Tag Archives: healthy

Carrot + Cucumber Peanut Salad

This little salad dish was born from farmer’s market loot.

On Sundays, Greg and I have been working at Headhouse Farmer’s Market for the always amazing Three Springs Fruit Farm.

Each week, we come home with our hands full of bags of market goodies.

This week, I am determined to base the dishes I make around what I got at market, rather than think of a recipe and have to buy groceries.

First up is this salad.

Crisp carrots and cucumbers slathered in some of this light and delicious peanut sauce and topped off with crunchy peanuts and sesame seeds and cool cilantro. This refreshing salad comes together quickly and is seriously awesome.

I am obsessed with using the vegetable peeler for these veggies. It is not a way that I have been used to enjoying raw veggies, but I think that I will be doing it much more often now. The veggies become almost noodle-like, but retain that great, juicy vegetable crunch.

The carrots and cucumbers + peanut sauce together are delicious, but it is really the toppings that make this dish. Most recipes I share on here are so customizable, but in this dish, the chopped peanuts, cilantro and sesame seeds are mandatory. You have to use all three if you make this, or it just won’t be the same. Amounts are customizable, but omitting one of those three ingredients will change the dish.

This summer salad is very good on its own. I would just make it as a side dish for a summer dinner. But I have big ideas for it too. Tomorrow I will share with you one of those ideas, so be sure to check back for a delicious meal featuring this salad.

I hope that you enjoy this tasty summer dish!

Ingredients:
2 cucumbers
3 large carrots
For the peanut sauce:
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 large garlic clove
Juice from 1/2 a lime
1 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce
1/2 tablespoon brown sugar
1/2 cup hot water
Toppings:
1/2 cup chopped peanuts
Large handful fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons sesame seeds

Using a vegetable peeler, slice the carrots and cucumbers into long and thin strips. Add the sliced vegetable to a large bowl.

To make the peanut sauce, place peanut butter, garlic, lime juice, soy sauce, brown sugar and hot water into a blender or food processor and blend/process until completely smooth. This made 3/4 cup sauce for me.

Pour 1/2 cup peanut sauce over the sliced veggies and toss very well.

Top with chopped peanuts, cilantro and sesame seeds and toss again.

Enjoy!

Fresh Cherry Vanilla Baked Oatmeal

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I baked you something warm and comforting.

This is a sweet and filling summertime breakfast.

Baked oatmeal is a go-to comforting recipe. It’s so easy to do and hard to mess up. That’s what I was looking for when I made this.

Last week, I attempted a dessert to share with you that went terribly wrong. And I attempted to change up one of my favorite recipes from my mom. It was not a change for the better.

Both were edible, but not share-able. We ate both but they left no great impression. That’s why I made this oatmeal.

I needed to make something I knew would be good. I needed something to comfort me. I needed to make something to reassure me, that I can make something good.

This oatmeal did the trick.

Cherry + vanilla is one of my all-time favorite combinations. I go crazy for cherry vanilla ice cream. And when I had a cherry vanilla cupcake a few months ago in DC, I couldn’t believe my taste buds. I decided to recreate that cupcake, and my maraschino and vanilla cupcakes are one of the most popular recipes on this site. You just can’t go wrong with cherry and vanilla.

And what better time of the year for cherries. They are gorgeous right now, like little pieces of art. And they taste amazing. I can’t even get over how much I love eating cherries right now.

This oatmeal is simple. Not many ingredients. But it is full of vanilla flavor. It is studded with real vanilla beans, which I think is one of the best flavors, ever. And, I added vanilla extract, to make that vanilla flavor even more amplified. The cherries are mixed right in, at the end, and they become soft and sweet, sort of like in a cherry dessert.

I think this would be an awesome weekend breakfast, with room for leftovers all week. I hope you enjoy this cherry vanilla baked oatmeal!

Ingredients
3 cups oats
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups milk (I used coconut)
1 egg
2 vanilla beans, seeds scraped from the stem
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons melted coconut oil
1-2 cups of cherries, depending on your preference, pitted

Preheat the oven to 350*.

In a mixing bowl, combine the oats, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Whisk together well.

In another bowl, combine the milk, egg, vanilla beans seeds, vanilla extract and melted coconut oil. Mix together well.

Add the wet ingredients to the dry ones and mix until just combined. Gently stir in the cherries.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until firm and slightly golden.

Enjoy!

Notes:
-I enjoyed this oatmeal both warm and cold, with almond milk.
-For directions on how to scrape the seeds from a vanilla bean, see here.

Tortellini Salad

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This summer has definitely been about cooking food with the least amount of cook time as possible.

This cold tortellini salad is just another dish I’ve made in this hot weather that is simple, requires very little “cook” time and is delicious!

I don’t know why but I’ve been dreaming about having a picnic lately. I just want to pack up a summery meal, a soft blanket and perhaps a bottle of wine and sit outside in the grass and have a picnic. I’ve been thinking about it A LOT.

So, yesterday, Greg and I were going to see the Philadelphia Orchestra at an outdoor, free concert. I know, it was so cool. I was going to train into the city to meet him, since he was already there, and we would have dinner and then head over to the concert.

Instead of going out to dinner, why don’t I pack us a picnic dinner, I thought. It was the perfect opportunity. I had already made this tortellini salad, and I still had some leftover bean tapenade. I’d throw in two apples and some trail mix and it would be perfect. There are so many places where we could have a nice picnic in the city!

So I headed in, with the food and a blanket, so excited for our picnic. But, there was one problem. It was raining. And it was windy and the sky was completely gray. I don’t know why, but I was still holding out hope that the sun would be shining just in time for our picnic.

