Corn and Peanut Salad for a Crowd

Beans, Beans, they are good for your heart.
The more you eat, the more you fa.t. Click the link for more bean rhymes.

This is what I hear from the kids whenever I cook something with beans. The singing does not necessarily mean they don't like them. Like or dislike usually depends on how it is cooked. This salad for instance is one that never gets any negative reviews. It is also perfect for a crowd. It tends to hold its own among the deep fried goodies that abound in most parties. Easy to make and it provides a healthy alternative to those who want to avoid the deep fried stuff.

While corn and peanuts are good enough on their own, they also work very good in a combination of beans as well. Soak about a cup of different kind of dried beans. I used dried white peas (Vantana), purple eyed peas, kidney beans, frozen corn and peanuts. I used dried raw peanuts but if you have access to fresh peanuts that will be great. I am not very fond of raw onions so I cook them in lime/lemon juice and add it to the mix. If you prefer add the onions raw and squeeze the lime/lemon juice to the mix, that should work fine.

Cook the beans, peanuts and corn and set aside. Soak the chopped onions in lime/lemon juice.
In a pan heat oil and add seasonings, saute the ginger and chopped coriander leaves. Add the chili powder. Mix in the cooked beans, onions and chopped pickled jalapenos.

Pickled Jalapenos are perfect for providing the heat element in these kind of salads. If you have some home made ;) even better.

Cooking time is just for the beans, putting the salad together takes no time at all. I used dried peas, I would not add fresh green peas but if you like it go ahead and add fresh.

Corn and Peanut Salad
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Cooking Time:20-30 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 cup dried black eyed beans (fresh works as well)
2. 1 cup black, pinto, kidney or navy beans
3. 1 cup dried white or green peas (vantana)
4. 1 cup of raw dried peanuts or 1 1/2 cups of shelled fresh peanuts
5. 4 cups of frozen corn kernels (fresh cooked or roasted will work as well)
6. 2 tbsp of minced jalapenos (add more if needed) + 2 tsp of the pickling liquid
7. 2 handful of chopped cilantro leaves
8. 1/2 tbsp of red chili powder
9. 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
10. 2 tsp of oil
11. a pinch of mustard and a pinch of cumin seeds
12. juice from 3-4 limes or lemons
13. 1 red onion finely chopped
14. 1 -2 tsp of Sriracha or any chili sauce (optional)
15. salt to taste
16. cut cucumbers and tomatoes (optional)

Method

1. In either a pressure cooker or sauce pan cook the beans one by one. The beans should be fully cooked but still maintaining the shape. Do not let them get mushy.
2. Pressure cook the raw peanuts for about 3 whistles and it becomes like fresh boiled peanuts.
3. Microwave or heat the frozen corn for about 5-8 minutes.
4. As the beans are cooking let the onions cure in the lemon juice. Take the onions in a non reactive cup and add the lemon juice and set aside for about an hour or so.
5. In a wide mouthed pan heat oil, add the seasonings and when the mustard pops, reduce heat and add the ginger and saute for a minute. Add the chopped coriander leaves and give a good toss. Now add the chili powder mix and turn off the heat immediately. Do not let it burn. Also if you see a few clumps add the pickling liquid or lemon juice and stir it around to loosen it.
6. Now add all the cooked beans, corn and the peanuts with salt.
7. Add the minced pickled jalapenos and the pickling liquid and give a good toss so they are all mixed well together.
8. If a little bit more spice is required add the chili sauce and toss to combine. Let sit for about 10 - 15 minutes.
9. Sprinkle cut cucumbers and tomatoes on top before serving.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Sweet Lemony Carrots

DD2 likes to cook. Usually she is the sous chef to DD's head chef. She saw a recipe for Sweet Lemon Carrots in the Kids Post section of the Washington Post and wanted to make it. The recipe called for baby carrots. I did not have any at home and I was not ready to run to the grocery store. DD2 is not one to give up if she has put her mind to it so she settled on regular carrots and with the help of DD cut them into small strips to be used in the recipe.

The end result was a surprisingly good. Not bad at all for a first attempt at cooking. She took pictures and asked me to post it on the blog. Hope all of you enjoy this tasty recipe with hints of sweet and sour taste.

