Archives for posts with tag: cucumber

Back to School

September 5, 2014 //
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By the looks of everyone’s Facebook posts most of your kids went back to school this week. Next week Eliza starts a two-day a week, morning preschool program and I gearing up for the excitement and nervousness that starting school will bring – more so for me than for her!

The beginning of the school year means that all of our lives get a lot busier. Along with the daily grind, many of you are probably juggling sports practices and games, music lessons and scout meetings. Finding time to meal plan, grocery shop and cook is even more difficult and ordering pizza is very tempting. I get it, I’m with you too. But, if you can swing it, it is nice to sit down a few nights a week to a home-cooked meal, and I promise you that this week’s meals are quick. I mean really quick. At least three of them can be thrown together in well under 30 minutes. Give it a try and if you’ve got bigger kids, enlist their help to put dinner together – they can use those burgeoning math skills to measure!

Big kids will love chopping (carefully!) all of the ingredients for this quick, delicious Greek Salad

Big kids will love chopping (carefully!) all of the ingredients for this quick, delicious Greek Salad

Meal #1: Grilled Shrimp with Greek Salad + Corn on the Cob
Meal #2: Grilled Skirt Steak with Chimichurri + Cucumber Salad
Meal #3: Caprese-Stuffed Peppers + Steamed Green Beans
Meal #4: Italian Sausage, Panzanella, Corn on the Cob

Your grocery list, excluding the usual pantry items: 

tomatoes – 6
cucumbers – 4
red onions – 2
corn – 2 ears per person
shallot – 1
red pepper – 3
green beans – 1 lb.
basil – 1 bunch
cilantro – 1 large bunch
parsley – 1 bunch
oregano – 1 bunch
jalapeño – 1 (or use hot red pepper flakes)
feta – 2 oz.
mozzarella – 1 large ball
Italian bread – 1 loaf
red wine vinegar (if you don’t already have it)
apple cider vinegar (if you don’t already have it)
kalamata olives – 1 jar (if you don’t already have them)
capers – 1 jar (if you don’t already have them)
Italian sausage – 1 or 2 per person, depending on the size
skirt steak – 1 1/2 lb.
shrimp –  1 1/2 lb.

 

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Categories Meal Plans

Grilled Shrimp with Greek Salad and Corn on the Cob

September 5, 2014 //
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Grilled Shrimp with Greek Salad

On the hottest day of the year I wanted the stove on for as little time as possible. Shrimp are great because they cook in about 5 minutes and a greek salad is a perfect accompaniment.

Grilled Shrimp

1 ½ lb. medium or large shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 TB. olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

Mix all of the ingredients in a bowl. Add shrimp to a hot grill pan, saute pan, or grill. Cook shrimp on both sides for 2-3 minutes until pink. Remove from heat.

Greek Salad
Greek Salad

1 large cucumber – peeled and chopped
1 large tomato – chopped
1/2 red onion – thinly sliced
1/2 pepper – chopped
12 kalamata olives – pitted and halved
2 oz. feta
2 TB. olive oil
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
pinch of dried oregano
salt and pepper, to taste

Soak the red onion in 2 TB. of red wine vinegar while you prepare the other ingredients (5-10 minutes). Drain and rinse the red onion and toss with the rest of the ingredients.  Let it sit while you prepare the rest of dinner so the flavors come together.

Corn on the cob

Boil water in a pot, put shucked corn in the water, turn off the heat and put a lid on your pot. Wait 10 minutes or so. Eat with lots of butter, salt and pepper.

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Categories Meals

Italian Sausage, Panzanella and Corn on the Cob

September 2, 2014 //
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Italian Sausage

You can use pork, chicken, turkey – whatever you prefer. If you have a grill, by all means use it! We don’t, so I broil the sausages for about 10 minutes, turning them over halfway through.

Panzanella (Tomato and Bread Salad)
Tomatoes_web

3 tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups of stale Italian bread, cubed
6-8 kalamata olives, halved
1 TB. capers
2 TB. red wine vinegar
4 TB. extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Mix all of the ingredients together and let sit for about 20 minutes. Add more vinegar, oil, salt or pepper to taste.

Corn on the Cob

Boil water in a pot, put shucked corn in the water, turn off the heat and put a lid on your pot. Wait 10 minutes or so. Eat with lots of butter, salt and pepper.

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Categories Meals

Summer’s Best Sides

July 31, 2014 //
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We’re going to Martha’s Vineyard on Friday for a week and I can’t wait! My girlfriends from college and I are taking turns vacationing at a rental over three weeks, but this weekend we will all be there together. Between our upcoming trip, a recent day-trip to Jacob Riis Park to enjoy NYC’s surf and sand, and multiple trips to the farmers market I definitely feel like I am in the midst of summer. And, I love it.

The view from the porch of our Vineyard rental

The view from the porch of our Vineyard rental

To celebrate all of the amazing produce that is available this time of year I thought I would do something a little different this week. Instead of the usual meal plan I thought I’d post a bunch of my favorite summer side dishes. I love veggies and fruit all year long, but there is nothing like August when it all seems to be at its peak at the exact same time. These side dishes are great with grilled chicken, steak or fish and can be made for as few as one person to as many as a whole party’s worth.

Enjoy!

Panzanella (Tomato and Bread Salad)
Watermelon, Tomato and Feta Salad
Cucumber Salad
Zucchini Fritters

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Categories Meal Plans

Panzanella (Tomato and Bread Salad)

July 31, 2014 //
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Panzanella (Tomato and Bread Salad)
Tomatoes_web

I have wanted to try this salad for a long time and this summer I dove head first. I tried a few different recipes, but, as I usually do, I ended up tweaking them and turning them into my own. Here’s what I did:

3 tomatoes, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
½ red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups of stale Italian bread, cubed
6-8 kalamata olives, halved
1 TB. capers
2 TB. red wine vinegar
4 TB. extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Mix all of the ingredients together and let sit for about 20 minutes. Add more vinegar, oil, salt or pepper to taste.

 

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Categories Meals

Cucumber Salad

July 31, 2014 //
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There is nothing easier than cucumber salad. I usually make it with red wine vinegar; but my Dad makes a killer mayonnaise version that he calls Combination Salad – does this sound familiar to any of my upstate NY readers? I was messing around on Pinterest recently and came across this recipe from Saveur. It reminds me of the cucumber salad you get at a good BBQ place. In a twist from my usual recipe it uses apple cider vinegar, which I think is one of the unsung heroes of our kitchens. My variation is below:

Cuke Salad_Web

Cucumber Salad

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 TB. sugar
1/2 ts. salt
2-4 cucumbers (depending on size), peeled every 1/2 inch of so around and sliced thin
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
ground black pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, whisk together vinegar, sugar and salt. Add cucumber and red onion and toss. Season with salt and pepper and chill.

 

 

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Categories Meals