Side Dish – Page 4

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

July 21, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

Last week when I shared a recipe for tzatziki, I promised it would soon be followed with this cucumber and tomato salad recipe. One of my favorite meals includes naan, tzatziki, one of a few variations of spicy chicken (like this recipe), and this tomato and cucumber salad.

I prefer tearing off a piece of naan and scooping up all the flavors into one big bite. Somehow it’s more satisfying than using a fork. It almost feels like finger painting – you remember the one day in kindergarten when you were allowed to make a mess, it was okay to have your hands completely covered in paint, the colors oozing between your fingers as you balled up your little fist, trying to make that squelchy noise we all took so much joy in.

That’s what this meal is to me. It’s getting familiar with your food, being okay with the tomato and cucumber bits that fall off the naan, back onto your plate. Or sometimes they miss your plate and tumble onto the floor where the dog happily cleans up your mess. You may end up with tomato juice running through your fingers and down your arm, but it won’t matter. What matters is that you’re enjoying good food with the people you love. And the people you love don’t care if you make a mess and have red wine vinegar dribbling down your chin.

Let’s all get out the finger paint and make a mess, shall we?

Cucumber and Tomato Salad

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Ingredients

1 cucumber peeled, seeded, and diced
3-4 medium tomatoes diced (I prefer to remove the seeds as well)
1/4 c red onion finely chopped
1.5 Tbs red wine vinegar
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Feta mint, and kalamata olives for serving (optional)

Instructions

Whisk together red wine vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil, honey, salt and pepper.
Combine with the rest of the ingredients and place in fridge till ready to serve.
(Optional) Top with feta, mint, and kalamata olives right before serving.

Tzatziki. And the benefit of personality tests.

July 18, 2014 by Asharae 2 Comments

Tim and I are always intrigued by (ahem, obsessed with) our Myers-Briggs test results. We were RAs in college together when we first took the test to understand ourselves better and learn how our individual personalities would best thrive in leading a floor of college students. Since then we’ve seen our results only shift slightly, depending on our circumstances, jobs or lack thereof, and general season of life we happen to be in at the time. Tim and I come back to our results over and over because they help us better understand the way we each think and operate. Our results provide a framework for us to talk about our marriage, our business, our families, and how we interact with and understand each of these things. I’m INFP and Tim is ESFJ, if you really want to know.

Last year a good friend of ours recommended the Strengths Finder test – he even bought two books for us so Tim and I could each take the test! I gave mine away to my brother as he was in the midst of job searching and applying to grad schools at the time, so I didn’t end up taking the test until last week. The results were fascinating to me, and comparing my strengths to Tim’s was even more interesting.

The test is a simple one – 177 questions where you choose from one of two phrases or sentences that resonates with you the most. It only takes about a half-hour, and at the end they provide you with 5 strengths – the things you’re gifted at, the areas you excel in. If you purchase the book which includes descriptions of all the strengths, you get one voucher to take the test online. If you’d rather just see your own 5 strengths, you can take the test online for around ten dollars. I promise Strengths Finder isn’t paying me to tell you this! Hah! We’ve just found it so valuable that I think everyone should take it! I believe it’s valuable for your friendships, your marriage, your workplace, and the ways that these relate to one another and how you relate to each of them.

One of the most valuable take-aways for me after doing the test was seeing that Tim and I both have the strengths that this test labels “Empathy” and “Developer.” Out of 34 different strengths this test names, we share those two. I began to think about how Empathy (the ability to sense the emotions of those around you) and Developer (the ability to see the potential in others and take great joy in seeing others grow) relate to owning our own photography and videography business, the ways that we work with our couples, and how we can maximize our strengths to better serve others and dream bigger. I don’t have a conclusion yet – I feel like we’re just getting started. But as we begin to unpack all of these thoughts and brainstorm what all of it could mean, I’m excited to see where it leads us.

Have I convinced you yet? Will you take the Myers Briggs and Strengths Finder tests? I’m certain we could all stand to learn a little more about ourselves and how we interact with and understand the world and the people around us.

