Potato Feta Gyros
I lived as a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years during my college career; it was the dorm food that sealed the deal. For the first year of my vegetarianism, I was more of a cheese-atarian. I lived in Oregon and it was Tillamook EVERYTHING. My roommate and I ate cheese, pizza, french fries, hummus and stir fry like there was no tomorrow. For a college student, it was all about convenience. Having our own fridge with our OWN food (not managed by parents) was really an exciting thing. That's why I gained a Sophomore 15 (I managed to avoid it Freshman year due to the crappy food). I clearly needed help!
A few months ago during the busy holiday season, I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author/cool mom Pam Anderson & catch up with her daughter Maggy at a fabulous dinner for her latest cookbook, Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals: Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians. Let me tell you, these two are as good as it gets! I know that if they lived closer, Maggy & I would be tied at the hip. Both these fine ladies have a tremendous amount of love to give and their passion for food and helping others is downright contagious!
What I love Pam's new cookbook is that it's vegetarian home cooking in an easily digestible format. Pam covers many cooking basics and gives a tremendous amount of tricks & tips for the aspiring vegetarian cook. She's basically teaching you how to cook without a book! Each recipe has Pam's suggestions to change things up a bit. For example, there's a bran muffin section where she shows you the muffin base and then lists add-ins & extras so you can build your own flavor profile. Her suggestions will keep your brain turning with ideas! I love it. Reading through this book is like having a cool mom teach you how to cook and fend for yourself in a vegetarian world. It would have made my college years as a vegetarian a BREEZE!
As a part time Vegetarian, I fell in love with this Potato Feta Gyro recipe. I made it earlier this week and boy was it incredibly satisfying and simple to execute. The mashed potatoes are flavor packed due to the feta & roasted garlic and the cucumber yogurt sauce is straight up ADDICTIVE. If only I had this recipe in college!
Here's the deal!
I have an extra copy of this book that I want to give one to a lucky reader!
Please leave a comment below and you'll be entered to win!
Giveaway ends on Friday January 13th (ooh creepy!).
****CONTEST ENDED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!!******
Tomatoes with Coriander Vinaigrette
Tomato & Basil=Caprese Salad. Tomato & Cilantro= Salsa. Right? Here's a salad that's sort of a hybrid of the two. Which means you can now eat salsa with a fork and knife! Chips are not invited to this party.
What you'll find here is a surprisingly delicious/refreshing/light sliced tomato salad with a little sharp kick of red onions, a toasty coriander undertone and a nice tang of red wine vinegar. Talk about tomato enhancing! A salad that is slightly reminiscent of salsa but then totally not. If you happen to have leftover Scalloped Corn & this tomato salad, do yourself a favor and grill a piece of bread, top it with a little leftover corn and a few slabs of tomato. You'll love it. I know this. What are you waiting for? Put those tomatoes to good use. Time's a tickin'!
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Chicken Avocado BLT Salads
Murphy's Law says that when I post about a season changing, the season that I'm saying goodbye to comes back to tell me that it hasn't yet departed. So guess who had a little heat wave this weekend??? The Bay Area! Which meant that it was in the high 80's at my house!! Saturday night I had a mad craving for BLT sandwiches, but already devoured a tasty grilled cheese/mushroom sandwich at Bar Tartine with my new friends Jenifer & Mati at lunch. You can't really have sandwiches twice in one day, can you? So I followed my craving and turned it into this hearty Chicken Avocado BLT Salad!
Casey and I enjoyed our meal outside while sitting on the steps of our back deck. Sometimes I forget about the Indian Summer situation we have here during "Fall." You'd think after 30 years, I'd learn. Doh.
Food craving was fufilled. I am a happy camper. My husband gets some greens in him and we have leftovers for the next day.
High fives all around.
Easy Peasy Tomato Basil Pasta
I'm happy to announce that Shutterbean is now a contributor at Modern Kiddo!
