It's Tuesday! Which means that due to the Memorial Day holiday, this week is a short one. Wooo Hooo! My weekend was...in a word...a whirlwind. T & I celebrated our one year anniversary with an impromptu trip to Minneapolis, and after packing a ton of fun into the weekend, we're ready to kick back and take it easy for the rest of this week!

 Enter minestrone. Packed with veggies, this soup has great flavor and was an excellent light dinner choice to cap off a very rainy and gloomy Memorial Day.

Step One: Gather the ingredients. Funny story...I totally forgot to include in my picture anything that was canned - enter diced tomatoes, canellini beans, beef broth. Know that you need them.

Step Two: Prep the veggies and pancetta (aka chop them up!) Heat some olive oil over medium heat in a large heavy-bottomed soup pot, add the veggies and pancetta cooking for about 10 minutes, or until those onions are translucent. Add the broth, water, and parmesan, then let the soup simmer for a bit until everything is heated through. Add the beans and chopped parsley 5 min before serving. Season with salt and pepper and serve with grated Parmesan and some love :)

Recipe adapted from Food Network

MINESTRONE SOUP | Yield: 6-8 Servings | Total Time: 55 min

INGREDIENTS:

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
3/4 C carrots, peeled & chopped (about 1/3 of a 1 lb. bag baby carrots or 4 carrots)
3 celery stalks, chopped
3 oz thinly sliced pancetta, coarsely chopped*
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 lb (1 bunch) Swiss chard, de-stemmed, leaves coarsely chopped
1 russet potato, peeled, cubed
1 (28.5 oz.) can diced tomatoes
2 tsp dried rosemary (or 1 sprig fresh)
1 (15-oz) can cannellini beans, drained & rinsed
3 (14-oz) cans low-sodium beef broth
1/4 C Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/4 C fresh Italian parsley, chopped
Salt and pepper
Water as needed (I used 2.5 cups)

*NOTE: If you have trouble finding pancetta, substitute bacon. You can also just leave it out if you prefer a meatless soup.

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the olive oil in a heavy large pot over medium heat. Add the onion, carrots, celery, pancetta, and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the Swiss chard and potato; saute for 2 minutes. Add the tomatoes and rosemary. Simmer 10 minutes until the chard is wilted and the tomatoes break down.

Add the broth and Parmesan to the vegetable mixture. Simmer until the potato pieces are tender, about 15 minutes. Stir in the beans and parsley. Simmer an additional 5 minutes until the beans are heated through. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Serve sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.

One Year Anniversary Celebrations

T and I celebrated our one year anniversary with a quick overnight trip to Minneapolis for a nice dinner out on the town. A NOTE: If you have an appreciation for wine and would like some unique picks to choose from, check out Toast Wine Bar & Cafe in the North Loop. I tried a wine all the way from Croatia! In other news, we had an amazing dinner at Bar La Grassa. The head chef won the James Beard Foundation award for best chef in the Midwest. Pretty amazing. I won't lie. In our quest for the next most unique thing to eat, we added sweetbread (thymus gland) and foie gras (duck liver) to the list. Seeing as we made it through the weekend alive, they turned out not to be as scary as they sound.

And just one more...I couldn't resist.

Did you do anything fun over the Memorial Day holiday?

Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie

Memorial Day weekend is upon us. Can you believe it!?! I, for one, certainly didn't see it coming! I mean, it was only a measly three weeks ago that there was still snow on the ground! Ugh.

In other news, T & I will be celebrating our one year anniversary this Sunday. The year has gone by so fast that it doesn't seem possible that we could be celebrating our one year already! Unfortunately, T's current work schedule is putting a major crimp in our style, so we won't be doing anything too grand this year to celebrate. At least not this weekend. A 40-hour time period (minus sleeping time) really doesn't work well when we are about 3 hours away from anywhere we would consider visiting for a little getaway celebration.

HOWEVER, just because our celebrating for the weekend is undetermined, it doesn't mean yours has to be! Please, please, make this pie. It is beyond delicious, and, if you don't mind my saying...super patriotic in celebration of this Memorial Day weekend. Enjoy!

Step One: Gather the ingredients. Make the pie crust. Chill. Roll out the bottom crust and place in pie dish. Chill before adding filling.

Step Two: Mix together the filling. Fill up the pie! Decided what you want to do with the design on the top. As you can see, I chose stars. How Patriotic of me right? Preheat the oven.

