two end-of-summer salads and a dessert

This summer seems to have blown right by me. Granted, being pregnant and then having a baby at the beginning of it could possibly be the reason. But still, life seems to be just getting back to some sort of new normal and the season is about to change. I've missed out on some cooking! I have to say, though, that the record heat and humidity we've had in the South makes me long for the cool evenings and brisk morning temperatures of Fall, which is just around the corner.

On the other hand, I am still loving the tastes of late summer, like fresh farmer's market peaches and juicy watermelon. I recently made two delicious salads and a last-minute easy dessert that were some of the best things we've eaten lately.

The first salad is a black-eyed pea and butter bean salad, inspired by one I saw in the September issue of Food and Wine which is devoted to Southern food. I live in the South and I have experimented with black-eyed peas only one other time and that was for the traditional Hoppin' John New Years dish. It was okay, but I still didn't love them. This salad, however, made me a convert.

I had been given a mixed bag of butter beans and black-eyed peas last year by a sweet old neighbor friend. She often comes over unannounced bearing gifts from her garden which she knows I appreciate. This, however, was one that I threw into the freezer, not knowing what to do with these two staples of the Southern pantry but too embarrassed to tell her. A few weeks ago, I pulled them out and made this salad.


black-eyed pea salad

It was created by Atlanta chef Kevin Gillespie in a feature on meatless dishes. Here is the recipe. I pretty much stuck to it and it was delicious. Initially, I didn't want to take the time to cook the ingredients in the salad first, like roasting the peppers and sauteeing the onions and celery. It seemed like too much work for a salad. But the flavors of cooked vegetables are so much more interesting and really deepen the notes in this dish that ended up being more like a main than a salad.


peach-watermelon salad

The second salad I just made up and it was so yummy, on its own for lunch, or alongside grilled chicken or steak for dinner. It combines the sweet and salty flavors of peaches, watermelon, mozzarella and herbs. In addition to the fruit, I added a little lime juice, some fresh herbs like parsley and basil, a little olive oil and some honey drizzled over the top. I may have also added some heat in the form of one diced jalapeno at the last minute. YUM. I will make this one again to bring to an outdoor party or cook-out. It was so easy but also satisfying and complex.


individual peach cobblers

And lastly, this is something I came up with in a last-minute dessert craving after some meal I don't even remember. I had two peaches lying around so I peeled, cored and sliced them and tossed them in a bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, a tablespoon of cornstarch, some sugar, the juice of half a lemon and a pinch of salt. Can you see where I'm going with this? I then pulled out some little frozen tea biscuits that someone else had purchased because I always make my own (ha ha), spooned the peach mixture into 3 ramekins, placed two biscuits on top of each and sprinkled raw sugar on top. Baked in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes, they came out looking fabulous and, with a dollop of vanilla ice cream, tasted even better.

three healthy (veggie) dishes

From English trifle to... brussells sprouts? Not as far-fetched as you think. After all, being pregnant means you crave all kinds of weird things but most of all, it's important to eat a healthy diet and wide variety of things. So lately, my sweet man has been looking up healthy recipes and stepping up his weeknight cooking and I couldn't be happier. If it were up to me some nights, I'd eat pickles and ice cream and throw in some popcorn for good measure. Not my usual fare, I know, but like I said, your relationship with food takes on a whole new meaning when you've got a bun in the oven.

So, here are three really good dishes we tried recently, one of which is an old standby of mine, and two were newly found recipes.



The first one comes from one of our favorite cookbooks: The Silver Spoon, Italy's version of the Joy of Cooking. It's 1200-page tome that will make your head spin but it's also organized extremely well by ingredient and color coded with each recipe only a few lines long. Very simple and very user-friendly (read: perfect for baby daddys-in-training). It was easy, very healthy and very tasty.

garbanzo bean and spinach soup (adapted from The Silver Spoon)

5 cups veg., meat or chicken stock (pref homemade, but low-sodium if not)
2 T olive oil plus extra for drizzling
1 onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
3 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup canned or dried and cooked garbanzo beans
1 cup whole wheat soup pasta (elbows or other small pasta)
salt and pepper

Bring the stock to boil in a pan. Heat oil in another pan, add the onion, carrot and celery and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes until softened. Add the spinach, season with salt and cook for a few minutes more. Add the garbanzo beans and stock and simmer for 20-30 min. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Season with pepper, drizzle with olive oil and serve. (Also great sprinkled with fresh grated parmigiano before serving).



