I wasn’t quite sure what to name this dish. It’s a little Asian, a little tangy, a little crunchy, but most of all a whole lot of YUMMY! I love red cabbage slaws. My favorite would be the Szechuan slaw that comes with the Vegetarian Focaccia Sandwich at CPK. YUM. I guess you can say this was inspired by it, it’s not quite exactly the same but close!
I’m still very much on my health kick, so this dish is good for you AND vegan! I need to make sure I keep posting all my vegan recipes before I forget them! I’ve got another vegan red cabbage slaw recipe that I’ll post at a later date. For now enjoy this yummy one!
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Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: asian, cooking, diet, food, recipe, recipes, salad, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian
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I love Martha Stewart. I wake up early on Sundays to sit on the couch for Marthathon. That’s the entire weeks worth of Martha. It’s awesome. Vini usually sleeps in and wakes up just in time as the last episode finishes, funny how he times it just right.
Anyway, Martha did her Fennel, Orange and Parsley salad from her Everyday FOOD. It just looked so refreshing even through the TV that I had to make it. Of course, I slightly altered it. I thought the olives would take away from the salad so I kept those out. I also added a ton more fresh herbs and the result was so delicious. This goes really well with my heath kick - currently on day 2.
Here’s my version of Martha’s fennel, orange and parsley salad. Hope you like it!
Ingredients:
1 fennel bulb, washed and trimmed
2 oranges
1/4 cup of chopped parsley (bit of the stems are good too!)
1/4 cup of chopped mint leaves
1/4 cup of chopped cilantro leaves
2 stocks of green onion, chopped
small itty bitty drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
pinch of sea salt
fresh ground black pepper
Step 1: Slice and chop!
First we slice the oranges. Cut off the top and bottoms of the orange and slice off the peel with a knife. Now carefully cut out each segment into a salad bowl. Save the remainder of the orange to squeeze the juice out after. Now, trim the frilly bits off the fennel, you only need the bulb. Cut into quarters and cut out the core - it’s very bitter. Cut into thin slices into the salad bowl. Squeeze the orange juices of the two oranges over the fennel to keep it from browning. Chop up the parsley, mint, cilantro and green onion and add to the salad bowl.
Step 2: Dress!
Sprinkle with a couple pinches of sea salt and black pepper. Drizzle with a little bit of extra virgin olive oil. Toss and serve!
That’s it, pretty simple and incredibly delicous. Try it out, even if you’re not a big fan of fennel, the orange and sea salt really compliment the licoricey taste.
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, fennel, food, fruit, orange, recipe, recipes, salad, vegan, vegetables, vegetarian
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Sorry it’s been a while. Been doing some housekeeping and running around. Believe it or not, I’ve barely even had time to go buy groceries! That said, today I bring you one of my favorite hearty dishes. Portobello mushroom steak. Now the spelling of “portobello” vs “portabella” vs “portabello” is a bit of a mystery. I’ve seen them spelled many ways. According to Wikipedia, it’s portobello. But really though, who cares, it tastes delicious whether its with an O or an A or both.
Here it is, this dish is a bit hearty, a bit healthy, a bit random, but a whole lot of yummy.
*note* I call it an avocado salsa because it’s no even close to having all the ingredients of a guacamole 
Ingredients:
2-3 large portobello mushrooms - cleaned with damp paper towel
2 cloves of garlic - chopped very fine
1/2 ripe hass avocado
1 medium yellow onion - sliced thick
3 sprigs of cilantro - wash, pat dried, and chopped fine
2 stalks of green onion - washed, pat dried and sliced thin
1/2 cup canned garbanzo beans - drained, rinsed and strained
1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon of chili infused olive oil
1/2 lemon
sea salt
fresh ground pepper
Step 1: The ’shrooms!
Use a damp paper towel and wipe off the dirt off the mushrooms. Cut off some of the stem if it’s sticking up too much, you want it flat like a steak. In big plate drizzle a little extra virgin olive oil, place the mushrooms down and drizzle a little bit more. Now season with sea salt, fresh ground pepper and some Worcestershire sauce (this will give it that steaky meaty taste!). Now flip the mushrooms around a few time to get the juices all over. Place the mushrooms stem up and sprinkle over the garlic cloves finely chopped. Now let that sit while you work on the toppings.
Step 2: The toppings!
