tomato

Pico de Gallo Recipe

June 14, 2017

For me, most Mexican food is incomplete without a little pico de gallo. The slightly sweet, spicy, and acidic salsa is the perfect condiment to go with my tacos, tortilla chips, burrito bowls, tamales, slads, chicken… the list goes on.

While I normally keep a container of store-bought pico de gallo in the fridge (the Walmart grocery brand is actually my favorite, believe it or not), I recently found myself with tacos to eat and no pico de gallo to go with them.

Thankfully, my over-buying at the grocery store came in handy for once and I happened to have everything I needed to make my own!

HOW I MADE IT

Pico de gallo is pretty simple. It consists of tomatoes, onions, jalapenos, garlic, cilantro, and lime juice. Don’t forget the lime juice. It ties everything together!

I started by seeding and chopping the tomatoes. Then chopping up half an onion so that the pieces of tomato and onion were similar sizes. To get rid of the harshness of the onion, I soaked the onion piece in water while I prepped everything else.

I wanted the garlic flavor to be evenly dispersed throughout the pico, so I “pureed” it with my knife. To do that, I first minced the garlic, then sprinkled coarse salt on top and scraped the blade of my knife over the salted garlic. I hold the blade at almost a 90 degree angle and go back and forth several times until it’s a paste-like consistency.

Then I finely chop up some cilantro and some jalapeno.

Everything goes into a bowl with the juice of 1 lime, some salt and pepper. Then it goes to the fridge to “marinate”. Pico de gallo is sooo much better once it’s had a chance to sit in it’s juice and get all happy

It only takes a few minutes in the fridge (30 at the least), then the pico is ready to eat!

Homemade pico de gallo is so much easier than you think, and its a heck of a lot better than the stuff at the store (even the stuff at Walmart). I forgot how much I like making my own because I can control the heat, and more importantly, the garlic! I like my pico to have a distinct garlic flavor (you’d be surprised at how many store bought picos leave out the garlic completely!). But if that’s not your speed, then you can pare it back!

Next time you find yourself without some salsa on hand, make your own instead of running to the store. Plus, it’s a good opportunity to work on some knife skills!

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Easy Shrimp Ceviche

June 5, 2017

Since returning home from Hawaii, I have been on a bit of a seafood kick (exhibit A). If you know me, you know I have never been on a seafood kick ever in my life. But I am embracing it with open arms. Unfortunately, due to my lack of experience with seafood, I am not the best at cooking it. Which is why I am drawn to recipes where I don’t have do too much cooking (again, see exhibit A).

Some shrimp ceviche recipes that you may see around the internet don’t actually the cook the shrimp AT ALL. Which is great if you don’t feel like cooking or don’t have access to a heat source.

However, I did have access to a heat source and I had no desire to use raw shrimp (and am a bit of a wuss), so I quickly cooked my shrimp in some boiling water before making my ceviche.

HOW I MADE IT

If you want to try your hand at “cooking” raw shrimp with lime juice, be my guest. Instead I “marinated” my already cooked and chopped shrimp in lime juice for about 15 minutes so I still had the limey-citrus flavor.

While the shrimp soaked in the lime juice, I chopped up an avocado, tomato, red onion, and jalapeno. Then I mixed all of those ingredients in with the shrimp.

It’s almost like making a chunky shrimp salsa.

And that’s exactly how we ate it! On it’s own with tortilla chips!

If you love shrimp and hate to cook, you will love this recipe. Just chop up a bunch of stuff and let it sit in some lime juice and you’ve got yourself a snack, an appetizer, or a meal!

It actually made a really nice, light dinner all on it’s own. But you could also eat the shrimp ceviche on a tortilla (like a taco), in a lettuce wrap; or on a cracker.

But I’m partial to the tortilla chips, because they make this dish that much easier!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:165]

Quinoa Tabbouleh Recipe

April 28, 2017

Quinoa is kind of amazing, isn’t it? It’s a grain…or is it? Is it a seed? I don’t know. All I know is that is a super food. Like throw some tights and a cape on that stuff kind of super.

