Herb Roasted Fingerling Potatoes

I don't really care that it is summer and it is hot, because these days I have been wanting to roast everything.  My abundance of summer squash goes into the oven, I have been making Spice Roasted Carrots like crazy, and I just made another batch of Roasted Eggplant and Red Pepper Dip this weekend.  Call me crazy, but doesn't roasting make everything taste better?

Isn't this bag of little potatoes just the cutest?

Roasting also saves me time - which I don't need to remind you, is in short supply these days.  So naturally, when I picked up some beautiful fingerling potatoes from Weiser Farms at the Little Italy Farmers Market, I made big plans to toss them into the oven with some olive oil, and little salt, and some fresh herbs. 

Beautiful different colors of fingerling potatoes.

I love roasting sliced potatoes with some onions, red peppers, and rosemary, but for these whole fingerling potatoes I wanted something a little more rustic, so I turned to sage.  I adore the soft texture of fresh sage, it just draws me in like a delicate feather.  The earthy and sweet fragrance is so different from other herbs, and it pairs perfectly with fresh-from-the-ground fingerling potatoes. 

Zucchini Noodles with Chicken and Tangy Peanut Sauce

I am super excited to share this recipe with you today - partially because I get to tell you about an amazing new gadget I discovered (pssst... the Swissmar Julienne Peeler rocks my world!) but more importantly because I am sharing this recipe on one of my favorite blogs: Kitchen Confidante.  

The lovely Liren of Kitchen Confidante is getting some much needed rest and relaxation in Maui for a week and she was kind enough to invite me to guest post for her while she is gone.  I love Kitchen Confidante because the recipes Liren shares use seasonal, fresh ingredients that I enjoy, but there is often a twist that makes each dish really unique and innovative.  On the flipside, some of her more traditional recipes touch close to my heart and remind me of happy food and family memories.  Plus, her photography is always stunning, and you know how I love my beautiful food.        

The recipe I am sharing on her site today is definitely seasonal - hooray for vibrant summer squash and zucchini! - as well as an easy and healthy way to shake up your weeknight meals.  Be sure to head on over to Kitchen Confidante to get the recipe for these Zucchini Noodles with Chicken and Tangy Peanut Sauce - trust me, you want to go there as much to get my recipe as you do to check out all Liren's other great posts.  Plus I really really have fallen head over heels in love with this new julienne peeler that I got, and I want you to see how easily you can make healthy vegetable 'noodles.'  This recipe is for good, clean food to keep fit and happy.  

  Head on over to her site to read the full post and get the recipe!

   

Curried Green Lentil Soup

I know, I am late to the game.  Everyone has been talking about about Heidi Swanson's new book for weeks now, and so it is probably old news.  I am sure those of you who were savvy enough to buy her book hot off the press have made a dozen or so recipes from it so far and have bookmarked even more.  Me?  I have about ten or eleven little neon pink and yellow tabs sticking out of the pages of my copy, but yet, I have only made one single recipe - her Green Lentil Soup.  

Super Natural Every Day:

Well-loved Recipes from my Natural Foods Kitchen

By Heidi Swanson

See here is what happens... I keep flipping through the book, my mouth watering with the turn of each beautiful page and my mind swirling with ideas as I am inspired by Heidi's natural pantry.  

But then I flip to the page with the bright green lentil soup.  

And I remember how much I loved it.  How it was sooooo good.  How I had fragrant, satisfying soup without so much as lifting a finger.

And then I make it again.  

And again. 

And oh my friend is coming over?  I think she would like this soup, I suppose I can make it again. 

Yeah I have made it four times.  Although I haven't quite revealed this part of my personality to you before, I can tell you with certainty - when I find something that works, I stick with it.  And this recipe works.      

Green lentils in the back, green split peas in the front. 

Let me tell you why I think this recipe is my new favorite.  

First off, it has lentils which are super healthy - they are rich in fiber, high in iron and protein, and and also a plant chemical called lignan, which I just read might lower the risk of breast caner and fight PMS.  Pretty cool ladies.  Also, I know this recipe works with green lentils and green split peas, and one of my friends just tried it with regular brown lentils - it works with them all.  

My new-found love: Coconut oil.

Second, I am loving this recipe because it uses coconut oil.  I don't know if this is also a place where I am late to the game, but I had never tried coconut oil before this I tried this recipe, and I can say I was totally missing out.  I really feel like the world shifted a little bit when I decided to give coconut oil a try.  The fragrance when you cook with it is transcending, and it gives an awesome nutty flavor to sauteed vegetables.  In this recipe, it reinforces the flavor of the coconut milk.    

Sweet onions from the farmers market.

On the side, Spice Roasted Carrots

I am always attracted to fresh, bright orange carrots at the farmers market.  With their springy, leafy green tops and wispy roots still attached, they are worlds apart from their plastic-wrapped counterparts at the grocery store.  They might even still have a little dirt clinging to them, telling you they really came from the earth.  (As opposed to those perfectly shaped baby carrots; who knows where they really come from...) 

Freshly washed carrots from the farmers market. 

