Apr 20 2011

Orzo Salad w/Spicy Buttermilk Dressing

I usually don’t attempt to make things with the word “spicy” in the recipe title, but I’m finding that I actually like spicy things when they are mostly veggie. It’s the spicy/meat combo that I’m not a fan of. 

I received my May 2011 Cooking Light Magazine and flipped through it to mark vegetarian dishes since I’m leaning in the direction with lunches. I came across the Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing recipe in the Enlightened Cook – Everyday Vegetarian section and was intrigued. I knew the possibilities could be endless with add-ins, substitutions, etc.

The Ingredients:
1 Cup Cooked Orzo
1 Cup Frozen Whole-Kernel Corn
12 Cherry Tomatoes – quartered – I only had grape tomatoes, so I used more and just halved them
3 Green Onions – sliced
1 Can Black Beans (15 oz.) – rinse and drained
1/4 Cup Low Fat Buttermilk
3 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Cilantro – divided
3 Tablespoons Fresh Lime Juice
2 Tablespoons Light Sour Cream
2 Tablespoons Canola Mayonnaise – I just used Best Foods Light – it’s what I had.
1 Teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
1/4 Teaspoon Black Pepper
1/4 Teaspoon Ground Red Pepper
2 Garlic Cloves – crushed
1 Peeled Avocado – cut into 8 wedges
1 Tablespoon Chopped Fresh Parsley

Yield: 4 Servings – Serving Size 1 and 3/4 cups
424 Calories | Fat 15.3 g | Protein 12.7 g | Carb 63.8 g | Fiber 10.1 g | Chol 6 mg | Sodium 607 mg

Directions:
Cook orzo according to package directions – don’t add salt or oil to the water. Drain and rinse (I didn’t rinse). Place orzo, corn, tomatoes, green onions, and black beans into a large bowl and toss.

Combine buttermilk, 2 tablespoons of the cilantro (I accidentally added all 3 tablespoons – nobody died), fresh lime juice (more on that later) light sour cream, mayo, chili powder, salt, pepper, ground red pepper, and garlic.

Stir well with a whisk. – Now I need to talk about limes…

 

I loaded my limes into my citrus press and I honestly thought 2-3 limes would have been enough for 3 tablespoons of juice.

I obliterated them and it took 8 halves – 4 LIMES to make 3 tablespoons. That. Is. Crazy. I guess I happened to get the “Dry as a Desert” brand limes. Thankfully I had enough…

The recipe said to “drizzle” the sauce over the orzo mixture and toss. Drizzle/Dump – is there really that big of a difference? Nope. I sliced up my avocado and garnished with additional cilantro and flat leaf parsley.

I then set up shop for a crazy photo shoot. I got a few new placemats on mega sale at Kohl’s and I chatted with another designer/casual photographer and he thought some of my food photos could use more warmth – so I spent the next 30 minutes shooting 75 photos of my salad. Ha! I don’t normally include a million shots of each item, but I wanted to share some of the ones that came out pretty good (to me) and a few that didn’t.

I love shooting food on natural woods – this is an old crate I got at a friend’s garage sale – it often comes out for my final food shots.

Holy pattern Batman – not a huge fan of this shot… but I loved the placemat, it has a gorgeous flower on the opposite side.

These foam/round placemats came in a bunch of vibrant colors – thinking I might pick up a few more with my Kohl’s cash.

Too much gold…

Enough about the photography – back to the recipe itself. It was awesome! I loved the heat – if you aren’t into spicy dishes, you could easily just leave out the ground red pepper and chili powder.

I have eaten the orzo for lunches all week. Sometimes I drizzle a little lemon olive oil on top, or I added shrimp for a heartier dinner option as well.

The salad would be perfect for a potluck or summer BBQ. It’s been 4 days and it just keeps getting better and better. I’m definitely stuck on pasta and grain salads right now… guess I need to branch out a little more.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=4359

Apr 18 2011

TRIce Cream Sunday

I had an incredible weekend. I got to support my girl Deede during her first sprint triathlon – The ICE Breaker Triathlon at Granite Beach, Folsom Lake, CA. 1/2 mile swim, 13 mile road bike, 4 mile trail run.

