Create a new summer food staple to add to the family recipe archives.

Zucchini is a summer staple in my kitchen. It’s light and versatile. I like to pair it with Italian flavors, such as goat cheese, tomatoes, and basil, and create unique variations of antipasti. This recipe bakes zucchini slices and rolls them around in basil and sun-dried tomato while being mixed into soft goat cheese. The result is a poppin’ appetizer or snack.

And you’re getting more than just a delectable, bite-sized treat. Zucchini is a powerhouse of nutrition. It contains only 36 calories per one cup and improves digestion, prevents cancer, lowers cholesterol, is anti-inflammatory, reduces blood pressure, and contributes to vibrant and glowing skin.

But, don’t take my word for it. Incorporate zucchini into your diet and see for yourself – starting with this recipe!

Zucchini and Goat Cheese Sliders

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

• 2 zucchini
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Dash of sea salt
• 3 ounces soft goat cheese
• 1 tablespoon chopped sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon chopped fresh basil
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• Dash of salt and pepper
• Dried mint for garnish

Directions:

Slice along the length of the zucchinis, cutting pieces 1/4-inch thick. Layer them on a greased baking sheet, season with sea salt, and drizzle with olive oil. Bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes or until the zucchini is elastic, able to bend freely without falling apart. You could alternatively grill the pieces, cooking for 2-3 minutes on each side.

While the zucchini is cooking, in a small bowl combine the goat cheese basil, and sun dried tomatoes. Mix until evenly combined.

When the zucchini has finished cooking, place 1-2 teaspoons of the goat cheese mixture on the end of each piece. Roll the zucchini unto itself, starting with the goat cheese side.

Serve with a garnish of fresh or dried basil, mint, or oregano. Enjoy!

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Recipe: Zucchini and Goat Cheese Sliders appeared first on EcoSalon.

A high protein breakfast that that you won’t be able to stop making. 

Earlier this year, pictures of eggs baked in avocado were the darling of the online food porn world. Not until recently did I test out the recipe myself, and the result was so good I wonder how I ever lived without this creation.

The concept is simple: bake an egg in an avocado. If you were looking for a way to put all those eggs from your backyard chicken coop to use you should certainly put this recipe on the breakfast list.

Avocados are jam-packed with fiber, potassium and vitamins, and if you like morning meals that are high in protein, this one’s for you. Because you can top off the eggs with pretty much any ingredient you can think of, you are only limited by your own creativity.

Ingredients

• 1 avocado (or more depending on how many you are serving!)
• 2 eggs
• Parsley
• Goat cheese crumbles
• Sea salt
• Ground black pepper

Optional:

You can garnish the egg with anything you want. Basil is a good place to start.

Directions

Cut the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out a little of the avocado from the center to make a little additional space for the egg. Place avocados in a cast iron skillet. (A baking pan works as well if you don’t have a cast iron skillet).

Crack an egg into each avocado half. Depending on the size of your eggs, some of the egg white may spill out into the skillet.

Bake at 425 for 20 minutes. This results in the eggs being well done, if you like your eggs a little runnier reduce the time.

Want more food inspiration? Check out the rest of our Sunday Recipe series. 

The post Sunday Recipe: Baked Egg in Avocado with Parsley and Goat Cheese appeared first on EcoSalon.

Putting a spin on the classic Mexican street food.

If you don’t have a taco obsession, you’re doing something wrong in the kitchen. Quick and simple, and also versatile for a variety of dietary preferences, tacos are one of the easiest dishes to get creative with. Here are three supercharged, healthy variations on the taco theme to get the culinary juices flowing and please any kind of eater, from vegans to pescatarians.

Note: All of these recipes make 4-6 tacos, are completely interchangeable with whatever protein you want to throw in, and should be served on warm corn tortillas.

Cornmeal Crusted Fish Tacos with Roasted Radicchio and Pineapple

Cornmeal is an easy way to get a crunchy taste to fish tacos without deep-frying. 

