Fresh Tomato Sauce and Cucumber Salad

It's almost summer and it's business time for tomatoes (to be honest it's always business time for tomatoes in my kitchen).  After spending years laying down wads of cash for sunscreen each summer, I recently learned that tomatoes are kind of an ingestible sunscreen.  So now I have a solid reason to want to eat pizza, salsa or spaghetti for every meal during the summer or perhaps for every meal until eternity.

The tomato sauce recipe below is one my family put together while making personal pizzas a few years back.  We make this sauce all the time now and use it with pasta, as pizza sauce, and as part of salad dressing.  I'm a big fan of having it on cucumber salad with falafels from trader joes.

Fresh Tomato Sauce

• 1 quart cherry tomatoes
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes (the kind in oil)
• 4 or 5 cloves of garlic
• 1 tablespoon of hoagie spread/pickled cherry peppers
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Blend until smooth.  Lasts a few days in the fridge.

Cucumber Salad

• 1/2 a cucumber sliced
• 1/2 a red onion sliced thin
• 1/2 a cup of Fresh Tomato Sauce
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Toss ingredients together.  Serve with falafels or along side other dishes.

Yellow Split Pea Dip

Split peas are protein packed and lean - there's just 1 gram of fat per 350 calorie serving of these little guys.  This makes them an awesome addition to any meatless meal.

Yellow split peas are often confused with chick peas since they look a little like a mini-me version of them.  This confusion is also well explained by the recipe below, which ends up tasting and appearing similar to hummus.  It is good used the same way as hummus - either as a spread on bread or as a dip with veggies and pita chips.

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 Cup chopped onion
• 1 Tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1/2 teaspoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1/3 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped
• 1/2 Cup yellow split peas
• 2 1/2 Cups water
• 1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Heat olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add onion and saute until soft (about 3 minutes).  Add garlic and cook one more minute.

Add oregano, thyme, split peas and water.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until peas are tender, but still hold their shape (30-45 minutes).

Remove from heat and add lemon zest, salt, and lemon juice.  Set aside to cool to room temp.

Puree in a food processor or blender.  Taste for seasoning.  Add salt if necessary and hot sauce if you like to kick it up a notch.

Fantabulous Roasted Chick Peas

These are simple, delicious, healthy, crunchy snack heaven.  And you know when you were little and everything tasted "like chicken"?  These chick peas, through some crazy cooking voodoo, taste like fried chicken.

• 1 can chick peas rinsed and drained
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 Tablespoon whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon ground corriander seed
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 425.

Toss chick peas in olive oil.  In a small bowl combine flour, corriander, cayenne, and salt.  Pour dry ingredients in with chick peas and toss till coated.

Spread coated chick peas out on a jelly roll pan.  Roast for 13 minutes, stir.  Roast for another 13 minutes.  BAM - your done!

Fresh Corn and Zucchini Pancakes

Its saturday morning.  I love pancakes.  There was zucchini in my fridge.  Nuff said.

• 2 large eggs
• 1/3 Cup low-fat buttermilk or low-fat milk
• 1/3 Cup whole wheat flour
• 1 and 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 a teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 3/4 Cup of corn kernels
• 1 zucchini grated (about a cup)
• 1/3 cup chopped onion
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 teaspoons canola oil

In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, buttermilk, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper until smooth.  Add corn, zucchini, onion and zest and stir until combined.  Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat.  Drop batter by scant 1/4 cups measures into skillet.  Cook, turning once, until browned and cooked through, 3 minutes or so per side; lower heat if pancakes begin to brown too deeply before middle is cooked through.  Add more oil between batches if necessary.  Serve the pancakes warm or at room temperature.

In the original recipe they include a 1/3 cup of chopped mint, its not my thing, but it might be yours :)

This recipe is courtesy of Whole Foods Market.

Super Kale Smoothie

Kale is like the super man of vegetables - for so many reasons.  Its first knockout punch comes from a whopping dose of antioxidant vitamins A,C, and K.  These vitamins work to decrease your cancer risk, lower your cholesterol, and keep your skin glowing.  Kale rounds out its awesomeness by being relatively inexpensive considering what you are getting nutritionally for your buck.

Smoothies are part of my daily routine - and kale smoothies are my second favorite type.  The fascinating thing about the recipe that follows is that while your smoothie turns out slimy green (totally appetizing sounding right?) what you end up tasting is unexpectedly citrusy and fresh.

Serves 2  - have with a buddy or freeze one for later

Ingredients are listed in the order they should go in your blender

• 1 banana sliced 
• 1 small apple chopped
• 2 Tablespoons of frozen orange juice concentrate
• 1/2 a cup of rice/soy/regular milk
• 3 kale leaves chopped
• 1 to 1 and 1/2 cups of frozen mango chunks

Blend until smooth.  I actually prefer mine frozen, especially during the summer.

Spaghetti with Roasted Zucchini and Sundried Tomatoes

At the start of the new year I made a resolution to incorporate more veggies into my daily noshings.  To do this I've gone largely vegetarian and I've come to enjoy the gastronomic adventures of playing around with produce.  I've tried lots of recipes, but they often get lost in the abyss of my daily life.  So in order to preserve the most delicious of these equations that I come upon, I'm starting this blog.

I've always been a fan of fried zucchini - its a favorite treat for me when I'm checking out burger joints.  This pasta served up an excellent tasty memory of fried zucchini without quite the same helping of guilt on the side.  It also literally took less than half an hour to make - amazing!

This recipe easily serves 2, could maybe serve 3 people.

• 7 oz. whole wheat spaghetti cooked al dente*
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 Cup of bread crumbs
• 1/4 Cup of parmesan grated
• 2 cloves of garlic (crushed)
• 1/2 a teaspoon of crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/2 a teaspoon of salt
• 2 small zucchini - sliced in 1/4 inch pieces
• Half a small onion chopped
• 1/4 cup sundried tomatoes with oil
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 2 Tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Heat the water for the pasta - use a dash of salt in the water to flavor the pasta.

In a bowl combine the olive oil, bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, salt and zucchini.  Toss until zucchini is coated.

Spread zucchini out on a baking sheet with a rim and cook for 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.  While the zucchini is baking add the pasta to the water and cook for no more than 10 minutes.

In a small pan cook the onion and sundried tomatoes using the oil from the tomatoes.  Stop cooking once onions become soft and start to be translucent.

Combine pasta, zucchini mixture, sundried tomatoes and onions and toss with lemon zest and parsley.

This recipe is courtesy of Women's Day with some additions and modifications.

* Al dente means to the teeth, so your pasta should be a little crunchy - cooking pasta to more than al dente is like an ultimate cooking sin in my house.