Me like Bacon

So I will be honest, I love bacon, but for a variety of reasons I don't eat bacon. :( So, I was really excited when a friend recommended BaconSalt

http://www.jdfoods.net/products/baconsalt.php

I used the original flavor and added it in my scramble eggs this morning. Very yummy, who knew I would have a tasted of bacon in my breakfast once again. :)

I plan on trying this stuff in some chocolate chip bacon cookies. Doesn't that sounds good? I am so excited right now.

Tomate Roasted Eggplant

One of my favorite eggplant dishes, is the Tomato Roasted Eggplant. It's a really easy dish to make and is perfect for as a "make-ahead" dish.

Time to prepare: 1.5 hours (including prep time)

Ingredients:

• 2 eggplants
• 2 cans of diced tomato
• 2 tbls ketchup
• 1 onion
• 1 green pepper
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbls olive oil
• S&P

Directions:

• Pre-heat over at 350 degrees. Wash the eggplants and poke them with a fork all around. Please note, if you do not poke the eggplants, they might explode in the oven. Roast the eggplants on a cooking sheet for 45 min.
• Take the roasted eggplants, and take off the skin and chop into cubes.
• In a food processor combine, 1 onion, 1 green pepper, and the eggplant
• In a deep pot, heat the olive oil. Add the mixture from the food processor. Add the 2 cans of diced tomatoes.
• Stir, all of the ingredients in the pot. After about 10 minutes, add ketchup, salt and pepper, dill. For additional spice, add some red chili sauce (1 tsp)
• Cook for about 40 minutes on medium temperature. Stir occasionally. Let it cool down, prior to serving

Rosemary Vinegar Dressing

One of the best ways to make a healthy salad is to create a homemade dressing. Dressing are crucial, as they will bring a lot of flavour to your salad. The rosemary vinegar dressing brings in the flavour of rosemary to your meal.

Ingredients:

• rosemary
• 1/2 cup oil of olive oil
• 3 tbls balsamic vinegar
• salt and pepper

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Pull rosemarry from a twig. In a small deep dish combine olive oil and rosemarry. Put in the over for about 5-7min
• Separate the rosemarry from the olive oil, put the rosemary aside. Add balsamic vinegar.
• Mix in salt and pepper use the crispy rosemary as a spice for any other dish or for your salad

Tomato Basil Soup

I am not a big soup person, but Tomato Basil Soup is something that always hits the spot on a cold, chilly night. It's very easy to make and is a fulfilling dish.

Time to prepare: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

• 3 strands of basil
• 2 tomatoes(chopped) or 1 can of chopped tomatoes
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 1 glove of garlic
• 3 cups of chicken broth
• S&P
• 1tbls of olive oil
• Dill (optional)
• Tobasco sauce (optional)
• sour cream (optional)

Directions:

• In a deep pan, heat olive oil and add onion and garlic. Sautée onion and add tomatoes and basil. Add chicken broth and cook for 5 min on medium heat
• With a strainer spoon, take out all solid items (tomato, onion, basil) and run through a food processor
• Add the mixture from food processor to the chicken broth and cook until it boils
• Add S&P for taste
• I like to add a dash of tobasco sauce for a kick
• When serving, add a teaspoon of sour cream to the bowl, and some fresh dill

Tabasco Chicken Wings

Chicken wings are one of my most favorite comfort foods. Since this blog is all about quick cooking, thus comes this quick recipe for Tabasco Chicken Wings.

Time to prepare: 30 minutes
Ingredients:

• 4 pounds of chicken wings
• 3 tbls of olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic, chopped
• salt & pepper
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup crumbled cheese (blue cheese preferred)
• 1 small onion
• 5 teaspoons of apple vinegar
• 2 tbls Tabasco sauce
• cilantro

Directions:

• Pre-heat onion to 425 degrees. In a large bowl, combine wings, olive oil, garlic, s&p. Arrange on a baking sheet, and bake for 25 minutes
• In a bowl, create the sauce by combining; sour cream, mayo, chopped onion, blue cheese (melted), 1 teaspoon vinegar, tabasco sauce
• Sprinkle the wings with remaining vinegar, and brush on the sauce
• Serve the rest of the sauce as a dip sauce

Lemon zest - Eggplant dip

It's September, and after a small break I am back to cooking and eating healthy. Eggplans are one of my favorite veggies to cook. There are just so many dishes you can make; side dish, main dish, salad. Don't be surprised to see more eggplant recipes on this site in the near future. With that said, here's the Lemon zest - Eggplan dip. It's a perfect dish that still has a big of a summer feel to it.