Sweet Lemony Carrots
Preparation Time:10 minutes
Cooking Time:15 minutes
Serves : 3-4
Ingredients

1. 3 carrots peeled and cut into 2 inch strips
2. 2 -3 tsp of butter
3. 1/2 a lemon's worth of juice
4. 2 tbsp of brown sugar
5. 1 cup of water

Method

1. Heat a sauce with the water and add the carrots. Boil for 8 minutes till the carrots are tender.
2. Strain the carrots and put them back in the pan along with the lemon juice, sugar and butter.
3. Put the flame and stir for about 5-6 minutes till the sugar is glazed on to the carrots.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Barley Bowl with lentils and Avocado

I usually decide what to cook for dinner while sitting in traffic on the way home. I had planned on making a sambhar and a poriyal. Chard Sambhar and Green beans with canary beans poriyal to be exact. I reached home and the tiredness and this urge to just stretch my legs and do nothing took over. So the sambhar and poriyal combined themselves and became a Swiss Chard, Green Beans and Canary Beans sambhar. Nothing wrong is there?


Anyway on days like this one, recipes like this California Barley Bowl will surely come in handy. The inspiration for this recipe came from 101 Cookbooks - California Barley Bowl. I had replaced too many ingredients I thought that using the same name was just not fair. Moreover I am not the green salad leaves eating kind anyway. Around here we are not fond of cold salads rather warms salads like these are much preferred.

Barley Bowl with lentils and Avocado
Preparation Time:15 minutes
Cooking Time:15 minutes
Serves:4
Ingredients

1. 1 cup of barley cooked
2. 1 cup of lentils (I used whole Masoor) - puy lentils or any other lentil can be used - if preferred substitute with roasted nuts
3. 1 Avocado
4. 1 lemon/lime (I used Meyer lemon)
5. 1 tbsp of chopped pickled jalapeno pepper
6. 1/2 red onion thinly sliced
7. 1 cup of snow peas + 1 tsp of olive oil + salt and red chili powder
8. Greek Yogurt
9. Feta Cheese (we did not use any)
10. 4 small Cucumbers sliced into rounds

Method

1. Cook barley till soft.
2. Cook the lentils till soft and drain
.
3. Toss the snow peas with the olive oil, salt and red chili powder and roast till the peas are soft, I broil them till they are a bit dark and crunchy
4. Roast the onions tossed with some oil
5. Cut the Avocados into thin slices.
6. In a bowl take some barley, some of the lentils, add some of the pickled jalapenos,roasted onions and snow peas and cucumbers. Squeeze the lime over the mixture.
7. Serve with a dollop of Greek Yogurt. Sprinkle the feta cheese if using.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Pomegranate Mint Relish

Last night we watched the movie "The Way" with Martin Sheen and directed by his son Emilio Estevez. It is a story about Martin Sheen a successful ophthalmologist whose son dies while walking the Camino de Santiago, a Catholic pilgrimage on foot to Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain from St.Jean Pied-de-Port, France. On flying to France and seeing his son's baggage and trekking material decides to completed the trek on his behalf.

His fellow pilgrims a Dutch man, a Canadian woman and an Irish writer travel as a group along the picturesque trail. It is a comedy and some drama thrown in between. The transformations (or not) that they undergo along the trail but the real story is the path itself and the people and villages they see along the way.

I had read about the movie when it was released and found the movie while scrolling through the Amazon Prime offerings. If you are looking for a movie with some nice locations, fairly good acting and the whole family can watch this is a movie you might consider watching.

Now on to the recipe. If you like pomegranate this recipe is a must try. DH found this recipe on epicurous and I must say it was delicious. The recipe calls for 1/2 cup of oil we used about 1 tbsp and the mint leaves about couple of tbsp because that was all the fresh mint leaves we had on the plants.

Pomegranate Mint Relish
Preparation Time:15 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1 1/2 cup of pomegranate seeds
2. 1/2 of a shallot minced
3. 2 tbsp (or upto 1/4 cup) mint leaves chopped fine
4. 1 tsp lime jest
5. 2 tbsp lime juice
6. 1 tbsp of red wine vinegar
7. 1/2 tsp sea salt or kosher salt
8. 1-2 tsp of freshly ground pepper
9. 1 tbsp of olive oil

Method

1. Mix all of the ingredients together and gently toss. Let sit for at least 1/2 hour before serving or chill overnight in the refrigerator before serving.

