Citrus Sweet Pepper Salad

Every Meal Needs a Salad.  And Every Salad should have a little personality.  Today's Salad Creation is Citrus Sweet Pepper Salad. It's a little spicy, a little tangy and all around delicious!
The Deets
3 Sweet Peppers (Yellow, Orange & Red)
1 Mandarin Orange
Salad Greens (Spinach, Romaine & Watercress)
1 Handful of Raw Almonds

The Construction
Thinly Slice Peppers
Peel and Cube Mandarin Orange (reserve ends for juice)
Tear Salad greens to desired size
Chop Almonds
Mix together & squeeze Orange Juice over salad

Plate, Pray & Enjoy

Ahi Tuna Tacos with Slaw

I Love Fish Tacos! During the Summer I will make them every week or two, with Ahi Tuna or MahiMahi. The Fish Taco is easy, healthy & oh so tasty!
The Slaw on the other hand, is a totally new concept.  As I've mentioned, I joined a food coop a few months back, which means I get mystery produce every 2 weeks. Most of it is stuff I use on a regular basis, but sometimes I am challenged with foods I don't normally eat. This week it was Cabbage. Purple Cabbage. What does one do with Purple Cabbage? Well I added it to fried rice {it turned everything purplish blue - but tasted good} and since I still had over half a head left I decided to make a slaw.
Here's my first attempt at purple slaw.

The Deets on the Slaw
2 Cups Shredded Purple Cabbage
1/2 Bell Pepper thinly sliced
3 Sweet Peppers (1 red, 1 orange & 1 yellow)
1/2 Cup Shredded Carrot
1 tsp Salt
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 TBS Rice Vinegar
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1/2 tsp Sriracha Sauce
1/2 tsp Sugar
1/4 Cup Plain Yogurt (nonfat)
1 TBS Lime Juice

The How To on the Slaw
Whisk Vinegar, Sesame Oil and Yogurt
Add Sriracha, Salt, Lemon Pepper & Sugar
Add to shredded Vegetables
Add Lime Juice and Mix well
Let sit for an hour before serving for flavors to mix

Taco Taco Deets
1 Ahi Tuna Fillet
1 tsp Taco Seasoning
1 tsp Lemon Pepper
1 TBS Lime juice
1/2 TBS Olive Oil
1 Avocado diced
1 Tomato diced
2 handfuls Romaine lettuce or Spinach
4 Corn Tortillas

The How To
Heat Olive Oil in Pan over Medium High
Sprinkle Tuna with Taco Seasoning and Lemon Pepper
Sear Tuna on each side for 4 minutes, remove from heat and sprinkle with lime juice

Use fork to "pull apart" Tuna

Heat Tortillas & assemble your tacos as desired

Serve with Black Beans {I also added baked sweet potatoes today}

Plate, Pray & Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Vegetable Fried Rice

Monday, Monday you're here again. Time to start the week off right with a meatless monday meal. Today's meatless meal is vegetable fried rice. This is a great way to start the week, because you can do all the prep the night before & once you get home from work all you have to do is throw it together. Even those of us who love to cook have days (usually Mondays) where we just don't want to cook.  That's why I've made a habit of prepping my Monday meals while making Sunday dinner. Last night while making a delicious Sunday dinner, I prepped my veggies & rice.  Because I took the time to prep last night while I had time, tonight's dinner only took about 15 minutes (including phone time).  
Here's How I like my Vegetable Stir Fry - Lots & Lots of Veggies - whatever veggies I've got on hand (which is usually a lot) & as close to a 50/50 ratio of veggies to rice as I can get.
The Deets
1/2 Cup Mushrooms chopped
2 Cups finely chopped Carrots
1 Yellow Squash 
1 Large Broccoli Floret 
1/2 Bell Pepper 
5 Sweet Peppers (red, yellow, orange) 
1 Jalapeno
1 1/2 Cup Brown Rice cooked according to directions
3 Eggs
Sesame Seeds
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1 TBS Olive Oil 
2 TBS Soy Sauce
1 TBS Tempura Sauce

The How To
Chop all vegetables to desired size (for stir fry I like mine chopped very fine)
Add oil to pan and heat to medium high
Begin with mushrooms and squash, once seared nicely add peppers, next add remaining vegetables, add 1 TBS Soy sauce and cook on medium high for 5 minutes.

  (this version from a few weeks ago has Purple Cabbage)

In separate pan scramble eggs

Add cooked rice and eggs to vegetables, add soy sauce and tempura sauce. Mix well and continue over medium high for another 5 minutes.  Add Sesame seeds.

Plate, Pray & Enjoy!

Dirty Rice with Sausage

If you're anything like me 1/2 way through the day you start wondering what you are going to make for dinner. Then your mind runs through what you've got in the fridge in an attempt to avoid the market on the way home.  Then you end up making one of a handful of quick & easy recipes that you & your family are pretty tired of.

This is a great easy recipe to mix up your midweek routine.   Dirty Rice uses staples you likely already have around & if not these ingredients are easy to add to your staple list since they have a long shelf life. Another great thing about this recipe is it's kind of a "kitchen sink" recipe, add what you have, leave out what you don't.  Here's my take on Dirty Rice:

The Deets

2 Cups Rice (I use long grain brown rice)

4 Cups Chicken Stock

1 Shallot

1/2 Bell Pepper

2 Jalapeno Peppers

10 Mushrooms

1 Can diced tomatoes + a handful of chopped fresh tomatoes

1 large Sausage (I prefer turkey, or better yet, elk if I can get it)

1 TBS Olive Oil

Instructions

Bring chicken broth to boil & add rice

Cook Rice to package directions (using the broth instead of water)

Chop Vegetables to desired size

Heat Oil to pan

Add Shallot & Mushrooms

Once cooked through remove 

Cook Sausage in same pan

Once Sausage is cooked 90% add peppers, mushrooms & shallots 

Next add Diced & Fresh Tomatoes 

Stir occasionally until hot

Add Rice and mix throughly 

Simple, Quick & a Delicious Break from the Usual Menu

Enjoy!