Easy Thai-Flavored Raw Broccoli Salad Recipe with Red Onion, Mint, and Peanuts

This Thai-Flavored Raw Broccoli Salad was an experiment that was a happy success!

When I made Thai-Style Spicy Cabbage Slaw with my nephew Jake, we were both absolutely captivated by the spicy Thai flavors in the dressing.  I started thinking about what else might taste good with that combination of lime, fish sauce, sweetener, and red pepper flakes, and next time Jake showed up to cook I proposed trying it on a broccoli salad.  For our first try we blanched the broccoli, which was definitely not a good idea.  But we persevered and ended up with this amazing raw broccoli salad with red onion, mint, and peanuts and the spicy Thai dressing.  If you're wondering about mint and broccoli together, so did we, but the whole combination really worked.  If you like Thai flavors and raw broccoli you must try this salad. 

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Easy Recipe for Cucumber Salad with Balsamic Dressing

This Easy and Slightly Unusual Cucumber Salad is one of my Favorites!

(This favorite cucumber recipe was first posted in 2006 and updated with step-by-step instructions and better photos in May 2012.  I'm still on vacation but luckily I have my cucumbers planted at home so it won't be long before I can make this salad with fresh garden cucumbers.)

I think people who haven't had a garden where the amount of produce suddenly spins out of control can't fully appreciate what a dilemma it is to search for new ways to use up tomatoes, squash, and of course, cucumbers. It seems like every summer I add at least one or two new recipes to my collection for these garden veggies. Recently I came upon this recipe for cucumbers on a site called RecipeZaar. It looks similar to some other recipes for cucumbers that I've posted, but the flavor is very different.

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Recipe for Heart of Palm Salad with Tomato, Avocado, and Lime (with or without Cilantro)

I've been infatuated with this Heart of Palm Salad with Tomato, Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime.

I love combining beloved ingredients in slightly different ways, and this Heart of Palm Salad with Tomato, Avocado, Cilantro, and Lime was the happy result when I arranged a marriage between my favorite Vegan Heart of Palm and Avocado Salad and Colorful Tomato Salad with Hearts of Palm.  This offspring salad had all the good qualities of the parents, plus some new qualities of its own!

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Saturday Snapshots: Enriching the Soil Before Planting in My Raised Garden Beds (2012 Garden Update #2)

Raised garden beds need organic material added to the soil every few years.

I got off to an early start on the garden this year, trimming my perennial herbs much earlier than I usually do.  Then a combination of me being sick and lots of rainy days in Utah conspired to put the garden on hold until this week.  Raised garden beds are wonderful because they don't require lots of maintenance, but your raised beds will produce healthier plants if you enrich the soil with organic material at least every few years.  You can buy bags of organic compost at a garden store, but many cities that collect yard waste also grind it up and create compost that's sold by the truckload.  I don't have a truck, but I am lucky enough to have a great family, and this year my brother-in-law Clayton offered to bring me a load of compost and till it into the soil for me.  (Thanks Clayton!)

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Recipe for Spicy Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas with Soy Sauce, Sesame Oil, and Sriracha

If you love sugar snap peas like I do, you have to try these Spicy Stir-Fried Sugar Snap Peas.

(For Phase One Fridays I highlight Phase One recipes from the past that have been my personal favorites.  I'm crazy about sugar snap peas, and this easy stir-fry is one of my favorite ways to use them in a cooked dish.)

Recently I talked about my profound affection for sugar snap peas, and I decided it might be fun to experiment with them as the starring ingredient in a stir-fried vegetable side dish.  Not that I hadn't stir-fried sugar snap peas before, but never like this with them sliced diagonally to reveal the tiny peas inside.  I have no idea where I got the idea of slicing the peas for a stir-fry, but I loved the results.  The pods cooked more quickly, and a few tiny peas spilled out, adding visual interest and a lot of sweet pea flavor to the finished dish.

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Recipe for Middle Eastern Spicy Ground Beef with Baharat Seasoning, Mint, and Cilantro

Middle Eastern Spicy Ground Beef with Baharat, Mint, and Cilantro; I loved this with some fat-free Greek yogurt on top.

When I posted the recipe for Effie's Easy and Amazing Cottage Cheese Salad with Za'atar, I shared how a reader from Israel named Effie had sent me a lovely box of middle eastern spices.  One of the things in the box was Baharat Seasoning, and this Spicy Middle Eastern Ground Beef was the first recipe I tried using it.  I found a lot of recipes and online sources to get the Baharat Seasoning (which I'll share after the recipe) so don't be discouraged from trying this if you don't have it in your spice rack.  I really liked this dish, which I ate over whole wheat couscous and with a generous dollop of fat-free Greek yogurt on top.  Thanks again Effie for introducing me to something new!

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South Beach Diet Phase One Recipes Round-Up for April 2012 (Low-Glycemic Recipes)

Kalyn's favorite Phase One Recipe for April 2012 is Ground Beef Gyro Meatball Lettuce Wraps with Tzatziki and Tomatoes.

It's May, which means the arrival of summer can't be far away now.  This year I'm urging summer on a little by heading out on a road trip to California, where I'll be speaking at Camp Blogaway, hanging out at my brother Rand's house, hopefully meeting up with some food blogging friends, and having a birthday dinner with the cutest twins in the world.  I've been working for a few weeks to get posts written in advance so I could have an actual vacation without too much time spent working, and I'm looking forward to getting away.  But before I get on the road, here's the monthly round-up of Phase One recipes I've posted this week or found on other food blogs.  Happy eating everyone!

(You can use the label Low-Glycemic Recipe Round-Ups to see all the posts like this one.)

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