Cookie and Kate

Mexican Green Salad with Jalapeño-Cilantro Dressing

August 16, 2017 7 Comments

Meet the next edition of my giant salad challenge! This “Mexican” green salad recipe is quite possibly the prettiest salad I’ve ever had the chance to photograph, too. Romaine lettuce and mixed spring greens, purple cabbage and cauliflower, cherry tomatoes, cucumber and red onion combine to create one stunning and delicious salad.

The idea behind the salad challenge is that I’m challenging you (and myself) to make an enormous green salad and some homemade dressing to go with it. If you store the salad and dressing separately in the refrigerator, you’ll have salad to last you all week long. I find that I eat a lot more greens and veggies this way, and I’m more likely to grab salad as a snack than a regrettable handful of chips.

I’ve enjoyed quite a few renditions of this salad over the past few months. It was inspired by a local restaurant called Taco Republic’s “Al Verde” salad, which includes Tuscan kale, roasted golden beets, and mayo-based dressing. I always get their salad to balance out the queso and chips I inevitably-but-not-regrettably order beforehand.

I ultimately decided on some ingredients that are a little easier to find at a regular grocery store and prepare for my salad. Freshly toasted pepitas offer a savory, nutty crunch, and creamy feta and avocado make this salad irresistible. This salad isn’t the quickest salad you’ll ever make, but it pays off in sheer quantity and flavor.

I also made my dressing lighter, although it’s still deliciously creamy, thanks to an olive oil and lime juice emulsion plus a tablespoon of tahini (which is optional). The dressing is based on the jalapeño-lime dressing in my cookbook (page 53). In the book, I offered four of my favorite make-ahead salad dressings, plus a simple five-step guide to creating an epic salad. You might want a copy (wink).

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How to Make Tzatziki

August 10, 2017 23 Comments

Tzatziki! Tsaht-ZEE-kee! Otherwise known as that yogurt and cucumber sauce you love at Greek restaurants but worry about mispronouncing (hear the pronunciation here). Tzatziki is a refreshing, chilled sauce or dip made simply with yogurt, drained cucumber, olive oil, fresh herbs (usually mint or dill), garlic, lemon juice and salt.

I tend to associate tzatziki with Greek food, but you’ll find it served across the Mediterranean and Middle East, sometimes under different names or in slightly different forms. Tzatziki is often served with grilled meats and gyros, but I can’t think of a grilled or roasted vegetable it wouldn’t play nicely with. Bell peppers, mushrooms, carrots, asparagus and green beans are all fair game. I might even slather it on grilled corn on the cob. Why not?

You can also serve up some tzatziki with your next appetizer spread. It would go great with toasted pita wedges, crisp raw vegetables, hummus, olives, cheese and crackers. Its many uses don’t end at cook-outs and cheese plates, though.

Tzatziki is also fantastic dolloped on falafel and spread inside pita sandwiches (you could use it instead of the avocado in that recipe). And, I don’t get mad when tzatziki lands on my tabbouleh, lentil salad or chickpea salad.

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Crunchy Thai Peanut & Quinoa Salad

August 8, 2017 86 Comments

I tend to keep to myself, especially in yoga class. It’s not a very social form of exercise, you know? Last year, when I walked into my usual Tuesday evening yoga class and my instructor shouted, “COOKIE AND KATE,” I froze. Kim, a regular in the class, had learned about my blog through her co-worker, and she said, “I know her! I go to yoga with her!”

Then Kim told Christina, the teacher, and then everyone found out. Including Amie, one of my favorite instructors, who is great friends with Kate Kasbee of Well Vegan. Kate lives in Chicago and was working on a cookbook called Frugal Vegan at the time.

Through the Amie-Kate connection, I got a sneak peek at Frugal Vegan and wrote a blurb for the back cover. “Frugal Vegan offers an incredible array of fresh and simple vegan recipes. Every single one of them manages to be easy to make, affordable and accessible, too.”

Kate came to town for Amie’s birthday party, so I met her for drinks, and a giant green bug landed in her herbed green cocktail. Are you still following? I can’t make this stuff up.

Kate and I bonded over the trials and tribulations of cookbook-making, our love for our funny-looking pups (meet Rex), and the green bug experience. We practiced our half-moon poses at Amie’s backyard birthday party the next day. Maybe I shouldn’t be so shy about my work, since it opens so many fun doors.

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Mango-Rita Green Smoothie

August 5, 2017 30 Comments

I’m still giggling about the time I shared a green smoothie on Snapchat and one of my good guy friends told me it looked totally disgusting. That’s what good friends are for, right? I laughed because I was ninety-percent confident that he would have loved it if he had actually tried it.

