Avocado and Grilled Corn Salad

I saw this summer salad on Pinterest the other week and I just knew it was going to be amazing.  The salad includes nothing but yummy stuff.  I love love love grilled corn.  Avocados are delicious and healthy; cherry tomatoes, feta?  And a cilantro vinaigrette to top it off.  How could this not be good?

It is better than good.  It is light and refreshing and simply delicious.  I really love the sherry vinegar and the cilantro in the vinaigrette.  This is a salad I'm sure we'll be making again very soon....like maybe this weekend!  My mom is coming to visit and I'm sure she'll love it.  :)

Avocado and Grilled Corn Salad,  from Authentic Suburban Gourmet  click on the link for some great information on avocados....like, did you know only 43% of Americans buy avocados?  That means more than half of the people in this country are missing out on this delicious salad!  Tragic.

5 ears of corn: grill them without the husks, brush with olive oil and season them with salt and pepper.  Cut kernels from the cobs
2 avocados, diced and sprinkled with lemon juice to keep from browning
2 cups cherry tomatoes (red or yellow), halved
1 small red onion finely diced
3/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 English cucumber, diced (leave skin on)

Cilantro Vinaigrette
6 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
freshly ground pepper

Combine all of the salad ingredients in a large bowl. If you aren't serving the salad right away store it covered in the refrigerator.  When you are ready to serve it, put all the ingredients for the vinaigrette in a jar or another container with a tight lid and shake it to emulsify.  (You can also whisk the olive oil into the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl).  Pour it over the salad and gently stir to coat.

Enjoy!

Crustless Zucchini Pie

Have you eaten your fill of zucchini yet this summer?  Apparently last summer I overdosed Mr Pears with zucchini so he has been poo-pooing all my zucchini ideas lately.  But when I saw this recipe in Whole Living, I decided I was going to make it whether he liked it or not! Luckily, he liked it. :)

This zucchini pie is a great summer side dish. We served ours with grilled salmon and it was just perfect. Though it has all the same elements as a quiche, the veggies outweigh the eggs by alot so it doesn't taste like quiche, it is just a nice light veggie bake. The dill gives it a wonderful summer flavor and I loved the sweet roasted tomatoes on top and the tangy feta cheese.  This recipe was included under "Slim-down Summer Recipes" at Whole Living but unfortunately I couldn't find any nutritional information.  I'm sure it is pretty low-cal but either way this will no doubt find its way back to our table again before the summer is over. I hope you like it is much as we did.

Crustless Zucchini Pie, adapted from Whole Living
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 lb green zucchini, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
4 scallions, chopped 4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried marjoram
1 lb yellow squash, cut in 1/2 inch pieces
5 whole eggs
5 egg whites  (Save the yolks for making ice cream)
1/2 cup fresh dill, chopped  (if you are using dried dill weed, you won't need nearly as much)
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
2 oz low-fat feta cheese

Heat 1 teaspoon of olive oil in a large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the zucchini and half of the scallions, garlic and marjoram.  Salt and pepper them and then let them cook about five minutes, or until they are a bit softened and browned.  Pour that all into a large bowl and then repeat the process for the yellow squash.

Preheat the oven to 325 F.

In a smaller bowl lightly beat together the eggs and whites and then pour them over the squash and zucchini in the large bowl.  Add the dill and mix it all together.  Pour everything into a 2 quart pie dish and then top it with the sliced tomato and crumbled feta.

Bake for 1 hour or until the top is set.  This can be served either hot or at room temperature.  Enjoy!

Pink Lemonade Cake

This cake is just made for celebrating summer and sunshine.  We enjoyed it with our visiting family over the Memorial Day weekend and it was delicious.  Lemony and sweet and so pretty.

Pink Lemonade Cake, adapted from Karen Tack, found in Better Homes and Gardens May 2012 issue
cake:
1 cup butter
4 eggs
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
red food coloring
1 1/3 cups milk
1/2 cup frozen lemonade concentrate, thawed
1 teaspoon pure lemon extract
Frosting, double the recipe!

Take the butter and eggs out to let come to room temperature for 30 minutes.  In the mean time, prepare either (2) 9" x 2" round pans or (1) 9" x 1 1/2" and (1) 9" x 1 1/2" pans**.  Grease them liberally then cut out circles from parchment paper to lay in the bottom of the pans.  Grease the paper too and then flour each of the pans.

**The cake is meant to be done in four layers by baking the cakes in 2 round 9" x 2" pans.  Unfortunately I only own 1 pan of that size, my other 9 inch pans are more like 1 1/2 inch pans.  No to be deterred from making this, and as quickly as possible since my to-do list was long, I just put 5 cups of batter in the taller pan and 3 in the other and baked them off.  My larger cake took about 40 minutes to bake, the smaller, just a little over 30. I sliced the taller cake in two and ended up with three pretty even sized layers!

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.  In the bowl of your mixer, beat the butter for 30 seconds.  Continue beating on medium as you gradually add in the sugar.  Scrape down the side of the mixing bowl and then add in 1/8 teaspoon of red food coloring and mix to combine.  Now add in the eggs one at a time, making sure each is well combined before the next egg is added.  In another medium bowl (preferably one with a spout) combine the milk with the lemonade concentrate and the extract.  The mixture will look curdled, don't worry!

Alternate between adding the milk mixture and the flour mixture to the butter mixture until all are combined.  Fill first cake pan with batter, see ** note above for amounts.  Now add 1/4 teaspoon more red food coloring to the remaining batter and mix to combine.  Pour the remaining batter into the remaining pan and bake them each at 350 F. for 30-40 minutes.  The cakes are done when the middles spring back at a light touch.

Let the cakes cool for about 10 minutes and then remove them from the pans to finish cooling on wire racks.

When cakes are completely cooled slice them if necessary and then frost.  For the best results when frosting make sure the cake is 100% cooled, baking the cake the day before is a great way to do this.  Once you begin frosting do the middles and then just a very thin coat (called a crumb coat) all over the outside and let it harden for about 10 minutes before finishing the rest of the job.

Enjoy!