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Category Archives: brunch

Spring Market Chopped Salad

08 Wednesday Apr 2015

Posted by Nicole Small in brunch, dairy free, easy recipe, gluten free, healthy recipe, vegetarian/vegan

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

clean diet, dairy free, fit food, fitness, food, food blog, food blogger, gluten free, healthy, healthy food, healthy recipe, recipe, recipe blogger, tomato, vegan, vegetable, vegetarian

Clean and satisfying tomato and cucumber salad inspired by the farmers market, with fresh basil, lemon juice, olives and sea salt.

Spring Farmers Market-Inspired Chopped Salad via Tsiporah Blog

Spring is here! I love simple chopped salads like this when the weather starts to warm up and my body craves cool, clean foods. This is my favorite type of meal to make when I get home from the farmers market and I have a bag full of fresh, crisp produce just begging to be eaten. This little salad is light, nourishing and clean.

This past week a sweet woman at the farmers market gave me two whole bunches of these gorgeous orange and yellow flowers with edible petals. What a luxury! I added them to this salad for a pop of beauty – if those tomatoes weren’t beautiful enough.

Farmers Market Tomato Salad via Tsiporah Blog

Lately I’ve especially appreciated simple, healthy meals to nourish my body and my mind. I value my quiet moments in the kitchen when I get to prepare beautiful foods, or when I have the honor of creating a meal for someone I love. Cooking is my meditation. My joy. I’ve been bursting with creative energy and I’m grateful for easy and fresh salads like this one.

Market Inspired Spring Tomato Salad

One of my favorite parts about Spring is the energy of renewal. If you don’t feel it inside, you can certainly feel it in the air, see it in the greenery, and witness it in the abundance that’s overflowing at the farmers market. I’m excited because I have a thriving mini container garden this year! I’m growing sweet bell peppers, mint, yams, potatoes, onions, thai basil, thyme, rosemary and a few pretty flowers. I’m excited to see what, if any, produce I get this year! I’ll keep you all updated 🙂

For now, enjoy this Spring Market Chopped Salad.

Spring Market Chopped Salad

Ingredients

1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
2 chopped persian cucumbers
1 tbsp chopped red onion
1/4 cup quartered castelvetrano olives
4 slivered fresh basil or thai basil leaves
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper, to taste
Optional: pinch of dried chili flakes or minced fresh chilies, to taste

Directions

Combine quartered cherry tomatoes, persian cucumber, red onion, castelvetrano olives and basil in a bowl. Toss to combine. Squeeze lemon juice over the salad, add olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Taste for seasoning and enjoy! You can eat this salad as is, spoon it atop crisp-tender butter lettuce (my favorite!), or have it as a side along with fresh grilled fish.

Spring Chopped Salad

What’s your favorite Spring recipe? Share in the comments, I’d love to know!

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Home Sweet Home & Tomato Salad with Basil Vin

13 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by Nicole Small in appetizer, brunch, dairy free, gluten free, healthy recipe, salad, salad dressing, summer, travel, vegetarian/vegan

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

appetizer, dairy free, europe, gluten free, healthy recipe, recipe, summer, travel, vegan, vegetarian

A little story about traveling the world + a recipe for a refreshing Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette.

Hi Hello! Wow, it has been a while, hasn’t it?! I took a break from blogging because I’ve been very busy this year! After leaving Israel I came home for a week to visit with family and friends before packing up again and traveling across some of Europe, an adventure that changed how I view life. Now I’m home and employed and super happy to be back in my kitchen. While I was traveling I experienced new foods and cultures and a crazy new way of life, and I’m excited to share a little bit about that chapter with you (and a recipe, of course!).

Fresh Summer Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

I initially went to Europe as an au pair. I arrived in Rome on an unseasonably warm and sunny day for February in Italy. 1/4 of my host family met me at the airport; a man named Mario. I was full of excitement and nerves, but I was mainly really happy to finally be in Italy. I had dreamt of visiting Italy my whole life; my parents and I lived there when I was a baby so I grew up hearing stories of small towns and gelato and pizza.

