Zucchini Pappardelle Salad

Hey all! Just returned from a glorious weekend in NYC, to catch the last night of the Scissor Sisters tour supporting their new album, "Magic Hour." if you haven't done so, check it out, it a keeper.

Thankfully one of the things I haven't been doing these days is a lot of shopping, one of the reasons the blog has been a little quiet. Here in New England, it has been in the 90's, sometimes close to 100 for the last couple of weeks, and frankly, cooking hasn't seemed like a good idea. I've been relying on salads, and the occasional simple stir-fry most of the time. Mixing things up, keeping some nuts or garbanzo beans handy for protein. Also, don't underestimate the satiation power of a hummus and tomato sandwich or wrap on a hot day. Simple, simple, simple, low maintenance, low cost, and low drama.

Another change in my routine has been the incorporation of the CSA into my weekly meal plan, so depending on which veggies or fruits are included in each week's cornucopia, has been dictating what's going in my belly. Last night I whipped up a fresh, raw salad that I think you'll just love. It took about 10 minutes to prepare, and incorporates a bunch of great favors, luckily enough, most of it was hanging out in my pantry!

Raw Zucchini Pappardelle (props to Kai Hersher and Nourishing Habits for turning me on to this one!)

3-4 zucchini or summers quash
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
Seasonal fresh herbs to taste
Zest of 1 lemon
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1/4 cup of raw almonds
Olive oil, salt and pepper to taste
A splash of raw cider vinegar

Feel free to mix and match quantities, or make additions or subtractions, that's the beauty of salad, isn't it? This just happened to be what was in my version last night, the herbs I used were basil, sage, and oregano from my garden.

The only real instruction here is this: peel the squash, discard the dark outer peels. Then, using your peeler, continue to peel long, wide "noodles" into a large bowl, until you get down to the seeds, at which point stop and move on to the next squash or zucchini. Give your sun dried tomatoes and your olives a medium sized chopping, toss everything in the bowl, mix and enjoy. If you don't like it, the don't enjoy it.




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Location:Madison, CT

The day we thought would never come

Rest assured, dear blogophiles, wherever you may be, that the strange things happening around you are only temporary. For instance, if while enjoying your morning coffee you glanced up at the sky to see a pig swooping gracefully through the clouds, don't be alarmed. If you were struck by the beautiful chartreuse color of the noonday sky, don't panic. If the mainstream news media began broadcasting things people might actually need to know, rest assured that there is a simple, succinct and easily identifiable explanation for this somewhat feathery-ruffly chain of events: my father ate vegan food last night. Without being asked. And he liked it.




This handsome fellow is trepidaciously, but under no form of duress, sampling vegan French onion soup, by dipping a toasted baguette with melted "mozzarella" into the broth. He is doing this before helping himself to a large soup mug full of the stuff. We can't see what is behind him in the picture, I know, however rest assured that all our firearms are locked safely in our basement arsenal, and there is in fact, no gun held to his head.

This is a moment that those of us familiar with my dad would take as assure sign that there may be some credibility to the Mayan calendar theory, and begin preparing for the end.

- Posted using BlogPress

Location:Madison, CT