Grilled Watermelon with Feta and Mint

 Happy Fourth of July!

... Yeah I know it's a little late, but not too late to post this delicious grilled watermelon salad recipe. This is something I've been wanting to make literally for years, and the 4th was a perfect opportunity. It's simple, elegant, refreshing, and flavorful. Really everything I could want in a dish.

My mom had a nice get together at her place pool-side for the holiday, and I was put in charge (de facto) for the food. The menu:

Home-made Black Bean Burgers
Hawaiian Macaroni Salad
Grilled Watermelon Salad (recipe below)
Grilled Corn (shuck corn but keep husk on; re-husk and grill for 15 minutes, turning several times)
Veggie Kabobs (skewer pearl onions, green pepper, mushrooms, red onion, and zucchini, drizzle with balsamic, evoo, and rosemary; grill for 6-8 mins, turning half way through)
Boulevard's KC Pils (great take on an American Style Lager)

If I were to title this menu, I would call it Vegetarian Summer Delight.

Grilled Watermelon with Feta and Mint
adapted from Souvlaki for the Soul

Ingredients:
6 slices of watermelon, 2" thick, rind removed
2 Tbs oil
1/4 cup feta, crumbled
2 Tbs mint, chiffonade
1 Tbs sherry vinegar

Instructions:
1. Start up the grill.
2. Lightly brush watermelon sides with olive oil, then put on the grill. Grill each side for 2-3 minutes, until char marks appear, then flip and grill for 2-3 minutes again.
3. Take watermelon off grill and spread across a plate. Drizzle with vinegar, then sprinkle goat cheese and mint across the top.

Roasted Vegetable and Feta Cous Cous

Taken in real sunlight! Something I so rarely see. It came out amazing! Even though I had to put my nice warm bowl of food out onto the cold window ledge, and had to time my picture so as not to get a car in the background. I was inspired to do this because it was late-afternoon and the sun was shining in rays into the kitchen, and my bowl caught the light and I though oh! maybe I should try this 'natural light' people keep talking so much about, instead of keeping my food away from the day-star.



Well, here it is! Roasted Vegetable cous-cous. Definitely worth making, and I think it would be fine using the juice of a whole lemon if you wish.

Roasted Vegetable and Feta Cous Cous
from life tastes like food

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked cous cous
1 cup cherry tomatoes (if using grape, cut in half before baking)
1 zucchini, chopped to the same size as the tomatoes
1 onion, chopped
olive oil to coat vegetables
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 Tbs. dried basil
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375 F (190C).
2. Place all vegetables on baking sheet with a lip, and drizzle a little bit of olive oil on top, the mix to evenly coat.
3. Spread vegetables out evenly on pan, and bake for 1 hour (if you don't have a large enough oven, and there are layers of vegetables, bake for 1:30-2 hours, stirring every 30 mins. 2 hours makes the vegetables really caramelized and delicious)
4. Combine cous cous, salt, pepper, and basil in a bowl. Then add 1 1/4 cups boiling water, and cover bowl for 5 minutes. After, fluff cous cous with a fork, and combine with vegetables, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of the feta.

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce and Feta

Baked Eggs with Tomato Sauce and Feta
adapted from Chocolate Shavings

Ingredients:
1 egg
2 Tbs. prepared tomato sauce (recipe here)
2 tsp. creme fraiche
1 Tbs. crumbled feta
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 375F (190C).
2. Crack egg into ramekin, put tomato sauce over, then the creme fraiche, then the feta. Add salt and pepper to taste on top.
3. Cook for 15-20 mintues (I prefer 20 minutes)

Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cake

Super delicious! Can be made as an appetizer in a little mini-muffin pan. This is also really flexible, so you can substitute pretty much anything for the sun-dried tomatoes and feta that you have on hand, like olives and diced seitan.


Sun-dried Tomato and Feta Cake

Ingredients:
3 eggs
4 oz. (12.5 cl) milk
3 oz. (10 cl) olive oil
150 g. flour
100 g shredded Gruyère
salt and pepper to taste
10 sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in oil (diced)
100 g. feta (crumbled)

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F (180 C).
2. Whisk the milk, olive oil, and eggs, then whisk in the flour, salt, and pepper.
3. Stir in the sun-dried tomatoes and feta.
4. Pour into a pie pan (or other oven-safe dish) and cook for 40 minutes.

Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip

Sun Dried Tomato and Artichoke Dip
from Foodie with Family

Ingredients:
9 oz. artichoke hearts
1/2 cup feta, crumbled
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lemon, juice and zest
2 tsp. water
1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
1/2 cup basil leaves, torn
ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Combine all ingredients in food processor, and pulse until even but still slightly chunky consistency.
Serve: with pita chips or crostini

Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers

I bought some yogurt, but Hy-vee ran out of the wholesale granola I like! So, it's been sitting in my fridge for a while. I decided to go out and find some awesome recipes to use it on, and this one looked easy and delicious: Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers (vegetarian) with yogurt sauce.






Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers
recipe from Craving Greens

Ingredients:
2 peppers (as large as possible, try to get flat bottomed ones)
1 cup feta cheese
2 eggs
pepper to taste
1 cup yogurt (I used Brown Cow cream-top plain yogurt)
drizzle of olive oil
salt to taste
handful of parsley

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375 F. Oil oven dish with a lid that your peppers can fit under (alternatively, any oven pan with a tall sides that you can cover with foil)
2. Take out the stem of the pepper, making sure to keep it intact. Remove white innards and seeds as much as possible (a spoon and washing it out help with these tasks, respectively). Then place into the oiled dish so the stem-hole is on the top.
3. Mix together the feta, eggs, and black pepper, and divide evenly into the peppers. Make more feta-egg mixture if needed.
4. Place lid on dish, and bake for 1 hour with lid on, then for another 15-20 minutes without the lid.
5. While peppers are cooking, combine yogurt, olive oil, salt, and parsley to make your yogurt sauce.
6. When finished cooking, remove dish from oven, take a pepper, cut in half, and drizzle yogurt sauce over to taste.

Farro and Roasted Acorn Squash

This recipe came on the bag of Farro I have. Every time I take out something from the cupboard, the recipe just stares at me. I finally decided to take action.





Farro and Roasted Acorn Squash
Modified slightly from recipe on back of Eartly Delights Italian Pearled Farro bag

Ingredients:
1 cup farro
1 t. salt
2 1/2 cups water
2 vegetable bullion cubes
1 acorn squash, peeled and diced into 1/2" cubes (okay if larger, just adjust cooking time)
1 white onion, cut into 1/8ths
1 1/2 T thyme
1 1/2 T olive oil
1/2 T balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup walnuts
1/8 cup goat cheese

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 350F.
2. In sauce pan, combine farro, salt, water, and bullion cubes, cover, and simmer over medium heat for 20 mins.Toss squash
3. combine squash and onion on a rimmed baking pan. Combine olive oil, balsamic, and thyme in a small bowl, mix, and then pour over squash and onions. Give them a good stir, then roast for 20 mins in oven (adjust time if your squash is cut into large chunks, or if you just like more roasted veggies)
4. During the last 5 mins of baking, spread walnuts on a baking sheet, and place in oven to roast them.
5. Combine farro and squash mix in a bowl, and garnish with feta and walnuts.