A Girl's Gotta Eat!

In our most recent CSA box, we received a very nice-looking seedless watermelon. Most people would probably be thrilled with it, but I’ve never been a huge watermelon fan (unless it’s yellow watermelon, which I can eat like it’s going out of style.) Thankfully, Delvin Farms always sends an e-mail with recipes the night, to help use the fruits and veggies we are expecting. The following is a recipe from them, and quite possible the only way I’ll red watermelon from here on out. A few tips and comments…I used shallots instead of red onion because I don’t like a really strong onion flavor. I didn’t measure the melon, but used about half or a normal-size seedless watermelon and thought it was about perfect. I was also hesitant about saving the leftovers, as I was worried that the melon would get soggy sitting in the dressing overnight. I ate and shared the remainder the next day for lunch and still thought it was very tasty. I think it would be great for a picnic or get together ...

I know at some point you are going to get tired of me using the same cookbook over and over again. But when the recipes are all so tasty and reliable, why venture to an unknown? Here’s another I tried from Salt to Honey . I omitted the golden raisins (because I don’t like them in stuff like this) and the celery (because I didn’t want to buy the entire bunch to use only one stalk), and opted to add extra dried cranberries and almonds instead. The toughest part of the entire recipe was probably chopping the chicken, but that is only because I’m very particular about not wanting any grisly bits or fatty bites. I will say that the dressing portion made more than we wanted to add, so we saved the extra and decided we could maybe use it for something else later. Use your own judgment when adding it, and hold off dumping the entire amount in if you prefer less dressing as well. We were all set to serve the salad in radicchio leaves as suggested, but the radicchio available to us loo...

Like many of you, today we celebrated Easter, the resurrection of Jesus. And, of course, no celebration is complete without friends, family, and food (not necessarily in that order). My contribution this year is Amaretto Fruit Salad, found in the Junior League of Chattanooga's latest cookbook, Seasoned to Taste . I love this cookbook (each chapter is a different season: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter) and cannot wait to try many other recipes from it, but one thing at a time. We made this recipe as listed, leaving off the garnish because we didn't have any mint on hand. Let me add that I never thought I liked pineapple. I thought it was stringy, and I am definitely a texture person when it comes to choosing what foods I like. This time, we opted for buying a whole pineapple instead of one that was already cored and peeled. It was almost $2 cheaper, and prepping it myself wasn't that difficult. Mike also convinced me to try just one piece. I did, reluctantly, and di...

Ok, so the second recipe I made for the potluck was new to me: Broccoli Salad. A good friend brought a broccoli salad to our house a few months back. I'm not a huge fan of raw broccoli, but decided I would be an adult and try it. Very tasty! She couldn't find the exact recipe she used, but I gound this one in You're Invited Back   [50% off at Cookbook Marketplace!] from Junior League of Raleigh. It was easy to mix up. I kept the dressing separate, mixing it in about an hour before we were supposed to eat. Broccoli and Cranberry Salad 6 cups (1-inch) broccoli florets 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Cheddar cheese 1 cup crumbled crisp-cooked bacon 1 cup dried cranberries 1/2 cup chopped red onion 1 cup mayonnaise 2 tablespoons sugar 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper Combine the broccoli, cheese, bacon, cranberries and onion in a large bowl and mix well. Combine the mayonnaise, sugar, vinegar, salt and pepper in a small bowl and whis...

Time for our annual Christmas potluck at work. This year we veered from the usual ham and are having barbecue. I made two easy recipes, so I'll leave two short posts to share them with you. Recipe #1 was Bobby Flay's Easy Coleslaw. I didn't even like coleslaw until I tried this, and now I would argue it's a must have for barbecue sandwiches and burgers and barbecue sauce. Instead of shredded fresh cabbage and carrots, I use 1 bag of coleslaw salad mix. ¾ cup mayonnaise ½ grated white onion 2 tablespoons sugar 2 teaspoons celery seeds 3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar salt and pepper to taste  1 small head cabbage , shredded 1 carrot, shredded Whisk the mayonnaise, onion, sugar, celery seeds, vinegar, salt and pepper together in a medium bowl. Add the cabbage and carrot (or coleslaw salad mix) and stir or toss to coat. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Last night I tried a recipe I've been waiting to taste since I read about it months ago: Baked Goat Cheese Salad. I only recently discovered I even liked goat cheese, but now that I know, it seems new and wonderful ways to use it keep cropping up. Overall, I was pleased with how it turned out. I served it as the entire dinner, but I can see that it would be tasty as a side dish or "starter" if served with fewer cheese medallions. It was relatively easy to make, and I think one could easily prepare the cheese medallions earlier in the day if company was coming. The creamy cheese and crunchy panko coating was delightful. The only thing I might change is adding kalamata olives to the actual salad, just for a little saltiness and extra yum factor. I did enjoy it with the recommended hard apple cider, something I would encourage you to do as well. I wasn't sure if plain or flavored cheese would be better, so I used one log of each. The general consensus was the plain ...