vegetarian

Zucchini Almond Pesto

September 11, 2013 by Erica

Zucchini Almond Pesto // Coffee & Quinoa

Reason #66 that I love pesto: You can make it out of just about anything.

Start with garlic, olive oil, parmesan, and some sort of nut, and you’re basically guaranteed a delicious and pesto-y-tasting outcome, no matter where the rest of the ingredient list takes you. It’s magical!

Zucchini Almond Pesto // Coffee & Quinoa

In case you’re wondering, reasons #1-65 that I love pesto involve the taste of garlic, olive oil, parmesan, and nuts, the fact that it can be spread on just about anything, that it reminds me of my childhood, that it’s quick to prepare, etc. etc. etc. Don’t make me list them out one by one!

For this pesto, I was actually considering making some sort of zucchini noodles, but ended up thinking it would be too much trouble. Instead, I opted to roast the zucchini, throw it in the blender with all those other wonderful pesto ingredients, and toss it with regular pasta. Ta-da! A quick and satisfying seasonal pasta dish that doesn’t involve me purchasing some sort of spiralizing equipment.

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German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)

August 28, 2013 by Erica

German Potato Salad (Kartoffelsalat)

The time has come to tell you about my job at Karl’s Sausage Kitchen.

Yes, during summers and holidays all throughout college, I worked at a store called Karl’s Sausage Kitchen. It wasn’t some raunchy late-night gig, as my guy friends liked to rib me about, but a little family-owned German sausage shop (Metzgerei). Karl’s son owned it during my time there and made all the sausages in the gleaming kitchen that took up the entire back of the building. In the kitschy storefront, a few older German ladies and I wrapped up those sausages, sliced up bacon and bologna, and rang them up for customers along with imported German goodies like Haribo and Ritter Sport.

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Classic Gazpacho

August 26, 2013 by Erica

Classic Gazpacho from Coffee & Quinoa

Can we all take a moment to celebrate tomato season?

There’s not much that can top a fresh-picked tomato. If I didn’t kill everything I ever tried to grow, tomatoes would be on my short list for a garden – tomatoes and basil! As it is, I don’t seem to have any sort of green thumb, so I’ll let someone else grow them for me. I think everyone’s happier that way, especially my would-be tomato plants.

Classic Gazpacho from Coffee & Quinoa

The tomatoes we’ve been getting recently have been amazing, and I love dishes that really highlight them. Caprese salad is always a favorite, and when I’m in the mood for a hydrating tomato-y dish, I looove gazpacho.

There are a lot of gazpacho recipes out there, it’s true – everything from strawberry peach to yellow tomato and corn (yum!). But this here isn’t as fancy as all that. It’s just the classic gazpacho recipe I’ve been making for the past few summers.

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Peach Guacamole

August 21, 2013 by Erica

Peach Guacamole

Well friends, it’s peach season, and that means I, like every other food blogger, am adding peaches to everything.

But this peach guacamole is not just my attempt to be a bandwagon peach lover; I’ve actually been saving this recipe on my “to-cook” (well… to-mash) list for quite some time. And when the first little Utah peaches appeared in my farm box last week, I knew the time had come.

Peach Guacamole

A few months ago at work, we got on the topic of my friend’s ex-girlfriend. Or maybe we were talking about food (we usually are). In any case, he mentioned that he didn’t like this ex-girlfriend much, but that she made this awesome peach guacamole – just regular guacamole with chunks of peach mixed in.

I had one of those culinary moments (they happen so often) where my mind just explodes. Whaaaat, peaches in guacamole?! I didn’t know you could dooooo that.

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Orzo with Zucchini and Sweet Corn

August 14, 2013 by Erica

Orzo with Zucchini and Sweet Corn

I’m just going to say it: I am nowhere near ready for fall.

You might think it’s jumping the gun to start thinking about cooler temperatures when it’s still August (and I couldn’t agree with you more). But if you live in Utah, you know that anticipation for ski season – forget fall altogether – is already mounting by August. (This I will never understand.) And even the non-ski bums around me are starting to mention looking forward to fall boots, colorful leaves, etc.

Stop it! It’s just wrong.

Orzo with Zucchini and Sweet Corn

Though I’ve never been a fan of the very hot weather, I do love all the things that come with summer – most notably sundresses, summer produce, walking out of the house without bundling up, and the lack of impending winter doom. I intend to cling to all of those things for as long as possible and hope I don’t get hypothermia.

So let’s embrace that summer produce while we still can with this orzo recipe: a warm pasta salad-y dish with lots of yummy texture from zucchini matchsticks and corn kernels, not to mention the orzo. It’s all just barely heated up together, so it’s full of bright, fresh flavor in addition to all those great textures.

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