I'm a little late in the game on posting this one, since it's a peak of summer salad and as I type it's a rainy Monday with a slight chill in the air and all I want is chili for lunch.  In the case that we might have some nice, warm days still ahead or that you find a mysteriously perfect package of strawberries, I wanted to still post this salad this summer.

This is easy, quick, and makes for a great light main course or for a side salad.  It's really tasty, too.  The toasted pecans...well if I were a poet, I am sure there are some stanzas to be written about them.  The vinaigrette, too, is easy, and makes a ton.  I gave some away and kept some for myself and still have a cup or so left.

Strawberry Vinegar- It's pretty and makes you feel accomplished!

The recipe comes from the Gourmet Today cookbook, and I was so happy to find a spinach and strawberry salad with a dressing that isn't loaded with sugar.  Making the strawberry vinegar is pretty easy and involves all of about 10 minutes.  With a food processor and strainer, you too can sound super food cool when you tell others you made strawberry vinegar.

Spinach Salad with Strawberry Vinaigrette
from Gourmet Today
Serves 2 as a main course or 4 as a side

1- 5 oz. package baby spinach
1/2 cup chopped pecans, toasted (see notes)
1 1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 Tb. extra virgin olive oil
2 Tb. strawberry vinegar (recipe follows)
Salt and pepper, to taste

In a large bowl, place spinach, pecans and strawberries.  In a jar or small bowl, mix together the olive oil and vinegar, along with salt and pepper.  Pour over spinach mixture and toss to coat.



Strawberry Vinegar
1 lb (quart) strawberries, hulled and trimmed
2 cups white balsamic vinegar
2 Tb sugar if strawberries are not sweet

Pulse berries with sugar (if using) in a food processor until finely chopped and very juicy. Transfer to a bowl and add vinegar. Let stand 1 hour. Strain vinegar through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, discarding solids.

Notes

• To toast pecans, preheat your oven to 350.  Place pecans onto a baking sheet and bake for 5-10 minutes, until slightly browned and fragrant.  
• Variations I've tried include adding blueberries and chicken.  I bet almonds or even walnuts would be a good sub for the pecans.  

I've been a little behind on posting things, but Drew and I made these about three times within a span of about 2 weeks, and LOVE them.  The first time we ever ate them was a The Lady and Sons, Paula Deen's well known restaurant in Savannah, GA.  It's worth the trip.  They hand them out to people in line- isn't that hospitable?  They're delicious- a cross between corn bread and a pancake, you can eat them with syrup like a pancake or with savory foods, like corn bread.  How fun is versatility in food?!

They're also pretty easy and quick to throw together, which is why I chose to make these rather than a cake of cornbread.  All the flavor in less time!  Fun fact- hoe cakes reportedly got their name because field hands would fry the batter on their hoes they used to work the field.

Hoe Cake accompanying assortment of grilled veggies and black eyed peas- yum!

I am posting the recipe as Ms. Paula Deen created it, but I'll post changes in my notes section.  The recipe title links to the recipe on foodnetwork.com

Hoe Cakes

1 cup self-rising flour
1 cup self-rising cornmeal, or from a mix (recommended: Aunt Jemima's)
2 eggs
1 tablespoon sugar
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon water
1/4 cup vegetable oil or bacon grease
Oil, butter, or clarified margarine, for frying

Mix well all ingredients, except for the frying oil. Heat the frying oil or butter in a medium or large skillet over medium heat. Drop the batter, by full tablespoons, into the hot skillet. Use about 2 tablespoons of batter per hoecake. Fry each hoecake until brown and crisp; turn each hoecake with a spatula, and then brown the other side. With a slotted spoon, remove each hoecake to drain on a paper towel-lined plate. Leftover batter will keep in refrigerator for up to 2 days.

Notes

• I cooked my hoe cakes just like pancakes, which is to say I didn't use a lot of oil.
• I didn't have self rising cornmeal, so I sort of fudged it with cornmeal, baking powder, and salt.
• I also didn't have buttermilk, so I put 1 Tb. vinegar in regular milk and let it sit.  

I found this one on tastykitchen.com, and pinned it for later trial, and I am so glad I did.  These muffins are easy and come together quickly, but most importantly, they're good.  I also love that they're made mostly with ingredients that are likely already in your kitchen.  Since I line my muffin tin with liners for easy cleanup, I only dipped the tops of the muffins.  It's probably a lot less messy that way.

The original title is "Muffins that Taste Like Doughnuts" but I beg to differ- to me they tasted just like the snickerdoodle cookie, but somehow maybe better.  I made no changes, so recipe is posted as you'll find it on the original post, but the recipe title links to the tastykitchen.com site so that you can see what else lemanda has come up with!

Snickerdoodle Muffins
from user lemanda

1-¾ cup Flour

1-½ teaspoon Baking Powder
½ teaspoons Salt
½ teaspoons Nutmeg
½ teaspoons Cinnamon
⅓ cups Oil
¾ cups White Sugar
1 whole Egg
¾ cups Milk

What are some of your favorite snacks?  If you're a cereal lover, this one will likely be right up your alley.  I found it several years ago in I think a Publix magazine.  Its title is Cherry-Almond Snack Mix, and it's so good.  I used to make it quite a bit a while back, stopped for no real reason, and then rediscovered it when my family made it for the beach.  I made some for this week and thought I'd share the recipe with you.  It's so easy there's just the 1 photo and no real notes.  Except that I used pumpkin pie spice rather than apple pie spice because I had an old mix of it on hand.  If you don't feel like buying a spice mixture, experiment with making your own out of cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, and/or allspice.

