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Memorial Day Recipes: Grilled Carrots with Orange Dressing

Grilled Carrot Salad with Orange Dressing1

  • 1 pound baby carrots, sliced (along the long side)
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Place the carrots on a grill tray and drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle salt and pepper. Grill till the carrots get grill marks and begin to get soft- about 15 minutes. Take off the grill and place into a salad bowl.

Dressing

  • ¾ cup fresh orange juice, reduced to ¼ cup
  • Juice of one lemon
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • Salt
  • ½ cup fresh cilantro, chopped
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Mix the orange juice, lemon juice, honey, cumin, salt and cilantro in a small bowl. Drizzle the olive oil slowly, emulsifying the dressing. Pour onto the carrots and keep for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Grilled Carrot Salad with Orange Dressing

Kale Corn Avocado Salad with Cilantro Mint Dressing

I love the kohlrabi salad blend from Trader Joes! It has perfect crunch and is super healthy. I am grilling steaks outside and making some oven fries- this salad will be a perfect accompaniment.

  • 2 cups kohlrabi salad blend from Trader Joes (or substitute, 1 cup kale, ½ cup shredded cabbage, ½ cup shredded kohlrabi)
  • 1 small avocado, cut into ½ inch dice
  • 1 cup fresh or frozen grilled corn
  • 1/3 cup dried cranberries

Mix all the ingredients and transfer to a salad bowl.

Dressing

  • ¼ cup mayonnaise
  • ¼ cup plain yogurt
  • ¼ cup fresh cilantro
  • ¼ cup fresh mint
  • 1 garlic clove
  • Juice of one lime
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Transfer all the ingredients to a blender. Blend till a smooth dressing is formed. Check for seasonings and add to the salad. Mix everything well, check for seasonings and serve.

Greek Style Potato Salad

This potato salad is yummy with lots of great flavors like oregano, olives and dills. I prefer my potato salad with a lemon dressing and this one has amazing crunch with cucumbers and pine nuts. It is a great side with burgers or any meat or fish!

  • 4 to 5 large yellow skinned potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch dice

Dressing

  • Juice of 2 large lemons
  • ¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons fresh oregano, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Mix the ingredients in a small bowl and keep aside.

Place the potatoes in a large saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to a simmer and cook till the potatoes are soft but not mushy, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain and transfer to a serving bowl. While the potatoes are still warm, pour the dressing and mix well and keep aside.

  • ½ English cucumber, chopped
  • ½ cup kalamata olives, chopped
  • ½ cup pine nuts
  • ½ cup fresh dill, chopped
  • ½ cup feta cheese, crumbled

Add all the ingredients to the warm, dressed potatoes. Mix well and check for seasonings. Let the potatoes sit for at least an hour before serving.

 

Avocado Apple and Corn Salad

This salad will be perfect with yesterdays delicious cheese burgers! It is yummy with creamy avocado, crunchy apple and sweet corn!

  • 1 avocado, diced
  • 1 Pink Lady apple, diced
  • 1 ear of corn, grilled, off the cob
  • Juice of one large lemon
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups mixed greens with herbs

Transfer the avocado, apple and corn to a salad bowl. Add the lemon juice, oil, honey and salt. Mix well and let marinate for 2 to 3 hours in the refrigerator. Right before serving, add the mixed greens, mix well. Check for seasonings and serve.

 

4th Of July Recipes- Cole Slaw with Yogurt and Tamarind Vinaigrette

Cole Slaw with Yogurt and Tamarind2 I am all for making things from scratch but I do like to use all the conveniences I can find at the store. For this recipe I bought packaged, shredded cabbage, carrots and broccoli slaw. It saved me a ton of time and made everything a lot easier.

To complete a well-balanced menu, I was going to make a coleslaw dish with the Thai style burgers and potato salad. The recent Bon Appetit issue had a whole article on tamarind and it’s virtues. I am quite familiar with tamarind as I use it for all different things including using it in drinks, dressings and as a condiment.

They talked about pairing yogurt with tamarind concentrate to make a delicious, tangy dressing. I added my own twist by adding roasted cumin to the creamy dressing which gave the dish a nice nutty flavor. Overall, the dish went well with the burger and the potato salad.

What else do you need? Yes, I know what you are thinking- where is the dessert??? Stay tuned for tomorrow and you will have a great recipe for a dessert as well…
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Nectarine Salad with Walnut Dressing

Nectarine and Walnut Salad This is a simple salad I served for a little get together we were having the other day. I like to keep things simple when people are coming over. I don’t go over board and cook lots of dishes- my philosophy is to focus on a few dishes and make them absolutely delicious.

For this dinner my plan was to make a lasagna and garlic bread. I decided to make a nectarine salad and baked nectarine dessert. If you didn’t guess- I love nectarines.

This salad is super simple- I used mixed greens. I added some walnuts and cut up a nectarine. I had recently purchased a bottle of walnut oil. I used it to make a delicious vinaigrette. I looked in my fridge and found a bottle of mango apricot nectar. I used that in addition to some white wine vinegar. Some salt and pepper and I had a yummy dressing. It was a great start to the meal. It had a great crunch from the walnuts and a burst of sweetness from the nectarines. The walnut oil flavor came through loud and clear and tied all the flavors together.
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Blood Orange and Feta Salad

Blood Orange Salad1 Blood oranges are in season- and they are delicious!

A friend noticed a citrus salad recipe in the New York Times food section. This particular salad was made with a grape fruit and a navel orange. She had bought some blood oranges and we paired them with a grape fruit. She had some olives in the house decided to top the salad with them. I am always happy with a pop of salty goodness. We made a simple dressing and enjoyed the salad.

I decided to replicate the salad for a dinner party. Trader Joes has an abundance of blood oranges. I love buying them- it reminds me of being in Italy. This past summer, while we were staying in Spello- we would do some basic grocery for breakfast. Usually we are a juice free house- but there I bought a carton of orange juice. My daughter was fascinated to see the dark red color of the juice- I explained to her the orange juice is made out of blood oranges- hence the color. The juice was delicious!

I cut the oranges into disks and topped them with the olives and feta. For some reason feta comes to mind when I think of citrus. I also remembered I had a orange muscat champagne vinegar from Trader Joes. I used that to make a delicious, clean dressing with a hint of honey.

The salad was delicious! Everyone loved it. I have a big bunch of blood oranges which I am planning to use them again. Definitely make the blood orange salad- you can even substitute regular oranges- any citrus will be delicious!
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