Category Archives: Salad

Taco Salad with Jicama Pico de Gallo for the Eating the Alphabet Challenge

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I have decided to participate in the Eating the Alphabet Challenge. This challenge is organized and coordinated by Brenda at Meal Planning Magic. What a great idea! This is where on the 15th of each month I will publish vegetable recipes and share them at the link party with other bloggers. If you are interested in joining us you can find out more here.

It’s hot! Time for salads. That means in order not to die of boredom, I have to get creative with what I put on them. I also needed to get creative with I and J vegetables. So, here in this salad we have iceberg lettuce, jalapenos and jicama. I wasn’t sure jicama would work in pico de gallo but it really did. It gave the pico more body and a little different flavor. Plus it bulked up my salad!

Taco Salad with Jicama Pico de Gallo

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Taco Salad with Jicama Pico de Gallo

What You Need:

    For the salad
  • 1 head of iceberg lettuce chopped
  • 1/2 pound lean hamburger meat
  • 1/2 red onion finely diced
  • 1 jalapeno seeded and finely diced
  • 1 package taco seasoning or make your own*
  • 1/4 cup of water or broth
  • 1 can of red kidney beans drained and rinsed
  • 1 can of black beans drained and rinsed (optional, I don't really like them)
  • Cheese (I use a mix of cheddar and pepper jack)
  • tortilla chips
    • For the pico de gallo
  • 1/2 of a medium red onion roughly chopped
  • 2 roma tomatoes roughly chopped
  • 2 jalapenos seeded
  • 1 bunch of cilantro stems removed
  • 1 medium jicama root peeled and sliced
  • a pinch of salt
  • the juice of 1 lime

What You Do:

    For the salad
  1. Add a small amount of oil to a medium saucepan or skillet over medium heat
  2. Add onion and jalapeno and saute until onion is soft
  3. Add hamburger meat and brown
  4. Drain any fat if needed
  5. Add taco seasoning and water to hamburger meat and stir to combine
  6. Cook over medium-high heat until water evaporates
  7. Reduce heat to medium and add beans
  8. Cook until heated
  9. Place chopped lettuce on a plate
  10. Add crumbled tortilla chips
  11. Top with about a cup of beef-bean mixture
  12. top with cheese and pico de gallo
    13. For pico de gallo
  13. Place everything into the bowl of a food processor
  14. Pulse just a few times until all ingredients are finely chopped and combined

Notes

Make your own taco seasoning-with cumin, chili powder, garlic powder and onion powder-equal parts with chili powder to taste

http://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/taco-salad-with-jicama-pico-de-gallo-for-the-eating-the-alphabet-challenge/

Check out the link party below (must be registered to enter) and don’t forget to check out the Eating the Alphabet Pinterest board. There you can keep track of all the recipes that are added month-to-month but also find new recipes from last year too. What’s your favorite fruit, vegetable, grain or legume that starts with the letter I or J?



I am going to ramble about this at some of these fun parties.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

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I had to do some research on why this is such a “hot” food item. I think everybody must be right. It certainly can’t hurt to use it. Although it is flavorless to me, it adapts well to seasoning and has nothing to compete with the acid, salty, or even sweet additions.  (Quinoa Nutritional Value – Wikipedia) Take a look if you aren’t already familiar with this.

I have a friend whose mom used to make tabbouleh and all sorts of other middle-eastern foods on Friday. Souraya would bring us some goodies back after lunch. Let me just say my mom never cooked like that for me at lunch. (Except on Sunday) I loved the Tabbouleh she would bring. It was so fresh.

When I saw this I had to make it. I didn’t have the exact ingredients she used, so I improvised. I wasn’t going back to the store again. It is really good, though.

I will experiment some more with quinoa to see what other flavors I can put with it.

Quinoa Tabbouleh

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Quinoa Tabbouleh

adapted from Dining with Debbie

What You Need:

  • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup (or more) diced celery
  • 1 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
  • 1 cup diced red bell pepper
  • 2/3 cup minced fresh cilantro or Italian parsley (your choice)
  • 1/4 cup minced fresh mint
  • 2 green onions, thinly sliced (optional)
  • Fresh lemon slices (optional)
    • Dressing
  • 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • freshly ground black pepper
  • 1/4 cup olive oil

What You Do:

  1. Bring quinoa, salt, 1 1/4 cups water to a boil over high heat.
  2. Reduce the heat to medium low and cover.
  3. Simmer until the quinoa is tender, about 10-15 minutes.
  4. Remove from the heat and let stand, covered, for five minutes.
  5. Fluff with a fork.
  6. Spread the quinoa out on a large platter or tray and let it cool completely.
  7. Whisk the lemon juice, garlic and olive oil together while the quinoa is cooking and let stand.
  8. In a large bowl, toss the quinoa and remaining ingredients and add the dressing.
  9. Sprinkle with the freshly ground black pepper.
  10. Chill thoroughly.
  11. Stir before serving.

Notes

The tabbouleh will keep several days in the refrigerator. It makes a super light lunch especially during spring and summer. I like it cool to room temperature best.

http://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/quinoa-tabbouleh/

I am going to ramble about this at some of these fun parties.

Summer Fresh Fruit Salad

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Salads are always good for a meal for me. They are easy to make for one person – except potato salad, pasta salad or fruit salad. Have you ever noticed how those grow from a medium to a large bowl? At least mine do.

I am accused of messing up too many dishes when I cook. This is due in part to my inability to judge the correct size bowl, pan or baking dish my meal requires. When I had children at home a pasta salad might take 3 bowls to get it right. The first one was way too small, the second was just right, but I had to room to give it all a good toss. Thus a third and much larger bowl was required. When it came time to store it in the refrigerator to chill, I might have been able to go back to the original (second) bowl which by then may have had something else put in it. At that point I would look for another medium size bowl to store the salad in the refrigerator. When it was time to toss it again, I usually had to retrieve that larger bowl. I did try to reuse the bowl which was just the right size for the refrigerator upon completion of the essential toss and taste portion of the recipe. Now, of course, there is a dish I will choose to stage for a photo for this blog. This is an entirely new dimension to the cleaning routine.

The same is true for vegetable soup. I try to make a portion for just a few meals, but I always end up with the largest soup pan. I have even been known to overflow the pressure cooker if I get carried away with chopping veggies before I add the stock.

This makes perfectly good sense to me. Dirty dishes in the sink are the sign of a good day. Happy, happy! Since I am the one cleaning up, who cares?

The same was true for this little Watermelon Salad. This was the best seedless watermelon I have ever had. I hope I get some more during the summer. My luck isn’t too good in picking perfect ones. I made this for Saturday dishes which starts bright and early tomorrow. Make sure to come and share your salad recipes!

Fruit Salad

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Fresh Fruit Salad

Serve with a strawberry yogurt as a dressing, if desired. (I like mine plain.)

What You Need:

  • 1 small seedless watermelon, cubed
  • 2 cups blueberries
  • 2 mangos, peeled and cubed
  • 3 kiwi fruit, peeled and sliced

What You Do:

  1. Rinse and cube the fruit. (Except the blueberries)
  2. Toss this in any size bowl you want (if it fits in the refrigerator).
  3. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
http://www.tumbleweedcontessa.com/blog/summer-fresh-fruit-salad/

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I am going to ramble about this at some of these fun parties.