Deede set a goal for herself in July 2010 to become more active. She went from occasional yoga, swim classes and casual bike riding to training with a running group and a tri group. We ran the Urban Cow 5K (her first 5K) back in October and she has not stopped since. She’s completed a few other races, including the Warrior Dash, a 10k and now her first sprint tri. To say that I am proud of her would be an understatement. She gives me so much inspiration and proves that if you set goals and work hard towards them, you can achieve anything. She has 2 more triathlons scheduled for June and July.

I know this is a food blog, but I had a weight loss/healthy living blog for 7 years and I miss having space to share amazing things like this – but I promise, thanks to Deede, there is food at the end of this post. 🙂

The Swim…

We spotted Deede getting ready for her swim – she was in the 5th (pink) wave. Her husband Josh shared the paparazzi detail with me. He had a much better lens – total lens envy.

The water was about 60 degrees, so she brought some warm water to prime her wetsuit – then she put body glide on her wrists and ankles to help speed up her transition time to get out of the thing for the bike leg of the race. Our buddy Aaron assisted with the warm water step. Deede helped her tri group friend Jen with her warm water and then the girls posed for a quick photo.

Deede started laughing when she looked through the photos – her comment: “It would have been o.k. for you to tell me to take my goggles off.” – LOL. They walked down to the lake to get acclimated before their heat.

And they’re off ( 1/2 mile swim) –  it was at this point that I decided – there is NO WAY I could ever do an open water swim competitively –  feet and arms flailing everywhere – bodies on top of bodies – especially in the men’s heats. My girlfriend Britt does triathlons that include ocean swimming – crazy town USA – she is a rock star too!

Josh caught the sea of pink – she’s somewhere out there – probably towards the front – she freakin’ killed the swim – was easily in the top 10 pink out of the water – even one of her tri group coaches mentioned how awesome she did on the swim leg of the race. She said it took a while, but she got down the rhythm to breathe when her body reached the top of the choppy waves. She did say she gulped down water a few times before getting in her groove… and did I mention that she was also getting over a bad cold and still had a cough?

She came flying out of the lake and was ready for her first transition…

I got distracted by an adorable brown mini schnauzer – so cute…

The Bike…

LOVE this action shot… go Deede go!

And she’s off… 13 miles on the bike.

Still smiling as she came in to get ready for the run portion.

The Run…

Running shoes, red hat, gear is set – and off she goes – 4 mile trail run…

After the race she said the run portion was the hardest – she wasn’t prepared for the terrain and felt like her shoes were sliding around on the sand and dirt… she was most worried about the bike portion and it turned out that the run was the beast.

Thanks to Caitlin over at Healthy Tipping Point and her “Best Race Signs” post – I got to work the night before on race signs to help cheer Deede on.

Deede sent out a pre-race text to everyone with race details. In the text she stated that she had to arrive at 7:00 a.m. to set up and warm up –  to gain general zen like focus. She then said, “Mind of a Dragon” you know… so I took her text and turned it into a race sign… A special thank you to my girlfriend Michelle,  for letting me borrow her dining room table, daughter’s crayons and pens.

We also created a sign for Dan…

As soon as I saw the saying tweeted by Caitlin, I knew it would fit Dan perfectly. This one definitely got the most laughs. We had so much fun cheering during the run portion of the race. Being a spectator was FUN! Aaron broke out Jack’s giant cowbell, Dan and I had our signs, Josh continued with paparazzi detail and we yelled and screamed as loud as we could as Deede ran by.

She finished STRONG! and most importantly… she was still smiling!

We helped her gather up her gear, got her bike mounted back on her car and then she broke out her yoga mat in the parking lot for stretching. Her plan was to hit a yoga class later in the evening to help really stretch her out.

We then crammed into the car and headed towards the spectator parking lot where the other car was parked.  That is where we enjoyed a treat – prepared by Deede the night before. I told you there would be food.