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of Pacific Halibut, Wild Caught (you can use any other whitefish, but make sure you’re going with a sustainable option), cut into small pieces
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon cumin powder
• 1 cup chopped pineapple
• 1 cup chopped radicchio
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 avocado, chopped into small pieces
• 3 tablespoons coconut oil for frying

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425F.

Mix cornmeal and spices in a bowl. Add in fish and mix until fish is well coated.

In a separate bowl, combine radicchio, pineapple and lime juice. Spread onto a baking sheet and roast for 5-10 minutes.

While radicchio and pineapple are in oven, fry the fish at medium/high heat. About 4-6 minutes.

Layer fish, radicchio and pineapple onto corn tortillas and garnish with avocado.

Vegetarian Kale and Portobello Tacos with Goat Cheese

Inspired by a trip to Mexico, these vegetarian tacos are total foodie pleasers.

Ingredients

• 2 portobello mushrooms, cut into strips
• 6 stalks of red kale, cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Goat cheese for garnish

Directions:

Place portobello strips in a bowl and pour over balsamic vinegar. Let sit for 10-15 minutes.

In a frying pan, saute mushrooms until they are soft, about 3 minutes. Add in kale and cook until tender.

Vegan Tacos with Red Cabbage and Avocado Slaw

Ideal with tempeh, or any protein of your choice, this slaw brings a fresh taste to your tacos.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 of large cabbage, finely chopped
• 1 avocado, chopped into small pieces
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon cider vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon vinegar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 2 teaspoons lemon juice

Directions:

Combine olive oil, cider vinegar, vinegar, salt, pepper and lemon juice and mix thoroughly.

In a bowl, mix together cabbage and avocado. Drizzle over dressing and gently toss.

Use with tempeh tacos or other protein of your choice.

Images: Anna Brones

The post Three Healthy Taco Variations You Can’t Live Without appeared first on EcoSalon.

Watermelon: off of the rind and onto your plate.

Nothing screams warm weather quite like watermelon. And while it’s enough to enjoy the fruit in its simplest form, it’d be a shame not to explore watermelon’s versatility.

The juxtaposition of the flavors in watermelon salad is really what makes it so special – not because of the thrill offered by a quirky combination, but because the pairing of these contrasting characters actually works. The sweetness of the watermelon brings a summer overtone of lightness to the otherwise grounding and earthiness of the tomatoes, onion, and goat cheese – to say nothing of the refreshing effects of fresh mint leaves! Combined with apple cider vinaigrette, the salad gets yet another whiff of fruity goodness, averting any suspicions of a train wreck and coming together as a decidedly balanced dish, each ingredient enhancing the flavor of the other. For this reason, variations of this watermelon salad are breaching “summer staple” status.

Do not be fooled by watermelon’s 92-percent water content. There is more to the fruit than thirst-quenching, poolside goodness. It is an excellent source of vitamin A, C, ad B6, maintaining eye health, strengthening immunity and promoting brain function, respectively. It is also a great source of cancer-fighting lycopene, an antioxidant we often hear about with regards to tomatoes and of which watermelon has the highest concentrations among all fresh fruits and vegetables. It is also a great source of potassium, which contributes to healthy muscles and nerve functions, and the heart-healthy amino acids citrulline and arginine.

And – I plead – don’t chuck the rinds! They are packed with nutritional benefits. Hide them in your favorite fruit juice or chop and sauté them into a stir fry or stew. Experiment until you find a way that makes them palatable to you. As for the pink part, I’ve got you covered:

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the Vinaigrette:

• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Dash of sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the Salad:

• 3 cups watermelon, seeded and chopped
• 2 plum tomatoes
• 1/2 red onion
• Handful of fresh mint leaves

Directions

In a small bowl, whisk together the apple cider vinegar, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Set aside.

Chop the watermelon, removing any seeds, chop the cherry tomatoes, and cut the onion from stem to bud into thin slices.