Time to prepare: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggplants
• 1 small onion
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 fresh lemon juice
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 2 tsp of mayo
• cilantro

Directions:

• Pre-heat the oven to 475 degrees. Wash and prick the eggplants with a fork and set them on a large baking sheet. Bake in the over for roughly 30 min
• Let the eggplant cool an then peal. Press and release the eggplant juices
• Chop the eggplant and combine it in the food processor with garlic, onion, and cilantro
• Transfer to a bowl and combine with lemon juice, mayo, and virgin oil
• Salt and pepper for taste

Gluten Free Almond Blueberry Pancakes

One of the new healthy trends is to stay gluten free. It has been shown that many people are actually allergic to grains, without realizing it. When we eat grains, we will bloated, heavier, slower. With this in mind, I've decided to explore recipes for foods we love, that don't include grains. This is how the Gluten Free Almond Blueberry Pancake was born.

Time to prepare: 20 minutes
Ingredients:

• 1 cup almond flour
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup fresh blueberries
• 1/8 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/8 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup kefir
• 2 tbls of olive oil

Directions:

• Wip the eggs and add to flour. Add the vanilla extract, cinnamon, and kefir. Mix with mixer and add blueberries at the end.
• Heat the olive oil on the skillet, use a spoon to add add mixture to the skillet

Summer Salmon Steaks

In the summer time especially when it's hot, I try to minimize the amount of time I spend in the kitchen. I also prefer for the food to have a bit of that fresh and zesty flavor to it. Somehow eating heavy food does not seem appealing. This weekend, was one of those days. As I was trying to figure out what to make for dinner, the "Summer salmon steaks" were born.

Time to prepare: 20 min
Ingredients:

• 4 salmon steaks
• 2 small tomatoes
• 2tbls olive oil
• 1/2 sweet onion
• dill
• 2 cloves of garlic
• S&P
• 1 lime

Directions:

• Preheat the over for 425 degrees.
• S&P the steaks. Heat 1 tbls of olive oil on the skillet. Throw the steaks on the skillet. Cook for roughly 1.5min or until each side is golden brown, than flip to the other side
• Squeeze the lime on the steaks, and transfer to an oven dish. Cook the steaks in the oven for about 7 minutes
• In a bowl, combine tomatoes, minced garlic, chopped onion, s&p, dill and add the remaining olive oil.
• When the salmon is ready, transfer on a serving dish. Cover the fish with the fresh salad from the bowl

The Zesty Pickle Salsa

You may ask, why would one combine pickles with salsa, well pickles add the sweetness to this spicy recipe that give this salsa recipe a bit a kick

Time to prepare: 20min

Ingridients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 2 serrano chiles, with seeds sliced
• 1 cup of thingly sliced white onion
• 1 tsp of garam masala
• 2 medium tomato, chopped
• 2 tbls of lime juice
• S&P
• 1/2 cup of chopped cilantro
• 4 kosher pickles, chopped

Directions

• In a large skillet, heat the oil until smoky. Add the chile and onion and stir-fry over high heat for 30 seconds. Add the garam masala and stir-fry until the onion is crisp-tender, 2 minutes. Toss in 1 tomato and lime juice.
• Transfer to a bowl and add 1 tomato, pickles, season with salt and pepper. Stir in the cilantro. Serve hot or at room temperature

Stuffed mushrooms with goat cheese

Time to prepare: 30 min

Ingredients:

• 16 oz mushrooms
• 4oz goat cheese
• 2-3 cloves of garlic
• rosemary
• salt & pepper
• olive oil

Direction

• pre-heat oven at 400 degrees
• toss mushroom tops with rosemary and 1tbl of olive oil, add salt & pepper (I use very little s&p)
• place mushrooms opening end up on a baking sheet
• bake for 15-20min. you want the mushrooms to be brown
• in a bowl combine goat cheese, remainder of the rosemary, minced garlic
• when mushroom are ready remove from the oven
• use a paper towel and dab the extra oils from the mushrooms
• use a spoon and stuff the mushrooms

Heirloom salad

This salad is one of my summer favorites. As soon as I see some heirloom tomatoes at the store, you're bound to find this salad at my house.

Time to prepare: 10 min

Ingredients:

• 3 heirloom tomatoes
• 1 clove of elephant garlic
• 1 mozzarella ball
• basil

Directions:

• Chop up the tomatoes in half circles
• Slice the mozzarella ball thingly
• Mince the 1 clove of garlic
• Chop up the basil
• Salt&Pepper
• Add some olive oil

The Perfect Caesar

Caesar salad is one of my all time favorites. Please note, since I am all about healthy cooking, I try to avoid using croutons when I cook.

