Grilled Squash Salad

On my new quest for more vegetables, I am trying to come up with easy salads to bring for work lunch.  This is a bit of a challenge for me because I have always been very unimaginative in this area.  For most of my life, a salad has been lettuce, tomato and dressing.  Anything beyond cucumber was exotic and perplexing.  "Olives?  In a salad?  THAT IS NEITHER LETTUCE NOR TOMATO!"

I've branched out a bit, but I'm always probably a little overly pleased when I come up with a "different" salad.  This one came together with zucchini that my fella grilled over the weekend.  I intended to do my usual spinach salad with fixins but the spinach was past its prime.  Instead, I ended up with zucchini as the base, which I liked even more.

While I'm having a salad confessional, let me also say that I don't make my own dressing.  I know how easy it is, and I have good olive oil and tons of vinegar, but I just can't be bothered.  And they just put it in bottles and make it so nice!  Who am I to put the hard working salad dressing folks out of business?

Grilled Squash Salad


3 zucchini, chopped
1 tsp lemon pepper seasoning
1 tsp olive oil
10 cherry tomatoes
1/2 tablespoon pinenuts
1 tbsp goat cheese crumbles
1 tbsp Ken's Olive Oil and Vinegar Dressing

Put zucchini on foil sheets.  Cover with lemon pepper seasoning and olive oil.  Wrap and close and place on warm grill until your fell says they are done, roughly 10 minutes.  Let zucchini cool and chill until the next day. (Note: If you can't grill the squash, roasting in an oven would work fine.)

Assemble all other salad ingredients and put dressing in separate container.  Bring to work and enjoy!

Spoil yourself: lamb burger!

Once again, the lovely weather combined with a desire for keeping the kitchen clean lead to grilling on a warm Sunday evening.

Weather sidebar: if mother nature could quit being so manic, I would really appreciate it.  It's disconcerting to be bombarded by Christmas commercials while your AC is cutting on and off.  I mean, I know I live in Louisiana and hot weather in November is to be expected, but this doesn't mean I have to like it, damn it.  The bright side is that we can grill every weekend, and for that, I'm happy.

Lamb for me is a every-now-and-then protein.  It tastes great, but it's high in fat and pretty pricy; however, it is one of my fella's favorite meats, so I can't help but fix it every now and then.  Spoiled bugger.

One of the tricks I keep in mind when fixing a component that is unhealthy is to keep the rest of the meal light so I don't get caught in a food shame spiral.  Of course, if you're a dude, this doesn't seem to matter as you can just eat things and not give it a second thought.  What's that like?  I bet it's cool.

I kept the burger very simple, just yogurt sauce, lettuce, and pickled onions from my dish earlier in the week.  On the side I had a few Zapp's potato chips and grilled onion, squash, and mushroom with fresh tomatoes.  Overall, I'd say this dish was a big success because it was simple to throw together and delicious, which is exactly what I'm looking for on a Sunday.

Lamb Burger
1 lb lamb
2 tbsp feta cheese crumbles
1 sprig fresh mint (about 2 tsp chopped)
salt and pepper

Mix in feta and mint with lamb: be careful not to overmix the meat.  Season both sides with salt and pepper and grill, about 3-4 minutes per side.


Cucumber Yogurt Sauce
1 8 ounce container plain greek yogurt
1/2 cucumber
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Peel cucumber and slice in half, lengthwise.  Save one half for a delicious snack at a later date.  Scoop seeds out of the half you're using, then chop very fine.  Mix all ingredients together and chill.  Make ahead if possible: the longer it sits, the better the flavors will marry.

Shrimp with Chimichurri sauce

Shrimp are one of the easiest things to cook: quick to defrost, quick to cook, and can hold up to big flavors.  Grilling is one of my favorite ways to prepare food because it's healthy and more importantly, my boyfriend is the grillmaster so all I have to do is prep the food and relax with a beer.  Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.

