Mediterrenean Grilled Vegetable Wraps

These wraps were inspired by a recent lunch we hosted at The Chopping Block. I love eating wraps at restaurants, but haven't messed around much with making them at home. When we made a bunch of these sandwiches at work, I realized how easy it was, and how one night of grilling could result in 3 nights of lunch or dinner. The pieces of this wrap stayed separate until it was time to make dinner, so everything was fresh tasting and ready to go. I did all the grilling at once, then peeled and sliced the red peppers, and sliced up all the other veggies. I mixed the cooked vegetables with salt, pepper, and just a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar. This mix of grilled vegetables went into the fridge, where it sat waiting to become a fresh Mediterranean wrap.

Grill the peppers until they are completely charred, then put them into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them steam in the bowl for 15 minutes or so, and then take the plastic wrap off to let them cool. When the peppers are cool enough to handle, the skins should easily peel off. Then, cut out the seeds and core inside the pepper, and slice the peppers into bite sized pieces.

Grill each vegetable until it is done. The mushrooms are easy on skewers, or also great in a grill basket. The eggplant, mushrooms, and zucchini will cook at different rates, so take each vegetable off the heat when it is grilled to your taste.

Now, to assemble the wraps, start with a large tortilla. Mine were spinach flavor, and made specifically for wrapping. Smear on some hummus, and top with fresh spinach leaves. Pile on some grilled vegetables, then top with crumbled feta cheese and freshly ground pepper. Wrap like a burrito, cut into two halves, and enjoy!

I made a total of six wraps out of the following ingredients:

Wrap-size tortillas (pack of 6)

One tub of hummus

1 pack of organic baby spinach (some spinach was leftover)

2 red peppers

1 large eggplant

2 medium zucchini

1 package baby bella mushrooms

4 ounces Greek feta cheese

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

We are in the midst of summer party season, with holidays and weekend cookouts abounding. I decided to mark the beginning of my 27th year of life by having a party this year, and of course even a late-night, beer drinking party can't be done without tasty party snacks! I promised myself I would keep it simple, with bags of tortilla and pita chips. I made a regular hummus and a lemon basil version, using fresh herbs from my little "garden" out back. These two dips were a hit, served with the pita chips and fresh veggies. I knew I wanted salsa, and this vegetable filled version is quick and so much more flavorful than a jar of processed salsa from the grocery store.

I have been making this salsa since I set out on my own, and my mom made it for years before that. It's from the Colorado Collage cookbook, a great collection put out by the Junior League of Denver. I took it up a notch this time by grilling fresh corn, but it's also great with a simple bag of the frozen variety. You just toss together the fresh ingredients, let the flavors marry, then toss in fresh tomatoes right before serving. It's especially good later in the summer, when you can get local, in season corn and tomatoes. The salsa is amazing as a part of a Mexican spread, but is also great as part of any American cookout menu. It is rare to see a warm weather party at my house where this salsa doesn't make an appearance. Enjoy!



Black Bean and Corn Salsa
from Colorado Collage Cookbook

15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed

16 oz corn, fresh or frozen and defrosted

1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onions

1/4 cup chopped red onion

1/3 cup fresh lime juice

3 Tbsp vegetable oil

1 Tbsp cumin

salt and pepper, to taste

1/3 cup seeded and chopped tomatoes

Combine all ingredients except the tomatoes. Cover and chill at least 2 hours, or overnight.

Just before serving, chop the tomatoes and fold into the corn and bean mixture. Adjust seasoning as needed, and serve with tortilla chips.

Tuna Pasta Salad

About three years ago, Joe and I made a big decision and decided to give city living a try by moving to Chicago. We liked Kansas City, but felt drawn towards a bigger city, full of people and excitement. It was quite a leap of faith, and thankfully it has worked out better than we ever expected. I always thought I was a city person-- when I was little I used to talk about owning an all black and white apartment in New York City! Now, I have to laugh at what a city slicker I've become. I love tall buildings and busy sidewalks (well, except busy, slow sidewalks on Michigan Ave where everyone walks so slow I want to scream!), and I usually want to just visit other cities when I leave this one. Some people love the open sky in the countryside at night, but it just makes me jumpy because it gets so dark out there!

I wasn't always such a fan of the cement jungle, though, because growing up in Colorado meant there were lots of outdoor adventures with our family. I went to summer camp a couple times, had a season pass to snowboard at Breckeridge and Keystone, and used to really enjoy hiking on the weekends. My mom, ever the gourmet, made sure we were fed well even when exploring the parks and hiking trails. This salad was a staple of many of our hikes, and I always get nostalgic when I make it. I love dill and don't cook with it often enough, and I think it's that herb that makes this dish taste like summer. And besides cooking the pasta, this meal avoids the oven and stove. Being a one dish combination of protein, carbs, and veggies makes it a simple dinner, and I always make extra to take to work for lunch. Doesn't this beat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich for your next hike or day at the beach?

