Summer Salad with Potatoes and Avocado Dill Dressing

Adapted from Marie Simmons Fresh & Fast Vegetarian

Going with the creamy, but not-too-rich theme of the month, I want to share my new most favorite salad dressing in the world. Behold the wonder of Marie Simmons Avocado Dill dressing. It's in the same vein as tatziki, in that it's not overly heavy and would be a great dip for vegetables or a side sauce or drizzled on any protein. I discovered it as the dressing in her recipe for this beautiful summer salad that has enough potatoes to be a full meal by itself. It's not a quick throw together at the last minute type of deal, but look at how pretty it is! It's just as elegant an experience to eat it and peel through the layers with that amazing creamy dill dressing in every bite.

Summer Salad with Potatoes and Avocado Dill Dressing
Dressing:
1/2 avocado
3 tablespoons cup greek yogurt
1.5 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 cup dill, chopped
1/4 cup cucumbers, roughly chopped, seeds removed
1 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salad:
The rest of that cucumber, sliced
2 tomatoes sliced
1/2 pound potatoes (I used a combination of gold and purple yukons, which added some nice color)
1/4 cup onions sliced thin with a mandolin if available
1/4 cup radishes, sliced thin with a mandolin, again, if available
1/2 pound greens of your choice

Boil a pot of water and toss the potatoes in there to start cooking and then start making the dressing. Toss avocado, greek yogurt, mayonnaise, dill, and 1/4 cup of rough chopped cucumbers, and salt into food processor and blend until very creamy. Scoop it into a bowl and cover before setting in the fridge to chill. After the potatoes have softened (probably about 20 minutes of boiling depending on size), set them aside to cool as you prepare additional vegetables. Slice tomatoes and cucumbers into 1/2 slices and sprinkle with a hit of salt. Mandolin the onions and radishes, but make sure to leave the onions separate. The pretty presentation depends on the onions resting daintily on top.

After potatoes have cooled, slice them into 1/4 inch slices and set aside. Grab plates and you can start layering. Start spooning the dressing onto the plate and swirl in circles until it's about a inch away from the edges. Place the potatoes down directly in the dressing arranged in a circle before layering the tomatoes, cucumbers, and radishes on top. Drizzle with a little more dressing before topping with the greens and thinly sliced onions and yet another drizzle of dressing. Serve immediately.

Breakfast on the Go - Muffin Tin Frittatas

Is there anything more comforting than a hot breakfast? If I had it my way, we'd all start work at 10-11 am and spend the morning leisurely enjoying a homemade breakfast before starting the day. Given that the odds of that happening are slim to none, the closest I've been able to get is zapping a frittata in the microwave to get a warm egg and vegetable treat, first thing. I tend to make these by the dozen or half dozen and eat them throughout the week each weekday morning. They do not disappoint!

Muffin Tin Frittatas
6 eggs
6 egg whites
4 medium potatoes - diced small
2 medium leeks - diced
(you can use any combination of vegetables, broccoli is also a nice one)
2 tablespoons of coconut oil
1 tablespoon vegetable oil (for greasing muffin tin)
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup low fat milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 375.
Add coconut oil to a skillet and sautee leeks until soft (about 10 minutes). Add the potatoes and a generous toss of salt to the leeks and stir until potatoes start to soften (15 minutes). While that is sauteing you can start cracking eggs into a mixing bowl. To get all the egg whites possible, I switch the yolk between hands until all of the white has shed the yolk and finds the bowl. After the potatoes are soft, remove the potato leek mixture from pan and let it cool at least 15 minutes so that you don't wind up with scrambled eggs. After they've cooled, add them to the mixed eggs along with milk and a pinch of salt and pepper. Fill each muffin slot with egg mixture and top with cheese, if adding. Place in the oven for 20 minutes (eggs should be puffed up and golden brown on top).

Note - If you are cooking a half dozen, just halve this recipe and only cook for 15 minutes.

Easy Comfort Food - Baked Potato with Cheese and Broccoli

It looks as casual as it is! Sometimes spring doesn't come on schedule and you find yourself looking around your kitchen in late April and wanting nothing but warm and creamy treats. I like to keep this within caloric control and include some vegetables with this simple baked potato with cheese sauce and broccoli. It takes very little effort and is just the soul warming comfort you want on a rainy day.

