Maybe I should explain my title choice for today’s post. So, I live in the southwest portion of the United States.  Here, we have two popular convenience stores, 7-11 and Circle K.  As previously mentioned, and actually bragged about, I am posting and scheduling my posts about 10 days to 2 weeks ahead of time. As I typed in my “scheduled” date, I noticed that today is 7-11, so whenever we (south-westerners) say “7-11”, we (or at least, I) like to follow it up with “and equal time for Circle K!”  The last thing we want to be is based – in Arizona, of all places! Yeah, right – tell that to our state legislatures! Sorry, no politics allowed here – just recipes and a bit of occasional humor or insights! Honestly – love it all!

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If you have a food processor, then this is one of the quickest and easiest dips possible. Serve it with the toasted pita wedges as I suggest or go an even easier route and serve with purchased pita chips, tortilla chips, or crudités. It’s fast, it’s yummy, and it’s pretty. What more can you ask from a dip?!

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One of my dad’s favorite salads is a 3-bean or 5-bean or… if possible, a dozen-bean salad. Personally, I find many of the multiple-bean salads out there to be bland. So I created this Three Bean and Corn Salad for my dad.

Needless to say, he loves it. Of course, it’s hard for me to make anything that my dad doesn’t like. Whenever he’s finished his meal, here is what he says, “Honey, you done good!” I have to confess, just typing that now, made me smile. I love you, Dad!

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I am always amazed at how open and accepting kids can be. Even after teaching them to cook for 15 years, they continue to surprise me. During these past four weeks of classes we’ve had Pizza Day, Bread & Sandwiches Day, Greek, Mexican, and Caribbean Days…. and for the last day of each week, Vegetarian Day. Do you know which “Day” the majority of the kids look forward to most? Yeah, veggie day! Parents, you should be proud – I know I’m mighty proud of them!

Soft lavash bread is a great vehicle to use for vegetarian dishes. You can find a six-pack of it at Trader Joe’s. And just as with yesterday’s recipe, you need to be sure to seed the tomatoes and then drain them to prevent this thin crust from becoming soggy.

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Before I begin telling you more than you may ever want to know about tomatoes, their seeds, “seeding” them, and tomato water… I have much more intriguing and interesting information to pass along. I added a new name to the Blogroll over there on the right. It is called “Linger” and is listed under the “Super Non-Cooking Stuff” category, directly below “Larry Fitzgerald”.  Which actually is appropriate. Since I met and began teaching Larry to cook, more than five years ago, I sometimes consider him to be just like a 3rd kid. And “Linger” is the new blog of one of my actual kids – Marissa, my gorgeous and talented daughter. (BTW, moms are totally permitted to brag and say things like that – especially when it is true!) Marissa recently graduated from the University of Arizona with a degree in Journalism and a creative writing minor… so it is natural for her to have a blog – she’s a writer!  Please check her out when you have a second, she just got the site up about a week ago and it’s already looking great!

Now on to the task at hand… tomatoes…

You may think that the reason recipes call for tomatoes to be seeded is to… well, remove the seeds. While the seeds may bother some people, the real benefit of seeding tomatoes is to get rid of the water liquid/juice found along with the seeds in the tomato’s interior chambers. Excess liquid makes some dishes soggy, such as salsas and pizzas, and other dishes gummy, such as pasta salads, especially if they sit for a while before being served.

You can choose to either discard the seeds and liquids after seeding the tomatoes, or you may want to save the juices and use them in a chilled soup or even a cocktail. Click here for an article from Bon Appetit about doing just that.

To seed a tomato; cut the tomato in half around its equator. If saving the juice, place a sieve or strainer over a bowl. If discarding the seeds and juice don’t bother to use the strainer. Grasp a tomato half in one hand and gently squeeze it over the strainer/bowl to remove the seeds and the juices. Then slice or dice as directed in the recipe.

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A few days back, my teen students had their graduation lunch and chose quiche as one of their buffet menu items. Since our time to cook on graduation day is a bit more limited, I made the crust dough ahead and refrigerated it so that when the kids arrived they could roll out and blind bake them immediately. They then proceeded with the recipe, making the filling, baking the filled quiche, and then going back to the beginning to make the crust dough, so they had the experience of actually making the recipe in its entirety. So what’s the point of me telling you all that back-story? The point is, I then had two disks of dough in my refrigerator – hence my utter brilliance in making these lovely wild mushroom tarts for Father’s Day to go with our Steak au Poivre.

You will notice from the photos that I decided to make three rectangular tarts, while the recipe instructs to make a 9-inch round tart. That is because I had two sets of dough and I also knew that with my limited freezer space – two long ones would fit much better than a big old round one.  I have to say, in general, I really do like the rectangle pans better than the round.  You never have to worry about the center of the crust becoming soggy and they are easier to cut and serve. So if you enjoy making sweet and/or savory tarts, you might consider investing in this great size and shape too.

Now, as for the wild mushrooms, use whatever type you like. Costco sells a large container of wild mushroom mix and also a large bag (as you’ll see pictured here) of dried shiitake mushrooms. And just about all grocery stores sell small packages in either their produce or gourmet sections, as does Trader Joe’s.  That reminds me, when do you suppose Costco and Trader Joe’s are going to start paying me for all the free advertising I give them here?!? Wishful thinking… love ’em both anyhow!

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One of my many favorite things from Costco is their large bag of sugar snap peas. It’s nearly impossible for me to walk through the cold produce room without snagging a bag!  And it is really c-o-l-d in that room. I see people shivering and little kids in shopping carts whining to their parents about it.  I linger, take my time and try to soak it up! I’m the same way at shopping malls and movie theaters. Other people (including my dear daughter, Marissa) endlessly complain and even plan ahead and bring along sweaters to warm their little bones. It’s 110 degrees outside and they are carrying a sweater! And they say I’m the crazy one, go figure.  But I digress – in that sweet produce room, I get my bag of sugar snap peas (and it’s a really big bag!) come home and either eat them raw and straight from the bag as a snack or cook them up into an “easy-breezy” worthy dish such as this.

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One important lesson quickly learned by the summer students these past few weeks… it takes a bit more effort to not only eat healthily but also to cook healthy. That may seem obvious to most adults… cruise through the drive-thru window vs. grilling a burger yourself – obvious. But how about throwing fat and juicy T-bone on the grill vs. grilling vegetables? A bit more effort with the vegetables, but effort well worth it, not only for the fabulous color and flavors – but also for your heart and soul!

Feel free to tweet and add to this recipe all you want. I would have included zucchini, eggplant, tomatoes, etc., but those were already on the menu of the day in a variety of other vegetarian dishes. So scour the farmer’s market or pluck from your own garden and heat up the grill – enjoy!

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Each Thursday this summer during kids’ classes, the menu is vegetarian. It’s a healthy note to end each series of classes. And by Thursday, all the students are well versed in slicing and dicing. The past two weeks it was also a nice and colorful note because on Wednesday the theme was ‘breads and sandwiches”.  Talk about a monotone plate – all white, beige, and brown – didn’t turn out to be as eye-appealing as one might wish for. This pretty “confetti” speckled side dish would help brighten up any old dull sandwich plate.

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