Appetizer Idea: White Bean Bruschetta

I made tuna and white beans for dinner last night. We were basically done eating when John remembered he had brought over some left over baguette. I took a slice, and idly began mashing up my white bean mixture to spread on the bread. Soooo good. Would be even better with grilled bread. So while I haven’t tried it, I’m throwing out the recipe of – make white beans linked above. Mash into paste with fork. Grill bread, spread with garlic butter and bean mixture. Serve!

Lemon Refresher

I had a bunch of lemon pulp left over from juicing 21 lemons (don’t ask), and made a quick non-alcoholic drink from a scoop of it.

Quick Spicy Chickpea Stew

Went home for lunch today and found myself whipping this up for a quick meal. Surprisingly tasty for the amount of time and effort invested. Bears some resemblance to this previous clean-out-the-fridge recipe.

Green veggies deglazed with orange juice

This was the veggie side I served with the carne asada meal.

Carne Asada with salsa verde

Ended up not going the enchilada route. Instead, I made my own take on carne asada and dipped both it and some french fries in the salsa verde. Served with a veggie side I’ll post tomorrow.

Tomatillo Salsa Verde

The tomatillos from the not-so-recent Farmer’s Market trip were getting on the verge of turning, so I figured – tomatillo salsa time! I’ll incorporate this into some sort of dinner recipe tomorrow (thinking enchiladas, maybe?). This recipe has a kick! I used this basic recipe I found online as a guide.

Recipe Variation: Pesto Chicken Parm

Yeah, we’re clearly trying to use up a lot of pesto lately.

John made chicken parm last night (though a less elaborate version than this) before ballroom dance class. Not sure why, but he decided to add a layer of pesto between the chicken and the breadcrumb mixture. The result? Delicious, but probably ultimately unnecessary.

Ingredient Fixation: Mustard Greens

Really digging mustard greens right now. They’re becoming my go-to “throw into everything” fall vegetable. The best is soups – whether it’s a homemade concoction, ramen noodles, Lipton Chicken Noodle, they just seem to provide the perfect burst of nutrition and flavor. Thinking about making a permanent swap in my sausage bean soup recipe, losing the kale in favor of these. I know a lot of people talk about cooking down bitter greens but I like these when they’ve just barely been cooked. Any suggestions for mustard green recipes?

Avocado Salad

I had this with my portabello sandwich for dinner. Avocado just makes everything better. It’s kinda like bacon.

Portabello and Prosciutto Sandwich

Next time I make this, I’ll use a more neutral cheese – I love gorgonzola, but the flavor drowned out any subtlety from the mushroom marinade. This could easily be made vegetarian by subtracting the prosciutto – I just wanted a bit of extra protein since it was dinner.