Like what you are reading? Subscribe!

Guacamole - Avocado,onion and tomato salad

I bet every immigrant understands this feeling of acute longing for home (country) some time or the other, triggered by sights, smells or an image. Mine was brought on last week when I was listening to a conversation on PBS. Charlie Rose was interviewing P.Chidamabaram and I chanced on it by accident while channel surfing. Maybe it was something he said or seeing a very familiar face on TV here I don't know which I felt this yearning to pack up and go home. If you were to judge him only by his interview he comes across as sincere, articulate and suave. India can stand proud (not).

It is amazing how he talked about corruption in India with a straight face. He is a politician after all and also part of the problem. The wealth he has amassed might be rivaled only by his boss - the madam from Italy.

That was that everyday details interfered and I forgot about that.

Now to the recipe of the day,

Hard to imagine I have spent a good portion of my life here in the US running away from Avocado. As for guacamole it just did not look appetizing enough. Like with everything else in life stuff happens. There was a period in my life when I was hooked on to Chipotle food that is when Guacamole became palatable enough and now I am actually quite fond of it, the homemade version that is.

It is a very easy condiment to make and is a great side for burritos or quesadillas and also for corn chips. Good enough to skip the store bought salsa and sour cream. I like the guacamole to have just enough avocado but feel free to add more if you like it more creamy. For people like me who are not fond of raw onion, the lime juice takes the pungency out.

Is Avocado available in India? By that I mean is it grown there? Just curious?

Guacamole - Avocado, Onion and Tomato Salad
Preparation Time:30 minutes
Ingredients

1. 1/2 White Onion (Red works fine too) about 1 cup chopped fine
2. Grape tomatoes cut into 4s about 1 cup cut
3. 1 -2 Avocadoes (do not cut it till you are ready to add it to the onion tomato mixture)
4. 1 tbsp chopped pickled jalapenos
5. juice from 1 -2 limes
6. 1/4 tsp salt
7. 2-3 tbsp chopped coriander leaves

Method

1. Combine the tomatoes and onions with the lime juice and let it sit for 20 -25 minutes. Longer the better.
2. Cut the avocado in half, use the sharp end of the knife to pick out the stone, remove the flesh and mash it as smooth or coarse as you like. We like it with a few chunks.
3. Add in the chopped jalapenos, salt and coriander leaves. Give a good mix and the guacamole is ready.
4. Note: Mix the avocado as close to your eating time as possible to avoid discoloration.

Chickpea Salad (with cucumber and tomatoes) fit for a SuperBowl Party!

The place I work right now does not miss a chance to hold a party. So of course there was a pre-superbowl party last Friday. How can they when our local team was playing in the finals. Super bowl party means there will be lot of chicken wings, pizza and other popular finger foods. I decided to make a salad. Not the green kind which I am not that fond of but a cooked salad with chickpeas which was surprisingly a hit.

I initially thought of making a Sundal, the South Indian quick recipe for cooking beans. I started with the idea of making sundal but veered towards adding some fresh vegetables and came up with this.

This could just as easily be a meal by itself. There is nothing much that can go wrong with chickpeas so go on get creative and see what you end up with.

Chickpea Salad with Cucumber and Tomatoes

1. 2 cups Chickpeas soaked overnight
2. 1 English Cucumber cubed
3. 1 cup of grape tomatoes split in half
4. 1-2 tbsp lemon juice
5. 1/2 tbsp red chili powder or use black pepper powder
6. a pinch of cumin seeds and a pinch of mustard seeds
7. 1 tsp of olive oil
8. salt to taste

Method

1. Cook the chickpeas until they are soft but not mushy.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan and season with cumin seeds and mustard seeds.
3. Add the chickpeas and the chili powder and toss in the oil.
4. Add salt and lemon juice, toss together and turn off the heat.
5. Toss with the cucumber and tomatoes.

Red Rice and Chick Peas Salad

I started a new contract a few months ago. In this place Fridays are free breakfast days with bagels and doughnuts. Anyway before December the bagels disappeared long before the doughnuts ever did. The first week I thought it was an aberration but this happened week after week before Thanksgiving and December. I made a mental note that I was working in a very healthy place. Once the Holidays season hit there were lot more sweets and cookies in the kitchen and I also noticed doughnuts were starting to disappear before the bagels did.

