Blackened Tilapia with Avocado Salsa

This whole dish is very quick and easy to make, mainly because the salsa is all raw and requires no cooking time - but also because fish cooks extremely fast.


I made this with a sweet potato hash, which is basically just cubed up sweet potatoes lightly fried (not deep fried). And the Avocado salsa has a number of different vegetables, which is nice because it's not only a "sauce" for the fish it's also the vegetable side. 

Ingredients:
2 filets of boneless skinless tilapia 
blackening spice* - as needed
1 avocado
1 red bell pepper
1 zucchini 
2 radishes
1/4 red onion
1/2 orange juiced
a few sprigs of cilantro
salt and pepper as needed
canola oil as needed
1 large sweet potato
To make: 
Sweet potato hash - cut sweet potato into little cubes and fry in non-stick pan with salt and pepper. Avocado - in a mixing bowl put diced bell pepper, diced zucchini, shaved radish, shaved onion, diced avocado, chopped cilantro and orange juice (you could add a little extra virgin olive oil too), salt and pepper and toss. Tilapia - Sprinkle blackening spice evenly over both sides of filet, put in preheated pan with oil and cook on both sides. Assemble dish together and enjoy! 


*Blackening seasoning usually consists of paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, thyme, basil, black pepper, cayenne pepper and oregano. It is usually used as a blend for fish, chicken, or seafood.

Curried Mung Beans

This is this first time I've cooked mung beans, but they were pretty simple to cook - basically like any other bean. I made a curry type dish with them using coconut milk, garam masala & curry powder. I served it with basmati rice and a yogurt sauce - I love to have yogurt type sauces with spicy dishes, it cools your palate off and helps to digest your food! 

Ingredients:

1 cup of mung beans

1 grated carrot

1 grated squash

1/2 cup of edamame beans (frozen)

1 onion or shallot

4 garlic cloves

1 pinch of grated ginger

2 Tablespoons of coconut flakes (non-sweetened)

1 can of coconut milk

1 Tablespoon of garam masala*

1 Tablespoon of curry powder

Salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed

To Make:

Soak beans the night before, strain off liquid and put fresh water in with beans in pot.. simmer on low heat till done-approx 30 min. In a large pan saute onion, carrot, galic, squash, ginger, coconut flakes. Then add garam masala, curry powder, coconut milk, cooked beans and edamame. Simmer altogether for about 10 mins or so, check for seasoning... ie salt or more curry powder etc... and serve.

*Garam masala is a popular indian spice blend that usually includes these ground up spices...

black & white peppercorns

cloves

malabar leaves

mace blades

black & white cumin seeds

black, brown & green cardamom pods

nutmeg

star anise

coriander seeds

Quinoa Fried "Rice"

Instead of using rice for "fried rice" I substituted quinoa. Quinoa is pronounced "keenwah" in case you were wondering, or you can start a new trend by just pronouncing it as it sounds. ;) It turned out quite good, and quinoa is like crazy healthy. It's becoming more well known now which is great - because it's so incredibly good for you. You can usually find it in the loose dry goods section and buy it by the the lb or whatever amount you like. If not you should be able to buy it boxed in the pasta - rice type aisle at your grocery store. 

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
1/2 cup of quinoa
1 cup of water
1/2 head of broccoli 
Handful of mushrooms (any kind will do)
1 carrot
5 radishes
1/2 onion
3 garlic cloves
1 Tablespoon of ginger
1 egg
Cilantro and green onions to garnish
1 Table spoon of sesame seeds 
soy sauce - to your taste
fish sauce - to your taste
mae ploy - to your taste
Salt and pepper as needed
Canola or sesame oil as needed
To make:
Cook chicken breasts. To cook quinoa, combine water and quinoa, a drizzle of olive oil and salt - bring to a boil then turn down very low and cook for about 15 mins or until all water is absorbed into quinoa. Quinoa is always a 2-1 ratio... water 2 and quinoa 1. In a very large saute pan or wok saute onions and mushrooms together, then add garlic and ginger, next broccoli, carrots, and radishes. Don't cook too long, as you want a nice crunch still. Now it's time to assemble everything: add chopped up cooked chicken to vegetables in pan and 1 scrambled egg and quickly stir everything to combine the egg well. Next add in soy sauce, mae ploy, fish sauce and lastly cooked quinoa. Just flash everything quickly in pan because the quinoa will get mushy if left on the heat too long. Now garnish with sesame seeds, cilantro and green onions. You could even add some chopped peanuts, I didn't have any on hand or I would have. 

