Winter Salad with Beans, Potato & Roasted Beets

The beets color this warm winter salad a delightful purple, but if you like to keep colors separate, add the beets last. This salads good on its own as a side dish, or as a base for pan-fried fish or chicken.

Purple Autumn: Black Lentil Stew with Beets & Fig Balsamic Vinegar

What a beautiful evening it is outside tonight as I write this! The air is still warm enough to be comfortable, but a cool breeze is coaxing the still-vibrant summer vines to dance tonight under the almost full moon. Katydids and crickets are busy making "a little night music" while toads, from tiny to plump, jump from sidewalk to lawn, entertaining our little dog as my husband I stroll with her on our evening walk.

Vitamin Garbanzo Beans Salad - Healthy Lunch

Healthy and luscious this salad is great for light lunch. Garbanzo Beans is paired with garlic and other ingredients to make this tasty dish. This is a healthful, easy salad uses few ingredients, and will complement any meat or poultry dish if you serve it for dinner.

Heirloom Tomato Beets Salad with Basil, Red Onion & Feta Cheese

Beets, basil and tomatoes with some red onions and feta cheese, might be my favorite ingredient combination.

I love summer!

Pan-fried Lemon Bluefish with Caper-Tomato Salsa

Pan-fried Lemon Bluefish with Caper-Tomato Salsa & Thyme - a simple, yet colorful presented recipe with enough acidity of lemon juice and white wine, to cut the richness and enhance the flavor of the bluefish.

Summer Burger with Avocado, Red Onion, Horseradish Sour Cream Sauce & Dijon Mustard Mayonnaise

It would be possible to write a whole cookbook on the various ways of preparing and serving hamburgers. This recipe is an interesting Summer dish, beautifully seasoned. When served with different sauces and sides, these burgers make particularly tempting outdoor food.

Turkey Kebab over Pita with Fresh Tomato Salsa

The flavors of the spiced turkey kebab with fresh tomato salsa are wonderful. Perfect for any Summer day.

Hot and Juicy Shrimp with Spicy Garlic and Ginger Sauce

Possibly one of the most popular seafood dishes in the entire world, shrimp can be found on menus all across North and South America as well as in the markets of West Africa and India. It's been said that no restaurant or market is too far from the sea to offer shrimp to its customers. The name in one of the more practical ones in the world of seafood, since it comes from both the English description of a puny person, shrimpe, and the Swedish skrympa, to shrink.

There are hundreds of varieties of shrimp with a vast assortment of names but all are interchangeable in recipes. Although higher in cholesterol than most other seafood, shrimp are low in fat, very mild, and quite firm in texture. They are, perhaps, the prime example of  seafood that takes very little cooking to make them ready for the table.



The shrimp marinate for two hours in a tangy mixture of cool and hot spices, impairing a full flavor to them. Then they simmer in an onion and lemon sauce.

Note: If you shell shrimp before cooking, don't throw away the shells, for they're filled with flavor. Rinse them under cold water and cook them in boiling water for 10 minutes. Then strain the liquid and use it to cook the shelled shrimp or make a sauce of your choice.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 4 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1/2 tsp crushed dried mint, or fresh
• 1 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 1 tsp. sweet paprika
• 2 tsp finely minced ginger
• 1 to 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 1 small red onion, diced
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 green onion scallions, chopped, for serving
• lettuce for serving

Directions:

In a bowl, combine the shrimp with the mint, red pepper flakes, garlic, ginger, sweet paprika, red onion, salt and pepper until well coated, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for two hours, stirring once during this time.

In a large sauté pan over medium heat, warm the olive oil (optional). Add the shrimp with spice mixture, and cook, stirring and turning the shrimp, until they just become opaque, about one minute. Lower the heat to simmer and add the lemon juice. Cook over low heat for about 3 minutes more. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve over lettuce leaves.



I just got summer issue of Sweet Dreams delicious looking magazine from Germany with my photo of Blackberry No-Bake Cheesecake in it. Take a look-))

Basil Chicken Salad with Mushrooms, Walnuts and Avocado on a Whole Grain Bread

Ingredients:

• 3 chicken breast halves, about 1 1/2 lb. total, cooked (roasted)
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil leaves, chopped
• 2 scallions chopped
• 1 small red onion, diced (more for serving, optional)
• 1 large avocado, firm but ripe, pitted, peeled and diced (more for serving, optional)
• 3/4 lb. mushrooms of your choice
• 2 Tbsp. butter
• 1/2 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped
• 1/4 cup mayonnaise 
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 slices of Whole Grain Bread, toasted

Directions:

In a sauté pan over medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring frequently, until browned, 5 to 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

In a large mixing bowl dice your chicken into 1/4 inch pieces. In a bowl, whisk together the mayonnaise, the lemon juice, and scallions until blended and smooth. Fold in the chicken, and everything else. Mix together. Serve on the toasted bread.

It does not get any simpler, or delicious.

Chilled Summer Soup from Young Beets

There can hardly be a more delightful way to start a summer lunch or al fresco dinner than with a refreshing chilled soup. Borscht from Young Beets is a healthy vegetarian soup, which just good served on hot day.



Adapted from “A Platter of Figs and Other Recipes,” by David Tanis

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds beets
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 medium red onion, sliced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoons red-wine vinegar, or to taste
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• fresh fennel
• crumbled feta for serving

Directions:

Peel and slice the beets and put them in a large saucepan. Cover with 4-5 cups water and add the garlic, red onion, bay leaf, cloves, cayenne, sugar, vinegar, oil and salt. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes, or until the beets are tender. Check the seasoning of the broth. It should be distinctly sweet, sour, peppery and flavorful. Correct the seasoning, adding salt and cayenne if necessary, and freshly ground pepper. Cool slightly.

Remove the bay leaf. Purée the soup well in a blender, then strain into a large bowl. Chill in the refrigerator or over ice until cold.

To serve, pour into small water glasses. Garnish with freshly ground pepper and, if desired, fresh fennel and crumbled feta.