Breakfast Smoothie

Some people say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day...no doubt they are the same people that say you should chew your food 32 times before swallowing or only take bites of food the size of walnuts. They sound like wonderfully idealistic. Leisurely weekend mornings aside, who has time for breakfast? I manage to make it out of bed with just enough time to shower, get dressed and make lunch before it's time to head out the door.

I spent a fortune before I realized the smoothies I would buy 2-3 days a week never seemed to get the fruit combination I wanted and that I could probably do a better job myself. Now I drink a liter of smoothie every morning, and get all the vitamins and proteins a healthy boy needs to be...erm...healthy.

Mixed berry Smoothie
Inspiration: $5 smoothies from Coffee carts
Time: 5 Minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Blender
Serving Size: 1 liter

1 banana broken into smallish pieces
4-5 dallops of lowfat organic vanilla yogurt
1 pkg Emergen-C (either cranberry or lemon lime flavored.
3 small handfuls of frozen fruit (Strawberries, rasp berries, blackberries, mangos, pineapple, etc)
Juice to the 1000ml line on the blender (OJ, Apple J, Pineapple J, etc)

Blend ingredients until smooth.

Everything's frozen

While I don't advocate using a lot of pre-packaged foods, I like to keep a few things (like ravioli & tamales) in my freezer for the odd days I dash out of the house late & forget to take something out of the freezer. Costco has some great items that keep well in the freezer. Last night was one of those nights, but with some tamales steaming, I chopped lettuce, tomatoes and avocado. When the tamales were done, I topped the salad & added a dollup of salsa & sour cream and voila! A very tasty dinner was served.
-Mother Goose

Grilled Potato Salad with balsamic vinegrette

Last night, upon returning home from a long day and a harried commute, I remembered that my friend Ra was having a BBQ to celebrate her birthday. And I was already late. After a quick survey of the fridge, I found 3 potatoes, a head of fennel, a red pepper, a head of broccoli and a couple of tomatoes. Needing to find a way to cook the potatoes quickly, I decided to hammer out an nontraditional grilled potato salad. 45 minutes later, I was on my way.

Grilled Potato Salad
Inspiration: Summer BBQ + Three potatoes
Time: 45 minutes
Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Grill + Veggie pan -or-grill pan
Serving Size: 4-6 side dishes

3 Yukon Gold Potatoes, cubed
1 red pepper, cubed
1 head of fennel, cubed
1 head of broccoli, crowned, (you can cube the stem too)
2 tomatoes cubed
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
4-5 springs of thyme chopped (remove stem first)
2 springs of rosemary chopped (remove stem first)
2 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbs olive oil
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

Mash garlic and salt together to a paste, mix well with mustard, and herbs. Slowly add oil mixing well to keep from separating. Toss 3/4 of paste with potatoes, red peppers, fennel, and broccoli, let sit for 5-10 minutes. If the paste is not spreading evenly over veggies, toss with more olive oil. Grill until veggies and potatoes are all cooked to your liking. Whisk balsamic vinegar into reserved garlic/mustard mix, and pour over warm veggies.

Grilled Halibut Tostadas with Fresh Mango Salsa

Over a fantastic happy hour of avocado daiquiris and fried calamari, my good friend Beverly and I discussed finding inspiration for dinner. We agreed that it is ridiculously difficult to find new recipes for dinner (epicurious.com and foodtv.com don't count, they're too snobby). This often results repetitiously making the same things for dinner. Way too boring for people like us. We wanted the excitement of something new for dinner. We wanted easy. We wanted healthy. Secretly, we wanted our friends and family, whom we cook for, to jump to their feet with a chorus of praise and applause. Ultimately, we decided that we should share recipes since we have the same desire to eat well and healthy, but may not a lot of time to do so creatively.

Over a week has passed since that conversation. I have yet to send her any recipes, despite making grilled chicken fajitas, chilpotle pork skewers and grilled halibut tostadas. What kind of friend would I be if I didn't rescue her from yet another night of chicken and rice!

So, after little thought and many failed attempts at blogging, I am starting a new blog with the intention to keep a list of weeknight dinners that are good, healthy and easy to make. We'll see how long it lasts. Luckily, even if I don't make it out of next week, Beverly will still have a great recipe for fish tostadas in her arsenal.


Grilled Halibut Tostadas with Fresh Mango Salsa
Inspiration: Eric Collins' fajitas with mango salsa in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean
Time: less than 1 hour
Difficulty: Easy
Requirements: Grill/grill pan
Serving Size: 3 tostadas
Cost:

Grilled Halibut Tostadas

1 6oz fillet of fresh halibut, rinsed and patted dry.
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp freshly ground coriander seeds
1/4 tsp cumin
1 dash of ground cinnamon
1 tbs olive oil
High quality corn tortillas
refried black beans (I had left overs in the fridge)
small handful of cilantro leaves
small handful of cojita cheese

Mix salt, pepper, garlic, coriander, cumin and cinnamon in a small bowl and sprinkle over halibut. Let sit for 30 minutes. Drizzle with olive oil and sear one side hot grill. Turn down heat to medium low and cook until flaky, but still moist. Remove from grill and let sit 5 minutes. Flake into little bits.

Spray tortillas with a little olive oil on both sides, and as fish is nearly done, toss them onto the grill and grill until they are gold brown on both sides.

Spread black beans onto tortilla, followed by the flaked halibut, and a good helping of mango salsa. Sprinkle the top with cojita cheese and cilantro leaves.


Fresh Mango Salsa

1 ripe but firm mango, cubed
1 ripe but firm avocado, cubed
½ cucumber, sliced very thinly (paper thinly)
1 ripe but firm tomato, cubed (if tomatoes are small, use 2)
1 large jalapeño, pith and seeds removed, then diced
1 lime, juiced
¼ cup red wine vinegar
3 cloves garlic
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
¼ tsp ground cumin
pinch of cinnamon

Mash garlic to paste with salt, then mix in pepper, cumin and cinnamon. Dilute with lime juice and red wine vinegar, and toss in a medium bowl with remaining ingredients. The longer it sits, the spicier it will be.