Homemade Ginger ale

It's always lovely to have some homemade ginger ale in your fridge, especially in the summer. You can drink it as is... or make a great cocktail with it. And you can this technique for other flavors too. 

You will need:

1 cup sugar
2 Tablespoons freshly grated ginger root 
juice of one lemon
1/4 tsp baker's yeast
2 Liters cold fresh spring or filtered water
Plastic bottle with twist off lid
To make:
Put sugar, and yeast in bottle, add ginger, lemon juice, and water. Shake well. Now leave bottle out in a warm place in your house for 48 hours, refrigerate - strain and enjoy. 

Quick Fridge English Cucumber Pickles

                             Quick Fridge English Cucumber Pickles

I love these pickles! They go very well with basically any kind of BBQ meat, cured meats, cheese, sandwiches, burgers, or just eat them by themselves. They are sweet, salty and tangy. English cucumbers have very small seeds, and the skin is much thinner than most cucumbers. I sliced the cucumber very thin using a mandolin. 

Ingredients:

1 English cucumber

1 cup of red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar

1 1/2 cup of water

2 Tablespoons of sugar

2 teaspoons of kosher salt or pickling salt

a pinch of chili flakes (optional)

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds (optional)

1 large jar

To make:

Bring vinegar, water, sugar, salt, chili flakes, mustard seeds to a boil in a pot, turn down to a simmer and let it go for about 5 mins. Taste the pickling liquid, you may want it sweeter or saltier depending on your taste. Turn off and let water cool down, you can add luke warm liquid to sliced cucumbers. Once completely cold, put in jar and refrigerate. Your pickles will be ready for eating in 24 hours. Use within a month. Trust me though...they will go fast, these little pickles are pretty addicting. 

Crispy Potatoes & Squash and Red Bean Lettuce Wraps

Crispy Potatoes, Squash and Red Bean Lettuce Wraps with Chipotle Mayo

Ingredients:
2 large russet potatoes
1 squash
1 cup of cooked red beans
1 carrot
1 celery stalk
1 shallot (or onion)
4 garlic cloves
a few sprigs of fresh oregano
Iceberg Lettuce
Tumeric 1 teaspoon
Cumin 1 Tablespoon
Paprika 1 teaspoon
Salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup of mayo
1 canned chipotle (in adobe sauce), you could use fresh as well
1 Tablespoon of red wine vinegar

To make: cut potatoes up into little cubes and fry in a non-stick pan with canola, once pretty much done add thinly sliced squash, tumeric, oregano, s&p and cook squash. This is what is should look like when done.

 For beans: Saute carrots, celery, shallot, garlic, add cooked red beans, cumin, paprika, s&p. Chipotle mayo: put mayo, 1 garlic clove, 1 chipotle, red wine vinegar in a blender and blend well into a sauce. Now assemble your lettuce wraps: lettuce, beans on bottom, potatoes and squash, drizzle chipotle mayo.

My favorite Spaghetti and Meat Sauce

Everyone loves spaghetti even children, it's just one of those totally comforting and delicious things to eat. Most of us ate it growing up and everyone has their own version of how they like to make it. This is something my mom made quite often as a child, and it was definitly one of her winning dishes - and for an embarassing amount of time I just could NOT pronounce the word "spaghetti" as my siblings will still tell anyone who will listen. This is my version, and hopefully one day my son will have fond memories of eating it. It doesn't look that pretty in the picture here, but trust me it was so good. 

