How to Keep Your Car Seats Looking Great

It's approximately 147ºF here in LA.  All I'm craving is sangria and cold, hearty salads.

I was going to do an orzo salad, but realized I didn't have any orzo and couldn't imagine getting back in the car.  Let's just work with what we have so I don't leave crotch-sweat stains on the upholstery of my car.

OK, let's do this:

Mediterranean Quinoa Salad
makes about 5 cups
total time 20 min

1 cup quinoa, rinsed thoroughly
1 3/4 c water
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for the dressing:
3 T olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 cloves garlic (I used Gerraro's Marinated Greek Garlic)
1/2 small red onion, diced small
salt & pepper, to taste
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2 handfuls fresh parsley, chopped roughly
1 handful fresh oregano, chopped roughly 
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup artichoke hearts
1/2 cup roasted bell pepper, chopped
1/2 cup black olives, pitted & chopped
1/2 cup feta, crumbled (optional)

Boil the water, add quinoa, reduce heat and simmer about 10 min.  Once it's done, place it in a bowl and put it in the freezer while you prep the other stuff.  Stir it a couple times in the freezer to help it cool faster.

Combine the dressing ingredients (you can just do this in the same bowl you're serving it in).  Add the cooled quinoa and stir in the remaining ingredients.

Food For Thought

It's simply magical the way Nature's diuretic, the grapefruit, is in season during my peak wine-consuming season.  Coincidence or the Magic of the Holiday Season balancing everything out?

I've been finding some really great Oro Blanco grapefruits at the farmers' markets lately.  They're sweeter than regular grapefruit, and a whole lot prettier.  If you can find pomelos, even better.

Pour yourself a glass of sauv blanc and giddy-up!

OK, let's do this:

Grapefruit and Avocado Salad
serves 2
total time 10 min

1/2 T olive oil
1/2 T red wine vinegar
1/2 T shallot, minced really small
salt & pepper, to taste

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2 large grapefruit, supremed (look at you using your new skills!)
1/2 large avocado peeled, sliced

Combine the first group of ingredients and toss over the grapefruit and avocado.

Arrange artfully on a plate using a slotted spoon so it's not swimming in dressing and grapefruit juice.  Top with chopped cilantro or parsley.

Eat it and cancel out last night's wine.

"Oooh! I LOVE arugula!"

Arugula is awesome, but people treat it as if it's impossible to find or something.  People always gush over it.  That's because people are dumb.  You can use this to your advantage.

How to impress people in 3 easy steps:

1) Buy some arugula
2) Toss it with dressing
3) Put it on a plate

With quiche I like to add a little arugula salad.  Partly because it looks awesome and partly because I like to try to balance eating pie crust first thing in the morning.

Here's how to make a kick ass dressing in less than 1 minute.


OK, let's do this:

Kick Ass Dijon Dressing
makes 6 servings
total time: 1 min

3 T Dijon mustard
2 T Mayo
1 or 2 T olive oil, you can choose the consistency.  I'll let you.
1 T capers if you have them
salt and pepper to taste

Stir all ingredients together and toss over the arugula.  Save the extra in a little jar for a week or so.

Bonus: Put it on things like asparagus and broccolini and call it an "aioli," and pretend you're fancy!