Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – Susie Cuke Dressing

Susie Cuke Dressing from page 173

If you are like me, you will have everything on hand to try this dressing. I found the idea of using cucumber in a salad dressing a little odd, but figured how bad could it be? I put cucumber on my salad and then add another dressing, so, why not?

This clung to the salad leaves pretty well, which is important in a salad dressing. It was a very nice consistency. Sort of in between a creamy, fat filled dressing and a vinaigrette. It was light, but had a nice texture and a good mouth feel, which I think is important in a salad dressing. Let’s face it, plain lemon or vinegar is tasty on a salad, but it leaves something to be desired in how it feels in your mouth. This dressing takes care of that.

It gets body from the hummus and the cucumber, a tangy bite from the lemon juice, balsamic and rice vinegars, and a little spiciness from the garlic, mustard, and black pepper.

The recipe does not call for any salt. I used to add a little bit to salad dressings, but I’ve gotten over that. I do not add any salt to anything I make. If I really feel it needs it, I add a tiny bit at the table.

There was really not much prep to this. I already had hummus made, so making this salad dressing was really all about throwing everything in the Vitamix and blending. Voila! Nice, creamy salad dressing in less than 5 minutes.

The recipe says that it makes two cups, and that is just about how much I got.

I really liked this salad dressing, and I like the idea of getting another veggie. I also like the idea of not using nuts to add creaminess to a dressing. Honestly, if you are following an oil free diet and missing creamy type dressings, give this a try.

NOTES:

• Add more lemon for more tang.
• The recipe calls for white balsamic.  I just used regular balsamic.  The color is still light.
• So easy, no excuse not to make salad dressing.
• The recipe says to use a food processor, but a blender makes for a smoother dressing.
• I bet zucchini can be subbed out for the cucumber.
• This would make a nice dressing for potato or pasta salad.

Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – Smoky Little Devils

Smoky Little Devils from page 132

I cannot say enough good things about this simple recipe.

You can find the recipe here: Smoky Little Devils

I found nice, small red potatoes that were perfect for these. They did have a bag of little, uniform red and yellow potatoes, but they were very expensive.

I already had the hummus made, so I just nuke the taters and cooked them off. In hindsight, I should have steamed the potatoes earlier and cooled them in the refrigerator. But we decided last minute to have these and well…I did what I needed to do.

I did this as simply as I could since we were hungry. I did not add the optional kale nor the scallions to the top. I did put a pinch of smoked paprika on top and it pulled it all together visually. They actually looked pretty good.

Well, they can look nice and all…but it’s the taste that matters, right? We thought these little gems were the bomb. Creamy from both the red potato and the hummus. A taste explosion from the scallion hummus…which has become my new favorite.

The only thing that both Chris and I noted was that, since there was no salt in the hummus, we were looking for a little bit because of the potato being such a blank canvas. We did end up adding a little sprinkle, but we both agreed that adding a touch of good quality sea salt or Himalayan salt to the potato before adding the hummus would work out better. I would prefer to add a tiny sprinkle to the food instead of adding it to the hummus. By itself, the hummus did not need the salt.

This dish is definitely company worthy. It is not one of those things that people will be apprehensive to try because it’s vegan. It is potatoes and hummus. Everyone is familiar with those two food items. Nothing weird here. Just good food.

If I were to make this for company, or a bbq, or something, I would splurge on the uniform potatoes, I would steam the potatoes and I would use a piping bag with a star decorating tip to add the hummus.

Overall, a keeper of a recipe that can be pulled together at a moment’s notice if you keep the cooked ingredients at the ready.

NOTES:

• Make the hummus and the potatoes ahead of time and cool in the fridge.
• I bet adding the scooped out potato to the hummus would be good.
• I didn’t top the devils with scallion since there was already plenty in the hummus.
• Add a touch of salt to the potato before adding the hummus.
• Next time, I will try adding the kale.

Cooking Through “The Prevent & Reverse Heart Disease Cookbook” – The Ultimate: Lemon and Kale Open-Faced Sandwich

The Ultimate: Lemon and Kale Open-Faced Sandwich from page 62

Boy that was a mouthful! This is another open-face sandwich (there are a few of them in the cookbook).

This particular one calls for Mestemacher or Feldkamp bread. I did find this at Fairway near the rice cakes. It actually looks like a brick and is quite hefty for bread. I really, really liked it. If you are used to eating Ezekiel bread, you will like this one. Try to find it if you can. If you are used to regular old white or wheat bread, this may be a little too much for you.

This is pretty much the recipe here – Kale, Lemon and Cilantro Sandwich

The hummus that I already had prepared was the green onion hummus here.

The sandwich, being open-faced, was a little on the messy side to eat. This mean…not for company, kids.  Eat this one alone or with your loved one.  Definitely not with someone that you are looking to impress.

First bite, I really wasn’t sure about it yet. The bread was tasty, the hummus was creamy and perfect, and we all know how much I love kale…oh, but that lemon slice! Wowzers! That was a little too much for my taste buds to handle. I had to take the lemon slice off to finish the rest of the sandwich. Lesson learned! No more lemon slices for me!

If you do try the lemon slices, try a piece on a small section of the sandwich instead of making a mess like I did to decompose the sandwich and remove the lemon.

NOTES:

• The lemon slices were way too strong. Better off using just the lemon juice and maybe a little zest. The pith was too, too bitter.
• The recipe has tomato in the ingredients as optional…I did not use.
• Would be great with two slices of rye bread and grilled on the Panini press.
• The recipe called for cilantro or parsley.  Guess which one I used (hint: I hate cilantro).