According to my unscientific survey not only was I eating more cookies, candies and sweet stuff I was also noticing that everybody else was doing the same thing. And please please tell I am not the only one noticing these things!

The holidays are over and the New Year is upon us and here's

Wishing everyone of you dear readers a Very Happy New Year!

New Year means new resolutions and healthy eating. I have resolved to eat more salads with a lot of legumes and this recipe is a start. Chick peas is this protein powerhouse which I realize we should eat more than we are doing now. When I say salads I do not mean green leafy vegetables but lighter cooked salads.

Salads are successful when the dressing is tasty and light. I also like them to have a spicy kick and American pickles serve the purpose. If you do not have access to those, vinegar soaked green chilies would be a good substitute or a few splashes of your favorite hot sauce.

I have used red rice but wild rice or even brown rice can be used.

Red Rice and Chick Peas Salad Ingredients

1. 1 cup of red rice (or any rice of choice)
2. 2 cups of chick peas soaked overnight
3. 3 Perisan cucumbers sliced
4. 2 tbsp of chopped jalapeno pickled peppers
5. 2 tbsp of lime juice + 1 tbsp of olive oil
6. 1/2 cup of grape fruit slices
7. 1/4 cup of feta cheese
8. salt to taste

Method

1. Cook the red rice as per instructions. Soak the rice for an hour and cook it in 2 cups of water.
2. Cook the chick peas until soft. Take care not to make it mushy.
3. In a large bowl mix together the rice and chickpeas.
4. Whisk together lime juice,salt and olive oil and add to the rice.
5. Add in the sliced cucumbers and peppers.
6. Add in the grape fruit and gently toss them together.
7. Top with feta cheese.

Can be served as lunch or dinner.

Snow Peas and Zucchini Salad with Pineapple

Have you heard of MOOCs? It seems they are all the rage among students now. It stands for Massive Open Online Courses. A couple of years ago I was looking to register for a course and went searching online and discovered a treasure trove of courses available for free from most major universities like Standford, MIT, JHU, Harvard and many more top rated universities. I had not heard of MOOCs then. Not all subjects and courses are available from all the universities but if the ones you want are available you are in luck. Gives you an opportunity to study from the comfort of your own living room. Can't beat that?

Some of these courses are available as video lectures which are obviously more fun than just reading through the course material. Unlike a classroom there is no interaction with fellow students of course and you need to have self discipline to start and complete the course on time which was the more daunting task once I had discovered what I wanted and saved perhaps a few thousand dollars in fees.

The possibilities are endless. Also a lot of these universities are debating whether to give credits for a course taken in a MOOC and how to evaluate them. This might be the way you finish your degree course requirements perhaps!

Compared to a classroom that serve between a 100 and 200 students these online courses serve tens of thousands of students from all over the globe. Pretty powerful stuff this online thing. Who knew!!

If you are looking to learn about something maybe MOOC has something.

Now on to the recipe,

Salads are important, eating green leafy vegetables is good and all that but eating uncooked greens every single day is no fun. I am OK with cooking green leafy vegetables but eating raw salads everyday is tough. Anyway if you are just like me (I am not the only one at home) try this salad. It was well liked and we will be making it often.

Snow Peas and Zucchini Salad with Pineapple Ingredients

1. Pineapple chunks about 1/2 cup (substitute with fruit of choice)
2. Snow Peas about a cup (substitute with green beans)
3. 1 Zucchini sliced into rounds
4. Pickled banana pepper 6-8 round chopped fine
5. 2 tsp olive oil
6. 1 tsp pepper powder + salt
7. 1/2 tbsp dressing - I used Chipotle Raspberry dressing or make your own (see below)

For the dressing
Whisk together

1. 1 tsp honey
2. 1 tsp chili sauce or any hot sauce
3. 1/2 tsp strawberry or raspberry jam or any jam
4. 1 tsp lemon juice

Method

1. Par boil the snow peas in boiling water for 3-4 minutes, drain and set aside
2. Roast the zucchini with a sprinkle of pepper powder and salt till tender (has to have some crunch still)
3. In a sauce pan heat the olive oil and add the pineapple chunks, let it caramelize for 2-3 minutes.
4. Add in the snow peas, pickled peppers and the dressing and toss together.
5. Toss in the zucchini and gently mix it in so it does not break.
6. Let sit for about 10 minutes before serving.

