Don’t get me wrong, I love the fall. I love fall weather. I love fall clothes. I love that football starts in the fall. I like sleeping with the windows open in the fall. I love that winter squash is available in the fall.
I love all of those things (and more I’m probably missing). However, I find it extremely difficult to dress for the weather in the fall in Colorado! Does anyone else have that problem? The mornings in Colorado are quite chilly and foggy (especially the last week or two), but then in the afternoon it gets nice and sunny out.
In the mornings I need a sweater, jacket, and shoes/boots on. By the afternoon I am sweating in these clothes and need sandals and a short sleeve shirt on! The wave of emotions Mother Nature must be going through.
It doesn’t help that at our office all the guys like it be about 10 degrees chillier than I like it! I usually have to wear sweaters or at least long sleeves and then run my space heater all day in the winter. Coffee or tea helps too, but sometimes I don’t want to drink coffee or tea. What kind of problems are these? First world problems, that’s what.
Would you like me to go back to talking about all the reasons I love fall?!?! Leaves changing colors. Football. Chilly nights. Boots. Sweaters. Scarves. Jackets. Winter squash. Pumpkin. Hmmm…. much better.
Today you get not one, but two very easy recipes. The base of the recipe is really easy and quick to prepare. Then with the addition of a few different ingredients you can take the recipe to the next level.
I personally think the recipe alone is great (fresh sweet corn makes it so much better). Add a couple ingredient and boom, amazing!
The first addition is simply to add avocado. We add avocado to so many different dishes. It is one of the staples in the Edson household and probably always will be. I didn’t add it in this time, but you could also add in salsa verde or tomato-based salsa along with the avocado for a Mexican-style corn salad. Of course, top it all with Cholula.
The second addition is really easy too. Pesto and parmesan. If you don’t have parmesan then you could add pesto only and it would still be delicious!
I love pesto and it is easier than it seems to make. Donny whipped a batch of pesto for something else a few days before I made these recipes. There was some leftover in fridge just hangin’ out so I took advantage of it! You can use store bought pesto if you prefer.
Pesto is basically basil, pine nuts, parmesan cheese, olive oil, garlic, salt, and pepper. You can substitute a lot of different ingredients to change the flavor up. We’ve made pesto with cilantro before or used almonds instead of pine nuts. It is so versatile!
You could add this to your favorite grain for a heartier side. I suggest quinoa, farro, or brown rice. You could also add protein, such as chicken or steak, then put it on a bed of romaine… quick, easy salad for lunch! If you like leftovers then this recipe is great to keep around to use throughout the week!
We have a ton of Ziploc bags of sweet corn that we cut off the cob and then froze for the year. I used some of that for this recipe but you could use frozen corn or even canned, if need be. If you use canned corn then rinse it off with water before using. Canned foods tend to have a lot of excess sodium added so rinsing it beforehand helps eliminate some of that.
If you wanted to get really fancy, you could spiralize the zucchini. Have you tried that before? I bought an inexpensive spiralizer off Amazon about a year ago and we’ve tried zucchini “noodles” a few times now. I just think it’s fun to have noodles made of veggies! It also makes a pretty plate.
Enjoy!
- 2 c sweet corn
- 2 c zucchini, chopped
- 1/2 c onion, chopped
- 1/2 c cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 medium ripe avocado, diced
- 1/4 c pesto
- Parmesan cheese, shredded
- Heat oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add garlic and briefly sauté, be careful not to burn the garlic.
- Add the red onion and cook for one minute. Add corn and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add zucchini, cook for one minute. Add tomatoes and cook an additional minute.
- Transfer to a large bowl and add additional toppings.
Have you tried making homemade pesto before?
