No Cook

White bean tuna salad for a picnic in the park

April 17, 2011
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Ha, I told you we’ve been loving salads lately!  I’ve been all about “no cook” these days, and so when our friends organized a potluck picnic in the park yesterday I thought a flavorful salad would be the perfect dish to bring (so did everyone else, we had a lot of salads – just goes [...]

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Vegetarian Southwest Chickpea Salad

April 11, 2011
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Lately we’ve been eating several salads for lunch and/or dinners – not ones that are just lettuce on a plate with a bit of dressing, but with every vegetable we can find – often good for those “clean out your fridge” meals. I particularly like using beans in salads, because it keeps the meal filling and adds a bit more of a weighty feel to the dish. This particular one took advantage of the last of our chipotle peppers and our newfound southwest herb rub, made into a simple sour cream based dressing. Simple and easy, and best of all no cooking required.

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Homemade Chipotle Mayonnaise for Artichokes: Naturally Gluten and Dairy Free

March 27, 2011
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My mom grew up in California. My grandmother grew up in California, and her mother before her and hers before her. Even though I grew up in chilly New England, California runs in my blood – and thanks to my mother’s cooking during my childhood, also my tastebuds. She is the reason why I love apricots and fresh figs and avocados and artichokes. And she and my dad together both taught me to love beautiful fresh produce. When I was home with my parents a few years ago as we were making some wedding preparations, I remember driving for a full hour down to a market on the shore – one that specialized in certain miniature apple pies we were going to purchase as favors for our guests – and there we stumbled upon the most perfect artichokes I have ever seen – she said they reminded her of California, and that was it, we went home with apple pies, and a giant bag full of fresh beautiful artichokes :)

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Tomanade

September 3, 2010
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Think tapenade, but with sun-dried tomatoes added in. I’m a huge fan of tapenade, the salty/sour/slightly bitter spread is just begging for some fresh baguette. When I saw a new-to-me spread called tomanade in the grocery store, I had to check it out. Much to my disappointment, it was literally puréed sun-dried tomatoes with absolutely no other ingredients. Talk about overly tart, and not part of my vision of tomato and olive blended goodness. Uggh. Well no matter, why don’t I just throw something together that is more of what I had in mind when I first found out about the existence of tomanade?

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Bruschetta

August 17, 2010
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Bruschetta was the first dish I ever tried to master. Not quite my first cooking memory, but it counts I think. It’s probably not the most authentic recipe, but I like how it tastes and I really enjoy the texture. It is the perfect poem to celebrate tomatoes (because food is just another form of poetry). Just perfect on some fried baguette slices, as the sun is wilting (along with the rest of us in this heat) down towards the horizon, a constant reminder these dog days are not over just yet!

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Summer Salad App

August 12, 2010
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We’re not quite moved yet, even though all our pots and pans are packed up. Food processor is packed, and so is the toaster oven. Cooking this week is a pretty minimal word. And in the case of this post, non-existent. Lately, we’ve done lots of salads because prep work and lack of cooking work makes them really easy. This is one that we just kinda threw together in our heads the other day coming home from work. Beyond simple, quick, satisfying, and no cooking required. Took a max of 10 minutes to make (when you count chopping all the veggies), 5 minutes to photograph (don’t you just love the tablecloth? ha), and then a few more minutes to devour!

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