It’s one of my favorite things to make along with some chicken or salmon for a quick and healthy dinner. But sometimes it can be kind of bland. Which is what makes it the perfect canvas for a tabbouleh!

Tabbouleh is a traditional Middle Eastern chopped veggie salad that can be made with a variety of ingredients from parsley to mint, cucumbers to tomatoes. But the true star of the show is parsley. If you don’t like parsley, then you probably won’t like this recipe.

Just telling it like it is.

For my tabbouleh, I kept things simple with parsley, tomatoes, red onion, and lemon juice along with olive oil, salt and pepper.

Normally I would say just chop up a tomato, onion, and parsley and toss it in the quinoa. But onions can come in lots of sizes and I don’t want you to go overboard with the onion…or the parsley.

Once all the veggies are chopped up (I can’t believe I am about to say this…), measure them. I’m not a bit measuring person when it comes to throwing a dinner together. Most of the time I do, since I now I will have to publish the recipe. But a little part of me dies every time. I am more of a “pinch of this, dash of that” kind of girl.

Add your measured veggies to the quinoa. Or don’t. Live life on the edge and throw the whole tomato in there. No one will know except you.

Then toss everything together with a bit of a lemon juice-olive oil dressing.

Now you could eat it right away. But I would implore (you know I’m serious when I go to the thesaurus to look up synonyms for “urge”) you to let it rest for at least 10 minutes. You want that lemon juice and olive oil to marinate, bathe, steep (sorry, took it too far with the thesaurus) the rest of the salad. It will help take the bite out of the onion and soften the parsley.

This bright and fresh quinoa salad makes the prefect healthy side dish for anything from some delicious chicken (like my favorite Chicken Doner), steak, fish, or even just on it’s own!

Remember how I said quinoa was the super hero of all grains (or something like that). What makes it so great is that it’s a complete protein. I think it might be one of the only grains/cereals that is a complete protein (don’t quote me on that…I can be wrong sometimes). That means that you can eat this salad all on it’s on and get just about everything you need, nutritionally.

Told you quinoa was pretty super!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:154]

Farmer’s Market Tomato Tart

June 1, 2016

On a recent trip to my local farmers market I noticed that tomatoes were everywhere. They had all sots of colors, shapes, and sizes. It’s got to be tomato season, right? (a quick Google search confirms that tomato season here in the Carolinas is May through October). And even though I am a terrible food blogger for not knowing the appropriate seasons to buy produce, I do know when there is a good deal on heirloom tomatoes you snatch them up as quickly as possible. And then turn those tomatoes into a delicious and colorful tomato tart.

These were the tomatoes that I picked up. I mean, aren’t they pretty? I was actually sad that I had to cut them up…but only until I tasted a slice and it was so juicy and delicious! I really love tomatoes. I know they aren’t everyone’s favorite, which doesn’t totally make sense to me, but to each their own. They are just missing out!

The first thing you have to do when you are baking with tomatoes is let them drain. They are some slippery little suckers (name the movie!) and I didn’t want them to make my tart all soggy. So I placed the slices of tomato on some paper towels to drain until the tart was ready to be prepped.

To assemble the tart, I started with some refrigerated pie crust. You are more than welcome to make your own, but I know my strengths and pie crust is not one of them. Then topped that with some caramelized onion, Gruyere cheese, then those lovely tomatoes, and then topped with some extra Parmesan cheese and thyme.

Of course all the ingredients probably sound pretty similar to a pizza, so it would be no surprise that this tastes a lot like a pizza, but so much more “French” (as I mentioned on Snapchat). It also tastes so fresh and light, it was a perfect summer lunch.

When I make this again (because it’s not a matter of if) I will definitely serve it a long side a big Summer salad filled with lots of veggies. I would also make this again for a brunch or in mini form for a baby or bridal shower. It is sure to be a hit (unless you are friends with those pesky tomato haters)!

[amd-yrecipe-recipe:37]

Healthy Creamy Tomato Soup

October 30, 2015

I continue my soup obsession (see here, here, and here) with this delicious bowl of tomato soup. This obsession is real, people. Vegetables need to be on alert…I may roast you and puree you and make you into a yummy soup. I’m looking at you Sweet Potato!

