Grilled Mahi Mahi w/ Olive & Shallot Tapenade
Since I have come home from Africa, I have had a serious case of the travel flu. I’m sure many of you had come down with this bug at some point in your life. You know that feeling when all you can think about is traveling and you would just love to get out and explore, just be anywhere but here. Well this time it has hit me hard. I have been planning my around the world trip for two and a half years from now. I have also been trying to squeeze some sort of trip in for the meantime.
Garlic Roasted Asparagus w/ Poached Egg & Food Photography Insight
As many of you know, the world of food blogging is huge. How can you follow all the good food blogs there are? The answer is you can’t, there are just too many! So this brings up the crucial question- how do you get people to read and follow your own blog when you are just a tiny ant in the food blogging universe? Maybe the answer is in the recipes; but what kind will people want to read- healthy, hearty, easy, quick, gourmet? Or maybe the answer is in the writing; maybe your witty sense of humor or helpful information will win you followers. Personally, I think these two things are important, but every food blog reader has different tastes and personalities. You can never meet everybody’s standards. You need to be yourself and post what you want, and the way to still gain followers when doing this? I believe it’s all in the photos.
Baked Shrimp w/ Tomatoes
This week the weather has gotten nicer and it is starting to feel a bit more like summer, finally! The sunshine and warm weather has caused a shift in my food cravings; I’m sure many of you experience the same thing each season. For me, warm weather makes me crave light food and summery flavors, such as citrus.
These individual dishes are light, and not to mention kind of cute! They are great for a dinner party. It does not take long to make and the individual gratins make serving much easier. This recipe is very light and healthy, perfect for summer. The balsamic vinegar gives a great tangy kick to the dish as well. I also baked some extra tomato slices to drizzle with balsamic and serve with the dish. These go great served with roasted asparagus with lemon or a nice salad.
Falsomagro
My roommate recently went to visit her brother in Switzerland. While she was there she ventured over to Italy and was nice enough to get me an authentic Italian cook book. To thank her for the cook book, I told her I would cook her a recipe out of it. I spent hours reading over all of the unique Italian recipes. Eventually, we decided on Falsomagro.
I had never even heard of Falsomagro before seeing it in this book. Vegetarians beware… Falsomagro is a protein loaded Italian meat dinner from Sicily. It is a large flank steak filled with bacon, Italian sausage, eggs and cheese, then rolled up and slow cooked. I am 100% a meat eater, so I was pretty excited about packing as many proteins as possible into a big hunk of beef. I was a bit worried about cooking the meat for so long; I thought it was going to end up over-cooked, but it ended up being surprisingly tender! This is a great meal for a dinner party; it serves a lot of people and is very filling. I served my Falsomagro with parmesan roasted asparagus and potatoes.
Creamy Garlic Seafood Soup
The second I thought spring had arrived, we got a huge snow storm. I guess that’s Colorado for you… With the cold weather back, I decided to make another new soup. Once again, Cooking Light magazine has provided me with another delicious recipe. I love avocado, but I had never thought of putting it in my soup before! Using skim milk in this recipe makes it healthier, but you can always use heavy whipping cream if you prefer… see I can do comfort food and healthy at the same time! 😉
Throwback Thursday: Balsamic Baked Bruschetta Chicken
We all have those nights where we don’t want to make a complex recipe for dinner. We just want three things- a meat, a starch and a veggie. The problem I have with that meal is that it ends up being so bland! This Thursday’s throwback recipe is an easy way to dress up your chicken for those kind of nights and give your dinner an original taste.
I would like to thank Picky Palate for introducing me to this recipe last fall so that I can talk about it today and pass it onto you! This recipe combines delicious bruschetta with chicken and cheese to give you a brand new type of baked chicken breast.
Buffalo Chicken Chili w/ Blue Cheese Garlic Bread
Super Bowl Sunday means finger food and a messy kitchen right? Wrong. This Sunday you can make a delicious- and filling- full meal. Plus, it won’t keep you in the kitchen all day away from the company. Of course, this doesn’t mean you can’t always make some messy finger food to go with it! This chili, adapted from my mom at Cooking With Michele, has the buffalo wing flavor, combined with healthy ingredients like carrots and celery. Adding blue cheese to the chili and the garlic bread completes the dish and gives you an authentic buffalo wing feel without the mess- or the fat!
Double Tomato Bruschetta
This week I was asked by friend to cook something Italian for dinner. For me, the first thing that comes to mind when I think of Italian food is pasta. I decided against making pasta, since I eat it at work constantly. Instead, I chose to make this double tomato bruschetta along with an Italian Sausage and Tortellini Soup. Bruschetta is easy to make, and is a great appetizer for guests. The addition of sun-dried tomatoes to the bruschetta gives it a different texture and a little bit of a kick. These little snacks were very popular.
Green Garlic Risotto w/ Parmesan Crisps
Now that the new year has started, I’m sure many of you are trying to eat healthier. I have personally been trying to eat more vegetables in my meals. I recently came across this recipe on the Gourmet Traveler blog. It uses a huge amount of spinach, which was great for me since I have a giant Costco bag of spinach at the moment. On a less healthy note, the Parmesan crisps are to die for, but beware they are super addicting! I ate this with my Broiled Lemon and Garlic Shrimp.
Broiled Lemon & Garlic Shrimp
I love shrimp, but I feel like it is hard to find new recipes for shrimp so I am usually stuck making the same recipes over and over again. I liked this recipe because it was a bit different, even though it was just another lemon shrimp recipe. Broiling the shrimp gave it a different texture and kept the lemon and garlic flavor really strong. This recipe is quick and easy with great results, definitely one to try.
