a perfect light lunch too...or if you are me and my Southern husband, a Friday Night Lights dinner.  Hurray for crostini!

Tomato and Avocado Crostini, adapted from Everyday Food

• One small baguette, sliced diagonally into 1/2 inch slices
• Olive oil
• One ripe avocado
• One tablespoon lemon juice
• Coarse salt and pepper
• 1 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Brush the bread slices with some olive oil, arrange in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake until golden, about 8 minutes.  Don't worry if the center isn't browned - as long as the edges are golden you are in good shape!

2. Peel and pit the avocado and mash with a fork with the lemon juice and a pinch of salt and pepper.

3. When the crostini are cool enough to handle, spread with avocado and top with tomatoes and whatever other garnish catches your fancy!

Print this!

Coconut Shrimp Salad

So, this happens to me WITHOUT FAIL every January.  Right about now, I get a hankering for something tropical.  Something made with coconut and corn and seafood.  Something that makes no sense to be eating when all of us here in the Northern Hemisphere are pretty much standing around in a big old pile of this:

But I want it anyway, and since it isn't always practical to hop on a plane to the Cayman Islands, this recipe might possibly be the next best thing.  The most challenging part of it is the corn - I was lucky enough to snag some Actual Fresh Corn at my local market (probably flown in from the Cayman Islands.  I try so hard to be a locavore, but sometimes I stumble in big ways), but if you need to, you can definitely sub in some defrosted frozen corn.  Aside from that, you are home free in terms of the ingredients.  The basis of the salad is that corn, some nice cooked shrimp that you have chopped into bite-sized pieces, some fresh parsley or cilantro, and a chopped up avocado.  The dressing is a mixture of olive oil, fresh squeezed lemon juice and some minced jalapeno.  I tossed in a chopped shallot just because I happened to have one lurking around.

But the crowning glory, the thing that makes this dish sing, is about a half cup of toasted sweetened coconut flakes.  Scatter a generous handful over the whole thing, turn up the thermostat, put on some shorts and some Bob Marley music and you can almost forget that your mailbox looks like this.

(Note to self: get Southern husband to dig path to mailbox so mailman will be able to deliver packages from Stonewall Kitchen.)

Coconut Shrimp Salad, adapted from Cooking Light The Essential Dinner Tonight

• 16 large cooked shrimp, chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 1 cup fresh or thawed frozen corn
• 1/3 cup chopped shallots
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley (or cilantro, if you like that better)
• 1 peeled diced avocado
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped
• 4 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 head frisee lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 cup toasted sweetened coconut

1. Combine corn, shallots, parsley, avocado and pepper in large bowl.  Stir in shrimp.  Combine lemon juice and oil and pour over salad mixture, toss to coat.

2. Divide lettuce among 4 plates, top with shrimp mixture and sprinkle coconut over all.

Click here for printable recipe

Bagel, Lox and Avocado

I've mentioned this here and there before, but I'll say it once again just for the record: the Southern husband has a serious love affair going with Costco. From giant packages of paper towels, to 5 pound bags of chocolate chips, to camoflauge fabric shorts, to the world's largest bag of dog biscuits, I never know what he is going to come home with next. Whatever it is usually makes at least someone in the house ecstatically happy.

Especially the dog biscuit part.

Now, all of this works out really well when you are talking about paper towels, because you put one roll on the paper towel dispenser and put the other 29 rolls in the closet and you are set. However, when the thing that catches his eye is perishable, it turns into a game of Beat The Clock...because as you may know, Costco sells in bulk. As in lots and lots and lots of whatever that item is.

