Pretzels

There's nothing more decadent that creating an Oktoberfest feast - it's just large amounts of deliciously rich foods plus large amounts of German beer! We didn't do all the cooking ourselves, but I did make two of the side dishes: German-style potato salad and pretzels. The pretzel recipe is courtesy of my middle-school era Family Studies course and its teacher, Mrs. Miller-Nesbitt. I knew it would come in handy again! It's pretty similar to this Stefano Faita recipe if you'd like something more official.

Step 1: check to make sure yeast isn't expired (oops). Step 1a: Buy new yeast! Step 2: Pour 3/4 cup lukewarm water into a large bowl bowl and mix in 1.5 tsp sugar. Sprinkle 1.5 tsp yeast on top, and let stand until bubbly, 5-10 minutes. Add 1.5 c flour and 1/2 tsp salt. Stir with a wooden spoon until blended and it forms a ball. Cover your counter with flour and dump the dough out - now you're ready to get out the day's stresses by kneading for about 5 minutes. If it's sticky, add up to 1/2 cup more flour.

Now the fun part! Divide the dough into four pieces, and roll each into long 'snakes' of dough - 1/2" thick and 15" long. This took a bit of work because the dough kept shrinking back whenever we rolled it out... but it ultimately stayed. Then we got to form our four pretzels. Brush each with an egg wash (1 egg and 1 Tbsp water in a small bowl) and sprinkle with coarse salt. We used sea salt on two and smoked Maldon salt on the other two. Bake for about 10 minutes @425 and cool on a wire rack.

The rest of our feast included sausages, saurkraut, and potato salad made with red onions with lots of oil and vinegar, inspired by this recipe. We had the pretzels with mustard and they were fabulous! Warm, bready... not as large and brown as ones you'd find in a Munich beer garden but just right for our feast. Proste!

Enlightened Pasta Salad

Nothing I like better than pasta. I've never been a big fan of those mayo-based pasta salads, though - I'm more into grain salads with vinaigrettes. But when it was warmer out, I decided to try this light version, aptly named Enlightened Pasta Salad from Rachael Ray magazine (July, 2013). Also, since Greek yogurt is the ingredient du jour, I figured I would try it out.

There isn't much simpler than making pasta salad. Rachael complicates it by making you puree all the ingredients together. Nope. For the dressing, I mixed 1/3 cup plain Greek yogurt, 1/4 cup light mayonnaise, 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese, 2 Tbsp olive oil, and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. I just left out the garlic because as much as I love it, raw garlic is just too potent.

I cooked 10 oz of whole wheat penne and let it cool slightly. Then I mixed in the dressing with 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes, 1 diced red pepper and a couple small raw yellow zucchini. Finish with lots of fresh basil leaves and salt and pepper.

Garnish with even more basil and it's done! I would have added olives if I had had any. Oh well, I added a few capers instead for some tang. This was a lovely, simple, light summer pasta salad. You couldn't tell it was a mix of mayo and yogurt - or maybe you could, but it was still good. And a little less guilty. Make it for your next summer gathering.

Orzo Salad with Corn and Tomatoes

Now one kind of salad I do like are grain salads. This blog is full of one pot/bowl recipes, and surprise, here's another one. I originally saved this recipe because I wanted to try farro, which I had never cooked before, but here I use orzo. Clearly I hadn't been to the bulk store in awhile. This Farro and Corn Salad is so simple, though, I should try to highlight some rare grain with it. Next time. Next summer...

The recipe calls for 1 cup farro or barley, but for some reason I used up what orzo I had and it was probably closer to 2 cups. I guess I didn't think orzo would fluff up as much as other grains? Either way, it was a little too much. Stick with 1 or 1 1/2 cups. Rinse when it's done cooking, and toss with olive oil. In a large pan, cook 1 1/2 cups corn for 2-3 minutes so it can char. I didn't use fresh corn... frozen worked just fine. Then throw in one pint of halved cherry tomatoes and a few sliced green onions and cook for 2 min to warm.

Throw the orzo and veggies into a large bowl and add the juice of one lemon, 1 tsp lemon zest and handfuls of baby arugula. 'Tis the season for cherry tomatoes and I've been having a mini love affair with arugula for the past few months so this was delicious. Bit too much pasta, as I mentioned above, so it wasn't as full of veggies as it was supposed to be. Also, no protein, so it wasn't the most balanced dinner - but that's me, eating side dishes as main meals. Will definitely try again with a more interesting grain.