I'll be posting ideas quick meals/ideas/beverages! Perfect for parents of kiddos and people who are short on time!
Check out the recipe for this Easy Peasy Tomato Basil Pasta!
Let's put your tomato loot to good use!
Carrot Celery Tomato Beet Greens Juice
I know what you're thinking. Juice?? This is juice?? It looks like cola! Well friends, it's not! It's the juice that I hold responsible for giving me back my life on Sunday. I was CRAZY sick on Saturday with a 24 hour flu, followed by a wicked sore throat. I drank some of this on Sunday morning and felt amazingly recharged. It could have been the 18 hours of sleep, but I am somewhat convinced it was this drink that helped. Quick! Someone get sick and make this so we can test it out. OK, please don't. That would be sad.
Look what's in it:
tonight’s loot
When I set up my tomato garden, I had visions of drowning this site with tomato porn....I had soo many recipes to test!
Reality set in and I caught myself snacking out in the garden more than bringing them in the kitchen to use in recipes. Tonight was a bit different though! I took a break from snacking for a few days and had this loot tonight!
And because I needed to make something quick and simple, I made little pizzas (with Trader Joe's Flatbreads)
The results? AMAZING.
I have never experienced that much sweetness from a tomato. The roasting of the tomatoes on that gooey mozzarella really brought out their natural sugar.
There's nothing better than cutting up tomatoes from your own garden!
Oh the visions I have for NEXT summer. I might just go a little overboard....
Grilled Lemon Chicken with Tabbouleh
I've been holding onto the summer issue from Everyday Food for awhile now....I have A LOT of the recipes marked but haven't gotten around to making anything UNTIL tonight. This is one of those recipes that required very little and fortunately I had all of the ingredients! Boy do I love when that happens.
I even got to use some of my tomato harvest from today too!
This meal was very very tasty. Casey and I agreed that we could have easily eaten EVERYTHING on the table. Everything is so light and refreshing that it takes awhile to feel full. Which I guess is a dangerous thing... But it's all pretty healthy so why feel guilty?
I paired the chicken & tabbouleh with some grilled Lavash bread & some feta. They were excellent pairings!
I like to put a bit of every ingredient on a piece of the lavash bread and gobble it up!
I think you'll like making this too. It's super simple and very good for you!
Grilled Chicken with Tabbouleh
(recipe EVERYDAY FOOD)
- 1/2 cup bulgur
- Coarse salt and ground pepper
- 1 1/2 cups chopped fresh parsley
- 1/2 English cucumber, halved, seeded, and chopped
- 1 large tomato, chopped
- 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for grill
- 1 small garlic clove, minced
- 8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 2 pounds total)
Directions
1. Heat grill to high. In a small saucepan, bring 3/4 cup water to a simmer. Add bulgur, season with salt and pepper, and cook 1 minute. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand 10 minutes; fluff bulgur with a fork. In a medium bowl, combine bulgur, parsley, cucumber, tomato, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon oil; toss tabbouleh to combine.
2. In a small bowl, stir together 1 tablespoon oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Clean and lightly oil hot grates. Season chicken with salt and pepper; grill until cooked through, about 4 minutes per side. Brush chicken with lemon mixture and serve with tabbouleh.
summer lovin’
last night's dinner:
I am very proud to say that I grew EVERY tomato in that lil bowl up there!
I made a little Greek inspired salad with:
-mint
-feta
-tomatoes
-cucumbers
-white corn
-salt & pepper
-olive oil
-red wine vinegar
Served that with some grilled chicken sausage & some grilled lavash bread. Now we're talkin'!!
Cooper joined us on the patio. I think he likes eating outside too. It's dinners like this that reassure me that I can be a mom AND make a really good dinner. Just don't look in my kitchen. It's a disaster.
I think he enjoys eating dinner with us...but he's always trying to get his hands on things he can't yet eat.
This sounds like someone familiar....
