Light Dinner and Fruit Desserts

Cassie's friend Kailaigh (sp) spent the day with us at the shore today. It was nice to meet her especially since they will be roommates next year. The girls ate dinner at Popeye's (!!!) and my dinner tonight was a butternut squash and green pepper grilled kabob. I boiled the squash for 10 minutes before skewering it with the pepper and putting it on the grill. It was really simple with just a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper.

Dinner was followed by two fruit desserts. Cassie had requested peach cobbler which I ended up making with peaches and blueberries. The dough was made from a mix that I picked up at Delicious Orchards earlier today. It was just simpler since we are at the beach without access to flour, sugar, butter, baking powder, etc needed to make a biscuit from scratch. There was no cinnamon in the house so I used a sprinkle of nutmeg. Syrup was the only sweetener in the fruit. The topping was a light whipped cream.

The second dessert was strawberry shortcake. I’m on a blueberry kick though (since they are local) so I mixed the strawberries and blueberries with a little sugar. I did keep a dish of strawberries separate since I know Bruce is a purist and would prefer it to the mixed berries. The dough was the same as for the dumplings and again, I used the light whipped cream to layer the fruit and the biscuits.

Awesome Birthday!!!!

What a fabulous way to spend my 36th Birthday! Chris and I spent the day relaxing, walking through Ocean Grove and hanging out at the beach. I made the fruit salad and it came out beautifully. I decided not to mix in the yogurt but will probably parfait it as a dessert or breakfast.

Later, we went to Target. I picked up a pair of sports sandals. I didn’t see any in the women’s department, so I bought a size 8 men’s. http://www.target.com/gp/detail.html/sr=1-1/qid=1183030264/ref=sr_1_1/601-8389595-3923343?ie=UTF8&asin=B000JNORBG
Tasha & Ed and Cassie each gave me money toward Chacos or Keens for my birthday so I’ll be doing more shoe shopping on Zappos later today.

Cassie got here in time for dinner. We prepared a yummy lobster dinner. We bought the lobster fresh from Jodi’s. I had bought some PURPLE potatoes at Delicious Orchards and guess what . . . they are purple inside! They made fun and tasty mashed potatoes. We also had corn on the cob and a mixed baby green salad with baby arugula, goat cheese, halved red grapes and a drizzle of cider vinegar and olive oil topped with fresh ground pepper and sea salt. Chris made a lemon sauce with garlic infused butter and olive oil that complimented everything.

After dinner, we went to Days for ice cream and since ice cream has become a rare treat AND it was my birthday, I got two scoops on a cone: Pralines & Cream and Mocha Chocolate Chip. Cassie got “It’s a Goody” hot fudge sundae and Chris got Pralines & Cream and Belgian Chocolate in a cup with malt topping. Really, they have the best ice cream I’ve ever had. By the time we walked up to the beach, my hands and face were covered in sticky cream. It was fun.

After washing up, we played a little miniature golf at Bradley Beach. There was a heat storm or something with lots of lightening far out in the distance and the sky was really red. We got home just before the biggest thunderstorm downpour I’ve ever experienced. It was intense with almost constant rumbling thunder and flashes of lightening.

It was so wonderful spending hours with Cassie and Chris and just having fun together. Definitely one of my best birthdays so far!

VACATION

Our very generous friends, Bruce and Gina, graciously let us stay in their beach house every year so that we can have a vacation. It’s a great way for us to start the summer and we gener
ally spend one or both weekends with them and have the house to ourselves during the week. One of the best things to me is that I have the time to just experiment with my cooking and make things exactly the way I want. Plus the most wonderful fresh and local produce is available. It's a great season to be vegetarian.

Today, we finally got to go to Delicious Orchards and we had a great time. The produce was beautiful and much of it was local and/or organic. It was so exciting to have such a bounty to choose from. When we got home, we spent the afternoon at the beach and then 3 hours making dinner. After dinner, we went for an hour long walk on the boardwalk before returning to the house for Cio Bella Sorbet (I had the Blackberry Cabernet and Chris had the Lemon). What a great day!

Most of these recipes are adapted from Vegetarian Times.

Grilled Corn and Black Bean Salad

Grill

2 ears of corn wrapped in foil
Half a red onion in 2 thick slices
1 Green Pepper halved

Meanwhile combine

Sliced avocado
Cilantro
1 Can Black Beans
Grape Tomatoes halved
Add in cooled grilled veggies and stir in
Juice of half a lemon
Cumin

Mix together and serve

Quinoa with Pistachios and Mint
Toast 1/2C Pistachios, chop coarsely and place in bowl
Grill small Vidalia onion and chop
Toast 1C Quinoa in pot
Add 2C Water
Bring to boil then simmer covered 15 minutes. Fluff with a fork and cool
Stir together,

onion, pistachios, and quinoa with
Lemon Juice
Olive Oil
Salt
Mint

Grilled Vegetable Salad (this will make a great veggie sandwich with hummus or stirred into an omelet. Also any extra marinade can be used as salad dressing)
Whisk together

Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
Basil
Chopped Garlic
Pour Marinade Over
1 lb Asparagus
Sliced Portabellas (I actually used a mixture of wild mushrooms)
Sliced Zucchini
Sliced Red Onion

After marinating for 15-30 minutes, grill on low heat for 5-10 minutes
Reduce extra marinade on the stove over high heat. Throw a bunch of spinach into the reduction and steam until lightly wilted.
Stir together grilled veggies, marinade and spinach

Green Salad

Mesculin
Baby arugula
Sliced sheep’s milk cheese
Sliced dried pear
Drizzle of cider vinegar and olive oil
Fresh ground pepper

Tomorrow, I’ll be making a fruit salad with

Pineapple
Peach
Apricot
Grapes

Strawberries

Blueberries
Banana

I’ll toss the bite sized fruit with stonyfield farm fat free blackberry yogurt and vanilla yogurt