Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cucumber Soup

I don't know why I do the things I do sometimes. For example, I do not like cucumber. There has never been a point in my life where I have enjoyed eating a cucumber, in any form; yet when I decided I wanted to make soup, I couldn't shake the urge for cucumber. Typically cucumber soup is served cold (another thing I do not like in the least bit: cold soup), but I thought doing a roasted spiced soup would be perfect for the rainy weather we've been having here in New Jersey.

Cucumber is fresh and light, which reminds me of the spring I'm hoping will come very soon. The vibrant green is cheery, and unlike the sodium-filled soup you buy at the store, this has no salt. I repeat. No. Salt. Something about the smoothness of the avocado, cream from the greek yogurt, and that pinch of spice gives this soup all the flavor it needs. I don't know how, but I took something I found rather dull and flavorless and made it.... really damn good!

You can make the whole batch (sans yogurt), freeze it, and add the yogurt last minute for a long-lasting soup you won't get sick of. If you're feeling sniffly and wishing for sunny weather (like me) then I think you'll enjoy it too. :)

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Cucumber Soup
Makes: 12 servings  Prep: 15 minutes  Total: 1 hour

Ingredients
4 cucumbers, peeled and sliced
1/2 cup, 1 tbs olive oil (divided)
2 tbs honey
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 yellow onion, diced
1/2 tbs coarse ground pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
1 avocado
2 tbs parsley, plus more for garnish
1 cup plain greek yogurt

Directions
Lay peeled and sliced cucumbers in a baking dish. In a small bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup olive oil, honey, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Pour over cucumbers and toss to cover. Roast in the oven at 300 degrees for 45 minutes.
Saute onion in 1 tbs olive oil for 3-4 minutes until soft. Sprinkle with pepper and cook for another minute. Add vegetable broth and cook on medium-high heat just below boiling for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.
In a food processor, add cooked cucumbers, broth, avocado and parsley. Process on high for 2 minutes. Add greek yogurt, garnish with parsley and serve. (If refrigerating or freezing, wait to add yogurt until just before serving.)

Citrus Veggie Quinoa Salad

I suppose you can't really have a food blog these days and not have at least one post about quinoa, right? If you've never had quinoa, there are a few things you need to know:

1) It's pronounced "KEEN-wah", not "ki-NO-wah" or "qui-NO-wah" or any other easily mistakable pronunciation.
2) Quinoa became very popular because of influential food bloggers like Heidi Swanson, who turned an unusual grain into a multi-functional health food staple.
3) Quinoa is kind of a grain, but kind of not. It's like a seed, but more like a grain? Whatever it is, it's surprisingly really good.

So, I made a huge batch of quinoa salad to use as a grab-and-go snack, lunch and dinner this past week. Somehow I've managed to eat the same thing all week and not get sick of it, meaning I'll definitely be experimenting with more quinoa recipes in the near future.

Citrus Veggie Quinoa Salad
Serves: 10-12  Prep: 25  Total: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 pound boxed quinoa
1 yellow pepper
1 orange pepper
1 small eggplant
2 Roma tomatoes
1/2 cup green onion, chopped
lemon juice
olive oil
garlic salt
pepper

Directions
Prepare quinoa on the stove as directed.
In the meantime, chop eggplant, pepper, tomato and green onion. Cook eggplant in a medium skillet until slightly softened, or about 5 minutes. Add the pepper into the skillet and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Lastly, add the green onion and tomato and cook for one more minute. Remove from heat.
When the quinoa is full cooked, add in mixed vegetables and toss with citrus dressing (1 part lemon juice, 1 part olive oil, garlic salt and pepper).

Egg-y Eggplant Vegetarian Breakfast Sandwich

I adore eggplant - like, love an insane amount. If there was ever such a thing as a sexy piece of produce, it would be eggplant. It's best served in fat slices, grilled or sauteed in a spritz of olive oil until they're like thick, succulent steaks... mmmmmm. I have leftover eggplant in my fridge now and just writing about it makes me want to get up and fry me a slice. (It's 11 pm on a Wednesday. Maybe if I give it an hour it'll be an acceptable midnight snack?)

A very similar sandwich was the very dish that inspired me to start writing this blog. My first post ever was about an eggplant sandwich on a New Jersey bagel my roommate Dana had brought back from a trip home. My heart jumps for joy every time I see a perfectly plump Italian eggplant in the produce section and decide to buy it, without any care or thought for how I'll put it to good use.

I've tried to make my friends and boyfriend as enthusiastic about potential dinners of epic eggplant proportions, but to no avail. The poor guy just sits there in my fridge, waiting to be eaten slice by slice until the forgotten leftovers are tossed in the trash. Then the other night it hit me. Why should eggplant be limited to dinner? How about combining two of my favorite things, eggplant and breakfast sandwiches????

BOOM. Here you have it, folks. A tasty vegetarian alternative to the cholesterol-ridden ham, egg and cheese, with all the same meaty texture and juicy deliciousness. Prepare yourself for chin-drizzling joy.

