Summertime Meal

Tonight's meal went over pretty well. Such a hot day called for multiple salads. I did have to turn on the stove to cook the rotini and the collard greens, but after that it was all just a matter of marinating.

I had found a great corn and tomato salad recipe in the paper which I liked because I had all the ingredients—or so I thought. Somebody had eaten the two ears of cooked corn I was counting on, so I changed it to a ZUCCHINI TOMATO CUCUMBER SALAD. 

Substitute cooked corn if you have it for the cucumbers, but this salad was fine the way it was.

Chop up three cups of zucchini, two of tomatoes and two of cucumber. Whisk together two tablespoons of fresh chopped mint, two tablespoons of olive oil, two tablespoons of fresh lemon juice and a teaspoon of sweetener, with a little salt and pepper. Mix it all together and add any arugula and lettuce you have to decorate it or extend it. This was very tasty and colorful, and a good use of zucchini. I used some small ones I'd just picked. 

I chopped the COLLARDS in very fine strips, after rolling the washed leaves together. I steamed them until limp but still bright green. I dressed them with toasted sesame oil, balsamic vinegar and tamari. If I had wanted to make them really fancy, some toasted sesame seeds might have been nice. I didn't do that, but my son mentioned it as a future possibility. They all ate their greens tonight, some of them taking a little more than they should have. A good sign.

I made a NOODLE SALAD with some rotini. The recipe for that is in an earlier entry, though I added some chopped basil leaves to the marinade.

I made a simple KIDNEY BEAN SALAD with two cans of drained kidney beans to which I added some balsamic vinegar, olive oil, tamari, chopped vidalia onion and some vegan worcestershire sauce to taste. Possibly I added some tabasco sauce.

None of it took too long or was too complicated, and it managed to feed me and six other males, who didn't complain. Plus it used up two zucchini.