koko's corner

Corn, blueberries, and cucumbers, tossed with a spicy vinaigrette, how could this not be good. 

Gather your goodies, 

you'll need corn, blueberries, cucumber, red onion, cilantro, jalapeno pepper, lime juice, olive oil, honey, and cumin.

The recipe calls for fresh corn but I used thawed frozen. It also calls for fresh jalapeno, I didn't have one so I used roasted and chopped green chili. I use the 505 brand of New Mexico green chilis. I'm not a compensated endorser, they don't even know that I exist, I just like their products. And besides, I've roasted and peeled, enough green chilis in my time, been there done that, pass me the jar, please. 

In the bottom of a medium bowl, 

whisk together the vinaigrette ingredients, then toss in the corn, cucumber, blueberries, onion, cilantro, and chili pepper. 

I served it with some air-fried salmon patties. 

This would even be great tossed with some arugula and queso fresco. 

And that's that!

This slaw will be hard to beet (pun intended ;-) The ingredients are crispy, crunchy, and will hold up under the dressing for a few days, not that it will last that long. It's not very often that you run across a recipe that calls for raw beets but trust me, they are great. 

Gather up an apple, jicama, celery, and beets for the slaw. Then gather up the coconut aminos, or soy sauce, ginger, lemon, olive oil, salt, and pepper for the dressing. 
Julienne the apple, beets, and jicama and slice the celery on the diagonal. 

In a small bowl combine the ginger, coconut aminos, lemon juice, salt and pepper, then whisk while drizzling in the olive oil. 

Add the julienned vegetables to a medium bowl. Drizzle in the dressing and toss. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the slaw right before serving. 

Enjoy!

And that's that!

Citrusy, crunchy, and spicy with cooling watermelon and cucumber. 

Let's start with spicing up the pepitas.

Just a bit of ancho chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, oil, and fresh lime juice. 

Combine them all in a bowl and mix well. 

The recipe calls for raw pepitas and toasting the spiced pepitas in the oven. Since the pepitas I have are already roasted and salted, I just gave them a little sauté in a non-stick skillet to bloom the spices and get a little more color on the seeds. 

While the seeds are cooling let's attend to the melon. 

In the bowl are the watermelon, cucumber, and red onion slices that had been chilling out in some ice water. To that, you are going to add the oil, ancho chili powder, cayenne pepper, salt, lime zest, and juice.  

Sprinkle on the spiced pepitas and chopped mint right before serving. 

Make it, you'll be happy you did 

And that's that!

Tomato salad with cucumbers, olives, and an herbal vinaigrette. 

Don't we all love a good bargain? Well, be sure and check out the marked down produce section in your supermarket

I got 4 lbs of hothouse tomatoes for .99, yes that's 99 cents for the whole bag and they were all usable. 
You need to check them over pretty good but I figure that if about half of what I get is usable, I'm still money ahead and my friend's chickens love me because they get the rest. 

Just an F.Y.I. you can freeze the tomatoes whole. They will be good for stews/soups and salsa, but won't hold up to being sliced or be good in salads. 

This is a popular Middle Eastern salad and according to the cookbook, it's Turkish in origin. The lemon-based vinaigrette is fresh and tangy.
I think it would be good for potato salad also. I like a mayonnaise alternative during the hot summer months. 

Besides the tomatoes and cucumbers, you'll need a lemon, mint, parsley, olive oil, salt, and pepper and black olives. 

Onions are not listed in the ingredients nor mentioned in the instructions but are typically used. 

Enjoy!

And that's that!

I really, really, really, I mean REALLY need to get my eating habits back on track. I've enjoyed my "foodie" staycation, maybe just a little too much.
You know how it goes, we have the freedom of choice, but not freedom from the consequences of our choices. 

One of the first things I made to get myself back to reality is this cabbage slaw. It's so easy even a...well you know the rest. 

I like that the mango is the only sweetness you need in the slaw and the little bit of lime and shallots temper that. I didn't add the jalapeño because there are some lightweights in the household and besides, I didn't have one or I would have added some to my portion.
Just don't make it too far in advance because it does weep. 

We had it with pork in BBQ sauce sandwiches, a great combination. 

BTW it's pretty darned good for breakfast too.  

And that's that!

I know, I know Panzanella salads have bread in them. This was going to a BBQ later, so I added the bread and dressing when I got there. 

This is my take on the Peach and Cornbread Panzanella salad Katie Lee has on the food network. 

I say "my take" on the salad as if my creative juices were flowing when in actuality, whenever I made this if I was lacking some basil I’d substitute flat leaf parsley, and so far I’ve never used cornbread, I’ve been using pita bread that I toasted and cut into cubes.  I always use Persian cucumbers, I can't remember the last time I bought an English cucumber the original recipe calls for. 

The dressing is a pretty straight forward vinaigrette with the addition of capers. 

I usually make salad dressings in canning jars. They have nice wide mouths, and the lids don't leak when you shake the jars to mix the ingredients. 

The salad ingredients are few and simple, with the exception of the peaches and bread,  this is one of the salads I make frequently.
Our Middle Eastern students loved it so I tried to have cucumber, onion and tomato salad with the evening meal.  

I hope this entices you to make this salad. You don't even have to add the bread, just don't call it panzanella or the salad police will come looking for you. 

And that's that!