Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread

If you're a vegetarian or have ever dabbled in meatless eating to any degree whatsoever, it's more than likely that you've had your fair share of falafel. (If you aren't in the know, falafel is a Middle Eastern street-food delicacy of mashed chickpeas shaped into balls or patties and fried, usually served in pita with tahini sauce.) Every vegetarian can tell you where and when they ate the best falafel they've ever had. Randomly, Joe and I both had the best-ever falafel in Zurich, Switzerland -- but not together. I've also had great falafel in Arequipa, Peru and of course, right here in D.C.

Falafel isn't always the healthiest vegetarian meal, but it's easy enough to lighten up and it's a great source of protein and fiber. This version is one of my very favorites and puts a Southwestern twist on traditional falafel. Instead of chickpeas, the base is pinto beans. The patties also have Monterey Jack cheese and crushed tortilla chips mixed in for lots of extra flavor. And instead of your typical tahini, it's got a guacamole-ish spread that's oh so creamy and delicious.

Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread
From Cooking Light

• Patties:
• 15-oz can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese
• 1/4 cup finely crushed tortilla chips (baked chips if you're feeling extra healthy)
• 2 tablespoons chopped scallions
• 1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
• Big pinch of ground cumin
• Egg white
• 2 teaspoons canola oil
• Spread:
• Half an avocado, mashed
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped tomato
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped red onion
• 2 tablespoons light sour cream
• 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice
• Salt to taste
• Remaining ingredients:
• Two six-inch whole wheat pitas, cut in half crosswise
• Thin red onion slices
• Microgreens or sprouts

To prepare patties, place pinto beans in a medium bowl; partially mash with a fork. Add cheese and next 5 ingredients (through egg white); stir until well combined. Shape bean mixture into 8 small round patties.

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add patties to pan; cook 3 minutes on each side or until patties are browned and thoroughly heated.

To prepare spread, combine avocado and next 5 ingredients (through salt), stirring well. Place 2 patties in each pita half. Spread about 2 tablespoons avocado spread over patty in each pita half; top with onions and greens/sprouts.

Chopped Moroccan Salad

You know the drill. It's summer, it's hot out (hello, 103 degrees with a heat index of 119!), you don't feel like cooking, and there's no way you're turning on any sort of stove, oven, or other heat-emitting device. Obviously, this situation calls for a salad. This one's really fresh and full of nutritious and delicious ingredients. The Moroccan inspiration is mostly found in the spices of the dressing, but probably also in the fact that Moroccans likely don't feel like cooking in July either.

Chopped Moroccan Salad

From Women's Health Magazine

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon orange zest
• 1/4 cup fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 large pinch cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 6 cups baby arugula, chopped if desired
• 1/2 avocado, diced (use the whole thing if you love avocado)
• 2 medium or 1 large yellow tomato, diced
• Cucumber, diced
• 1/4 cup chopped red onion
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 2 tablespoons sunflower seeds or pistachios

Combine the oil, zest, lime juice, honey, cinnamon, and cumin in a blender or food processor, or whisk together until smooth. In a large bowl, combine the remaining ingredients. Toss well with dressing.

Fresh Corn & Potato Salad

While there's a lot to love about summer produce, there may be no greater joy than freshly harvested sweet corn, so tender that the kernels can be eaten raw. No need for blanching here! This salad showcases this wonderful crop in a citrusy lime-based dressing. It's perfect picnic material, though eating it left-over for lunch in your office kitchen is good too.

Fresh Corn & Potato Salad

From Southern Living

• 1 pound baby red potatoes
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 3 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
• 2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 3 cups fresh corn kernels (about 6 ears)
• Large red bell pepper, diced
• Avocado, peeled and diced
• 1/2 cup sliced green onions

Bring potatoes and salted cold water to cover to a boil in a large Dutch oven; boil 10 minutes or just until tender. Drain and let cool 15 minutes.

Whisk together cilantro and next 4 ingredients in a large bowl. Add warm potatoes, corn, and remaining 3 ingredients; toss to coat. Serve at room temperature or chilled.

Tortellini Salad

I read a fair number of other food blogs in my spare time, you know, for inspiration and recipes and good things like that. One of my favorites is 101 Cookbooks. The author, Heidi Swanson, posts healthy veg recipes accompanied by the most gorgeous photos ever - I'm just constantly drooling over it. Well, it turns out that she recently published a cookbook, so obviously I ordered a copy as soon as I could. And I am in love.