Ingredients:

1 lb ground chuck 

1 yellow onion (diced)

1 celery stalk (diced)

1 carrot (diced)

Handful of button mushrooms (chopped)

5 garlic cloves (finely minced)

2 cups of red wine

1 teaspoon of sugar

1 beef bullion

A few sprigs of fresh basil (chiffonade) and fresh oregano

1 can of crushed tomatoes

Red chili flakes as needed

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Olive oil

1 lb of spaghetti

To make:

Get a large pot of water going for pasta, once on a rolling boil add salt. In a large heavy saute pan add a generous amount of olive oil (don't be shy), and onions, celery, carrots (this combination is called "mirepoix"), after it's cooked down a bit add in your ground beef, once it's pretty much browned throw in mushrooms, garlic, oregano, chili flakes, bullion. Make sure you are salting food as you go, so it cooks in with your food. Pour in red wine and reduce till there is barely any liquid left (this is called "au sec"). Next add can of crushed tomatoes, add teaspoon of sugar. Simmer sauce for about 20 mins, stirring every so often. Add basil to meat sauce when done. Cook pasta to al dente, (I like to use tongs to stir pasta around while it's cooking) drain pasta - throw back into pot and drizzle in some olive oil, mixing well so pasta doesn't stick. Add most of meat sauce to pasta leaving a little to put on top of pasta when you plate it.  And viola, it's done. I like to add a lot of chili and garlic to mine, love it spicy.

Broccoli Salad

Broccoli Salad
A quick easy little vegetable side dish and very healthy. Blanched broccoli with cherry tomatoes, garlic, lemon juice,extra virgin olive oil, chili flakes, sun flower seeds, salt & pepper. You could leave the broccoli raw, but I blanched it very quickly just to get the raw taste out. You could add some kind of cheese to this like feta or shaved parmesan (because cheese makes everything better), but I did it without and it was really nice - plus better for the ole waistline. 

Ingredients: 
1 large head of broccoli
a handful of halved cherry or grape tomatoes
1/2 lemon juiced
extra virgin olive oil as needed
1 clove of garlic (minced)
pinch of chili flakes
1 Tablespoon or so of sunflower seeds
salt and freshly ground black pepper as needed
To make:
Blanch* broccoli very quickly then cut up into bite sized pieces and add to bowl, add tomatoes, garlic, chili flakes, lemon,extra virgin olive oil, sunflower seeds, s & p. Toss well and adjust seasonings to your taste. Enjoy. 

*To blanch means to put vegetable etc... in boiling salted water just for a brief period of time, and then putting in iced water to stop the cooking process. In this case I didn't put the broccoli in ice water as I was serving the dish right away.

Crock pot chicken with pickled mango chutney

This is actually the first time I've ever used a crock pot. Handy little things aren't they?!! When I think of crock pot food I usually think of Betty crocker/ hamburger helper type food. :( However your dusty old crock pot can be quite a useful little tool. I cooked my chicken in it from a frozen state... as I didn't plan ahead and defrost it the night before - it came out quite nicely and shredded perfectly, not dry either...at all. Once the chicken was cooked I shredded it, put it back in the crock pot and added the pickled mango chutney* with some chickpeas and some of the flavored chicken cooking liquid. I cooked it a little while longer for the chicken to absorb all of that flavor. I made chicken pitas with the shredded chicken, pickled mango chutney, and a cucumber yogurt sauce.

Ingredients:
4 medium sized chicken thighs
1 cup of water
1/2 chicken bullion (or substitute water and bullion for stock)
1/2 onion chopped
Salt and pepper as needed
1/4 cup pickled mango chutney* (it is spicy)
small handful of chopped cilantro
a few mint sprigs chopped
1 cup of plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber
1 small carrot (grated)
1 garlic clove
1/2 lemon juiced
To make:
Put onion, chicken, water, bullion, salt and pepper (be careful with salt - mango chutney is fairly salty), 3 Tablespoons pickled mango chutney, add chickpeas if raw - if cooked just add to chicken when cooked. Turn on high for an hour then turn down to low and cook for an additional 2 hours. Shred chicken and add the rest of the mango chutney and let go for about a 1/2 hour.
Yogurt Sauce:
In a mixing bowl add yogurt, chopped cucumber, shredded carrots, garlic, cilantro, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper as needed.
You can use pita bread, or tortillas, naan, or any kind of flat bread. Enjoy!
*Pickled mango chutney is definitely an acquired taste! It's very common and popular condiment in Indian cuisine. The flavor is spicy, sweet, and tart. I personally love it. You can find this at most ethnic type grocery stores. However you may want to taste first before adding.

