Prosciutto is an Italian dry-cured, thin-sliced ham. I can buy it in packages in the deli section of my local Safeway, so if you live anywhere near a well-stocked supermarket, you should be able to find it. Though I’ve heard you can eat prosciutto right out of the package, I don’t, and probably wouldn’t without knowing it’d been cured long enough. For the sandwiches, I cook it up just like bacon, so it’s nice and crispy and salty. Prosciutto is lighter than bacon though, which makes these sandwiches great for hot weather.

Ingredients:

croissants
prosciutto
tomatoes
avocados
lettuce, any variety will work; I like mesclun or spinach
optional: crumbled goat cheese

Guidelines:

Tear the prosciutto into slices and fry it like you would bacon.

Cut the croissants in half length-wise.

Slice the tomato(es). Slice the avocado(s).

Arrange all ingredients in croissant and eat.

(Like you needed these guidelines…)

When: On a warm but mild spring or summer day.

Where: Outside! Sitting in the garden, or on your patio.

How: If you can find Jumbo Gulf Tiger Shrimp, serve this salad alongside them. Devein the shrimp, but leave the peels on, and stick those gorgeous babies on the grill. They only need a few minutes on each side…

Why?: Because Jumbo Gulf Tiger Shrimp hot off the grill are phenomenal, and the Chopped Greek Salad is refreshing, light, and packed with wonderful flavors, and spending time outside on a nice day with good food and good company is always a special treat.

But you know, however you want to go about it…

Dressing Ingredients:
1 lemon, freshly squeezed
zest of 1 lemon
olive oil, triple the amount of olive oil to lemon juice
fresh dill, several sprigs, or to taste
pinch or two of sugar, or to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste
salt, to taste

Salad Ingredients:

½- 1 head romaine lettuce (depending on size)
1 cucumber
1 package cherry tomatoes
red wine and herb marinated Kalamata olives (such as Mezzetta Napa Valley Bistro)
Feta cheese, to taste
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Guidelines:

Make dressing.

Wash, dry, and chop romaine.

Cut cucumber in half lengthwise, and using a spoon, remove the soft center with seeds. Cut the cucumber halves into slices of desired thickness.

Halve cherry tomatoes.

Halve Kalamata olives.

In a large salad bowl, toss the romaine with just enough dressing to lightly coat the greens. Add vegetables, olives, feta to taste, and pepper to taste.

Serve immediately.

Before I could make many recipes with the POM juice, my husband drank most of the bottles. The daily conversations went something like this:

Husband gets home from work and opens the fridge, even though I have dinner in the oven, on the stove, or halfway to the table.

Husband: “Mmmm. Pomegranate juice.”

Me: No response.

Husband: “Mmmmmmmm. Pomegranate juice.”

Me: “We’re eating dinner in 5 minutes.”

Husband: Long pause. Shuts fridge. Sits down. Gets up. Opens fridge.

Me: “Seriously. Five minutes.”

Husband: “But I want Pomegranate juice.”

Me: Sigh.

By the time I’m down to three bottles, I finally grab a couple bottles and make something for breakfast, because I know they will disappear that very weekend in some form or another. First up, I make smoothies. Next, because I can’t figure out a way to incorporate the juice into pancakes, I make a glaze for the bacon. And since I didn’t get much of the other bottles of juice, I steal sips here and there. I have one more bottle hidden in the fridge, which I hope to use for salad dressing if Husband doesn’t find it first…

Strawberry Pomegranate Smoothies

(Husband gave these a Best Smoothie Ever award.)

½ lb. strawberries (fresh or frozen)
½ cup vanilla yogurt
6-8 oz. POM Wonderful Pomegranate juice (depending on how thick you like your smoothies)

Add all ingredients to blender and blend until smooth. Pour into tall glasses and serve.

Serves 2.

Note: This glass is from POM tea. Isn’t it cool?! Unfortunately, I think they quit making them. I can only find the teas in plastic now.

Pomegranate Glazed Bacon

In a small bowl, combine 4 oz. pomegranate juice with 1 tsp. brown sugar.

Cook your bacon just shy of how you prefer it done. Remove from skillet (I used a cast iron flat grill) and clean as much grease off the pan as possible.

Pour half the pomegranate brown sugar mixture in your pan. Lay the bacon slices on top of the pomegranate juice. Pour the remaining pomegranate brown sugar mixture over the top of the bacon and cook until done.

