Salad Days

Yes it is summer. I do not seem to be posting as much. Guess I am just taking it easy. 

I would like to send a shout out to all the deer in our neighborhood. 

"Thank you for not eating the flowers in front of our house this summer!!!"

 

 It is so nice to wake up and see flowers and not the chomped off stems.

 Ah summer! Just hot enough to reduce the time spent in  the kitchen.

Tonight's post features not one, but two salads. One is a summer favorite, Shaved Zucchini Salad with Parmesan and Pine Nuts. I added snow peas, Burrata cheese and bread crumbs. The Burrata and bread crumbs were left over from the salad I made last night.

And that brings us to the other salad ...

Eggplant, Tomato and Burrata with Anchovy Breadcrumbs. I found this on The Italian Dish blog.
I went to a party last night and brought this salad. It was a hit. I saved a little so we could have it with dinner tonight. The oven had to be turned on for the roasting of the Eggplant but I did that early in the day, before it got too hot! I loved the breadcrumbs. I used leftover olive bread that I had in the freezer. Just a perfect summer salad. Click here for the salad recipe.

This morning I made some Very Blueberry Scones. The recipe is from Smitten Kitchen. I liked combining the whole wheat and white flour. Makes it seemed "healthier"!

Beef Tenderloin "Dogs", Zucchini and Burrata Salad And Pie!

Love long weekends! I was able to do extra stuff knowing Monday I can sleep in. What did I do? Well, I made a pie but I will fill you in on that later in the post.

For dinner, I splurged. No, really this was a big splurge. I made Beef Tenderloin "Dogs" with Corn Relish. I had "pinned" this a while back. Being a holiday weekend and having gotten paid yesterday I went for it. The recipe is from Food & Wine. What an amazingly delicious dinner this was. The meat was so tender it actually worked eating it in a hot dog roll. And that corn relish was pretty good too!

The side dish a dish that will be probably be put on the best of list. Zucchini with Nicoise Olives and Burrata. Again from Food & Wine. I was sold on this when I saw the word Burrata. What an amazing thing Burrata is. The zucchini was cooked to just tender and then cooled, perfect for prepping ahead of time. Loved, loved, loved this!

Now on to dessert. A Mixed Fruit Pie. Peaches, White Peaches, Italian Plums and Blueberries. The crust was my usual Pate Brise.  I sliced up the peaches and plums then mixed the fruit, including the blueberries, with 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch, 2 tbsp. Sugar, 1/2 tsp. Lemon juice. I rolled out the crust and put the filling in the crust. I used a smaller pie dish so I had the extra crust for the lattice top. This was so very good. The fruit was perfectly ripe, may be a little over ripe. Some Vanilla Greek Frozen Yogurt added to the dish and wow is the only word that comes to mind.

Skirt Steak, Zucchini Salad and Red Pepper Hummus

Meat on the grill. I was looking forward to this. I put the steak in a marinade of olive oil, balsamic vinegar and fresh rosemary. Chris did a perfect job on the grill. The meat was quite delicious.

For a side dish I made a zucchini salad. I used the mandoline to thinly slice the zucchini and some red onion. I toasted some walnuts and tossed the zucchini, onion with some baby greens. Added a dressing of olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Tossed in some grape tomatoes and topped the salad with the walnuts.

Before dinner we watched the Belmont Stakes. I had some of the roasted peppers leftover from this week, so I made a Red Pepper Hummus. Okay, it was really, really good. Chris and I are not fans of garlic, so I googled Hummus Without Garlic and found this recipe on Might Good Eats. I added the Roasted Peppers and loved it.

Ingredients-
1/2 can chickpeas – do not drain, but rather, spoon the chickpeas into a bowl so that you retain some of the juice (cans at around 500 ml)
2 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp cumin powder
Pinch of paprika
1/8 tsp salt
Juice of quarter a lemon
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp cold water

Method-
In a blender, food processor or with an immersion blender, whiz all the ingredients.

The Last Saturday At My Parent's House

You will find what we had for dinner is at the end of this post. Today was an important day for me. And it had nothing to do with food. It was the last Saturday I had to go to my parent's house.

Back in 1996 my Dad asked if I could come to the house on Saturdays. He was having trouble getting my mom to go anywhere. He thought I might be able to take her shopping, or at least get her out for awhile. It was not until 3 years later that we found out she was at the beginning stage of Alzheimer's. I went to the house every Saturday. After a while it got to a point where going every Saturday was too much, so my sister, and then my brother took turns. It gave my Dad a much needed break from being the sole caregiver and it gave us valuable time with my mom.

My mom passed in 2006 and we could not leave my Dad alone on Saturdays. We had all gotten used to spending the day together. My sister and I would alternate Saturdays and my brother would visit on Sundays. It was a good arrangement.

After my Dad passed in December, my brother, sister and I spend just about every Saturday at the house. There was so much stuff to sort through. It seemed like it would never end.  The three of us still have boxes to go through.

Well today was the last Saturday that I had to go to the house. The closing is this week and that will be that.

I met my sister at the house and then we went to the cemetery. The Army had sent an emblem to go on the mausoleum and we had to pay to have the emblem put up and to have the date of death engraved.

While we were at the house we found the first fig! Actually there were two. They were the most delicious figs I have every had.

 

Sorry to share all this but this blog was started because I missed my mom. And now I miss my Dad and I will miss the Saturdays in West Haven. But I now I will spend my Saturdays baking and cooking and recipe hunting... And occasionally shopping with my sister!

Now about dinner... Grilled Pork Chops, Grilled Fingerling Potatoes and Shaved Squash Salad with Sunflower Seeds.


The Shaved Squash Salad with Sunflower Seeds was from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients -
2 large summer squash
2 Tbsp. olive oil
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup crumbled feta
1/4 cup torn fresh basil
2 Tbsp. salted, roasted sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

Method -
Shave squash lengthwise with a vegetable peeler and toss with lemon juice and oil; season with salt and pepper. Top with feta, basil, and sunflower seeds.

 I picked some flowers from my Dad's garden... Happy Saturday!

Grilled Steak and Radishes with Black Pepper Butter

 

Right out of the new Bon Appetit! Grilled Steak and Radishes with Black Pepper Butter. Okay my favorite part was the radishes. I just love them grilled. I also made a Shaved Zucchini Salad. It was a perfect match for the meat and radishes. As much as I liked this steak recipe I think I still like the dry rub better!
And for dessert I picked up something new at the store. Roba Dolce Ocean Spray Lemon Blueberry Sorbet. I love the lemon blueberry combination. Heck I made Lemon Blueberry Scones today for tomorrow's breakfast! This sorbet is wonderful.  It is 110 calories for half a cup so I did not eat the whole carton but I do believe I could have! I  also picked up the Hazelnut Truffle Gelato (they were on sale 2 for $6), but I have not tried that on yet... stay tuned...