Egg-y Eggplant Vegetarian Breakfast Sandwich
Makes: 1 sandwich  Total time: 20 minutes

Ingredients
2 thick slices of Italian eggplant
1 piece of artisan bread, large enough for sandwich
1 egg, fried
1 slice of tomato
1/2 cup spinach
Olive oil
Sea salt
Coarse ground pepper

Directions
Chop two slices of eggplant about 1-1/2 inches thick. Drizzle or spray olive oil in a medium pan and cook eggplant for 1 to 2 minutes on either side until lightly golden.
In the meantime, slice your piece of artisan bread through the middle to create a top and bottom piece. Toast for 3 minutes. Slice tomato and measure out spinach. Set aside.
In a small frying pan, fry one egg to desire doneness. Layer eggplant, fried egg, tomato and spinach on the bottom slice of bread. Season with sea salt and ground pepper. Cut in half and serve with a side of fresh fruit.

Spinach Salad Wrap with Green Apple, Dried Cranberries and Dijon Dressing

It's been difficult to get into the spring mindset due to Boston's dreary weather the past few weeks. Throwing on my clunky rainboats and heavy rain jacket on the way to the grocery store doesn't really get me in the mood for summer salads and barbeques. However, the good news is... the Copley Square Farmers Market opens tomorrow! Even though the forecast is more rain all week, the farmer's market will be my little ray of sunshine. I'm taking the day off work tomorrow to go to a networking breakfast at Fenway Park, then spending all afternoon wandering the local vendors down at Copley. Hopefully the rain will deter fairweather fans and I'll get the good stuff!

My roommates and I are hosting a going away dinner in our apartment on Thursday for my friend Jess, who just graduated and is moving to Texas to do Teach for America. Thursday night dinners became a sort of ritual this year with my girlfriends as a way to stay in touch despite our crazy schedules. (Look back here at my post about our first Thursday night dinner.) I always offer to cook on these nights, and this Thursday we're leaning toward Mexican so I'm hoping to find some nice produce for a few impromptu salsas at the farmers market. Whatever we stuff our faces with, the night is bound to be filled with lots of laughs and tears. It's my first college friend to graduate and move away, so this Thursday dinner will be bittersweet no doubt.

Anyway, enough blubbering. Here's a salad wrap I threw together yesterday for lunch. I'm trying to fill my diet with loads of fruits and veggies to counteract all the baking that's been going on in my apartment. I don't usually love veggie wraps, but this one was so hardy I had to bring the rest into work for lunch today. The Dijon dressing is perfect with the green apple and dried cranberries. I made a bunch of it to use in salads later this week. My trick - when your Dijon mustard is mostly gone, use the remains to make this dressing! Pour your olive oil and seasoning right into the mustard jar, shake it up, and store what you don't use.

Oh, did I mention my birthday is on Wednesday? Maybe I'll find a nice treat for myself at the farmers market for an early celebration. :)

Spinach Salad Wrap with Green Apple, Dried Cranberries and Dijon Dressing
Makes: 1 wrap  Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1 whole wheat tortilla wrap
1 egg
1/2 cup spinach
1/2 green apple
1/8 cup cherry tomatoes
2 tbs Gorgonzola cheese
1/8 cup dried cranberries
2 tbs Dijon dressing*

Directions
Start by bringing a small pot of salted water to a boil. Add one egg and boil for ten minutes. Remove from heat, dump out the water from the pot and run cold water over the egg until covered. Let cool.
Lay out whole wheat tortilla on a flat surface and spread a bed of spinach across the middle, leaving room on either side to roll up the wrap at the end. Next, chop the green apple in half and cut into 1/2-inch slices. Half the cherry tomatoes and place apple and tomatoes on top of the spinach.
Crack the hard boiled egg and slice it into small pieces over the wrap. (Optional: For a healthier wrap, remove the egg yolk and add only egg whites.) Sprinkle Gorgonzola and dried cranberries, and add Dijon dressing. Finally, roll up the wrap, pulling the short sides up to close the ends and pull one long side on top of the salad, tucking it in tight before closing the wrap.

*Dijon dressing: Combine 1 part Dijon mustard, 1 part olive oil, sea salt, coarse ground pepper and lemon juice in a small jar. Shake well before serving.

Breakfast Burrito

Yesterday morning, I woke up an hour and a half before I needed to leave for work, meaning I had almost an extra hour of time to get ready. I considered going back to bed, but then I had a vision. A melty, spicy, cheesy vision that needed to come to life. That vision, my friends, was to recreate this guilty pleasure and Saturday morning hangover cure: the breakfast burrito.

I visit an amazing little sandwich shop at least once every weekend so my friends can get their weekly burrito fix. I'm usually more of a bagel, egg and cheese girl, but since I had all the ingredients in my fridge already I just couldn't resist the urge to make my own. Other artery-clogging ingredients can be added to a breakfast burrito, including bacon, avocado, or sausage. The egg and potato alone were enough to fill me up well past my regular lunch hour, but the size of this beast didn't stop me from devouring it in under five minutes.

Try to eat it slowly. I dare you.

Breakfast Burrito

Serves: 1  Total Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients 

2 large eggs

2 tbs milk

1 red potato

1 whole wheat tortilla

1/2 cup mozzarella cheese

3-4 tbs of salsa, to taste

1/2 garlic clove, minced

Tabasco sauce

Salt and pepper

Directions

Cut potato into very small cubes. Saute in olive oil on a large skillet until soft; season with garlic, salt and pepper. Add Tabasco sauce right before serving.

While the potato is cooking, whisk eggs with milk and scramble in a medium pan. When the eggs are done, place them in a long strip across the center of your whole wheat tortilla. Sprinkle cheese over the eggs, and top with potato.

Roll your tortilla tightly into a burrito. Serve with salsa.