It’s getting HOT and making pasta every night is killing me. I’ve been trying to branch out to more salads now that it’s summer.

Pre-tofu

This is a really tasty dish to take to a cookout! For those of you who are convinced that potatoes are inherently EVIL in their white starchiness – this salad’s for you. **Also great for mayo haters.**

All you need:
4 small pink or red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, quartered
large handful of green beans, trimmed and sliced into 1″ pieces
2 TBSP coarse mustard
2 TBSP red wine vinegar
Olive oil
1/2 tsp sugar (or agave nectar)
Salt
1/4 c chopped dill (use dry dill if that’s all you have – about 2 TBSP)
1 small leek, trimmed and thinly sliced
6 stalks celery, trimmed & diced
1 cucumber, unpeeled, seeded and diced (I peeled mine – whoops!)
1 TBSP fresh chives
OPTIONAL: 6 oz baked or extra firm tofu cut into small cubes

This is definitely a chopping intensive salad but more special than the old mayo-laden potato salad I grew up with. [And I like mayo!]

First, set water to boil for your taters. Once it’s boiling, they need to cook until just tender. This should take about 10 mins. Set your timer for 9 minutes so you can toss in the green beans for the last 30 seconds. You just want them to turn bright green. Then drain the potatoes & beans.

Make your dressing: in a small bowl, combine 1 TBSP olive oil, the mustard, vinegar, sugar & salt. Whisk together. Taste & adjust to your liking!

Heat about a TBSP of olive oil in a skillet over medium-high. Add the chopped dill, add a few pinches of salt

and add the leeks.

Saute for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In a large bowl (because of time constraints I usually go right into a large lidded container!) combine the potatoes, green beans, celery, cucumber, chives and half of the leek with most of the dressing. Toss gently, taste and add salt as needed. Serve with remainder of leek and dressing atop. Serve chilled or at room temperature.

OPTIONAL: Not every uses/is comfortable with tofu but it adds a benign presence of protein to this salad and is virtually unnoticeable. I bought a block of organic tofu at Trader Joe’s. Before I even boil the potatoes I drain the tofu, wrap it in a paper towel and place in a kitchen towel with my cast iron skillet on top. The presses the extra water out of the tofu so that it can absorb the flavors of the salad dressing. Press it for about 30 minutes if you think of it. Then dice it and add to salad. Try it this once time if you have never used tofu before! (Or don’t!)

This salad is a very pretty dish to take to a summer cookout/party.

Pre-tofu

Maddie ate a small bowl of it before dinner. Bea spit the potato out.

Slightly adapted from: Super Natural Every Day

**UPDATE: Native Foods no longer has this happy hour! Very sad as we looked forward to it every Friday. Maybe it will come back periodically?**

Last night I took the girls to Happy Hour at Native Foods. It opened about a month ago on Ocean Park Boulevard between 29th & 30th. We used to go to the one in Culver City once in a while. Like twice a year. Since it opened here a month ago, G’s been once and I’ve already been twice (two Fridays in a row!)

This time I took the kids solo. We parked our massive stroller outside, walked in & ordered at the counter. All the starters & sides are 50% off during Happy Hour. We ordered accordingly:

Saigon Roll. A really tasty wholesome wrap accompanied by a spicy/sweet dip. YUM! I love these.

Bowl of Black Bean Soup. I could take or leave the soup. I make a fair amount of soup myself in the wintertime and found this one to be just so-so. It had some croutons in there that immediately turned to mush. Plus, the flavor was very one-dimensional. Can you tell I’ve just watched “Around the World in 80 Plates?”

Seasoned fries. (I recommend the sweet potato fries but my kids don’t like them. Bea liked the seasoned fries.)

Sweet Potato Fries (Photo taken last visit…)

Native Chicken Wings with Ranch. (I got these instead of the kids’ chicken nuggets b/c I knew my kids wouldn’t eat the rice and they didn’t need the lemonade.)*

Mini Greens Salad. This is an excellent, pretty little salad that is piled precariously high in an adorable little bowl. I dumped mine out on the large plate so I could toss it in the dressing better. This is no lame-o salad you typically get for $5.00. (Keep in mind – you get it for $2.50 during Happy Hour!)

I also got a glass of chardonnay for 50% off. Nice!

NOTE: I do NOT recommend the kids’ Macaroni & Cheese. It’s in a milky/watery sauce. Last time I was there, neither of my kids liked it and they were really hungry.

I took the pix LAST Friday when we went with our friend Elsie. Last night I was the only ahem…adult there and I had NO free hands to take pix!