Tuna Pasta Salad

from my mom... and maybe a cookbook from her collection?

4 cups cooked small pasta shells

1 1/2 cups tuna (cooked shrimp are also great for this!)

1/2 cup peas

1/2/ cup green onions

1/4 cup parsley

Combine above ingredients in large bowl.

Make dressing:

1/2/cup plain yogurt

1/2/ cup mayonnaise

2Tbsp chopped fresh dill

2 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp lemon zest

salt and pepper

Toss pasta mixture with dressing. Chill and enjoy!

CSA Cooking: Blueberry and Rhubarb Crisp

Last week we picked up the first share of our CSA for this summer. CSA stands for Community Supported (or sponsored) Agriculture, and it means you buy into a share of the farm and get fresh, organic produce on a weekly (or bi-weekly) basis. It's a great way to get beautiful, fresh produce, and to support local family farms. Also, as someone who loves to cook, it is a great challenge to try new ingredients and recipes. I can give our previous CSA credit for introducing me to kale, which we now eat on a regular basis.

This week's share included rhubarb, garlic scapes, mushrooms, oregeno, snap peas, lettuce, and kale. It was all so fresh!

This year we are doing a half share from Simply Wisconsin, which is actually a group of farms that work together for the CSA shares. It means we get to support lots of different farms, and we should get better quality and variety that we would get from a single farm. Some might say that this is a kind of weak way to do a CSA, and that you should really commit to supporting a single farm, but I really like the idea of getting produce from so many places. And the woman who organizes the whole operation, Deb, is so informative and helpful! I think it's going to be a great experience, and next year we'll most likely commit to more than the half share we're doing this year.

A colorful mix of rhubarb and blueberries

The first pick up included a lot of great looking produce, and I was most excited about the rhubarb, which I have never cooked with before. I thought about doing some kind of muffin or scone, but most of the recipes I found were for sweet desserts or rhubarb chutneys or sauces. I didn't want to do a strawberry and rhubarb combination, because that seemed too easy. I have been eating a ton of blueberries lately, though, because the organic half pints have been on sale at my grocery store a lot lately. I found this recipe for Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp with Pistachio Crust online, and couldn't resist the combination. It came together easily, and was a nice mix of sweet and tart. The crust was buttery and rich, and the pistachio made this a better than ordinary topping. A wonderful summer dessert!

Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp with Pistachio Crust

from epicurious.com

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

3/4 pound rhubarb

2 cups blueberries (about 11 ounces)

For topping

1/3 cup shelled natural pistachios

3/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 375°F. and butter a 2-quart shallow baking dish.

In a bowl stir together sugar and flour. Trim rhubarb and cut enough of stalks into 1/2-inch pieces to measure 2 cups. Add rhubarb and blueberries to sugar mixture, tossing well, and spread mixture in baking dish.

Make topping:

Finely chop pistachios. In a bowl whisk together flour and sugars. Cut butter into 1/2-inch cubes and with your fingers or a pastry blender blend into flour mixture until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add pistachios and toss well.

Squeeze a handful of topping together and coarsely crumble in chunks over filling. Squeeze and evenly crumble remaining topping over filling in same manner. Bake crisp in upper third of oven until filling is bubbling and topping is crisp and golden, about 50 minutes.

Serve crisp warm or at room temperature.

A pizza revelation

For as long as Joe and I have been together, pizza has been an important part of our lives. In college Joe worked at Shakespeare's, the quintessential college town pizza joint in Columbia. Back when I had a crush on him, I dragged my friends to there just so I had an excuse to run into him. On our first date, we spent a couple hours talking over beers at the downtown location. Some of his best friends from college were a result of his pizza making days, and he had plenty of fun nights working and hanging out with that motley crew.

Obviously, this means Joe is the chief pizza maker at our house. He still loves making fresh dough and topping it with various combinations of veggies and meat. I love this, too, because it means I should just get out of the kitchen and let him work his magic. And there are some nights when I've worked a few shifts in a row and have feet that are aching more that usual, when I like nothing more than to let him take the reigns with dinner. The results of this tend to be pretty delicious!

