Grilled Zucchini with Buttermilk-Basil Dressing

Here is another zucchini/summer squash recipe that caught my eye when I was flipping through a magazine. The preparation takes minutes and it is really fun when you can go and pick the ingredients that you need for dinner from your own garden and then turn them into something this delicious.

I was pleasantly surprised by my childrens reaction to this dish. They all loved it, which is really saying something since my son doesn't like zucchini or summer squash unless they are cooked just right. The grill really made these zucchini/squash slices taste yummy but still left enough of a bite that they were not soggy at all.

I will definitely be repeating this simple side dish!



Grilled Zucchini with Buttermilk-Basil Dressing adapted from Everyday Food Magazine

1. Heat a grill or grill pan over high. Clean and lightly oil hot grill. (I sprayed my indoor grill with cooking spray).

In a small measuring cup, combine 5 Tablespoons each buttermilk (I used low-fat) and extra-virgin olive oil with 2 teaspoons white-wine vinegar. (I used red wine vinegar).

In a food processor combine 1 garlic clove, 1 cup packed fresh basil leaves, and 1/3 cup coarsely grated Parmesan cheese. Process until basil is finely chopped. Season with salt and pepper.
With machine running, add buttermilk mixture in a slow, steady stream and process until smooth.

2. Cut 4 medium zucchini or yellow squash into 1/4-inch slices.
Place on hot grill. Coat with cooking spray and season with salt and pepper. Grill zucchini, until lightly charred and tender, 4 to 6 minutes, flipping once. Transfer to a serving plate and drizzle with dressing.

Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club- Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette with homemade Blueberry Vinegar

Jerry picked our theme- 100 Miles of Flavor-for this month's Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club.
We were each to choose a recipe that showcased a local ingredient, something that could be found within 100 miles of where we live.
Here is how the menu turned out- the local ingredients are in parentheses.

Jerry - Beef Tenderloin with Mushroom-Red Wine Sauce- (local beef and wine)

Sandi - Peas and Orzo with Pesto - (peas, basil and Southern pecans )

Mary Ann - Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette (Blueberry Vinegar) (local blueberries and honey)

Jamie - Grilled Ginger-Lime Shrimp (Gulf of Mexico Seafood)

Roz - Risotto with Porcini Mushrooms and Marscapone Cheese-(local rice)

Val - Fallen Chocolate Cake with Cherry Red Wine Sauce - (local cherries and wine)

For my local ingredients I decided to use blueberries and honey. I found this great recipe for blueberry vinegar that is used in a fabulous vinaigrette and it was the perfect fit.

I decided to use blueberries that I picked from my husband's grandmother bush last summer, that I had frozen to make the blueberry vinegar. (She lives about 7 minutes from us, so that is pretty local). I read the reviews on the recipe and someone else had mentioned that they used frozen blueberries to make the vinegar and it worked out fine.

Making the blueberry vinegar was really easy. I just combined a couple of ingredients on the stovetop and let the mixture sit, and then strained the vinegar. I let the vinegar sit overnight and then made the salad and vinaigrette the next day.

The salad is very simple. Baby arugula-I also threw in some spinach, red onion, blueberries and then a quick vinaigrette, which contains the blueberry vinegar, a little honey, dijon mustard, and olive oil. So simple and so delicious.
I had leftover blueberry vinegar and we have been drizzling it on all sorts of things. The other night we had salmon, quinoa, broccoli and cauliflower and I thought we could drizzle the vinegar over the salmon. My daughter liked it so much that she drizzled blueberry vinegar over everything on her plate. The rest of the family followed suit.

This was a great salad and it was really fun to learn how easy it is to make flavored vinegar.
Check out the rest of this great local menu above.


Here is the recipe for Blueberry Vinegar

Here is the recipe for Mixed Greens with Blueberry Vinaigrette
* I added baby spinach to the salad
*I omitted the frisee because I couldn't find it anywhere

Pickled Grapes

No, this is not some sort of April Fool's Day joke- These things are real.

A couple of weeks ago, my 22 year old brother excitedly told me about a salad he tried at The Wild Grape Bistro in Salt Lake City, that contained Pickled Grapes. He said that they were A-mazing! and found a recipe that he wanted us to try when he came to visit me. He was here last week and one of the first things we did was make Pickled Grapes.
Making the pickled grapes was really easy. You combine vinegar, brown and white sugar, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, and whole cloves (I used ground since I didn't have any whole) and bring that mixture to a boil. Then you add chopped crystallized ginger and diced jalapenos. Next, the grapes are added to the spicy, vinegar-y bath to take an overnight soak.

That was the hardest part for my brother- leaving these grapes alone overnight so they could soak in all the spices and flavor.
He said that at The Wild Grape, there was a small hole in each grape, made with a toothpick or something, that helped the grapes suck up some of the spices and flavor from the vinegar mix. We didn't do that to the grapes, but next time I think I will, to help them pack even more of a punch.

