Rocket Lettuce Salad

When Mother's Day rolled around this year, my mom decided she wanted to have a cookout at her house with my brother and myself. It being Mother's Day and all, my brother and I decided to divide and conquer on preparing the food. My mom was always good about preparing well balanced meals for us growing up, so we'd always have a protein, veggie, a starch, and salad, and we adhere by that today when preparing holiday meals. Naturally, my brother was in charge of the meat (spinach stuffed roast encrusted with spicy horseradish cheese - he's such a good cook!), and the veggie as well (marinated Portobello mushrooms), and I was in charge of the starch (tortellini cheese bake), dessert (orange poppy seed cake), and the salad. I figured I would use this opportunity to do a blog post on one of these dishes and I chose the salad.

 

This recipe was inspired by two recipes I found on Pinterest. One was a grilled veggie salad, and the other was a grilled citrus salad. I decided to combine the basic ideas into one salad and voila! This recipe was born!

 

I'm in love with arugula right now. It is so fantastic. It's spicy, fresh tasting, and good for you. What more can you ask out of a lettuce?! Rachael Ray would tell you that the name "arugula" actually means "rocket lettuce" in Italian, and it was given that name due to its spicy flavor. Interesting, right? Because I love arugula so much, I decided it would be the most appropriate base for this salad. The orange, zucchini, almonds, and dressing complement it so well, I think you're really going to dig it.

 

A few notes: If you don't have a gas or charcoal grill, no problem. The first time I made this salad, I made it at home on my stovetop grill pan and it was just as delish. I was at my mom's house when making it this time, and she's lucky enough to have an outdoor grill, so I made use of it.

 

This is an arranged salad, so you will notice that all of the ingredients are layered on top of each other instead of being tossed together. If you prefer to toss, go right ahead! It won't ruin the flavor, it would only enhance it.

 

Lastly, I forgot my DSLR at home, so I was forced to use my point and shoot camera to take these photos. Please forgive the picture quality in this post.

 

Alright, let's get cookin'!

 

Arugula Salad with Grilled Zucchini & Citrus

 

Ingredients:

 

Salad

1/2 zucchini

1 naval orange, peeled

2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

Pinch each of salt & pepper

3 tablespoons slivered almonds

3 cups baby arugula

3 tablespoons feta cheese, crumbled

 

Dressing

1 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard

2 tablespoons EVOO

Juice of 1/2 lemon

 

Preheat your grill to medium heat.

 

To begin, stand your zucchini on end and cut down length-wise into thin slices, like this: 

 Continue until you have sliced through the entire thing.

Place the zucchini strips on a dish and drizzle with one tablespoon of EVOO.

Next, cut your peeled orange into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place the rounds on a plate and drizzle with one tablespoon EVOO. Sprinkle with salt & pepper.

Lay all of your fruit & veggie slices on your preheated grill. Flip them over after about two-three minutes.

Remove your fruit & veggies from the grill and place them on a clean plate.

Next, you're going to start toasting your almonds. Place the almonds in a pan over medium low heat. 

Let them cook while you arrange the rest of your salad, turning them over in the pan every minute or so. You don't want them to burn!

 

To arrange your salad, start with the arugula. Spread the baby leaves on your serving platter.

Next, add the zucchini strips. Make sure they are somewhat evenly distributed over the lettuce.

Add your orange rounds down the center of the salad, on top of the zuchinni.

Next, sprinkle the feta cheese over the entire salad.

Your almonds are probably nice and toasted by this point. They should have some nice color to them.

Remove the almonds from the heat and sprinkle them over your salad.

Last, make your dressing. Add the Dijon mustard and lemon juice to a small bowl. With one hand, slowly drizzle in the EVOO and with the other hand, whisk the concoction with a fork, until you have a combined dressing consistency.

Pour the dressing over the entire salad.

 

Serve immediately. Salute!

