Feta Stuffed Cherry Peppers

For one of our first "Valentine Dinner Extravaganza's" we made these spicy, flavorful little morsels and were not, at all, bummed to make them a second time.

They're vinegary, pickly, not-to-spicy, refreshing and creamy.

They are easy.

The original recipe suggests Peppadews, but our lack of grocer options have lead to our using Cherry Peppers.

Once you have your pickled peppers there are just a few steps:

Step 1: Remove seeds from peppers.
Step 2: Remove seeds from one cucumber and dice.
Step 3: Place 2-3 cucumber cubes in the shell of each pepper.
Step 4: Stuff remaining space of the pepper with Feta cheese.
Step 5: Place in mouth, bite down and enjoy!

Detox Juice: Cucumber, Orange and Mango

Extended Shelf Life for: Cucumber, Orange, Mango

I stumbled across this post in search of ways to use up the ridiculous amount of oranges that are lying around our home. I'm not opposed to nutty-health quarks, so I was all in on trying out a detox and since Mike didn't argue, we went ahead and went for it.

The post I read essentially recommended a single day detox which would begin in the morning with a glass of water mixed with the juice of one time to more-or-less prime the system. The rest of the day is enjoyed drinking water, herbal teas and 3 cups of fresh juice - your choice but she recommends sticking with the same throughout the entire day.

In our house, on our first detox attempt our mix was: Cucumber, mango and orange - quite delicious and a beautiful green color to boot.

In general, the day went better than anticipated, although I was ready for bed at 8:00 pm and definitely ready to get to eating the next day. However, I felt good, like my body was being given the chance to let go of some of the junk which I inevitably eat on a more-than-I'd-like-to-admit basis.

Whether you opt to try out a detox or simply want a new juice recipe, we definitely enjoyed this combination of fruits and vegetables!

Cucumber-Blueberry Smoothie

This recipe showed up in my email from Vegetarian Times and lead to immediate smoothie creation.

I kept the main theme of Blueberry meets Cucumber but added a couple of bananas, some flax seed and used honey rather than agave nectar. 

Absolutely refreshing and highly, highly recommended!

Lentils and Yogurt Sauce

Unfortunately, I wasn't all to impressed with my lentils from this meal, so I'll just say, find yourself a decent lentil or dall recipe and then get to work on this Yogurt Sauce - serve them up together and enjoy! The yogurt sauce (Tzatziki/Tsatsiki) is quite divine!

Ingredients/Directions:

From Shepardic Israeli Cuisine: A Mediterranean Mosic by Shielah Kaufman

Peel, seed and chop one large cucumber (preferably English), sprinkle with salt and let drain in a large colander for about an hour. Using 1 1/4 cups of Greek or Strained yogurt add 2 Tbsp. Olive Oil, 1 Tbsp. fresh Lemon Juice, black pepper and 2-4 cloves of minced Garlic. Mix well, cover and refrigerate until serving. Before serving, squeeze remaining moisture from cucumbers, add to the yogurt along with freshly torn mint and parsley, mix well to combine. Enjoy on lentils, crackers, pitas, etc.

Seaweed Dinner Wraps

The meal and the chef that inspired me ^^

In Korea, it is not highly uncommon to enjoy a variety of vegetables, a meat and some lettuce to wrap everything up in. Many of the man and my favorite meals involve just that, wrapping meat in lettuce. Recently, a friend of ours invited us over for dinner and had a sort of mini-buffet of deliciously marinaded meat, a variety of vegetables, rice and seaweed and lettuce for creating wraps. Needless to say, it was absolutely delicious and inspiring! You can definitely go about this type of meal anyway you wish, our friend included Muenster cheese with her wraps which was fantastic! Ours were a bit more simple just because...it's what I had time for. This particular dinner I cooked up some thinly sliced pork (dae-pae samgyupsal - similar to bacon but uncured), mixed in some bulgogi marinade and a sliced onion for the meat dish. For the vegetables I served up thinly sliced carrots and cucumbers as well as a beautiful mix of sprouts I got at our little grocery store. Throw in some rice and have some lettuce or seasoned seaweed ready to go and you're all set for a most delicious and enjoyable dinner!

Creamy Dill Cucumber Dip

Derby Days. Cinco de Mayo. Children's Day.

May 5th.

A day for celebration and gathering together under the bridge alongside the river.

I took this dish...not to brag, but it was a favorite among the picnic-ers.

