Easy Summer Salad

Before you say anything, I know... a blog post about salad?

Easy, you say? What's easier than a bagged salad and ready made dressing?

I get it. Really I do. There are some days where I tear up lettuce, add thousand island dressing and proclaim it as my salad. And that's ok. If that's how you like your salad, it's wonderful, I like it that way too.

But, if you're feeling fancy, or you want a change, or you're hosting a dinner party and want to impress, I cannot stress to you how delicious and easy this salad is. It's crispy, crunchy, chewy, soft, sweet, tangy - it has it all!

 

Ingredients

Spinach

Romaine Lettuce

Raspberries

Craisins

Slivered Almonds

 

Dressing

Canola Oil

Apple Cider Vinegar

Honey

 

I started this salad, by soaking my spinach. Spinach tends to be gritty and that's not something I want to eat, so I let the spinach soak for a minute, rinse it, and soak again. Let it soak while you prepare the rest. Grab a small pan and add your almonds. No oil, no spices, no nothing. You'll want to pay close attention so the almonds don't burn. Toasting the almonds deepens their flavor and makes them taste nuttier. They are delicious. They also burn easily (this is so important, I mentioned it twice). Move them around pretty constantly. I trust my nose to tell when they're done. If you're not comfortable using that method, look for them to be lightly toasted (light brown in color) or about 7-8 minutes if toasting on medium low.

The next thing I did was make my dressing. This was a lot of trial and error for me, and this is the combination that I liked the most. You can adjust the quantities based on the flavors you like most. Want it sweeter? Add more honey. Want it more tangy? Add more apple cider vinegar. Back to the trial and error. The husband and I went to a dinner last year and we had a spinach, strawberry, feta salad with a sweet, creamy dressing that I was obsessed with trying to recreate. And I never did. I can't quite get it, but that's ok, because in trying to make that, I have this simple fix. Ready for it? Add 1 teaspoon of each: canola oil, apple cider vinegar, honey. Mix. Done. It's sweet and slightly tangy and fantastic with fresh summer fruit.

Next, drain spinach. Rinse the spinach and your romaine lettuce. Spin to dry. I love our salad spinner and recommend it highly. Last thing you do is assemble. I toss the spinach and romaine with dressing in the bowl. I use about half of the dressing. Then top with the raspberries, craisins, and almonds.

 

Done.

 

A few notes: I didn't add quantities, because you could add as much or as little as you want. Really like raspberries? Add a bunch. I will say that half of the dressing was more than enough for about 2 cups of spinach and romaine.

I love this salad because you can mix and match fruits and nuts based on your taste or what's in season. Some ideas:

Almonds with blueberries or cherries.

Pecans with apples or peaches.

Walnuts with apples or pears.

 

 

Let me know if you make it and what combo you used.

Tomato Parmesan Fettuccini

So, it seems the last time we spoke, I was on a roll. Something like 2 blog posts in a week and I was taking photos of food, coming up with ideas on what to make and blog about, and then life happened.

 

My dog became sick suddenly, and within 4 days passed away. As I was beginning to cope with that loss, my cousin passed away unexpectedly. Still reeling from the first loss, this second loss was like a punch to the gut. Honestly, blogging, even making food, was the last thing on my mind. And then we went on vacation. 14 days. It was nice to get away. It was nice to be with my husband and kids. I've had time to reflect, time for myself, time with family.

Now I'm here, ready to get back to it.

 

Tonight's dinner was inspired by a recipe I found through Pinterest!

Although inspired by this recipe, I did modify it somewhat.

 

Here's what I used:

16 oz. package of fettuccini

2 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 onion finely diced

2 garlic cloves

3/4 carrot finely chopped

1/2 pound ground beef

28 oz. can of San Marzano tomatoes

1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese

1/2 cup of heavy cream

To taste: salt, pepper, basil, red pepper flakes, sugar

 

 

I started by dicing my onion, garlic, and carrot. I prefer a fine dice. I then shredded my parmesan cheese.

