Squash Spaghetti

I have made this one a couple times and each time I do something different, and love it. This version is my favorite but you can easily adapt the recipe for your own preference.

Ingredients:
2 squash, cut in half and seeds removed
LOTS of tomatoes, sliced
Bell pepppers, chopped
1 clove of garlic, chopped
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese

On a foil lined baking sheet place the squash so the "skin" side is on the bottom. Lightly cover each half with olive oil, and bake in the oven at 350 for 15 minutes

Let the squash cool, and then take a fork and shred the inside. These are your "noodles." Then in a large sauce pan on medium heat saute the tomatoes, peppers, and garlic using a little bit of olive oil. After a few minutes add your squash noodles and then serve warm with Parmesan cheese. If you are not an olive oil fan, you can use any type of sauce and add any of your favorites!

Spicy Cuke Salad

In case you were wondering:  still finishing up last week's delivery.  With Abby and Mark both out of town, I am going to have to cook vegetarian to ensure #novegleftbehind happens...   

However, Mark and I fell in love with the cucumber this spring in Costa Rica.  At our hotel (really reasonably priced if you are considering going), they would keep filling your glass with cucumber-infused ice water while you lounged at the pool.  It was heaven... 

Anyway, we got a green cucumber and a white cucumber, so I started remembering that trip.  And, that made me want to combine the refreshing cucumber with something spicy and Latin-American-ish...

Ingredients
1 medium green cucumber
1 medium white cucumber (Can't find this?  Just use another green one.  The taste is identical.)
3 small ears of sweet corn
1 medium-to-large tomato, diced
1/4 green bell pepper, diced
1/4 red bell pepper, diced
1/4 orange bell pepper, diced
1/4 yellow bell pepper, diced
1/4 small red onion, sliced
1 tsp minced garlic
3 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp parsley
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
2 Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar

Instructions

Bring a small pot of water to a boil on the stove.  Add the corn to the boiling water and boil for 5 minutes. 

Meanwhile, cut your cucumbers in half and scoop out the seeds with a teaspoon.  Chop the remaining cucumber and add to a bowl.

Remove the corn and cut the kernels from the cobs and into the bowl with the cucumber.

Add the remaining ingredients to the bowl and toss with the Red Wine Vinegar.  Chill for at least two hours before serving...  Ideally, it's best when it's had a night to combine and soak into the vegetables.  It's crunch, spicy, and somehow cool and refreshing at the same time...  YUM!  This would be perfect for a barbeque side...

Serves 6

Fresh Taco Topper

Tuesday is Taco Night at the Philip house, and this week was no different.  I know that personal taco taste is subjective, so I'll just tell you how we made them in case you are curious.  We used ground turkey (we're trying to minimize red meat to the occasional steak and burger).  We browned it.  We drained it.  See why this isn't a recipe?  Then, I added sliced red, green, yellow, and orange bell peppers and sliced red onion (probably about a quarter of each of them).  Then, I start throwing things in:  Cumin, Chili Powder, Sciracha, garlic, red pepper flakes, hungarian paprika, etc.  Tacos never taste the same twice at our house...  So, that's pretty much what you do with the meat. 

Mark loves the double-decker...  So, we use both flour and corn tortillas, warmed, and them cemented together with refried beans.  In case you were really curious...

Here's the part I thought you might actually want to know.  We had a lot of cabbage, and we usually top our tacos with tomatoes and lettuce.  But, it seemed like a lot of restaurants do a cabbage topping, so I went for that...  ...and this fresh taco topper was born.

(This is a terrible photo.  I was really hungry at that point.)

Ingredients
1/4 medium sized head of cabbage, sliced thin (around 2 cups or so...)
1 small tomato, diced
1 green onion
1 tsp garlic chives
1/2 cup orange juice
1/4 cup fresh lime juice
1 tsp kosher salt
1/4 tsp cracked black pepper

Instructions
Combine all of the ingredients in a bowl and chill until you are ready to top your tacos.  Serves 6.

The orange and lime juice combination was so refreshing on the spicy tacos...  We went back for seconds. 

Word of warning:  This does not eat like slaw to me.  I saved what was leftover to eat as slaw with lunch the next day.  Not that tasty on it's own - maybe too much acid for my taste. 

Fresh Radish Salad

This is a refreshing vegetable salad that features giant Japanese red radishes, along with a mix of other vegetables you always have on-hand.

2 giant Japanese red radishes, inch-long julienned
half a medium cucumber, diced
1 hothouse tomato
2 Tbsp red onion, diced
1 tsp green onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp green onion, thinly sliced
red wine vinegar
extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper to taste


Combine all vegetables in a bowl, and dress with equal parts red wine vinegar and olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt & pepper to taste.  Serve and enjoy!  Serves 2.