Pulled Pork Tostadas w/ Stone Fruit Salsa
I cannot get enough of all the delicious stone fruit that is in season! I have been buying cherries for almost a month straight. It has had me daydreaming about having my own fruit trees and big vegetable gardens… Someday! For now I will obsess over my tiny patch in front of my apartment. I have harvested two whole green beans and a good amount of snow peas. My carrots, kale, mixed greens and broccoli are well on their way though!
Blackened Swordfish Tacos w/ Mango Avocado Salsa
It has been a rough past few days for me. On Friday I went swimming off one of the piers near Waikiki; while climbing up the rocks to get out, I slipped and stepped on Wana, a Hawaiian sea urchin. Let me tell you, you do NOT want to come in contact with a sea urchin. Ever. I had probably over 40 spines in my big toe and second toe. A nice local man helped me pull a lot of them out, but I still had a dozen or more that had broken off in my toes. After missing two days of work and spending the weekend soaking my foot in vinegar they are still not completely out or healed. Not to mention I also got almost 20 mosquito bites Friday as well…. Even in Hawaii, life is not always perfect.
Mango Avocado Salsa {SRC Post}
Once again, Secret Recipe Club has provided me with another great blogger and recipe inspiration. This month I was assigned to Jeanette’s Healthy Living. Jeanette’s blog is filled with gorgeous food photos and so many delicious recipes, it was so hard to choose! I wanted to make her Roasted Red Pepper Carrot Pesto, Mango Panna Cotta w/ Kiwi Mango & Strawberries, Chinese Szechuan Spicy Fish Soup, and so much more. It was a tough choice, but I decided to make her Mango Avocado Pepper Salsa for my SRC post.
Black Bean Chicken Baked Potatoes- Oct. SRC
Wow has a month seriously already passed since the last Secret Recipe Club reveal day?! I guess time flies when you’re having fun right? Between school, work and a trip to Italy, I somehow managed to still get my recipe made for this month’s Secret Recipe Club. I can also say that I am very happy I did because I found so many good recipes on my assigned blog this month, Angela’s Kitchen.
Tequila-Lime Salsa & Homemade Tortilla Chips
For one of my appetizers at my Foodbuzz 24×24 party I made homemade tequila-lime salsa and tortilla chips. This salsa has a beautiful array of colors and a nice spicy kick at the end. I baked homemade tortilla chips seasoned with garlic, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper; such a simple thing to make and so much healthier than fried chips from the store. I also like these homemade flour tortilla chips because they are softer and kind of crumble away in your mouth with the salsa. Usually salsa is hardly touched at parties, but this one got devoured by my guests along with every last chip. I think they might have liked it?
Baked Chicken & Roasted Red Pepper Taquitos
I don’t know if I ever mentioned that my most recent job was at Natural Grocers by Vitamin Cottage (don’t ask me why they decided to make their name so much longer and more annoying to say). After working at restaurants for so long, this job was so slow some days that I would read the cooking magazines at the register and write down recipe ideas; my boss probably wouldn’t have been too stoked, but what can you do!? I am getting off topic though, being a cashier is pretty cool as a foodie for one reason- seeing what everybody is buying and spending all day thinking what you want to make for dinner that night. The other day at work, a lady bought taquitos and reminded me how much I loved them, and how long it had been since I had had them!
I went home that night on a mission to make my own, healthier, taquitos. I added roasted red peppers and green onions to give them some extra flavor. I also baked them, instead of frying them, which makes these tasty things much healthier. I would highly recommend making your own taquitos so that you can add your own twist like I did, it is much more rewarding! I also need to warn you that this recipe makes pretty big taquitos, three were plenty for me and I usually eat like ten!
Sausage, Potato & Cheddar Waffles
What could be better than sausage and cheesy hash-browns? Sausage and cheesy hash-brown waffles! All of your favorite breakfast foods, combined into one delicious waffle. An old Everyday With Rachel Ray magazine gave me inspiration for this recipe.
These are great for a weekend breakfast- probably especially good for a weekend hangover as well. I must warn you, these waffles are not meant to be made healthier… I tried making them with turkey bacon also and they turned out a bit bland. The sausage gives a ton of flavor to the waffle, so if you insist on leaving it out, be sure to add other seasonings. I think that these waffles would be really good with onion added to the mixture as well. Play around and combine your own flavors if you would like!
Cajun Salmon w/ Spicy Eggplant Salsa & Minted Cucumber Relish
This is probably the fanciest recipe I have ever made. A friend of mine typed this recipe up and sent it to me during her vacation, I had been looking forward to cooking it with her. I was like a little kid with a new toy while I was cooking and plating the food. It is always fun to make fancy dishes that you can plate nicely. This recipe has a LOT of flavors in it, but my friend and I decided that the cucumber relish really isn’t very necessary and it would probably have been better without it. The eggplant salsa was very unique, but really good!