I was instantly mesmerized by the land; Italy is unlike any place I’ve ever been. The endless green and stark white of snow capped mountains with a wildly blue sky will forever be stamped into my memories.

Tsiporah Blog in Italy

A Scenic View in Italy

The events that followed both broke me and strengthened me, and they led to my greatest adventure so far: two months of solo travel through Europe. The au pair job didn’t work out. I’d love to say that the host family and I simply weren’t a match, but it was more than that. It’s quite a long story but more important is what followed, a magically transformative and healing time in my life.

With an enormous amount of support and love from friends and family near and far, I held my head high, booked a train ticket and packed my bags. In a span of two months I traveled through 20 cities in 8 different countries, an opportunity that may never have come my way had things worked out with the au pair family.

A lot of people along my path made me feel better about my circumstances. One man in Cinque Terre said it best; he was traveling with a companion from home who went to the same university as my sister, which sparked a two-hour long afternoon conversation overlooking the ocean, enjoying locally made white wine. He said to me “sometimes bad things happen in order to lead us to the good things in life,” and he was right.

Tsiporah Blog Travels to Cinque Terre

Cinque Terre: I came here to heal

I met dozens of people along the way who helped me and taught me, I saw sights and sat on beaches and experienced new cultures and different people. I struggled and grew and laughed and cried. And I experienced some of the best food of my life.

I’m happy to be back in the kitchen and I’m really looking forward to using some of my food knowledge and inspirations that came from my time abroad. I’ve gained a new appreciation of my home and its local offerings, though I’ll always dream of the colorful outdoor markets across Europe and in Israel. Even though summer temperatures in Phoenix average 100+, our farmers markets are still lively in the early morning, and they’re a welcome reminder of the markets from my travels. Eating abroad made me really respect eating locally, which I intend to carry on into my new life at home.

Mercato Centrale - Florence, Italy

Mercato Centrale – Florence, Italy

A good family friend gave me these tomatoes. They are gorgeous little gems bursting with sweetness and they were locally grown here in Arizona. All tomatoes should taste like this: so full of flavor and goodness, like summer dancing along your taste buds. I knew instantly what I wanted to make with them; a fresh and light tomato salad that I can’t get enough of, dressed with a simple basil vinaigrette that’s easy to whip up in a blender. I used three types of basil in my recipe so that I didn’t pick too many from any one plant in my garden, but you can use any type/combination of basil that you like.

Tomato Salad with Basil Vinaigrette

Garden Fresh Basil + a recipe for Tomato Salad with Basil Vin | via Tsiporah Blog

Ingredients

1/2 lb local heirloom tomatoes
1 large handful of fresh basil
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
Scant 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
1 garlic clove, grated on a microplane or very finely chopped
1 tsp salt, or to taste
Fresh pepper, to taste

Directions

Cut your beautiful heirloom tomatoes into bite-sized pieces and place in a bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients to your blender and blend on high until the basil pieces are as small as they’ll get (or until they’re completely blended into the dressing, my blender is just not that cool). Taste the basil vinaigrette for salt and pepper, and adjust to your preferences if you think it needs more/less acidity.

Lightly toss the tomatoes with the dressing. Let the salad sit for about 10 minutes to allow the flavors to blend together. Garnish with fresh basil and enjoy!

This dressing keeps in the refrigerator for a week and is also great as a salad dressing. I imagine it would be delicious as a chicken marinade as well.

