It All Began with Ina

Tuesday, July 3, 2012 |

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. 


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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.


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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.


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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 :)}


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Dinner is served!


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


Leave A Comment

10 comments:

Lisa@Pickles and Cheese said...

I love cilantro too. I hear it's a love it or hate thing...there is no in between. Your salad sound wonderful. Will be giving this a try soon and while I don't do mayo, I'll just substitute sour cream like I usually do. Looks great. Thanks!

Magnolia Blues said...

You always have the best recipes. I love that you try to eat clean and healthy too. I can't wait to try this one. I think I'll make it tomorrow.

Hope you're having a great summer!

Gigi

Kathy said...

Dan would love this meal! I was just saying tonight at dinner how much I love summer eating! This looks delicious. Lets try to catch up next week ~ the kids are leaving with Nana!

Sheri said...

Oh, that looks amazing. I'm going to try it this weekend. Thanks for stopping by my blog. I love yours :) I will be following along - I love new blogger friends. Be blessed :)

Lauren said...

Oh my....yum! And your pix make it look even more inviting! We went to Saugatuck, MI and loved it! Traveling to Middleville and Benton Harbor too. Where will you be in MI? Even though we are just a state away, something about MI...the stresses of the daily grind just fly away!

Lori said...

Wow, my mouth is watering!!! I love cilantro too and add it to my salads often.....or whatever I can find to add it to:)
The close-up of the burger pic should be in a food magazine!

French Basketeer.com said...

Sorry I have been away, but this looks FAB!! I am going to try this soon as I love cilantro....

Draffin Bears said...

Hi Jo,

The salad and burger looks great and I always like using cilantro. How pretty the geranium is.
Hope you are enjoying the summer

Hugs
Carolyn

NanaDiana said...

Oh- That sounds/looks so good! I think we will give this a try! Thanks- xo Diana

Roz | La Bella Vita Cucina said...

What a pretty colorful salad! The dressing ingredients are wonderful! And your photography is superb Jo!

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