In a small bowl throw in the strained garbanzo beans and drizzle over a little chili infused extra virgin olive oil and season with sea salt and fresh ground pepper. Now toss in a small handful of the thinly sliced green onion - use the green parts! Mix and set aside. In another small bowl, scoop out the avocado. Add in another small handful of green onion and add in the cilantro. Add a pinch of sea salt and a small squeeze of lemon. Mix and set aside.
Step 3: Grill and assemble!
Okay, you can use a panini press or a cast iron grill or a bbq or a pan, really up to you. I used a panini grill. You basically want to grill up the mushrooms for about 4 - 5 minutes basically until it’s tender. You also want to grill the onion slices until they’re nice and a bit dark, about 5-6 minutes. Now to plate! First layer the mushroom steak, then break up the onions into their individual rings on top. Now scoop on some of the garbanzo bean mixture. Then a little dollop of the avocado salsa mix. Top it off with another small squeeze of lemon over the top and a sprinkle of some leftover green onion.
Optional:
Serve with a dollop of Tzatziki and crispy pita bread.
Hope you like it!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, food, mushroom, random, recipe, recipes, vegetables, vegetarian
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So I couldn’t help myself - I had to post this great light bean salad before I forget and get lost in Thanksgiving-land. This one is really quick, simple and incredibly healthy.
Ingredients:
1 can of cooked 4 bean mix (contains small kidney beans, garbanzo beans, lima beans, haricot/white bean)
(*note* you can just cook individual beans but who has the time to soak beans over night, then boil them, then drain them, then cool them and have them ready for a salad?)
1 small can of sweet corn kernels (you can use fresh here as well)
1 avocado - diced
1 small yellow onion - diced
1 teaspoon of habanero sauce (adjust to your own spice tastes)
2 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
Juice of 1/2 a lime
dash of tabasco (for a different type of spice flavor)
fresh ground pepper
garlic salt
Step 1: Mix it up!
Make sure to drain and rinse the beans first. Throw beans, chopped onions and cilantro in a bowl. Mix thoroughly while sprinkling garlic salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. I like more pepper than salt so I put heaps in! Mix well with a large spoon. Now add in the avocado, squeeze the lime juice over the avocado thoroughly - salt and pepper. Mix very loosely so you don’t smash the avocado.
Step 2: Eat!
That’s it! Eat up!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, food, recipe, recipes, vegetables, vegetarian
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Cilantro green bean salad with a soft boiled egg and a dijon dressing. Feels good to get back into cooking. Since I’m now putting myself on a diet again, I’m exploring more salads than usual. This salad is intended to have the taste of a garlicy caesar salad once you start eating.
Ingredients:
butter lettuce - about 5-6 leaves, washed, dried, and ripped by hand
slender green beans
cilantro (or coriander)
eggs
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon Worchestershire sauce
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tablespoon chili infused olive oil
1 teaspoon onion powder
fresh ground pepper
sea salt
The greens.
blanch the beans in boiling water for about 5 - 8 minutes. immediately remove the beans and put them in a big bowl with cold water and ice. let that sit for a few minutes to cool the beans and then drain. plate the lettuce and then the beans on top. coarsely chop cilantro leaves and sprinkle on top, add as much or as little as you like.
The egg.
soft boiling an egg is difficult to me. everyone seems to have a different way of doing it. this time i boiled 2 eggs in a medium size pot for about 8 minutes. it came out perfect. if you have a small pot, it should take only about a couple minutes for room temperature eggs. you’ll have to try it out to find your right way. once peeled, place on top of the salad but do not break until you’re about to serve!
The dressing.
wisk together the garlic paste, dijon mustard, lemon juice, and Worchestershire sauce. add in a pinch of sea salt to taste. slowly wisk in half of the olive oil. then wisk in the chili infused olive oil - to taste! and then the rest of the olive oil. break the egg by cutting it with a sharp fruit knife coarsely while it’s on the salad. drizzle dressing over the salad and voilà!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: egg, food, green bean, recipe, recipes, salad, vegetables
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My pesto pasta salad is pretty easy. I kinda threw it all together because I had pesto to use up. Here it is!
Ingredients:
1 box/packet pipe rigate pasta (aka large elbow pasta) - i like this kind because chucks can get stuck in it and it hides flavors inside pretty well - cooked al dente, drained & set aside to cool
1 red bell pepper (or capsicum as they call it here) - diced
3 springs of green onion - chopped
1/2 can of artichoke hearts - quartered
extra virgin olive oil (use a good one!)