Tomato Salad + Basil Vin | via Tsiporah Blog

Happy summer everyone, I’m so happy to be back in the blogging world. If you want to read more about my travels and see some photos I took, head on over to my travel blog here: Nicoblossom Travels. If you want to connect with me in other ways, check out the links below…

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Veggie Taco Bowls

17 Wednesday Jul 2013

Posted by Nicole Small in breakfast, brunch, dairy free, gluten free, recipe, spicy, vegetarian/vegan

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Tags

food, food blog, gluten free, healthy, healthy recipe, recipe, recipe blog, spicy, summer, vegetable, vegetarian

Meatless Monday Special: Veggie taco bowls with golden sauteed onions and peppers, fresh arugula, smooth avocado, sharp cheddar and zesty spice and lime, all served over a bed of rice. My obsession with this dish cannot be put into words.

Meatless Monday has become quite the popular buzz word in the food blogging world, but it has yet to become an event at my house. Most of our meals are marked by a centerpiece of protein, usually either grilled brown sugar glazed salmon or pineapple chicken.

I have to preface this recipe by saying that these bowls are delicious beyond words, to the extent that after I made the first one I proceed to make it again and again for both breakfast and dinner for the next 3 days. No exaggeration.

There’s something magical about perfectly cooked and fragrant rice topped with melted cheddar and spiced vegetables… a fried egg for breakfast makes it all the more perfect.

veggie taco bowl recipe

Veggie Taco Bowls

Ingredients

1 Large Sweet White Onion (Vidalia)
1 Red Bell Pepper
1 Yellow Bell Pepper
2 Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1-2 tsp Cumin
Salt and Pepper
Fresh Arugula, 1-2 cups

1½ Cups Water
1 Cup Dry White Rice (preferably long grain)
1 Lime, cut to juice

4 oz Cheddar Cheese, grated
1 avocado, thinly sliced

Pico De Gallo Ingredients

2 tomatoes, chopped
2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1/4 cup diced white onion
2 tsp diced jalapeno (or more depending on your taste)
Juice of 1/2 lime
Salt, to taste

meatless monday taco

Directions

Heat water in a pot until boiling and add 2 tsp salt and the juce of ¼ lime. To the boiling water, add dry rice and cook according to package directions.

Make Pico de Gallo: chop tomatoes, cilantro, onion and jalapeno and combine with lime juice and salt. Try to not eat all of it before your meal.

Chop onions, bell peppers and garlic, reserving the garlic separately. Heat olive oil in a medium sized skillet. Once the oil is hot, add the onions and bell peppers and saute until the vegetables begin to caramelize and begin to take on a brown color (this is best achieved in a stainless steel skillet, not a nonstick). At this point, add the cumin and garlic and saute for another minute or two just until fragrant and the garlic is softened.

To serve, spoon cooked rice into a bowl and top with freshly grated cheddar cheese. Add fresh arugula, sauteed veggies, pico de gallo and sliced avocado. Serve with a lime wedge.

For breakfast, serve with a fried egg on top. Enjoy!

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Surprise Mother’s Day Champagne Brunch

14 Monday May 2012

Posted by Nicole Small in breakfast, brunch, lavender, pancakes, quiche, recipe

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Tags

appetizer, appetizer recipe, baked, brunch, brunch recipes, cheese, chili, eggs, food, food blog, food blogger, fruit, gluten free, holiday, holidays, mothers day, pancakes, potato, potato recipe, quiche, recipe, recipe blog, recipe blogger, roasted, spicy, summer, summer recipe, tomato, vegetable, vegetarian

For Mother’s Day, my Mom really wanted to have a champagne brunch, but we couldn’t find one that we wanted to go to. So, instead of paying a few hundred dollars for our family of four, I paid about $30 and made some of her favorite dishes. The end result was really lovely, and she was so surprised! She said she was glad that we stayed home in the end, and everyone agreed that the food was better than we would have had at a resort. Most of these recipes are simple and could be incorporated into any meal.

moms place

table 1

prosciutto & melon

Prosciutto wrapped melon is very easy. For the most affordable prosciutto, I went to my local grocery store and had them slice it fresh instead of buying a package.