Zucchini Puttanesca where the Zucchini is the Pasta!

If you are in Whole Foods during the evenings and on Friday evenings in particular you get to taste sample foods. Sometimes it is a recipe with the seafood they have on sale for the day. Other times it is a recipe with some new condiment they are promoting or some new cheese (or old) or a cake or a chip.

After dropping off kids at their class in the evening we spend our time browsing the shelves at the nearby Whole Foods usually with a hungry stomach. No wonder when we sample those foods they taste nothing short of delicious. The last time we were there we tasted this Zucchini Puttanesca and need I say it good? The lady in charge helpfully handed out printed recipes. Of course I got the recipe and tried it the very next day. It wasn't my rumbling tummy, it really did taste good.

If you have vine ripened tomatoes and fresh zucchini from your garden you got to try this. If aren't that lucky store bought would do and that is exactly what I did. I have to confess that eating salads (which includes everything that is not cooked) is not my cup of tea. Keeping that in mind when I say this tastes good you got to believe me and is also very easy and quick to put together.

Recipe Source: Whole Foods

Zucchini Puttanesca
Ingredients
1. 2 Zucchini
2. Tomatoes (any kind you like - heirloom, cherry tomatoes) - I used some homegrown small round tomatoes - 3/4 cup
3. 3 tbsp of olives chopped into tiny pieces
4. 2-3 garlic cloves minced (I skipped this)
5. 1/2 tbsp of capers
6. 1-2 tsp of black pepper powder
7. 2-3 tbsp sunflower seeds
8. 2 tbsp of basil pesto

Method
1. Julienne the Zucchini or use the vegetable peeler to make ribbons (just cut the center rind into very thin slices once the outer flesh has been peeled.
2. Cut the tomatoes into small dice
3. Now toss the rest of ingredients other than the sunflower seeds together.
4. Sprinkle the sunflower seeds on top while serving.

A very simple homegrown green lettuce salad with extra light homemade dressing

Yesterday was a particularly good day for US soccer fans, Landon Donovan's last minute goal brought cheer to an otherwise trying week. Personally I needed it badly - with my job search going no where, I have a few self imposed conditions but still, and the view of the outside world even more trying, there seems to be no escape. Our dithering President, the un-pluggable oil leak, a runaway general all added to the anxiety. I may be dramatizing the events for effect but honestly I haven't seen anything to be cheerful about the world in general for quite a while.

Like they say, behind every dark cloud is silver lining and for me it was the soccer win. Grab happiness where you can right? That was followed by a win by India today in the Asia Cup cricket tournament. I quit watching cricket a long time ago but who can resist live streaming of any sporting event? I am quite content for a few days.

My other source of happiness is of course the vegetable garden. I had sowed some lettuce seeds in one of the very shady patches in the garden and now they are ready. I don't much care for store bought lettuces or green salads in general but home grown in special and the freshness of the green would make a fan out of anybody.

A quick and easy salad with some very light dressing. Since lettuce is the star feel free to add ingredients to your liking. Some boiled chick peas would be nice.

Lettuce salad with lime juice-pepper-honey dressing
Ingredients
1. 5 small bunches of fresh lettuce washed, patted dry and torn into pieces
2. 4 Persian cucumber peeled and sliced
3. 2 carrot peeled and sliced
4. handful of roasted unsalted nuts

For the dressing
1. 2 tbsp of lime or lemon juice
2. 3 tsp of Tabasco sauce
3. 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
4. 1 tbsp of honey
5. a pinch of salt
Whisk all of them together

Method
1. Toss the lettuce, cucumber and carrots together, mix in the dressing,
2. Add the chopped nuts on top.

Ottolenghi's Curried Chickpeas and Mango Salad / Stir fry

Generally during summer boxes of mangoes are piled high in the Indian grocery stores. For an expat Indian it is hard to move away from a pile of mangoes without buying a few (dozen?) though we all are well aware of the frustration that comes with buying them. Some are downright tasteless and without fail stringy needing a floss or tooth brush for immediate relief. Don't get me wrong there are several varieties of stringy mangoes back home and each one has a purpose meaning the stringy ones are held in the hand, skin peeled with the teeth and the pulp sucked out. Try doing that with the mangoes you get here!