The other night we invited my parents over for dinner. We sat around the table eating good food and chatting about many things – our “strengths” included. I especially love looking at the two of them, seeing the areas they excel in and the things they’re gifted at. I’m endlessly fascinated by the traits I inherited from each of them (that sounds horrendously narcissistic, I know, I know.) Really it just fascinates me how the human brain is a little sponge that soaks up and adapts and reacts to its environment.

Somehow in all my years growing up I inherited some of my dad’s love of dreaming about the future, his compassion and love of animals, his desire to carefully craft each and every thing he sets his mind to creating or building, and even some of his fondness for making up silly lyrics to well-known songs. And somewhere along the way I also got my mom’s penchant for crafting all the things, a fraction of her determination and dedication to projects and causes she believes in, and her deep love of those around her and her desire to see each of them grow. I love that I’m finally starting to be able to put words to these traits, understand a little about where they came from, and begin to wonder how they’ll be used in the long run.

I made this recipe the other night when we had my parents over, and it’s one I make often – tzatziki might be one of my favorite foods. And I’m okay with that. If we ever have leftover tzatziki, you can find me hovered over the sink, using tortilla chips to scoop out every last morsel of this garlicy-minty-goodness the next day. And GARLICY it will be. Stay away from friends, family, pets, you name it, if you’re eating this on the second day. The garlic “flowers” overnight and becomes much stronger. But I’m okay with that too. Gotta keep those vampires away somehow right?

Be sure to check out the links below the recipe to see what else I served with tzatziki this past Wednesday night!

Tzatziki

Asharae Kroll

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Ingredients

1 c plain Greek yogurt
1 large cucumber peeled, seeded, and finely chopped (you can grate the cucumber but I'm too lazy for that)
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 clove garlic minced
1/8 tsp pepper
Juice from 1/2 lemon
1/4 c mint finely chopped

Instructions

(Optional step) Place finely diced (or grated) cucumber in a sieve over a bowl and sprinkle with 1.5 tsp salt. Stir and let sit for 20 minutes or so. Press the water out of the cucumber with the back of a spoon and shake the sieve to release the water. If you do this step, you'll likely not need to add salt later on.
Combine cucumber with the rest of the ingredients and place in the fridge till ready to serve.
Note: the garlic will "flower" over time and the flavor will be much stronger the next day. I recommend serving to guests the day it's made, and staying away from friends if eating it the next day 😉

Make it a meal! We served tzatziki with the following:

Grilled chicken with tikka masala spices – Recipe from The Perfect Pantry

Cilantro Mint Chutney – Recipe from Spice Roots

Cucumber Tomato Salad – My own recipe! You can find it here!

Naan – Store-bought this time. I’m working on perfecting my naan-making skills 😉 Let me know if you have a good recipe!

The Battle Against Comparison. And a Recipe for Cilantro Lime Dressing

May 20, 2014 by Asharae 3 Comments

I’m struggling in this place right now of fighting against the worries and fears of what other people think of me. It’s one of those constant, life-long struggles for many of us, especially when we tend to be people-pleasers. It’s such a battle, each and every day to not compare myself and my life and my successes and failures against other people and their own lives, successes, and failures.

My dad tells this funny story from his childhood of his very pious grandmother who, when scolding the grandchildren, would say in a very solemn voice, “It doesn’t matter what I think, it matters what GOD thinks.” We all laugh when he imitates her serious, grandmotherly tone, but then I always get squirmy thinking about the intention of her message. To me it sounds like she was laying the guilt trip on pretty thick in order to scare the grandkids into behaving. While she was right that we should be more concerned about the Lord than we should be about the opinions of other people, it seems her reasoning for that was misplaced. God is a God of forgiveness and grace. He is not a God of guilt trips and shame.

