Lunchtime Summer Salad from my Little Urban Garden

Today's lunch is special because when it was time to eat, I got to go out and pick my first round of Bibb Lettuce from our little city garden!

I washed the greens and added:
2 strawberries,
4 cherries,
1 diced slice of red onion,
s&p,
1/4 avocado and this
AMAZING lavender-infused balsamic vinegar that a friend gifted to me as an early birthday present. I had a little side car of cottage cheese for some protein…Lunch is served! I love summer.

Can't BEET this simple trick.

I've recently had conversations with a few friends about Beets.  Not totally random, as it is Farmer's Market season, and we share our weekly finds and plans for our market goodies. But I was kind of surprised to hear in both instances, that my friends were shying away from the beautiful red, purple and golden beets of the season for fear of the hassle to prepare them.  Don't let these guys intimidate you!

Here's what I do.

Heat your oven to 425 degrees.

Start with your beets. Get them washed and Cut the ends/greens off (you CAN say the greens! But thats for another day…) No peeling, no seasoning.

Wrap each beet in aluminum foil. I also like to line the sheet pan with an additional piece of foil because chances are the pouches will bubble a bit.

Cook the wrapped beets in the oven for about 45 minutes. Take them out and let them cool completely.

Now the magic happens.

Unwrap your little beet-presents under cool, running water.  Gently rub the skins of the beets under the water and watch them peel away. Its hard to see in the picture of the purple beet, but look at that golden beet!  The peel just comes right off!

You're left with gorgeous produce and CLEAN HANDS with such minimal work!

Now its up to you how you want to prepare you beets. Simple salt seasoning for the most basic enjoyment, but I love to make a nice salad with granny smith apples, fresh mint, and goat cheese crumbles!

Chop the beets on a plastic cutting board.

I add about 2 tablespoons of fresh, chopped mint. 

Season with salt, pepper, and EVOO.

Dice a tart green apple.

Toss it all together. 

Top with goat cheese crumbles and enjoy your seasonal delight!

Other delicious ingredients to try with your beets: Quinoa, Avocado, Walnuts, Balsamic Dressing!

It's #grilleverything season! The simplest Shrimp Tacos EVER.

We are getting into the season that nearly every dinner at our house will be prepared on the grill.  I don't want the oven on. I don't want to be inside more than we have to be. I want yummy food thats simple and healthy!  The grill is the best.

We don't limit our grill to burgers and pork chops either (although we do plenty of that too! Stay tuned for my spicy pork and cherry skewer recipe coming soon!). We do the whole meal on the grill.  Roasted potatoes. Grilled vegetables. Mushroom caps. You Name It. We grill it.

Now we loooove Taco Night at our house and Tacos are a perfect match for the grill.  This recipe for shrimp tacos is seriously the simplest recipe you'll find.  I seasoned some shrimp with my Salt Free Southwest Seasoning (that I keep in the pantry at all times), a couple twists of sea salt (I try to keep the salt separate when seasoning to know just how much I'm adding), and…thats it. (I did spray them with some light cooking oil so they wouldn't stick to the grill.)

I also cut up a red onion and green pepper, added a pinch of the same southwest seasoning and 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil. A quick toss and put the veggies in a foil pouch to steam on the grill.

Finally I sprayed a few corn tortillas with cooking spray, and those went on the grill as well.

Top these bad boys off with whatever taco dressings you love. We are partial to avocados, salsa, plain greek yogurt, and when we can, fresh cilantro straight from the garden. Ahhhhh…. Summer, I love you.

This is my signature move, ladies.

Cauliflower. I mean... if you have been following my Facebook page or know me in real life, you already know that cauliflower is MY JAM! So even though many of you already know about it, this blog would seem incomplete if I didn't dedicate a post to my beloved Superfood.

On this particular day, Benny had a bowl. Nat had 2 bowls. Elle had 3 bowls. Stair-step Noodle Success.

The facts: cauliflower packs tons of vitamin C, fiber & antioxidants. But the really good stuff is this fancy word Glucosinolates which you can learn more about here. Bottom line, its SUPER good for you and your family.

Now, my kids eat pretty well, but theres no denying that they love mac'n'cheese above all else. It reigns supreme and is the BEST bribery tool in our dining room drama.  So I do what I can…and try to balance the meal so this is where cauliflower has been HUGE!  Any time cauliflower is on sale, I buy 5-10 pounds, steam it, puree it, and package it up using my Squeeze Station.  I put the pouches in the freezer and pull out a couple each week to be fridge ready for macaroni emergencies.  I boil the noodles, drain, add the cheese and then become a rule-breakin' mama…I omit the milk and butter. Oh yeah, you heard me.  #risktaker  For each regular size box of mac'n'cheese, I use one-4oz squeeze of cauliflower puree and voila! Healthier "cheesy noo-noos" with a dose of hidden veggies.

Jessica Seinfeld turned me on to the hidden veggies and this has since become my signature move any day of the week. My kids are so used to it that its a non-issue and they go back and forth between restaurant mac and mine without batting an eyelash.  If you try it the first time and think a flavor difference is very noticeable, I challenge you to fix mac'n'cheese a few more times with it before you make a final decision.  It's too good of a veggie opportunity to give up too soon!

Other cauliflower yums to try:
Eggs - Using the Pureed cauliflower mentioned above, simply squeeze a little bit into your eggs before scrambling.  If you are concerned that kids will notice, put a bit of cream cheese in the eggs as well. They'll be extra light and fluffy and have a nutrient bonus! Cheese improves everything.

Cauliflower Alfredo Sauce - put it on everything!

Cauliflower Fried Rice - make it your own with whatever veggie or protein additions you love in traditional fried rice

Southwest Seasoning: Tacos, Dressing, Chili, Soups…#ANYTHING!

I love southwest flavors and would put taco seasoning in just about anything to enhance flavors.  We all know the store bought stuff packs way too much sodium to use as regularly as I'd like, so I like to put together a bulk supply of my own seasoning blend to keep in the pantry.  I keep mine salt free and add that as needed based on individual recipes.  I've made a couple notes about salt additions below the recipe.  Let me know what you think!

Mama's Salt-Free Southwest Seasoning
-Bulk Preparation-
Makes about a cup. Store in an air-tight jar in the pantry to use as needed.  Most recipes would use about 2 tablespoons at a time.

1/2 Cup Chili Powder
1/3 Cup Ground Cumin
3 Tablespoons Coriander
4 teaspoons Onion Powder
4 teaspoons Garlic Powder
4 teapoons Paprika

*Salt:  For about every 2 tablespoons of this seasoning, I would add about 1teaspoon salt to recipes, but I prefer to add it at the time of cooking so its only on an as-needed basis.

Use it to make Heathy Southwest Ranch Salad dressing too!