Which is how I ended up with this particular recipe, because not so long ago along with a giant container of laundry detergent and package of 24 containers of strawberry yogurt, he also came home with a Costco-sized bag of avocados.  Now, I love avocados, and I have made everything from avocado and shrimp salad in mason jars to cucumber avocado soup, but a bag of 12 avocados was a bit of a challenge.  Sure, I could make the world's largest bowl of guacamole, but that seemed like cheating to me.  So over the course of a week filled with various and sundry avocado recipes that I had already tried before, we also had what is now known in my house as the BLA.  Not to be confused with a BLT, since the letters stand for totally different items.  BLA is a bagel with lox and avocado, and I tossed a little sliced red onion on top just for good measure.

Here's all you do.  Cut your bagel in half, and toast it or don't, depending on your own personal bagel preferences.  Take an avocado, cut it in half and scoop it out onto a plate.  Drizzle a little lemon or lime juice on top - about 2 tablespoons, and if it's fresh-squeezed all the better.  Now take a fork and mash it all up.  Mix in a pinch of coarse salt and a little fresh ground pepper.  Now spread a generous amount on your bagel, lay some lox or smoked salmon on top, garnish with some thin sliced red onion if you have any, and there you go - BLA!

Now if I can just figure out where to put all the paper towels.

BLA, or Bagel, Lox and Avocado, adapted from Epicurious

• 1 ripe avocado, peeled and mashed
• 1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• Salt and fresh ground pepper
• 2 split bagels, toasted or not - it's up to you!
• Strips of lox or smoked salmon
• Thinly sliced red onion

1. Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to mashed avocado and stir.

2. Spread each bagel half with avocado.  Top with lox and onion and serve immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Shrimp in a Jar

Okay, so I know this particular dish is half novelty and half supper, but honestly, the whole thing made me just ridiculously happy, and how often can you say that about a Tuesday night supper?

This all started with a trip to Costco, where the Southern husband (who THINKS he has more self-control than I do at Costco but really doesn't) not only bought a huge bag of shrimp but also a Costco sized bag of avocados. Now, the shrimp can be sub-divided into many freezer bags and stored away for future meals. The avocados? Not so much. It was use-it-or-lose-it time, avocado-wise. And since I am a girl who loves a challenge, I spent a week making many avocado-based things while still trying to keep it interesting. We had:

Chilled Avocado Cucumber Soup

BLA's (Bagel with Lox and Avocado)

Lots of guacamole

And...Shrimp in a Jar, which is basically layers of chopped lettuce, fresh tomato salsa, cooked chopped shrimp, mashed avocado with lime juice, all topped with crumbled tortilla chips. But the beauty part is the jar. Why? I have no idea -- but for some reason it was just so much fun! I picked up these little wide-mouth jars at The Container Store, and once you have finished eating your supper out of them they make GREAT little storage devices. They are currently lined up on my counter with four different types of cookies in them.

I'm already thinking up new possibilities for what the Southern husband is already calling "jar food." In the meantime, here's the recipe.

Shrimp in a Jar, adapted from Epicurious

• 2 medium tomatoes, chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped white onion
• 1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro or parsley
• 1 to 2 teaspoons chopped fresh jalapeno
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 2 to 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
• 1 pound peeled cooked shrimp, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 2 firm-ripe avocados
• 2 cups shredded lettuce (I used iceberg)
• 1/2 cup coarsely crumbled tortilla chips

1. Stir together tomatoes, onion, parsley, chile, ketchup, 1 tablespoon lime juice, and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

2. Stir in shrimp and season with salt and pepper.

3. Mash avocados with remaining 1 to 2 tablespoons lime juice and 1/2 teaspoon salt.

4. Divide lettuce among jars and layer shrimp mixture, avocado, and crumbled chips on top.

Click here for printable recipe

Chilled Avocado Cucumber Soup

I've had this recipe for about one million years, and I both love and make it so much that the Southern husband gets that beef barley soup look in his eyes when I pull out the recipe, which is an interesting combo of "I like that soup!" and "wow, she's making that AGAIN." But I can't help it...this soup is cool and refreshing and delicious and only involves one kitchen appliance and that is the blender. Highly satisfying in so very many ways.