Combine the salad ingredients in a medium-sized bowl and toss with the vinaigrette. Serve immediately or let sit for at least a half hour in order to let the flavors intensify.

Before serving, garnish with chopped mint leaves and pieced goat cheese. The vinaigrette wilts the mint leaves and thins and spreads the goat cheese, so I like to add them last to ensure that they are robust and distinct upon serving.

Serve and enjoy!

Bon Appetit!

Aylin Erman currently resides in Istanbul and is creator of plant-based recipe website GlowKitchen.

The post Recipe: Spring Watermelon Salad appeared first on EcoSalon.

ColumnCan a bowl of comfort food really be called a “craze?”

I was walking down the street with a friend in Brooklyn, ogling the multitude of good-looking restaurants and resisting the urge to take a photo of every single one of them.

“Do you guys have the ramen trend, too?” my friend asked.

I paused and thought for a second. Had I not just been invited to dinner at a ramen shop a few weeks ago? It was all coming back to me.

“Yeah,” I said, putting out of my mind for the time being the absurdity of the phrase “ramen trend.” At least I could appreciate the fact that Brooklyn wasn’t many steps in front of Portland; they were serving our coffee, after all.

And then a mere 24 hours later, after a cold winter walk, ramen seemed like just the thing we needed, which is how I found myself at Chuko ordering a bowl of miso with a poached egg, scallions and pork, feeding right into what has also been deemed “ramen fever” and the “ramen craze.”

“That is not ramen,” said my colleague when I texted her a photo of what I was eating along with the words, “Look, ramen is trendy now!”

“Would be better with some fennel,” responded another colleague, to which we both smirked.

For the record, the ramen was delicious, on par with a mean bowl of pho I once ate on the streets of Hanoi, sold of course at one tenth of the price and consumed while sitting on a pink plastic children’s chair. But was I really sitting at a corner restaurant in Brooklyn, watching young couples in well fitting, dark colored jeans and waxed canvas coats out for a walk on a Saturday afternoon eating a dish once reserved for cheap college students? A dish that was now deemed a “craze?” As much as I hate to admit it, yes. And I loved it.

As it turns out, the basics are back. Gussied up burgers are everywhere, upscale food markets sell syrups for homemade soda and even five star restaurants offer fries. But as a smart woman once indicated, even if you call a scarf “fabulous” it’s still a piece of fabric wrapped around your neck, just as a bowl of macaroni and cheese is still a bowl of macaroni and cheese, no matter how much imported aged cheddar and truffle oil you add.

If recent reports are true, even burgers are for rich people. And so are doughnuts – if they’re covered in a blood orange glaze, that is.

Comfort food will always be comfort food. Some of us just don’t want to talk about the fact that we actually like it. So we spruce it up to feel good about eating it. Call it a guilty food complex, but plenty of us refuse to admit to stooping to the levels of fast food – horrors! – yet we’re more than happy to eat a burger made with long-haired oxen meat and doused in a generous dollop of handmade mayonnaise. It’s artisanal, after all.

And when we’re feeling down, even the smartest, healthiest food lover might be tempted by a bowl of cookie dough.

The fact that people of all manner of socioeconomic status like the same foods is nothing extraordinary. A burger is still a burger, a quesadilla is still a quesadilla, a grilled cheese sandwich is still a grilled cheese sandwich and a fry is still a deep fried potato; they all hit a spot that a beet salad sprinkled with goat cheese just can’t.

So, when you’re feeling your winter funk, reach for that bowl of ramen and feel good about the fact that you’re helping to bring basics back. Just make sure to add fennel.

Editor’s note: This is the latest installment of Anna Brones’s weekly column at EcoSalon, Foodie Underground, discovering what’s new and different in the underground food movement, from supper clubs to mini markets to the culinary avant garde.

Images: Anna Brones, Nona Brooklyn, Anna Brones, Week of Menus

The post Foodie Underground: When Ramen Is Still Ramen appeared first on EcoSalon.