Step 1. Chop up a bunch of fresh veggies. Step 2. Throw everything in the food processor and blend. Step 3. Let in mellow for a few hours in the fridge. Step 4. Enjoy the fruits of your tiresome labor.
This would normally be the part where I tell you that I’m exaggerating, but this time, I’m totally not.
You’re hot. You’re sweating. And you’re starving. The last thing you want to do is to slave over a hot stove, no matter how good your AC is. Enter- the beauty that is a cold soup. One appliance, no heat. Besides the prep work, only one step… perfection.
While I’m calling out the avocado in the title, she is by no means the star. I think the beauty of this dish lies in the ensemble cast. Each player steps up, delivers, and returns to the line. It’s like a garden celebration in your mouth. Cucumbers, tomatoes and avocados mingle for earthiness, while the lemon, sour cream and Sriracha add brightness and heat.
Let’s see how many of my favorite things we can fit into one recipe, shall we – grilling, mangoes, cilantro, and booze in food?! What do you get, the most delicious salsa to ride the chip express.
It’s sweet, it’s smoky, it’s awesome! Grilling the mangoes, pineapple and red pepper take their already perfect flavor and bump them up a notch. Sweetness hooks up with char and smoke and does a little happy dance. This salsa was fantastic with chips (I’m obsessed with Terra), but would also be delicious over white fish, chicken or pork.
What could be better than a beautiful bounty of fresh green spring vegetables? Said bounty coupled with cheese and served in dip form, obviously!
Get your dip hand strong cause this guy is creamy, cheesy, zippy and the perfect way to pretend to get your veggies.
“No time! No time! There’s never enough time!” I don’t enter into caffeine pill induced freak outs, but I do wish for more time when I look at the stacks of food magazines and books that clutter my floor. My list of things to make and bake grows longer by the day, and there’s never enough time to test and post. Someone find me a longer day, please.
Case in point, this showed up in the December 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, and I’ve been dying to make it ever since. A year and a half later, here she is – wow, look at that turn around time.
A salad recipe, I’ve contemplated posting one for some time now, but it always seemed like posting a recipe for a club sandwich – they’re basic, and no two people like their salads or sandwiches the same way. I say rye, you say wheat. I say mayo, you say mustard. I say bacon bits, you say stop with the comparisons!
But I’m pumped for this salad… it’s delicious, and the perfect opening act for any main course. Plus, I don’t want you all to think that I never eat or cook anything other than meat, cheese, bread and sweets.
If you don’t know me in “real” life or follow me on Twitter (@megpowesq) you might not know that Cleveland is one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world. I know, I know. Their sports teams suck… GO TRIBE, GO BROWNIES! Economic hardships are prevalent. I don’t care what you say, burn on big river, burn on! I truly love Cleveland.
If I’ve ever interviewed for an episode of “The Best Thing I Ever Ate” they’d have to do an entire show of me gushing over the meal I had at Lola, Michael Symon’s insanely amazing restaurant in C-land. Seriously, words cannot describe the tastebadic orgasm that happened the night I dined there.
So naturally, when this recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Soup came across my email with the fabulous Derek Clayton from Lola as the author, I had to try it.
There’s heat, there’s maple syrup, there’s cream and roasted, and sweet and yum! Oh, it’s divinity… I swear!
“We both have so much in common. We both love soup. And we love the outdoors. We love snow peas, and talking, and not talking. We could not talk or talk forever, and still find things to not talk about.”
What better way to drop a quote from one of my favorite movies, Best In Show, than announcing the birth of a new feature on this here old bloggy blog?
Recently I’ve become obsessed with fried green tomatoes, thanks to my favorite local beer spot serving them up, all hot and yummy. After several plates of these little guys, I knew I had to whip them up at home.
What the heck took me so long?! Maybe it was that darn movie. With all that abuse and time jumping! Anywho, I’m now super smitten with these little devils, and I think Ruth and Idgie would be proud. These were easy, delicious and oh, so southern.
I can’t wait to turn these into an amped up BLT – some thick crusty sourdough, mayo, zesty sauce, thick maple bacon, crispy lettuce, and fried greens… NOM!
An odd thing happened when I sat down to write this post… I had no idea what to say. What do you say about one of the greatest taste experiences on the planet? Thank God for a world of flavors and cuisines, and thank God for the people who turn us onto them – pretty much all I came up with.
One of the funniest people I know also happens to be our work Bánh Mì fairy. The first time I enjoyed one of these simple sandwiches, I fell in love. Simple, beautiful flavors – salty, sweet, spicy, clean… amazing. Give me bread, meat and cilantro and I’m a happy girl.
