New Recipes: Summer, Part II

The recipes in Part II all fit into either the salad or vegetable category - perfect for summer.

Clockwise from top left:

Chili-Lime Jicama Salad with Shrimp - My photographs of this recipe do not do it justice; it was flavorful and pretty different from what I usually cook. When I was growing up, my mom used jicama in salads fairly regularly, but this might be the only time I have ever bought one on my own. The original recipe suggests spiralizing the jicama, but cutting it into matchsticks worked pretty well. All of the flavor comes from the dressing, and the combination of lime, chili and shrimp helped me feel like I was near a tropical beach.

Ginger Miso Glazed Eggplant - Since having an eggplant dish for dinner one night during my trip to NYC in July, I've wanted to try my hand at one at home. The only downside of this recipe was having to use the oven - something I prefer not to do in the summer. The results were worth it though, good both warm and cold the next day for lunch.

Greek Zucchini Salad - I won't bother trying a recipe that I don't think will taste good, but this recipe really surprised me with how good it was. It was really easy to put together, and held up in the fridge for a few days allowing me to pack the leftovers for lunch, a huge plus! As much as I love pasta (see next recipe) I'm also a fan of "zoodles" as a medium size zuke makes a ton, and I can enjoy them in vast quantities without feeling like I am carbo-loading for a marathon I will never run.

Basil Pesto - A few weeks ago, one of the stands at the farmer's market had huge basil stalks on sale for $2.50, and I brought one home with me. I give this recipe 4 out 5 stars because it turned out a bit oilier than I would have liked. I will definitely try it again though, since nothing compares to fresh, homemade pesto. My own basil plants are doing pretty well after breaking them up into a couple of different planters, which is exciting since the first one I bought in the spring bit the dust within a week or so.

There are still a few summer-y things I'd like to make before the season ends: bruschetta with fresh tomatoes, a peach cobbler and some of the summer cocktail recipes I have pinned, and I hope the farmer's market continues to have the necessary ingredients on hand for a few more weeks.

What's your favorite summer recipe?

Currently - August '15

It's that time again already! Please go visit the Currently link-up hosts, Anne and Jenna and take a peek at what others have been up to. 

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As usual, I can hardly believe another month has come and gone, but I am actually glad to see August for a change. Keizo has his visa interview scheduled for the 17th, and after nearly a month of physical therapy I can actually pedal on the stationary bike (I dislocated my right knee cap on July 4th and for weeks could not bend my leg enough for a full rotation) Things are definitely looking up!

creating - a growing pile of half-finished projects. Knitting, blog posts, recipes to try, doodles...you name it, and I've probably started it. I've been finishing up some books instead.

wishlisting - I really should be hunting for a nice belated birthday/fiance-visa celebration gift for Keizo, but I have been dreaming about a new bicycle for a while, and the big 3-0 coming up in September seems like a great time to splurge. Maybe a pair of bikes for epic two-wheeled adventures?

hoping - to be rid of the knee brace I've been wearing pretty much 24/7 for the past month. Sure, it's "breathable mesh" and has flexible hinge so I can bend my leg, but I am starting to get a weird tan and the velcro sometimes gets caught on stuff.

eating - Sitting around for a month certainly hasn't dampened my appetite at all. Lately it's been a lot of smoothies for breakfast (including this Strawberry Mint one) and homemade pesto pasta salad for lunch and dinner.

watching - My forced convalescence has permitted me ample time to study my heroine, Liz Lemon and get drawn into the never-ending intrigue and sabotage of Revenge on Netflix.

*This month's photo: nothing quite says summer like a grilled cheese and a milkshake enjoyed by the side of a highway on a 90+ degree day. Work trips are always much better when they include a stop at the Moo-Thru.

New Recipes: Summer, Part I

Signing on to finish up this post, I noticed the page view count at the bottom has crept above the 10,000 mark! In November this blog will be five years old, and it means a lot that so many people have stumbled across it since it began in Japan almost a half decade ago. Thank you!

I find the 10,000 page views even more remarkable in light of my rather sporadic posts of the past few years. I am still looking for (always will be?) a schedule I can stick to, but in the meantime there have been so many new recipes tried in my kitchen that I've had to break them up into two separate posts.

At the beginning of the summer, I rediscovered the joys of being a public library card holder, and all but two of the recipes here came from a visit back in May.

I checked out a copy of "Eat Your Vegetables: Bold Recipes for the Single Cook" by Joe Yonan. I appreciated his cooking philosophy and the other essays included among the recipes, and liked the recipe for Enfrijoladas (top right photo) so much I made it three times in short succession. It's just as good for breakfast as it is for lunch and dinner. I also tried Black Pepper Tofu (bottom right), Indian Chickpea Salad (top left) and the recipe for Broccoli Couscous Salad (not pictured). The couscous salad included pickled raisins as a topping, which ended up being much more delicious than I was expecting. They're kind of sweet and sour, and go great with all sorts of salads.

That same trip to the library, I sat down with a copy of June's Real Simple magazine and found a recipe for Green Curry. It was simple to make, and had a ton of flavor. Having tried green curry paste, it wasn't much of a stretch to try red curry paste in this Slow Cooker Thai Chicken Soup recipe. My mom, who came to help me out for a week after I dislocated my kneecap, prepared everything while I was at work, and we both enjoyed the results. The soup kept well in the fridge, and I still enjoyed it several servings later.

On the baking front, I tried my hand at homemade brownies for the second or third time ever. While brownies aren't hard to make from scratch, I grew up on the boxed mixes and haven't been able to get my homemade versions anywhere near as moist and gooey. This attempt was also turned out a bit drier than I like my brownies, but it did give me a chance to try chia seeds. The recipe, from an old Better Homes & Gardens seasonal publication, replaced a 1/2 cup of butter with 1 Tbsp of chia seeds that had been soaked overnight in a 1/2 cup of water (bottom left). Previously, my only other experiment with chia seeds was putting them in a smoothie and I definitely liked them better in a baked good. I don't think any of my co-workers noticed the lack of butter in the brownies either, as the pan I took in left quite empty.

More new summer recipes coming soon!