I realize I make a lot of salads, but this one is by far one of my favorites. (I don’t say that about every one, do I?!) The taco reigns supreme in my household, and this salad is really just an inverted version of the taco. Sans cheese. Really, you don’t need it. There are plenty of flavors and textures without it. But if you’re a huge cheese fan… Another optional ingredient is avocado. The most important part of this recipe is the chicken. It really needs a good coating of red chile sauce. If you don’t want to make your own tortilla strips, you could use store-bought chips, but they tend to pack a lot of oils and salt. I prefer the baked version below, myself.

Ingredients:

*Note: This salad will easily fill two people. Also note: The measurements aren’t precise. Adjust as necessary.

½ lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
enough romaine lettuce to fill a large salad bowl (6 cups? I use two small heads…)
½ red pepper, diced
½ cup corn kernels
¼ cup black beans
jalapeno, seeded and diced
4 corn tortillas, cut into strips
½- 1 cup chicken stock
¼ cup, plus 1 tbsp. red chile powder, divided
2 tbsp, plus 1 tbsp. cumin, divided
1 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. Mexican oregano

Dressing Ingredients:

juice of 1 lime
equal parts canola oil to lime juice
1 heaping tsp. cumin
a pinch of brown sugar

Baked Tortilla Strips:

Cut your tortillas into strips, about ½ wide. Season with salt, 1 tbsp. red chile powder, and 1 tbsp. cumin. Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, or until they reach desired crispness. Check them around 8 minutes, to make sure they’re not burning.

Guidelines:

Simmer chicken breasts in plenty of water seasoned with salt and pepper for 30-40 minutes, or until they easily shred. Let cool briefly, then shred.

In a large bowl, combine ¼ cup red chile powder, 2 tbsp. cumin, the garlic powder, and oregano. Add ¼ cup chicken stock and mix well. Add the shredded chicken and toss until well combined. At this point, you may need to add more chicken stock to achieve a uniform spice coating. Add enough until you’re satisfied, but don’t add enough that the chicken is watery. Let sit while you prepare the rest of the salad.

Mix your dressing ingredients.

Make the baked tortilla strips.

Wash and chop the romaine. In a large salad bowl, combine romaine with vinaigrette.

Add corn, red pepper, black beans and jalapeno, and give the salad another toss.

Top individual plates with the salad. Top with spiced chicken and tortilla strips.

Have you noticed the numerous eggplant recipes on this blog? It’s fair to say that eggplant is one of my favorite things to cook. I love the silky texture it takes on after being properly prepared, the melt-in-your-mouth goodness. Of course, if you don’t prepare eggplant properly, it tends to be tough and bitter. Ugh. That’s why it’s essential you take the time to follow the preparation steps. They’re very easy, and only require you to work about 5 minutes of the time. For the rest of the 30 minutes, the eggplant just hangs out, doing its thing.

Most of the time, Eggplant Parmesan is fried. Yuck. I’m probably one of the few Americans who really cannot stand deep fried food, and I’ll probably take some slack for it, but I truly find it mostly disgusting. In my version of Eggplant Parmesan, I use a method I learned in The Sunday’s Moosewood Restaurant Cookbook. They have this phenomenal recipe for Baked Eggplant Sandwiches, and boy oh boy are they tasty! I prepare the Baked Eggplant Sandwiches, then make a more traditional Eggplant Parmesan out of them, using Parmesan cheese and tomato sauce. For this recipe, I also added spinach. If you’re not a fan of spinach, by all means, leave it out.

Ingredients:
1 medium to large eggplant
2 cups loosely packed spinach
12 oz mozzarella cheese, sliced
½ cup Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
1 jar marinara sauce, or your own homemade recipe
½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup bread crumbs
2 eggs, well-beaten

Guidelines:

Slice your eggplant into slices about ¼-3/8 inch thick. Working in batches, lay the slices in a colander, lightly salting each layer. Once all the layers have been laid and salted, place a heavy object, such as bowl, on top of the eggplant. Let rest for 30 minutes. Salting and pressing helps break down the cell walls and release bitterness. Once the 30 minutes has elapsed, remove the bowl and gently pat dry the layers of eggplant, removing what salt you can.

In three pie pans or something similar, place the flour in one, the bread crumbs in another, and the eggs in yet another.

Take two eggplant slices, and sandwich a slice of mozzarella and a bunch of spinach in between them. Dredge the sandwich first in flour, then in egg, then in the bread crumbs. (Note: You will probably have leftover spinach; that’s fine, you’ll use it below.) Place the sandwiches on a non-stick baking sheet and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden and the cheese is melted.

Once the sandwiches come out of the oven, place them in a casserole dish, top with the marinara sauce, the remaining spinach, and the Parmesan cheese. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or just long enough that the sauce heats through and the Parmesan cheese melts.