Broccoflower Salad for St. Patrick's Day

Looking for something green to eat today besides green cookies or cupcakes with artificial coloring? Serve a Broccoflower Salad with dinner tonight. Actually, this salad is great any time of the year, but the color is perfect for today. I made mine up today for lunch, and served it on a green leaf lettuce. First, finely chop a head of broccoflower into pieces no bigger than 1/2". I only use the flowerettes. This is what it should look like, below.

I found some Brussels sprouts in the vegetable bin in the refrigerator. After washing, I cut off the ends, and thinly sliced them. You can use a mandoline, or can cut them with a sharp chopping knife. If you don't have Brussels sprouts, don't sweat it! I needed to use mine up.

This is what it looks like after adding the 10 small sliced Brussels sprouts.

Next, wash a couple of celery stalks. I cut them in 3 pieces lengthwise, then chopped them up.

If you have bacon, cook up 4-6 pieces until crisp. Cool, then chop into small pieces. I rarely have bacon on hand, but I do keep bacon bits in the fridge. I added about 1/2 c. If you want to keep this meatless, omit the bacon, or use a substitute bacon product.

Looking good! You are going to love this salad!

At this point, rummage through your fridge. I added a couple of teaspoons of hot spicy mustard left over from a cheese/cracker gift pack at Christmas. Add up to 1 c. mayo, 1/8 c. Parmesan cheese (I grated mine into the bowl, you can use whatever you have on hand), 1 TBSP sugar (or not...I didn't), 1 tsp salt, 2 tsp pickle juice (just drained some off from my bread and butter pickles) and 1 TBSP dried onion. You can add 1/4 c. sunflower seeds and 1/2 c. raisin if you like. I added the sunflower seeds, but forgot to add the raisins. Bummer.

Don't be afraid to experiment with what you have on hand in the way of condiments and add-ins. Mix it all together, and serve on a lettuce leaf as a main dish or just serve it as a side with your other food items. Enjoy!

Roasted Asparagus With Honey Dill Vinaigrette

I purchased a copy of Where Woman Cook March/April/May 2011 issue. There are some delicious recipes to try in the magazine. Tonight, I cooked up the roasted asparagus with honey dill vinaigrette. It was amazing. I had a portabella mushroom, sliced zucchini and sliced onion that I cooked in the vinaigrette when I had finished cooking the asparagus. I pan sauteed them instead of grilling them. Very nice! I served plates full of vegetables for dinner, along with a salad. Perfect meal.

Here is the recipe for the Honey Dill Vinaigrette:

1/4 c. olive oil
2 TBSP honey
1 TBSP lemon juice
1 TBSP Dijon mustard
1 TBSP fresh dill (or 1 tsp dried)
Pinch of sea salt
Freshly ground pepper to taste

I had about a TBSP of Dijon left in a small container, so I added everything else to the mustard. You need to shake it up until it is mixed well. Then, use this as a marinade for your vegetables. Roast on the grill, or on a grill pan.

Favorite Garden Spots!

I'm putting my garden together for the season. This year will be bigger and better. Hopefully it will be more productive as well! I was doing some blog hopping, and came across some pictures that gave me garden envy. Hope you'll love them too! The first one I found on HGTV website. I love how lush that raised bed looks.

A pot of lettuce seedlings from HGTV website. Here is one from Hazelbloom, and I just love how she turned a small corner of the yard into a garden spot. Here is a raised bed garden from Better Homes and Gardens. My garden is full of pots...a container garden. I'll take some pictures tomorrow.

Roasted Vegetable and Pesto Sandwich

I was doing a little blog hopping when I came across a post for a roasted vegetable and pesto sandwich. I just happened to have all of the ingredients, so I decided to give it a go. WOW! What great flavor and it is wonderfully nutritious as well. Can't beat that! Here is what the finished product looked like... Since I didn't want to fire up the grill, I decided to pan roast the veges on my trusty vintage cast iron griddle. It is so well seasoned that I don't have to use much olive oil. I did use my mandoline to slice the zucchini the long way, and to make the other vegetables (red pepper, portobello mushroom and onion) uniformly sliced.

