Edamame and Avocado Salad

I seem to be confused. When it's 90 degrees out, I make a stew. Now it's a bit chilly out, and I'm making a cold salad.  And yes, I do like ice cream when it's snowing out.

Actually, I needed to use up an avocado before it went bad, and I found this recipe for avocado and edamame salad, which I had first seen on Joy the Baker. I didn't have radishes, but I did have this lovely candy-striped beet. It's called a Chioggia beet, named after the Italian town that they originate from.

How pretty are these?

They need to be cut quite small as they have a hefty bite to them. I made the salad, replacing the parsley for cilantro since it was all I had.

Avocado and Edamame Salad

1 16-ounce bag frozen shelled edamame

1/4 cup seasoned rice wine vinegar

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

2 teaspoons honey

juice of 1 lime

pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper

1/2 cup sliced green onion

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

2 small Chioggia beets, diced into small pieces

1 ripe avocado, diced

Bring about 4 cups of water to boil in a medium saucepan. Add frozen edamame and boil for five minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

In a small bowl, whisk rice wine vinegar, oil, garlic, ginger, honey, lime juice, and salt and pepper. In a medium bowl, combine edamame, green onion, cilantro, beets, and avocado. Toss together with dressing. Enjoy!

Beets

Beets beets, a wonderful treat
The more you eat, the more you... tweet
The more you tweet, the better you feel
So let's have beets for every meal!

A poet I'm not.

Anyhow, picked up some lovely beets at the farmer's market yesterday. I wanted to use up the leaves too, since it seemed like a waste not to eat them. A quick online search and I came upon this recipe from the parsley thief for inspiration. Some adjustments made as I didn't have pine nuts or feta.





Orzo salad with beets and greens

• 3/4 pounds beets, greens cut but saved
• 1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 medium red onion, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces orzo pasta
• 3 ounces herbed goat cheese, crumbled
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

Pretty stems from the beets...

....unfortunately destined for the compost bin

• Heat the sunflower seeds in a dry skillet, over medium heat, until they begin to brown. Remove from the heat and transfer to a bowl. Set aside.
• 
  
• Peel the beets and chop them into bite-sized pieces. Remove the stems from the beet greens and slice the leaves into strips. Wash the greens thoroughly to remove any grit.
• 
  
• Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the sliced red onion and garlic. Cook until the onions are tender and golden brown, about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and add the beet greens. Cover and cook, tossing occasionally, until the greens are wilted, about 5 minutes.

Lovely beet greens

• Meanwhile, cook the beets in a pot of salted water, until just tender, about 10-12 minutes. Remove the beets from the pot using a slotted spoon and set aside. Return the water to a boil and add the pasta. Cook, according to the package instructions, until al dente and drain. Add the orzo to a bowl, along with the beets, sunflower seeds, beet greens and crumbled goat cheese. Toss, season with salt and pepper to taste and eat!

It's like Christmas on a plate!

Playing with my food again

Lunchtime

I thought a nice salad for lunch would be good. Unfortunately, it's pretty slim pickings in my garden. Two mutant carrots and a little tomato.

 So off to the Farmer's Market this little piggy went. The place was packed, but what can you expect on a warm beautiful Saturday? The bounty of fruits and vegetables just had me snapping my camera away (and obviously in the way of all the other shoppers).

Yellow figs! Gorgeous!

Alas, I came away with some figs and corn for later, and the fixings for my salad. I made up a simple honey mustard dressing (these measurements are totally a guess). 

• 1/2 cup mustard
• 2 tbsps of shallots
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• pinch of kosher salt

Honeybear likes to stand on his head. The garden thyme was lacking today.

And voila, a summer salad, complete with mutant carrots! I'll admit, I was still pretty hungry afterwards, so I topped things off with some leftover pasta.

The honey bear protects the meal