Side Dishes

Watermelon with Chile, Lime and Salt

08/03/2019 by Angelina Leave a Comment

Happy Watermelon Day! My favorite fruit is hands down watermelon with chile, salt, and lime.

Thanks to my rich and beautiful Mexican heritage sprinkling chile powder, salt, and a squeeze of lime on my watermelon comes second nature to me and it’s really fun to share this special way of eating watermelon with my hubby and son. And yes, I have passed down the watermelon loving gene to my little pre-schooler. Watermelon is on the menu at least once a week.

When I sink my mouth into watermelon a flood of sweet memories surge through my soul. I flash to eating watermelon spears with chile and salt served in tall clear cups (sold on street carts everywhere in Mexico) while visiting my family in Ensenada during the heat of summer. I also remember when I was a little girl I asked my Grandma Nonie for Agua Melon. Her eyes smiled and she said, “es sandia mija,” not agua (water) melon (melon). Watermelon translates to “sandia” in Spanish. She would sprinkle chile, salt, and lime on my watermelon and it was truly sensational. I love and miss my Grandma Nonie. She was such a good person.

Here is your free Spanish lesson: Watermelon translates to “sandia” in Spanish (not agua melon).

As we say in Spanish, disfruta (enjoy)!

Watermelon

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Watermelon with Chile, Salt and a lime

Author: Angelina Toporov

Recipe type: Fruit

Cuisine: Mexican

Prep time: 10 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 6

Enjoy

Ingredients

1 large Watermelon
Chile (Tajin or Chile Powder)
Lime
Salt

Instructions

Slice your watermelon up in cubes or triangles. Sprinkle the Chile, Salt and then squeeze lime all over the watermelon.
Serve in a bowl or platter.
Disfruta (enjoy)!

Sweet Potato Hummus

03/15/2018 by Angelina Leave a Comment

I can eat Sweet Potato Hummus every-single-day!

I am a Sweet potato fan and hummus fan so when I first tasted this tahini-free recipe I naturally completely fell in love with this yummy rich and tasty hummus. I make this sweet potato recipe now all the time for my hubby and Sky Bear and they both love it. I add turmeric to this recipe to give it more of healthy kick and I also substituted coconut oil instead of olive oil. Serve this with your favorite veggies for a yummy healthy snack.

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Sweet Potato Hummus

Prep time: 10 mins

Cook time: 30 mins

Total time: 40 mins

Serves: 6-8

Sweet Potato Hummus is a great snack for my preschooler!

Ingredients

2 medium sweet potatoes
3 cloves
2 cans of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
2 tsp. of turmeric
1 tsp. of coconut oil
¼ cup of water
salt
pepper

Instructions

Boil Sweet potatoes for about 20 minutes.
Check for doneness
In a food processor, add sweet potatoes, cloves, chickpeas, turmeric, coconut oil, and water and blend.
Add Salt and pepper to taste
Serve with your favorite veggies!

Microgreens & Baby Kale Salad

09/23/2017 by Angelina Leave a Comment

I LOVE this tasty Microgreen and Baby Kale Salad! First of all, it’s bright, cheery, and full of nutritious superfoods. Channeling love and happiness when making this dish was so worth it because my happy-love light glowed whilst eating this dish with my hubby & Sky Bear (my toddler). They are my official recipe testers and my hubby concluded that this salad was the best salad he has ever eaten. I seconded it.

This Microgreen and Baby Salad is a delicious blend of supergreens, superfruits, nuts, seeds and granola. I added pumpkin seeds, pistachios, blueberries, grapes, strawberries, gluten free granola, sprouted broccoli, baby kale, micro broccoli greens, and micro kale greens and each bite has the perfect amount of crunch and flavor. The mandarin & apple cider vinaigrette dressing has a a nice blend of citrus and tang.

Every time I eat a delicious salad I am reminded of how easy it is to add more superfoods in our family’s everyday diet. Not only are these superfoods good for you but they taste amazing too. How does it get any better than this?

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Micro Greens & Baby Kale Salad

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Total time: 30 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 cup Baby Kale
½ cup Kale Micro Greens
½ cup Broccoli Micro Greens
½ cup Sprouted Broccoli
¼ cup of pistachios
¼ cup of pumpkin seeds
1 cup of strawberries
1 cup of halved grapes
½ cup of blueberries
1 cup of gluten free granola
¼ cup of fresh mandarin juice
2 TBSP Apple cider vinaigrette
1 TBSP of Honey
Salt
Pepper

Instructions

Measure all the ingredients
Rinse all the greens separately and set aside.
Rinse and cut the grapes and strawberres in half and set aside in separate bowls.
Rinse the blueberries and set aside
In a 1 large serving bowl or 4 smaller serving bowls divide the first 10 ingredients in each dish as desired.
In a small bowl, add the freshly squeezed mandarin juice apple cider vinaigrette, honey, salt, and pepper.
Drizzle the vinaigrette dressing evenly over each salad.
Enjoy your creation!
Tips: You can substitute mandarin for freshly squeezed oranges or orange juice.

Summer Superfood Spinach Salad

09/09/2017 by Angelina Leave a Comment

There are times when I just want to eat a huge healthy salad for lunch. Especially when the weather is on the warmer side, as it has been lately.