I forgot the onion, and had to "roast" it separately. I was going for caramelized sweet onion. It turned out really nicely.

I put about a level tablespoon of pesto on each side of a 100 calorie Oroweat sandwich thins.

I bought the pesto at Costco...don't have much basil in the garden this time of year.

I put the pan roasted veges on the sandwich thins...

Next, I put a few small, fresh mozzarella balls on the sandwich (microwaved for 15 seconds to get them to melt a bit). I'm not kidding, the first bite was heavenly :) . I mean, look at this baby!

This is my new favorite lunch item! And Weight Watcher friendly, too!

Hungry yet?

Weight Watcher Fruit and Honey Bars

Here is a fantastic recipe for a homemade granola bar of sorts. I found the recipe in Weight Watchers magazine. Normally, I wouldn't be tempted to try this kind of recipe, because they never taste very good. I'm glad I did try this, because not only does it taste good, but it is low in WW point and calories. Not only that, but I have all of the ingredients in my food storage!

Fruit and Honey Bars

Prep 20 minutes, Bake 20 minutes, Serves 20

1/3 c. honey

2 large eggs (you can use powdered)

1/2 tsp salt

1 c. old fashioned rolled oats

1/2 c. instant nonfat dry milk

1/2 c. each: shelled unsalted pumpkin seeds

unsweetened shredded coconut

ground flax seed

dried apricots, chopped

dried cherries

1/4 c. whole wheat flour

Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line a 9" square baking pan with nonstick foil. Beat honey, eggs and salt with a fork in a small bowl until blended. Put the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the honey mixture to the dry ingredients and pulse until mixture is slightly moistened. Press dough into baking pan until in is uniformly even. Bake until center is set, and edges are lightly browned. Let cool 10 minutes. Using foil, transfer the bar from pan to cutting board. Cut into 20 1 1/2" bars. Let cool completely, peel off foil.

1 bar is: 118 calories, 5 gm total fat, 2 gm sat fat, 16 gm total carb, 10 gm total sugar, 2 gm fiber, 4 gm protein My notes: I did not use the foil, but lightly greased the pan with butter. I did not use a food processor, but just chopped the dried apricots with a knife. I used raisins because I didn't have any dried cherries. I stirred everything together with a spoon. I preheated the oven, and the baking time was 20 minutes.

I really love this bar. I will have a couple with some yogurt for breakfast. Yummy! Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

Bountiful Basket Coop 3-12-11

It is a beautiful day here in Southern Utah! It is in the 70's today, and I can't wait to get out into the garden this afternoon. I have to do some errands first :) Well, here is the haul that we received today in our Bountiful Baskets. I forgot to include the beautiful apples....put them right into the crisper when I got home. So, fruit included apples, bananas, cantaloupe, pineapple, strawberries and blackberries. Vegetable fare included green cauliflower (love this stuff), asparagus, green beans, green leaf lettuce and Roma tomatoes. I think it is a very nice basket today. I've already prepped the cauliflower and lettuce. I'm going to try an awesome recipe using the asparagus for dinner. I'll share pictures. I also got the Italian Pack which was $7.50, and included baby bella mushrooms, regular mushrooms, red onion, 2 sweet onions, head of garlic, fresh cilantro, basil, oregano and rosemary. It all looks and smells so good!

The best thing next to picking it from your own garden, is getting a basket for $15 with all of the fruit and vegetables. It really helps us to eat more produce when we get a basket.

Starting Seeds and Gardening in So. Utah

I've just finished writing an article on starting seeds and getting your garden on here in Southern Utah. You can find the article at Alive! Utah South Area.

Let me know what you think! Anyone out there getting a garden started? I helped my parents get some tomatoes planted yesterday. I have mine hardening off right now. I bought some walls of water yesterday, so hope to get my tomatoes in tomorrow.