Coconut milk and Curry soup with Tofu

I know I've been posting quite a few recipes with tofu lately, but as I mentioned in one of my earlier blogs we are trying to eat lighter. But I DO know how to make other things too. ;)

Ingredients:
1 can of coconut milk
3 cups of whey*
1 package of soft tofu
2 celery stalks
2 shallots
2 carrots (grated)
3 cloves of garlic
1 Tablespoon of ginger
1/2 cup edamame (I used frozen)
3 green onions
handful of cilantro
Canola as needed
2 Tablespoons of curry powder
1 Tablespoon of fish sauce
2 Tablespoon of Mae ploy sweet chili sauce**
1 Jalapeno
Salt as needed
 To make:
Saute shallots and celery, then add garlic, ginger, jalapeno, and carrots. Pour in whey and coconut milk, tofu, curry powder, mae ploy, fish sauce. Simmer and let all ingredients blend together... (adding more curry powder, chili sauce, or fish sauce etc as you like). Throw in edamame till unfrozen (won't take long). And garnish with green onions and cilantro. You could even add some coconut flakes too, I just didn't have any on hand - but it would have worked too.
I served the soup with a little scoop of plain basmati rice on top.

*Whey comes as a byproduct of making... Cheese! When cream is processed while making cheese, it separates out into two parts - the curd portion is used further in making the cheese, while the leftovers are called whey. This whey leftover can be used in a number of ways, including making other kinds of cheese, soups, stews, sauces etc.. We made some mozzarella the other day and had some whey hanging around. I hate to be wasteful so I used it in my soup.

**Mae ploy is sweet and slightly hot chili sauce popular in Malaysia and Singapore. Made from a blend of selected red chilies and plum. It's a pretty standard condiment, like sriracha - and very easy to find in most grocery stores.

Whole Smoked BBQ Chicken

This an amazing way to cook chicken, it's so incredibly tender and juicy (I hate that word :/ but seriously it is JUICY)- and the smoked flavor is lovely. I'm not a huge fan of smoking things, a lot of people tend to go overboard with the whole smoking thing, but with the chicken it's just perfect. My amazing hubby Adam came up with this, he is actually a really good cook. Sometimes it's nice to sit back and have someone cook for me for a change. :) We made little sandwiches with the chicken, and added pickled jalapenos and sliced onions a little homemade BBQ sauce. PERFECT! And there a million other ways you could serve the chicken. Look at this bird!!!

To make:
Build a small charcoal bed on one end of grill, once coals have ashed over add wet wood smoking chunks onto coals (we used hickory wood). Place whole chicken on opposite end of grill (not over coals), and leave for approx 3 hours until chicken is cooked. Check with a thermometer on thickest part of chicken, should be 165 degrees. Skin will get very dark, so don't be alarmed... unless your chicken is on fire - then be alarmed. Let chicken rest about 20 mins or so before cutting into it. Next time I think we'll brine the chicken with salt and lemons for about 30 mins, I think that will be the way to go... but it's still really really good as is.

I made a little chickpea and tomato salad to go with our sandwiches.