Yes my friends… my foodie girlfriend made Guinness – Milk Chocolate Ice Cream the day before her race and Josh brought the cooler packed with dry ice so we could enjoy a post race celebration and picnic.

We sat around the car in our chairs. Dan and I dined on peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and then followed them with cones…

Such an amazing finish to an awesome day! Another triathlete from the race yelled over to us – ICE CREAM – ARE YOU KIDDING ME? That’s brilliant! She asked if she could buy a cone from Deede – she laughed and said, you can have one – as she happily scooped up another cone for a fellow racemate.

Like I said above… the perfect ending.

Guinness – Milk Chocolate Ice Cream –from David Lebovitz’s the Perfect Scoop
7 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped – Deede used Trader Joe’s milk chocolate
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
4 large egg yolks
1 cup heavy cream
3/4 cup Guinness Stout
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Deede got an ice cream maker last year and I have had the pleasure of tasting some of her creations – yum!

Deede and I had a very cool conversation on the way home.  I said, “Deede… you are a triathlete!” Her answer, “Crazy huh?, I’ve been wondering when I could actually start referring to myself as an athlete…”  – I said, “You are already there!”

If you have any questions for Deede about her race/training or her ice cream… or you just want to leave her a shout out,  comment away.

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=4303

Apr 15 2011

Watermelon Daikon Salad

The Sacramento Natural Foods Co-op made a salad for us the night of Rick Mahan’s Pizza Secrets class. I knew from the first bite that it was something I wanted to recreate at home. They went through the ingredients super fast and I scribbled some notes to create a shopping list.

Salad Ingredients:
Mixed Greens
Red Onion – I added this
Fennel
Watermelon Daikon
Almonds – sliced, slivered, whatever you prefer

Dressing Ingredients:
Katz Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Katz Sauvignon Blanc Vinegar
Orange Zest
Kosher or Sea Salt
Ground Pepper

Sometimes it’s the quick meals that turn out to be show stoppers. Nothing beats a simple/clean salad and this one certainly delivered.

The truth – I have not been a fennel fan over the years… but I have found that I do like shaved fennel in salads. The thinner the better.

I used my sharp knife since I don’t have a mandoline – which is probably a good thing, seeing as I can barely work a peeler or grater accident free. 😉

I had never had watermelon daikon a.k.a. watermelon radish/Chinese radish before. I am a huge radish/daikon fan, so it was not surprising that I liked it a lot. They are pale green to white on the outside and a really pretty pink to ruby red on the inside. The Chinese name for watermelon daikon is “xin li mei” meaning “beautiful in the heart.”  – Most definitely… I’m a very visual person when it comes to food and I loved the pop of color the slices added to my salad.

These were pale pink in comparison to some of the vibrant reds I’ve seen on the Internet. I was surprised at the extreme difference in size when I shopped for them. Some were fairly small, while others were as big as baseballs.

I got all of my veggies sliced and added them to my organic mixed greens in a big salad bowl for easy tossing. I then started on the simple dressing.

I eyeballed measurements – I had scribbled down 1 cup olive oil to 1/3 cup vinegar – I didn’t need that much so I poured less. I ended up with just under 3/4 cup total – but tried to keep the same ratio.

I used the zest of 1/2 a medium sized orange and saved some aside to add to my salad as a topping. I then added my ground pepper and salt and gave it a good stir.

I’ll be making this salad and dressing over and over again. Can’t wait to try some of the other Katz artisan vinegars – I’m most interested in trying the sparkling wine flavor – I’m a huge champagne vinegar fan when it comes to salad dressings.

Making my own vs. buying my own salad dressing has been the best decision I’ve made over the past year. I love just adding a touch of this and that and having something new each time. Right now I’m big on adding different fresh herbs and mustards – maui onion, stone ground, dijon, spicy brown, beer flavored…my fridge is loaded with mustard.

Do you make your own salad dressing? Do you have a favorite you want to share?

Permanent link to this article: http://foodiddy.com/?p=4271