Barbecue Tofu and Corn Salad

I'm not a huge fan of salads in general, and I rarely make them because it takes some effort to have every ingredient in the house and lettuce bores me. I've been buying more cartons of organic greens, however, and salads are a good way to use them up! I've moved beyond baby spinach to arugula, baby kale, and the lovely blends (Zen Blend is particularly good) that EarthBound Farms offers. This Barbecue Tofu and Corn Salad is a nice hearty dinner and it's quite versatile, which is always handy!

The first thing to do is fry tofu in BBQ sauce. We had mango curry BBQ sauce, which was a little sweet but had a nice kick. I also sometimes fry the tofu brushed with honey instead of sauce, which is quite delicious and makes the tofu a little crunchy. Then, in a large bowl, throw in the rest of the ingredients! This is the part I like about salads. I added mixed greens and arugula, 1/2 pint of halved cherry tomatoes, one can of mixed beans, 1 cup (thawed) corn, about 1/4 of a red onion, sliced, and some sliced red pepper.

The recipe calls for a more complicated citrus dressing, which is pureed. I don't bother with this. I mixed olive oil, lemon juice, a little sriracha, and one grated garlic clove. And lots of cilantro mixed in! The salad was quite good, very filling, but had one problem - it was so oniony! I only put a little red onion in but we ended up picking out most of it because it was overpowering. Maybe my slices were too big, or I should pickle it first in lemon juice, or I've heard soaking in ice water also helps tame them. Once the onion problem was under control the salad was quite good, but readers will know I love anything with cilantro in it. Even salad.

Tunisia Meets Provence Salad

There's always at least one reader's recipe in Vegetarian Times, and they usually sound really good! I made this Tunisian/Provencal Salad because, while I spend most of the summer making couscous/quinoa/pasta salads since it's too hot to use the oven, I'd never made one with brown rice, and the different flavours intrigued me.

First, cook 1 cup brown rice. I buy the somewhat instant kind, and it only takes 10 minutes. Totally worth it. Now, the author would like you to salt the cucumbers and the onion, but I was lazy and didn't do it. I just mixed the ingredients in a large bowl: 1 sliced cucumber, 1 chopped green pepper, 1/2 chopped red pepper, 1 finely chopped apple, and some chopped black olives. I omitted the 1 1/2 cups onion (!) so I threw in some green onions. I also added in some chopped dried apricots. The dressing was 5 Tbsp olive oil and 1 Tbsp lemon juice. I omitted the dried mint because I didn't have any, and threw in some beans for added protein.

This wasn't the most successful recipe, partly my fault I think. It was just too sweet for me - with the apple, but also the apricot I added, it just didn't have enough bite. Maybe if I had put in all that onion it would have been more balanced. I enjoyed it the day I made it, but sitting in the fridge for a day or two didn't help. I'll try again with less apple, more veggies and more olives - the best part!

Honey-Lime Oat and Black Bean Salad

Summer to me means salads. Not lettuce-based salads (bleh) but grain salads. Quinoa and couscous mostly, orzo sometimes, and occasionally new grains I've never had before. Cue me flipping through Canadian Living and finding Honey-Lime Oat and Black Bean Salad, which sounded fabulous and involved oat groats, which are minimally processed and so retain much of their nutrition. Well hey, as long as my local bulk store carries it, I'll try it!

So oat groats are pretty tasty, they look a bit like thick brown rice and have a nice nutty taste. Either they're a little chewy or I didn't cook them long enough - the water (2 cups to 1 cup groats) was all gone after simmering about 35 minutes, while the recipe states it should take 45. Hmmm. The other ingredients in the salad: 1 can black beans, 1 cup halved cherry tomatoes, 1 jalapeno, finely chopped, a little bit of diced red onion, 1/2 avocado, diced, and fresh cilantro.

Mix the vinaigrette: 3 Tbsp oil, 1 tsp lime zest, 3 Tbsp lime juice, 1 Tbsp honey, 1/4 tsp chili powder, and salt and pepper, and pour on! I think it was better the next day, once the dressing had soaked into the groats overnight in the fridge. A great south-western inspired side dish. My only complaint: not spicy enough! I wanted more lime and jalapeno, and less honey, but then again adding more heat to recipes is a recurring idea on this blog. Just can't get enough.

Potato Salad

Potato salad is one of those side dishes that I liked as a kid - though my parents rarely bought the grocery store deli counter or pre-packaged stuff. I just knew it was my pick over coleslaw (bleh). I don't know why I didn't think earlier to make it myself - perhaps the idea of potatoes and mayonnaise was too rich for every day cooking? Well, when I saw this recipe for Eggy Potato Salad with Pickles from Bon Appetit last summer I figured, what was I waiting for? It's summer and I want the pickles, the egg, everything!