So here's the scoop. Pull out that blender and you toss in the following: some cucumber (get the English kind if you can. They are usually shrinkwrapped in plastic next to the cucumbers with the regular old American accent. Why? No idea. But they have less seeds and if you can get 'em, they're great.) Then some avocado, some yogurt, a little lime juice, some minced jalapeno, some salt and pepper and a little ice water. Press that puree button, baby.

And that puree sound is the MOST satisfying thing, can I just say? In about one minute it will be a lovely, thick chilled soup. Now all you have to do is thin it down with a little more ice water until it is nice and soup-like, and stir in some chopped avocado and cuke for substance and crunch. Garnish with some tomato, some fresh ground pepper and...the best part...some chopped crabmeat or shrimp. Dinner in about 10 minutes, and so delicious and healthy, too! Happy sigh.

Chilled Avocado Cucumber Soup, adapted from Everyday Food

• 1 English cucumber, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
• 2 avocados, pitted and peeled
• 1/2 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 1 minced small jalapeno chile (seeds and ribs removed for less heat, if desired)
• 1/3 cup sliced scallions
• 1 tablespoon cilantr0 (optional)
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 6 ounces cooked shrimp or crabmeat
• 1 chopped tomato

1. In a blender, combine half the cucumber and 1 avocado with the yogurt, lime juice, jalapeno, scallions, 1 tablespoon cilantro, 1 cup ice water, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Puree until completely smooth. Transfer to a large bowl.

2. Cut remaining avocado into 1/4-inch cubes. Stir avocado and remaining cucumber into soup. Thin with 1/2 to 1 cup ice water, as desired. Season again with salt and pepper. Chill, about hour.

3. Ladle soup into bowls; garnish with shrimp or crabmeat and tomato.

Click here for printable recipe

Chicken Tostadas

I love love love Mexican food, but sadly for me, really good Mexican restaurants are few and far between out here in the wilds of Northern New Jersey. Yes, there is El Bandido in Spring Valley, but unless you want to eat your Mexican dinner at 4pm in the afternoon or wait on a wicked long line (no thank you and no thank you), you are pretty much relegated to Taco Bell. And while I do love a Crunchwrap Supreme as much as the next girl, I also sometimes get in the mood for good old fresh-tasting chemical-free Mexican food.

So if you can't find it, make it - that's my motto, and this recipe is a quick and easy and pretty healthy version of chicken tostadas. You can use either corn or flour tortillas, but personally I like the taste of the corn ones for this. If you have some grilled chicken around that will work perfectly in this dish. You are basically melting some shredded cheese on the top of your tortillas, then topping them with the cooked shredded chicken that you have heated up in an easy sauce of onion, chili powder, lime juice and water. The kicked up chicken goes on top of the tortilla and top it off with whatever Mexican wonderfulness you like best. We had tomato, avocado chunks and red onion...this time. I wouldn't say no to guacamole, salsa, sour cream, etc. etc., though. Chicken tostadas -- yumyumyum.

Chicken Tostadas, adapted from Everyday Food

4 corn tortillas
3 tsp olive oil
3/4 c Monterey Jack cheese ..or more
1/2 small red onion, diced small
1/2 tsp chili powder
1 garlic clove, minced
1 cup cooked chicken breast, torn into bite-sized pieces
coarse salt & ground pepper
1 tsp fresh lime juice
1 tomato, seeded and chopped
1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced small
fresh parsley or cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees lightly on both sides of tortillas w/ 2 tsp oil and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until golden and crisp, 10 minutes. Divide cheese among tortillas and return to oven. Bake until cheese is bubbling, about 3 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.

2. In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp oil over medium-high. Add half the red onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Add chili powder and garlic and cook until fragrant, 30 seconds. Add chicken and 1/4 c water and season w/ salt and pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until chicken is warmed through and water is almost evaporated, 2 minutes. Stir in 1 tsp lime juice and remove from heat.

