Avocado Lime Dressing

This recipe was adapted from Food and Wine. I altered the recipe to fit what I have in my pantry and refrigerator. I hate buying an ingredient and only using it once for a recipe. What a waste!

This dressing is great over a salad of romaine lettuce, orange and yellow bell peppers and cucumbers. Sprinkle roasted salted pumpkin seeds on top. It adds great crunch.

In a blender combine the following ingredients.

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup avocado
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 white wine vinegar
1 clove of garlic, chopped
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

hi...remember me?

I'm Kristin, co-founder of this blog. Doesn't ring a bell? I used to post all the time. You know, with the long, rambling anecdotes before the recipes? I've missed you guys! I haven't really been anyplace, but I am really pregnant and it hasn't inspired much great cooking or creativity. I know, I know...my beloved co-blogger Beth has a brand new (super sweet, super cute) baby and SHE blogged all through her pregnancy AND pretty much every week since. What can I say? I've got nothin'...no excuses. I just haven't been feeling like myself. But, my intentions are still good...during my absence, I've made a few things that I think you might like. Here comes one now.

Throughout both this pregnancy and my first, I haven't had unusual cravings so much, but I do pretty much want meat and cheese on bread for pretty much every meal. It's not a recipe for a healthy me or a healthy pregnancy. So, I've tried to take advantage of every possible opportunity to avoid my own worst instincts and work around my nagging need for a cheeseburger.

Therefore, I present to you a salad so delicious and unique that I actually crave it even though there's no red meat involved! In fact...no meat at all! It does make use of some of the best produce of summer and is packed with antioxidants, bright colors and intense flavors. Secondary bonus: it's super easy. It's wonderful served with simply grilled fish or chicken. Make it an entree salad by topping it with some grilled shrimp or scallops. It is simple enough eat it any old night, but it is definitely special enough for company.

Tropial Spinach Salad with Ginger Lime Dressing

For the dressing:

the zest of 1/2 lime

the juice of 1 - 2 limes (depending on size and juiciness...at least 1 T. of lime juice)

2 tsp. fresh ground ginger (NOT dried or powdered ginger)

1 tsp. honey or 2 tsp. sugar in the raw (or more, to taste)

pinch of kosher salt

1 - 2 T. canola oil

For the salad:

1 large mango (or 2 smaller mangos), peeled & cubed

1 avocado, cubed

1/4 cup red onion, sliced paper thin

1/2 pint blueberries, rinsed

5 cups baby spinach leaves

Instructions:

In the bowl you intend to use to assemble the entire salad, whisk together the lime zest, lime juice, ginger and honey or sugar.* Taste the mixture. It should be pleasingly tart and sweet, but not too much of either. Add more lime juice or sweetener as needed. Then, season with a little bit of salt for balance. Once you are happy with the flavor, whisk in the canola oil until dressing is slightly thickened. I have to confess, I once made this dressing quickly and forgot all about the oil and no one was the wiser, although it does balance the acid in the lime nicely. Set the dressing aside.

Prepare all of the fruits and onion and add to the dressing, tossing lightly to coat, but be gentle since the avocado and mangoes are both easily mushed. Allow combined ingredients to sit for a minute or two to absorb the flavors of the dressing. Add the spinach leaves and toss completely immediately before serving as the acid in the dressing - while it preserves the lovely colors of the avocado and mango - will wilt the spinach leaves quickly. Serve as a side salad (as shown with yummy salmon burgers) for 4 people, or top with shrimp or whatever you like as an entree salad for 2 people. Enjoy!

* - I used to use 1/2 a packet of Splenda as the sweetener and it worked nicely, but I am 100% off artificial sweeteners so I've switched to honey or turbinado sugar. If you use raw sugar, you will have to whisk longer but it will dissolve in the lime juice. Do not serve gritty salad.

Myrtle Beach Curry Chicken

I packed equal parts clothes and cooking equipment on my beach vacation this year. And to be really honest, I think I actually packed more of my kitchen then my wardrobe. Oh well! But with a baby, it's hard to go out to dinner. In fact, my husband and I never go anywhere with out the little guy. We love him so much, but he can't do dinner yet. We tried once or twice, but he still very much likes to cry from about 5- 7 each night. Since we can't go out, it's important to me that we eat well! His bed time is 8 p.m., which gives me time to whip up a delicious dinner.

Below is a recipe I just threw together on our trip. Normally, I would have used fresh ginger and fresh garlic, but I didn't have them available. (But yes, I did have coriander. I am a good packer.)

It may have been improvised, but this recipe is awesome. A true keeper!

1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast, cut into 1nch pieces
1 1/2 yellow onion roughly chopped
2 tomatoes, de-seeded and roughly chopped
1 cup (half a can) of coconut milk
2 tsp curry powder
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp garlic powder

Combine curry powder, coriander, turmeric, ginger and garlic powder, and set aside. Sprinkle about have of the spice mixture on top of the cut-up chicken. Sprinkle a little salt and fresh ground pepper on top too. Heat up a large skillet with 1 TB vegetable oil, and brown chicken. Don't worry about cooking through, just get the meat nice and brown and remove from pan. Add onions, tomato and the rest of the spice mixture to pan. Cook for about 8-10 minutes until tomatoes and onions are soft.

Return chicken to skillet, and then add 1 cup coconut milk.

Let simmer on medium low for 5-8 minutes. Allow chicken to cook through and the the sauce to thicken. Serve over rice!

To the Beach!

I'm taking a little vacation. I'll be back to my regular Sunday posts on August 23.

Lime Grilled Shrimp and Pineapple Salsa

Pineapple Salsa

1 1/2 cup pineapple chopped into 1/4 inch pieces (grill the pineapple first if you have the time)
1/4 cup red onion, finely chopped
1 TB cilantro, finely chopped
1/2 jalepeno, deseeded, deveined, and chopped finely
Juice of 1 lime

Make salsa early in the day if you are serving for dinner. The longer it sits the better it will taste.

The shrimp is too easy. Buy a medium size shrimp, not too small because we want to thread them on skewers. If you can buy them all cleaned even better. If not, you will need to shell them, remove the yucky stuff from their backs, and pull the tails off. It doesn't take that long, it's just messy.

Thread the shrimp onto skewers and be sure to pierce each shrimp twice, at the thickest part and at the tail. This makes for even cooking.

A few minutes before grilling drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper. Grill on high heat for 5 minutes, turning once. Cut a few limes in half and grill them, cut side down, for just a minute.

Remove the shrimp from their skewers before serving and squeeze the limes over the top.

I like to serve these with warmed corn tortillas. Guests can pile the shrimp and salsa into the tortillas, and a dollop of fresh guacamole adds even more flavor. They will love it.