Breakfast for Dinner







One of my favorite treats as a kid was having breakfast for dinner. I was introduced to such a notion by my childhood babysitter, Phyllis. She made the *best* pancakes and would bake up some crispy hash browns, like the ones at McDonald's, and serve them to me and her kids for dinner. We never did this at my house, so I always looked forward to BFD nights at Phyllis'. As fate would have it, my boyfriend also has fond memories of breakfast for dinner nights at his house growing up. When I want to do something special for both of us, breakfast for dinner always comes to mind.

 

With my new healthful eating regimen, I wanted to find a way to do BFD in a healthy way. To me - oatmeal & smoothies are morning food (unless you're drinking a dessert smoothie!), and while those are definitely healthy versions of breakfast, I wanted to do something more traditional and hardy, that would be in line with what I would usually make for BFD night. Usually I make home fries, scrambled eggs, bacon (fakon for moi), and French toast. I used those dishes for the basis of my brainstorming and came up with a fresh, healthy way to do Breakfast for Dinner.

 

I substituted sweet potatoes for red potatoes in my home fries because they offer way more health benefits, but kept the other usual suspects: bell peppers. Sweet potatoes tend to be a little... well... sweet. I still wanted that savory taste so I decided to kick up the flavor by adding some hot sauce. I put hot sauce on my home fries before I eat them anyways, so why not add it to the cooking process?

 

Instead of scrambled eggs, I did an omelet. An all egg whites omelet, so it would be healthier. I'm not a huge fan of eggs in general so I always have to do something extra special to them that masks the flavor of the actual eggs. (Yes, I am one of *those* people who puts ketchup on my eggs. Oh the shame!) One of my favorite omelets is the Spanish omelet, so I decided that would be the perfect recipe to make for BFD. I used light oil to cook the potatoes, and sliced those babies thin so I would have the flavor and texture of a Spanish omelet, with minimum starch. This omelet turned out SO well, I didn't add even a drop of ketchup! Now that is saying something...

 

As usual I had my little sous-sous chef in the kitchen with me. Do you like her new, warm weather haircut?

 

 

Since I knew I would be cooking with sweet potatoes, I couldn't resist whipping something up to satisfy her little sweet tooth. I picked up a small sweet potato just for Milli and made her some puppy dessert. The recipe is at the end of the post :-)

 

Let's get cookin'!

 

Sweet Potato Home Fries

Servings: 4

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 25 minutes

 



Ingredients:



2 large sweet potatoes, skinned and chopped into cubes
1 teaspoon light extra virgin olive oil
1 green bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1 red bell pepper, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 teaspoons tobasco sauce
1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Place the sweet potato cubes on a nonstick baking sheet. Drizzle them with the light olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt. Toss to coat the potatoes in the oil & salt. Arrange them so they are in an even layer on the baking sheet.

 

Place the baking sheet in the oven for ten minutes. Stir halfway through the cooking time. 

After ten minutes, remove the potatoes from the oven.

Place the peppers and sweet potatoes in a mixing bowl. Pour the hot sauce, the remainder of salt, and the FCBP over the veggies and toss.

Spread the veggies onto your baking sheet in an even layer. Place in the oven to bake.

 

Cook them until all of the veggies are soft and the potatoes are crispy, about 15 minutes.

 

Remove from the oven. Serve immediately.

 

Spanish White Omelet

Servings: 1-2

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking time: 20 minutes

 

Ingredients:

1/2 white potato, sliced thin

1/2 yellow onion, sliced into quarter inch rings

1 teaspoon light extra virgin olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 1/2 teaspoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

6 eggs, whites only

1 teaspoon grainy Dijon mustard

1 cup baby arugula leaves

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

 

Heat the olive oil in a nonstick sauté pan over medium heat.

 

Add the potato slices.

 

 Cook the potatoes on the first side for about five minutes, then flip them over.

 Sprinkle the potato slices with 1/4 teaspoon salt & 1/4 teaspoon FCBP.

 Remove the potato slices from the pan and set aside.