The second recipe is my version of Italian style brussells sprouts. The only thing that makes them Italian is the parmesan cheese, which could be left out if you prefer. I love brussells sprouts and they happen to have protein, folic acid, lots of Vitamin D and A and are just plain good for you. So we cooked them up to go along with the garbanzo bean and spinach soup and they were a deliciously crunchy side dish alongside the steamy soup.

Brussells sprouts my way

1 lb of brussells sprouts
1 T butter
1 T olive oil
fresh-grated parmigiano cheese
salt and pepper

Prepare a pound of brussells sprouts by washing and cutting them in half lengthwise. Then heat the butter and olive oil in a large skillet. (you could make these healthier by omitting the butter, but the butter really is what makes them so delicious). Place the b.s. cut side down in the hot butter-oil mixture, turn up the heat and let them get nice and brown, for about 5-7 min. When they are brown on one side, add a splash of water to the pan just to steam them through, put the lid on the pan and cook gently until tender, but not soft, when pierced with a fork. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and freshly grated parmigiano and serve them while piping hot.

stir fried tofu with red cabbage and butternut squash



The final healthy dish we loved was from Martha Rose Shulman's "Recipes for Health" series in the New York Times. My midwife said I should be getting more protein since I don't eat a lot of meat. So we looked for protein-rich foods and found this recipe in the Fitness and Nutrition section of the Times (a great resource for simple, healthy recipes). This is definitely a dish we'll return to and it could be modified in lots of ways. The recipe says to serve with grains or noodles and we chose red quinoa for it's protein-richness and nutty taste.

But the next day I ate some leftovers served over soba noodles and it was equally tasty. A bright and colorful dish that packs a lot of nutrients and tastes great. What more could you need? The recipe? Here it is.

Cranberry bean salad with butternut squash

There is no bad way to eat butternut squash. Its warm Fall flavor is slightly sweet and when its full flavor comes out through roasting or sauteeing, it compliments so many other ingredients. I just have never met a butternut I didn't like. I know I should expand my squash repertoire and move into some other winter squashes, but I find that there is something so comforting about the butternut that keeps me coming back. It could be the pale salmon color and how great they look on the outside, compared to that eye-popping orange on the inside. (Orange happens to be my favorite color).

So another quest for butternut recipes this week led me to this wonderful side dish that would allow me to use the last of my borlotti beans from Italy. Borlotti are the beautiful red spotted beans called cranberry beans here. The color is wonderful and they look really cool when fresh and still in their pods. They have a color and a crunch that makes them the perfect compliment to softly sautéed squash and little bit of bitter greens.



I'd seen a salad like this before in one of my cookbooks, but found this recipe on Marthastewart.com. As usual, I altered it to meet my needs. The recipe calls for bacon but I didn't have any and wanted to keep it vegetarian as I was serving it alongside a classic pot roast for dinner. The salad was also delicious cold the next day for lunch. Martha's recipe also called for broccoli rabe, which I love, but it is not yet available in my local market so I substituted kale from our farmers.


(the pot roast was a simple braised beef roast that I cooked low and slow in the oven with fresh herbs, garlic, red wine and beef broth and added chopped carrots and potatoes toward the end of the cooking time. So delicious. The perfect comfort dish.)

Cranberry bean salad with butternut squash (from marthastewart.com)

1. Beans (2 lbs) should be soaked overnight and then cooked with one onion, 1 bay leaf and sevel black peppercorns, with enough water to cover beans. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer until cooked through about 25 min.

2. Drain beans, reserving a little cooking water. In a medium bowl, toss beans with 1 T each olive oil and cooking liquidl season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

3. Peel and cube 1 small butternut squash. Working in batches if necessary, sautee in olive oil until lightly browned and cooked through. Season with salt and pepper and transfer to a bowl.

4. Heat 2 T olive oil and add 3 garlic cloves, minced. Sautee until golden brown. Add kale or other leafy green, saute until wilted and heated through, about 5 min. Season with salt and pepper.

5. Add beans and squash to skillet and cook just until heated through and combined. Drizzle with olive oil before serving.