We fixed this last weekend but with all the craziness of work, I haven't had time to post it.  Stick with me, faithful readers, and I'll be more on point in the future.  Homecoming is now over so my life will resume a more normal pace, at least as normal as it can when you are a student life professional.

The whole reason I wanted to cook shimp was actually for the chimichurri.  I needed something to do with the mint that is taking over my flower bed, and possibly the greater Bossier area.  Chimichurri is an Argentian sauce, typically just herbs and oil, so feel free to use whatever you have on hand.  This bright condiment can also be used on other proteins.  For the shrimp, I made a seasoning blend with some of my favorite flavors.

Shrimp with Chimichurri Sauce
Shrimp                          1 tbsp Smoked Paprika
1 tbsp Garlic Powder    Chili Powder
Canola Oil                    Salt and Pepper to Taste
Wooden Skewers

Mix all ingredients in bowl.  Pat shrimp dry then stir into the seasoning.  Soak wooden skewers for 1-2 minutes to prevent a possible fire issue while grilling.  Put shrimp on skewers and grill for 2-3 minutes, per side, until firm.

Chimichurri Sauce
1/2 cup mint                   1/2 cup cilantro
1 tbsp Lemon Juice        One clove garlic
Olive Oil

Put first four ingredients in a chopper or food processor until smooth.  Add oil (start with 1/4 a cup) until a sauce forms.

Grillin': Steaks, Sausage, and Pork Loin

Steak, Baked Sweet Potato, Healthy Creamed Spinach

Well well well.  Here we are.  My life-long desire to eat/learn about/cook/share food has lead to this.  I've been posting a picture album on facebook of things I cook/eat but that just hasn't satisfied my need...my need for verbosity.

Not only do I like to hear (read?) myself, but I'm pretty stoked about sharing my recipes and tips with folks that have been salivating over all my fbook pictures.

For this inaugural post, I'll share a great tidbit: grilling is the savior of your time.  Cook the proteins for multiple meals at once on the weekend and week night meal time is a breeze.  (If you can enlist your boyfriend as the griller, that also saves time.)

Tonight we (he) grilled gorgeous steaks, pork sausage (from Hanky Panky Sausage, a la the Farmer's Market) for tomorrow's red beans and rice and Jamaican Pork Loin, a la, Aaron McCargo Jr.

How to Grill Perfect Steaks:

1. Let steaks come to room temperature before you even THINK about letting them near flame, leave on kitchen counter for about 20 minutes.
2. Season heavily with salt/pepper on both sides.
3. Bring steaks outside to your boyfriend, grillmaster extraordinaire. 
4. Go back inside and cook the spinach side dish, maybe pour a glass of wine.
5. Wait until steaks are done (medium rare) and brought back inside.  Note: anything more than medium is an insult.
6. Use the "fist method" to test for doneness (See below as to why you do NOT cut into your steak)
• Clench fist tightly and poke the fleshy part of your hand between thumb and pointer finger.   This is what well done should feel like, although as I just said, you should not cook your steak this way, silly pants.
• Unclench hand a little bit: medium well
• Unclench hand a little more: medium
• Unclench hand a little more: medium rare - YUM!
• Hand completely unclenched - rare, or possibly still attached to a cow.
7. LET THE MEAT REST FOR 10-ISH MINUTES.  THIS IS CAPITALIZED BECAUSE IT IS SO CRUCIAL.  If you do not let meat rest before you cut into it, when you cut into it, it doesn't matter of it's rare, it'll taste dry because the juices haven't had time to redistribute throughout the meat.  

The rest of our meal included baked sweet potatoes (45 minutes in a 400 oven), which I have recently rediscovered and healthy creamed spinach, inspiration from Eating Well. 

We still have one leftover steak and two servings of spinach, so I'd call today a plan-ahead success; however, I just realized that in all my zest for dinner, I still don't know what I'm having for lunch tomorrow.  On to the next challenge!