Mongolian Beef

This is a pretty typical dish you see at most Chinese restaurants here. Nothing new... but I seriously forgot how good it is. I decided to make it the other day for lunch. It's quite easy and doesn't take much time at all. I served it with rice - you could however do it with ramen and make a yakisoba type thing which would be really good too.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons vegetable oil
½ teaspoon ginger
1 tablespoon garlic
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup water
¾ cup dark brown sugar
vegetable oil , for frying (about 1 cup)
1 lb flank steak
¼ cup cornstarch
2 large green onions
1 cup mushrooms (button, shitake... or whatever's in season)
To make:
For sauce - saute minced garlic and ginger in oil (don't brown) on low heat, then add soy sauce, water and sugar bring to a low boil - turn down a little and let sauce thicken (you want it to coat the back of a spoon). Meanwhile slice flank in thin strips against the grain and coat each piece with cornstarch (season cornstarch with a little salt and pepper, but be careful - as your soy based sauce is very salty) let coated beef sit for about 15 min. Fry beef in oil, it will cook fast so don't let it go too long. Remove beef with a slotted spoon and rest it over paper towels to absorb excess oil. Saute mushrooms first then add green onions, add beef and sauce to pan and you are done. Enjoy.
*you can add chili flakes, fresh chilies, jalapenos etc... if you like it spicy.

Roasted red pepper Hummus 


This is actually Adam's recipe for hummus or as my mom likes to say "Hume-is", he loves it and makes it quite often. You can have it plain or add extra garlic, chipotle, herbs, etc... And it's way way cheaper to make your own at home, they charge $4 plus for a little dinky container at most grocery stores.  You can make some little oven baked pita chips or like we did tortilla chips.

Ingredients:
2 cups of chickpeas/garbanzos*
1 roasted red pepper
5 cloves of garlic
2 lemons juiced
2 Tablespoons tahini
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 Tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons of cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
To make:
Roast red bell pepper either stove top over an open flame or in the oven, peel skin and deseed. Put everything in a food processor except olive oil, blend ingredients well and then slowly pour in olive oil to emulsify. You can also use a stick blender.

*I used dry garbanzos and cooked them, you can also use canned... dry is always going to be cheaper and healthier though.

Shepard's Pie

I absolutely LOVE this dish! We had it growing up in England all the time. It's so heart warming and comforting especially when it's cold outside. It's an all in one meal which I love too because it means less dishes for me. This is comfort food at it's finest.

Ingredients:
1 lb ground lamb (you could use beef or a mixture of both)
4 russet potatoes
1 yellow onion
1 celery stock
4 carrots
7-8 button mushrooms
2 garlic cloves
1/2 cup green peas (frozen or fresh)
1 cup beef stock (or bullion)
Worcestershire as needed
1/2 cup red wine
2 Tablespoons of butter
2 Tablespoons of sour cream
1/4 cup heavy cream (or half & half, milk)
1 handful of grated sharp white cheddar
1 Tablespoon of Parmesan (pecorino, or Romano)
S & P as needed

To make:
Put potatoes on to cook. Once done make into mash potatoes, adding butter, sour cream, heavy cream and salt and pepper. In a large saute pan brown lamb, set lamb aside and start sauteing diced onions, carrots, celery & mushrooms. Once translucent add garlic. Pour wine into pan and reduce until liquid in almost all gone, then add stock and lamb back into pan. Once stock has reduced a bit and you have a nice consistency (not too watery but saucy enough), add peas, Worcestershire and season with S & P to your liking. In a large enough oven dish pour meat mixture on bottom, then carefully layer potatoes over meat evenly and smoothly. Sprinkle both cheeses over potatoes. Broil in oven until cheese in melted and starting to brown a bit.

Garlic marinated Tofu and whole wheat Pasta Salad

I usually always incorporate tofu into Asian type recipes because that's what I'm used to and what I know.. The other day I was thinking I should really try and use it in other varieties of cuisines and ways of cooking. Tofu doesn't have a whole lot of taste on it's own, it's great carrier for whatever type of flavor profile your dish has. This is my take on a great classic pasta salad. You can make this a day or two ahead of time, and it will keep fantastically well... in fact it will probably be even better with all the flavors marinating. Great to take on a picnic or bring as a side dish. I used whole wheat pasta because it's so much healthier, and with the tofu instead of cheese this recipe is VERY low fat and healthy!!!

