roasted red peppers » Living Lou

Summer Salad

Who doesn’t love a good salad in the summer? It’s light, cool, and requires no use of the stove. Sounds like a winner to me! With both Independence Day and Canada Day behind us, and after all the burgers, macaroni salad, potato salad and hot dogs, and then we can’t forget the pies, cupcakes and cookies, I think we all need a little salad in our lives. And I mean real salad, not the cream loaded, potato and macaroni versions we’re so fond of during these summer months.

Sometimes sharing a recipe for a salad can be kind of pointless, I mean duh, lettuce and cucumber plus oil and vinegar = obvious. But this salad, is one of my favourites. It combines simple ingredients that we all have on hand to create the ideal main course salad. There’s protein from the beans, flavor from the roasted red peppers, capers and sun dried tomatoes, and the dressing is an all around winner. And the best part about this salad, not only is it vegetarian but it’s vegan too! I know some people are afraid that vegan food is bland, but let me tell you, this salad does not skimp on the flavor. Give it a try and let me know what you think.

Summer Salad (serves 4)
Recipe by Lou

Indredients

1 roasted red pepper, chopped (see post, How to Roast a Red Pepper)
1 19 oz can bean medley, drained and washed
1 1/2 – 2 inch piece of cucumber
1 green onion, finely sliced
3 cups baby spinach
1/4 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1 tbsp capers
salt and freshly cracked pepper to taste

For the dressing:

2 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 tsp dried oregano

Directions

To make the dressing, in a small bowl, squeeze lemon. Drizzle in olive oil, whisking to combine. Whisk in the oregano.

In a large bowl, stir roasted red pepper, and bean medley together. Cover with dressing and toss to coat. Add remaining ingredients and serve. Season with salt and freshly cracked pepper.

Enjoy this salad, sometimes I like to change it up and throw a few hot pepper flakes and avocado in there as well. This summer salad is a fabulous base to let your imagination run wild.

- Lou

Roasted Red Pepper Dip

I love red peppers, especially when they’re roasted. As the colour becomes a deep, gorgeous and enticing red, the flavor becomes rich, and slightly sweet. Roasted red peppers make for great appetizers, pasta sauces and my most favourite of all – dips. For about four years now, along with hummus, roasted red pepper dip has been my absolute favourite dip. I know that a lot of people are often searching for healthy snacks, because well, I’m one of them and from one healthy-snack-searcher to another, this dip makes for a great, healthy snack, pairing well with crackers or vegetables, my favourites are celery, broccoli or sugar snap peas.

If you have roasted red peppers on hand (either the jarred variety or homemade) this dip takes a few minutes to whip up and can be eaten right away. I like to pack mine and bring it to school for lunch, or like yesterday, munch on some veggies and dip whilst I spend the majority of the afternoon vegging out in front of the TV watching All About Eve. Have you ever seen All About Eve? It’s a stellar movie that’s extremely entertaining and all I can say is that Bette Davis and Anne Baxter both give performances of a lifetime. Such a shame neither of them won an Oscar.

As for tonight, I still have some dip left so I’ll eat it while I watch the season 6 premiere of Keeping Up with the Kardashians. Also known as, the polar opposite of the cinematic beauty and genius that is All About Eve.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip (makes 1 cup)
Recipe by Lou

Ingredients
2 roasted red peppers
1 small clove garlic
1/2 cup white beans
1/4 cup sour cream
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp hot sauce (more to taste)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Pulse until ingredients are combined and dip is your desired consistency.

Well, I’m off to get some studying done. Finals are killing me.

- Lou

How To: Roast a Red Pepper

I was getting frustrated when I realized that there is a very limited number of things that I actually know how to do for my fast approaching math exam. You could say I spent 2 1/2 hours going over a practice exam, feeling confident and sure, only to be smacked with a solid 50% when I checked the answers. It was a little disheartening. OK, that’s a slight understatement, I wanted to burn all my math stuff then and there.

Since I realized that I can’t do math, I thought that I might as well do something that I know how to do. So, I roasted a couple of red peppers. Why? Because I wanted to, and thought that maybe, just maybe if I could teach people how to roast a red pepper then I’ll have good karma and suddenly I’ll understand what n is when (n-1)!/(n-3)!=20. If you think those explanation points are there because I’m excited, well, you’re pretty lucky you don’t have a data exam in less than a week. Roasted red peppers are yummy. They can be used in tons of recipes such as dips, sandwiches, appetizers, pasta sauces or soups.

How To: Roast a Red Pepper

Directions (for 2 red peppers)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut red peppers in half and place them cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until skins are slightly charred and wrinkled. (Check above picture.)

Using tongs, remove red peppers to a plastic bag. Let peppers sweat for 15-20 minutes or until cool enough to handle.

Next, remove from bag and remove skins. Skins should pinch/peel off easily. And voila, your red peppers are ready to be used. They should look like this when they’re all peeled.

I’ve got a yummy recipe coming up where you can use your newly roasted red peppers, stay tuned. Well, I’m off to read a Moliere play and re-learn how to do matrices – yay exams.

- Lou