It's Hot...and We Haven't Gone Grocery Shopping...

The combination of a few hot days in Boston, no AC in the house, and a busy week left us looking into a pretty bare fridge tonight with little motivation to cook a big meal. We rarely eat out on weeknights and had already made one exception to that rule this week. I mustered up all the creativity I could and pulled out whatever looked good in the fridge and pantry.

According to the hubby, "It was an old-standby with a refreshing addition". We have two meals that we usually end up making when we are tired and out of ideas - eggs and bagels or rice and beans. Tonight we went with the rice and beans.

My new lime basil plants have been really growing, and I had a lot of leaves that needed to be used up. Digging around in the fridge uncovered a jicama I thought that lime basil and jicama sounded like an interesting combination. I pulled out my Rick Bayless cookbook for inspiration on a dressing and found a recipe for a cilantro lime vinaigrette. Since I had neither of those, I used what was on hand to make a lime basil orange vinaigrette. To make the salad even more exciting I threw in a handful of pepitas (roasted pumpkin seeds). This gave the salad a nice crunch and extra flavor dimension. Thanks to Oh!Nuts for sending me some tasty products to try out.

For the rice and beans, I will admit that I used the microwave to cook them both. Hidden in the pantry was one of those 90 seconds rice packages and some black beans. I heated them up and then tossed the black beans with a little of the extra vinaigrette. It was delicious!

The end of the week calls for a summery cocktail - my Thursday night concoction was a spiked strawberry lemonade. A cold, refreshing addition to the meal.

What's your favorite go-to meal when you don't feel like cooking? Favorite pantry staples?

Jicama Salad with Lime-Basil Orange Vinaigrette
1 medium jicama root
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
Handful of pepitas

Peel jicama with a knife (the vegetable peeler doesn't get enough skin off)
Dice into your desired shape, I cut mine into about 1 inch cubes
Put into a bowl and toss with the salt and sugar

Vinaigrette
3/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup fresh squeezed orange juice
1/2 teaspoon orange zest
1/4 cup fresh lime basil
Dash of salt

Put all ingredients into a food processor or blender
Blend until smooth
Pour 1/4 cup on the jicama salad and reserve the rest of the dressing for another use
Top with pepitas and serve

Lazy Thursday Black Beans
Open a 14 oz. can of black beans and drain
Put into a bowl and mix with 1-2 tablespoons of the vinaigrette
Cover loosely and microwave for 2 minutes
Serve on top of rice

Super Strawberry Lemonade
Chill a glass of your choosing
Muddle 2-3 fresh strawberries in the bottom of the glass
Add a serving of vodka
Fill the remainder of the glass with strawberry-lemonade (or lemonade)
Garnish with a strawberry on the rim and enjoy

Here's to cooler weather!

Summery Pasta Salad

Summer makes me think about light, fresh, and simple dishes. Nothing says summer more than a simple pasta salad with fresh vegetables from the farmers market. We had an impromptu birthday lunch for the hubby with the family a few weeks ago and I wanted an easy, healthy, make-ahead meal to serve. The menu:

Turkey and roast beef sandwiches
Pickles and condiments
Chips and salsa
Summery pasta salad
Birthday cake
Blueberries and strawberries

I put together a summer pasta salad with golden beets, English peas, parsley, purple scallions, and a lemony vinaigrette. Served cold, it was the perfect addition to a summer lunch. Sometimes simple really is better!

This pasta salad is perfect for customizing - throw in any veggies that you find at your local market. The ingredients will change along with the new crops all summer. I made the vinaigrette with lemon, you could easily use orange, lime, or your favorite vinegar.

Summery Pasta Salad
lb. bowtie pasta (or other short shape)
2 golden beets
English shelling peas (About 1 cup, after shelling)
1/4 cup purple scallions, chopped
About a handful of fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

Start by roasting the beets
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees
Wash and dry beats and then wrap tightly in foil
Roast for one hour and then let cool before cutting into 1/2 inch cubes

Prepare pasta according to the package
Drain and briefly rinse with cold water
Pour pasta into a large serving bowl
Add peas and scallions into the hot pasta and toss

Lemony Vinaigrette
1 lemon, juiced
Extra virgin olive oil

Juice lemon into a small measuring cup
Whisk in 3 parts olive oil (relative to how much lemon juice)
Add a little salt and pepper, to taste
Pour onto the warm pasta and toss well

Chill pasta salad in the refrigerator until ready to serve
Stir in the chopped parsley just before serving

Summary:
Prep time: 15 minutes (or faster if you speed chop)
Cook time: Beets - 1 hour; Pasta - 10-15 minutes
Pasta pot, cutting board, knife, foil and baking sheet, serving bowl, measuring cup, utensils

A Look in the Garden

This year the hubby cleared out some shrubs and made room for a new garden. I was overwhelmed by the possibilities of what to plant and decided to start small for my first year of food gardening. I picked up some green zebra tomato plants from Atlas Farms. I bought a few green zebras every week last year, investing the $5 in the plants seemed like a good idea. I also decided to try a few herbs. The winners were chives, basil, and lime basil.

I planted my little tomatoes in the ground with some good soil from Russell's Garden Center. The herbs got nice homes in small pots. That way I could take them in during huge rain storms and I can pretend that I'll be able to bring them in and keep them alive in the winter.

I didn't know what to expect - but everything is blooming! When I came back after a long weekend away there were little yellow flowers and two baby green tomatoes. I can't wait for these to get big enough to eat!

My herbs are also doing well. I thought the seeds might have been waterlogged during the June rain, but they made it through. The lime basil is really flavorful - citrusy and bright. The best way to describe the chives is 'oniony'!

I've already put the herbs to good use. The first harvest was chopped and mixed into scrambled eggs. Tonight I muddled some lime basil and poured strawberry lemonade in the glass for a refreshing summer drink.

I'll report back once the tomatoes are ripe!