I recently foraged in our fridge and ended up empty so I decided to go on an adventure to our local market and pick some up my favorite organic ingredients to make a salad. As one would expect I got carried away because I went on an empty stomach. After buying way more then I had planned, I did manage to successfully gather the perfect ingredients for this incredibly healthy Summer Superfood Spinach Salad. This summer dish has become my go-to salad this week and besides being easy to make it’s also super healthy with all of the amazing superfood ingredients.

There’s so much flavor and crunch packed into this bowl of summery greens. It includes baby spinach, cabbage, berries, granola, and nuts. The granola and nut blend is just granola, pumpkin seeds and almond slivers. Easy peazy. It’s sweet, savory, crunchy, and oh so good for you. The dressing I use for this salad has a nice blend of sweet & spicy. I added cayenne, turmeric, fresh lemon juice, spanish olive oil and a generous dollop of honey, and of course the star, Apple Cider Vinegrette.

So next time you’re thinking of making a salad I suggest this yummy Summer Superfood Spinach Salad.

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Summer Superfood Spinach Salad

Cuisine: Vegan, Salads

Prep time: 15 mins

Total time: 15 mins

Serves: 4-6

Vegan Berry Superfood Spinach Salad

Ingredients

2 cups of Rinsed Baby Spinach
¼ cup of Sliced Strawberries
½ cup of Whole Raspberries
¼ cup of Fresh Blueberries
¼ cup of sliced grapes
½ cup of Shredded Cabbage
2 TBS of Pumpkin Seeds
2 TBS of Almond Slivers
2 TBS of Granola
¼ of Olive Oil
1 Tbs. of Apple Cider Vinegrette
1 Lemon
⅛ tsp of Cayenne
⅛ of tsp of Tumeric
1 Tbs. of honey

Instructions

In a large bowl add cleaned baby spinach.
Toss in all the fruit and cabbage.
Divide into 4-6 bowls.
Blend together all the nuts, seeds, and granola in a bowl.
Sprinkle over the salads evenly.
In a small bowl add the apple cider vinegarette, lemon, olive oil, cayenne, turmeric, and honey and mix with a fork very well.
Drizzle over the salad to your taste.
Then enjoy a yummy crunch healthy salad.

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Citrus Dressing

05/28/2017 by Angelina Leave a Comment

Watermelon and Feta Salad with Citrus Dressing is a delicious recipe to kick-start the summer with Memorial Day weekend. This dish is truly summer in a bowl. It’s refreshing and tasty with citrus dressing dancing on your palette. Arugula is naturally spicy, however, I added a pinch of cayenne to the dressing for some extra kick. There is a nice balance of sweet and spicy flavors in this dish.

The dressing is really simple and very delicious. It only takes 5 ingredients to make this yummy dressing: freshly squeezed orange juice, olive oil, cayenne, salt, and pepper. This is my all time favorite dressing that I make most of the time.

My photo shoot was cut a little short with my little Sky Bear spotting the watermelon in this dish. The watermelon slowly started to disappear and I decided it was wrap!

Serves 4 (including energetic toddlers)

Ingredients:
16 oz. of arugula
3 tbsp. of fresh mint, chopped
1 cup feta
3 cups of watermelon
1/4 cup of cranberries
1 bundle of mint leaves for garnish

Dressing:
2 oranges, juiced (or 1/2 cup of orange juice
1/4 cup of olive oil
Cayenne
Salt
Pepper

In small bowl mix the orange juice and olive oil until well blended. Sprinkle cayenne, salt, and pepper to taste. Rinse the arugula. Place the arugula into a separate bowl. Toss in the mint, watermelon, and cranberries. Sprinkle the feta over the salad.

Mix the dressing into the salad and toss and garnish with a mint leaf. Bon appetite!

Skillet Cornbread Soufflé

05/21/2017 by Angelina Leave a Comment

Skillet Cornbread Soufflé in a Staub Cast Iron Skillet is my go-to side dish whenever we have BBQ’s. This recipe is also a huge hit when I bring it as a side dish to a potluck. The best thing about this cornbread soufflé is it’s very moist and tasty.

I enjoy learning about the history of food so here is a little research about cornbread soufflé. Skillet cornbread soufflé is also called spoonbread and it’s a hybrid of cornbread recipes that has evolved over the last two centuries. Spoonbread, a traditional Southern dish has a soufle-pudding like texture. The ancestor of spoonbread is a native dish called, “Awendaw.” Awendaw is an area in Charleston, South Carolina, named after the Awendaw Indians who settled in the area. The main difference is that cornbread soufflé and spoonbread has cornmeal where as Awendaw uses grits in the recipe. Some very fascinating history of cornbread!

When I first tried this recipe at a BBQ many years ago, it seriously rocked my world. The cornbread soufle was cooked in a huge beautiful cast iron pot! I never imagined that cornbread soufle could taste so good. I generally am not a big cornbread fan because it’s usually too dry. Seriously, it was the best moment of my life. I do have to admit that I have a lot of those “best moment of my life” moments, all of the time. And that moment, when I first ate cornbread souffle, was one of them.

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Side Dishes

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