Purslane Salad with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce

Every summer, one of my garden beds is taken over by this weed. I pull it up but it keeps coming back. It grows at an alarming rate.


It looks like this up close.


Here, it is fighting for acreage with our strawberry plants, which also grow at an alarming rate. The lavender just tries to mind its own business.


So imagine my shock when I saw a recipe using this, this, WEED on the Almost Turkish Recipes blog. This WEED has a name: purslane. Or pigweed. Or verdolaga, if you please. And, not only is it an edible cousin to spinach, it's very nutritious--high in Omega 3 fatty acids. It's the salmon of the vegetable world! Except that salmon is expensive and this stuff is free and in my backyard. The author of Almost Turkish recipes, as well as other food blogs I've read, seem to have a difficult time finding this and when they do, it's priced rather dearly. My fellow food bloggers, you are more than welcome to come and raid my backyard! Please, I beg you. I'm drowning in purslane.

Thanks to the dismally cold and wet Seattle summer, none of my vegetables save the snap peas flourished. I am determined to harvest something, dammit! Tonight, it was the WEED. I made a Purslane Salad with Garlic-Yogurt Sauce. Here's the bunches of WEED that I yanked out, washed off, and cut up.


I sauteed a minced onion with garlic, added lemon juice & water, somesalt, some rice, and let that simmer. At the last minute, I chopped up some tomatoes and tossed them in for color. I mixed minced garlic into some plain yogurt and black pepper as a sauce to dollop on the salad. We had the WEED rice salad with tofu dogs and homemade raspberry iced tea, because that's how we roll in this house--random combinations of food that we dare to call dinner!


The verdict? Barrett was a bit hesitant on it. He liked it alright, but acknowledged its "different" flavor and said he simply wasn't used to it. I can see where he's coming from. It's bright and almost lemony, very hearty, but with a decided earth-y overtone. You can taste that this grew in soil, more than most other greens I've eaten. I understand people not taking to it. I like it. I want to try other recipes with it, like the purslane salsa recipe I spotted somewhere.

And thus ends the story of the WEED.

Postscript: we recently acquired a very very very fuzzy couch pillow that Colin absolutely adores. He adores it so much, he drools on it while kneading it. His new nickname when he is kneading on this pillow? McLovin'.

Sort of Thai-Influenced Meatloaf

Howdy! Aren't three day weekends the best? I especially love Labor Day weekend because it's relatively mellow. Barrett and I spent both Saturday and Sunday cleaning out the garage, which involved dragging almost everything in it onto the lawn into piles of: to the city dump, into the garbage can, to Goodwill, to keep in the garage, and to take into the house. It was very tiring and totally worth it. It's that much closer into being made into the band's practice space, which is the eventual goal.

Yesterday was my day to cook. I first made a pot of French Spring Soup as a filling and low fat meal to take to work for the rest of the week. As usual, I blended about half of it to make it creamier.


I also made a Vietnamese Bun Ga salad as part of a bbq potluck at my friend Gregg's later that afternoon. People seemed to like it. It is really tasty!


For tonight's dinner, I made a meatloaf. And I created the recipe myself! This is a huge deal for me--I tend to follow recipes to the letter and then tweak them after time. I don't usually make up recipes on the fly like I did tonight. Necessity was the mother of invention--I had a huge bunch of Thai basil that was starting to turn brown and decided to use as much of it as I could, along with powdered ginger and the rest of a bottle of Trader Joe's Soyaki sauce. It's delish! Thank goodness for Trader Joe's condiments.

Sort of Thai-Influenced Meatloaf

1.5 lbs very lean lean ground beef
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded carrot
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 large egg
2 tbsp ground ginger, or as much as you want, OR I'm sure ground jarred ginger would work
1/4 to 1/3 cup chopped Thai basil (I didn't measure it, so I'm guessing here)
1/2 bottle Trader Joe's Soyaki sauce

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Fish out your meatloaf pan and coat it with oil a bit.

2. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl. Be sure and take off any rings you have, or else the mixture gets all caught in them and it's grody.

3. Smoosh mixture into loaf pan, making sure it's even on top so it cooks evenly.

4. Bake for 60 minutes. Take out, let sit for a few minutes, then dig in! Have seconds! Eat a salad with it!

Zesty Shrimp and Scallops on Greens

Hi! Sorry for the posting delay--it's been a busy summer, which is how I like it! I've been meaning to snap some photos of some of the recipes I've recently made, such as this divine Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake from the fantabulous 101 Cookbooks blog. Alas, I was in such a hurry to prepare it due to the lengthy baking time, I didn't have a moment to do anything but prep and zest. It was really really good, though!

I am very excited to introduce everyone. . . okay, whoever the three people are that actually read this. . . to a cookbook that I have been making much use of since it arrived in my mailbox in late spring: Cooking with All Things Trader Joe's! Not only is it a cookbook that uses nothing but staples and foodstuffs that can be purchased from Trader Joe's (awesome), but has some kick-ass recipes that are generally super quick to make and incredibly tasty to boot! The best part for me about this cookbook is that my dear friend from high school, Deana, co-authored it! My Deana Bo Beana wrote a book! I'm so proud of her and happy to own this.

