buffalo cucumber salad :: by radish*rose

buffalo cucumber salad

Ready to wake up your taste buds? Try this as a healthy appetizer at your next pre-game party. This four-ingredient winner features crisp, fresh cucumbers topped by spicy buffalo sauce, sliced green onions, and blue cheese. The recipe is inspired by a restaurant in my office building called Parm, which features classic Italian-American fare for the most part, but there was something on the appetizer list that caught my eye: Buffalo Cucumbers. Wait, what? I had to try it. I wasn’t sure if it would be a weird fried cucumber type of thing, but no, it turned out to be a fresh and spicy little salad! Continue reading

beet, walnut, and blue cheese kale salad :: by radish*rose

beet, walnut, and blue cheese kale salad

Beets are just about the pinkest of pink foods. I mean, that deep, deep pink magenta color is just gorgeous. Anyone who knows me personally knows I’m crazy about PINK! The pinkness of beets is just so vibrant, it makes me happy.

However… have you ever noticed that when you buy a bunch of beets, they are all different sizes, which is annoying because they cook at different rates? Like one tiny one and two huge ones. That’s what I got in my CSA box, but I like a vegetable challenge, so never fear, we have the technology. (Steam!)

I’d only roasted beets (which takes about an hour and half) and never steamed them before but I’m quite delighted with this new technique. The skins come right off after, and you can remove the little ones when they’re done and keep going with the others. (Harder to do with roasting. Maybe it’s all that foil.)

Of course you can use any crumbly or grated cheese you like for this, or eliminate it altogether. I like blue cheese because it stands up to the earthiness of the beets. Restaurants often use goat cheese which is also nicely assertive. But you be you. Whatever you like. Continue reading