Watermelon!

It's not really summer until you've had some watermelon! How about a watermelon tomato salad? Deliciously refreshing.

2 cups cubed seeded watermelon
1 cup cherry tomatos, halved
large handful of cilantro chopped
1 cup white vinegar
1 jalapeno sliced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced thinly
salt, pepper, cumin
feta cheese, crumbled
lime wedges

Slice onion and jalapeno into small bowl. Pour vinegar over an let that sit for 1/2 hour.

When ready to serve, Mix together the watermelon and tomatoes in large flat bowl. Drain the onion mixture, reserving one tablespoon of vinegar. Add onion mixture to bowl, sprinkle on cilantro and feta. Season with salt, pepper and cumin and drizzle vinegar over all. Serve with lime wedges.

4 servings

Tomato Cuke Raita and Costco Naan

I love the yogurt based raita served with Indian food. The other day I decided to make a cheat curry using Trader Joe's Curry Simmer Sauce. I sautéed onion, red pepper, and a bunch of chunkily chopped cauliflower and then simmered it for a half hour. Good over brown basmati rice. I did however, make homemade raita (yay, me). The real score of the evening was the naan I found at Costco. They are small naan-just perfect size for your toaster--are you kidding me?

Raita
1 cup yogurt
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cucumber grated
juice of one lemon
cumin, coriander, salt and pepper
handful of chopped cilantro

Mix it all up and chill a couple hours ahead to blend flavors.

Seared Scallops over Lentils and Spinach

A while back I made a big batch of Sloppy Lentils and I froze half. The other day I thawed them and decided they'd make a great "bed" for some succulent scallops. I also added a whole bunch of spinach for color.  And, why not throw in some bacon for good measure? Yum!

Sloppy Lentils (see March 2011 entry)
Sea scallops for two
bag of spinach
2 garlic cloves, minced
olive oil and butter
salt and pepper
2 bacon slices
smoked paprika

Heat up the lentils
In large skillet, fry up two rashers of bacon, drain and crumple. In same skillet quickly cook the garlic (don't let it burn) and throw in the spinach in batches to wilt. Remove spinach to warm bowl. Add some butter to skillet and quickly sauté the scallops--they cook fast--a couple minutes max on each side. Salt and pepper the scallops. Dust them with a bit of smoked paprika.  In bowl, layer the lentils, the spinach and top with the scallops.

Southwest Tuna Salad

Here's a different twist on the tried and true tuna salad most people always make. The addition of corn and southwest spices make for a tasty departure.

1 can tuna, drained
1 cooked ear of corn, sliced off cob
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
juice of one lime
1 t chili powder
1/2 t cumin
salt
1/2 t oregano
1/2 red pepper diced
1 jalapeno diced
1 rib celery diced

Mix the yogurt, lime juice and spices and then mix that mixture into the other ingredients.

Onion Feta Burger

This makes for a tasty burger:  caramelize some sweet onion, spread some Dijon on a Trader Joe brioche bun, and top with crumbled feta. YUM!

Halibut!

There are so many reasons to love having fish for dinner. First, it's down right healthful if you choose the right fish and it's also so wonderfully fast! I buy the individually frozen halibut steaks at Costco and they thaw beautifully and cook up like fresh. Tonight I had tomatoes from my yard and some nice fresh basil. I always have white wine on hand so there's my sauce!

Halibut steaks
2 cups chopped tomatoes
olive oil
salt and pepper
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 white wine
bunch of fresh basil

Season the fish with salt and pepper and then sauté in some olive oil four minutes per side. remove and keep warm. Sauté garlic  briefly, add the tomatoes and sir around. Cook down a bit. Add the white wine and stir well--cook a few minutes. Put fish back into the pan and add the chopped basil.

Super Grilled Cheese

Who doesn't love a grilled cheese sandwich? Have I got a treat for you. Next time you make one, add a little baked ham and hot pepper jelly! Butter it up and grill it in the panini press---Add a pickle and you've got lunch!

No Mayo Chicken Salad

I happen to love mayonnaise but I know that is not the case for all people. For those mayo haters here's a tasty take on chicken salad-mayo-free!

Just mix up a homemade vinaigrette or store bought and shred up cooked chicken, chopped almonds, tomatoes, thin slivered sweet onion and marinated chopped artichokes and voila! chicken salad!

Eggplant Manicotti

Usually when you hear manicotti you think of pasta but I substituted eggplant and it worked really well. Stuffing manicotti shells can be kind of tedious and I'm a lazy cook.

1 very large eggplant
1 jar favorite spaghetti sauce
1 carton ricotta cheese
1 egg
shredded asiago and Parmesan cheese
nutmeg
cayenne pepper
garlic powder
cooking spray

Slice eggplant long ways into 1/3 inch slices
Spread out on cookie sheets and spray then season with salt, pepper and garlic powder.
Bake for around 13 minutes at 350

Meanwhile, mix ricotta cheese with egg, salt and pepper, a little nutmeg and cayenne pepper and about 1/2 cup asiago and Parmesan.

In baking dish apply thin coat of sauce. Starting from small end of eggplant slice add a couple tabelspoons ricotta mixture and roll up and place in baking dish. Repeat. Dump the rest of the sauce over all and sprinkle more asiago and Parmesan over the top. Cover with foil.

bake at 350 for 30 minutes, taking foil off last ten minutes.

Twice Cooked Pork Tenderloin

Here is a little different twist on making pork tenderloin. Mark Bittman, from the NYT, suggests you quickly brown it, then slice into medallions and brown again--hence twice cooked! Result was yummy.

• 1 boneless pork tenderloin, about 1 pound
•  Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 tablespoons butter, extra virgin olive oil, or a combination
• ¼ cup cream
• 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard 
•  Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish, optional
• 1. Sprinkle meat with salt and pepper. Put a large skillet over medium-high heat; a minute later add 2 tablespoons butter and/or oil. When butter foam subsides or oil dimples, add meat (curve it into skillet if necessary). Brown it well on all sides, for a total of 4 to 6 minutes. Turn off heat, remove meat from pan, and let it sit on a board. When skillet has cooled a bit, proceed.
  2. Cut meat into inch-thick slices. Once again turn heat to medium-high, add remaining butter and/or oil and, when it's hot, add pork slices to pan. Brown on each side, about 2 or 3 minutes each. Turn heat to low and remove meat to a warm platter.
  3. Add 1/2 cup water to pan, turn heat to high, and cook, stirring and scraping, for a minute. Lower heat slightly, add cream and cook until slightly thickened. Stir in mustard.  Then taste and adjust seasoning. Serve meat with sauce spooned on top, garnished, if you like, with parsley.
  
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Salmon Salad

This is the reason you buy more salmon than you need for one meal because you want leftover cooked salmon for this salad! No directions needed. Enjoy.

Creamy Pasta with Chicken Sausage

Every now and then I find myself making a dish that is just not that healthful but I do it anyway. I figure you can't be all about KALE all the time for Pete's sake! This dish has sausage, heavy cream, pasta and cheese---oh yeah and some spinach for color!! hahahahah

I have to say it was pretty darn tasty though.

1/2 lb whole wheat pasta spirals (another salute to health!)
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 pkg chicken sausage, sliced
1 garlic clove minced
1 bag spinach

Cook pasta according to directions. In large skillet brown the sausage in some olive oil, throw in the garlic, add the cream and the parmesan and bring to a boil cooking it all down a bit. Throw in the spinach and the cooked pasta and mix well. Enjoy.