Author Archives for simplifiedbystacie

Sooo does anyone else have cucumbers in mass quantity? My mini garden has max cucumber output and it seems my neighbor’s and family’s gardens have the same delicious problem. I love raw cucumbers dipped in some low sodium soy sauce or homemade ranch. I love the good ‘ol fashioned cucumber salad with the sour cream and dill base. I love cucumber slices on my lunchmeat sandwiches and on top of my side salads. I don’t love having gone through all those options multiple times and still having cucumbers staring at me just begging me to come up with new ideas to enjoy them.

That cucumber guilt, my friends, is what leads me to try new recipes such as this Thai Crunch Salad. You still use up some excess cucumber but you transform the flavor by surrounding it with some unexpected Thai influences like the shelled edamame and the peanut butter/soy sauce/ginger dressing. And, oh, how sweet the transformation is!!! Not too sweet, not spicy, just crunchy and fresh 🙂 Please don’t shy away from trying this recipe based on the number of ingredients, just meal plan accordingly so you can use the extras throughout the rest of your week. Edamame and peppers = stir fry! Cilantro and cabbage=fish tacos with southwest slaw! Peanut butter=no meal planning needed, I expect/hope that you are purchasing your peanut butter in bulk by now because you’re addicted to making and enjoying Simply the BEST: Mom’s Legendary Monster Cookies! 😉

Honestly for all the ingredients listed, this recipe is not much work. Dump bags of coleslaw and broccoli slaw into a bowl with some rough chopped cucumbers and peppers (appearance isn’t everything, tastes is what counts!). And you can buy the edamame already out of shell to steam in the microwave and dump in too. Disclaimer: it’s apparently quite confusing when you put ‘shelled edamame’ on the grocery list and send you husband to the store. Said husband may or may not come back with multiple varieties of questionable veggie steamers and fresh veggies and a scowl on his face… oops! There is a definite learning curve to grocery store shopping when you start experimenting with new recipes.

Thankfully, my husband (almost always) ends up finding the right ingredient or something close enough that I can make do (see picture below of edamame in the pods rather than shelled which resulted in me popping each one out and them scattering across the kitchen counter and floor). And, even more amazing, my faithful hubby usually always humors me by trying the new ingredients and I get the pleasure of his incredibly blunt opinions on them. Example: his first impression of edamame resulted in him declaring them as weird furry little bean pods 😀 Side story, my parents accidentally purchased edamame instead of green beans one time and my daughter insisted on them making them when we came to their house because she is borderline obsessed with edamame. My dad diplomatically explained to my daughter that it’s fine if she loves this but that he likes green beans way better. I find it so funny that this is a vegetable I’d never had until I was an adult yet my daughter has loved it since early childhood – oh how times and trends change!!!

To recap: if you are looking for ways to use excess cucumbers, looking to try a new ingredient such as edamame or new recipe, loving peanut butter and wishing you could enjoy it in salad form, or just intrigued by the pictures please give this recipe a try!

What do you do when your sister makes this strange salad/dip thing with a strange name you had never heard of? You say that sounds…interesting and slowly step away from the counter so someone else tries it first. What about when she says she got the recipe from her best friend who you’ve never eaten with and don’t know all that well? You nudge the nearest person in front of you saying they should try it while I go grab us drinks! What if that same sister says that “this will sound crazy but my friend swears this super healthy and fresh summer recipe is the best served with Doritos”? You stop hiding behind the fridge door holding the drinks and remind yourself that she wouldn’t have bothered making it and making seemingly outrageous claims like that if she hadn’t tried and loved it herself…or that’s what you hope as you silently grab a Dorito and take a tentative first bite of this stuff called tabbouleh. Then you try to ignore your sister’s gloating face because you haven’t swallowed the first bite before you’re already reaching for a handful of chips and a bowl to serve yourself a large scoop of it.

Welcome to my life. About a year ago. I could care less that I questioned it at first. Fast forward and I made this to bring to a family get together this weekend because my little garden had mint, cucumbers, and grape tomatoes in abundance and I figured we could use something that resembled “healthy-ish” on the menu. Yes, I realize Doritos aren’t healthy but, trust me, compared to the rest of the deliciously decadent menu, this dish practically had a halo hovering over it!

Anywho…back to this weekend. One of my brother-in-laws hadn’t had this before. He noticed all of us digging into the party size bag of Doritos and dipping into the large bowl of tabbouleh and joined in. After a few bites he declared that it was so good it didn’t even need the chips, he could eat it just as-is with a spoon! We laughed and said that it is actually intended to be a salad and enjoyed without chips but it was introduced to us as a dip so that’s what it became for all of us. Moral of the story, whether you enjoy it on its own as a salad or choose to join our crazy path of dipping with Doritos, this quinoa tabbouleh is just plain light, refreshing, and delicious!

It’s a great use of garden fresh veggies and herbs plus it is versatile. Add more of whatever ingredients you like best or tweak the simple dressing to your liking. You can add in some grilled chicken to make it a meal or double it to bring as a salad to your next party! However you make it, I hope you enjoy it 🙂