Cornbread Salad

Dear Turkey,

It's like the perfect

Crouton, but better for you

And a little sweet

Pesto Caprese

Dear Turkey,

I can't believe I

Never thought to combine these

Two amazing things

Magical Potato Pizza (and Salad)

Dear Turkey,

On the first bite you're

Not so sure, and then you have

Eaten three pieces

Magical Carrot Salad with Tahini Dressing

Dear Turkey,

Seeing the picture

Is making me want to make

It again right now

Trader Joe's Copycat Grilled Honey Meyer Lemon Ricotta, Shallot Parmesan Bread, and Salad in 90 Minutes

Dear Turkey,

It actually took

Me 70 minutes, but

I don't want to brag

Black Rice and Blackened Tofu Bowls

Dear Turkey,

Make this and then ask

Yourself if you really need

To keep eating meat

Black Rice Salad with Peanut Dressing

Dear Turkey,

I had this at the

Moosewood, which is one of my

Favorite restaurants

Homemade Pasta with Raw Sauce and Arugula Salad

Dear Turkey,

This meal is so good

And it's so weird that there's no

Garlic or onions

Farro Tahini Salad

Dear Turkey,

You'll feel like you're at

A restaurant, but saving

A bunch of money

Amazing and Easy Farro and Broccoli Salad

Dear Turkey,

This is another

Recipe that is more than 

The sum of its parts

Big and Little Pasta Salad

Dear Turkey,

Big giant pasta

And little everything else

Makes a fun salad

Amazingly Retro Lentil Burgers

Dear Turkey,

This is the kind of

Thing my parents used to eat

In the seventies

Use Up Your CSA Broccoli Slaw

Dear Turkey,

It's officially

Autumn, but your CSA

Keeps giving you stuff

Vegan Pasta Salad

Dear Turkey,

Mayonaise pasta

Salad sitting out at a

Picnic is not cool

Baked Falafel

Dear Turkey,

Remember when I made falafel sandwiches? Yeah, that was, like, two days ago. And they were awesome. But I ended up with a ton of falafel batter in my fridge and I got sick of frying it every night.

So I wondered why you couldn't just bake it like a big, Middle Eastern veggie kugel? Turns out, you can. Now, this isn't the oil-soaked, just-fried falafel goodness like in my last post. But it's really good, keeps in the fridge beautifully after it's cooked, and is sliceable and versatile -- perfect for sandwiches, salads, crumbled on top of soup like a tender crouton, and vegan.

Homemade Croutons

Dear Turkey,

You know how I was saying that poached fruit is all over the web? Same with recipes that use leftover bread. Croutons are always on those lists of the top...things to do with stale bread. Since I make bread a lot, I figured it was time to start making my own croutons.

I don't really like croutons from the store, the ones that have, like, 100 ingredients, trans fat, and can break your teeth. These are not like that. These are like what comes off of the top of French onion soup when you make it yourself. You can put them on salad, soup, or even pasta (trust me).

Creamy Miso Slaw

Dear Turkey,

Remember that cabbage from the other day? Well, half of it was still in my fridge. And that was exciting because I found this recipe (which I modified) for a slaw that used up many things that also happened to be in my fridge. I knew that the combination of miso, Dijon mustard, and honey would be awesome and healthy. I was correct, and the Dijon rounded out the miso in just the right way. 

More Pasta Salad That I Actually Like

Dear Turkey,

You might remember that I have some opinions about what makes a good pasta salad. (Mayo lovers, you will have to agree to disagree with me here if you want to survive the rest of this post). Here is another one:

As you can see, I served this with caprese, so I didn't put any cheese in it (I let people add their own feta if they wanted to).  I love this salad because the white beans, olives, and elbows are perfect salad-size, and they contrast with the crunchy, slightly-bigger cuke pieces.

Awesome not-creamy pasta salad:

2-3 c elbows, cooked al dente (I rinsed them with cool water a little bit because I didn't want to heat the cuke too much, but I also wanted them to be a little warm to help the dressing and the flavors absorb and mix, and also to wilt the parsley)

1 cuke, quartered and then sliced

1 tiny can sliced black olives, rinsed 

1 regular can small white beans, rinsed

1/4 c parsley, cut up small

Dressing (if the pasta is warm enough you can probably get away without mixing this beforehand and just throwing it all in): a few T or 1/4 c olive oil (depending on how much dressing you like), same amount red wine vinegar (I used chianti red wine vinegar), 1 t salt, 1 t pepper, 1 T sugar (start with less if you don't want it too sweet; I think dressings should be sweet), 1 T lemon juice.

Feta, optional

This was really good slightly warm right when I made it, and it was also really good cold the next day.

Enjoy
Tofu

Heirloom. Tomato. Caprese.

Dear Turkey,

I am a snob snob. Meaning, I don't like snobs, and that makes me a snob. This sentiment extends to tomato snobs, at least the ones who pay $3.99/lb for "heirloom tomatoes" from Wegmans in January. This is different (because if it weren't then I would be a snob, too). These heirloom tomatoes are so real that I can't even tell if they are all tomatoes. (You should be happy that I resisted the urge [haha] to arrange them in a naughty configuration for this picture.) 

Don't forget the heirloom (licorice flavored -- it's good, trust me) basil:

Also, that bread knife is an heirloom because it was my grandma's and my mom continues to use it despite the fact that it's broken.

Enjoy,

Tofu

What Dinner Tastes Like at 9 PM

Dear Turkey,

On my birthday, I pretended to be one of those hip European people who eats dinner at 9 PM. Actually, I decided that I wanted to go running at 6 PM, so that meant that we didn't eat until the time formerly known as my bedtime.

Once I looked in the mirror and said, "Mama's old." Now my son says, "Mama's old," whenever I look in the mirror. Or whenever he fees like it, whichever happens sooner. Now that I am Old, I am working on going with the flow and enjoying life and all of those cliches. So, instead of stressing about how late it was, I lit a candle on the picnic table and enjoyed my dinner. (If you don't think this is a big accomplishment, you don't know me).

Unfortunately for you, the person who prepared my dinner firmly believes that I should only post pictures of food that I actually cook, and not pictures of food that he actually cooks (good thing you don't believe that, Mom). So, here's what I actually did:

I washed this beautiful arugula and these beautiful non-local cherries. 

And then we had hummus that you make in the microwave from Minimalist Baker, grilled cod with this rub from Budget Bytes, and grilled chickpea salad with red onion and sourdough. If you are trying to decide if you're too lazy to click on these links or not, I promise you, it's worth it.

Enjoy,

Tofu