I got to the city and met up with Greg, and no, the sun did not come out. An outdoor picnic did not happen, so we improvised. A picnic dinner in the science building it was. 🙂

So, after that story, let me tell you about this dish.

It is so good. It is a perfect picnic dish. Or a get-together dish. Or a dish for a big summer feast. It’s light and full of flavor from that pesto. I used this kale + mint + cashew pesto, but of course use any pesto you please. The beans add softness and the tomatoes add a crunch. Simple, delicious flavors.

Whether you are enjoying a relaxing outdoor picnic or inside on a rainy day, I hope that you enjoy this dish! 🙂

Ingredients
1 bag frozen tortellini
1/2 cup pesto
1 can white beans
1 heaping cup cherry tomatoes

Cook the tortellini according to package directions. Mine were to be boiled for 2-3 minutes. Once the tortellini is done cooking, drain and rinse with cold water.

While the tortellini cools, cut the tomatoes in half. Open and rinse the beans.

In a large bowl, mix together the tortellini, pesto, white beans and tomatoes. Using two large spoons, toss everything together well, until everything is coated in pesto.

Serve chilled and enjoy!

Notes:
-Rinsing the tortellini with cold water after cooking it will remove any starch that will make the tortellini stick together in this dish.

White Bean Tapenade

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White bean tapenade crostini sounds complicated and fancy, but believe me, it’s so easy to prepare and is so delicious.

I don’t really have many words to say (type) about this, so I’m going to share with you mostly photos.

This recipe is from Bon Appetit. I’ve been wanting to make it for awhile, and getting a baguette at the farmer’s market this weekend gave me the perfect opportunity.

It really takes no time at all to put this together. I had intended to make this yesterday in the late morning/early afternoon, but somehow didn’t get around to starting it until going on six in the evening. Of course, I was a bit panicked because I had missed the best natural light of the day for photos and at that point, I’d be lucky to get any good light at all. Luckily, the few, simple ingredients took no time at all to prepare, giving me plenty of time for photos. 🙂

This would make a great appetizer for a group of people. Or, enjoy it like Greg and I did, as a dinner side dish for two, with leftovers for the next day.

The recipe can be found here, on Bon Appetit. It is not only easy and delicious, it’s also very customizable. Some people may not prefer a strong lemon flavor in food (my dad), so don’t add as much lemon zest or juice. Use any type of olive you like, or leave them out completely. Use any array of spices you have. Eat it as a crostini, with the bread, or just plain, without the bread. It really is delicious as is, but can be easily changed to fit your taste.

I hope you enjoy this simple, summery dish!

Kale + Mint + Cashew Pesto

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You know how people have secret recipes? Or a secret ingredient in a special recipe?

Well I think I just made my first secret ingredient recipe.

And I’m going to share it with you!

It won’t really be a secret. But if I were ever to have a secret recipe, this would have been it.

The very secret ingredient in this pesto? It’s mint!

I don’t think I’ll ever want pesto another way.

Making this was two things: random and kind of scary.

Let’s start with random. I’ve never really made pesto before because I don’t have a food processor and I didn’t think my blender could handle it. But I’ve wanted to make it for so long, so I just crossed my fingers that my blender would work and went for it!

This pesto happened because I had a bunch of random ingredients to use that I thought would make a good pesto. Cashews I bought to have as a snack that never happened. Mint I bought to use in something else but forgot what it was that I was going to make. Kale that I wanted to use for a salad but I thought tasted weird in that particular salad. A half of a lemon left over from making this dressing. This might be good, I thought.

I wasn’t sure. Like I said above, I was a little scared. Sure, a little scared that my blender wouldn’t pull through and make a smooth pesto. But, even more scared about serving Greg pesto with mint in it. He doesn’t like minty things. Things like mint ice cream or mint chocolate anything or mint tea. He says something like “the only thing mint belongs in is gum.”

So, putting mint in his pesto? I wasn’t so sure.

It was sort of like when I was afraid to give him a quesadilla with cream cheese, knowing he doesn’t like cream cheese. That turned out well, and I hoped that this did too.

I used this pesto for Greg and I very simply. I made our favorite noodles (spinach spaghetti noodles) and tossed together the noodles, pesto and some reserved cooking water. I topped the noodles with a sprinkle of Romano cheese. It was divine. Simple and delicious. A ton of flavor from the pesto.

And, Greg liked it. After he said he liked it, I told him there was mint in it. 🙂

The mint adds a hint of freshness to this pesto. It doesn’t stand out too much, but when you taste the pesto, it’s like there is something in it that is so refreshing, and of course that is the mint.

I hope that you enjoy this pesto. 🙂

Ingredients
4 cups raw kale, any variety (I used Tuscan kale)
2 small handfuls fresh mint (I used two stalks of fresh mint)
1/2 cup cashews
1 garlic clove
3/4 cup olive oil
Juice from 1/2 of a lemon
1/4 cup Romano cheese
Pinch of crushed red pepper flakes

To make the kale softer and easier to process or blend, blanch the kale first. Do this by preparing a bowl of very cold water. Then bring a pot of water to a boil. Once the pot of water is boiling, place the kale in it. Keep the kale in the water for about 1 minute, no longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the kale to the bowl of cold water to stop the cooking process. Then place the kale into a colander and squeeze it to remove any excess liquid. Transfer the kale to paper towels to dry off a bit.

Once the kale is dry, place all ingredients into a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

Serve over pasta, with bread, vegetable or in quiche.

Enjoy!

The Dreaming Foodie

Sharing dreams. On food and life.

Tag Archives: healthy

Carrot + Cucumber Peanut Salad

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Fresh Cherry Vanilla Baked Oatmeal

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Tortellini Salad

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White Bean Tapenade

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Kale + Mint + Cashew Pesto

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