It's called Super Natural Every Day, and every recipe in it is the kind of recipe I would make up if I were any good at making up recipes. It's all fresh and seasonal and contains unexpected but amazing combinations of ingredients. I made my first recipe from it last night and have pretty much the rest of them bookmarked to make in the very near future. For now, here's Heidi's gorgeous tortellini salad.

Tortellini Salad

From Super Natural Every Day

• Fine sea salt
• 1 pound fresh tortellini or about 12 ounces frozen/refrigerated tortellini
• 8 to 10 asparagus spears, trimmed and cut into 1-inch segments
• 1/2 head broccoli or equivalent broccolini, cut into small trees
• 1 small clove garlic
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• Small handful of fresh cilantro or mint, chopped
• Small handful of sprouts
• 1/3 cup/1 ounce pine nuts or almonds, toasted
• 1 medium ripe avocado, sliced into small pieces

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Salt generously, add the tortellini, and cook according to the package instructions. About 30 seconds before the pasta is finished cooking, stir the asparagus and broccoli into the pot. Cook for the final 30 seconds, drain, and run under cold water just long enough to stop the cooking.

In the meantime, to make the dressing, use the flat side of your knife to mash the garlic along with a big pinch of salt into a paste. Whisk together the garlic paste, lemon juice, olive oil, and more salt, if needed. Set aside.

When you're ready to serve the salad, toss the pasta, asparagus, broccoli, and cilantro with about half of the dressing. Add more dressing to taste, if needed, and toss well. Add the sprouts, nuts, and avocado. Very gently toss a couple of times to distribute those ingredients throughout the salad and enjoy. Keep the dressing on hand to refresh leftovers; the pasta tends to absorb it overnight.

Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing

Pasta salad is one of those things that you can make in a million different ways. I may be exaggerating, but it's entirely possible that there are literally a million different pasta salad recipes floating around. I remember when I was in high school I used to make a pasta salad with walnuts and lime juice and maybe feta? It was super popular at parties (no, seriously). Well, this pasta salad is totally different but so very good. It's distinctly southwestern, with corn, black beans, and avocado, and it's got this great spicy buttermilk dressing that covers every bite with flavor. It's a great recipe to add to your pasta salad repertoire.

Orzo Salad with Spicy Buttermilk Dressing
From Cooking Light

• 1 cup uncooked orzo
• 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed and drained
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered
• 3 scallions, sliced
• 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro, divided
• 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
• 2 tablespoons light sour cream
• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 peeled avocado, cut into wedges

Cook orzo according to package directions. Drain. Place orzo, corn, and next 3 ingredients (through beans) in a large bowl; toss.


Combine buttermilk, 2 tablespoons cilantro, and next 8 ingredients (through garlic) in a small bowl, stirring well with a whisk. Drizzle over orzo mixture and toss. Top with avocado; garnish with remaining cilantro.

Southwestern Quinoa & Sweet Potato Salad

I love this salad so much that it's usually the first recipe I tell people to make when they want to try quinoa for the first time. It's super easy to throw together, not to mention crazy delicious. It has a great combination of textures: chewy quinoa, creamy avocado, and crunchy bell pepper. Plus the always wonderful flavors of lime juice and cilantro... yes please!

Southwestern Quinoa & Sweet Potato Salad
From How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

• 1 cup uncooked quinoa (or 2 1/2 cups cooked)
• 1 large or 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup minced red onion
• 1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
• Cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Juice of 1/2 lime (or a whole lime if it's not very juicy)
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped

First, cook the quinoa: put it in a saucepan with water to cover by at least an inch and a big pinch of salt. Bring to a simmer and cook until it's done (taste often to check; it should take between 10 and 20 minutes; add more water if it gets dry but isn't done yet). Drain and rinse in a fine mesh strainer.

Meanwhile, cook the sweet potatoes: put them in another saucepan with water to cover and simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until fork tender. Drain well.

In a large bowl, combine the quinoa, sweet potatoes, bell pepper, red onion, and avocado. Season with salt and pepper to taste, along with a sprinkle of cayenne pepper. In a separate bowl, whisk together the olive oil and lime juice, then add to the quinoa mixture and toss to coat. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Black Bean Tostadas

So, this recipe isn't the most seasonally appropriate thing I've ever made, but I had a Mexican craving yesterday that had to be satisfied, and this was how I did it. Tostadas are such a quick and easy no-cook meal -- just throw the topping ingredients together in a bowl, toast some tortillas in a dry skillet or over the open flame of a gas stove, pile the former on top of the latter, and voila.

