Quinoa Salad with Blueberries, Snap Peas, Feta and Almonds

Inspired by some snap peas from Star Hollow farms, some blueberries from the store and the ginormous bag of quinoa I got at Costco, I decided to make a healthy quinoa salad for lunch. Riffing on these quinoa salad recipes, I added raw blueberries and snap peas, feta, toasted almonds, minced green onions and parsley and a lemony dressing to my salad. Really easy, pretty good and definitely good for you!

Chicken, Black Bean and Spinach Enchiladas

After a long day catching some Rolling Thunder and doing a little shopping at Eastern Market, we were jonesin' for some Tex-Mex food (well, I was at least), so we whipped up these tasty chicken, black bean and spinach enchiladas with a sour-creamy sauce and a tomatillo salsa. Pretty good! We grilled the chicken after sprinkling it with chili powder and cumin, then shredded it. I think next time I would add some of the white sauce to the interior of the enchiladas to glue them together and moisten them a bit. Otherwise, quite tasty!

Steamed Lobsters and Green Salad with Buttermilk Blue Cheese Dressing

Martha brought some New England lobstahs (Massachusetts for "lobster") with her on the Amtrak from Massachusetts to DC, so we steamed 'em and served 'em up with garlic butter. Delicious!

We also had romaine salad with a homemade buttermilk blue cheese dressing... the flavor of the dressing was good, but the consistency was a little funky and chunky. Too thick for pouring onto a salad. Also, the color was a little disconcerting... please observe above in the square plastic container. Hmmm.

Strawberry Shortcake

Got some strawberries from the CSA that needed to be used ASAP. Thought strawberry shortcake would be a good Memorial Day dessert to welcome summer...

I had buttermilk in the fridge left over from the last time I made biscuits, so I thought I'd make a sweet buttermilk biscuit as the shortcake. The only change I made from this Epicurious recipe was to sprinkle some raw sugar on top of each biscuit after I brushed them with milk. I liked these biscuits for strawberry shortcake since they were tender and tasty, but for general munching, I prefer the other biscuits I've made, which have the buttery layers I look for in a biscuit.

Spanakopita and Greek Salad

I love me some spinach pie. And yet, until today, I'd never made it. This recipe from Closet Cooking (whose recipes I always end up clicking on on Tastespotting and Foodgawker), was simple, easy and delicious. Plus it used up many of the veggies I bought from Star Hollow Farm last week: spinach, dill, green onion, parsley.If you wanted to make some self-contained empanada-sized spanakopita, or even little appetizer sized spanakopita, I think you could easily modify the recipe- just cut the phyllo into long strips and roll tablespoons of filling up.

Served with a Greek salad with this easy red wine vinaigrette.

Need a recipe?

Sorry for the dearth of posts these days... I've been traveling across the country on several long weekend trips, sampling the local fare in Kansas City last weekend (BBQ, prime rib, locally brewed coffee, locally brewed beer), and Nashville this weekend (hopefully hot chicken, pancakes, and other tasty treats).

So, instead of my usual posting, I leave you with this website that I discovered via Daily Candy. It answers the age-old question with a randomly generated link to a fabulous recipe: What the Fuck Should I Make For Dinner?

Enjoy!

Chickpeas with Bacon and Spinach (Topped with an Egg)

So, you could probably tell from my blogging history that I have a special place in my heart for bacon, as well as quick dishes with chickpeas and greens. Also, I subscribe to the theory of "when in doubt, throw an egg on it"... Tonight these disparate loves of mine came together like magic. This dish is ridiculously easy (only 6 ingredients), has bacon, and tastes amazing with a fried egg over easy thrown on top. I think Tim would second my feelings about it, but his memory of the meal may be tainted by the fact that the Nats scored 2 homers against his Mets whilst we ate it.

The recipe had one odd set of instructions that I took the liberty of ignoring... the recipe calls for boiling the bacon in water before browning it in the saute pan. While there is probably some specific reason for that step, I just couldn't justify the extra effort, nor could I ignore the disgusting images that flashed through my mind when I thought "Boil bacon?," which included that breakfast scene from "Better Off Dead" where the mother served slimey green boiled bacon because her husband doesn't like all the grease of fried bacon. So I just browned it in the pan, took it out and crumbled it, poured off the excess fat and carried on with the recipe. My only other suggestion regarding the bacon is that you not cook it further with the chickpeas and spinach- that only serves to make it soggy. After you cook the bacon, remove it and set it aside, then fold it in at the end. Enjoy!