Raw Brussels Sprouts Salad ♥ Recipe

Today's fall salad recipe: A raw salad, this time with raw Brussels sprouts shaved so thin they easily "cook" (if you will) in a lemon vinaigrette and then are tossed with grated romano for a certain lovely "sourness" and pine nuts for a touch of "crunch". Weight Watchers Friendly, WW 3 PointsPlus. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Primal. Vegetarian. Word to the wise, best left to rest for 24 hours before serving.

My dear college friends Laurie and Susan visited this week, meeting midway in St. Louis. As Laurie wrote afterward on Facebook, "Thirty years melted away as we honored our loved ones' memories, cooked and schemed together. Still friends of the heart after all these years!" We three had much catching up to do and wondered out loud, how and why, when we had once crossed the state just to have dinner together, did our friendship become relegated to Christmas cards? Children? Careers? Something else? Where did the years go?

Funny thing was: beforehand I fussed over what we would, you know, eat. Mid-October is that funny seasonal switchback time: the sunny day turned out to be cooler than the rainy day, we sat outside for lunch but quickly moved inside and almost built a fire. Plus, I wondered, should I have everything all at the ready, my usual style, or would cooking a meal or two together actually encourage our getting-to-know-you-all-over-again conversation?
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Whole-Grain Salad with Beets, Beans & Corn ♥ A Simple Salad

Today's fall salad recipe: A mix of whole grains like wheatberries or bulghur mixed with rainbow-colored vegetables in a simple vinaigrette. Weight Watchers Friendly, just 1 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

When visiting my dad in northern Minnesota right on the Canadian border, I let myself “just cook” - happily forgetting that my websites are hungry for new recipes and other endless attention back at home. With proper timing, I can hit the St. Paul farmers market on the way north to stock up on fresh vegetables, then the grocery store in International Falls for staples. My poor father: when I arrive, his fridge will hold little more than a jar of peanut butter, a bag of baby carrots, a little cheese, a bottle of ketchup, a stick of butter. Fifteen minutes later, the shelves are crammed with food, none of it “ready to eat” mind you, all of it needing preparation. And so our visits begin ...

Some times though, blog-ready recipes just happen naturally. This is one, a gorgeous bowl of late-summer, early-fall goodness, a recipe I've repeated three years in a row now, first at my dad's, twice at home. It does require some of that “preparation” but none of it difficult. The results are worth it, perfect for stress-free days watching the river roll by. (And isn’t my mother's depression-glass bowl just beautiful? She sure had an eye for pretty glass!)
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Sesame greens

By request, for Miss Amanda...

4-5 Choy Sum (Chinese broccoli). I buy these in my local woollies in a packet - sometimes there are 2 large ones, other times 5 small. Use the whole pack! Pull it apart and wash well.

3 cloves garlic, finely sliced

Asparagus, snow peas, broccoli...Whatever crisp greens you have on hand

Sunflower oil

Soy sauce

Sesame seeds

Cracked pepper

1. Chop all the veg:

Today I used Chinese brocc, broad beans and asparagus. 

And here it is chopped :)

2. Heat oil in a hot wok

3. Add all of the vegetables.

4. Stir fry - keep the heat high and move the veg around - for about 2-3 mins. The leaves will wilt and give off water. You want the rest of the veg to still have a bit if crunch when you're done cooking.

5. Towards the end of the cooking time, add 1-2 teaspoons sesame seed and 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce. Mix it all around! Add (optional) pepper.

6. Serve and enjoy. I prefer to serve this in individual bowls, so when you eat it, you can slurp up all the yummy sauce and it doesn't make a mess of your plate!

Enjoy x

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Pumpkin Bars ♥ A Simple Cake to Celebrate October

Quick and easy Pumpkin Bars (or Pumpkin Tea Cakes, as pictured), moist and filled with fall spices. The icing isn't really necessary although a little drizzle adds a sweet counterpoint that many people like. Celebrate the glory that is October!

~ first published 2007, recipe & photo updated 2011, republished 2013 ~
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2007 ORIGINAL POST The Daring Bakers, they're killing me. Last week, I was mining my favorite baking cookbook, the much-beloved Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan and I swear, without thinking, found myself in the index checking the Ds for Daring. You see, the Daring Bakers are a group of passionate blogging bakers from across the world who each month, from their own kitchens, cream and caramelize and create the same spectacular somethings. These guys really love to bake and it shows.

