Meatless Monday: Spinach-Strawberry Salad with Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Last week, my husband and I picked up our first box of fresh fruits and veggies from Underwood Family Farms in Moorpark (CA) as part of a community-supported agriculture (CSA) program that we joined. Now, weekly, we'll be getting a mystery box of delicious, locally-grown produce that was harvested from the field just the day before. Let me tell you, I have not tasted such fresh fruits and veggies in a LONG time. Yum! Seriously, it's remarkable just how good everything has been. It's as if my taste buds had completely forgotten how fruits and veggies were really supposed to taste. And it was so fun to open the box not knowing what might be inside. (Of course, it will be a selection of what's in season every time, but it's still a surprise.) This week, it was spinach, purple cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, Easter radishes, leeks, Albion strawberries, romaine lettuce, and red leaf lettuce.

The box is bigger than it may appear here. You can only see one layer, but there's an entire other layer under there. In other words, it's a whole lot of fruit and veggies for only two people to get through in just one week! But we're up for the challenge. If anything, it should make it more likely that we get our daily recommended servings of fruits and veggies. And hopefully, it will also mean that we end up eating more fruits and veggies than meat, choosing healthier snacks, and making more really great recipes like this next one.


Spinach-Strawberry Salad with Goat Cheese Bruschetta
Recipe

This recipe was a great choice for us this week because it made use of two of our CSA box ingredients - spinach and strawberries - and also because . . . it calls for goat cheese! In an earlier post, I mentioned how much I love goat cheese, so it's not surprising that I've since posted a couple of recipes with goat cheese in them. What is surprising is that it's taken me so long to share this particular recipe containing goat cheese with you because it's one of my favorites. I was also surprised to realize that, since this regular Meatless Monday post started with its first post back in October, I haven't introduced even one leafy salad recipe (although there have been a few other types of salad recipe posts). So, in short, I'm overdue in sharing this with you and, for that, I apologize. (And I do feel the need to apologize - people, it's that good!)

Three notes about this recipe: 1) be very careful when toasting the almonds; if you don't watch closely, they'll burn before you can blink an eye; 2) use baby spinach if you can because it's more tender; and 3) did I mention this stuff is delicious? Even the salad dressing on its own is so good you might consider carrying a secret flask of it in an inside pocket, dabbing it behind your ears, writing it a love letter, . . . or, at the very least, using it on other sorts of salads too.

With the California Strawberry Festival just around the corner, I definitely see more of this salad in my immediate future. . . . That's right, Albion, I've got my eye on you!


Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Baked Goat Cheese & Roasted Winter Squash Over Garlicky Fettuccine

I have been known to say, "Put cheese on a pile of $h!t and I'll eat it." Am I proud of that statement? No. Is it true? You betcha. (Sorry if that last phrase caused any traumatic flashbacks to the presidential election campaign.) Okay, okay. It is a bit of an exaggeration, . . . but I do love me some cheese. One of my favorites? Goat cheese. It's just so tasty and so versatile. I love it hot, cold, spread on a piece of nice crusty bread, sprinkled throughout a salad, "in the rain, on a train" . . . and, in today's recipe - breaded, baked, and served on a bed of fettuccine!

Baked Goat Cheese & Roasted Winter Squash Over Garlicky Fettuccine
http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1559238

Recommendation: When a recipe calls for peppers, I typically like to roast them and take the skin off. The body doesn't digest pepper skins that well and the texture and flavor of the roasted pepper is just nicer anyway. Not sure how to get that pesky skin off? It's actually easier than you might think. Or, easier yet, you can pick up a jar of roasted and peeled red peppers at most any run-of-the-mill grocery store.

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Spinach & Goat Cheese

As many of you ponder recipes for stuffing various types of birds this week for your Thanksgiving feast, I thought I would offer up a recipe for a different type of stuffed edible that is perfect for this time of year:

STUFFED PORTOBELLO MUSHROOMS WITH SPINACH & GOAT CHEESE
www.cooksillustrated.com/recipes/detail.asp?newVideo=y&docid=17663
(Along with the recipe, this site also has a great little video of the whole process for making it.)

I've always loved stuffed mushrooms. In fact, one of the first things I ever cooked for my husband when we first started dating was stuffed mushrooms. The button variety make such a great, satisfying hors d'oeuvre because you can just pick one up with your fingers and pop it whole, just like a sushi roll, and just like the description I once saw on a sushi menu, "you will have heaven in mouth!" Of course, you should wait until they cool a bit before doing that . . . a warning my husband unfortunately disregarded when I served him one that first time. As his tongue came close to feeling like it would ignite and he oh-so-suavely spit the whole thing out into a napkin, he wondered if he'd ever be asked over for dinner again.

Of course, button mushrooms aren't the only kind you can stuff. Portobello mushrooms are also ideal for stuffing, as this recipe proves. It's a much nicer choice if you're looking for something to plate and serve as an appetizer. You lose the convenience of being able to pop it into your mouth whole, . . . but maybe that's better for some people anyway. ;) The variety of things with which you can stuff them is endless too. Naturally, I would suggest a recipe involving cheese. The goat cheese in this recipe complements the earthy flavors of the mushroom and walnuts remarkably well.

Bon appetit & Happy Thanksgiving!

Got any favorite vegetarian recipes?? Please share!

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Meatless Monday: Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese & Sage

WARNING: This is yet another Meatless Monday post about squash. . . . Hey, if I'm going to have an addiction, at least it's a healthy one - I don't have to feel guilty about eating it to my heart's content and I also don't have to feel guilty about getting you hooked. Oh, and you will be hooked after you try this next recipe. HEV-UN!

Butternut Squash Gratin with Blue Cheese & Sage
Recipe

And I thought squash with goat cheese was good! This makes an amazing side dish and works well as leftovers (provided you reheat it in a conventional oven - the bread crumbs lose something in the microwave).



Got any favorite vegetarian or vegan recipes?? Please share!

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