The carrots from the farmers market even taste better - they have a sweeter and more grassy taste, whereas I think the carrots from the grocery store just taste a little watery and dull.  And speaking of watery, it is funny how those plastic wrapped carrots are packed in water, but yet can be so dry.  The carrots from the farmers market are always fresh and full of life.  And if you like a little variety in your life, look no further than the farmers market to find red, purple, and yellow carrots.  

The carrots from the farmers market come in all sizes... including some mini ones.

Sometimes when I get these carrots I just bring them home and eat them raw with an easy veggie dip, or I slice them up for salads or slaws.  But recently, I have been really into roasting them with spices to enhance their sweet flavor.  

No need to peel them, these carrots are perfect and beautiful just sliced in half.

You can really toss vegetables with any spices you like, but I often try out some new or more exotic spice blends.  Spice things up, if you will.  (Ha!  A pun!)  

So for these spice roasted carrots, I decided to mix sweet and salty with a rich spice blend known as baharat.  Baharat is a Middle Eastern spice blend commonly used to season lamb, lentils, stews, and soups and there are several different varieties.  The one originating in Turkey also contains mint, but the most traditional Arabic or North African baharat spice blend contains black pepper, coriander, cloves, cassia bark, cumin, cardamom, nutmeg, and allspice.  Some blends also include chili pepper or paprika to give them a bit more ‘heat,’ but mine doesn't so I added some extra cayenne pepper to this recipe.  

Olive oil with sugar, salt, and spices to glaze the carrots.

Ana's Weeknight Broccoli Soup

I only recently decided that I actually like broccoli.  

For years, I despised it, avoiding it on veggie trays, picking it out of soups, and steering clear of casseroles and pastas with those pesky green crowns.  My boyfriend even used to make jokes about it - when we would go out to eat and I would order something that might have broccoli, he would smile and say, "I'll be sure to tell them you want extra broccoli."  I would usually roll my eyes, smile back, and reply with, "Ha, ha.  I know you think you're very funny."  (Incidentally, he is usually quite hilarious.)  

My aversion to broccoli was pretty strange, considering I am really not a picky eater, and I do enjoy most vegetables.  Plus, I am a big girl.  I know vegetables are good for me so I don't need to be coerced into eating them.  But still... Broccoli was always a sticking point for me.

Broccoli cut up and prepped the day before to make this soup even easier.

But now I would say I like broccoli.

I honestly don't know if my tastebuds suddenly took a liking to this veggie, or if it was just the fickle winds of change, but there was a definite turning point.  One day I hated broccoli, the next day I liked it.   

I can't say I love it yet, but I like it.  Sort of like with any new relationship, I am still trying to decide exactly how I feel about it, but broccoli is growing on me day by day.  We haven't had our first fight yet, so we are still in the honeymoon phase, but so far things are looking good.  

So in the spirit of celebrating my new found feelings for broccoli, I thought I would share an easy, satisfying way to enjoy this lovely veggie.  This recipe is from my good friend and super-mom, Ana.  She makes this recipe on busy weeknights, and believe it or not, her 2 1/2-year old daughter actually requests this soup all the time!  She looooooves her broccoli soup.  

I got to try Ana's Weeknight Broccoli Soup right after her second child was born - I was over at her place one evening, and she was chatting, entertaining her daughter, making this soup, and cleaning up the kitchen while balancing her newborn on her hip.  Yes, I did say she was super-mom.  But basically, the fact that Ana can multi-task and make this soup at the same time is just a testament to how easy it is - and that is something that any busy guy or gal can appreciate.       

Easy Everyday Salad

Hi friends!  I am excited to start sharing a series of posts dedicated to my favorite leafy vegetables: salad greens!  The wonderful folks over at Fresh Express have asked me to be a part of their Fresh Express Artisan Ambassador program as they launch their new line of artisan lettuce blends.  Myself and three other bloggers will be sharing recipes for healthy and delicious salads, as well as hosting a little recipe contest, and even helping you learn new things about lettuce along the way.  In addition to that, I will be growing four different types of lettuces that are featured in the Fresh Express artisan blends  to demonstrate that the lettuce they chose is truly that is in-season.  Are you ready to get started?  

I am planning to showcase this lovely lettuce with recipes ranging from simple to sophisticated, and today I will start by sharing my most simple and favorite weekday salad.  For this salad, I used the Sierra Crisp Herb blend, which contains sierra green leaf lettuce, red butter lettuce, parsley, and even cilantro!  Is it any wonder that I loved it? 

This salad is so easy to make and soooo fresh and healthy that I eat some variation of it at least once (if not twice) every week.  It is like my own little not-so-dirty secret and the ace in my pocket that helps keep me in skinny jeans even though I can't resist cookies and ice cream.  

Basically, I start with beautiful greens, and add whatever vegetables or fruits I have on hand.  In most cases I love to use the combination of ripe tomatoes, carrots and avocado, because they are so colorful and taste great together.  Other times, I might use celery for its crunch, or strawberries or raspberries for their sweetness.  Always, I use something creamy or rich such as the avocado or maybe feta, blue cheese, or egg.  As a bonus, adding cheese, egg, nuts, or chicken also ups the ante by giving you a solid dose of protein with your veggies.  I think a really important part of making salads appetizing, instead of something "green" to be tolerated, is including things like cheese that make you want to eat them.

Look!  These are more tomatoes from my plants!