3. Top each tortilla with chicken mixture, tomato, avocado, remaining onion, and parsley or cilantro.

Click here for printable recipe

Asian Shrimp, Pineapple and Peanut Salad

Here's the back story on this one. (You know I love the backstory).

Here are the main loves of my life.



Aren't they the sweetest?

And this, God help me, is the other love of my life.

And I was pretty much living happily ever after with all three of them, thinking life couldn't be much better.

Until this came along.

Yes, I know it is not right to fall in love with inanimate objects. But it plays all my favorite songs. It plays all my favorite movies. It lets me read all my favorite books...with a backlight!!! It shows off all my nine million pictures of chocolate chip cookies. And you can jazz it up with apps that tell you everything from where you parked your car at the mall to what to make for dinner when you have shrimp, pineapple and peanuts on hand and you just KNOW there's a good recipe in there somewhere.

For those of you who have one of these babies, there is an app called EPICURIOUS that is in the App Store for the low, low price of $Free. And for those of you who don't have one, as far as I can tell all the recipes are also available on www.epicurious.com. Anyway, one of the first delectable recipes that caught my eye was this one for a salad of shrimp, pineapple, avocado and peanuts, with a jalepeno lime mint dressing. Yes please, and thank you. It was quick and easy and delicious in a fun, tropical, summer-is-almost-here kind of way.

Asian Shrimp, Pineapple, and Peanut Salad, from Epicurious

Dressing:
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons fish sauce (such as nam pla or nuoc nam)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup thinly sliced shallots (about 2 large)
1 small jalapeño chile, thinly sliced
3 tablespoons (packed) fresh mint leaves

Salad:
16 peeled deveined cooked large shrimp with tails intact
6 ounces fresh pineapple, peeled, cut into 2x1/4-inch spears (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 large avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons salted peanuts
1 lime, cut into 8 wedges (for garnish)

For dressing:
Whisk lime juice, fish sauce, oil, and sugar in small bowl until sugar dissolves. Stir in shallots, chile, and mint.

For salad:
Toss shrimp with salt and pepper in bowl. Add pineapple, avocado, and dressing; toss to coat. Divide among plates, top with nuts, and garnish with lime wedges.

Click here for printable recipe

Mini Sloppy Joes

Okay, so I love absolutely anything in mini-form. Mini M&Ms. Mini Snickers bars. Actually, mini-bars of any kind. And I also love sloppy joes, except for the fact that they are so, well, sloppy. It's distracting when the bite that you thought was headed for your mouth actually ends up on the plate. Or your lap. Or the floor (although the dog lives for moments like that.)

So I was so happy with these little guys. First of all, you get three of them on your plate. Three sloppy joes instead of one, it just makes my heart sing. Second, there is the whole mini thing. You can finish each one off in 2 or 3 bites, and pretty much the whole thing stays together. And I also loved the little avocado slice on top. It made the sloppy joe almost elegant! I wanted to show you guys a picture that would demonstrate the actual mini size of these babies, and so I scoured the house for a comparable object that would show the approximate size....

The recipe is below, but you can also use your own favorite sloppy joe recipe for this one because honestly, it's all about the mini-ness of it. And don't worry about finding mini-rolls because those shown above are made out of a hot dog roll cut into three pieces. I know, it's just too good to be true, right?

Mini-ness. Happy sigh.

Mini Sloppy Joes, adapted from Everyday Food

• 1 1/4 pounds ground beef chuck
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 can tomato puree, (14.5 ounces)
• 2 tablespoons light-brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 4 hot dog rolls, cut into mini buns
• 1/2 ripe avocado, thinly sliced

1. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook beef, breaking apart pieces with a wooden spoon, until lightly browned, 5 to 6 minutes. Season with 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring, until translucent, about 5 minutes.
2. Add pureed tomatoes, sugar, vinegar, tomato paste, Worcestershire, and 1 1/2 cups water. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer until thickened, about 20 minutes. Divide evenly among the mini buns.