The day that the grapes were ready we made a nice big salad for lunch. It was one of those hodge-podge, anything goes salads, where we just chopped things up and added them to the mix.
We used a base of baby spinach, spring greens and baby arugula. Then we added chopped bell peppers, chopped cucumbers and the pickled grapes. Next some poached chicken and roasted pepitas. We topped it off with a balsamic vinaigrette.
Goodness gracious! What a tasty salad. These things are spicy sweet, tart and vinegar-y, earthy from the spices. What a mix.

We had them on another salad the next day and the day my brother flew back home, he took a large plastic bag of these little guys to snack on, while on his travels through the airport and on his flights. I was wishing that I had more than a few leftover because I really wanted to experiment a little bit more with them- maybe turning them into some sort of salsa or in a different type of salad or something.

I guess that is a good excuse to make more!

Just a little note- my brother and I both thought that the red pickled grapes were more delicious than the green ones, but I am still glad we tried some of both.

Recipe for Pickled Grapes
* I used mostly red grapes, but green too
* I didn't have whole cloves, so I added about 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves to the vinegar/spice mixture
* I removed some of the seeds from jalapeno, but left the ribs when I diced them

Tuna Salad Wraps

Tuna is one of those foods that kinda gets a bad wrap for some reason. Tuna salad too.
I understand it, because some people's only memory of tuna is something that is smothered in that horrible white stuff (mayo), which I find absolutely disgusting.

I think tuna has lots of possibilities and we eat it often at our house.
If we are having plain old tuna sandwiches, I always mix it with a minimal amount of plain yogurt (don't like it sopping wet), add lots of chopped celery, dill pickles, to add some crunch and make sure there is lettuce and toasted bread involved.

Canned tuna can be so delicious is other ways too. It can be wonderful in pasta dishes and you can never go wrong with a vinegar/olive oil dressing to perk up your tuna salad.

This was inspired by something I saw in a magazine briefly, but I didn't have the magazine with me when I was mixing this up, so I guess I was just inspired by it.
The radishes and lemon zest give a nice boost of flavor, and garbanzo beans round out the whole thing.
My girls helped me mix it up and they ate the other half of the garbanzo beans while we were fixing this.
I didn't measure out the vinegar and olive oil with measuring spoons, I just drizzled some into the salad, and then we tasted it to see if it needed more. We used more vinegar than oil for sure.

My kids really liked this, as did my husband. This was a no utensil night, since we ate these with our fingers.


Tuna Salad Wraps
6 stalks celery, chopped
5 radishes, thinly sliced and quartered
2 cans tuna, drained
1/2 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
Juice of 1 lemon
zest of 1/2 lemon
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt
pepper
green leaf lettuce

Combine celery, radishes, tuna and garbanzo beans in a large bowl and mix together.
Add lemon juice and zest, a few dashes of vinegar and oil, and season with salt and pepper.
Stir together and add more vinegar, oil, or salt/pepper- to taste.

Serve on large lettuce leaves and wrap to eat.

CEiMB-White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds

When I saw this week's CEiMB recipe, White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Amonds, that was chosen by Lauren over at I'll Eat You,
I wasn't sure how it was going to go over at our house. This was actually one of the last recipes I made and took pictures of, before our move. I figured since it was so easy and took about 5 minutes, it really wouldn't be that hard to get out of the way.
I threw it together and we had it as an appetizer before we ate our dinner. The verdict was split right down the middle. Half of us loved it. I mean really, really loved it. Half of us-not so much. Some adults loved it and so did some kids. The opposite was also true.
My gazpacho really didn't turn out white at all. I think it is because I didnt peel all of the skin off the cucumber. The color of the gazpacho in the cookbook, is much lighter.
It was fast and quite elegant looking (in my opinion), so if you love cucumbers and vinegar, try it out.
To see what the other CEiMBer's thought, check out the Craving Ellie Blogroll!

White Gazpacho with Grapes and Toasted Almonds
2007 Ellie Krieger
Ingredients
2 large English cucumbers (or 3 large regular cucumbers), peeled and roughly chopped
3 slices white bread, crusts removed
1/2 cup warm water
3 cloves garlic
6 scallions, whites only, divided
1/4 cup white wine vinegar or Sherry vinegar, plus more, to taste
1 teaspoon lemon juice, plus more to taste
1/4 cup plus 4 teaspoons slivered almonds, lightly toasted, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more, to taste
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup green grapes, halved
Directions
Set aside 1 cup of chopped cucumber for a garnish. Soak the bread in water until soft, about 2 minutes.
Place soaked bread, the rest of the cucumber, garlic, 3 of the scallions, vinegar, lemon juice, 1/4 cup of the almonds, salt and 3 tablespoons of olive oil in the bowl of a food processor and process until cucumbers are completely blended and liquid and almonds are almost completely invisible, about 1 to 2 minutes.
Season with additional salt and vinegar, if desired.
To serve, ladle 1 cup gazpacho into a bowl. Mound 1/4 cup reserved chopped cucumber, 1 tablespoon scallions, 2 tablespoons grapes and 1 teaspoon almonds in the center of the soup.

Up Next- Vegetable Soup- Warm or Cold