Greek Dip

We had a bunch of fresh, locally grown veggies, and at the end of the weekend (with all the eating at restaurants) something light was in order.

I saw this recipe and gave it a go. This is how I did it:

1 8oz pkg cream cheese, room temperature
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp dill (or more)
1 tsp herb and garlic seasoning (like Mrs. Dash)
1 tub hummus (or make your own)
Chopped cucumber
Chopped tomato
Chopped green onion
Chopped kalamata olives
Chopped lettuce (dark green...I used some baby lettuce I grew)
Chopped fresh parsley
Feta cheese, crumbled
Fresh cracked pepper
Olive oil

In a medium bowl, mix (with a mixer) the cream cheese, lemon juice, dill and seasoning. Adjust to taste but remember that the flavours will intensify with time.

Smear cream cheese onto bottom of a glass pie plate (or other vessel). Top with hummus (I used about 2/3 of a tub). Put a layer of cucumber, a layer of tomato, a layer of green onion, a layer of chopped olives, and a layer of lettuce on top of the hummus.

Crumble feta on the vegetables, sprinkle on chopped parsley, grind some fresh black pepper on top, and drizzle on some olive oil.

Easy stuff, right?

The original recipe suggested covering and refrigerating for a couple of hours. I chose not to. First, because refrigerating tomatoes is a sin. Second, I wanted to eat.

I toasted up some whole wheat pita triangles to eat with this, but you could use whatever.

We will totally be eating this again, though I'll probably throw in some orange sweet peppers for a little more crunch (and another veggie).

Cheesy Pull Apart Bread

It's Father's Day. We had all the Dads over here. It was a great time. I made pulled pork, brats (boiled in beer and a vidalia onion, grilled, and popped back into the onion beer), spinach dip...

...and this gem (from the Changeable Table), that will make a repeat appearance in the future. For sure.



1 round loaf of sourdough (though I had to substitute a calebrese loaf because that's all I could find and it was fine)
1 brick monterey jack cheese
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 green onion

Cut bread lengthwise and then crosswise, not going through the loaf completely. It's like a bloomin onion, but, like, bread. If you have trouble with this, put the handles of 2 wooden spoons (or dowels) on either side of the loaf to stop your knife. Oh, and obviously you will want to use a good serrated knife for the cutting.

Put bread onto foil lined cookie sheet. Slice the cheese (yay for not having to grate it!) and tuck the slices into the cuts. Cut the green onion and mix it in with the melted butter. Drizzle over the bread. Cover loosely with foil.

Pop into a preheated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 10 minutes.

You could mix other stuff with the butter: garlic, chives, whatever you like.

Tilapia Burger

I served this with Scalloped Tomatoes from Smitten Kitchen. The recipe comes from Canadian Family magazine, Summer 2011.

Makes 6 burgers.

1 tblsp chopped garlic
2 inches fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 1/4 lbs tilapia filets
3 tblsp soy sauce
1 egg white
4 green onions
1/2 cup red pepper, seeded and diced

Multigrain buns
Lettuce
Red onion slices
Mango chutney
Mayonnaise

In a food processor, chop garlic and ginger. Cube fish and add to food processor, pulsing until everything is the consistency of ground meat.

Stir in soy sauce, egg white, green onion and red pepper. The original recipe also had you add 3 tsp sesame oil, but I chose not to. Form into 6 patties and place in fridge for 30 minutes to chill.

Heat a large non-stick skillet on medium high heat and add a bit of olive oil. Pan fry patties for 6-8 minutes each side (until cooked through). If the edges are burning, turn the heat down (duh).

Assemble burger. Mayo on one bun, mango chutney on the other, lettuce, red onion, whatever else you want to add...

The original recipe also suggest eating it with pea shoots and chopped pickled ginger. Also, they suggest it would taste awesome with honey wasabi mustard (which I'm going to have to try.

Honey Wasabi Mustard
1 tblsp honey
1 tsp wasabi
t tblsp Dijon mustard

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese and Edemame and Corn Salad

Edemame and Corn Salad

Juice of 1/2 lemon
2 tsp herb seasoning mix (I used a Mrs. Dash type one)
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 cup frozen edemame beans (the shelled kind)
Handful of cherry/grape tomatoes
Thin slices of red onion
Pinch of salt to taste
2 tsp olive oil

Boil corn and edemame on stove for a couple of minutes until thawed. Dunk in ice water immediately to halt cooking, keep the veggies bright, and to cool them off.

Meanwhile, mix lemon and seasoning in a medium bowl and let reconstitute a few minutes. Throw in onion, tomatoes and cooled corn and beans, season with salt to taste and put in fridge until needed.

Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese

(makes 1 sandwich)

2 jalapenos
2 slices sourdough bread
Couple tblsp cream cheese (room temperature)
Butter
1/4 cup monterey jack cheese, shredded
Crushed up tortilla chips

ETA: If the idea of roasting and skinning the pepper is keeping you from trying this delicious sandwich, just use the canned jalapenos. It's the same basic idea.

(it's tough to give measurements for this...my sourdough slices were from the centre of a circular sourdough loaf, so they were huge...and you might like more of one thing and less of another, so it's up to you how much you use)

Set oven rack to top position and turn on the broiler. Cut the jalapenos in half and scrape out the seeds and ribs (you might want to use a fork to hold the pepper, wear gloves, or put a plastic bag on your hand for this step). Put peppers cut side down on baking sheet and pop under broiler until the skins are blackened (maybe 15 minutes?). Pull them out and place them in a bag or container and seal, allowing steam to help loosen the skins and cool the peppers off.

Once cooled (around 20 minutes) enough to handle, pinch off the skins and discard.

Begin warming a skillet on the stovetop. You could probably also grill this.

Lightly butter one side of the bread. Flip it over and smear on some cream cheese, place the skinned jalapenos on the cream cheese, sprinkle with crushed tortilla chips and top with shredded cheese.

Butter the second piece of bread and put on top of the goodies you've just piled up (butter side out of course...I'm sure you've all made grilled cheese before!). Place in heated skillet and cook on medium-high until bread is toasty and cheese inside is melty.

Yummy Summer Avocado Wrap

This is a vegan recipe that I found on Pinterest and tracked it down here.



To make 2 wraps:

2 extra large wraps
1/2 an avocado
1 roma tomato, thickly sliced
1/4 Vidalia onion, sliced
4 tblsp fresh lime juice
1 tblsp apple cider vinegar
2 tblsp olive oil
2 tsp maple syrup (the real stuff, obviously)
6 tblsp spicy hummus
1 cup matchstick carrots
Freshly ground black pepper

Slice avocado into strips. Coat in lime juice and some salt and pepper. Throw some lime juice on the remaining half, cover, and store in fridge for another use.

Place onion and tomato slices in bowl and toss with olive oil, maple syrup, a splash of lime juice, and apple cider vinegar.

Warm tortilla in oven (or microwave) until soft. Spread spicy hummus on wrap, top with slices of avocado, some tomato and onion, matchstick carrots and a grind of pepper. Drizzle a little of the tomato and onion marinade on top.

Roll up your wrap and slice. Wrapping a piece of waxed paper around the wrap will make it easier to both slice and eat.

Mix the remaining tomato and onion marinade with some mayo (or sour cream) to make a dipping sauce if you like! I served it with Caprese salad on the side.