Click here for printable recipe

Corned Beef Burgers

Now, if I was REALLY organized, I would have gotten this out to you last week when you still had all that leftover corned beef from Pt. Patrick's Day still in your fridge (maybe you still have some?). And while we just loved the little salty hit that the corned beef gave to this recipe, if you are fresh out of corned beef using all ground beef will still work just fine.

If you don't count the episode where I sent the Southern husband out into a raging snowstorm to grill tomatoes for me, this was the first time we cranked up the grill for the 2010 grilling season. All of the sudden it is sunny and gorgeous and 70 degrees here in northern New Jersey, and around my house that means Hamburger Season. We found this creative approach in the Costco Connection magazine -- same place that I found the outrageously wonderful Caramel Apple Cake. The recipe comes from a blog that Costco features from time to time called Amazing Sandwiches, and there are quite a few on that blog that are pretty dang amazing for sure. They have something up there right now that calls for blueberry guacamole, which is a little too exotic for me, but if you like to walk on the wild side sandwich-wise, go check them out.

In the meantime, here's their recipe for Corned Beef Burgers, and here's hoping that wherever you are, spring has sprung.

CORNED BEEF BURGERS, from Amazing Sandwiches

• 8 oz corned beef
• 8 oz ground chuck
  
• 1 ½ tsp freshly ground black pepper
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup coarsely chopped parsley
• olive oil
• 4 hamburger buns
• 8 slices Swiss cheese
• 1 medium sized Haas avocado, thinly sliced
• Horseradish Mayo (recipe follows)

Preheat the grill or cast iron skillet on medium high.
Place corned beef slices in food processor and pulse for 2 seconds to shred. In a medium sized bowl, combine the shredded corned beef, ground chuck, pepper, salt, cayenne peper and parsley. Divide the mix into four equal portions and form four (1/4 – 1/3 inch thick) burgers. Spray or brush each side with olive oil. Grill (or cook in skillet) for 3 – 4 minutes per side to achieve a medium-well done burger. In the final minute of cooking, place two slices of Swiss cheese on each burger. Cover the grill (skillet) and continue to cook for another minute.
To serve, place 1 tablespoon horseradish mayo on the bottom half of each hamburger bun. Add the burger. Top with one teaspoon more of the horseradish mayo, and a few thin slices of avocado.

Horseradish Mayo

• 8 tbs mayonnaise
• 4 tsp freshly grated horseradish root

Mix mayonnaise and horseradish in small bowl.
Note: Grated horseradish root loses it’s potency, so make just enough to use immediately.

Click here for printable recipe

Chipolte Chicken Salad

I love this salad. It's right up there for me with my favorite taco salad -- one of those "chop up a bunch of those things that you like, toss them all together and voila! a scrumptious dinner" type of recipes. I will be perfectly honest and say that the original recipe for this dish, which I found in my new favorite Cooking Light cookbook, called for black beans, and if you like black beans you should feel perfectly free to throw them on in there. But in my house, I am sorry to tell you that black beans are the enemy, along with: mushrooms, eggplant, lima beans and cilantro. I wish I could like all that stuff, and so does my mother, who keeps getting me to "just try them." But I have, and I don't, and I gotta be me.

But everything else in this recipe was A-okay with me -- chicken, corn, tomato, avocado, lettuce, all tossed with a spicy sour cream dressing and served with some nice tortilla chips on the side. Which leads me to ask you about one of the great searches of my life: the quest for the perfect tortilla chip. I am looking for suggestions, folks...I still haven't landed on a brand that makes me stop and sing. So if you have, please share in the comments section? And in the meantime, here is my black-bean-less version of this nifty chicken salad. Yum.

