summer salads, part three: spinach and bacon salad with grilled peaches and homemade bleu cheese dressing

Bacon lovers, unite! Here's a salad that anyone will like (unless you're a bacon hater ... but I don't believe in those people). Salty from the bacon, sweet from the peaches, spicy from the red onion, creamy and tangy from the dressing - your whole mouth will be happy. And so will your belly.

The other neat part? Spinach is a true super food. It has twice the amount of iron as other leafy greens and it's a really great source of fiber, folate and a myriad of Vitamins, like A and K. But its superpowers really get amped up by the Vitamin C in the peaches which help the otherwise poorly absorbed iron absorb. And the fat in the bacon helps your body take in the vitamins.

Yep, you have the green light to eat bacon. And all is right with the world again ...

Spinach and Bacon Salad with Grilled Peaches and Homemade Bleu-Cheese Dressing

Ingredients

For the salad:

• 1/2 cup pecans
• 4 ripe peaches, pitted and quartered
• 2 tablespoons vegetable or olive oil
• 1/2 pound hickory-smoked bacon, roughly chopped
• 8 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced

For the dressing:

• 1/2 cup (4 ounces) crumbled Danish blue cheese
• 1/4 cup buttermilk
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/4 teaspoon sugar
• Salt and freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until golden and fragrant, 6 minutes; roughly chop.
2. Preheat a grill to medium-high heat on one side and medium heat on the other. Lightly brush the peaches with oil and grill over medium until nicely marked, about 4 minutes per side. Meanwhile, place a flat cast-iron skillet on the grill over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp; transfer to a paper-towel-lined plate.
3. Combine the spinach, red onion, grilled peaches, pecans and bacon in a large bowl.
4. Make the dressing: Mash the blue cheese with a fork in a bowl. Mix in the buttermilk, sour cream, sugar, and salt and pepper to taste. Toss with the salad just before serving.

Also check out: 

• Summer salads, part one: smoked turkey salad with cranberries and bleu cheese
• Summer salads, part two: grilled shrimp salads with basil-garlic dressing
• Summer salads, part four: loaded lentil salad with feta, walnuts and raspberry vinaigrette
• Summer salads, part five: thai chicken salad with peanut dressing
• Thai ginger-honey beef salad

strawberry buttermilk pancakes

The minute I opened my eyes this morning, I knew what I wanted. I must have been dreaming about ways to use up the pint of strawberries and jug of buttermilk that have been taunting me all week long from the fridge. Bingo - it all came together in my dreams.

I'd clipped this recipe a while back and pulled it from my recipe "Bible" (the fond name I gave to the bulging recipe binder where I store all my "to make" meals) and set out to make it. The hubs claimed that they tasted like a doughnut when he topped them with maple syrup. While I didn't taste that exactly, I did taste a light and fluffy, delicious pancake. I think it's safe to say these made Sunday proud.

Strawberry Buttermilk Pancakes
Modified from Cooking Light
Serves 4

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 pint of strawberries, hulled and quartered
• 1 1/2 cups low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg white 
• Canola oil in a spritzer (or cooking spray)
• Maple syrup
• Butter, if you like it, but I didn't think these needed any!

1. In a large bowl, stir together the first six ingredients (flours through the salt). Add the strawberries and toss gently to coat with the flour mixture. In a smaller bowl, stir together the next four (buttermilk through the eggs). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and gently stir to combine.
2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and spritz with canola oil. When the oil and pan are hot, drop 1/4 cup sized piles of batter into the pan. Flip when sufficiently browned and press down to flatten the pancake. Serve when both sides are toasty brown and top with syrup.

whole-grain banana-coconut muffins that even coconut haters love

One recent holiday, my in-laws were in town for a few days. I always like to cook for family that stays with us, and this was no exception. On Saturday morning, I had three ripe bananas just dying to be baked into something. Remembering this recipe that I clipped from the newspaper (of all places!), I whipped them up in no time. Before even realizing that they had coconut in them, my father-in-law took down three of them.

My brother-in-law and said father-in-law share the coconut-hating gene (the BIL calls toasted coconut "bones," because their crunchiness catches in the back of his throat like it would if you swallowed a bone, haha). Despite that fact, they both like these muffins. And you will, too. They make a great breakfast, and they freeze well. No muss, no fuss (whatever that means) and no waste. And wholesome to boot. Enjoy.


Banana-Coconut Muffins

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c flour (I use 1/2 whole-wheat pastry flour)
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 c coconut flakes
• 1 1/3 c mashed banana (~4 medium)
• 1/4 c buttermilk (or milk)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 c canola oil
• 3/4 c light brown sugar
• 1 egg

1. Heat oven to 350. Line the muffin tin with papers (or grease it).
2. In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Mix in coconut.* In another bowl, mix mashed bananas with vanilla and buttermilk.
3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the oil and sugars for two minutes. Add the egg. When incorporated, add the flour mixture in three parts, alternating with the banana mixture in two parts, until just combined.
4. Fill 12 muffin cups evenly. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

*Note: by mixing baking ingredients like coconut or fruit into the flour mixture you keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter during the baking process.