Cherry-Almond Snack Mix
Origin unknown, but I got it from an old Publix magazine!
Makes 4-5 cups mix

4 cups oat squares cereal (recommended: Quaker Oat Squares, Brown Sugar flavored)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
2 Tb. melted butter
1/2 tsp. apple pie spice
dash salt
1 cup dried cherries or golden raisins

Preheat oven to 300 F.  In a bowl, combine butter, spices and salt. Add cereal and almonds to bowl and toss to coat. Spread out mixture on 15" x 10" x 1" baking pan or a 13"x 9"x 2" cake pan.  Bake for 20 mins, stirring once halfway through the cooking time. Cool for 20 minutes on a wire rack and then add the dried fruit. Allow to cool completely.  Store in airtight container for up to 1 week.

I made these a couple weeks ago, and Drew, his brother, and I ate them, and they were SO GOOD!  It's 10:45 am on a Monday morning and I could eat some right now if I had some.  The filling is tasty, but I think the homemade enchilada sauce is the star.  I considered just buying prepared enchilada sauce when I realized last minute that I really just needed to buy the vegetable broth to have all the ingredients I needed for the sauce.  So, I bought some broth and made the sauce.  I am telling you that the sauce was the element of this meal that made this dish really memorable.  

We loved this with avocado.  We could love dirt with avocado.

Everything comes together really easily and fairly quickly, and I think in all we ended up with 6-8 burrito sized enchiladas.  I don't know what constitutes traditional Mexican enchiladas, but I am sure this wasn't it.  It doesn't really matter, though.  What matters is that this is a great meal, and I'd bet it'd be a good freezer meal choice too.



I'll link to the original post in the recipe title and post as I made it, since I did make some changes.

I remember Rachael Ray talking about cooking the rawness out of some spices...it made me think of  this.

Black Bean- Spinach Enchiladas
from Garden Grazer Blog

Enchilada Sauce
3 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup all purpose flour
2 Tbsp. olive oil
2 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. garlic powder
1/4 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. chili powder
Salt/pepper

Enchiladas
15 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained or 1 1/2- 2 cups prepared beans, drained and rinsed
1 1/2 cups corn (I used frozen, thawed)
6 oz. fresh baby spinach
1 small onion, diced small
2 tsp. cumin
2 cups (8 oz) shredded cheese- I used combo of Monterrey Jack and cheddar
8 flour tortillas

Make the sauce: in a saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add tomato paste, flour, 2 tsp. cumin, garlic powder, onion powder, and chili powder. Cook 1 minute, whisking. Whisk in broth, bring to a boil. Reduce to simmer, and cook until slightly thickened about 8 minutes. Salt/pepper to taste, and set aside.

Saute the spinach and onion in olive oil over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until slightly wilted.
In a large bowl, combine beans, 1 cup cheese, spinach, corn, and 2 tsp. cumin.

Preheat oven to 375. Pour a small amount of the enchilada sauce into the bottom of a 9x13 inch baking dish. 
Generously fill tortillas with mixture, roll up tightly with ends tucked in, and place seam side down in dish.
Pour remaining sauce over the enchiladas, coating evenly. Sprinkle 1 cup cheese on top.
Bake about 20 minutes, and garnish with cilantro, avocado, and/or green onions (optional).

I remember seeing this recipe in the January/February 2012 issue of Everyday Food and wondering what sort of heresy they were getting at.  Black beans in brownies?!  For the love of all that is chocolate, why?!  Then one day last week, on a whim, I came back across the recipe and decided to try it.  I had some extra black beans from another recipe (watch for Meatless Monday!) and decided to experiment.



The results?  Not bad.  I may or may not have over baked them- I never got the "cracked top" that was supposed to indicate doneness, but the toothpick test came out about standard.  The first day they were a little too cakey for my liking, but after the first day they got a little fudgier.  They were tasty- quite chocolatey, and my two taste testers declared them good before they knew what was in them.  The one complaint I do have is that I noticed a textural issue that I am guessing (though not certain) is caused by the black bean skins.  I used beans I actually prepared from dried beans, and I don't know if that possibly made a difference.  Either way, if you want a lightened up indulgence, these brownies just may do it for you.



Due to what I had on hand vs. what the recipe called for, I did not make these exactly according to the recipe.  I'll post what I did below, and you can click on the recipe title to view the original recipe.

Triple Chocolate Brownies
from Everyday Food, Jan/Feb 2012 issue

1/4 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/4 cup black beans, drained, rinsed, and pureed until smooth
5 oz semisweet chocolate (either already in chips or chopped)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 egg white
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter a 9-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides. In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine butter, bean puree, and chocolates and microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes. Whisk in sugar, eggs and egg white, and vanilla until smooth.

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir into chocolate mixture until just combined. Pour batter into pan; smooth top. Bake until top is cracked and a toothpick inserted in center has moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes (center will seem undercooked but will set further as it cools). Let cool completely in pan on a wire rack. Using parchment, lift brownie from pan and cut into 16 squares.

I think I did one of these last year, but happy 4th of July to you!  Now's a good time to see what's been done in the past.

How do you celebrate our nation's independence?  Do you watch fireworks, cookout, go vacationing, all of the above?  The 4th has always been for me a time spent with family or friends.  It usually involves fireworks and usually a cookout with great food.

Below are some of my top pics for a great 4th (or any time)!  Whatever you do, happy Fourth to you and yours!

Grilled main dishes:


A delicious burger


BBQ chicken

Buttermilk Brined Grilled Chicken

On the side:

Potato Salad

For dessert:


As American as....Blueberry Pie

Strawberry cobbler