Recipe for Spicy Cannellini Bean Salad with Tuna, Peperoncini, and Parsley

I made this Spicy Cannellini Bean Salad with Tuna over and over this summer, after I got infatuated with peperoncini, those slightly hot and spicy peppers that come in a jar with brine. It's definitely a variation of my White Bean Salad with Tuna and Parsley, and the first few times I made this, it was just for lunch, with no thought of blogging the recipe. Then when I realized I'd made it for the third time, I decided the the addition of peperoncini added such a kick to this salad that maybe some other peperoncini-lovers out there would like to try it. If you're a South Beach dieter who's looking for things you can make ahead and take to work for your lunch, this salad would be a perfect option for that too.

Recipe for Grilled Zucchini Pizza Slices

This idea of grilled zucchini used as a base for pizza toppings is one of those cooking ideas that swirl around in my head, and sometimes I'm never sure if I thought of it or saw it somewhere else. I kept wondering how it would work to arrange a marriage between Grilled Zucchini and Val's Kid-Friendly Broiled Zucchini Rounds with Cheese, with the offspring having a little pizza personality, and when I saw Alea's Eggplant Pizza Bites on $5 Dinners, it convinced me to try it.

Friday Night Photos: More Green Zebra Tomato Love, with Recipes! (2010 Garden Update #12)

I'm posting these Friday Night Photos early because today is moving day in the Denny household. It's not me or one of my siblings who's moving; rather today we are moving our elderly father into a new apartment at the assisted living center, after numerous problems with his previous apartment being a little too close to the elevator! I'm going to help with that in a few hours, after this bucket of Green Zebra tomatoes from my garden gets transformed into a couple of salads for all the movers to nibble on as we work. I raved last year about my love for Green Zebra tomatoes, and this year I'm having an amazing harvest from my three Green Zebra plants. Green Zebras don't really need more than a little salt to bring out their remarkable flavor, but here are a few other ways I've used them.

Cuban Flank Steak Recipe

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites August 2010) In one of my previous lives, before I became a food blogger and a South Beach Dieter, I used to be president of my local teacher's association, aka the teacher's union. This was a demanding high-pressure job that I sometimes loved, sometimes hated, but one thing I did enjoy about the job was the chance to travel. I went all over the U.S., and it was in Miami Beach that I had my first experience with Cuban food. I loved the way beef and pork were marinated in lime juice in the Cuban cuisine, so a few years ago I tried to re-create that flavor in this flank steak. Recently I made this again and thought I'd update this post with better photos (even though I cut the steak a little thicker than I wanted, they 're still an improvement on the previous photos!) If you like flank steak, give this flavorful Cuban-style marinade a try!

Recipe for Green Bean, Tomato, and Feta Salad Oreganato

Yes, I know there have been a lot of salads and garden vegetables around here lately, but when I made this salad with green beans, tomatoes, feta cheese, and a vinegary-lemony-oregano dressing, I loved it so much that I thought I should share the recipe while people still had garden green beans. I actually found this recipe in a Woman's World Magazine when I sat waiting for an appointment, and I got the receptionist to photocopy the page for me! I added the the Feta, which I thought was a perfect flavor with this salad, but what really makes this is the tangy dressing that has both red wine vinegar and fresh lemon juice. If you have garden beans or good fresh beans from the store, please make this salad!

Recipe for Green Goddess Salad Dressing

Have you tasted Green Goddess Salad Dressing? Green Goddess was hugely popular when I was a kid, and for me, it's one of those blast-from-the-past things that I've loved for so long I don't remember when I first tried it. There are definite similarities to Ranch Dressing, but Green Goddess is creamier and more herbal, with generous amounts of chives, tarragon, and parsley. It wasn't until I read about Green Goddess dressing on Hedonia that I knew that the dressing originated in San Francisco, created by a chef at the Palace Restaurant in 1923 for an actor who was starring in a play called "The Green Goddess." When I saw that post I'd been talking with my sister Sandee for months about re-creating our favorite salad dressing memory, and after I wrote about Green Goddess Dressing for BlogHer.com I finally made the dressing. I used the Green Goddess recipe from Hedonia, which Sean adapted from the original recipe from The Palace Restaurant. Of course, I loved this dressing, which I'm thinking is a pretty good reason to be sure I get some tarragon into the freezer so I can make it this winter!

Friday Night Photos: Saving the Swiss Chard! (2010 Garden Update #11)

Almost a month ago I asked for ideas about what might be eating my swiss chard. People weighed in with a lot of advice about what pests eat chard leaves, but when I showed the photos from that post to the experts at my favorite garden center, they were unanimous that it was quail eating the swiss chard. They recommended a type of netting that you throw over the plants, so I bought some and crossed my fingers. It took me about a week to get around to cutting the netting and putting it in place, and as you can see in this photo, the chard was starting to grow back.

Recipe for Penne Pasta with Tomato, Herb, and Feta No-Cook Pasta Sauce

When I first tried no-cook pasta sauce made with juicy vine-ripened tomatoes, I was thrilled to discover how flavorful the raw tomato sauce was over pasta. In this type of sauce, the tomatoes are cut up, tossed with herbs and olive oil, and then they marinate on the counter for a few hours. This version gives the sauce a Greek twist, with some Feta cheese added when you cook the pasta. You should only make this type of sauce when you have fresh vine-ripened tomatoes from your garden or farmers market, but if you have a surplus of tomatoes right now, this is a delicious way to use them.

