Romaine hearts salad

This salad doesn't really require a recipe, but I find I eat significantly more salads when I see how other people are eating them. Visually inspired, I guess. I've has this one a lot recently, so thought I'd share it. (This post by Mark Bittman always inspires me to eat more salads.)

Romaine hearts, washed and torn into pieces
Grated carrots
Ripe cherry tomatoes
Sliced fresh button mushrooms
Nutritional yeast flakes
Balsamic vinaigrette
Salt & freshly ground pepper

Vincent's spicy apéritif dip

1 loaf French baguette bread
extra virgin olive oil
piment extra fort, moulu (ground cayenne hot pepper, like this one from Bahadourian)
nutritional yeast flakes

First, don't knock the nutritional yeast until you've tried it. Not sure how popular it is in the US, but it's very popular here - and with good reason. It's a nutty, rich taste that adds a great flavor to salads, breads and apparently... dips.

Pour a couple glugs of olive oil into a saucer. Add about 2 Tbsp of hot pepper and 2 Tbsp nutritional yeast.

Serve with pieces of bread, mixing the dip as you go and adding more of each ingrdient as needed.

Pasta with pesto rosso

A quick pasta dish that I love.

1 cup of your favorite pasta (mine is fettucine), cooked
1 Tbsp pesto rosso (sun-dried tomato pesto)
1 Tbsp feta cheese, crumbled
a couple black olives, sliced (optional)
fresh basil, snipped

Toss together and voilà!

Claire's traditional Alsatian onion tart

This is my friend Claire's recipe for a traditional Alsatian Onion Tart (la tarte à l'oignon), made with fresh onions from the morning market.

1 recipe pâte brisée or other flaky pie dough (Claire makes her own and adds about 1 Tbsp whole flax seeds in with the flour)
4-5 medium onions (purple and white), peeled and very thinly sliced
3 eggs
1/3 cup heavy cream
Salt
Freshly ground pepper
Grated nutmeg
Pinch of cumin

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.



Roll out the pâte brisée and place in a tart dish or pie pan. Sprinkle a pinch of cumin on the crust.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat, and sauté the onions slowly, stirring regularly, until they are lightly golden. Remove the skillet from the heat.

In a small bowl, beat the egg and cream together. Add a pinch or two of salt and pepper and a pinch of nutmeg. Add this to the onions, stirring to combine.



Fill the tart dish with the onion and egg mixture. Bake tart for 25 minutes, or until the filling is golden brown and set. Bon appétit!

Marinated vegetable salad

It started off as a Greek salad... but I just kept adding more and more to it! We ate huge bowls of it with some French bread for dinner the other night. And it's been requested again for tonight.

1/4 head cabbage, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1 cucumber, sliced and quartered
2 med tomatoes, chopped
1 bell pepper (any color), chopped
1 sm onion, chopped
1 cup canned corn
1 handful black olives, pitted and cut into quarters
2-3 cloved fresh garlic, crushed
freshly ground black pepper
juice of 1/2 lemon
Italian dressing

Optional: feta cheese or sliced grilled chicken

Combine vegetables in large bowl, along with feta or chicken if you're including it. Pour 1/2 cup Italian dressing over top, and also the lemon and black pepper. Stir to coat vegetables lightly. Add more to taste.

Let marinate two hours in fridge before serving. Or don't :)

Empy-the-fridge pasta

Okay, so maybe I could have come up with a more appetizing name for this dish. But at least you know how it came about! Really great way to use up bits of veggies, and the dressing gives a good kick. I usually eat this in a wrap sandwich, but we didn't have wraps... so over pasta it went!

1-2 sliced smoked, sausages Italian sausages, or chipolatas
1 medium carrot, cut into thin rounds
1 large zucchini, cut into thin rounds
1-2 sliced red bell peppers
1 sliced onion
2 crushed garlic cloves
¼ c Italian dressing
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar or lemon juice
goat or feta cheese (opt)
hot pasta

Heat a non-stick skillet to med-high. Cook sausage and carrot slices in Italian dressing for 3-4 minutes. Add remaining veggies and sauté until tender crisp. Sprinkle on vinegar or lemon juice. Serve over pasta, with cheese if you want.

Kendra's Mexican lentils

Part 2! See the first part in the post below.

2 tsp taco seasoning (I didn't have cumin)
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil for sautéing
2 cups lentils, rinsed
4 tablespoons tomato paste
5 1/2 cup water (or a little more)
salt to taste
cooked brown rice or quinoa (I did half and half, actually)
chopped fresh tomatoes
chopped fresh cilantro
lime juice

Heat oil in saucepan. Add red pepper and garlic, and sauté for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lentils, and continue to stir and sauté for another five minutes.

Add tomato paste and stir until it is mixed with the lentils a little bit, then pour in the water. Add taco seasoning and salt to taste. Bring mixture to a boil, then let simmer for 30-40 minutes until lentils are soft and mixture is thick.

Spoon over rice/quinoa, and top with fresh tomatoes, cilantro and lime juice.

Kendra's lentils with plantains

My friend Kendra, a vegetarian and amazing cook, shared her awesome recipe for lentils on her recipes blog. I adapted it to what I had in the pantry and then ate them two different ways. Here's the first one...

Lentils with plantains over rice

2 tsp taco seasoning (I didn't have cumin)
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
olive oil for sautéing
2 cups lentils, rinsed
4 tablespoons tomato paste
5 1/2 cup water (or a little more)
salt to taste
cooked brown rice or quinoa (I did half and half, actually)
baked sweet plantains (I had some left over)

Heat oil in saucepan. Add red pepper and garlic, and sauté for five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add lentils, and continue to stir and sauté for another five minutes.

Add tomato paste and stir until it is mixed with the lentils a little bit, then pour in the water. Add taco seasoning and salt to taste. Bring mixture to a boil, then let simmer for 30-40 minutes until lentils are soft and mixture is thick.

Spoon over rice/quinoa, and top with plantains.

Daim cookies with walnuts

The Daim bar (originally known as Dajm in the original Swedish) is a crunchy butter almond bar covered in milk chocolate. You can buy them at IKEA!

1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 handful Daim candy bars, chopped
1 handful walnuts, broken



Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy (approximately 30 seconds). Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract for another 30 seconds. In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed for about 15 seconds. Stir in the walnuts and Daim candies.

Using a tablespoon, drop cookie dough onto a greased cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Bake in preheated oven for about 12 minutes or until nicely browned around the edges.



Tip: They are even better on the second day!