When I find myself getting stuck in a rut of comparing myself to others, it’s usually because I’ve spent too much time looking at other artists’ photographs, reading other creatives’ blogs, or scrolling through Instagram drooling over other people’s lives. I begin to wonder why my photos don’t look like theirs, why my life doesn’t sound as creative and read as eloquently as someone else’s, why my Instagram feed isn’t filled with as many fun and beautiful photos as the ones I’m scrolling past. And then I stop. And I wonder what someone would think of my life, looking from the outside. What would they see and what would they think?

They would see beautiful wedding photos and films on our blog. (They wouldn’t see the hours of preparation that went into each wedding. They wouldn’t see the literal blood, sweat, and tears that go into capturing some wedding days. They wouldn’t see the days of editing through each wedding as Tim and I choose our favorite images or film clips, spend hours pouring over music to find the perfect songs for each couple, or edit through a thousand photographs making skin tones and white balance just perfect till our eyes are ready to fall out.)

They would see my Instagram feed filled with photos of our garden, our puppies, and our travels. (They wouldn’t see the pile of dirty dishes in the sink, the bathroom that needs scrubbing from top to bottom, the piles of boxes we’ve yet to unpack. They wouldn’t hear the conversations Tim and I have – the struggles and the worries about money, our days of discouragement over feeling like we’re not getting where we want to go, the days when we fear the future rather than rejoice at its possibilities. They wouldn’t see our constant struggle to balance Tim’s full-time job, the classes he has to take in order to keep his full-time job, our business and keeping our clients happy, our marriage and making sure it’s healthy, our commitments to our church, and our relationships with our friends amongst other things.)

It all feels like so much. And it’s easy to see snippets of other people’s lives and think they have it all together.

This war against comparison is constant. It’s a constant mental battle to ignore the outside influences that say you’re not good enough, brave enough, successful enough, beautiful enough. I think we too often put up a false front of confidence, pretend we have it all together, while inside we’re sad and worn out from trying so hard on the outside. I think if we were more honest with ourselves and with those around us, if we could be more vulnerable and quit faking it, then we might just find a richer community of support and honesty than we thought possible.

Allow yourself a little grace today. Stop the comparison. Let go of the feelings of shame and the thoughts that you’re not enough. I’ll struggle right alongside you today.

I was craving a creamy cilantro lime dressing when I came up with this recipe – I looked at several recipes to get the ratios right and combined a few of them to make my own. Enjoy this dressing over salad (it’s delicious with spinach), with a taco salad, or over rice or quinoa. Come back soon – I’ll be sharing a colorful quinoa recipe that uses this dressing!

Cilantro Lime Dressing

Asharae Kroll

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 5 mins

Total Time 10 mins

Ingredients

1 c loosely packed cilantro leaves only
1/2 c plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic minced
1/2 jalapeño diced (remove seeds for mild, add a few in for a spicier dressing)
1.5 tsp white wine vinegar
1/4 tsp cumin
1 tsp honey optional for sweeter dressing
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 c olive oil

Instructions

Add all ingredients to a blender except olive oil. Cover and blend until combined.
While blender is off, add a little olive oil, cover the blender with the lid, blend to combine. Pause the blender, add a little more olive oil, and continue until all the oil is well blended into the dressing. Some recipes recommend you pour the olive oil in while the blender is running, but mine is too powerful that I would have ended up with dressing on the ceiling. I recommend being safe and stopping your blender between each addition.
Serve over spinach, with a taco salad, over rice or quinoa. Or just eat it straight out of the jar. I won't mind.

Roasted Asparagus with Garlic and Parmesan

May 7, 2014 by Asharae 1 Comment

I’m not sure about you guys, but sometimes in the middle of the week I need a little inspiration. I tend to try and hit Monday full-force (although it typically ends up with me over-doing it, wearing myself out, and then laying on our office floor lamenting how little I got done that day) and by Wednesday or Thursday I’ve worked hard enough that I’m feeling a little weary and ready for the weekend. Every week is different, but that’s about how this week has gone so far.

If you’re feeling anything like I am and need a little pick-me-up, I want to share a some mid-week inspiration with you! These are a couple of the things I’ve been inspired by lately.