I set up a beautiful and simple mimosa bar as well. This way, everyone could make their own mimosas with either fresh orange juice, peach nectar or strawberry nectar. I really enjoyed the Cupcake Prosecco, and I would recommend it as a sweeter substitute for champagne.

champagne bar

mimosa 3

mimosa 2

The menu included:

Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Pancakes
Wild Mushroom & Leek Crustless Quiche
Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary
Prosciutto & Melon
Tomato Salad with Raspberry Pesto Vinaigrette
Lavender Cookies with Lemon Vanilla Glaze

~

Chocolate Chip Sweet Potato Pancakes

pancakes

Ingredients

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 (heaping) cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cream or flavored creamer or flavored almond milk
1 large sweet potato, baked and mashed (about 1 cup)
Butter for cooking
Maple syrup for serving

Directions

Mix together all ingredients except butter and syrup. Heat a griddle or skillet to medium, and lightly butter it. Cook as you would normal pancakes. Serve with real maple syrup and a bit of butter.

Wild Mushroom & Leek Crustless Quiche

quiche

Ingredients

1 cup wild mushrooms (your choice of mixture)
2 tbsp olive oil, separated
3 leeks
1 tbsp butter
8 eggs
1/3 cup Parmesan Romano Cheese
1/2 cup milk
Salt & pepper

Directions

Step 1: Mix 1 tbsp olive oil with mushrooms and spread out on a baking sheet covered with foil. Sprinkle with fresh pepper and roast at 325 degrees F for about 25 minutes, until browned and slightly crisp on edges.

roasty shrooms

Step 2: Slice leeks into circles, about 1/8” thick. Save about 15 of the prettiest slices for the top of the quiche and put the rest in a metal strainer and clean very well. Let drain for 10 minutes.

chopped leeks

Step 3: In a pan, melt 1 tbsp butter + 1 tbsp olive oil.  Add drained leeks, mix, and cook on medium for about 15 minutes, until lightly caramelized.

Chill leeks & mushrooms until at least room temperature (you can do this in advance).

Step 4: Mix together eggs, parmesan and milk. Add leeks, mushrooms, and pepper. Smear butter all around your baking dish and then pour the egg mixture on. Top decoratively with your reserved pretty leek slices.

quiche pre-bake

Step 5: Bake at 350 degrees F for about 35 minutes, or until eggs feel set and a knife inserted near the middle comes out clean. Let sit for 5 minutes before serving.

Roasted Red Potatoes with Rosemary

potatoes

Ingredients

6 red potatoes, cut into about  ½” pieces
1 packet Lipton onion soup mix
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
Salt & pepper to taste 

Directions

Combine all ingredients in a ziplock bag and mix together. You can let this sit overnight or cook immediately. If you choose to let it sit overnight, use a slotted spoon to scoop it onto the pan to avoid extra moisture. For crispy potatoes, spread the mixture evenly across a baking sheet. For soft potatoes, put the mixture in a deep casserole dish and cover with foil. Cook at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes, stirring halfway through.

Tomato Salad with Raspberry Pesto Vinaigrette

tomatoes

Ingredients

2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh pesto
½ tbsp raspberry vinegar
2 tsp basil oil or olive oil

Directions

Cut each cherry tomato in half. In a separate bowl, whisk together pesto, vinegar and oil. Pour mixture over tomatoes. Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving. You can personalize this to whatever you want or have on hand- you could change up the herbs or the vinegar and make it however you like!

Note: don’t forget to cover your leftover pesto with olive oil before putting it back in the refrigerator. 

The lavender cookies will be my next post. They were so lovely, I want to savor the memory. If you are a lavender fan, you will really enjoy these, and they were so easy!

I chose to make this brunch in lieu of a gift because I feel like sharing my passion for cooking is much sweeter a gift than anything I could have bought for her. Thank you Mom for guiding us, loving us, being there, and being a “second Mom” to my closest friends. I’m so thankful that my Mom is so supportive and loving, I don’t know where I would be without her compassion and wisdom. I love you, Mom!

Happy Mother’s Day!

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