Last week I suggested we grill the pizza, which I've played around with a couple times before. In the summer it is a great way to make pizza without overheating your whole kitchen. We figured out the ideal pizza making technique this time around, and I think I will insist on having Joe grill our pizza from now on. You see, I am not the skilled pizza tosser that he is, and when I've grilled pizza in the past the crust has always been a little bit on the thick side. This never seemed like a problem, but once Joe pulled his thin crust pizza off the grates I knew his pizza had just blown mine out of the water. The thin crust had a perfect chewy texture from being cooked on the grill, since it is hotter than our oven, and it gets little charred bits in spots. It's reminiscent of the fancy wood oven pizzas that you pay $2o bucks for at trendy pizza places, and you can't beat the comfort of your own porch on a beautiful summer night. Even when it gets cold, I'm going to encourage Joe to keep grilling the pizza, because the texture of this crust is something we've never managed with our pizza stone in the oven. Give it a try, and thank me later ;)

Here's what you do. First, roll out your dough as thin as you can get it. Feel free to play around with tossing the dough, but have extra dough available if you're a novice. Get your grill nice and hot, and wipe an oiled rag over the grates to avoid having your pizza stick. Transfer the pizza dough to the grill, close the lid, and walk away for 3-4 minutes. Start checking the pizza every minute, and remove onto a cutting board or pizza peel when you start to see charred spots on the crust. Flip the pizza over, so the well done side is facing up, and top the pizza however you like. Then transfer the pizza back to the grill to finish cooking the bottom of the pizza. If it starts to look too crisp on the bottom, transfer to the upper rack on the grill until the cheese and other toppings are warm. Use the peel to get the pizza off the grill, slice, and enjoy!


If you make a pizza with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil, the leftover ingredients can be tossed with pasta, tuna, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar to make a quick and easy lunch!

Quinoa Loaf

I love grilling out and dining al fresco during the summer months, but there are times when traveling and enjoying the season with friends leads to too much indulgence. We've already had a few weekends full of excessive eating and drinking, and by Sunday night I'm swearing that the upcoming week we'll only eat vegetables and drink water. This healthy dinner recipe is perfect for when you need to detox a little without sacrificing flavor.

This quinoa loaf caught my attention on the Whole Foods website a few months back, and I've enjoyed it a few times already. It is a vegan recipe, with minimal fat and tons of flavor. The loaf is satisfying without being too heavy, and works great for lunchtime leftovers. You can play around with the vegetable mix-ins, although it's really good as the original recipe is written. And it was a great excuse to use some of the fresh thyme from my tiny little patio garden!

Quinoa Loaf

from the Whole Foods website

Ingredients

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, plus more for greasing

8 ounces button mushrooms, sliced

Salt and ground black pepper to taste

1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

3/4 cup rolled oats

2 cups cooked quinoa ( How to Cook Quinoa)

1 cup frozen green peas

1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley and/or 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme

10 sundried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped

1 cup (about 1 onion) chopped red onion

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8-inch loaf pan with oil; set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add mushrooms, salt and pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until mushrooms are golden brown, 6 to 8 minutes.

Meanwhile, put beans, oats and 1/2 cup water into a food processor and pulse until almost smooth. In a large bowl, combine mushrooms, bean mixture, quinoa, peas, parsley, tomatoes, onion, salt and pepper. Transfer mixture to prepared loaf pan, gently pressing down and mounding it in the middle. Bake until firm and golden brown, 1 to 1 1/4 hours. Set aside to let rest for 10 minutes before slicing and serving.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

This homemade vegetable stock has been a part of my soups, risottos, and other vegetarian cooking for a couple months now. Before this I was pretty addicted to the Trader Joe’s vegetable stock concentrate packets, but they’re only sporadically available in the stores. I live in fear of them being discontinued, so I decided I needed to try my hand at making my own veggie stock. This version was recommended to me by a coworker, who had developed the recipe for a vegetarian cooking class. It does take more time (and potentially money) to make this stock, but I love knowing exactly what is in my food! And I took another coworker’s advice to reduce the stock by about half, and then to freeze it in ice cube trays. These little concentrated cubes are great to have in my freezer, ready for any vegetarian cooking needs.

Homemade Vegetable Stock

from The Chopping Block

Yield: 8-10 cups stock

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

3 medium onions, large dice

3 medium carrots, large dice

3 stalks celery, large dice

2 bulbs fennel, large dice

3 cups cremini mushrooms, rough chopped

1 cup white wine

12 cups water

3 roma tomatoes, cut into large pieces

1/2 bunch parsley stems

6 sprigs fresh thyme

10-15 black peppercorns

1. Preheat oven to 425º.

2. In a heavy roasting pan, toss together the olive oil, onions, carrots, celery, fennel and mushrooms. Roast until lightly caramelized, about 25-30 minutes. Transfer the roasted vegetables to a stockpot.

3. Deglaze the roasting pan with the white wine, scraping up any browned bits. Add the wine to the stockpot.

4. Add the water, tomatoes parsley, thyme and peppercorns to the pot and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 45 minutes.

5. Strain the stock through a fine sieve, chill until room temperature and refrigerate for up to 5 days.