But really, to me tomato soup is one of the most comforting dishes during the Fall and Winter. Pair it with a cheesy grilled cheese sandwich and I’m in heaven. I prefer my tomato soup on the creamier side, which in most cases means adding heavy cream. Tasty, but not super healthy. To lighten this soup up but keep the creamy texture, I added in Greek yogurt before I pureed the soup. It added richness, balanced the tartness, all without adding fat.

To make this tomato soup extra flavorful, I roasted the tomatoes and garlic in the oven before adding them to the pot with sauteed onions. I love the flavor of roasted garlic! It takes away some of the bite that raw garlic can have.

Once everything gets added to the pot, the immersion blender makes it easy to puree. If you don’t have an immersion blender, you can blend everything in a blender first then add it back to the pot to boil.

It’s that easy. Roast. Blend. Boil. Serve. Okay, there might be a few more steps in there, but not many!

For the sake of being healthy, I did forgo the aforementioned grilled cheese. But I did’t want to skip the cheese altogether. Instead I made little Parmesan crisps to serve on the side. These were so easy to make! Make little piles of shredded Parmesan on a baking sheet. Bake at 400 degrees for 5 minutes. Boom. Done!

Hope you make this recipe next time the weather just makes you want to stay inside and watch Netflix all day.

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Caprese Mac and Cheese

September 8, 2014

You know whats funny? Prior to this year, I probably hadn’t eaten a full portion of mac and cheese since college (I won’t tell you how long ago that was, but it was more than a few years). But maybe now that I am married and don’t have to worry about fitting in a wedding dress, I have been trying out a few different mac and cheese recipes (including a vegan one!). Even though mac and cheese isn’t super healthy, I try to balance out my guilt by packing it with lots of other vegetables. In the case of this caprese mac and cheese, I have loaded it with sun dried tomatoes and a basil-spinach pesto.

Since this is a caprese mac and cheese, I used mozzarella cheese instead of cheddar. I also tried to lighten it up by using low-fat milk and Greek yogurt instead of cream and lots of butter. Don’t worry, there is still a bit of butter in there, but not much.

I prefer whole wheat pasta normally, so that is what I used here. Sometimes whole wheat macaroni can be hard to find, so if you have trouble finding it you can use any other short and squat noddle, like penne, fusilli, or bow tie. If you are gluten-free, you can even use brown rice pasta noodles.

Once the pasta is cooked up, I mix in the drained sun dried tomatoes. I then pour the creamy cheese sauce over top and mix thoroughly until all the pasta is covered. Then I spoon in the pesto and fold in so it is sort of marbled through out the pasta.

I dump the pasta into a glass baking dish then top with bread crumbs, spices, and Parmesan cheese and bake until golden brown.

The resulting mac and cheese is extremely creamy and definitely takes on that pesto flavor. The pieces of tomato are nice to balance out the flavor of the herbs and the creaminess of the cheese.

While it is definitely not health food, its nice to still get a decent portion of veggies in this mac and cheese!

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Roasted Corn Salsa

July 25, 2014

While corn is always readily available in the US, Summer is definitely corn season. Like a lot my recipes lately, I have been inspired by the produce at my local farmers market. I go without a list, and just pick up what looks good. This past weekend, there was an abundance of corn that looked amazing and I picked up a few too many ears. With a couple ears left over I mixed up a bowl of sweet, spicy, and zesty corn salsa.

Step one is to roast the salsa. I roasted it in the oven, then put it under the broiler until the it started to char. This can also be done on the grill.

Once the corn has cooled down, I cut the kernels off the ear and throw them in a bowl.

Then sprinkle in some lime juice…

What makes up the rest of the salsa is more or less a pico de gallo: onion, tomato, jalapeno, garlic, and cilantro. I chopped everything up and tossed them together with the corn.

You can serve the salsa right away, but I like to let it sit for a couple hours so that the flavors all meld together.

I will eat this salsa with anything. Its wonderful on chips, but also on tacos, fish, flank steak, you name it.

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