Thai Pesto

A friend came over for lunch today and we had Thai Pesto. It was very good and very easy with a food processor. I didn't put as much chili sauce in it in case it was too spicy, but I think that next time I will add it all because I think it could have had more kick. This isn't summertime (although it feels like it today) but this would be a great summer meal or side dish.

For those of you who don't like Asian food, here is a tip: fix yourself a grilled cheese sandwich. That is what my husband did and he said his lunch was better than ours. :)

Corn on the Cob

I love corn on the cob, but always felt guilty lathering it with butter and salt. Not something my body needs.

Last summer we were invited over to dinner a some friends' home and they served us corn on the cob. They had recently gotten back from a honeymoon in Mexico where they were served corn on the cob with lime juice and sprinkled with chili powder. They loved that so much they served that to us.

Salt and butter step aside! That combination was so good that I have done it every time we have had corn this summer. In my opinion it tastes far better than the traditional salt and butter, and opinion aside, limes and chilis are far, far better for me than salt and butter.

In full disclosure though, my husband didn't care for it and will stick with the usual.

What's for Dinner: Super Salad

I have a friend who calls a green salad with lots of toppings a "super salad." I thought I would take a page from her book and give that name to the dinner we had the other night.

As I said before, it is just too hot to cook. It is not unusual for the temperature in our home to rise 10 degrees if I am using both the stove and the oven. Given that our A/C is already working overtime and that I don't want heat radiating up at me as I stand over the stove, I prefer the no-cook, no-unnecessary-heat meals.

So here's what I put in this salad:

• Several leaves of green leaf lettuce (if one was measuring probably about six cups of shredded)
• Half a large cucumber, diced
• One large tomato, diced
• One stalk of celery, chopped
• One bell pepper, diced
• Two carrots, julienned
• Two hard boiled eggs, sliced
• Some dried basil sprinkled over it (fresh would work better)

Other potential toppings could be green onion, red onion, olives, croutons, artichoke, asparagus, avocado, tuna, shrimp, beans, cheese, some sort of fruit, or anything else that strikes one's fancy.

Each person put their salad dressing of choice on after they had dished up. I just used balsamic vinegar and extra virgin olive oil.

My overall opinion on this was that it was worth all the chopping not to make the house any warmer. My husband said that it was "good but would have been better with cheddar cheese shredded on top."

Romaine Salad with Lime-Garlic Dressing

I found this salad recipe at Orangette. She always has excellent recipes there. I haven't tried it yet, but it looks so yummy! Romaine lettuce is my favorite for salads (although I do like a combination of lettuces, too) and the dressing sounds wonderful.

Summer Romaine Salad with Lime-Garlic Dressing

For dressing:
3 Tbs plus 1 tsp fresh lime juice
5 Tbs good-tasting olive oil
¼ tsp minced garlic
1/8 tsp fine sea salt

For salad:
Romaine lettuce, washed, dried, and cut with a chef’s knife into rough ½-inch strips
Cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
Slivered red onion
Greek feta

First, make the dressing. In a small bowl or jar, combine the lime juice, olive oil, garlic, and salt. Whisk until emulsified, and set aside.

In a salad bowl, combine romaine, cherry tomatoes, and red onion in whatever proportions you like. Toss with dressing to taste, and top with plenty of feta. Serve.

Note: Dressing keeps, covered and chilled, for up to a week.

Watermelon-Mint Margaritas

Someone pointed me to this recipe on Southern Living. Although I haven't tried it yet, one of the things that makes it looks appealing is that it specifies that it can be made without alcohol. My husband doesn't care for tequila, but he will still be able to try this recipe. Another thing that looks great about it is that with the watermelon and fresh mint it has such wonderful summertime ingredients.

Watermelon-Mint Margarita Recipe

Prep: 10 min., Freeze: 4 hrs. Use leftover watermelon to make this slushy summer drink.

4 cups seeded and chopped watermelon
Fresh lime juice
Sugar
1/2 cup tequila*
1/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated lime rind
1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 3 limes)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
Garnish: fresh mint sprig

1. Place watermelon in a single layer on a baking sheet. Freeze 4 hours or until firm.

2. Coat rims of cocktail glasses with lime juice; dip in sugar.

3. Process frozen watermelon, tequila, and next 4 ingredients in a blender until slushy. Pour into glasses. Garnish, if desired.

*1/2 cup orange or apple juice may be substituted for tequila.

Yield: Makes 5 cups

What's For Dinner: Greek Wraps

When it is 99º for a week straight one really doesn't feel like cooking or eating a lot of hot, heavy food. It has always astounded me to have dinner at someone's house when it is over ninety and they serve something like soup or chicken pot pie. (One time the family didn't even have A/C!) Don't they realize that foods like that are perfect for winter because they warm us (and the house) up, and horrible for summer for precisely the same reason?

What makes this dish so perfect is that there is no cooking involved! All that is required is lots of chopping. And since it is vegetarian, that also makes it a lighter meal.

Greek Wraps

1 large cucumber, peeled and diced (between 1½ and 2 cups)
2 large tomatoes, diced (about 1½ cups)
1 bell pepper, diced
1/3 cup red onion
½ cup sliced or diced olives (any color)
1 can garbanzo or black beans, rinsed and drained
½ - 2/3 cup feta cheese (optional)
2 tablespoons balsalmic vinegar
1½ teaspoons dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
6-8 tortillas or wraps, depending on size
6-8 leaves of lettuce

Mix all ingredients except tortillas and lettuce. Add mixture and lettuce to wrap. Fold up and enjoy.

My comments:

The original recipe called for garbanzo beans, but my husband doesn't care for them so I used black beans instead. Also, one could use pitas instead of wraps. I haven't tried this, but I bet that the mixture would be good with corn added as well.

The mixture would make a good salad as a side dish to some sort of grilled meat. In fact, when we ate the leftovers we were out of tortillas, so we just had the mixture as salad for lunch.

What's for Dinner: Kebabs

Last night we had kebabs for dinner. No, I have no idea what the difference between that and a shish kebab is.

The wonderful thing about kebabs is that they are so versatile. They can be all meat, all vegetables, all fruit, or a combination of these. Fruit kebabs, though, are usually a dessert food and not for dinner. I have heard of kebabs with shrimp, lamb, pork, even hot dogs. There are so many vegetables that can go on them, and even though I normally like veggies, they seem to taste even better grilled on a stick. The possibilities are endless: bell peppers; mushrooms; tomatoes; white, yellow or red onion; zucchini, potato; pineapple; garlic; mango; etc.

A great thing about these is that you can tailor make them for picky eaters. For example, last night someone didn't like mushrooms and someone else didn't care for red onion. All I had to do was leave those things off some of them and substitute another vegetable instead.

We could have marinated the beef a little longer, but it still turned out very well. The marinade was simply crushed garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil and vinegar.