Don't forget to make a foil collar around the edges of your pie crust so it doesn't burn while cooking!

Recipe from Food Network

STRAWBERRY-RHUBARB PIE | Yield: 1 pie | Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

INGREDIENTS:

Crust:
2 C all-purpose flour
1/2 C cake flour (I used Soft As Silk)
3 tsp powdered sugar
1/2 C butter-flavored shortening
1/4 C salted butter
Pinch salt
1 egg
2 tsp vinegar
1/4 C ice cold water

Filling:
2 1/2 C chopped red rhubarb
2 1/2 C strawberries, cut in large pieces
1 1/2 C sugar
2 Tbsp minute tapioca
1 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbsp butter, cubed small* (optional - AKA I always forget this and it turns out just fine)
1 egg white beaten with 1 tsp water
Large granule sugar

DIRECTIONS:

CRUST:
Use a pastry blender to blend the flours, sugar, shortening, butter and salt.* Whisk the egg, vinegar and water in a 2-cup measure and pour over the dry ingredients. Mix in the wet ingredients without overworking the dough. Form a ball, and toss any additional flour over the ball (for best results, cover with plastic wrap and chill if possible). Divide the dough into 2 disks. Roll out 1 piece of dough to make a bottom crust. Place into a pie dish. Cover with plastic wrap, and put dish in refrigerator to chill.

*NOTE: If you don't have a pastry blender (me), you can also use a potato masher for a similar effect.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

FILLING:
Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, flour, zest and juice of lemon, dash of cinnamon, and vanilla. Mix well in a large bowl and pour into chilled crust. If you are using butter, now is the time to dot the top of the filling. Roll out the other piece of dough. Now's the time to impress! I got fancy and used a cookie cutter to make stars for the top of my pie. You can do any design you want. Cover it all up, leave some out and use cut-outs, the world is your oyster! Brush the edges of the pie crust with the egg wash and place the dough over the top, crimping to seal. Brush the entire pie top (crust portions only) with egg wash, and sprinkle with sugar.

*NOTE: If you are using cut-outs, you'll still want to brush the pie crust pieces on the top to give them that glazed look. If you forget (me), this will not ruin your pie, so don't worry about it.

Collar with foil (to avoid burning the edges), and bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Decrease the temperature to 375 degrees and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes, or until the filling starts bubbling. Cool before serving.

Do you have any exciting plans for Memorial Day?

Greek Village Salad

I may be on a total Greek food kick lately. I just love the light flavors and healthy amounts of veggies that tend to be incorporated into Greek dishes. Not to mention that most of my favorite ingredients (tomatoes, olive oil, feta cheese, etc) are almost always involved. Bonus!

This salad is especially easy to throw together, and makes an excellent side dish for summertime grilling. Not to mention an excellent way to use up some of those cucumbers from your CSA or home garden. T & I may have resorted to Hendricks and tonic with cucumber last summer as one of the only things we could think to do with the massive amount of cucumbers in our CSA. Of course...if you have small enough cucumbers and canning gear, you could also make pickles...

Step One: Gather the ingredients. Cucumber, tomato, red onion, garlic, red pepper, feta, oregano, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper and olive oil. That's it! Yaaa for using cucumber!

Step Two: Chop the veggies to bite-sized pieces, then toss everything together in a large bowl. That's it!  I would recommend finding someone to fire up the grill while you are chopping. This salad takes no time at all to get ready, and is best devoured immediately, or shortly thereafter.

Recipe from What's Gaby Cooking

GREEK VILLAGE SALAD | Yield: 8-10 servings | Total Time: 20 min.

INGREDIENTS:

GREEK VINAIGRETTE:
1 clove garlic, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dried oregano
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper

SALAD:
4 C cherry or grape tomatoes, chopped
2 medium cucumbers, chopped
2 red or yellow peppers, chopped
1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
8 oz feta, drained and crumbled*
freshly ground black pepper

*NOTE: You can use the feta blocks and crumble yourself, or purchase pre-crumbled feta. Either will work fine. If you only have 2-3 dinner guests, I would recommend halving this recipe.

DIRECTIONS:

In a small bowl, whisk together all the ingredients for the vinaigrette. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine all of the chopped veggies, top with the Greek vinaigrette, and toss together. Add the feta, and very gently toss to combine. Adjust pepper and serve immediately at room temperature.

Do you have any recipe ideas that use cucumber? I'd love to hear them!