Lately I have been grumpy, for many reasons, but for now lets just blame it on the rain.  Boston had its third major storm of the month this week.  According to the Boston Globe, more than 11 inches of rain have fallen in the Bean over the past thirty days, with another 3 and a half yesterday.  What is this!!!!

So moving forward, today was the first day of sunshine. I went for a run with my mum and Muddles.  Tomorrow I am riding my bike to work, and on Sunday I am going to the park with my sis, Mudds, and the king of Moodoo and his crooney Maiya-Mayiaa.  As someone who loves rainy days, let me just say that I COULD NOT WAIT for this storm to end.  In order to feel some kind of warmth throughout this crap weather, I played way too much boggle and indulged in hot chocolate and caramelized banana.  It was a good pairing, but looked like a piece of poo (literally) when photographed.  It didn’t help that the grated chocolate over the banana melted all over the plate creating suspicious looking smears…

In other news, I recently joined the Blogher network, and I promised them that I don’t swear.  Does crap count?  Something to mull over.

Spring!!!!! This recipe is Sping-y, I guess.  It’s a salad, for dinner- don’t poo-poo it, it was really filling and yum.  Like most recipes on this site, it is versatile.  Stick whatever you want in it (that’s what she said).  I cheated with my falafels.  We had half a “Near East” brand falafel mix to use up, so thats the way we went.  I definitely recommend making them from scratch instead.. sorry Near East, your couscous is still good.

Falafel Super Salad
Serves 2 hungry Metcalfes, with leftovers

1/2 Butternut Squash
Green leaf mix- I used arugula and Spinach
2 Tomatoes
1/4 Cucumber
4 Falafels
1/4 Head of Cauliflower
Bit of onion
2 White Mushrooms
1 Radish
1 Avocado
1 tsp Smoked Paprika
3 tsp Red Chile Flakes
1 tsp Rosemary
Couple Glugs of Olive Oil

Dressing:
1/4 Cup Whole fat Greek Yogurt
1 Tbsp Tahini
2 Tbsp Lemon
Salt and Pepper
1 teeny clove of Garlic (minced)
1 tsp Olive Oil or Grape Seed Oil

First of all: skin the butternut squash and chop into 1/2 cm thick moons. Rub with olive oil, salt, chili pepper, and paprika. Place in oven at 400 for 30 mins, flipping half way through. Next rub the cauliflower with olive oil and mix in rosemary and onion, season to taste. Throw the cauliflower in the oven 15 mins into b squash cooking time.

Chop up veggies- radish, mushroom, cucumber, tomato. Wash lettuce and mix with veggies. Make falafels. Arrange all in a bowl and top with cauliflower and butternut squash, mix it all up. Combine all dressing ingredients and mix well, drizzle over salad.

This was my lunch today, I needed something filling as I went for a 5 mile run earlier (woohoo!).  It’s not much effort if you’ve got sushi rice lying around, otherwise it requires a little extra time that I don’t usually allocate to mid day meals.  This is a pretty versatile salad- other ideas for toppings are: cucumber, avocado, julienned and fried sweet potato, wasabi, tofu, salmon, crab, etc.

Sushi Salad
Serves 1

Sushi Rice for One
1 tsp Sesame Seeds
1 Spring Onion
2 Tbsp Edamame
4 Mushrooms
1 tbsp Terriyaki Sauce
1 tbsp Soy Sauce
1 tbsp Sesame Oil
1 Large leaf of Kale
1 Radish
3 Asparagus
1 Egg
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
Garlic Powder
Salt
Red Chili Pepper Flakes

Cook Sushi Rice.  Meanwhile, prepare the Kale Chips.  Remove the largest vein in the hale, and tear into little pieces, about the size of a golf ball.  Wash and dry, then place on a lined baking sheet and mix with olive oil, garlic powder, red chili flakes, and salt. Bake in oven at 300 for about 15 minutes or until crisp. Steam asparagus. Chop up mushrooms and saute in sesame oil for a few minute son high heat until liquid released. Add terriyaki sauce so mushrooms are coated, cook a few minutes until all the sauce is absorbed. Chop up spring onion and radish, shell edamame.

When the rice is almost done, fry an egg, leaving the yolk runny. Place rice in a bowl and place sections of edamame, spring onion, kale, mushrooms, radishes, and asparagus. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and soy sauce, and place egg on top.

You may notice there are a lot more photos in this post, that’s because I wanted to show of my new bowl that I bought at TJ Maxx (!!)

Egg baked with Goat Cheese, Radish and Mizuna

Bunch of Mizuna
1 Egg
Glob of Goat Cheese
1 Radish
1 tsp Olive Oil
1 small Garlic Clove

Wipe olive oil around ramekin. Arrange mizuna in the ramekin, and shave garlic clove on top, season with salt and pepper. Break an egg into the center and drop some goat cheese blobs on top. Slice a radish thinly and stick it in the egg. Bake in the oven for about 10 mins at 400. Shave some pecorino on top.

A batch of roast vegetables is a simple dish that requires minimal pots and pans, which means less washing up.  Hooray! Not only is this meal incredibly versatile in that you can add whatever you want, but, his dish is gluten-free friendly! Hooray again!

Roasted Vegetable Medley
Makes 2 Servings

Carrots- baby or big, whatever you’ve got.  If you’re using baby use 5 or 6.
2 Medium sized potatoes
1 Onion, sliced into wedges
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 or 7 broccoli florets
8 mushrooms, halved
1 bell pepper
2 tomatoes, chopped
2 radishes, sliced
2 tbsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper to season
Herbs: dried herbs will do, I used Oregano, Parsley, Rosemary, Thyme, Sage, Paprika, and some dried red chili flakes.

Chop up all your veggies and throw in a baking tray. Heat up the oven to 400°F.  Douse veggies with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Throw in spices, and season to taste.  Leave in oven for about 45 minutes, stirring once or twice.  I would highly recommend some squash for this recipe, its omittance was purely a matter of inconvenience.

We ate this dish with the avocado mousse mentioned below.  Originally I was thinking of pairing it with some form of pesto, I had radish leaves stuck in my head, but the radishes came without leaves, so that didn’t happen. Additionally, the basil plant is a bit meager at the moment, so I felt bad taking a lot of leaves from him.

The inspiration for this concoction came from Chocolate and Zucchini.  I revised the avocado mash and decided  to turn it into more of a mousse, with a spin on a classic pesto.

Crostini topped with Avocado Mousse and Sliced Radish
Makes 4-5 servings

1 Avocado
1/4 lemon, juiced
1 handful of fresh basil, finely chopped
Dash of extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper to taste
Thinly sliced radish
Crostini, or French bread

Mash up the avocado, add olive oil and whisk until smooth.  Add lemon juice, basil, Parmesan cheese and season to taste.  Use either a crostini or a slice of toasted French bread brushed with olive oil.  Top with avocado mousse, thinly sliced radish, and sprinkle with smoked paprika.

I used this mousse as an accompaniment for a Roasted Vegetable Medley, to come in the next post!