Baked Potato with Cheese and Broccoli (serves 2)
2 russet potatoes
2 heads of broccoli
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic
salt and pepper to taste

Cheese Sauce
1 cup cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of onion - chopped
2 tablespoons butter
1.5 tablespoons flour
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Wash potatoes and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle with tablespoon of olive oil on each potato and a pinch of salt each. Place in the oven for 45 minutes. While the potatoes are cooking, prep broccoli  and mince garlic. Add to a sauce pan with 1 cup of water and let steam with a pinch of salt and pepper. Grab another sauce pan and add the butter and sautee the onions until translucent  before adding cheese. After the cheese is melted, add flour and stir until thick.
Split potatoes and place broccoli within each mid-section before pouring over a generous helping of cheese sauce. Enjoy!

De la Casa Cuisine - Potato Leek Soup

Everyone has one dish that they can cook the shit out of. It's their best dish and whenever they are asked to bring something to a party or potluck it's that go to that always wows a crowd. This is my wow the crowd dish. I fumbled the recipe together after receiving some uber fresh leeks from a local farm in Maryland that guaranteed they had been picked that day. I have never been ever to make it as delicious as I did that first time, so if you can get your hands on fresh out of the ground leeks, make this soup asap! Full disclosure, this is my own spin on Alton Brown's potato leek soup recipe that can be found here. The key difference is I added lemon juice, used black pepper, and doubled the buttermilk because I like a tangy punch to the back of my throat.

Ingredients:

2 large or 3 medium size leeks

3 small yukon gold potatoes

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon salt

1 quart vegetable broth

1 bay leaf

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 cup cream (you can use half and half here)

1 cup buttermilk

By the by if you don't want to buy buttermilk because inevitably what you won't use in this recipe is going to get thrown out, you can use whatever dairy milk you have and add lemon juice to it to make it "buttermilk"

Ok onto the fun! Start by washing your leeks, which I like to do by cutting in half and then rinsing thoroughly, those suckers are full of dirt when you get them from the farmer's market. Once they're clean, dice them up and don't worry about making them pretty because you're going to cook them into oblivion. Bust out a dutch oven and heat up the two tablespoons of butter, toss in the leeks, add a pinch of your salt and c

over it all up. A word of advice, keep the heat nice and low because if those bad boys start to caramelize the whole thing will be ruined (yes I am speaking from experience). Set the timer for 25 minutes and turn to the potatoes.

Start by peeling them and then dice them into small (1/2 - 1 inch cubes) pieces. Back before I had an emulsion blender I aired on the side of small so that I wouldn't have to spend as much time mashing them up later. Now that I have my dreamboat cuisinart, I'm less concerned. Once your potatoes are chopped sprinkle another pinch of salt over them.Stir those leeks periodically while your dicing the potatoes, did I mention you have got to make sure they don't caramelize? DON'T LET THEM CARAMELIZE! Once the timer has beeped and the leeks are nice and soft (taste one to make sure it's nice and mushy, butter sauted leeks are delicious all on their own!).

If they melt in your mouth, add the vegetable broth and bring the whole thing to a boil. Once it's boiling, throw in the bay leaf before you cover it up and set the timer for 45 minutes. The good news is you can go do something elsle for that 45 minutes because this isn't too sensitive and doesn't need to be stirred much. After you hear the timer go off, the potatoes should be fall-apart soft. If they are nice and tender, you are ready to remove the bay leaf and blend this into a soup. The softness of the potatoes is key if you're going to be making this without any kind of blender. Whip out your largest wooden spoon and start stirring that mixture vigorously. If you are blessed with an immersion blender, move your pot close to the outlet and blend away. Don't feel the need to make it 100% smooth. I find that chewing into the occasional bit of potato is pleasant when you're enjoying this comforting delight.

I've only had my immersion blender for three and a half months and I still get nerdily excited every time I get to use it. After you've enjoyed blending the soup up, grind in a couple clicks worth of pepper and let everything cool before adding any of the dairy ingredients. If you need to make buttermilk out of lemon juice and milk, this is a good time to put it together. After about 10 minutes, it should be cool enough.

Measure out the cream and stir it in slowly making sure not to get any curdled bits. Do the same with the buttermilk and lemon juice. Last, sprinkle in another touch of salt and few more clicks of pepper to taste. If you're still craving tang, add a bit more lemon juice. I know there are lots of fattening components here that you might be tempted to substitute, but I highly recommend preparing it this way and enjoying it in reasonable portions to keep the calorie count under control. A small bowl of soup will keep you full, scout's honor! Enjoy!