It All Began with Ina

It all began with Ina ...


Her holiday email arrived in my box. The recipe looked good but I was really craving something more southwestern like without all the cheese and added calories ... I know what you're thinking, this statement surprises even myself as the words appear on the screen! What? No cheese or loaded calories??


Anyway ...


I decided to keep going with the cabbage idea and add a few other goodies I had on hand. The beauty of my so called salad is that you can add to or take away with whatever you're in the mood for at the moment. As I was going through the frig I stumbled on of my favorite ingredients ... cilantro! If I could figure out how to grow larger cilantro leaves, I'd make a salad of it each and every day. Yes, I like it that much!




Once I found my stash from the farmers market, the evening meal took a turn. 

Salad ~
2 cups thinly sliced purple cabbage
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced cabbage
3 whole green onions thinly sliced
3/4 snap peas blanched and then cut on a diagonal
2 green peppers from my garden {slightly spicy}
large handful of cilantro {surprise, surprise!}


Dressing ~
1/4 cup light sour cream
1/8 cup light mayo
1 large lime juiced
1 large lime zest
1/2 jalapeno
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro
1 heaping tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
pinch of salt


Toss the salad ingredients, mix together the dressing and combine!





I was planning to grill the basic burger but since I had a featured guest ingredient, I felt the need to share the wealth and use it in everything I was preparing.

The burgers went from plain jane to south of the border! Our toppings included my second favorite ingredient ... avocado! I don't know why I haven't thought of putting all this together before. It was delicious! I used an easy sauce of salsa verde mixed with light sour cream in place of ketchup and mustard.





Burgers ~
93% lean ground beef
cumin, chipotle pepper, chili pepper, garlic power, a little salt and pepper
garlic gouda cheese stuffed in the middle {I needed a little dairy :)}

Dinner is served!


I wonder if my husband has any idea he consumed an entire cilantro plant this evening?! ;)

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