Alex teases me for calling things “trendy.” Things like roller blading (I swear it’s making a comeback), popsicles, and college graduates taking summer-long trips to South America.

He insists that we are unable to identify trends because even if, for example, everyone we know started drinking diet cream soda, we don’t know enough people for it to actually be considered trendy. This may be true.

Regrettably, this salad isn’t green in the trendy sense of the word — to my perpetual dismay, avocados don’t grow in New York. But it is very green in the color green sort of way, which pleases me just as much. Green grapes are my favorite, and we rarely find such a perfect way to incorporate them into a meal. The textures combine wonderfully with the avocado and cashews, and the lime provides a light and fresh flavor. We were discussing over eating how we think this would be ideal for packing for a picnic or serving at a luncheon.

We found the recipe from which we based ours in William Sonoma’s Healthy Main Dishes cookbook (which is now three for three in terms of providing amazing recipes). The original recipe calls for serving the avocado/grape salad with chicken in a pita, but we were so glad we decided to scoop it all over spinach instead for a greener and healthier dinner.

Ingredients (serves 2):
4 cups baby spinach leaves
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 avocado, peeled and cubed
1 cup green grapes, halved
1/2 cup cashews
3 limes
2 tsp olive oil
3 tbsp cilantro leaves
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Heat oil in a pan. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper, and place in pan over medium heat. Cook until lightly golden, 1-2 minutes per side, then add 1/4 cup water and juice of 1 lime. Cover, reduce heat to low, and allow chicken to cook through, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool, then cut into 1-inch cubes. In a bowl, gently stir together grapes, cashews and avocados. Squeeze juice of another lime over the mixture, and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in chicken. Arrange baby spinach on two plates, then scoop chicken salad on top. Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.

When we’re bored, we sit around and ask each other questions like: What’s your favorite preparation of sausage? And also: Do you think you could eat an entire stick of butter in one sitting?

Until recently, we also used to frequently discuss what magically regenerating food item we’d choose to take with us to a deserted island. In this fantasy, there’s no nutritional variation between chocolate and broccoli. Obviously.

This particular question became somewhat less fun, however, when we learned the correct answer, which is quinoa. I know! Quinoa?! But yes — quinoa has a ton of protein, fiber, iron and other important nutrients. It’s sometimes called the The Super Grain. Or even The Mother Grain. (Even though, shhh, it’s not actually a whole grain, but rather a seed).

We’ve experimented with quinoa a little bit before, and thought it would be perfect for stuffing when we found these gorgeous summer squash at a roadside farm stand in Maine. These ended up being filling enough, while still featuring beautiful and fresh seasonal produce. We could have just eaten the quinoa alone we loved it so much, and with the summer squash, this was a stunning and healthy addition to an outdoor evening meal.

Ingredients:
4 round summer squash
2 cups cooked quinoa (cooked according to package instructions)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1-2 cup button mushrooms, sliced thinly and halved
1/2 onion, chopped
2 tbsp red wine
2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp cumin
1/2 smoked gouda cheese, grated (optional)
salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions:
Carefully cut along the top edge of the squash and remove the top with its stem. Scoop out more flesh of the squash if the cavity does not seem big enough to stuff. You can cut up the flesh and add it back in with the vegetables and quinoa later. Preheat oven to 350, place squash in a baking dish, and cook for about 40 minutes, until insides have softened. Heat olive oil in a large pan, then add onions and cook until soft, about three minutes. Add pepper and any additional squash, cook for another 1-2 minutes, then add mushrooms and wine, and cook until all vegetables are almost cooked entirely (about another 2 minutes). In a large bowl, gently stir together vegetable mixture and quinoa. Add cumin, and salt and pepper to taste. Spoon quinoa into squash, top with cheese, and bake for an additional 10 minutes, until cheese has melted and squash is completely soft. You can mix quinoa and cheese together once the squash is removed from the oven, or just serve.

I know I said recently that my favorite salad is the chopped salad that we wrote about. That’s true, but not entirely.

See the thing about favorite salads is that one can have a favorite type of salad. For my favorite chopped salad, the precise components don’t matter as much as the idea behind it: some veggies, chicken, balsamic vinaigrette.

This salad is my mom’s favorite. If there’s ever a salad on the menu with seared tuna and lemon vinaigrette, she’s guaranteed to order it. The other ingredients may flux, but the key elements that make it her favorite are there.

This version of that salad happens to be particularly delightful. The green beans lend it a nicoise edge, and the fennel adds a sweet complexity. We love olives so added them, but you can do capers or peppers instead.

Also, feel free to cook the tuna to your preference. My mom would probably prefer it raw completely, so we left the middle very pink, which also makes the salad look just a touch prettier.

Ingredients (serves 4):
8 oz. mixed greens
1 1/2-2 lbs. tuna
1/4 lb. string beans
2 bulbs small fennel, sliced very thinly
1/2 cup olives, pits removed
salt and pepper

(dressing)
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
Cut the tuna into four pieces, and salt and pepper each of the pieces on both sides. Preheat grill, then place tuna on the grill until cooked to your taste (about three minutes on each side should cook it to rare). Blanch the green beans by placing them in boiling water for about three minutes, then removing them and rinsing. Arrange greens on four plates, then divide green beans, fennel and olives among plates. Let tuna rest for about 5 minutes, then slice it and divide among plates. Whisk together dressing ingredients, then pour dressing over salad.

We’ve been blogging for over a year now (we forgot our own blogiversary, but plan to bake ourselves a cake to celebrate sometime soon), which we realized means that we’ve used up all of our seasonal recipes. Late summer has arrived again and we want to make gazpacho. But wait — we wrote about that last year.