Me, I love-love-love to bake too, though lean to 'simple', my own definition of spectacular – especially cakes and cookies and bars and desserts baked on a whim with pantry ingredients. Enter these extra-simple but somehow-perfect Pumpkin Bars. (1) Yes, there really is a 'vegetable' in there so the recipe does qualify for a food blog full of vegetable recipes. (2) Yes, you can really put vegetables into desserts.

As Pumpkin Bars, these stand about an inch tall, with just the right cake-iness, just the right sweetness, just the right mix of fall spices. Then douse them in a sickly sweet icing – no wait! don't do that! I sure wish I hadn't. A mere drizzle of icing would have been nice, just a bit of sweet to contrast with the spices. But all that frosting heaviness? Yuck. It got scraped off every single piece.
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Easy Steamed Bok Choy Salad ♥ Recipe

Today's quick and easy recipe for Asian greens: A fast make-ahead and easy-to-carry salad using the healthy but "accessible" (aka easy to enjoy) Asian green called bok choy (or some times pak-choi or Chinese cabbage). Weight Watchers Friendly. WW 1 or 2 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free (with GF soy sauce). Not just vegan, "Vegan Done Real".

My friend Naam [rhymes with "tom"] is a-naam-azing. We've been friends for less than a year but oh! it's nice to make a new friend! In our first email exchange last year, she invited me and 25 other St. Louis food bloggers to lunch – not out to lunch, mind you, but to lunch in her home. Turns out, lunch is Naam's "thing" and quite often, she'll invite a friend or two for a sit-down, multi-course light lunch. It's about friendship, about conversation, about connection.

Naam is Thai and both times I've been for lunch, she's served Asian food. On Tuesday, three of us sat down to a Japanese lunch. Twas lovely: a mushroom soup in a deep-dark broth, miso salmon, rice and this Easy Steamed Bok Choy Salad. After I'd gobbled down the small plate of salad before touching either the salmon or rice, Naam chided with a smile, "The idea is to eat them together!" Well, so okay, that's me. Without even thinking, I always-always-always taste the vegetables first. But Naam's bok choy was so simple and delicious, I just didn't stop!

Home again, I've already made the Easy Steamed Bok Choy Salad twice. Apparently I'm still not ready to stop! I hope you like it half as much!
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Baked Parmesan Tomatoes ♥ Recipe

Today's recipe for baked tomatoes: Just simple tomato halves topped with a little Parmesan and baked just until soft and sweet and ever-so-juicy. Low carb and Weight Watchers

~recipe & photo updated 2012 & republished 2013~
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2006 Original Post: Oh so simple! Just tomato halves topped with a few ribbons of Parmesan cheese and a sprinkle of just-snipped herbs from the garden, oregano on some, chive on the other. Next time I will slice a bit off the bottom side of each tomato half, not just the ones that needed help to keep from tipping. Removing a bit of skin also helps the heat penetrate the tomato from the bottom. Next time I will also allow about 10 minutes to cool before serving. These got VERY hot!
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Creamy Cucumber-Tomato Salsa ♥ Recipe

Today's quick and easy cucumber and tomato “salsa”: It’s a quick mix of cucumber and tomato plus a little radish for bite and crunch. Serve it as a healthy dip or on the side. Weight Watchers Friendly, WW 0 or 1 PointsPlus. Low Cal. Low Carb. Gluten Free. Vegetarian.

"Out the ying-yang.” That’s what I’m thinkin’ about the garden’s dutiful presentation of a basketful of cucumbers one morning after the next now that the temperatures here in eastern Missouri have climbed into the more-seasonal if less-welcome 90s. I’m ruthless about rejects: if there’s even a hint of bruising or biting from creatures-of-the-night, bam, into the compost box those babies go. (And have I told you about the cucumber-loving woodchuck? Okay, encourage me and I will. Tee hee ...) But even the perfect ones stack up, so many we can barely give them away. Some times I fear that if I see even one more cucumber, I might just start wishing away the summer.

Instead, I peel and chop and voila, the cucumbers have been redeemed and I’m happy cucumber lover again. This cucumber-tomato salsa works with both hothouse English cucumbers (those are the long thin ones from the grocery store readily available year-round) and garden cucumbers (these are often fat and tougher-skinned). Both yield a wet, crisp salsa that’s good as a dip and/or appetizer or a salad on the side.
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