Easy Thai tuna sliders

Easy Thai tuna sliders -- a fast weeknight meal and a great way to add Omega 3s to your diet.

Even though creating, tweaking, photographing and writing about food and recipes is my passion, all that can often leave me tired and not too psyched to spend a lot of time making dinner every night. Just like you.

Therefore, I'm a big fan of quick and easy weeknight dinner recipes -- like these Thai tuna sliders.

I think I read somewhere that the slider craze is "over" -- whatevs, people. The Ninj isn't trying to stay one step ahead of the trends: I'm giving you real-life solutions and strategies to real-life eating situations. And one of those situations is not wanting to spend a ton of time making dinner.

(And sliders? Over? Come on -- who doesn't love cute food? Jeesh.)

So, can you open a can of tuna? Can you toast a bun? Then these tuna sliders have got dinner covered for you.

Lightened clam chowder

Lightened clam chowder

I doubt you thought you would ever see a recipe for clam chowder show up here during Detox January, did you?

Clam chowder: practically synonymous with creamy, buttery, this-can't-be-good-for-me-so-I-only-eat-it-on-vacation decadence.

But this is a lighter version of clam chowder, which means it's Detox January-safe -- heck, it's safe to eat whenever you like.

I thought about calling it "Skinny Clam Chowder" until I read on Twitter that appending the "skinny" moniker is "so over" this year, and, well, god forbid I look "so over." (Although don't tell that to the blogger at skinnytaste.com, which is where I got the inspiration for this soup; she might just have to change her blog name so she's not "so over.")

Besides being light, this recipe is also pretty fast and easy (you know that's my favorite combo), so it doesn't have to be relegated to a weekend meal. Go ahead, throw it into the weeknight rotation. Winter is a great time for body- and soul-warming soups like this.

Lactofermented dill pickles and homemade remoulade

Celery remoulade, made with lactofermented dill pickles

Time for another adventure in cooking as part of Grow It Cook It Can It's Cook It! 2012 challenge.

(I am seriously loving this year-long challenge. It's like having fun, creative homework for Home Ec class or something. So far we have made pasta, bread, butter and cheese.)

May's topic? Lactofermentation.

This one was a bit trickier for me. Why? Well, first because I had to research what the hell lactofermentation even means.

In a nutshell, it's an old, natural process by which veggies are fermented using salty brine.

OK, it's essentially rotting, but it's good, yummy, controlled rotting, not like the kind of "fermentation" that happens in the bottom of my crisper drawer when I forget about a bunch of cilantro. The addition of the brine means that the veggies produce lactic acid that will kill off the bad bacteria and prevent complete putrefication.

(Wow, I'm making this sound very unappetizing. Sorry. Keep reading, it gets much more delicious.)

Tomato crab pasta: a recipe

Tomato crab pasta

As if we could get through a week without a pasta recipe...

Earlier in the week we had a miracle breakthrough and Mr. Ninj ate asparagus. Well, cream of asparagus soup with crab, but it was still a miracle.

But that left me with some leftover crab and I didn't want to waste it.

Hello, Google.

I found this lovely tomato crab pasta recipe on, of all places, the PBS web site. Yep, PBS. See? Your donation during that pledge drive really paid off, tote bag or no tote bag.

This pasta is super easy to prepare and makes a perfect weeknight dinner. It actually reminded me quite a bit of the Mediterranean Tuna Pasta but less intense. In fact, if you were put off by the tuna recipe because you aren't a big fan of olives or anchovies, I bet you would love this crab pasta -- its flavors are a bit milder but still delicious.

Cream of asparagus soup with crab: a recipe

I'll just say it was an Instagram photo, so it's supposed to look this crappy.

Wow. Let's try not to let today's craptacular pictures deter from you trying this soup. Promise? Please?

If I had better white-balanced and hadn't been in a rush to EAT IT, you would see what a lovely chartreuse color the soup is. Really, a perfect spring soup.

Regular readers already know about the CSA Share Ninja Rescue: this week's post included some ideas for asparagus, but I had to keep this one separate for its own post.

It's solo post-worthy. (Try saying that five times quickly.)

It was also a huge milestone in our house because Mr. Ninj hates asparagus. HATES. I mean, doesn't-even-like-to-be-in-the-same-room-with-it hate. (That's a lot of hate.)

Turns out, after all these years, we've realized it's a texture hate, not a taste hate. So when we were out to dinner recently at the Kitchen Table Bistro, I asked him to try the asparagus-ramp soup I had ordered ...

... and he liked it!

Mediterranean tuna pasta: a recipe

Mediterranean tuna pasta

Here's a super-quick way to get a huge dose of your weekly Omega-3s!

A few weeks ago I signed up to be a recipe tester for Food52's weekly community picks. It's a cool concept: the editors pick a theme (e.g., chocolate and spice, celery, canned fish) and readers submit their original recipes that revolve around that theme. Finalists are chosen by the editors, who then ask readers to test those finalist recipes. Each recipe tester submits her/his notes about the dish, which are then featured on the page for that recipe, along with the author's notes.

It was a fun way to try out a new recipe and be able to share my thoughts with a cooking community, in only about 100 words, rather than a whole blog post.

Lobstah mac and cheese: a recipe

Lobstah mac and cheese

Labor Day: summer is officially over.

When I lived in the South, this thought seemed completely absurd. I mean, when it was still a gallion degrees outside and flip flops were perfectly comfortable and acceptable all the way through October, Labor Day seemed practically like a summer midpoint -- or maybe a two-thirds point.

But this is Vermont. And northern Vermont at that.

So, despite the unusually hot and humid weather we had over the long weekend and my sporting a snazzy white skort, it really does feel like it's over. There are already some leaves starting to turn on the trees in our yard, apples are beginning to show up at the farmers markets and everything except the collards looks pathetic in what's left of my garden.  

Dag.

Therefore, what better way to give summer a final huzzah! than a decadent, big bang meal -- a big FAT meal that, based solely on the volume of cheese and butter, needs to be reserved for special huzzah-inducing occasions -- celebrating one of the best foods of a New England summer.

Enter lobstah mac and cheese.

Cold cucumber and avocado chowder with shrimp: a recipe

Now, all of you regular readers know that I love Mark Bittman. And this is another one of his great recipes from The Food Matters Cookbook.

But he refers to this as not only a chowder but also a cold soup. Really, Mark? It is neither.

What it is is a delicious, healthy cold salad, perfect for hot summer days.

So why no picture of said salad, you may ask? Because this is another one of those dishes that tastes better than it looks.

(But hey now, just take a look at my awesome little Kirby cukes there on the vine! I sense pickles in our future...)