Salads are BIG Right Now

I thought I was just going on a salad binge. But it seems like I’m not alone. My Hubs works at a grocery store sometimes, and he says he’s noticed more folks getting wackier greens, like kale. Yum, I love kale. But my receipt printer doesn’t like it so much; it’s WILDLY expensive. I;m growing uit in the garden this year, my first time with it. I’m trying a lot of new stuff, mostly from the cabbage family: cabbage, collards, chard, kale. We like lettuce, but the leafy greens like kale and chard just seem meatier.

I’m really looking forward to making (and eating) more salads this summer. The stuff in the stores is so expensive.. almost criminal! I can’t wait to have things fresh.

Here are some of the things we like in our salads right now. The star next to the vegetable is something we are growing in the garden this year.
Raw garlic cloves*
Leeks*
Cucumbers*
Kale*
Iceberg lettuce
Red peppers
Black olives
Red cabbage*
Green cabbage*
Carrots
Romaine lettuce*
Mixed lettuce*
Spinach*
Tomatoes*

So you can see that I’m going to grow my salads this year. I wish I could grow olives, YUMMM. I love them. I also add feta cheese or bits of salmon, if I have it. Fresh food is SOOO good for you! I’m starting to really dislike cooked food, more and more.

The Super Speedy Spiedie Wrap

This recipe has probably been invented before. As I was making it, I gloated that perhaps I was concocting something new, but then the realization hit me that spiedies are really, really popular, and people have been making wraps for thousands of years (hello, falafel!)… so maybe I’m having a delusion of grandeur.. but these are SO GOOD!!! I threw these together today for lunches. This is perhaps the easiest and fastest recipe, ever. These would be great for dinner, too, with lots of fruit and finger veggies (like olives, carrots, chickpeas, etc).

One other note: the Salamida Brothers Spiedie marinade is crucial to the recipe. It is STUPENDOUS stuff. The Salamida dudes sent me a free bottle to blog about it (ta daa), but I’ve been using Salamida since I was 15 years old, living in Southern New York where spiedies are a regional dish. The marinade is not expensive, and I only used half a bottle for this recipe (I could have used even less, I discovered). But if you want a wrap that will send people to your feet, kissing them in gratitude, use the Salamida stuff. You won’t regret it! Here in New York, it’s every where at the grocery stores (no grocery store would dare not sell it, there’d be riots!), but if your local area does not have it, you can order online here. And if you place an order, use the discount code SAUCE3 at Spiedie.com, you will get 15% off your order! Coupon code is good until April 1st.

Here goes:

Super Speedy Spiedie Wrap
serves 6

2 to 3 pounds of beef, trimmed of fat
1 large white onion, sliced thickly
sliced red pepper
kale, destemmed and washed
Salamida Brothers Spiedie Marinade

Slice the beef. Thinner is better– I did mine a little too thickly.

Slice the onions(s) (thick slices is better).

Put the meat and onions in an air-tight container. Dump in enough Salamida marinade to cover everything. Stir well. Cover the container and refrigerate, anywhere from 12 to 72 hours.

Take out the meat and onions from the container, and place in a large saucepan. Do not add water or oil to the saucepan! Set the pan on medium-high and allow the meat and onions to sizzle. Discard any remaining marinade.

Allow the meat to cook, about 7-10 minutes. The onions will soften but should not get mushy.

Slice some red peppers and kale and set on a dish. Set some flat bread in a dish. When the meat is done, pile it into a prepared wrap and DEVOUR.

Additional yummies to add to the table for wraps can be: lettuce, spinach, feta cheese, marinated olives, marinated garlic cloves, green peppers, chickpeas, sliced American cheese, and etc. You can do so much with this recipe. It makes a terrific healthy dinner, and it only takes 10 minutes to cook!!! I love it. I think this will be my new favorite recipes. I am “into” kale very much these days. I have always liked it, but I recently realized that it can be purchased at my local grocery store. Yum! It’s SO healthy for you– it’s not exactly a wonder-working adult acne cure, but it has calcium, iron, and protein. I’m going to be growing it fresh on my garden this year, to use as a supplement for my salads.

And by the way, if you don’t want to use beef, you can also use chicken or pork with the Salamida Spiedie marinade. Salamida also makes a nice marinade for chicken, too, which is superb. I am going to be making these all summer long. Yay!

Hybrid Lasagna

We LOVE lasagna. But it is so time-consuming to make. And you have to pre-cook the lasagna noodles just right, or they turn out too chewy or too mushy. I’ve tried those “oven-ready” lasagna noodles, too, and I can’t stand them. I want to eat my lasagna, not chew it like cud! Plus, lasagna just takes too long to fuss with– all the layers, stacking the noodles just right, etc. Who has that kind of time? Not me!

I made up a pseudo-lasagna recipe, using ziti for the pasta. I call it Hybrid Lasagna, because it is a mixture of a lasagna recipe and a baked ziti recipe. The kids love this stuff! It keeps well, and you can make it early in the day (or a day before) and throw it in the oven later. It’s also great as a “full” meal- contains vegetable, meat, dairy, and carbohydrates. And, like most of my meals, it is “fully customizable,” that is you can eliminate an ingredient or substitute an ingredient. I make this stuff in huge quantities, and for when I’ve got a full house or when I want to serve it again another day.

Like most Italian dishes, this requires a lot of cookware and dishes for the prep work. I hate doing dishes! But the nice thing about this is that you can prepare this early in the day. Whch means that the cookware gets dirty early in the day, and you have all afternoon to wash it. I like that. I don’t know about you, but after dinner, I am tired and the last thing I want is a huge stack of dirty cookware to clean! OK, on with the show:

Hybrid Lasagna

Serves 10!

1 pound ground beef or ground sausage, cooked
2 boxes ziti
1 large white onion, diced
2 28oz. cans petite tomatoes
1 28oz. can spinach
3 eggs
1 tub (32oz.) small-curd cottage cheese
1 jar spaghetti sauce (leftover sauce does well)
Shredded mozzarella cheese
Dried basil
Dried oregano
Garlic powder
Salt and pepper
Aluminum foil
A GREAT BIG casserole dish (or several small ones)
A cookie sheet
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