My bill came out to $16 and change. Of course I had to leave a big tip for the greasy booth we left behind but still a great deal! We were all stuffed full of mostly healthy fare (‘cept for the fries) + a nice glass of wine. Not bad.

NOTES:
- Although there is patio seating, wine & beer are currently only allowed inside.
- Be sure to get a Native Foods frequent diner card. I have been twice and already got a free non alc drink.

Btw: G is a meat-a-tarian and he likes it!

Native Foods
2901 Ocean Park Blvd.
(310)450-3666
Park behind (off of 29th Street), at a meter on Ocean Park OR take the #8 Blue bus which goes from Westwood to Main Street (and not sure where it goes from there). I highly recommend the bus so you can have a couple of glasses of wine!

NATIVE FOODS
Happy Hour:
Fridays
3-6PM
50% off all appetizers, beer & wine.

Let me know how you like it!

*Incidentally – they also have Native Foods in Boulder and at several locations in Chicago! Check their site for more.

The only reason we moved into this house was it was the closest one we could find to Gilbert’s El Indio.

What’s Gilbert’s, you ask? It’s a casual neighborhood Mexican restaurant 3 blocks from us. I’ve been going there for 15 years and still love it. It took me a while to realize the food is just OK. But I don’t go for the food. I go for the carrots & the margaritas. There’s nothing like a Gilbert’s marg on the rocks with salt! I don’t dig frozen margs. Unless that’s all there is, then I’m like, “Yes, pu-leaze!”

Aside from the margaritas, the pickled carrots are real draw.

They are spicy, but not too spicy, salty, but not too salty, & oregano-y. Yum, yum, YUM – don’t get me started. I just can’t stop eating them. By the time my food arrives (which is pretty darn fast, actually) I am so full up on carrots & margs that I really don’t need my entree but I like to be classy & order one anyway.

This place is TOTALLY family friendly! What I mean by that is you can wear WHATEVER you have on (even mud splattered mountain biking gear), children are more than welcome & the food comes out in about 3 minutes. They have high chairs & will make up a plate of beans & rice with shredded cheese or whatever you want even if it’s not on the menu. I just order a beans/rice plate for my kids to share. Then they eat everything else off of my plate.

Two notes: It’s not the most vegetarian friendly place (read: chips are fried in LARD – you can actually see yourself in the chips) BUT it does have a vegetarian burrito and a chile relleno both of which are tasty ENOUGH supplemented by your carrots & margarita(s). I recommend 2 margs on the rocks with salt. Don’t go over 2.

Almost forgot the second note: it’s CASH ONLY. If you forget your cash – go next door to the liquor store or launder mat & use their ATMs.

Forgive the poor photo quality. I will make these again this week & post better closeups.

Anyway, I was thrilled to find this copycat recipe on the internet(s) a few months ago. Apparently someone else is as crazy about these carrots as my friend Kinga & I are. I tried it and it was spot on! I still need to sneak some of my carrots over there for a true taste test which I’ll do when Kinga gets here…

These are reeeeeeeeeally easy.

All you need:

10-12 large carrots, peeled & sliced at an angle
1-2 small white onions, sliced
1 sprig fresh oregano (left whole)
2-4 bay leaves
2 c white vinegar
1 tsp sugar
3-4 tsp salt (to your taste)
3-4 jalapeños, sliced (or use jarred Jalapeños – I added about 1/4 c jarred)

Directions called for diced onions. Next time I make this, however, I will slice them. The onions are not the star of this show so you want to be able to get at the carrots without wrestling with hundreds of tiny onion pieces. So just slice them longways. (I’m not even going to show you the photo b/c I don’t want you getting confused!)

Ok. Here we go: combine carrots & jalapeños in a large container with lid. I didn’t have a lidded glass dish so I just used a huge mixing bowl (non plastic).

In a large sauce pan, combine remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer for 2 minutes.

I actually ran out back to check my garden and then forgot to run back in. When I finally came inside my pot was boiling away merrily, and I do mean away as it was on HIGH. Everything turned out fine though!

Pour the hot liquid over the carrots & jalapeños making sure all vegetables are covered.

Let it cool to room temperature on your counter.

Pour into some kind of lidded dish (glass is best) and chill in refrigerator for 3+ hours.

I got some of these lidded jars at IKEA of all places. They have larger ones too.

YUM these are sooooooooooo good!! I actually ate them all myself.

And then, the other day, after I made & ate all those carrots, I found that Gilbert’s actually shared this recipe with the world via the LATimes way back in the 90′s. So I’ll try that recipe next & post the results.