CHIPOLTE CHICKEN SALAD, adapted from The Essential Dinner Tonight Cookbook

Dressing:

• 2/3 cup sour cream
• 4 teaspoons lime juice
• 2 tablespoons minced chipolte chile in adobo sauce
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Salad:

• 4 cups shredded romaine lettuce
• 2 cups cooked shredded chicken breast
• 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes
• 1 peeled and diced avocado
• 1/3 cup sliced red onion
• 1 cup corn

1. Combine all dressing ingredients and mix well.
2. Combine all salad ingredients and toss. Drizzle dressing over salad and toss again. Serve with your favorite tortilla chips...whatever they are.

Click here for printable recipe

Kate's Taco Salad

Okay, I love love love this taco salad, and here's why. Not because it is ridiculously easy to make (and it is). Not because it tastes ridiculously good (and it does). It's because -- unlike 99.9% of most taco salads -- the crunchy part of the taco salad is actually worth eating. You know what I am talking about. Usually you order a taco salad and it comes in a giant tortilla "bowl." You say to yourself, Self, I'm just going to eat the salad part, and you work through all that good stuff in the bowl. The spicy taco meat, the avocado chunks, the chopped tomatoes, the cheese (ah! the cheese!!) and pretty soon your taco salad is gone and the only thing left standing is the tortilla bowl.

So you break off a piece of the side of it, and honestly? It's not that good. It's okay....but it's kind of bland and not that tasty...but it's there on your plate, and pretty soon you have picked off most of the sides of it. And so your awesome taco salad has ended with a whimper.

But in MY taco salad, my friends, that tortilla bowl is transformed into Fritos, which are added to the salad at the very end and tossed right into the salad along with everything else. So every other bite contains a hit of salty corn chip wonderfulness along with all the other taco salad taste sensations. Now there are those among you out there (my oldest friend? are you listening to me?) who will say Fritos are the work of the devil. And maybe they are...but DANG! they are good. And all I have to say is, if you are going to eat the taco salad bowl -- and you KNOW you are -- let's at least make sure it tastes pretty great going down.



These pictures show the ingredients before the tossing (and the lettuce is underneath all that other good stuff) just because it is more photogenic that way, but let me be clear -- you should be toss, toss, tossing all those great ingredients together so that each bite is a mixture of all those rocking taste sensations. So for all of you who like to walk on the wild side with the Fritos, here is my favorite taco salad recipe.

KATE'S TACO SALAD

• 1 pound ground beef
• Taco seasoning mix
• 1 head iceberg lettuce, chopped
• 3 chopped tomatoes
• 2 chopped avocados
• 1 cup shredded cheddar
• 2 cups Fritos
• Whatever else you like in your taco salad. Corn, beans, onion, etc etc.

1. Prepare taco meat with ground beef according to taco seasoning mix directions.
2. Combine all ingredients except Fritos in large mixing bowl. The taco flavoring in the meat juices will serve as the "dressing" for the salad.
3. Add Fritos and toss again.
4. Throw caution to the wind and have seconds.

Click here for printable recipe

BLT Salad

I should start by saying that the major item that I have in common with the dog is a deep and abiding love for bacon. I totally feel her pain when I am cooking up a skillet of bacon and then don't turn around and put it in her dish. She always looks like she can't quite believe I'm not making it all for her. In my next life I think I will invent a completely bacon-flavored kibble and make a million bucks.

In the meantime, I always pause on any recipe that has bacon in the title. And of course, if the title also has the word "salad" in it, I feel like it is a healthy bacon recipe. This is my own little fantasy world that I have created, so please don't try and talk sense into me. So when I saw BLT Salad as an entry in Mark Bittman's new book KITCHEN EXPRESS, it was only a matter of time...a very short amount of time...before it ended up on our plates. As with all dishes in this book, there is no actual recipe, so I put together my own. It's a nifty little salad with a scrumptious avocado dressing, and since the book doesn't tell you specific amounts for all the ingredients, MY version goes a little heavy on the you-know-what.

This is probably a good time to tell you that I gave the romantic Southern husband chocolate bacon truffles for Valentine's Day last year, and oh, my my. Take a look:

Bacon and Chocolate


But if you want to stick with bacon health food, try this salad.

