The refrigerator is empty; blues

Well, this week has started out a little tougher than the last two weeks. I don’t have any food at home to prepare along with my CSA produce! So, I will have to be creative…or just super simple. This week’s produce included more kale, bok choy, and spinach. The new additions were radishes and lettuce – yum! It was also a nice change of pace to not have to pick up my produce in the pouring rain. This time around, the sun was shining and it was very warm out – perfect weather in my opinion.

So, what to make for dinner? I did some searching in the kitchen and found that I had no chicken or other protein to compliment my vegetables. I also had very little other ingredients around to make a fancy vegetable salad. Needless to say, I need to do some serious grocery shopping (or gently persuade my roommate…mom…to do it for me). I decided to just create a salad out of the few ingredients that I did have – the CSA lettuce, spinach, bok choy, and radishes.

Week 3, recipe 1: The Refrigerator is Empty – Salad Ingredients: 8-10 medium sized lettuce leaves ½ to ¾ cup spinach 2 leaves of bok choy 2 radishes Salad dressing Preparation: I took about 8-10 medium sized lettuce leaves and tore them up – placed them in a large bowl. I threw in a handful of spinach leaves. To add a little different flavor, I chopped up two bok choy leaves (stems included) into the bowl. And finally, I threw in two chopped radishes (which also added a nice red color to the mix!). To top off my salad, I added blue cheese, French dressing. But, of course, a person could add any type of salad dressing.

I enjoyed my simple little salad. It did not take long for me to create and it is definitely a healthy dinner. It’s also great to know that I can throw together some ingredients and have them turn out tasting good. I don’t have to follow a recipe all the time – and that feels nice! Who said cooking was hard? On to the next dish!
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Week 3, snack 1: Asparagus on the Grill Ingredients: Asparagus – your desired amount (I had about 5 spears) 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar (more or less depending on amount of asparagus) 1 tablespoon olive oil (more or less depending on amount of asparagus) Sea salt Preparation: Warm your grill as you wash and dry your asparagus. Mix together balsamic vinegar and olive oil in a bowl. Brush or rub asparagus with the balsamic vinegar/olive oil mixture. Place asparagus on clean, warm grill. Cook asparagus for 5 to 10 minutes or until the stalks look bright green. Asparagus should be tender. Remove asparagus from the grill and sprinkle your desired amount of sea salt over them. Your asparagus is now ready to be eaten!

I made this snack without a recipe – just like my salad. I have seen recipes for grilled asparagus in the past, but I could not remember what was all in them. So, I threw together some ingredients that I’ve seen in grilled vegetable recipes before – and it ended up working out! The asparagus was warm and tender. The olive oil and balsamic vinegar gave the asparagus a nice flavor. And, the sea salt added an extra burst of flavor – I would highly recommend buying sea salt if you have none.

My grilled asparagus tasted even better considering how I enjoyed it – in the sun! I used the grill on our back patio, sat in the sun while I grilled, and then enjoyed the view while eating my healthy snack. It was a great afternoon!