The Creative Habit by Twyla Tharp. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that I’ve been loving this book lately. Sarah Rhoads suggested it to me ages ago, and it’s been on my bookshelf for about three years now and I finally got around to reading it. If you’re a fellow creative, you could heartily benefit from picking up a copy (it’s only about $9 on Amazon right now!)

The way she writes about the creative process is accessible but thought-provoking as well. I’ve had a pen in-hand the whole time I’ve been reading and have scribbled and scratched throughout the book, underlining everything that stands out to me. Here’s one of my many favorite quotes to pique your interest – “Without passion, all the skill in the world won’t lift you above craft. Without skill, all the passion in the world will leave you eager but floundering. Combining the two is the essence of the creative life.”

Look Up. This video on Youtube is well worth your time. It’s been floating around Facebook this week and I highly recommend you go watch it. I could go on for ages about all the thoughts it made me think, but for now just go watch it.

Smart Gardener. This website has been incredibly helpful for Tim and I as we’ve learned what it takes to grow a garden. It’s totally free and you can easily plot the layout of your garden and choose the plants you’d like to go in it. Smart Gardener will tell you which plants do well in your climate, what you can plant right now, when to water and feed your garden, and what grows well and doesn’t grow well together, amongst other things! I can’t recommend it enough if you’re a first time gardener, are curious about what it takes to grow your own veggies, or simply want to learn more to supplement the knowledge you already have about gardening! I’d love to hear if you have any good gardening resources – I always love learning more!

One of the beautiful things about growing your own veggies is that it teaches you what eating seasonally means. When you can hop over to the grocery store and purchase nearly any kind of vegetable at any time of the year, it’s easy to ignore what’s actually in season. By growing your own food – even just one tomato plant, or a few pepper plants and some herbs – you’ll start to learn the patterns of that vegetable. What does it need? How do you care for it? What natural enemies does it have that will set up camp in your garden? And most importantly – when does it come into season?

I promise that your appreciation for the farmers that grow your food will multiply exponentially when you find yourself plucking weeds out of your garden or fending off the tomato hornworms that decide to wreck havoc on your plants. In growing your own veggies you’ll find yourself being more aware – more aware of the weather, more conscious of the fields of corn and soy beans you pass when driving through the country, and more mindful of what you’re putting into your own body.

Eating seasonally saves you money when you’re buying at the grocery store because whatever is currently in abundance will naturally be cheaper. Supply and demand, you guys. And who doesn’t like saving money at the grocery store?? Fruits and veggies that are in season will also taste better – have you ever tried buying strawberries in Janurary? Gross. When you compare them to the fragrant, juicy strawberries that are coming into season now, they’re bland and sad (and expensive!) little January strawberries. To see what’s in season in your area, check out this fabulous interactive map by Epicurious!

For more gardening tips and tricks, you can follow my gardening board over on Pinterest!

What have you been inspired by lately? Read any good books or come across any great websites? Seen any good movies or read any inspiring blogs?

Asparagus is in season across much of the US right now, so it’s easy to find these tender little green shoots at your local grocery store or farmer’s market. I love asparagus roasted in the oven with a little olive oil, some salt and pepper, and garlic. Sprinkle some parmesan over the top when you take them out of the oven and you have a delicious side dish, perfect for pairing with a pasta dish or some grilled chicken.

Roasted Asparagus

Asharae Kroll

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Prep Time 5 mins

Cook Time 20 mins

Total Time 25 mins

Servings 2 -4

Ingredients

1/2 bunch asparagus
Olive oil
1/4 tsp kosher salt
1/8 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1 garlic clove minced
Parmesan grated

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 400 F.
Rinse asparagus and dry well with a paper towel. Place on a rimmed baking sheet (use a silpat or tin foil for easier cleanup.)
Drizzle olive oil over the asparagus and toss them to coat.
Sprinkle salt, pepper, garlic powder, and fresh garlic over the asparagus and toss again if need be.
Roast asparagus for 10 minutes, remove from oven and turn them with a spatula.
Roast for 5-10 more minutes as desired.
Remove from oven and sprinkle grated parmesan over the top before serving.