Time to prepare: 10 min
Ingredients:

• romaine lettuce
• green onion (1 bunch)
• chicken breast (or deli meat)

Dressing:

• 1 lemon
• 1/2 tsp mayo
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 1tbls olive oil
• salt/pepper
• 1tsp white wine vinegrate
• anchovies
• 2 cloves of minced garlic

Directions

• combine all greens
• add chicken (if you would like the meat version)
• squeeze the lemon
• in a bowl, squish the anchovies, combine olive oil/dijon/white vinegrate/mayo and mix together
• add salt/pepper/minced garlic
• mix dressing with salad

Roasted Asparagus

Time to prepare: 10min
Ingredients: Asparagus/lemon/almond oil

Directions

• Wash and chop off the bottoms of the asparagus
• Place asparagus on the grill
• As the asparagus is grilling brush over with almond oil
• Turn the asparagus and brush over again
• Salt and pepper while on the grill
• Roast asparagus for roughly 5-7min
• Once removed from grill sprinkle is fresh squeezed lemon or wine vinegrate

This is a very basic and easy recipe. It is one of my all time summer favorites.

Refresh Salad

Time to prepare: 10 min

Ingredients:

• 3 cups of cole slaw cabbage mix
• 2 tomato
• 1 bunch of green onion
• 1/2 small onion

Dressing:

• cilantro/dill
• salt/pepper
• 1 tsp sour cream
• 1 tsp mayo
• sprinkle vinegar (1tsp)
• squeeze lemon juice

Directions:

• mix all veggies in a bowl
• create dressing
• combine veggies and dressing

Spring Halibut Steak

Time to prepare: 10 min
Time to cook: 12 min

Ingredients:

• 2 halibut steaks
  
• 3 garlic cloves
  
• lemon
• salt and pepper
• dill
• 1tsp of olive oil
• oregano/thyme/ or cilantro (fresh)
  

Directions:

• wash and dry the halibut steaks
• light salt and pepper
• squeeze lemon over the fish
• add minced garlic and dill
• add oregano/thyme/or cilantro (I recommend using fresh herbs)
• cover and put in the refrigerator for about 30min
• warm up oven on broil
• place the 2 steaks on a slightly greased pan
• broil for 12min

Sautee Shrimp

Time to prepare - 10min

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound of shrimp (roughly 16 shrimps)- please note this is the larger types of shrimps
• 1 small onion
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• lemon juice
• 2 cloves of garlic
• salt/pepper/ chives

Directions:

• clean the shrimp
• chop the onion in small thin circles
• heat the 1tsp of oil
• add onions
• add shrimps
• squeeze lemon juice (half a lemon)
• add 2 cloves of mince garlic
• add salt/pepper/chive for taste
• saute for 5 min

Broiled Salmon

Time to prepare: 25 min

Zone breakdown: 1 blocks of carbs/1 blocks of fat/ (the image you see was 10oz of salmon and fed 3 people)

Ingredients:

• 1lb raw salmon
• 1 small onion
• lemon
• salt and pepper
• dill
• 1tsp of olive oil
• bbq soy sauce

Directions:

• turn your oven to broil
• spread olive oil and diced onions on the bottom of the baking sheet
• wash and dry salmon/ place on baking sheet
• salt/pepper the salmon
• add dill to taste
• squeeze 1/2 lemon
• glaze the top of salmon with bbq soy sauce (use a glazing brush)
• place in oven and broil for 20min

Blueberry muffins via Zone

To help inspire me, my boyfriend got me the Zone cookbook. Typically, I am not a big fan of cook books and like to come up with my own idea and recipes, but in this case I thought that referring to the experts may be better.

I decided to make some blueberry muffins per the Zone recipe. After reviewing the recipe, I made a few alterations and here's my creation & recipe:

- each muffin will contain 1bl of protein/fat/carb
Time:

• Prep time: 10min


• Bake time: 20-24min

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cups of oat flour (you can find it at whole foods)


• 4 1-ounce scoops of vanilla whey protein ( I used Whey Cool brand)


• 1 tbls of non-aluminum baking powder (you can find it at whole foods)


• 4 eggs


• 5 1/3 of oil ( I used almond oil)


• 2/3 cups unsweetened apple sauce


• 3tsp of vanilla syrup ( original recipe calls for 8 teaspoons of syrup)


• 1 cup of fresh blueberries

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350


• Place cupcake paper cups in sheet ( I like to use the cupcake paper cups instead of greasing the sheet)


• Mix all of the ingredients, except for blueberries ( I recommend mixing the dry and than adding the wet ingredients)


• Mix it with a mixer than add blueberries


• Use a spoon to pour mixer on to the sheet


• Bake for 20-24min

Spicy Grean Beans

Time to prepare: 15 min

Ingredients:
• 4 cups of greens beans
• 1 chopped small onion
• 1.5 tsp of olive oil
• 2 tbs of soy sauce
• 1 tsp red chili sauce
• 2 clove of garlic
• handful of cilantro
• salt pepper
• lemon juice

Directions:
• mince onion/garlic/cilantro
• heat oil on skillet
• add onion and green beans
• saute for 5-7min
• mix sauce (soy sauce, red chili, lemon juice)
• add to dish
• add cilantro and garlic
• salt/pepper to taste