It was mostly made of raspberries, but I added some spinach for some extra nutrients. While the raspberry-red and spinach-green colors didn’t combine to produce the most appetizing shade of frozen treat, it was nutritious and seriously delicious.

I’ll never get on the expensive fresh juice bandwagon, but smoothies are a great way to get some extra servings of fruit (and even some greens). With smoothies, as opposed to juice, you get all that goodness without losing the fiber content, which keeps blood sugar levels stable.

When I discovered that I could portion smoothie ingredients in a mason jar or bag to blend later, I started making a lot more smoothies at home. I’ve been rotating through the three make-ahead green smoothies in my book, but it’s about time to change things up.

I recently got a chance to chat with Jen from Simple Green Smoothies. She’s a pioneer of the green smoothie concept. Somehow, I’d never gotten my hands on a copy of her book of the same name, so she offered to send me a copy. It’s beautifully designed and photographed, with over 100 recipes for green smoothies of all varieties—green smoothies for beginners and kids, post-workout, dessert, and even green smoothie bowls.

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Chilaquiles Verdes with Baked Tortilla Chips

August 2, 2017 43 Comments

I travelled all the way to Mexico City last month in search of the best chilaquiles, tacos and quesadillas I could find. I found all of the above, plus quite a few new-to-me Mexican combinations of cheese, flatbread and cactus or mushrooms.

On our last morning there, I walked to the loveliest French-Mexican café down the street called Lardo and ordered chilaquiles verdes. Chilaquiles are a traditional Mexican breakfast made with tortilla chips simmered in sauce (green or red). I happily sat at the bar solo, sipping my cappuccino, admiring all of the copper design details, eavesdropping on the American family nearby, and imagining how fun it might be to travel with my own family someday.

Then my chilaquiles arrived, and all focus shifted to the gorgeous food placed before me. I didn’t know that tortilla chips and salsa could be so beautiful, but these were piled high and covered with dollops of queso fresco, fresh green cilantro leaves and lots of creamy diced avocado. (No egg; apparently I was supposed to order that separately, but I loved them as is).

The chips were perfectly tender, not soggy or too poky. The salsa tasted super fresh, and wasn’t overpowered by the flavor of fried chips. I’ve read that the sauce for chilaquiles varies by region (sometimes it’s red), but I think that green sauce is more traditional in Mexico City. Those chilaquiles tasted as good as they looked, and I vowed to recreate them promptly when I got home.

Which I did, opting to bake my tortilla chips rather than using store-bought or frying my own (big pots of oil scare me). I also made my favorite salsa verde. I tried a variety of toppings and landed on a combination of feta (in lieu of queso fresco or Cotija), red onion (for some color and heat), fresh cilantro, fried eggs (optional), and, of course, avocado.

I carefully picked out just-ripe avocado at the store, and then I forgot to add it for the photos. I went all the way to Mexico City for this chilaquiles recipe, and I forgot to add the avocado. Head smack!

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What to Cook This August

July 31, 2017 29 Comments

August is coming to you one day early! Summer is slipping by far too fast. Farmers’ markets are exploding with goodness this month, and fortunately, much of the produce growing now doesn’t need much cooking, if at all. Now’s the time to savor a ripe peach over the sink.

I’m feeling conflicted between spending time on some fun projects and recipes, and soaking up sunshine at the nice pool next door that I’ve only visited once this summer. Can I work by the pool? Now there’s an idea. See link no. 1 below. :)

I Work From Home
Who knew that Martha Stewart is so funny? (podcast)
Real talk on that “effortless expensive” decorating style
What is aquafaba?
The 6/30 rule for sleep… seems like a rule I should follow.
Interior design rules: Scale, etc. I love this stuff.
How to Make a Difference and Find Your Purpose with Blake Mycoskie (podcast)
Chemotherapy, Then the U.S. Championships
Brandless: Everything is $3 and a lot of it is organic. I’m intrigued!
Sweet Peas Meals: The new menu planning service offered by my friends Maria and Jessica.
Updates on those practical Nordstrom anniversary sale purchases (affiliate links): Keeping the warm vest, because it’s cute and very warm. The leggings are super nice, but I’m in between sizes and I found some better hiking pant options elsewhere. Keeping the SmartWool socks. Also keeping the bra that Ali has been telling me about for ages. It’s so pretty and the design prevents it from doing that annoying fold-over thing after a few washes.