For Christmas my sister-in-law bought me a box of conversation cards with questions all about food. Some of the questions are a little bit silly like, “has our love of bacon gone too far?” (Yes, bacon is nice, but bacon maple frosting is too far) Some are really fun to think about like, “what would you serve if Julia Child came to diner?” (Probably something Puerto Rican since maybe she wouldn’t have eaten much of that before)

One question I really like is, “what do you eat when you’re alone?” I like this question because the answer encompasses a whole range of foods. When I’m lazy, I like popcorn, a spoonful of Nutella, and cheese and crackers. Sometimes when I’m alone I like to try something really difficult to make because then if it comes out badly, no one else knows. But my favorite thing to eat when I’m on my own is Greek salad. I love Greek salad. It’s crunchy and salty. It’s pretty healthy, but it’s got some indulgences with the olives and cheese. And I just love all the flavors and I eat it whenever I can. When I was in grad school writing my thesis, I’d run down to the deli beneath my apartment and grab a salad on a break. When, it was too loud and crazy at when I worked at Ford’s Theatre, I’d run to Cosi for lunch and get one. And now I always search for it on takeaway menus.

And also, I eat Greek salad when I’m alone because Ryan doesn’t like olives and feta. But sometimes I can’t resist, and I make it for dinner anyway. I wanted to make it a little heartier, so I decided to substitute the greens for bulgur, but still keep all the yummy other vegetables. This was the first time I ever had bulgur and it was so good! It’s small like quinoa, but chewier like rice. Also I like that it’s got an uneven shape.

To be honest, although it’s a straightforward salad recipe, I feel a little nervous sharing this! I have two Greek coworkers who sometimes ready this blog, and I’m changing up a traditional dish. That feels somewhat taboo. But in truth, this recipe is like tabbouleh and regular Greek salad fell in love and had a delicious hybrid child. So it’s like two wonderful Greek recipes in one. This is yummy, a nice side dish, and Ryan even liked it (without the feta and olives).

One last thing before the recipe – I have a tip on cutting cherry tomatoes. Cutting a lot of small circular foods is kind of annoying and time consuming. To speed up the process, take two lids from food storage containers. Put your tomatoes (or grapes or pitted cherries or your circular whatever) between the two container lids. Make sure your knife is sharp, then carefully cut horizontally between the two lids. Then boom, you’ve got lots of tomato halves in one slice. Some might be a little uneven, but for a salad that’s not really important. I really like this trick because I think it makes preparing a salad less tedious and it’s a fun trick. Sorry, I don’t have a trick for cutting tomatoes into quarters.

Unrelated to this post, after three years of having a Twitter account, I’ve decided to finally start using it. For real, I’m going to start tweeting and stuff. Help me get up and running! You can follow me @mariel621. Thanks!

Messy level: Salad is so easy and neat – if you plan it properly. You’ll need a cutting board, knife, and a saucepan for the bulgur. You could use a separate bowl to mix it all together and serve, but if you have a large enough saucepan you can do it in there. I didn’t have a large enough saucepan, then I transferred it to a mixing bowl that was too small, and then I finally got it right and put it in a big enough bowl. Don’t make my mistakes, and it’s a one spoon recipe.

Bulgur Greek Salad

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 6 large servings

Ingredients

• 1½ cups bulgur
• 3 cups water
• ½ cup cherry tomatoes in quarters
• ½ cup cubed cucumber
• 1 green bell pepper, chopped (or in strips if you prefer)
• ½ red onion, cut into matchsticks
• ⅓ cup pitted kalamata olives
• ⅓ cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2-3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• oregano (optional)

Instructions

1. In a medium saucepan, combine the bulgur and water. Bring it to boil.
2. Once the water has come to a boil, cover, and lower the heat. Simmer until all the water is absorbed. It should take about 15-20 minutes, but check what the package says.
3. While the bulgur is cooking is cooking chop up all of your vegetables
4. When the bulger is finished, fluff it with a fork and let cool to room temperature (or just slightly warm).
5. Stir the vegetables into the bulgur.
6. Pour the olive oil and balsamic over the bulgur and vegetables. Taste and adjust as you prefer. I like only a little balsamic to give it a nice tang, but not over power the dish.
7. Serve and sprinkle with a little oregano (dried or fresh) for garnish.

3.2.2925

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I’ll be honest with you, the first time I made this I was grumpy and I had mini melt-down. Ryan had to step in and help because I was being pouty and said things like “I quit,” and “it’s ruined.” The reason for all this drama is that I didn’t give myself time to make a new recipe slowly. I didn’t have cold water to make the pie crust. The kitchen was hot and the dough wouldn’t roll. I was hungry. I thought the steps were easy, and I wanted it to be done right now. 