Source: Go Go Zoe

Some call this the “Shrek” smoothie. Since my kids don’t know Shrek as well as Kermit I called it a Kermit smoothie.

They LOVE it!

INGREDIENTS:
1 frozen banana
1 c frozen peaches
1 c frozen mango chunks
2-3 c cold almond milk
2-3 ice cubes
2 handfuls spinach
OPTIONAL: splash lemon or orange juice

Honestly, I don’t measure this stuff! I put about half the frozen fruit into the blender & 1 c of the almond milk & blend. Then add the ice cubes. Blend. (Add as much more almond milk as you may need.) Add the rest of the fruit. Blend. Then add the spinach. Blend. As you can probably tell, I don’t have a powerful blender. If you have a Vita Mix or whatever you can probably toss it all in at once!

Start out using less almond milk until you get used to it. It’s easier to thin the smoothie out than it is to make it thicker.

I love to add a few ice cubes and 2-3 TBSP lemon juice since it’s a sweet drink and needs a little acid.

You can’t taste the spinach at all! My kids LOVE this! They have had variations on this one for the past three days. What’s the spinach for? Spinach is SOOOOOOO full of vitamins!! And it makes a crazy bright Kermit green smoothie! (Unless you add blueberries & strawberries, in which case it makes a gnarly brown smoothie that is still delicious.)

There’s my other “smoothie” on the left. A STRONG coffee.

The kids drink it from those plastic cups you get at restaurants.This one is from Benihana’s. And the beer cozy (koozie?) is courtesy of a pre-kid weekend up at the Tuolumne River. Classy!

Maddie wants to call it “Frog Pillow Smoothie” after a particularly filthy little someone special to her.

During my salad-a-day month last March, my Canadian friend Kinga sent me this recipe. It’s a really popular dish named not after anything in the movie Porky’s but rather a ski bowl at Whitewater Ski Resort in Nelson, British Columbia. It took me a while to get over to Whole Foods for the nutritional yeast flakes. I had never heard of them & tried to never go to Whole Foods for various reasons. Also, when I read this recipe it sounded a little TOO healthy in that unsatisfying way some restaurant salads are. So I put it off.

Finally I had all the ingredients and decided to go for it. It’s SO WORTH IT!!!! SOOOOO WORTH IT!!!!! It’s amazing – something that looks like a pile of what G would call “Rabbit Food” but is so flavorful, satisfying & doesn’t weigh you down.

You’ve got to try this. Although it has a lot of components, the prep for each one is pretty simple.

Here’s what you need for the salad:

**NOTE: this makes enough for 8 people so you may want to halve it, which is what I did.**

SALAD INGREDIENTS:
2 TBSP vegetable oil
2 c cubed extra firm tofu (remember to press water out first!)
8 c hot cooked brown rice
2 c grated carrots
2 c grated beets
2 c packed baby spinach
2 c slivered or slice almonds, toasted

For the dressing:

and this:

DRESSING INGREDIENTS:
1/2 c nutritional yeast flakes
1/3 c soy sauce (or tamari)
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/3 c water
2 TBSP tahini
2 cloves garlic, crushed or minced
1-1/2 c vegetable oil

1. First, press your tofu. You can need to press it for about 15 minutes and can do that while making the dressing.

2. While that’s a-pressin’, add all your dressing ingredients to the blender & puree until creamy!

(Note: Properly stored, this can be kept for up to ONE week in the refrigerator.)

3. Cook your rice. I found this quick cook brown rice at Trader Joe’s. Takes about 10 mins instead of 45 mins so I did it! You can also find pre-cooked brown rice in the FREEZER section at Trader Joe’s. Just pop in micro for about 3 mins. That’s what I do when I’m in a crunch. **NOTE: if you’re using the regular brown rice – start this earlier according to how much time you need. You can always heat it up if you need to.**

4. Now prep your veggies. As you may or may not know (or care) I use a hand grater. Builds character.

5. Time to lightly pan fry that tofu! Heat oil over medium-high heat in a large skillet. I sprinkle a few pinches of salt over the tofu and turn when it’s golden brown. After all sides are lightly browned, drain on a paper towel lined plate.

6. Now for the fun part: ASSEMBLY! Add your rice layer in a nice sized bowl.

Drizzle about a tablespoon of dressing over the rice.

Top rice with spinach.

Add carrots & beets.

Now the almonds.

The tofu and about 3 more TBSP of the dressing.

Bea loved this dish! She doesn’t have that many teeth yet so she had some trouble chewing the spinach but she ate 2 bowls of this.

M ate only the rice.

Thanks, Kinga!

Source: Canadian Living Magazine