Feb23

Grilled sweet potato salad

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On President’s Day, we decided to have a last-minute barbeque. Paco made ribs, and I made a grilled sweet potato salad and a broccoli salad.

When choosing sweet potatoes for this recipe, choose big fat ones. If you slice the smaller ones, they will fall through the slots in the grill. I followed the original recipe pretty closely, except I skipped par-cooking the sweet potatoes, and I added red pepper flakes for a little heat.

Grilled Sweet Potato Salad
Adapted from Bobby Flay

4 large sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1/2-inch slices
8 scallions
3/4 c olive oil
kosher salt
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T dijon mustard
1/2 c cider vinegar
1/4 c balsamic vinegar
2 tsp honey
1/4 cup parsley, chopped

Put the sweet potatoes into a large mixing bowl, then toss with 1/4 c of olive oil, salt, and red pepper flakes. Grill for a few minutes on each side, until they are fork tender.

Brush or spray the scallions with a little bit of olive oil, then grill until they have grill marks. Remove from the grill and slice.

In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the 1/2 c of olive oil, the apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, mustard, and honey.

Combine the sweet potatoes, scallions, and dressing in a large bowl and toss to combine. Garnish with parsley and serve while still warm. (You could serve this cold, as well, but make sure to combine the ingredients while they’re still warm so that the potatoes absorb the dressing.)

Feb22

Broccoli and bacon salad

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A few weeks ago, our friend brought a broccoli salad that he had bought at a deli to our apartment. It was delicious, and I knew that I had to try to create something similar myself.  This version turned out quite well.  I didn’t use much mayo because I don’t really care for it, but you could definitely adjust the recipe to use more mayo and less vinegar and oil.

Broccoli and Bacon Salad

2 heads of broccoli, cut into bite-sized florets
1/3 c slivered almonds
1/3 c dried cranberries
1/3 c finely chopped red onion
1/3 c (or more) diced bacon, about 5 strips
1/3 c mayonnaise
1/2 c olive oil
1 T sugar
1/2 c apple cider vinegar
1 T dijon mustard
kosher salt
black pepper

Combine the broccoli, almonds, cranberries, red onion, and 2/3 of the diced bacon in a large bowl.

In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise, olive oil, sugar, vinegar, mustard, salt, and pepper. Taste the dressing and adjust seasoning.

Add the dressing to the broccoli mixture and toss to combine. Garnish with the remaining bacon.

Feb20

Sunday at the Venice Canals

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My brother Doug was visiting from San Francisco this weekend, so we took the dogs on a walk around the Venice Canals.  I had never been before, but it’s a cute little area to walk around. Lots of upscale homes with big picture windows looking into their designer living areas, with ducks swimming in the canals and a canoe docked outside of each home. “Preciosa” is what they would call it in South America.

Doug really captured the essence of Lando and Rascal in these pictures!

Feb17

President’s Day Weekend Project

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Apparently, the rule is that when you get married and move somewhere relatively close to your parents, they give you all of the boxes that they’ve been storing for you back. Totally understandable, except you realize exactly how much crap you’ve been hanging onto! Anyway, my last box of old stuff is mostly of pictures from college and possibly high school, so my project for the weekend is to go through and pick out which ones to save. I’ve ordered two albums that hold 300 pictures each, but I think I should be able to reduce my high school/college pictures to one album. We’ll see!

Feb17

Roasted red pepper dip

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I bought a bunch of red bell peppers on a whim because they were three for a dollar at Sprouts. I roasted all of them, then use some to make a simple dip.

Roasting peppers is easy. Just place the whole peppers on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees F for an hour, turning every 15 minutes.

Once they are charred on all sides, put them in a glass bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The steam will help you to remove the skins from the peppers. After the peppers have cooled down, remove the plastic wrap, then remove the skin and seeds from the peppers. Slice to the desired size, and add olive oil, salt, and pepper.

To make the dip, I googled a few recipes and decided on Ellie Krieger’s recipe.  It surpassed my expectations in terms of deliciousness!

Roasted Red Pepper Dip
Adapted from Ellie Krieger

3 roasted red bell peppers
1/3 c toasted almonds
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 clove garlic, minced
2 T red onion, chopped
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
2 T olive oil
kosher salt
black pepper

Grind the almonds in a food processor. Add the bell peppers, vinegar, garlic, onion, and red pepper flakes and process until smooth. Drizzle the olive oil into the processor while it’s running, then season with salt and pepper.

Serve with pita chips (I used garlic and parmesan kind).