Recipe for Caprese Salad with Red and Green Tomatoes and Kiwifruit

Caprese Salad (or Insalata Caprese) is one of those classic Italian summer dishes that I never get tired of eating when I have vine-ripened tomatoes from the garden and fresh mozzarella cheese in the fridge. I'm perfectly happy with a Caprese Salad with just the classic combination of red tomatoes, mozzarella, basil, and some good olive oil, but it's also fun to experiment with other ideas. I loved this Caprese Salad variation that paired red and green tomatoes with some perfectly ripe Kiwifruit, a light drizzle of white balsamic vinaigrette, and lots of fresh basil chiffonade. I ate about half of this for lunch on the day I took these photos, and then about an hour later I ate the rest for a snack, but this would also make a beautiful first course for a dinner party.

Friday Night Photos: Harvest Time! (2010 Garden Update #10)

If you have a garden, you know the joy of going out to harvest and coming back loaded with veggies. People who haven't grown vegetables may not realize just how much a few plants can produce. I thought for this Garden Update, it might be fun to show how many tomatoes, summer squash, and spaghetti squash I picked in 3-4 days time. Luckily I have sisters, friends, and even a few neighbors who don't mind sharing in the harvest! The tomatoes you see here are grape tomatoes, Romas, Celebrity, and Green Zebras, and I have several other varieties that aren't ripening yet. I also have Brandywine tomatoes but I'm eating those for tomato sandwiches as soon as one gets ripe, so they didn't make it into the photos!

Recipe for Easy Pesto Pasta Salad with Olives and Roasted Red Peppers

There are recipes where you carefully purchase special ingredients in anticipation of the dish, and then there are recipes where you have something in the fridge, and you stare into the pantry thinking, "What can I make with this?" It was the Basil Pesto with Lemon that inspired this uber-simple pasta salad recipe. I used canned olives and roasted red pepper from a jar to round out the salad, but there are lots of other possibilities that would taste good here (check after the recipe for other ideas.) Actually pasta salad with pesto dressing is just a version of pasta with pesto, so how can this not be good?

Twenty Zucchini Recipes (for Sneak Some Zucchini on to Your Neighbor's Porch Day)

It may not be an official government holiday, but gardeners everywhere celebrate August 8 as Sneak Some Zucchini on to Your Neighbor's Porch Day. Two years ago I did a round-up with Ten Delicious Zucchini Recipes. Since then I've discovered so many more good zucchini ideas, I thought I'd share ten more of my favorite recipes to use zucchini from your garden or CSA box. Let's start with this recipe for Meat, Tomato, and Mozzarella Stuffed Zucchini Cups.

Friday Night Photos: Sunflowers by the Fence (2010 Garden Update #9)

Along the fence on the west side of my house is a small strip of grass with a narrow flower bed along the fence. For years I had a perennial called Obedient Plant growing there. I liked the shape of the flowers, but this was an area that had shade most of the day, and the plant got spindly and fell over onto the grass. It also spread out and I had to spend way too much energy containing it in the flower bed. Last year I pulled out all the Obedient Plants, and this spring I planted sunflower seess there. It will be even better next year when these sunflowers have dropped their seeds and there's a thick patch of sunflowers, but I love the way the sunflowers look growing along my fence!

Grilled Zucchini Greek Salad Recipe

(Updated and added to Recipe Favorites, August 2010) When I visited Athens in 1998, I ate salads with cucumbers, tomatoes, green bell pepper, cucumbers, onions, and Feta cheese, always served with a dressing that combined red wine vinegar, olive oil, and dried Greek Oregano. In Greece this combination was usually called Village Salad, but in the U.S., any salad with those ingredients would be called Greek Salad. This particular version of an American-Style Greek salad is something I came up with years ago when my garden had lots of zucchini and tomatoes, and not many cucumbers. Grilling the zucchini with olive oil and Greek Seasoning, and then brushing on some vinaigrette dressing as it cooks adds wonderful flavor to the salad, even if it's not authentically Greek. If you have surplus zucchini in your own garden, give this idea a try.

Recipe for Basil Pesto with Lemon (and Ten Ideas for Using Basil Pesto)

I remember the first time I tasted basil pesto, which was simply called pesto back in those days before this type of uncooked Italian sauce started being made from many different herbs or vegetables like it is today. My first basil pesto was made by a guy named Steve, who not only was a fantastic cook, but who had a food processor! This was years before I thought of purchasing such an exotic cooking tool, but now I can't imagine living without it. Since then, I've made many types of pesto, and I make basil pesto every year when the garden is bursting with midsummer basil. For a few years now I've been adding lemon juice to my basil pesto, and I don't think I'd ever make it again without the lemon, which brightens up the flavor and keeps the pesto bright green much longer in the fridge. Of course, pesto never stays around in the fridge that long around here, but if you need some ideas for using it, look after the recipe for suggestions.

South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for July 2010

Kalyn's favorite Phase One recipe from July 2010 was
Chicken Egg Foo Yung with Mushrooms and Green Onions.

Yes, I know I say this every time it's a new month, but it's hard to believe a full month has gone by and it's time to put together another collection of the South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes I've posted this month on Kalyn's Kitchen or found on other food blogs. July has been a scorcher around here, and personally I'm ready to move towards fall, how about you?