Ingredients:

1 box whole wheat pasta

1 package of hard tofu*

1/2 cucumber

1 carrot

4 garlic cloves

8 green olives

1 medium tomato

1/4 red onion

2 green onions

1 bell pepper (any color will work)

6 sprigs of flat leaf parsley

pinch of chili flakes

1 jalapeno

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

@ 2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar

Salt and pepper to taste

To make:

Marinate tofu in olive oil, chopped garlic, chili flakes a couple hours ahead of time. Add in all over ingredients (all diced medium) including pasta that has been cooked (no need to chill pasta, toss in with other ingredients and will give your salad a nice warm temperature), toss well. Taste adjust seasonings (oil or vinegar, spiciness etc) as needed. 

*Hard tofu is great for this type of use, or if you would be frying etc... it's harder texture is better in this type of thing because it doesn't fall apart like soft tofu would. And soft tofu is great in soups.

Foodbeautifulfood: Roasted Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad This is ...

Foodbeautifulfood: Roasted Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad
This is ...: Roasted Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad This is a different way to enjoy brussels sprouts, we mainly see them in roasted heavier dish...

Roasted Brussels Sprout and Arugula Salad

This is a different way to enjoy brussels sprouts, we mainly see them in roasted heavier dishes which are great too... but this is nice especially on a warm day. This salad is very easy to put together in no time, and you can use whatever fresh vegetables you have sitting in your fridge. 

Ingredients: 

2 large handfulls of arugula 

10-15 brussels sprouts

1/2 cup of cherry tomatoes

2 Tablespoons of almonds

2 Tablespoons of gorgonzola 

1/2 cup evoo

1/4 balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove

Salt & pepper as needed

To make: Pull brussels sprout leaves apart and lay flat on a baking sheet drizzle olive oil and s&p over and roast. Leaves should be turning brown on the edges, once done cool leaves. In a bowl toss arugula, brussels sprouts, tomatoes (halved or quartered), almonds, gorgonzola. 

Dressing: chop garlic and add vinegar and oil, mix well with either a fork or stick blender. Pour dressing over salad and toss well. Enjoy! 

Roasted Chicken with green olives and preserved lemons

This is my take on a classic Moroccan dish which my good pal Imane introduced me to. She loves ALL things Moroccan and made a trip there a couple years back and fell in love with the amazing food, exotic spices, and culture. She so kindly brought me back a tajine which is a clay vessel to cook with, you place on top of your stove and keep on low heat for a long period of time. The beauty of this thing is everything is so tender and nothing dries out as all the flavor is trapped inside. It's kinda like a much better version of a crockpot... kinda. 

My version is just done in a pan in the oven so all of you can try this too tajine or no tajine. 

Ingredients;

Chicken thighs or breasts

15 olives

1 preserved lemon

1 yellow onion

2 garlic cloves 

1 celery stalk

Parsley

Cilantro

White wine

Tumeric, cumin, ground ginger, cinnamon

Olive oil

S&P

Marinate chicken with spices and o.oil overnight. In a heavy saute pan sear chicken take out and put in a roasting dish with olives, onions, celery, garlic, preserved lemon, white wine, cilantro & parsley. Once chicken is done place chicken on side to rest. To make a sauce blend up all the other ingredients leaving a few olives for garnish. Add some fresh parsley & cilantro. This will go great with couscous, potatoes, or saffron rice. Happy eatings! 

Red wine Lentils

Lentils are an extremely cheap and healthy and do not require as much cooking time as most other legumes. You can serve them in many different ways from a beautiful classic french lentil salad, to a hearty curry-esque type dish served with rice, or even a soup.

Here's a basic preparation of lentils. I've included step by step pictures. Enjoy!

1. Saute onions, celery, carrots & bacon. Then add Garlic.

2. Once everything is sauteed, add your lentils and & saute for a bit then pour about a cup of red wine. Cook until all the wine has evaporated.

At this point you can either add some kind of stock (vegetable, chicken) or just water. Put enough liquid to cover lentils... not too much though, they do not require as much liquid to cook as beans. Bring to a boil then put on low & simmer with lid on. Should take around 20-30 min. Give them a stir every so often and check with a taste. Lentils should have a slight bite to them, unless you like them mushy. Once cooked check for seasoning you could also add some fresh herbs too. Serve and happy lentil eating!