1 bunch of fresh basil (just the leaves) - washed and drained
1/4 cup of roasted pinenuts
3-4 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of freshly grated parmesan (i add a little bit of romano cheese as well)
chili infused extra virgin olive oil or red chili flakes
fresh ground pepper
salt
Step 1: The pesto
You can always buy a little tub of your favorite store bought pesto for this, skip to step 2 if you did that. To make the pesto the easy way, use a food chopper/processor. I bought my little chopper at target for 10 bucks - saves my life when it comes to pesto and salsas. Okay, finely chop pine nuts, garlic, basil leaves, parmesan cheese - start in that order and add each ingredient after adding about a table spoon of extra virgin olive oil to the mix. You should end up with about 3-4 table spoons of extra virgin olive oil in the mix. Salt and pepper to taste.
If you’re doing this the old fashion way. Chop everything as fine as possible, yes even the cheese if you don’t have a fine grater. Crush the pine nuts in a zip lock bag by rolling a canned soup over it a few times. Throw everything chopped in a bowl and drizzle in the extra virgin olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste.
*note* you can keep this in the fridge or freeze little portions for quick dinners or to top off some chicken.
Step 2: The mixing
Now that you’ve got the pesto, all you really need left is to mix it all together. I like to let the artichoke hearts soak in the pesto for a while before throwing in the other mixtures so it absorbs more of the pesto flavor and not taste like it’s from a can! Toss in the pasta a couple scoops at a time to make sure you have enough pesto for the mixture. It’s up to you how tasty you want it! Mix in the chopped bell pepper and green onions. Top with salt and fresh ground pepper.
Step 3: The extra kick
To make sure the salad isn’t too dry, this is where I would add in a little drizzle of extra virgin olive oil but for this pasta, I added chili infused extra virgin olive oil. You could use just regular chili oil (make sure it’s just a splash) or red chili flakes with regular extra virgin olive oil. I find that the added little spice balances the parmesan cheese really well.
Hope you like it! Can be served cold, room temp or warm.
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, food, recipe, recipes
{2 comments}
So this is one of my favorites since it’s very easy to make and pretty light. Definitely not vegan with the ricotta but that’s the yummiest part.
Ingredients:
baby spring mix (you can buy the prepackage stuff)
if you want to make your own: baby spinach, baby arugula (rocket), & baby romaine should do
1 hand full of semi-dried tomatoes, diced up
1/4 of a red onion, sliced thin and broken up
2-3 tablespoons of light ricotta cheese
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
Step 1: The base
Mix the leaves, sliced onions, and semi dried tomatoes together.
Step 2: The dressing
Slowly whisk in some extra virgin olive oil into some balsamic vinegar. About 2-3 tablespoons of each should do. I generally eyeball the oil parts.
Step 3: The finish
Mix in the dressing with the leaves, onions and tomatoes. I like to mix it all together with my hands to make sure the small parts aren’t left on the bottom of the bowl. Top the salad with dollops of ricotta. I like to drizzle some balsamic vinegar on top of the cheese parts. Add a sprinkle of salt and fresh ground pepper.
Enjoy!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: cooking, diet, food, recipes
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Well I thought I’d explore fennel a different way this time… grilled! I think I liked it better raw even though it’s a bit licoricey, but I need to invest in a slicer. So here it is:
Ingredients:
fennel - sliced as thin as possible
baby spinach - washed and dried
orange cherry tomatoes - sliced
cucumber - sliced
red onion - just a few slices
olive oil
fresh mint leaves
salt + pepper
honey
mustard
apple cider vinegar
Step 1: The grilling
Heat up a cast iron pan and drizzle some olive oil on top. Place the fennel as slices on the pan and grill on each side until wilted and crusty brown.
Step 2: The salad dressing
Whisk a spoonful of mustard and honey together with a couple splash of apple cider vinegar. Whisk in some olive oil. add more honey or apple cider vinegar depending on taste.
Step 3: The salad
Mix the dressing in with the baby spinach first. Then layer in the sliced cucumbers, onions and tomatoes.
Step 4: The fennel topping
Place the fennel in a bowl and drizzle with some olive oil. Add salt and pepper to your heart’s desire! Chop up the mint leaves and mix those in with the fennel. Place this mixture on top of the salad and there you go!
Posted by: Maggie Ha
Category: food, mmmm, recipes, salads
Tags: food, vegan
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