I estimated quantities in the ingredient list (enough to make topping for about 4 small tostadas, or a 2-person serving), but this is a completely adaptable recipe. Do whatever you like. If you want to go heavy on the avocado, knock yourself out. If you hate cilantro, omit it. This isn't the kind of recipe where precision is really needed. It will be good no matter what you do with it.

Black Bean Tostadas

• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp red onion, minced
• 1 large garlic clove, minced
• 1/2 medium jicama, peeled and diced (about 1/2 cup)
• 1/4 cup frozen corn kernels, rinsed under hot water to defrost
• 1/4 cup avocado, diced (about 1/2 small avocado)
• 1/2 cup grape tomatoes, halved (about 12 tomatoes)
• 4 Tbsp canned green chili peppers
• 3 Tbsp fresh lime juice, from about 1 large lime
• 2 Tbsp cilantro, fresh, chopped
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• Salt to taste
• 4 small corn tortillas

Combine all ingredients, except tortillas, in a large bowl; mix to combine. Toast tortillas and top each with about 3/4 cup of bean mixture.

Tomato, Avocado, and Golden Beet Salad

Tonight's dinner is 100% brought to you by Joe Fray. Well, I picked out the recipe and helped with the shopping, but I took no part in the actual making of the food. You won't be seeing him writing any guest posts, however. I asked him what he would say about the making of this meal, and he looked at me for a few seconds and said, "You chop things and put them in a bowl and mix them." Not the most loquacious when it comes to food writing, that Joe.

So I'll just tackle this from the point of view of the eater. This salad is delicious. It's great for early fall because there are still pretty decent tomatoes to be had, and beet season is now upon us. We ate the salad with crusty hunks of whole wheat baguette (and a great episode of House on TV).

Tomato, Avocado, and Golden Beet Salad

• One bunch of golden beets, greens removed
• 4 medium tomatoes, sliced into wedges
• 1 avocado, sliced
• 1 small red onion or half a large red onion, sliced
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 4 teaspoons red wine vinegar
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon basil
• 1 tablespoon chives

Place a medium saucepan filled with water over high heat; bring to a boil. Add beets, bring back to a boil and reduce heat to medium; simmer until beets pierce easily with the point of a sharp knife, about 25 minutes. Remove beets from pan and place under cold running water until cool enough to handle. Peel beets with a vegetable peeler and cut into 1/2-inch wedges; place beets in a large bowl.

Add tomato, avocado, onion, oil, vinegar, salt and pepper to bowl; toss to combine. Sprinkle with basil and chives. Serves anywhere from 2-4, depending on how hungry you are.

Vegetarian Posole

Vegetarians tend to eat a lot of ethnic food. American food -- with the exception of some delicacies like mac-and-cheese and veggie chili -- tends to focus on meat. We aren't known as a meat-and-potatoes culture for nothing. Anyway, so because of that, I end up cooking and eating a lot of cuisines like Thai, Japanese, Chinese, sometimes Italian and Greek, and especially Indian.

But one of my very favorite cuisines for delicious vegetarian meals is Mexican. Oh man, there are so many great veg-friendly Mexican ingredients. Beans, cheese, rice, peppers, lime, avocado, tomato, cilantro. It's easy to forget about the whole meat thing entirely.

This recipe is one of those classic Mexican dishes that's healthy, filling, and really good. Also, it just so happens to be vegan (no dairy!). According to the history books, posole is a traditional pre-Columbian meal that was made on special occasions -- specifically, the occasion of human sacrifice. After the heart was torn out in the ritual, the rest of the human flesh was chopped up and cooked with corn meal because corn was considered a sacred plant. After the Spanish conquest, cannibalism was banned and pork was substituted in the posole because it "tastes very similar."

Now aren't you glad this version is vegetarian?

Vegetarian Posole

• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 5 cups vegetable broth, water, or a combination
• 2 cups cooked whole hominy, or one 14-ounce can of hominy, drained and rinsed
• One 15-ounce can of pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups kale, chard, or other leafy green
• 1/4 cup cilantro, chopped
• Salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper to taste
• 1 medium avocado, diced
• 3 medium plum tomatoes, seeded and chopped
• 1 medium lime, cut into wedges

Heat oil in a large pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes. Add garlic and cook 1 minute more. Pour broth over onion mixture and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low and simmer 5 minutes. Add hominy and beans; cook 2 minutes. Add greens and cook until greens are wilted and just cooked, about 2 minutes more. Stir in cilantro, salt, pepper, and cayenne pepper. Garnish with remaining ingredients and serve.