Last summer a friend brought a few mangoes over, her husband in his enthusiasm had bought 2 crates of mangoes all ripening at the same time, I thanked her and took them over to the fridge (they were well ripe but absolutely no aroma, keep a ripe Indian mango in the fridge and see what happens). The next day I sliced them without expectations, but everything changed when we popped them in our mouth, maybe not so sweet but absolutely unstringy with a texture like avocado. I for one had found a mango that I liked. The new international market that opened close by has been carrying them regularly. If you are curious they are the yellow Mexican mangoes. Indira had chanced upon them recently and enjoyed them, I could understood her happiness perfectly.

Cooked onions, cauliflower and chick peas

Last week the pricey Alphonso mangoes have started appearing in the Indian grocery store, with the price tag of $34 for 11 mangoes, don't ask me why 11 and not a dozen. I was tempted but my cheap $.59 perfectly fine yellow mangoes came to mind along with Ottolenghi's recipe with mangoes and chickpeas on the Guardian newspaper online.

I had about 1 1/2 cups of soaked chickpeas sitting in the fridge, a cauliflower and mangoes all ready to go.

Back home ripe mangoes have been sliced, juiced, sorbeted, ice creamed but rarely have they been used as creatively as the Western chefs tend to use them in salads and main courses. In my parts salads are not that popular so mangoes not appearing in salads (I am not talking about fruit salads here) is not all that surprising. But the combination of spice, sour and a sweet mango all in one mouthful is hard to describe but a pleasure to experience. If you know otherwise please feel free to set me right. I for one thing am not talking about green/unripe mangoes. There are numerous recipes using those which we all know and love.

Spinach and mangoes added in

The recipe called for curry powder, which I do not have nor buy so use any masala powder you like or substitute with a combination of coriander powder, red chili powder, pepper and cumin powder and just use 2 tsp of the mixture.

Yellow mangoes

The delight in this recipe is the taste of the fresh ripe mango pieces so don't attempt it if you do not have mangoes.


Adapted from: Yotam Ottolenghi's alphonso mango and curried chickpea salad recipe

Curried Chickpeas with mangoes, cauliflower and spinach
Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 cups chickpeas soaked
2. 1 1/2 cups of cauliflower cut into small florets
3. 1 1/2 cups of cubed ripe mangoes (2-3 mangoes)
4. 3/4 cup of sliced red onions
5. 2 cups of loosely packed fresh spinach
6. 2 tbsp of lime juice
7. 1 1/2 tsp of turmeric powder
8. 2 tsp of masala powder (I used the chicken masala powder I had on hand)
10. salt to taste
11. 1 tsp of sugar
12. Roast and powder 1 tsp coriander seeds, 1/2 tsp cumin seeds and 1 tsp mustard seeds)
13. salt to taste
14. 2 tsp oil
15. fresh coriander leaves for garnish

Method
1. Cook the chickpeas to tender and set aside
2. Blanch the cauliflower in boiling water for 2 minutes, drain and set aside
3. In a pan(wok) heat oil and when hot, add the onions and saute till they are translucent.
4. Add the powdered mixture and all the powders, salt and sugar and mix it in well
5. Add in the cauliflower and let the spices coat them, now mix in the chickpeas and give a good toss and turn off the heat
6. Mix in the mangoes, lemon juice and spinach when ready to serve.
7. Sprinkle coriander leaves on top

Great as a salad or as a side for rice or chapatis

I am going to send this off to MLLA - 23 an event hosted over at The Well-Seasoned Cook by Susan who is also the founder of this even and my kind of person with her love of all things beans.

Garden Orchard Salad

I caught the tail end of the conversation between Terry Gross the host of "Fresh Air" and Micahel Pollen on our local NPR affiliate WAMU. He was describing how salmon caught in Alaska was shipped over to China to be filleted and chicken raised in California were shipped over to China again to be packaged. I mentioned this to DH who immediately asked if they were being shipped alive. That part was not mentioned but I doubt that they'd be shipping them alive, anyway it is a quiet a while from harvest to plate. The more I know about our food sources and food processing techniques the curiouser it gets.

