Monthly Archives: May 2016

Ain’t no Beefin’

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In the Poconos, recently my friends and I were on a wine tour doing tastings of the area vineyards and as we all know when drinking copious amounts of booze causes most people to binge eat. Luckily, there was a cook-off contest going on nearby so we stumbled over and tried all the eats the locals had made. There was a plethora of good food like sausage and peppers, mushroom risotto, etc. but this beef dish just knocked my socks off! I asked for the recipe because I wanted to recreate it for the blog, but more importantly, I wanted to try it sober to see if I even liked it (who knows when your inebriated, errythang tastes good under the influence). My God. I was NOT disappointed! It was just as yum, so I hope you enjoy this as well.

  • 2 lbs. flank steak
  • 1 cup cranberry juice
  • 1/2 crushed pineapple or puree
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 cup cranberries(recipe calls for fresh but all I had was dried so do you)
  • 1/2 cup diced candied ginger
  • 1/4 cup minced garlic or 4 cloves chopped
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1/2 cup soy sauce

In a medium saucepan cook soy sauce, honey, pineapple, cranberry juice into a marinade. Add cranberries and candied ginger cook for a bit more before turning off stove to cool.

In the meantime, coat steak with the ginger and garlic, then pour cooled marinade over steak. Marinade for 1-2 hrs then remove steak from marinade and cook for 7-10 minutes on each side. Take the marinade and recook to turn into a glaze for the steak. After letting meat rest slice on grain.  Drizzle remaining cooked marinade then serve w bean sprouts and chopped cilantro.

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Happy Eating, XO

A fish so nice they named it twice

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Mahi-mahi is such a yummy fish taco fish but I don’t know how else to prepare it other than blacken it. That’s when I went on a quest to find a different, yet easy, way to prepare it. Maj other benefit of this recipe is that it’s crazy high in protein because of the nutty crust (and obvi the fish itself).

So for those of us stuck wearing strapless bridesmaid gowns, this will be a great meal for after a solid arm bandit workout! Tone baby tone, ok I digress… anyway short grocery list + 20 minutes =tasty mahi-mahi! Hope you love it as much as I do. (Ps. feel free to serve w sides and all. I dip my mahi pieces into roasted garlic aioli, pretty much eating them like chicken fingers & honey mustard.)

  • 2 6 oz. mahi-mahi fillets
  • 1/4 cup of macadamia nuts finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup of panko breadcrumbs
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp. of regular milk or unsweetened coconut milk
  • olive oil & salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. In the food processor chop the nuts until it’s the sam consistency as the breadcrumbs, mix the nuts & breadcrumbs. Whisk together the milk & egg. S&P the fish before coating in egg mixture and coat both sides with the nut panko mix. In a skillet with hot oil (medium to high heat) Sear the fish on both sides for about 3 minutes each before placing in oven for 10 minutes (or until firm/cooked).

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Happy Eating, XO.

Party Food in a Pinch

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So recently I was helping host a bridal shower and we worried that our appetizers and dessert options wouldn’t be enough. The MOH pulled out this recipe she found on Pinterest and it was such a hit! So easy it’s not even fair. It’s also the best thing to make in bulk since it’s a crockpot dish. It comes out so succulent and has the crowd-pleasing sweet and savory element that works well for hosting others.

Bonus: no cooking skills needed whatsoever, just dump and serve.

  • 1 bottle of sweet baby rays bbq sauce
  • 1 jar of grape jelly
  • 1 bag of frozen meatballsIMG_9667

(Optional, a tbsp. of sriracha for an extra kick)

Happy Eating, XO

Pollo (Chicken)

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The mother of invention is necessity. My parents were in town and for many Indian dishes you serve a side of plain yogurt. It’s a cooling agent to all the Indian spices. Well, after they left I had a bunch of yogurt leftover so I decided to make a marinade for my chicken from the leftover yogurt. There was a need to finish it, so why not repurpose it? I rummaged around my pantry and found this amazing latin paste I had grabbed from my recent trip to Costa Rica and started whipping up this tasty delight. Hope you enjoy my latin inspired pollo!

  • 1 tbsp of achiote paste (blend of red spices from Mexico, available i grocery stores that sell Goya brand products or you can order any brand from amazon)
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 tbsp of crushed garlic or 4 cloves
  • 1 fistful or bunch of cilantro leaves
  • 4-5 green onions (both white ends and green portions)
  • 1/2 container or 1 lb. of plain yogurt
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1.5 lbs or 5 drumsticks of chicken (bone-in chicken thighs would be good too)

Combine in blender or food processor and coat the mixture over a dish of drumsticks. Marinade for 24 hrs and then bake in oven at 425 degrees for 30 minutes. To keep moist while cooking, baste with melted butter (or lemon juice if you want to be waist line friendly). Serve hot.

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Happy Eating, XO.

Breakfast on the Run

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You know those days that you are just too busy for words? (Or too busy to even think about writing those words in a blog post? #shame. We know.) Well, we have a morning recipe that will help you dash out the door at a moment’s notice, without skipping the most important meal of the day. And with coconut milk – it tastes just like your much needed vacation.

*This is an overnight recipe.

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 1 cup coconut milk
  • Dash of cinnamon
  • Handful of blueberries
  • Handful of chopped nuts (feel free to play around with different fruit and/or nut toppings for added sweetness and crunch)

The night before, pour your quinoa, cinnamon, and coconut milk into a small saucepan over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, cover the saucepan and turn off the heat. Let it sit and cool overnight. In the morning, pour into your favorite jar and top with blueberries and/or nuts.

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Happy Eating, XO.