Ingredients/Directions:

Mix together one container softened cream cheese with 3/4 of the same container plain yogurt and 1/4 of the same container mayonaise (you can also do this as a cup, 3/4 cups and 1/4 cup - but I didn't want to creat extra dishes, therefore just used the cream cheese container to 'measure'). Add to this mixture two peeled, seeded and diced cucumbers, 2 Tbsp. chopped Fresh Dill and Salt and Pepper to taste. Enjoy with crackers, chips or vegetables and a good group of friends.

Refrigerator Dill Pickles

Being the 'grandma' that I am, my heart is rejoicing in having recently 'canned' some vegetables in my own home. Although I haven't invested in the full extend of canning materials while living in South Korea, I am well versed in the art of preserving and wanted to try my hand at refrigerator pickles in an attempt to use up some fresh dill, as well as to simply enjoy a crisp, tangy, non-sickly-sweet pickle.

The process was quite easy and my results have been delicious. However, the original recipe called for heads of dill that had recently flowered, but not gone to seed...I did not have these nor want to wait. I should have added additional dill to compensate for flavor and done a bit more chopping of the herbs as my pickles are strong on vinegar, light on dill. Regardless, in a land of sweet pickles as a side-dish to pizza, having some cucumbers that are powerful and tangy is all right by me!

Ingredients/Directions:

The original recipe is for a more major canning operation than I intended to conduct, therefore, I will give measurements as the pertain to a single quart (or two pints) of refrigerator pickles, I obviously did a bit more and ended up with about 4 pint-ish jars. As I don't have canning supplies here, the majority of my jars are simply cleaned and re-used jam jars, pasta sauce jars, etc.

Sterilize as many jars as you plan to use. For a single quart you will need 1 cup of Apple Cider Vinegar, 1 cup of Water, 1 1/4 tsp. Pickling Salt (I used the best 'solar' something or other sea salt I could find in a Korean super market), 2-3 cloves of Garlic, 2 heads (or 2-3 Tbsp. freshly chopped) dill, and 1 tsp. black peppercorns. Place these spices into the quart jar (or split between two pint jars). Stuff the jars with cucumbers either sliced or speared according to your personal preference. In a small pot, simmer together the vinegar, water and salt until salt dissolves. Add brine liquid to quart jar leaving 1/2 inch of head space before putting a lid on them and letting them cool at room temperature. Enjoy the next day as an afternoon snack!

FAB Peanut Butter noodles

The best summer dinners, in my opinion, are those you can make ahead, include fresh veggies and are adequately filling, this dish meets the criteria and is worth the small bit of effort required. I discovered this recipe at this hip little blogspot  (courtesy of Pinterest) and hope you'll give it a go!

Ingredients/Directions:

Prepare 8 oz. of noodles, udon, egg, wheat spaghetti/linguine anything really, although udon or soba are recommended.

In a food processor mix together: 1/2 cup Creamy Peanut Butter, 1/2 cup Warm Water, 1/4 cup Soy Sauce, 1 Tbsp. minced Ginger, 4 Garlic Cloves, 1 Tbsp. Honey and a dash of Rice Vinegar.

Use a gloved hand to mix the noodles with sauce and your choice of fresh veg - I went with cucumber, red bell and tomato and was more than satisfied. Sprinkle some black and/or white sesame seeds on top and you've got the perfect summer snack or light dinner!

Thai Bruschetta + Rice Salad Remake (and so much more)

Using leftover marinade/dressing from these Thai Veggies I chopped up some new veggies, sliced up a baguette (actually, the ladies at Paris Baguette sliced up the baguette...) Anyway, with marinated, rough chopped veg and baguette slices, I had myself a TON of Thai like Bruschetta which I served up alongside some chicken Pad Thai.

However, leftovers were an issue, so I reached back into the memories of my semester in Spain, threw the veggies in with some day old rice, added some salt and a dash or two of rice vinegar and viola - rice salad was ours! (It's actually quite phenomenal...just so you know).

And, although there are no pictures, we had some leftover rice salad that needed a 'new life' so into Kimchi Bokkeumbap it went ^.^

Impressive right? All from this marinade and a pile of veggies:

1/4 cup fresh lime juice (or orange juice if lime juice is hard to come by)

1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon fish sauce
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or cayenne, or whatever)
Put it in a jar, shake it up, dress the veggies, let set a little bit and enjoy the heck out of this dish! You could probably also use the dressing as a marinade or in a pasta salad and have equally great results ^.^

Oh, and should I mention that I used the leftover Kimchi Bokuembap to make Quesadillas? Yep, you read that correctly, some fried rice + cheese + tortialla and a whole new twist on the same old meal...I must say, it's a bit impressive, no?