What will we do this fall when it’s time to make all of our favorite recipes, but we’ve already blogged them? Re-blog? Innovate? Make new dishes? The horror!

Luckily, this time we were able to use a recipe for a gazpacho that’s quite different from the classic version we made last year. Alex’s mom found this recipe in a cookbook called Thrill of the Grill, and cooked it for us when we visited his house last week. Enamored with its smoky, grilled flavor and chunky texture, we knew we had to do it again on our own.

This is great as an alternative to ordinary gazpachos, but its also a perfect soup on its own — filling and fresh, ideal for summer days and nights.

Ingredients:
1 tomato, sliced into 1-inch rounds
2 red peppers, halved with seeds removed
2 green peppers, halved with seeds removed
1 small eggplant, sliced into 1/2-inch rounds
1 small onion, sliced into 1-inch rounds
3 cloves garlic
4 slices bread (preferably day old)
2 quarts tomato juice (we used one quart spicy, one quart not spicy)
juice of 2 lemons
salt and pepper to taste
basil for garnish

Instructions:
Grill peppers, tomato, eggplant and onion until soft, cooked, and lightly charred — about 10-12 minutes. Once vegetables are cool, cut them into small pieces. Combine bread and garlic with a little bit of salt and pepper in the food processor, and pulse until combined. Whisk tomato juice into bread mixture, then add vegetables. Season to taste with salt and pepper, add lemon, garnish with basil and serve.

For the longest time, chocolate babka was one of those foods for me.

You know those foods. You ate something once, many years ago, and became sick from it. Now, you experience awful nausea every time you see it, smell it, or even think about it.

My parents once brought a loaf of chocolate babka bread on one of our vacations to somewhere in the Bahamas. I was so sick that trip — probably not even from the babka — but for years I couldn’t stand it. I finally overcame my aversion earlier this year, when a chocoholic friend brought down the most amazing loaf from a bakery near his home in Long Island. I once again found this amazing food irresistible.

Our decision to bake a loaf of babka was random. No reason other than that we just felt like eating some. This recipe, adapted from this one on Epicurious, will make your kitchen smell as good as the best bakery in the world, and the bread that it produces is soft, bittersweet, and utterly worth the effort and there is definitely some required). Our best advice for this bread is to be patient, and to perform each step with tender care. Love the loaf, and you’ll be rewarded.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup warm milk
1/2 cup sugar, plus 2 extra tsp
3 tsp active dry yeast
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces and softened

(filling)
5 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (you can use chips or bars)
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cinnamon

(egg wash)
1 tbsp milk
1 egg yolk

Instructions:
Stir together warm milk and 2 teaspoons sugar in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast over mixture and let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Add 1/2 cup flour and beat using dough hook until combined. Add whole eggs, yolk, vanilla, salt, and remaining 1/2 cup sugar and continue to beat until combined. Mix in remaining 2 3/4 cups flour, about 1/2 cup at a time. Then beat in butter, a few pieces at a time, and continue to beat until dough is shiny, soft, and sticky. You can also use a wooden spoon to rapidly mix ingredients together. Put dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Line each loaf pan with 2 pieces of parchment paper (one horizontal and one vertical). Punch down dough, then divide it in half. Roll out one piece into an 18×10-inch rectangle, with the longer edge nearest you. Beat together yolk and milk. Spread 2 1/2 tbsp spoon softened butter on the dough, leaving a 1/2-inch border all around. Brush some egg wash on the long border. Sprinkle half of chocolate over buttered dough, then sprinkle with half of sugar and cinnamon. Starting with long side farthest from you, roll dough into a snug log, pinching firmly along egg-washed seam to seal. Bring ends of log together to form a ring, pinching to seal. Twist entire ring twice to form a double figure 8 and fit into one of lined loaf pans. Repeat with remaining dough, chill egg wash, and loosely cover pans. Let dough rise an additional 1 to 2 hours, until dough reaches top of loaf pans, then bake in an oven preheated to 350 for about 40 minutes, until tops are a deep golden brown. Let cool for 5 minutes in pans, then remove from pans. Serve warm.

I rarely suffer from writer’s block. Spitting out words is infrequently the problem — it’s how they sound and work together that’s more of an issue for me. Last year, I wrote a two-page essay in 15 minutes before a class. It was bad. I handed it in anyway.

This moo shoo recipe, however, has me stumped. I’ve been staring at the pictures for a while, but I don’t have much to say about the recipe that you can’t glean from Alex’s gorgeous photos. It’s delicious, but we always say that. It’s do-it-yourself, which we love. It’s a healthy way to do Chinese food, but that’s obvious, no?

We’ll just leave you to the lovely pictures and the recipe then. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
2 cups mixed mushrooms
4 cups napa cabbage
1 cup thinly sliced red bell pepper
1 cup diagonally sliced scallions
2 cups bean sprouts
1 lb. shrimp, cleaned, shelled and de-veined
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp hoisin sauce (plus extra)
2 tbsp minced ginger
flour tortillas

Instructions:
Heat a large skillet until very hot, then add 1 tbsp sesame oil until the oil is hot. Add shrimp and stir-fry over high heat until cooked through, about 2 minutes, then remove. Add another tbsp oil, and add eggs to scramble. Once cooked, remove. Add final tbsp sesame oil, then add mushrooms, peppers, and cabbage. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Add onions and bean sprouts with ginger, vinegar, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Stir fry for another minute, then remove from heat and stir in shrimp and eggs. Serve in flour tortillas with extra hoisin sauce.