Cookie and Kate

Garden-Fresh Corn Salad

July 18, 2018 4 Comments

Exciting news! My cookbook, Love Real Food, is currently available at the lowest price I’ve ever seen. So, if you’ve been wanting a copy, or if you like to gift the book (I hear it makes lovely housewarming and birthday gifts!), now is the time. Buy here.

Ok, moving on! This super fresh corn salad recipe is bursting with fresh-from-the-garden goodness, including fresh herbs, cucumber, radishes, tomato and jalapeño. I tossed all of that in a simple vinaigrette, and creamy feta (or avocado, if you’d rather) balances out the acidity.

This salad would make a beautiful presentation at your summertime get-togethers, or on your dinner table. It goes well with grilled options and balances out heavier main dishes. I think it would look cute as an appetizer, served in small glasses or ramekins.

It’s been so hot in Kansas City lately that I’ve fully embraced raw summer produce. I’m a big fan of raw sweet corn, but you could grill your corn first if you’d like some smoky flavor. This corn salad recipe is delicious either way.

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Colorful Strawberry Arugula Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

July 14, 2018 12 Comments

I declare this strawberry number the Official Salad of Summer 2018! It’s fully loaded with colorful strawberries, radishes, red onion, basil, jalapeño, toasty sunflower seeds, and fresh arugula.

Creamy goat cheese and a simple homemade balsamic vinaigrette round out the sweet-and-slightly-spicy flavor profile. It’s an unexpected combination of flavors, perhaps, but they’re truly irresistible together.

This is a hearty summertime garden salad that you can serve as a light dinner, or as a side salad for a crowd. I think it would go well with smoky flavors from your grill.

I should mention that this is a big salad. I could barely manage to toss it all together on my largest serving platter. You could divide all of the ingredients in half—or better yet, store leftover salad and dressing separately and enjoy leftovers for a few days.

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Fresh Corn Salsa

July 10, 2018 28 Comments

It’s blazing hot outside. Let’s make some corn salsa and turn it into a meal! Like Chipotle’s corn salsa, this version with fresh sweet corn goes great in tacos, burritos (or burrito bowls), and quesadillas.

This refreshing corn salsa would also complement grilled mains, like my go-to veggie burgers (available in my cookbook). You could also pile this salsa onto greens to make it a salad for lunch—just add a drizzle of olive oil and an extra splash of vinegar, if you’d like.

This corn salsa recipe is made primarily with fresh sweet corn, red onion, cilantro, jalapeño, and lime juice. I added a few basic pantry seasonings for intrigue and oomph—white wine vinegar, chili powder and ground cumin.

This salsa is fresh and bright, and it’s easy to make. The sweet corn steals the show, as it should. I hope you love it as much as I do!

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Fresh Jalapeño Relish

July 5, 2018 21 Comments

Forget everything you know about pickled relish! This jalapeño relish is fresh, bright and spicy, but not too spicy. It’s unsweetened, but the apple cider vinegar does tame the jalapeño heat a bit. This relish is for more than sandwiches and hot dogs—think nachos, quesadillas, tacos and burritos, too.

Jalapeño relish will liven up your Fourth of July leftovers, and it makes staples like scrambled eggs and beans and rice much more exciting. Basically, anywhere you would add pickled jalapeños, you can use this homemade relish instead.

If you’ve ever tried pickling your own jalapeños, you know that hot vinegar combined with spicy peppers makes you cough and fills the kitchen with the undesirable fragrance of vinegar.

So, this relish is the perfect homemade alternative to pickled jalapeños. This no-cook, hands-off version is irresistible, and keeps well in the refrigerator for a week or two. Are you as excited about this as I am?

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Tropical Fruit Salad

July 3, 2018 19 Comments

Introducing the world’s most simple fruit salad recipe, with a tropical twist! It’s a refreshing salad starring ripe watermelon, pineapple and cantaloupe. (I know cantaloupe isn’t everyone’s favorite; feel free to substitute honeydew or your favorite tropical fruit.)

I encountered this fruit salad last December, when I kept my grandma Virginia company on her dream trip to Costa Rica. It was dreamy! Virginia is 86 years old and nothing slows her down. She flew over the jungle on zip lines with the zeal of Hermione Granger.

We found this fruit salad on an epic breakfast spread at Tabacon Thermal Resort. Fresh fruit is abundant in Costa Rica, but this fruit salad caught my attention because I loved how tiny they diced the fruit—even smaller than I managed for these photos. They served it in little shooters, which almost made it look like candy.

Usually, melon and pineapple are cut into fairly large chunks, right? Their salad taught me that if you cut them very small instead, you can appreciate the flavor of all three fruits in every bite.

Their fruit salad was refreshing, colorful, delightful and very simple—so simple that I hesitated to make it an official recipe here. But hey, it’s summertime and summer produce hardly needs any help. This salad would be perfect for your Fourth of July festivities!

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What to Cook This July

July 1, 2018 29 Comments

What are you craving for July? How do lots of salads sound? The recipes you’ll find below are perfect for your Fourth of July festivities and hot summer days.

When you make a recipe, please leave a comment to let me know how it turns out. Your comments keep me inspired, and your star ratings help other people find and trust the recipes. I love to hear from you!

Here’s what I’ve been into lately! The list contains affiliate links.

Best Brownie Bake Off: Now I’m craving brownies.
The Shy Person’s Guide to Being the Center of Attention
Have you tried Instacart? They buy my groceries and deliver them to my doorstep. After buying a cookbook’s worth of groceries, I never want to go back.
Adrianna explains how to freeze cookie dough. Game changer!
Excited to find a reasonably priced, high quality sunglasses brand. I love the Yubas, which remind me of Ray Ban’s Erika sunglasses.
Another find: affordable natural shampoo and conditioner for curly hair that works marvelously.
Did you hear about the Minneapolis raccoon saga?

Avocado

Gaby’s Cucumber Salad

Gluten free and vegan

“Made this immediately last night and loved it – my daughter as well! Quick and easy for when you get home from work – served alongside pasta.” – Connie

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