My Site » I love food, travel, and being creative in the kitchen. I keep my recipes simple and fresh so you can make them around your table too.

Opah and Corn Salad Lettuce Cups

Opah and Corn Salad Lettuce Cups I love when healthy = delicious! More farmers market fare for you. Butter lettuce Opah/Ono, or your favorite white fish Corn (I used frozen corn) Spinach kale chard mix Green onion sliced Avocado Red wine vinegar EVOO Honey Red Pepper Flakes Lime juice Lime zest Coat fish in EVOO, lime juice, and S&P and grill. Take off heat right before you think it’s done. You can also roast or sauté fish. For corn mixture, saute corn in a little vegetable spray and let brown before mixing. Julienne spinach, kale mixture and add to pan with sliced green onion. Add EVOO, dash of vinegar, dash of honey, and red pepper flakes. Cook through and add lime juice and zest at the end. Fill lettuce cups with fish, avocado chunks, and corn mixture. Squeeze with lime and serve!

Tandoori Shrimp

| INGREDIENTS | 2 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled [leave tails on] and deveined 1/2 cup freshly squeezed lime or lemon juice 1 1/2 teaspoons Cajun Rub 1 cup plain [greek] yogurt 1/4 cup heavy cream, half and half, or milk 1/2 of a small onion, coarsely chopped 3 cloves garlic coarsely chopped 1 1″ piece of fresh ginger peeled and coarsely chopped 2 teaspoons chili powder 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin 1 teaspoon ground coriander 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric a few drops of red and orange food coloring [optional] 4 tablespoons butter melted thinly sliced red onions lime wedges sprigs of cilantro for serving | DIRECTIONS | Put the shrimp in a large resealable plastic bag. Combine the lime juice and Cajun Rub. Pour over the shrimp and refrigerate for 15 minutes. In the meantime, combine the yogurt, cream, onion, garlic, ginger, chili powder, cumin, coriander, and turmeric in an blender jar and process until the mixture is fairly smooth. Blend in a few drops of orange and red food coloring, if desired, to imitate the brilliant color of authentic tandoori….

Baked tortilla chips

Taco salads call for homemade (EASY) baked tortilla chips. They’re crunchy on the corners, a little chewy in the center, and can be flavored any way you want! My favorite- Mission-Artisan Style Tortillas- Corn and Whole Wheat Blend With a pizza cutter cut into triangles. Spray cookie sheet with Coconut oil spray and spray tortillas. Season with your favorite salt. I love to add Tajin or even a little lime juice or zest. Bake at a very high temp or broil for a few minutes and then turn over and re-season and broil other side.

Cobb Italiana Salad

Girlfriends, lunch, and a Diet Coke! Happy Friday ~Cobb Italiana – Romaine Treviso Mustard Green Arugula Pancetta Grilled Chicken Breast Avocado Ranui Farms Hard Cooked Egg Anchovy Aioli Gorgonzola Dolce Herb Crouton Grana Padano

Coconut Pancakes

I dream in food so when the thought of lemon curd and maple syrup came to me, I ran to the kitchen to make a big stack of coconut pancakes! Syrup- 2 parts maple syrup 1 part lemon curd (TJs has a great one) Combine and warm through Trader Joes Toasted Coconut pancakes- I added more water and 2 eggs to make them more of a crepe consistency. Stack and enjoy!

French Toast

Yum and YUM! I always have all kinds of nuts and coconut in my freezer. For this French toast, I combined toasted slivered almonds and coconut in my blender for 30 seconds or so. You don’t want a paste but you want it fine enough that it coats the bread. Prepare French toast as normal. Cut bread into strips and dip in egg mixture and then coconut almond mixture. Spray griddle well. You may have to sauté 3-4 sides of sticks or you can have your oven preheated to 400 and stick them in for 5 minutes at the end. I like sticking them in the oven so the family can all eat at one time. This worked well with uncut bread as well but my kids loved the sticks.

Hummus Salad dressing

My girlfriend had me over for lunch the other day and made a salad with the most delicious dressing! She is the queen of salads and mine never taste as good. I tripled the dressing recipe so I’d have it for the next couple of weeks. And really, I’d eat it by the spoonful! 1/3 cup sugar 2 tbsp sesame seeds 1 tbsp poppy seed 1 1/2 tsp minced onion (I added a lot more and used purple onion) 1/4 tsp Worcestershire 1/4 teaspoon paprika 1/2 c veg oil 1/4 c apple cider vinegar (I used red wine and I think that’s fine too) Salad- Butter lettuce and Spinach Grilled chicken from last night Strawberries blueberries blood orange segments orange segments Avocado Sliced almonds

Acai Bowls

Hosting a morning meeting, and wanted to keep it healthy and fresh. I hate sitting down to a meeting and feeding my face with doughnuts and muffins (because if its in front of me, I will!) Sambazon Superfruit packs are the easiest way to make Acai bowls at home. I’ve only found them at Whole Foods in the freezer section. Blend Sambazon pack with – 1/2 C Almond Coconut milk Handful of berries 1/2 banana Spinach Blend to desired consistency (It should be very thick, similar to ice cream.) Add your favorite toppings! Fruit, banana, granola, coconut…

Granola

You’ll want to eat this by the handful (and I did as I was mixing it!) This granola is more of an art then science. Add your favorite things or omit anything you don’t like. It last forever in a sealed container and is so addictive you’ll wish you made more. My husband and kids love it on yogurt or just to snack on. Rough recipe – I literally threw handfuls of my favorite things in. Combine: 11 C Quick cooking old-fashioned oats 3 C sliced almonds 2 C Flaxseed 1 C sunflower seeds 1 C pecan pieces or any other kind of nuts 2 C coconut flakes Dash of cinnamon Dash of salt In a sauce pan heat through 1-1 1/2 C oil 1 C honey 1/2-1 C brown sugar 1 -2 Tb vanilla extract The oil, honey, brown sugar mixture vary on what I making the granola for. For guests or special occasions I add more, for at home use I do a lot less so it’s healthier.

Think, Read, and Learn about Food!

A lot of people ask how I have gained my inspiration for cooking and how I can be creative without using recipes. The answer is that I think, read, and learn about food all the time! The more you read recipes, watch your favorite cooking shows, and pay attention to meals at your favorite restaurants YOU TOO can become more creative with the ingredients in your kitchen. Go off on a limb without a recipe this week! Try it out, it’s fun and will help you gain confidence in the kitchen.