Hulk Salad Transforms into a Satiating Veggie Burrito

One night I was sitting around trying to figure out what to do for dinner so I texted my fiance (aka fancy-boyfriend) and I asked him, "What do you wanna have for dinner?" 

"Edamame."

~Gulp air quickly, silently panic, and puzzle over the question that immediately popped into my head~ 

How do I make edamame into a meal?  

While they are one of my favorite things to snack on whenever I get the chance, it isn't something I often think about as the mainstay of a meal. 

I asked myself, 'How do I make those little beans into more?'  and I started thinking about it as a combination element in a vegetable-based salad. 

Which ended up as a challenge to myself, can I do this whole thing purely using plant-based ingredients? 

The answer: yes, and hell yes. 

After quickly raiding our freezer and fridge I cobbled together the following ingredients: 

1 steamer bag of broccoli and cauliflower

1 bag frozen edamame 

1 ripe avocado 

First thing I did was to pop the steamer bag of broccoli and cauliflower into the microwave. I wanted the veggies to have some time to cool down before I added them into the salad. 

Then I flash boiled the edamame, quickly putting them into an ice bath and salting them so I could snack as I pulled everything else together. 

I took the broccoli and cauliflower and using my new favorite tool, my mezzaluna salad chopper, made everything into bite-sized pieces.

I set that aside, took my avocado removed the flesh and mashed it thoroughly until its consistency was similar to that of mayo, I added a little squeeze of lime juice to keep the color vibrant (whoever wanted to eat a brown salad? No one that's who). 

Added a little salt and pepper to my 'avo-mayo' and mixed in the edamame and the broccoli and cauliflower. 

It was delicious on a couple of GG Fiber crackers and then I rolled some of it into a burrito for my fancy-boyfriend and added a little bit of cheddar cheese. 

If you would like more crunch, I recommend roasting the broccoli and cauliflower and I personally LOVE adding cilantro to the avocado for a little bit more flavor. 

Tomatoes and Steak

Dinner doesn't have to be complicated, sometimes simple is best. We've grown a lot of tomatoes this summer and for dinner we had steak and tomato salad. Instead of the cherry tomatoes used in the previous recipe just supplement them with beefsteak tomatoes. Because they tend to be more "fleshy" you may have to let them sit longer in order to get the full flavor out of the tomatoes.

Brush your steak with extra light olive oil and then season the steak with coarsely ground black pepper, and coarsely ground sea salt.

Preheat the grill for 15 minutes, cook the steak for two minutes, turn it clockwise to get a nice grid allow it to cook another 2 1/2 minutes on the same side. Flip the steak and do the same to the other side.

If you want to be exact, you can get a meat thermometer rare steak will be 115-120 degrees, a medium rare will be from 125-130 degrees, and a medium steal will be from 135 to 140 degrees.

Personally I don't use a thermometer. Press the tip of your finger to the tip of your thumb If the steak feels like the fleshy part of your hand below the thumb then it's rare. Medium rare, touch the same spot on your hand while gently touching your middle finger to your thumb. Medium is the same method only touching your ring finger to your thumb and for well done touch your pinky to your thumb.

Zucchini & Shrimp

I had some leftover grated zucchini from making my zucchini bread and I tried to replicate one of my favorite dinners from our local Italian restaurant. It's light, minimal calories and absolutely delicious. 

One thing that you have to be wary of is the excess liquid that you will inevitably have in the pan as you are cooking from the zucchini. If you wanted to add additional liquid to the pan for flavor, I would suggest that you first pour off the excess water before adding any additional flavors that you would like to reduce down. 

I purchased precooked shrimp, defrosted and shelled them (I think it is incredibly annoying to have shells in the dish) before cutting them up.. When I defrost shrimp I usually just fill the plastic bag with COLD water and let it sit in the sink while I prepare the other ingredients. After about ten minutes I pour it out into a colander and then let water run over it to get rid of any "fishiness." 

For a single serving, you will need:

Approximately 2 cups of grated zucchini 

1 cup of cooked cut up shrimp 

Red pepper flakes to taste

Salt to taste 

2 teaspoons of olive oil 

Start by cooking the zucchini in a skillet with the olive oil and salt. Make sure to stir occasionally so nothing adheres to the pan. After about 10 minutes add the shrimp & red pepper flakes, allow to cook for another 5 minutes. 

Before I added the shrimp and red pepper flakes, I drained off most of the liquid from the zucchini, and added a splash of white wine (Santa Margherita Pinot Grigio) and I allowed that to reduce down before I added the shrimp and the red pepper flakes. 

There you have it, a quick healthy dinner that is surprisingly filling and delicious, 

serve with some thin slices of a toasted baguette and enjoy!