Cucumber-Lime Salsa with Vidalias and Feta Cheese

I love using sweet Vidalia onions in recipes that don’t require cooking. Now that it’s April the baby version of these Georgia-grown onions are available at local markets. They are wonderfully crisp, juicy, mild and of course, sweet.

This salsa is a great topping for grilled meat or meats that are cooked using a pungent spice rub. The freshness of the cucumbers, tomatoes and herbs compliments smoky flavors or warm spices nicely. The sweetness of the Vidalias and the creamy-saltiness of the feta are also a nice contrast of flavors too.

Cucumber-Lime Salsa with Vidalias and Feta Cheese

2 Roma tomatoes, diced
½ baby Vidalia onion, diced
1 cucumber, peeled, seeded and diced
1 large handful of parsley, finely chopped
Juice from a lime
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
salt and pepper

In a small bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the feta cheese, stir well. Top with feta crumbles. If you’re making this in advance, wait until just before service to season with salt and top with feta.

Baby Vidalia Onions with Spring Zucchini

Baby Vidalia onions, renowned for their sweet flavor, hit local market stands in the spring around March – April, once the onion farmers begin thinning their crops. The sweet onion is named after Vidalia, GA where a local market started selling the sugary alliums in the 1940s.

About half the size of a full grown Vidalia, the baby Vs come in lovely bunches with their crisp greens attached to their juicy white bulbs. They look a bit like big round leeks and their mild, sweet flavor is a welcome addition to springtime meals. The onions are sweet and mild enough to use raw in salads, dressings and salsas. For more info about this wonderful Georgia-grown produce check out the official Vidalia Onion website.

In this dish I caramelize the baby Vs and add another spring favorite of mine, baby zucchini. If you can't find the adorable little squash, feel free to use full sized zuchini and cut it into batons about three inches long.

Punctuated with fresh herbs and lemon zest this dish is simple and allows the mild flavors of the Vidalias and the zucchini to shine. It's delicious and ready in mere minutes.

Zucchini with Baby Vidalia Onions

1 baby Vidalia onion, white only, thinly sliced
1 cup baby zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 handful fresh parsley, finely chopped
zest from ½ a lemon
salt and black pepper

Heat oil in a sauté pan over medium high heat until hot, but not smoking. Add the onions in an even layer and cook without stirring until they begin to brown then stir occasionally to prevent burning while the natural sugars in the onions to caramelize. Add the zucchini and cook covered for about 5 minutes (you may want to add a couple of tablespoons of water if the zucchini are large or thick to cause some steaming). Stir in parsley, lemon zest and season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Snack Attack: Sweets & Beets

Mention beets to some adults and they revert back to a dramatic six-year-old with puking sounds and gagging faces. Beets have gotten a bad rap, which is unfortunate because according to the site World's Healthiest Foods:

The pigment that gives beets their rich, purple-crimson color-betacyanin-is also a powerful cancer-fighting agent. Beets' potential effectiveness against colon cancer, in particular, has been demonstrated in several studies.

Read more about the health benefits of beets here.

Fortunately I've found a snack that seems to appeal to most adults and children that contains none other than this powerful, darkly packed root vegetable. Terra Chips, known for their veggie chips of all varieties makes Sweets & Beets: a crispy antioxidant rich snack, lightly salted that's great on it's own or with a creamy onion dip, herbed goat cheese or piquant sour cream.

These fried chips contain no trans fats and make a lovely presentation with their rich purple and orange crinkle cuts. These are some pretty chips, and easy to pass off as snacks because both sweet potatoes and beets carry (along with their cancer-fighting antioxidants) a natural sweetness that doesn't need artificial enhancement.

Sweet potatoes are no slouch on the nutritional front either, as World's Healthiest Foods reports:

This root vegetable qualified as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C and manganese, and a good source of copper, dietary fiber, vitamin B6, potassium and iron... Since these nutrients are also anti-inflammatory, they can be helpful in reducing the severity of conditions where inflammation plays a role, such as asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

To learn more about the nutritional benefits of sweet potatoes click here.

I've noticed kids love them because of the rich colors and slight sweetness. And adults love them because they make a gorgeous, sophisticated alternative to the bland chips-and-dips presentation. Click here for some really sexy sounding recipe ideas using Terra Chips like Spicy Grilled Tuna with Heirloom Tomato Salsa and Terra Exotic Vegetable Chips, Shrimp Salsa, Rack of Lamb with Terra Crust and Spiced Sweet Potato Chips Stuffing with Sausage and Sage.

As a plus, Terra Chips claims you get one full serving of vegetables in 1 oz. of their vegetable chips. What a delicious and snackily decadent way to eat your veggies!

Snack Attack: Garden of Eatin' Corn Chips

My son was introduced to Doritos and was really driving me nuts with his insistence upon eating them... DAILY. I mean I'm fine with the occasional indulgence as a treat, but every time he asked for "chips" or "blue snack" (Cool Ranch flavored) all I could think about was the genetically modified corn, MSG, high sodium, artificial colors and preservatives that were taking the place of something that could be more... well if not nutritious, at least WHOLE. You know, like a real food.

So maybe that's too much to ask in a snack, I thought, but turns out it's isn't. On a trip to my co-op, Sevananda Natural Foods, I took a turn down the oft-skipped snack aisle and I was reminded about the wide variety of snack foods that may not be so guilt-provoking.

In keeping with the nacho-cheesy theme I grabbed a bag of Garden of Eatin's Yellow Corn Tortilla Chips, Nacho Cheese Flavor. They have tons of chips with flavors like Chili & Lime and Guacamole, even Tamari! According to the site, "The Garden of Eatin' family of products contains no trans fat or hydrogenated oils, are all natural and Kosher certified. So no matter who enjoys these distinctive snacks, you’ll serve them with pride knowing they’re from a trusted brand."

Their products also contain no genetically modified ingredients. And here's something really cool I read off of the bag:

"Even our oils are different. They aren't extracted chemically. We crush seeds mechanically in a press. It makes a difference you can taste. And the water. It's not just tap water from a big spigot in the manufacturing plant. It's filtered water. Clean. Clear. Fresh. Those little taste buds on your tongue will tell you right away."

Wow, right? Somebody put a lot of thought into these chips. They're seasoned with sea salt, organic cheese, tomatoes, onions and garlic and cayenne pepper too.

Their corn chips come in a gorgeous rainbow of colors made from blue, red and yellow corn. In fact they have over 20 varieties of all natural tortilla chips, organic popcorn and taco shells and taco dinner kits. And I believe Garden of Eatin' started out with organic wheat pita chips too, which are great for all kinds of spreads and dipping.

Whether you're putting together a spread for a party of adults and you were looking for some sophisticated chips, or if you're just a parent looking for guilt-free snacks for the family, or even if you just miss eating tacos because you're haven't figured out how to make them healthy (I'll post a recipe on that separately) it looks like the folks at Garden of Eatin' have you covered. They even have recipes like this Hearty Nacho Mexi-Bake and these Black Bean and Corn Enchiladas.

These crunchy chips have a delicious heartiness about them that reminds me of the Corn Nuts I used to eat as a kid. All that health-stuff is well and good, but do they pass the kid test? Absolutely! Right down to the messy reddish annatto stained finger tips.