First - potatoes. We don't really eat potatoes on a regular basis in this household - I think we both grew up with bland boiled potatoes as a side to chicken or steak or whatever. But now we do - the magic of summer picnic fare. I buy white mini potatoes and quarter them (they cook faster), then boil them until they're done. This time I used about 16.



Bon Appetit suggests you mix them with red onion and parsley, which sounds pretty good. This time I cut diced some red pepper - it's healthy and adds colour. I also diced two pickles and added them right in as well, because pickles are delicious. And don't forget two diced hard-boiled eggs. The magazine suggest only using the yolks - I don't want to be wasteful so I use the whites too.


The dressing, however, is the best part: 1/4 cup mayo, 1/8 cup pickle juice (right from the jar! So salty and sour!), 1 Tbsp Dijon for flavour, 1/2 tsp sugar, pepper and lots of paprika - any mix of sweet, hot and smoked, I have all three. But beware - I was a little too liberal this time and the salad took on a pinkish hue. Don't bother adding more salt - the pickles are salty enough.

And there you have it, the perfect side dish for (veggie) burgers! Be warned - this stuff is addictive. You won't be able to stop making it.

Orzo Salad with Kale, Beets and Feta

I was inspired by Bon Appetit's Barley and Kale Salad with Golden Beets and Feta for two reasons. One - I don't make nearly as many grain salads in the winter as I do in the summer, and two - I don't cook beets. Ever. I picture them being too much work - and dyeing everything pink. Which they do... but they're delicious so I figured I'd give them a shot.

The night before, I did two things. First, I cooked my 5 small beets - though as it turned out, the 45 minute cooking time given was not sufficient and they were still a little crunchy. I also had to use the dreaded red beet as my veggie stand was out of the golden kind. Easy enough to cook though - cover with oil, wrap in foil and roast in the oven at 400. I also had to marinate the kale, since it was raw in the salad. This was easily done by covering it with a quick dressing made of olive oil, minced shallots (damn those are potent... it was quite oniony), some rice vinegar and a squeeze of agave nectar. Over 24 hours the oil helped soften the kale, allowing it to be eaten raw.

The next night it was quick enough work to peel and chop the beets and mix them into the kale, and then cook up some orzo - nothing against barley, I have made a lovely barley salad in the past, I just didn't have any. And I had leftover orzo from a dinner party, so there. And quinoa was just too much work that night. I sprinkled feta on top but there was no need to add extra dressing, as the recipe says - it was oily enough from the kale. A nice quick weeknight dinner before seeing a movie (BOND!).

Well two things. First - if you're leaving the kale overnight as I did, mix it periodically. The dressing of course fell to the bottom, and I should have given it a shake every few hours. It softened a little unevenly. Second - beets dye things! Like everything that was white in the salad - the orzo, the feta. I guess that's why they suggest golden beets. It was still fabulous but the colour was a little off-putting. Pink food... I dunno.

Grapefruit-Soba Noodle Salad

My sister, knowing my love of peanuty-cilantro flavours, sent me a link to this Grapefruit-Soba Noodle Salad with Spicy Peanut Sauce from Vegetarian Times. A perfect meal for me - one big saucy mess of carbs, protein and veg. One bowl/pot meals are the best! And I should eat more grapefruit.

I mixed the sauce first - all the usual ingredients. Rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, agave nectar, toasted sesame oil. I doubled the peanut butter to 4 Tbsp, because PB is amazing. I didn't have chili oil and I didn't feel like mincing some garlic so I substituted 1 tsp of sriracha. It was quite vinegary, and thinner than I usually make it, but I suppose the point of the recipe was a nice, light lunch.

I fried up half a block of tofu in a pan, then fried/warmed up a couple of green onions and 1 red pepper so they wouldn't be completely raw. Alas, no radishes, though maybe I should start buying them... but I don't remember if I like them! I also boiled the snow peas for two minutes as the recipe suggested but I would shorten that time - even after only two minutes they were quite soft.

I love that the official name for cutting citrus fruit is supreming. It's just cutting off the skin with a paring knife and then cutting each individual segment out, avoiding all the white bitter pith. The citrus cut through the peanut butter and (faint) spice nicely when it was all mixed together. Delicious despite my lack of cilantro and sesame seeds, the suggested garnishes. If I had a longer lunch break at work I would definitely bring cold noodle salads. Easy to make with any veggies you have lying around your fridge!