A note about the carrot: First, I would have used a whole carrot, but the minute my son saw I was using a carrot, he swiped about a 1/4 of it. I'm surprised he's not orange with the amount of carrots he eats. Second, the original recipe does not call for a carrot, but I like adding carrot to some of my pasta sauces to cut the acidity of the sauce with the carrot's natural sweetness.

 

I added the olive oil to a pan and turned the heat to medium low. Once warm, I added the onion, garlic, and carrot to the pan. I cooked these on medium low until translucent and soft. If you crank the heat here, you'll burn your garlic and it'll give your sauce a very bitter taste.
                                                                                                                          While that was sautéing, I opened the tomatoes and threw them in a food processor. One tip I learned from the above website was to pulse the tomatoes slowly. Blending quickly will result in a pink, foamy, thin sauce. That's not what you want here. So, pulse a little at a time, until tomatoes are broken down, and sauce is relatively smooth.



Let's take a minute and talk San Marzano tomatoes. A lot of recipes call for them. They are supposed to be the best you can get canned for your sauce. Maybe it's my unsophisticated palate, but I can't tell the difference between the San Marzano and any other canned, whole, peeled tomatoes. Having said that, they're also a little pricey. Having used other ingredients that were relatively inexpensive, still makes this meal pretty cheap. However, if you were making this in bulk (for freezing or giving away or a huge family dinner) I'd use regular tomatoes. If you want a good compromise, use organic canned tomatoes.

 

 Ok, back to cooking, and here's where it gets slightly complicated, but stay with me. I am not a fan of chunky sauce, so I always blend it. However, with a meat sauce, you don't want blended meat. So, I put the onion, garlic, and carrot into a bowl, and then brown the meat.

 

 

 

 

I added salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to the meat, to taste. As the meat cooks, I let the onion, garlic, carrot mixture cool and then add to the food processor with the blended tomatoes. I again, process slowly, so that the mixture and tomatoes combine until smooth. Once the meat is browned, I drain the oil from the pan. I then added the tomato sauce to the meat, mixed, and added salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, basil, and sugar to the sauce, to taste. I know what you're thinking, I added carrots to provide sweetness but then added sugar. Well, instead of having to add a tablespoon or more of sugar, I only added a teaspoon.

 

Simmer.

 

A note about the salt. You'll want to add salt to the meat and tomato sauce, but you'll eventually be adding 1 cup of shredded parmesan cheese, which can be salty. It's better not to add too much, since you can add some at the end.

 

After adding the cream.

At this point, I began the process of boiling the pasta. Fill your pot, turn on the burner, add salt. The water should taste salty like the sea. I prefer to cook my pasta in a big-ish pot (not the biggest I have though) and waiting until I have a rolling boil. Once there's a rolling boil, I drop my pasta. Now the next two minutes are critical. The temperature of the water will drop when you add the pasta and work its way back up and at the same time, the pasta releases its starches. You'll want to constantly stir your pasta for at least the first two minutes to prevent the pasta from sticking together. In fact, I do a two and two kind of deal. Stir constantly two minutes, let boil two minutes, stir constantly two minutes, etc., until the pasta is done. I know it seems like a lot of work, but it works for me and I don't have sticky pasta. During the first two minute boil, I added the cheese to the sauce and mixed well. During the second two minute boil, I added the heavy cream. When adding the heavy cream you have to stir constantly. I don't know why.

 

 

I need a bigger pan!

Once the pasta is done, save a little pasta water in case you want to thin your sauce. I saved water, but I did not end up using it. Drain your pasta. Add to your sauce. Mix. Done.



 

All that's left is to plate, garnish, and eat. I used more basil and parmesan as my garnish. The basil I cut using a chiffonade technique and I used the potato peeler for cheese shavings.

 

This recipe turned out better than I thought it would. The kids liked it too. This makes quite a bit, so it's a great family night meal; you could serve bread and salad to complete the meal. If you have some leftover, this should be an easy freezer meal as well. Either as a tray for a complete dinner or in quart bags for individual meals.



 

Enjoy!