BLT SALAD, adapted from Kitchen Express

• 4 slices thick bacon, cooked until crisp and cut into bite size pieces
• 1 avocado
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 lime
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 2 ripe tomatoes

1. Puree avocado, basil and garlic in food processor until smooth. Juice the lime and add to the avocado mixture.

2. With the processor running, slowly pour in the olive oil until blended in. Season dressing to taste with salt and pepper.

3. Tear up lettuce and add to salad bowl. Chop tomatoes and add to bowl along with chopped bacon.

4. Add dressing and toss. I like to add the dressing gradually and taste as I go along to make sure the salad is not "over-dressed."

Click Here For Printable Recipe

Cold Corn and Shrimp Soup

So, my goal during the week is to get in the door and go from walking into the kitchen to dinner on the table in 30 minutes or less. It's a personal challenge for me (and I have to admit I cut corners a little bit by leaving the recipe out in the mornings, because most days the adorable Southern husband gets out the ingredients and stacks them on the counter for me. Did I mention he also cleans up the kitchen afterwords? Yes, I do know how very, very good I have it.)

Anyway, most days I make it in under the wire, and on some evenings -- like tonight -- I sail in with 15 minutes to spare. This great, healthy, de-licious cold soup doesn't even involve the stove if you pre-cook the shrimp. And even if you do cook the shrimp while you are prepping the rest, it still goes from walk in the door to table in about 15 minutes. And just look at it. I mean, anything that is that colorful just HAS to be incredibly good for you, right?

So make this great chilled soup while we still have a hint of summer in the air, because pretty soon it will be frosty outside and all we will want is beef stew and hot cocoa.

COLD CORN AND SHRIMP SOUP, adapted from Everyday Food

Serves 4.

• 4 packages (10 ounces each) frozen corn kernels, thawed
• 1 cup low-fat yogurt
• 2 cups milk
• 1/3 cup fresh lime juice (from 2 or 3 limes)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• 1 pound cooked shrimp, roughly chopped, reserving 4 whole shrimp
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, halved
• 1 avocado, halved, pitted, peeled, and diced

1. In a blender, working in two batches, puree corn, yogurt, milk, lime juice, coriander, and cayenne. Stir in chopped shrimp, and season with salt and pepper.
2. Serve garnished with tomatoes, avocado, and reserved whole shrimp.

Click here for Printable Recipe

Mexican Layered Salad

We were SUPPOSED to go out to dinner last Saturday night. I was all set to hit my favorite Mexican restaurant, the one were they give you the free quesadillas when you come in, and the free fried banana in a sugared tortilla with whipped cream and honey at the end. But then my teenager appeared in my living room and mentioned that she had asked if she could have several thousand of her friends over, that they were arriving at 6, and remember Mom? You said yes?

I'm sure I did. My short term memory has started blocking out things like giant hordes of teenagers coming over on nights when I am yearning for tacos. But being the responsible parents that we are, we resigned ourselves to staying home. Or I resigned myself, anyway -- my Southern husband practically danced back into the living room to finish watching the Yankees/Red Sox game, which was only half over.

So, what to make for dinner with stuff I had on hand? Something that would address my unrequited Mexican food longings? I realized I had all the fixings for one of my favorite things to bring to potluck parties: Mexican layered salad. It is half taco salad, half dip, and perfect for eating in front of a baseball game. (Which turned into watching the movie version of BRIDESHEAD REVISITED once the game was over, because fair is fair.)

This is exactly as described -- layers of the various things found in tacos, or taco salad or dips, all in one bowl and served with tortilla chips, although I also put out some soft corn tortillas to wrap around spoonfuls of it. You can see most of the layers in the above picture -- a layer of sour cream and cream cheese mixed with taco seasoning, a layer of spiced ground beef on top of that, a layer of guacamole, a layer of shredded cheddar on top of that (I forgot that one in the picture shot but I added it back later!), a layer of tomatoes, finished with a topping of chopped lettuce (see picture below). Set it all out with some tortilla chips and/or soft tortillas, some napkins, and dig in - make sure you dig all the way to the bottom to get the full effect.