While it is very easy to eat local during the spring and summer months I have found it is almost impossible trying to do the same during the winter months. Last night's frost ended the harvest from the backyard for the season. I also made probably one of my last visits to the local Farmer's market for the season on Sunday. On a cold windy day the Farmers market was still doing brisk business. There were apples, pumpkins of all sizes, bell peppers of all colors and broccoli. I also picked up a bunch of my favorite green, multicolored swiss chard. There was a researcher from the University of Maryland Maryland Cooperative extension doing a demonstration of healthy tasty salads.

I am not a big salad fan but I stopped by to pick some of the recipes she was handing out and taste the Garden Orchard Salad. It tasted really good, for somebody who does not eat broccoli even when cooked to have found this salad tasty with raw broccoli is surprising in itself. I also found out that the salad dressing had vanilla yogurt! I was able to pick all of the ingredients at the market and was ready to cook it for dinner. I was not disappointed, it tasted fresh and crispy and ofcourse the peanuts made a lot of difference as well. I steamed the broccoli but feel free to use it raw.

Note: If you like Vannila yogurt, the honey in the recipe is not required. If spice is not your thing leave the chili garlic sauce dressing as well.

Recipe Source: Agriculture Cooperative Extension, University of Maryland

Serves: 3-4
Ingredients
1. 2 Cups worth of broccoli heads
2. 1/2 cup worth of asparagus with the hard end chopped and then cut into about 2 inch pieces
3. 1 carrot grated into slightly bigger pieces
4. Apple cored and chopped
5. 2 tbsp of roasted unsalted peanuts chopped roughly
6. 1/2 cup of yogurt whisked to smooth (I used home made plain yogurt)
7. 1/2 tbsp honey
8. 1/2 tbsp garlic chili sauce

Method
1. Heat water in a sauce pan, add salt and cook the broccoli and asparagus for 4-5 minutes and pour cold water immediately and drain - this step is not needed if you like it raw.
2. Chop the broccoli and asparagus into smaller pieces.
3. In a bowl toss the broccoli, asparagus, carrots, apples and the peanuts
4. Separate the yogurt into two containers, whisk the honey into one and the chili sauce into the other.
5. Separate the salad into 2 containers, add the honey yogurt into one and the chili yogurt into the other. Let it sit for a few minute (OR)

drizzle the dressing over the salad when you are ready to eat.

Chickpeas, peanuts, green mango and apple - A Salad

Sometimes a shock is required to wake out of a slumber. Last couple of weeks have been Credit Card nightmares for us. I realized last week that I had missed paying my CC bill :( We dont' use cash for purchases and paying off the CC bill is a top priority and its usually my responsibility. I rarely if ever miss a payment. But all good things must come to an end - last week I goofed and was about 3-4 days late. The following week I realize someone has been using our CC. I received the recent CC bill and was shocked to see close to a $100 added as finance charge and late fee. All the more reason to payoff those CC bills on time. That is a $100 which can find better use somewhere. Anyway I called the CC company, they waived the late fee but refused to do anything about the finance charge. I have made a few resolutions. One is a reminder to check paying off the bill and another taking a leaf out of Asha's book and check the CC transactions every other week.

I had some green mango sititng in the fridge, a bag of Granny Smith apples that DD2 insisted we buy at the grocey store and some soaked chickpeas and raw peanuts. After a very heavy lunch none of us were ready for carbs during dinner time. A salad with all these and some corn kernels seemed a good idea.

Sourness from the mango, sweetness from the apple, crunchiness of the nuts and a slight trace of heat from the chilli sauce, all provided a medley of flavors, making a simple salad into a tasty delight.

1. 1 Cup of Chickpeas soaked overnight
2. 1/4 Cup of dried raw peanuts soaked overnight
3. 1/4 Cup raw green mango chopped
4. 2 Small Granny smith apples chopped
5. 1/2 Cup of frozen corn cooked with some salt.
6. Chilli sauce (optional)
7. 1 lime
8. 1 Tomato chopped (did not add it for fear of raw tomatoes but it would added color and extra flavor)

Method
1. Cook the chickpeas and peanut in some salted water, drain.
2. Mix the rest of the ingredients, squeeze the lime
3. Mix, drizzle with some chilli sauce