Thai Bok Choy Salad with Ginger Peanut Sauce

This recipe came from here- thai-bok-choy-salad with ginger peanut dressing, except I did not add ramen noodles, sesame seeds or peanuts.  I did marinate the chicken in her Ginger Soy marinade from another of her recipes, but it is not necessary.  The day I made this I happened to have exactly 1 cup of fresh coconut milk from a green Thai coconut that I had finally gotten around to opening.  I put all of the coconut flesh (which is very little) with a bit of the coconut water in the food processor and it made 1 cup coconut milk-just enough for the dressing.

Thai Bok Choy Salad
5-6 cups thinly slice baby bok choy (or chinese napa cabbage)
6-8 radishes, thinly sliced
2 carrots, julienned
2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
2-3 cups cooked chicken (optional)
Optional: halved grape tomatoes, bean sprouts, cucumbers, jicama

Thai Ginger Peanut Dressing
8 oz light coconut milk
1/4 natural peanut butter
1/4 T fish sauce
2 T Thai red curry paste
1 T brown sugar or honey
1 t rice vinegar
1 t lime juice
2-3 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 T soy sauce
1/2 tsp Sriracha sauce or cayenne

March of the Penguins

I made these cute appetizers several times between Christmas Eve and New Years Day.   They take a lot of time to assemble, but it goes quicker if you cut all the olives and roasted peppers and let them dry on paper towels while you cut the carrot feet and beaks, and then assemble in assembly line fashion.  The penguins are sitting on turnip skis or ice floes in 1 picture. In the other picture, they are adoring a Broccolini Christmas Tree!  Cream cheese at room temperature with a little butter added and a few seconds in the microwave will help it spread easier into the penguin's olive tummy. Large olive for  body and small olive for head.

Raw Beet Salad

My raw beet salad is so simple - lemon juice and parsley with shredded beets.  There are other recipes out there that have a more traditional dressing with olive oil, perhaps dijon mustard or garlic, but I like the acidic balance the freshly squeezed lemon juice provides to the sweetness of the beets without any other mediators except fresh parsley.  A very healthy, simple, quick salad.

2 Excellent No-Oven or Stove Zucchini Recipes

Here are 2 easy zucchini recipes. These are especially good on a day like today when it was too hot to cook and basil or other fresh herbs were also abundant.

Raw Zucchini Salad

With a peeler or a mandoline, shave zucchini the long way into long thin slices or slice into very thin rounds.
Dressing: Grated Lemon Peel and Juice from 1 lemon (at least 2 T), 2 T olive oil, and about 4 T of fresh herbs.  I used basil and chives, but other herbs, such as mint, parsley, dill, would be good too.  You could also add sprinkle some soft cheese, like goat or gorgonzola on top, although I did not.  Instead I added all 5 orange cherry tomatoes that ripened today.

The other recipe is just as simple although the zucchini is cooked. I grilled it outside.

Grilled Zucchini and Yellow Squash with Basil Parmesan dressing

Cut squashes in half.   Spray or rub olive oil on both sides and sprinkle salt and pepper.  Cook on gas grill on both sides until softer but where it will still hold a shape when you cut it into 1" pieces after it is cooked and cooled.  The cooking time depends on how big your squash is.  A normal sized zucchini probably only takes 10 minutes on hot grill.  (my big one took 20 minutes). Discard seeds if numerous.  Sprinkle and mix in 1/3 cup shredded parmesan, 1/2 cup chopped basil,  2 T balsamic vinegar and 2 T olive oil.  (recipe from Bon Appetit found on Epicurous.com)