Raw Zucchini Salad with Tzatziki

RAW ZUCCHINI SALAD w/ ZIPPY TZATZIKI DRESSING

Has it really been less than a month since my last post?  I feel like I've been away for much longer than that, but maybe the transition to summer life just makes my previous life of blogging and teaching seem much further back.  

To be honest, not only have I not been blogging, but I haven't really been doing all that much cooking.  Instead, time has been made for some new hobbies (gardening), and the revival of some old, missed hobbies (French, reading).  Conducive for all of them, Garrett and I have really souped up the back porch, and the first days of summer have been spent sitting among the budding flowers and birds reading, listening to French language podcasts, and scientifically monitoring the growth of dill, basil, tomatoes, and peppers.  The scenery has even made getting work work done very non-stressful.

Speaking of the garden, thus far my research has proved beyond the shadow of a doubt that fresh-from-the garden herbs are a million times better than even the fresh stuff at the store.  The smell, flavor, and texture...all superior.  Here's a recipe you can use with fresh dill.  It's a great, refreshing salad for meals on the porch, and will only keep you in the kitchen for about 10 minutes.

Roasted Garlic and Shallot Olive Tapenade

I knew telling myself that this weekend would be a good time to kick start a pre-winter health reformation would wind up a huge joke.  Who even tells them that before Thanksgiving?  Idiots do.  I'm an idiot.

So, while I stood in front of a rack of vegetables for a long while in the grocery store today hoping I'd be inclined to roast some leeks or do something new with cauliflower, none of it looked good.  I resorted to flipping through numbers of cooking magazines looking for something inspirational, but came up with nothing.  It didn't help that I wasn't hungry in the least.  I ate half a large pizza for dinner last night.

I mustered up enough motivation to act on the idea that I could make something out of the usual stash of olives I keep around for snacking.  Tapenade would definitely help wean me off bready, rich holiday food (and pizza).  It was also a very low-maintenance option, which is key for finding enough time to break away from the hundreds of pages of Thucydides I'm trying to speed through to catch up in grad school.

This tapenade is going to be much smoother and richer than other recipes thanks to the addition of a heavy dose of roasted garlic and shallots.  It would be great on a sandwich which some of your leftover turkey, or on pizza... I went the simple route with some crusty bread smeared with fresh tomato and topped with arugula. 

Greek Meatballs

GREEK MEATBALLS & WHEATBERRY ARUGULA SALAD

What a fast week...with a snow day Tuesday, dinner in the burbs with family on Thursday, and a professional development conference in the city on Friday, I barely had any time with my students or, less importantly, the vegetables in my fridge.  To top it off, this weekend Garrett and I are in Detroit for a wedding, so we needed to make quick use of the foodstuffs lying around.

So here's a recipe for a few typical situations:

1. You have hearty vegetables that need to get used up.
2. You or your significant other don't like vegetables all that much.
3. You want to stretch that buck you spent on meat in your diet by adding some healthy filler. 
4. You want to minimize your portion size when eating meat.

All of the above situations applied in my case, except #2.  Any time I make burgers, meatballs, or meatloaf, I throw whatever vegetables I can into a food processor that won't dramatically change the texture or flavor.  In this case, I managed to sneak in two whole zucchini, probably getting another entire serving from the recipe (yes, lunch is made) and making the meal a lot less heavy.  

The wheatberry salad in itself is a delicious and hearty meal if you want to skip the meat part all together. 

Greek Lemon Soup and Brussel Sprouts

I had some left over dill and farro from yesterday's meal, and some eggs I needed to use, so I made one of my favorite greek dishes: avgolomeno.  I used the guidelines from this "Egg and Lemon Soup," but used farro instead of brown rice.   It went well with the roasted brussel sprouts with balsamic glaze.

There's even an upper body workout for tonight.