Maybe a Saturday night at home isn't so bad after all.

MEXICAN LAYERED SALAD

Serves a crowd. Can be halved or quartered. Or doubled or tripled.

• 2 pounds ground beef
• 1 16 oz jar taco sauce
• 1 16 ounce container sour cream
• 1 8 oz package cream cheese
• 1 package taco seasoning mix
• 2 medium avocados
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1 16 oz package shredded cheddar
• 1 cup shredded lettuce
• 1 chopped tomato

1. Brown ground beef and drain. Return to skillet and stir in taco sauce.
2. In a large bowl, combine sour cream, cream cheese and taco seasoning. Spread over bottom of large serving dish. Spread ground beef over sour cream layer.
3. Mash avocados with lemon juice. Spread over beef layer.
4. Sprinkle cheese over avocado layer, scatter tomatoes over cheese layer, finish with layer of shredded lettuce
5. Serve with tortilla chips and/or soft corn tacos.

Golden Gazpacho

If I could only eat one food for the rest of my life, it would be soup.

Wait...maybe it would be pizza.

But soup is a close second. I have a ton of soup recipes -- beef barley in the slow cooker, tortellini soup, butternut squash soup with sage and parmesan croutons. Cauliflower and stilton cheese soup, tomato gorgonzola soup, Italian wedding soup, coconut shrimp soup. The issue with these recipes and the summertime is that they are all, well, hot. And while Don is very patient when it comes to my experimental cooking, I try not to push my luck too much. So I am pretty much on soup hiatus in the summer months, except for my precious couple of cold soup recipes. I was very happy to run across this one, which not only is a lovely COLD soup, but also can be made in (I am not kidding about this) 10 minutes or under, depending on how fast a vegetable chopper you are. Most of the time involved in this recipe is chilling the soup. It says to chill it for at least two hours...I find that 15 minutes in the freezer and another 15 in the fridge will work just fine if you are too hungry to wait. And it involves no cooking whatsover. And it is so ridiculously healthy it can probably do push-ups all on its own.

Why is it golden, you ask? Well, the recipe calls for using all yellow heirloom tomatos. Those are a little hard to come by this early in the season, but Fairway (oh Fairway! have I told you lately that I love you???) had this nice little collection that worked just as well.

Between these and the carrot juice and the yellow squash, my version did turn out reasonably golden. The recipe calls for chopped avocado on top (I did have one of those) and chopped red tomato (oops! I used them all in the recipe and forgot to save one for the garnish). I did divert from the recipe to sprinkle some chopped salted pistachios on the top of mine (after I took the picture, but trust me, I added them and they were great). You can improvise further -- I might try chopped fresh basil next time, or maybe some fresh grated parmesan. Or both. Anyway, there is nothing like a good soup to make you feel happy. Good and good for you.
Here's the recipe.

GOLDEN GAZPACHO

Serves 4

• 2 pounds yellow heirloom tomatos, cored and quartered
• 1 small yellow onion, diced
• 1 medium yellow squash, halved lengthwise and thickly sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into large chunks. (I left this out. See previous post on steak with summer squash to find out why)
• 1 thinly sliced garlic clove
• 1/2 cup carrot juice
• 2 tablespoons sherry wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Coarse salt
• I avocado
• 1 small red tomato

1. In a blender, combine tomatos, onion, squash, pepper, garlic, carrot juice, vinegar and oil. Pulse until finely pureed. Season with salt. Refrigerate until well chilled, about 2 hours.

2. At serving time, halve, pit and dice avocado. Core and dice red tomato. Serve soup in chilled bowls topped with avocado, tomato and/or any other garnish that catches your fancy.

Note: all images can be enlarged by clicking on them.