Vegetarian Foodie

Three Bean Salad

Arugula is also known as Roquette (pronounced Rocket)...how can anyone deny a leafy green also know as Roquette? The kick flavor of arugula compliments the beans along with lots of lemon, salt and pepper.

• 1 big handful of Kidney Beans
• 1 big handful of Garbonzo Beans
• 1 big handful of Green Beans
• 1 Red Onion chopped
• 3 Garlic cloves minced
• 1 big handful of Arugula
• Lemon Wedges
• Olive Oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Chopped Parsley

I use a frying pan for this recipe. First heat your olive oil. Next, toss the garlic and onion and cook until browned.

Add all the beans and cook until tender but allow some crunch.

Mix beans with arugula.

Salt and Pepper to taste, chopped parsley and serve with lemon wedges.

Strawberry Pizza

Strawberry pizza? Indeed.

As always, begin with the prep of the Pizza Dough

• Lay the Blue Cheese thick
• Add Toasted Pecans (Toast in the oven at 375 until lightly browned and fragrant)

Bake at 420 for 15 minutes (I like the crust to be slightly golden)

• Add Strawberry Slices
• Top pizza with mixed greens pre-tossed with Balsamic Vinegar

Pomegranate Margarita

We are quite busy around here with pre-camping preparations. Aside from the usual chores that include cleaning out the coolers, packing road snacks and menu planning. I have decided to prepare pomegranate margaritas in advance for our arrival. A welcome margarita seems appropriate since we'll be on the beach in Mexico.

My hat goes off to Trader Joes and their Pomegranate Juice which makes for excellent pomegranate margarita making.

Makes one margarita (so adjust recipe as needed):

Salt the rim of your glass
Add Ice

1 Shot of tequila
Lots of fresh lime-about 1/4 Cup
Splash of triple Sec
Pomegranate Juice to top it off

Dig toes into sand...

Orzo Pasta Casserole

• 1 Cup Fusilli Pasta
• 1 Cup Orzo Pasta
• 1 Onion Chopped
• 2 Garlic cloves minced
• 1 Head of Broccoli washed and chopped
• 2 Cups Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 Cup Bread crumbs
• 1 Can of Cream of mushroom Soup
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Cook Pasta and set aside
Cook Orzo Pasta for about 7-10 minutes, set aside

Heat a couple glugs of Olive oil in a frying pan pan
Add onion and garlic and cook until brown
Add broccoli and continue to cook until the broccoli softens -about 5 minutes

In a Casserole dish, add cooked pastas along with onion, garlic and broccoli mix
Top with a can of cream of mushroom soup-mix

Add 1 Cup (or more if you adore cheese) shredded cheddar
Mix into casserole and top with bread crumbs as well as another cup cheese

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes and until cheese is nice and bubbly

A Delightful Read

I have just added to the sidebar on the left a link to the most delightful book about food and cooking. The Unprejudiced Palate Classic Thoughts on Food and the Good Life  was written by Angelo Pellegrini and first released in the late 1940's.

Pellegrini arrives to the states from Italy. He decides immediately that "America ees gude" and that he loves American breakfasts but is astonished at the looks of what sits on an average American dinner table.

The book is as the title describes it: thoughts on the good life. The good life meaning food, family, wine, gardening and of utmost importance: satisfying one's palate everyday.

My first copy of this book was obtained 10 years ago as a stapled photocopy mess. After the second printing in 1976, the book became a hard to find. Lucky for everyone, The Unprejudiced Palate was recently re-released in 2005 with an intro by Mario Batali. 

I recommend it for anyone that appreciates food and wine. No, I REALLY recommend it. My copy of the new book is so dog-eared because I have folded pages back, underlined paragraphs and already reread them again and again.

Honestly, you will not be disappointed.

Here a couple highlights:

"Forsake all else, if one must, but cling to wine until the very end."

"Eating the garden produce in the summer and throughout the year is pleasant as all hell."

"There is no more sacrilegious disrespect for Nature than plucking fruit from a tree before it is ripe. The very trees themselves resent such an affront to natural law and cling so desperately to their immature yield that it must be violently wrenched from their branches."

So, what are you waiting for? Order this delicious read today.

Pesto Pizza

The following pizza is green, light on the cheese and big on flavor. I recommend a glass of champagne when you slice this one up.

Begin with the pizza dough and allow for 3 hours from start to finish

Add Pesto as the base
Top with artichokes that have been marinated in olive oil
Sprinkle shredded Parmesan to taste
Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes or until your crust is a golden brown

Allow to cool for a few moments then top with fresh spinach and avocado

I would like to dedicate this pizza recipe to Holler of Tinned Tomatoes...

Fresh Squeezed Lemonade with Blueberries

Here is how to make homemade lemonade:

1 Cup of Lemon juice
3 Cups of Cold water
1/2 Cup of sugar (I prefer a tart lemonade to a sweet one. If you like it sweet, add more sugar)
Handfuls of Blueberries

And for the grown ups, feel free to spike this delicious lemonade with a bit of whiskey to taste