The steps are easy, and even with my hissyfit, everything came out nicely. Although today’s photos are from the second time I made the recipe. But what I’m trying to advise, is that when you’re cooking be patient, give yourself plenty of time, and it’s ok if it doesn’t come out perfect. Even the recipes we know how to make well can be a pain when we are rushed, hungry, and grumpy. When you’re cooking, take your time and enjoy it. If you want to rush and are too hungry to wait, then definitely defrost something or get take out.

This recipe is fairly straightforward and very flavorful. It’s roasted root vegetables wrapped in a free-form pie crust. No pie pan is required! You can use whatever pie crust recipe or store-bought version you like. As well, pick whatever root vegetables you prefer, but I’ll let you know what I chose below. What makes this recipe is the thyme and balsamic. It makes the whole thing fragrant and delicious. Even though pie crust isn’t so healthy (at least the way I make it), I think this is such a great way to eat a bunch of vegetables.

Adapted from the Gourmet Housewife

Directions

Pie crust:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup + 1 tbsp shortening

cup of cold water (you won’t need it all)

Filling:

2 parsnips, peeled and cubed

1 turnip, peeled and cubed

2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

3 medium carrots, peeled and cubed

1 red onion, cut into chuncks

thyme (about 4-6 sprigs)

salt

pepper

balsamic vinegar

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450°.

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the vegetables on top, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme leaves.

3. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool just a little bit. Turn oven down to 350°.

4. While the vegetables are cooking make the pie crust. In a medium bowl mix together the flour and salt. Cut in the shortening. This means use two knives and chop up the shortening until it is pea sized. Then, add 1 tbsp of cold water and mix it with a fork, into the flour mixture. Keep adding water and mixing until you get a dough that sticks together (about 4-5 tbsp).

5. Take your dough, put it on a floured work surface, and roll it out until it’s 1/4″ thick. If you’re having trouble rolling out your dough, put it between two pieces of parchment paper, then roll out it out that way. This worked for me because then the dough didn’t get too hot and it held its shape.

6. Now, put the vegetables in the middle of your pie crust. All of the vegetables might not fit just yet. Drizzle with balsamic. Then scoop up the edges of the pie crust and fold them on top of the vegetables. You aren’t trying to cover them entirely, this is more of an open face pie. Then, if you have any extra vegetables you can spoon them on top in the open part. Drizzle with more balsamic if you’d like.

7. Bake in oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the pie crust is light brown.

8. Slice and serve.

Messy level: I’m giving this three spoons because of the pie crust. Ordinarily, I don’t think pie crust is that hard. But, pie crust gets mushy when it’s hot and spooning hot vegetables on to pie crust leads to a little bit of a mess. It’s not unbearable, but it’s kind of annoying. Otherwise, chopping and roasting is pretty mess free.

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This recipe might be the easiest and cheapest recipe I’ve ever posted. There are a couple of “flair” ingredients in the recipe, but it would be good if all you had was a bag of rice, a can of chickpeas, and bottle of teriyaki sauce. Those ingredients don’t cost much and you might already have them in the pantry. What could be simpler?

Also, I think this is a great meal to make if you’re only cooking for yourself. Is that a weird thing to say, that this is a good dish for one? Maybe…

However, when I lived alone I was always looking for recipes that didn’t make a billion servings. I didn’t like cooking that much then because I’d make eating that same meal for lunch and dinner for the next 4 days. It can get old. But this dish, is perfect for 2-3 meals. It’s perfect if you want to whip up something quick, small, and tasty.

While I stand by my original statement that this is good plain, it’s super delicious topped with pineapple salsa. It adds a little sweetness from the pineapple and some great zest fro the onions and cilantro. Yes, making the salsa is a little more chopping and prepping, but it’s tasty and beautiful.

The recipe is adapted from the a great cookbook called The Happy Herbivore. It’s a vegan cookbook, but really accessible for people who like vegetable based meals, but don’t actually want to be vegan.

Messy level: This is one spoon! You cook everything in two pots, there’s so little chopping, and it’s just so darn easy!!

Teriyaki Chickpeas and Rice

 

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Prep time

10 mins

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Serves: 4

Ingredients

Chickpeas

• 1 15oz can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• ⅓ cup teriyaki sauce (or more if you like!)
• 1 tbsp hot sauce
• ½ tbsp raw sugar (just swipe 2 packets from your local coffee shop)

Rice

• 2 cups water
• 1 cup uncooked white or brown rice

Pineapple salsa

• ½ cup chopped pineapple
• 2 tablespoon chopped red onion
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• lime juice (from about ½ a lime)

Instructions

1. In a large skillet, mix together the chickpeas, teriyaki sauce, hot sauce and sugar. Let the chickpeas marinate in the skillet while you get the rice ready.
2. In a medium pot, bring the 2 cups of water to a boil.
3. Once the water has come to a boil add the rice. Cover the pot and turn to low. Let simmer until the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes. Rice is done when rice is tender and water has cooked off.
4. Turn the skillet with the chickpeas to medium. Heat until the chickpeas are cooked enough to our liking, usually about 10-15 minutes. Stir occasionally.
5. While everything else is cooking do whatever salsa chopping you need to do in case you didn't do it before you started. Then mix also salsa ingredients together in a bowl.
6. Serve the rice in a bowl then top with chickpeas and salsa.