My first read through, I immediately bookmarked a dozen recipes and made a trip out to the nearest Trader Joe's to stock up on necessities. Some recipes I've made multiple times and are on their way to becoming household staples, such as the Italian Wedding Soup and the Corny-Copia Bean and Veggie Casserole. But one in particular has captured my seafood-lovin' heart: the Zesty Shrimp and Scallops on Greens.

Get frozen shrimp, scallops, and frozen/fresh asparagus. Thaw out.


Throw scallops into pan with some olive oil. Saute until opaque, then throw in shrimp and finally asparagus (my deviation from the recipe; I like to saute the asparagus instead of adding it at the end).


Open up bottle of Trader Joe's Pineapple Salsa. Dump into seafood mixture, heat until bubbling. Have cookbook propped up artfully behind pan for crappy photo taken in bad light (click on photo in order to see actual recipe up close).


Throw spring lettuce mix onto plates, add utterly divine Trader Joe's Cilantro Dressing (found in the refrigerated section of TJ's, which, if you didn't realize as I didn't realize for about 2 months that some salad dressings live in the refrigerated section and all this time you wondered why your local TJ's didn't carry this Cilantro Dressing but then duh, one day you walk right past it as you happen to be looking up--hello!), then scoop a bunch of the piping hot seafood/asparagus mixture on top, realize you forgot the chopped fresh cilantro AGAIN, but oh well, you're so hungry that you just inhale this salad, THE END. It's really that good.


Deana and Wona, I declare thee geniuses. This won't be the last time I blog about one of your recipes.

Zesty Shrimp and Scallops on Greens (Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's, 2007 ed.) Prep & cooking time: 15-20 minutes. Serves 2 as an entree, or 4 as an appetizer.

Salad:
- 1/2 (5 oz.) bag Organic Baby Spring mix
- 2 Tbsp refrigerated Cilantro Dressing
- 12 spears of fresh asparagus or refrigerated Fire Roasted Asparagus, cut in thirds
- 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- Salt and pepper

Seafood:
- 1 cup (1/2 lb or 1/2 bag) frozen Medium or Large Cooked Tail-Off Shrimp, thawed
- 1 cup (1/2 lb or 1/2 bag) frozen small or medium scallops (such as Chinese scallops) thawed and pat dry
- 1/2 cup Pineapple Salsa
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh cilantro

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F, if using fresh asparagus.

2. If using fresh asparagus, toss and coat asparagus in 1 Tbsp olive oil, season with salt & pepper, and spread on a baking sheet. Roast asparagus in the oven for 10-15 minutes depending on size of stalks.

3. While asparagus is roasting, saute scallops in 1 Tbsp olive oil for 3-5 minutes or until opaque, adding shrimp at the very end. If using raw shrimp, cook them with the scallops. Add salsa and saute for additional minute.

4. Toss spring greens with dressing and divide it among serving plates. Add several pieces of asparagus on top of the greens. Top asparagus with seafood mixture and garnish generously with cilantro.

Tinned Tomatoes' Chickpea & Tomato Salad

Upon getting back from a weekend in Portland, I opened up one of the crisper drawers in the fridge to reveal two avocados languishing in the bottom. I got those for a specific recipe, now what was it? . . . oh yeah, one of my favorite lunchtime staples: the Chickpea & Tomato Salad from Holler's Tinned Tomatoes blog! I love this simple, crunchy salad. So will you.

[Oh, I should forewarn that I'm not going to be printing actual recipes much on this site. I encourage folks to use the recipes from the original sites that I link to instead. There are so many good food blogs out there and I think exploration is fun!]

I cut up the cucumber, cilantro, and red onion, and added it to the two cans of chickpeas and the can of diced tomatoes I'd already plopped in the bowl. Yep, I used canned tomatoes for this--in short, I didn't have any fresh tomatoes on hand and refused to be set back by it. I also added a red pepper that was getting all wrinkly and lonely. Into this bowlful of goodness go the avocados!


Here t'is, all mixed up next to the recipe on my laptop.


Colin usually watches me cook while sitting on the counter behind me. It's pretty dang cute even though HE'S A VERY BAD CAT THAT IS NOT ALLOWED ON THE COUNTER, NOT EVER.


Here's my deviation from this recipe. I'm not proud of it because it is a deviation born of laziness. I use store-bought dressing for this salad. The first time I ever made it, I didn't have any honey and saw this dressing sitting unopened in the cupboard. I pulled it out, mulled it over, and decided to go for it. It was a stroke of sheer genius on my part; this dressing was made for this salad. I'm sure any brand of sweet-ish poppyseed dressing will do.


Add a few squirts in and voila! A fantastic summertime salad, perfect for my take-to-work lunches in my Mr. Bento lunchbox. What, you are not familiar with Mr. Bento or bento lunch boxes? There's a whole new world out there for you, my friend. I highly recommend them, especially if you are interested in portion control. Here's what the Mr. Bento looks like:


So this salad will fill one container. What about the rest? I ended up putting homemade mushroom soup in the largest one, a cut up apricot in the third, and cut up mozzarella and radishes in the fourth. I know, that's weird, but you have to get creative sometimes to fill them all up. One of the ideas with the bento is to fix a variety of foods, so your palate doesn't get bored and you get different nutrients, etc.


Until next time!