Tangy Cucumber and Avocado Salad

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A great, fresh-tasting picnic salad, it combines avocados, cucumbers, garlic, and green onions with chopped cilantro and the bright flavors of lemon and lime juice."

Ingredients:

2 medium cucumbers, cubed 2 avocados, cubed 4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro 1 clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons minced green onions

(optional) 1/4 teaspoon salt black pepper to taste 1/4 large lemon 1 lime

Directions:

1.	In a large bowl, combine cucumbers, avocados, and cilantro. Stir in garlic, onions, salt, and pepper. Squeeze lemon and lime over the top, and toss. Cover, and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

WHAT IS THIS IN MY BAG?

Indian Blood Peach

You won't find this gem at the supermarket, but a little searching will bear fruit

This peach particular is coveted by chefs and foodies: the red-fleshed Indian Blood Peach. What separates this peach from its fuzzy brethren is that when fully ripe, this peach has a firm texture and is sweet yet slightly tart. Hastings considers it the single best peach for canning, pickling, and making chutney (though sinking your teeth right into the red-marbled flesh isn’t out of the question either). But first, of course, you have to locate some.

Spaniards introduced this novel peach to Mexico in the sixteenth century. By the next century, European explorers in southeastern North America were astonished to find this Old World fruit being grown by native tribes. This was possible because, unlike most fruit varieties that are maintained solely by complex methods of budding or grafting, the 'Indian Blood' can be grown easily from seed. Nomadic tribes and traders must have carried it north from Mexico. Thomas Jefferson ordered this variety in 1807 from Thomas Main, a Washington nurseryman, who described it as "very large and excellent."
The fruit, entirely splashed and mottled with scarlet, tigerlike stripes, is sometimes twelve inches round. The skin resembles a beet: scarlet, tough, stringy, meaty, although pleasantly flavored and brisk.
Text adapted from Fruit and Fruit Trees of Monticello by Peter J. Hatch.

Bartlett Pear Quesadilla

Spice up any party or a weekday dinner with this fresh quesadilla! The spicy pepper jack and tangy blue cheese melt smoothly into fresh basil and pear.

Ingredients

• 4 flour tortillas (8 inches in diameter)
• ½ cup each shredded pepper jack and crumbled blue cheese
• 3 tablespoons sliced fresh basil leaves (1 tablespoon if dried)
• 2 tablespoons chopped onion
• 2 tablespoons chopped hazelnuts
• 1 Bartlett USA Pear, cored and very thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Directions

On half of each tortilla, sprinkle one-fourth of the cheeses, basil, onion, and hazelnuts; top with pear slices. Fold in half and brush both sides with olive oil. Heat in non-stick skillet 2 to 3 minutes on each side or until cheese melts and tortilla browns. Cut each quesadilla into four pieces.
yield: Makes 8 appetizer servings

Nutritional Information

Nutritional Analysis Per Serving (2 slices): Calories 127 (46% calories from fat); 5.4g Protein; 12.1g Carbohydrate; 0.9g Fiber; 6.7g Fat; 9mg Cholesterol; 225mg Sodium

 Cucumber & Sweet Onion Salad with Greek Yogurt

 

Recipe from Driftless Organics

▼ 1 cup Greek yogurt
▼ 1 tsp minced garlic
▼ 1/2 thinly sliced sweet onion
▼ 2 tbsp olive oil
▼ salt and pepper to taste
▼ 1 long cucumber, peeled in stripes, halved lengthwise
and sliced crosswise 1/4″ thick
▼ 3 tbsp chopped herb of choice
(mint, sorrel, basil, oregano)

In a bowl, mix yogurt, garlic, onion, oil, salt and pepper together until smooth. Chill until ready to serve. Place a paper towel in a shallow bowl, and add a layer of cucumbers, another paper towel, and the rest of the cucumbers. Let drain fora bout 10 minutes. Remove paper towels and mix cucumbers and chopped herbs into yogurt mix and serve. Serves 3-4