3.5.3226

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My lovely friend Charlotte, who is so supportive and helpful with my blog, suggested I post my first-ever salad recipe. When I read her email, I thought, “ugh, salad.” I seriously dislike making salads and I prefer what I can buy at a restaurant. I don’t have all the diverse and exotic ingredients they have. And I’m just incapable of coating my salads in dressing like restaurants do. I always have a dressing puddle at the bottom of my plate. But if the purpose of my blog is to push myself to expand my cooking horizons, then I should get over my aversion to salad-making and just make a darn salad!

Today’s recipe I call, “Lisa’s Mom’s Strawberry Salad.” Now Lisa, is one of my oldest and best friends, and I’ve known her for literally over twenty years. Her mom’s name is Ellen, and Ellen calls this recipe “Strawberry Poppy Seed Salad,” and we’ll go with that since it sounds more elegant. This recipe is one of the three or four staples (along with veggie pizza and 7-layer dip) that I associate with parties at Lisa’s house, and it’s become one of the dishes I look forward to. And I’ll admit it, I’m nostalgic. I like this recipe because it reminds me of my friends and all the great parties we went to at Lisa’s house when I was growing up.

But, the real reason this is special to me because it is the first recipe I ever asked someone for. Today I’m always asking people how they make something, what ingredients they used, and how they cooked it. But, I asked for this recipe when I was in high school and never cooked anything. Seriously, never. I do recall I made this once or twice at home, but somewhere in the 10+ years since high school I lost the recipe.

When Ellen sent me the recipe this time, my eyes bugged out a little when I saw mayonnaise in the dressing ingredients. Sixteen-year-old Mariel was unbothered by this because she didn’t know what ingredients were in anything, and she could eat whatever she wanted. But twenty-eight-year-old Mariel has a slower metabolism, and is afraid of mayonnaise. And I don’t really know why I’m afraid of mayonnaise. Mayonnaise, when made from scratch is largely oil and if a salad dressing called for lots of oil I wouldn’t bat an eye! So I decide I would make the dressing as Ellen instructed, and I’d also try to make my own oil based vinaigrette. And the winner was the mayo-based dressing! I felt like the oil overpowered the tangy raspberry sweetness I wanted in the dressing. Also, the mayo dressing wasn’t heavy at all. I liked the light sweetness that it added to the salad.

I had the perfect opportunity to make this salad the other day when Ryan was going out with friends to watch a soccer game. Solo-girls-night at home is about the only time a reddish-pink, vegetarian salad is going to be dinner in my house. When Ryan came home a few hours later he found me on the couch watching The Big Bang Theory with our baby-polar-bear-soft blanket pulled up to my nose.

Ryan: How was your salad?

Me: Great!

Ryan: You didn’t watch the game?

Me: No

Because solo-girls night means no sports on TV and a vegetarian dinner. Might sound terrible to you, but it sounds awesome to me.

Anyway, back to the recipe. At the core this salad can be made using just romaine, red onions, and strawberries. I decided to jazz it up a bit and I added goat cheese and crushed almonds. The sharp tang of raw onions, with the creamy cheese, the crunch of the almonds, and bright juiciness of the strawberries makes for a vibrant combination of flavors. I also think it makes the salad more filling. And tastier.

It was so tasty and filling, in fact, that I had this salad for breakfast the next day. For real, I ate salad for breakfast. I guess I don’t hate making salad anymore.

Ingredients

These amounts are if you’re making the salad for 4+ people

Dressing:

1/2  cup mayonnaise

1/3 cup sugar

2 tbsp poppy seeds

1/4 cup milk

2 tbsp raspberry vinegar

Salad:

1 large head of Romaine lettuce (I used a bag of mixed greens)

1 quart strawberries

1 small red onion

1/3 cup almonds (or to taste)

goat cheese (to taste)

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise and sugar thoroughly. Add the poppy seeds. Mix. Add the milk. Mix. Add the raspberry vinegar. Mix. Set aside.

2. Wash the lettuce and roughly chop. Put in a large bowl.

3. Wash the strawberries. Cut into thin slices. Put them on top of the lettuce.

4. Slice the onion in thin strips. Put them on top of the lettuce.

5. You can crush the almonds in a food processor. Or you can put them in a plastic bag and hit them with a rolling pin. The second way is fun, and you don’t dirty any dishes. Sprinkle crushed almonds on top of the lettuce.

6. Cut the goat cheese into small dime-sized blobs. Place them around on the salad.

7. Serve!

Messy level – 1 spoon! All you need for this is a knife, cutting board, two bowls, and a whisk to mix the dressing. So very easy.

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