Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Relishing the Moment

So glad to hear that you all are somewhat of a procrastinator as well. Yes I blame it on the hubs but I also blame it on social media. Darn you Twitter, Facebook, and all you fabulous food and fitness blogs. Too much to read, explore, etc. How much time do you actually spend a day on these sights? Seriously, time yourself tomorrow and let me know. No Cheating!!!

Anyway, another "flaw" I've developed over years is impulse buying. Now don't get me wrong, I don't buy things online or on TV. I mean the shopping at Whole Foods and buying whatever they are displaying or what might be 10 cents of a $15 product, haha. This often happens to be in the wine section, whoops! But today I just happened to pass by these fresh goodies being sampled in the produce section.


Concord grapes! I haven't had these in years. What, they are on sale? Hmmmm, impulse buy or relishing in the moment. I'll take RELISHING THE MOMENT for 500 (sorry a little Jeopardy humor). Who could pass these up at this time of year? So refreshing and sweet! So now the question is, what can I create with these? Well, the hubs was coming home today so I wanted to make him something sweet and juicy. A nice homecoming meal. I put on my "relishing the moment" thinking cap and came up with this.

Concord Grape and Cucumber Avocado Relish

Yields about 1-1/4 cups

• 3/4 cup diced seeded cucumber

• 3/4 cup halved concord grapes,

• roughly chopped 1/4 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves

• couple dashes of balsamic vinegar

• dash of garlic and red chili pepper or flakes

• medium salsa or diced tomatoes (2 tbsp)- OPTIONAL

• Kosher salt to taste

• black pepper to taste

• 1/2 large avocado chopped

Combine all the ingredients in a small bowl; stir. Serve immediately on top of grilled chicken/ fish or cover and refrigerate for later use.

I decided to serve the relish on top of some Jasmine rice pilaf and Shrimp sautéed in coconut oil.
Result.......relishing every bit of it now. Sweet and Savory!
Have you cooked with Concord Grapes before? If so, what did you make? I still have a lot left to use! haha.

SCOBY UPDATE:
So...thanks to Hannah, I finally understand my Mother, whoops I mean Mother Scoby.
SCOBY: {sk ō-b ē}
Symbiotic
Culture (or Colony)
Of
Bacteria &
Yeast

Did you all know that? So cool, I love acronyms. Such a nerd I know. Anyway, my mother scoby finally formed and I brewed my first batch on Sunday. I used the green ginger tea from TAZO and my flavor.

I brewed 2 quarts of tea with 4 tea bags, added sugar, and let it cool completely. Then I poured into in a jar along with 2 cups of my starter tea and placed the mother scoby on top. And guess what? I have to WAIT AGAIN!!! Another 7 days. Geeze, this is slowly killing me. Patience has run out. But thank goodness for AVERIE. She has helped me so much with this process and what "not to do." I sure hopes mine turns out as good as hers.

look how big my MOTHER IS!!??!
Alright, that’s it for me. We are off to Dallas this weekend to pick up the pups. She's been at grandma and grandpa's house since we've been house sitting, traveling, etc. We hope to enjoy some family time as well!
And maybe even meet up with this beautiful blogger.

Cheers,
LC

18 comments:

Molly said...

I love putting grapes in tuna or chicken salad...with cashews or almonds. AMAZING!

xo-Molly
www.givinganythingbutup.wordpress.com

Dorry said...

Stop it! YOU are the beautiful one my dear. I'd love to see ya even if just for 5 minutes to hand off the giveaway goodies. I am super flexible and know you have family stuff so just let me know. :)

Bre said...

mmm grapes!!! i love those---in about two weeks all the vineyards are going to be ripe and the whole city will smell of grapes and then we have a week long celebration...Grape and Wine! :)
the relish looks delicious and I would give you recipes but grapes have never lasted long enough to make anything with them! :)
have a good trip into Dallas!

The Triathlon Rx said...

Truthfully... I don't know if I've ever had a concord grape. But know what I would LOVE...? If someone could just please make a diet grape soda. Please.

Your relish sounds great - on a salad with chopped grilled chicken. YUMM!

p.s. I finally got that breakfast post up today!!

sophia said...

I think I spend about 3 hours on social media. hm, maybe more. It's so addicting, isn't it?

Concord grapes go on sale occasionally in Asian marts, and my parents go crazy. I find them a bit tedious, though, to spit out the seeds. I'm so lazy!

AM! said...

That relish looks awesome!

and funnily...I lived my preteen-high school years in Concord, california..and now live in Sonoma Ca, the wine mecca of ca;-)

Alisa said...

You know, if it wasn't for my husband, I would spend way more on good quality food and I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty! I'm very frugal, but these past couple of years I've really wanted to up my food budget because it's things like those grapes that really make me happy!

Okay, gotta admit the whole kombucha scoby thing is still a little creeps to me.

Viviane said...

Yum, your relish looks delicious... and what a great idea to combined it to shrimp!

I'm definitely keeping this idea in mind!

Have a hreat day :)

Heather (Where's the Beach) said...

Girl I hear you on the impulse thing. Thank goodness it's not large appliances and electronics (that's the hubby's dept.). I have no control at places like WF's though. Do I really need one more package of tempeh or tofu? Oh and that fancy sounding cheese: like cranberry cheddar. Really? I'm really bad on wine day too. So many pretty bottles and cool labels. It's really not fair.

amy said...

Totally feel you there - Whole Foods is the worst for impulse buying! Whenever I go in there I have to have a list of specific items to get, otherwise there's way too many interesting new foods to see and want to buy!

Lisa (bakebikeblog) said...

oh my - how wonderful!!!Have fun on your trip to pick up the pups!

NYgirl@heart said...

That relish looks divine! I haven't used grapes in a while...I like to freeze them and use them as "ice" in my white wine. Refreshing!

So I'm really interested in this Kombucha thing you've got working...I don't know much about it but looking forward to learning more while yours is fermenting.

Maggie said...

1. I would NEVER in a million years thought of using grapes in a relish. Brilliant!

2. I always wondered what the heck SCOBY meant but was too shy to ask. Thanks for demystifying it!

3. I am now the worst procrastinator and husband-ignorer in the world thanks to the blogsphere and Twitter on my iPhone.

4. My impulse buys always seem to be the fancy cheeses that Whole Foods samples. I have a bite, have to have a chunk, then let it sit in my fridge uneaten. Blar.

Abby said...

This looks so unique.. but DELICIOUS. You are amazing. How did you come up with this??

I don't remember ever having a Concord grape!

PS I'm jealous you and Dorry get to hang out!

Kelsey Ann said...

oh my lord i love tazo green ginger tea! the last time i saw it at starbucks they told me that they werent carrying it anymore because its not a 'whole leaf' tea like the others so they were trying to get rid of what was left and then they wouldnt sell it anymore! how sad it that!!

xoxo

Anonymous said...

SOOO I just wanted to say thank YOU For the compliment on my arms- that means a lot coming from you!!!! :)
I adore you.
I love that new spin on RELISH!!!! you are so creative with your recipes!

Jess said...

I love putting grapes in tuna/chicken salad. Green apple is also good in chicken salad!!

Grapes are so refreshing.
<3 jess
xoxo

Alisa said...

You know, if it wasn't for my husband, I would spend way more on good quality food and I wouldn't feel the least bit guilty! I'm very frugal, but these past couple of years I've really wanted to up my food budget because it's things like those grapes that really make me happy!

Okay, gotta admit the whole kombucha scoby thing is still a little creeps to me.