Add the onion rings to the pan and sauté until slightly softened, about five minutes.

While the onions are softening, prepare your egg mixture.

Place six egg whites in a small bowl.  Add in the mustard, 1/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon FCBP.

 

Whisk with a fork to combine all of the ingredients.

 

 

 Add the potatoes to the pan, on top of the onions.

Pour the egg white mixture on top of the onion and potatoes.

Cook for about five minutes, allowing the eggs to set up.

 

Use a spatula to gently lift the corner of the omelet, slide the spatula under the edge to the center of the omelet, and quickly flip over the omelet..

 



(So proud of myself that I did this without breaking the omelet or creating a mess!)

 

Cook the second side only three minutes.

 

Remove the omelet from the pan by using a spatula to gently slide it out and onto a cutting board.

 



 



The bottom will be slightly browned, as you can see.

If you're sharing this omelet with someone, cut it in half down the center. If you're not sharing, you can leave it whole.

Place the arugula leaves in a small bowl and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar.  Toss.

Place the omelet on your serving dish and top with a fork full of arugula. Serve alongside your sweet potato hash and a small bowl of fresh berries drizzled with honey, and you have the perfect, healthful breakfast for dinner! Salute!

Milli's Mash
Servings: A lot! for a puppy or 2 for humans
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:
1 small sweet potato, skinned & cut into cubes
1/2 teaspoon honey

Place a medium sized sauce pan filled 3/4 of the way with water on the stove. Add the sweet potato cubes.

Bring the water to a boil and let the sweet potatoes cook until softened, about 15 minutes.

Drain the water from the sweet potatoes and let them cool for about five minutes.

Place the potatoes in a small bowl and mash them with the back of a fork.

 

Drizzle in the honey and stir to mix.

 



 

 

Feed it to your puppy by the spoonful! And you will have one happy, satisfied pup :-)

 

 (She always looks so sad in pics! But trust me, she was thrilled after eating this haha)

Cinco de Shrimp-o

I LOVE Mexican food! Being a vegetarian, I am a fan of "ethnic" food in general, because many of those cuisines have a wide variety of tasty and interesting vegetarian dishes, and Mexican is no exception. Since I love Mexican food so much, I wanted to make sure I celebrated Cinco de Mayo this year... by way of food. I am actually having people over this weekend, but I decided to start celebrating a little early and made these shrimp quesadillas for my boyfriend last night.

 

I have been making shrimp tacos for years, using a hybrid of two recipes I saw on Food Network's Boy Meets Grill with Bobby Flay. He was making tuna salad sandwiches and grilled shrimp. The sauce from the tuna salad sounded so delicious, I decided to make it into a drizzle for the shrimp tacos. The first time I made it, I accidentally added the onion to the sauce because I misread the recipe, but it turned out really well, so I decided to keep that little mistake the other times I made it. So, full disclosure, the sauce recipe isn't really mine, it's Bobby Flay's. You can make it his way or my way, either way it will be delish!

 

Like I said, I have been making those shrimp tacos for years, so I wanted to try something different instead of making the same ol' thing. I wanted to use the sauce because I love it so much, and I liked the idea of the shrimp, so I turned it all on its head and decided to make quesadillas.

 

I like a little crunch with my quesadilla, so I had the idea to top it with a green cabbage slaw. That idea was inspired by fish tacos my friend Alexis' dad serves every year for her birthday. I fancied it up a little and it turned out really, really well (or so my boyfriend kept telling me!). Every Mexican dish needs a good salsa, and I thought a fruit salsa would go nicely with the flavors I have going on in this quesadilla.

 

I am really proud of this recipe because the end result turned out to be really delicious and refreshing. If you're having a Cinco de Mayo party this weekend, this would be the perfect recipe for you to serve to your quests and they will love you for it! I was thinking you could even chop the quesadillas into one inch by one inch squares instead of large wedges, top each square with a little slaw, salsa, and stick a tooth pick through the center. Then set out the sauce for dipping and you have party-friendly bite-size appetizers.

