Green beans and halibut in Thai red curry sauce

Approx. 345 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 1 serving.

I craved Thai food, so this quick dish of halibut, green beans, and Thai red curry paste really hit the spot.

Ingredients

• 4 oz. halibut
• 1 2/3 cups green beans
• 2/3 cup yellow onion
• 1/8 cup green onion
• 2 Tbs cilantro
• 1 tsp Thai red curry paste
• 2 Tbs coconut milk
• 1 cup water

Directions

1. Chop onions and snap green beans into short sections.
2. Add water to a large skillet and bring to a boil.
3. Add curry paste and mix well.
4. Add green beans and yellow onions; cook until almost tender and much of the water has evaporated off.
5. Add halibut and coconut milk.
6. Cover and cook approx. 4 minutes (or until fish is done).
7. Garnish with green onion and cilantro.

Fennel, squash, and garlic scrapes

Approx. 115 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

I bought some garlic scrapes at the farmer's market and decided to make this side dish that has some earthy wintery flavors combined with fresh springy flavors. It was quite tasty served with a nice piece of salmon.

Here is a picture of the garlic scrapes. They are the curly tops of the young garlic plants, and are a little bit tougher than green onions, but chock full of garlic flavored deliciousness!

Ingredients

• 1 medium fennel bulb (approx. 2 1/2 cups)
• 2 cups zucchini
• 2 cups summer squash
• 2 cups mushrooms
• 3 long garlic scrapes (approx. 1/4 cup)
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
• 2 Tbs worcestershire sauce (I used low sodium)

Directions

1. Slice and chop all vegetables and garlic scrapes.
2. Add water to a skillet and bring to a boil.
3. Add pepper flakes, garlic scrapes, and fennel; cook until almost tender.
4. Add mushrooms, zucchini, and and summer squash.
5. Cook until everything is tender, but not mushy.
6. Add worcestershire sauce and mix well.
7. Serve as a main dish or as a side.

**I almost tagged this as vegetarian, but then I remembered that worcestershire sauce contains anchovies. You could use balsamic vinegar instead of worcestershire sauce if you wanted to make this vegetarian.

Melange of veggies

Approx. 130 Calories per serving. Recipe makes 2 servings.

Because I hate washing the big pot, I decided to steam the last 3 artichokes of the season at the same time. I knew I wouldn't be able to eat all 3 at once, so I made a strategic decision. I decided that I would scrape the leaves from all three and then leave the hearts for a future recipe. This recipe incorporates the leftover hearts, along with tomatoes, bell peppers, zucchini, summer squash, and an assortment of herbs. It tasted great served alongside grilled chicken.

Ingredients

• 3 artichoke hearts (already steamed; you could also use canned - about 1 cup)
• 1 medium tomato (approx. 1 cup)
• 1 cup summer squash
• 2 cups zucchini
• 1 cup bell pepper (I used a mix of red and yellow)
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 tsp olive oil
• red pepper flakes, to taste

Directions

1. Chop all of the vegetables.
2. Heat oil and add grated garlic and red pepper flakes.
3. Add bell pepper and cook until almost tender.
4. Add zucchini and summer squash, and cook until just tender.
5. Add tomatoes and artichoke hearts.
6. Cook until warm and tomatoes start to soften.
7. Serve as a side dish.

Market Haul

This morning at the Downtown Phoenix Public Market there was evidence that the seasons have changed. Most of the winter fruits and veggies were gone, and there were signs of the summer veggies (peppers, summer squash, etc.) starting to arrive. This made me very happy, since I was running out of creative ways to cook the winter veggies, and was making some of my favorite dishes over and over again.

This morning was the last week for artichokes (so I bought 3), and probably grapefruit (I bought 3 of those too). I bought a bag of peaches, but I don't think they will even last through the weekend (I ate two while just taking the pictures!!) I also picked up 1 bunch of golden beets, 1 bunch of mixed colored beets, red vine and heirloom cherry tomatoes, 2 red and 1 gold bell pepper, broccoli, 2 summer squash, a zucchini, 4 cucumbers, green beans, lettuce, a red onion, a yellow onion, a shallot, a bag of Nasturtium and sweet pea flowers, a leek, and a bulb of fennel. And the fish guy made sure to bring a small piece of halibut, just for me. Yeah! :-)