In the mood for something healthful and vegetarian, I recently cooked an all veggie dinner, composed of ideas I found on my Healthy Eating Pinterest board, which often gives me inspiration. Being a total avocado freak, the above pictured stuffed avocado appealed to me right away, especially when I saw the easy mix of ingredients that went into the fool-proof recipe. The cauliflower dish stood out in flavor too, but it takes longer to prepare, which lets you munch on the avocado ahead of time and save the spicy cauliflower for later.
Stuffed Avocado - Use a ripe (but not too soft) avocado and take out the pit. You can then stuff it with other healthy ingredients such as freshly made pico de gallo, a few chunks of cheese, breadcrumbs and the like. If you're not a vegetarian and you'd like to incorporate some meat, a modest helping of chicken sausage may be nice to throw into the mix as well. Here's more details about the exact cooking method, as found on Pinterest.
Spicy Cauliflower - I love me some roasted cauliflower and was excited to prepare this one with a spicy method, using chili pepper and cayenne. While the recipe for this is a bit liberal with the spices, I used them sparingly, and added my own elements too such as sunflower seeds for some crunch as well as a sweet red onion instead of garlic. Take a look at the original recipe, courtesy of REMCooks blog.
I'm calling this my wistful summer salad because I really can't wait for the warmer season to come. Although we've been getting little whispers of spring here and there, I'm ready for the real thing.
Strawberries and avocado make me think of my favorite season, and I was inspired to create my take on this beautiful salad that I originally saw on Pinterest by way of Farmgirl Gourmet. She in turn got it from Lauren's Latest blog who found the recipe on Two Peas & Their Pod blog. And so the story goes...
While I didn't use kale as my base, since I already had it this week, I replaced it with fresh baby spinach and also added tomatoes, which go so well with avocado. Switching up the dressing from Lauren's creamy poppyseed to a mixture of tzatziki and vinegar, also worked out really well. And in case you're wondering, those delicious, well done pieces of cured meat are Spanish chorizo that I got from Despana Foods. It was a tasty way to go and provided good wishful thinking to welcome summer. Well almost...
Strawberry Avocado salad recipe as seen on Lauren's Latest blog
Once again inspired by my visit to the West coast, I remembered the delicious breakfast Jess made for me on my last day there. Tapping into her family's traditions, she whipped me up a plate of chilaquiles, which were to die for. Explaining that her family's version was quite unique since they kept the tortillas crispy, I was in the mood to try it too. While mine didn't stay crispy unfortunately, I liked them just the same and instead of eating them for breakfast, I enjoyed them as a special dinner treat. Dan liked them too and compared them to Matzoh Brie.
Dinner Chilaquiles (serves 1)
2 eggs, beaten
2 corn tortillas, sliced into triangles
1/2 small red onion, chopped fine
2 tbs of pickled jalapenos, chopped (adjust portion to your taste, and if you don't like spicy food, you can omit this altogether)
Small bunch of fresh cilantro, chopped
Habanero salsa (or something of your choice, but it should be tomato based)
3 slices of fresh avocado
Salt and pepper to taste
Olive oil
Directions:
In a stainless medium sized skillet, heat oil until hot and then add onions, jalapenos and tortillas. Cook for about 5 - 6 minutes, stirring to make sure that the tortillas get a nice, golden brown color.
Add eggs and stir in slowly with a wooden spoon to incorporate all the ingredients. Add salt and pepper. Lower the heat and mix in the salsa and stir for another minute or two.
Transfer to a bowl, season with fresh cilantro and top with avocado.
Since it's taken me a little while to get back in the swing of things with cooking (due to my travelling), I was happy to finally make a nice, from-scratch, healthy dish last night that I'd love to share with you. In the mood for Mexican flavors such as avocado, lime, tomato and cilantro, I used a simple BBQ'd chicken leg and topped it with a homemade chunky guacamole salad you see here. The whole thing rested on a bed of whole wheat cous-cous, which was also tasty and flavored with toasted pepitas, chopped red onions and cilantro too. Overall, the flavors were refreshing, light and summery - give it a try, and see what you think.
Fooditka's Summery Mexican Chicken
Ingredients (serves 2)
6 chicken legs (preferably using organic free range chicken)
1 fresh lime
1/2 avocado
Large handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
A quarter of a small red onion, finely chopped
Small handful of cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 cup of whole wheat cous-cous
Small handful of toasted pumpkin seeds (pepitas)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
Preheat a grill or a grillpan on high and lightly oil it.
In the meantime, prepare the chicken by seasoning it with salt and pepper (generously) and then rubbing it with a sliced lime, letting the flavors set in a bit.
Place chicken on hot grill or grillpan and cook for about 25 minutes, alternating sides.
Combine the avocado, tomatoes, onions, cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper to make the chunky guacamole that will top the chicken.
Cook the cous-cous according to the directions on the box and mix in a small handful of onions, pepitas and cilantro.
Arrange the dish in a bowl, first adding the cous-cous, then topping it with the chicken and then the chunky guac.
Enjoy and get a beer to wash it down while you're at it!