 

With all of that said, let's get cookin'!

 

 

Ingredients:

 

Sauce

1/4 cup lemon juice (about juice of one lemon)

1/4 teaspoon lemon zest

1/2 cup mayo

1/4 habanero pepper, seeds removed

1 tablespoon chopped red onion

 

Place a small sauce pan on the stove over medium heat.  Pour the 1/4 cup of lemon juice into the pot along with the 1/4 teaspoon lemon zest.

 

 

Bring to a boil and let reduce slightly.  Remove from heat after about three minutes.  Let cool.

 

Place the habanero, red onion, and mayo in your food processor. When the lemon sauce has cooled, add it to the processor.

 

Turn the food processor on and let it chop and combine all of the ingredients until they make a smooth sauce.

 

Set aside or refrigerate until you are ready to serve it with the quesadillas.

 

Salsa

Juice of half a lime

1 cup diced mango (I was able to make one cup diced mango from the flesh of one mango)

3/4 cup diced cucumber

1 tablespoon diced red onion

1/4 teaspoon salt

 

Combine mango, cucumber, and red onion in a small bowl.  Pour the lime juice over fruit & veggies, and sprinkle with salt. Stir to combine.

 

 

Refrigerate until you are ready to top your quesadillas.

 

Slaw

1/3 green cabbage, shredded

Juice of one lime

1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

Place the cabbage in a medium sized mixing bowl, and drizzle the lemon juice over it. Sprinkle with the salt and cilantro.  Stir to combine.

 

 

Place the bowl in the refrigerator to let the cabbage macerate and soften while you make the quesadillas.

 

Quesadillas

Half a dozen large shrimp - peeled, deveined, tail off

1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper (FCBP)

Juice of half a lime

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)

3 large burrito sized flour tortillas

1/2 cup queso fresco, crumbled

1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese

1 teaspoons chopped fresh cilantro

 

Set a large cast iron skillet on the stove over medium-high heat. Drizzle in the EVOO.

 

 

Place the shrimp in a small mixing bowl and pour the lime juice on them.  Sprinkle with the one tablespoon of FCBP. Toss to evenly coat the shrimp in the lime juice & pepper.

 

Pour the shrimp into the heated cast iron skillet. 

 

Let them cook until they are firm and pink.

 

Remove them from the pan and place them on your cutting board. Rinse out the cast iron skillet immediately because you are going to use that to cook your quesadillas. Place the skillet back on the heat.

 

Chop the shrimp into small, bite size pieces.

 

Lay out a tortilla on a dinner plate. Sprinkle a third of the queso fresco onto half of the tortilla.

 

 

Then layer a third of your shrimp on top of the queso fresco.

 

 

Next, sprinkle a third of the cilantro over the shrimp.

 

 

Last, distribute a third of the Monterey jack cheese over the shrimp.

 

 

Fold over the empty side of the tortilla.

 

 

Use a spatula to gently transfer the quesadilla from the plate into the skillet.  (Your skillet should be over medium-high heat from cooking the shrimp.)

 

Press down on the top of the tortilla with your spatula.

 

Let the it cook on the first side for about one minute.  Use the spatula to carefully flip over the quesadilla to cook on the other side.

 

 

Cook on the second side for one minute.

 

Remove the quesadilla from the skillet and place on your cutting board. Repeat this process two more times so that you will have three total quesadillas.

 

Slice each quesadilla into three or four even wedges.

 

Place a few slices onto your dinner plate. 

 

Top with the one or two teaspoons of the slaw.

 

 

Add a teaspoon or two of salsa on top of the slaw.

 

 

 

Last, drizzle with a teaspoon of the lemon habanero sauce.

 

 

 

Serve along side some Mexican rice and black beans, sip on a margarita, and poof! Cinco de Shrimp-o  ;-)

 

 

Salute!