Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade and The World's Best Ever Steak Marinade

This weekend as you well know is Father's Day weekend. Instead of hanging out around the house and  grilling some steaks and swimming in the pool we decided it would be a good idea to take all of the kids and meet the fam up at Big Lake for some camping chaos fun. If you didn't read my post from last year you may not fully appreciate how difficult interesting it can be when camping with 3 young children and a cranky teenager. If your up for a good laugh read about our adventure here.  I remain very optimistic that things will go much better this year.......

For one thing, I'm going to make things a LOT easier on myself and stick with the basics. Simple, yet good food and packing just what's necessary instead of trying to plan for every inconceivable disaster. Quite frankly I'm just too pooped to plan.


Last weekend we grilled up some steaks which turned out to be hands down best ever and all around awesome. I'm not a huge red meat so when I'm craving a nice steak or burger It better be good. I like my meat very tender and super flavorful. These steaks were both and the tangy, sweet flavor can be attributed to this marinade which worked wonders on the meat. Man, it was so good!

I also attempted to make a red pepper, cilantro pesto from Dara at Cookin' Canuck  but ended up tweaking the ingredients and process a bit to end up with more of a tapenade. I love tapenades in every variety, they are so versatile and satisfying in a grown up sort of way. They can be paired with steak, on top of smoked or grilled fish (my favorite) or as a stand alone hor d'oeuvres with crackers, a baguette and of course a good aperitif.

Basically, for this to be a tapenade instead of a pesto, you need to use a bit more almonds and less red pepper. Preferably use a small hand food processor or pulse just a few times in your regular one. I love my little manual one for chopping garlic, finely mincing onion, herbs and making salsa and guacamole. It's just a tiny little thing and so easy to clean. I use it daily.

Almond and Roasted Red Pepper Tapenade

1 small red bell pepper, roasted

3 cloves garlic

1 cup blanched almonds (2 handfuls)

small handful cilantro

squeeze lime juice

2-3 tablespoons good quality extra virgin olive oil

Pulse all ingredients except lime juice and oil in a food processor until coarsely chopped.

Drizzle in oil and lime juice. Pulse until desired consistency.

Happy Father's Day to my dad who is the coolest and most gerous guy I know and to my sweet and as perfect as they get husband who keeps me grounded, happy and calm. 

and to all you other dad's, I hope you have a wonderful day!

(camping or not)

Grilled Eggplant Caprese with Parmesan and Garlic White Bean Puree

Summer in Phoenix means very long, hot days and cooking is the very last thing I want to do. Sitting by the pool with an ice cold drink while waiting for my grill to work it's magic on these eggplants however, is my idea of a perfect summer supper. Grilling thick slices of eggplant brings out a wonderful smokey flavor that baking just can't replicate. In a pinch broiling them will do but I find that not only is the flavor not up to par but they turn out a bit soggier than when on the grill.

Coconut Crusted Baked Chicken Strips {gluten free}

I remember when I was in college I thought grabbing some chicken fingers at Wendy's was a healthier choice than grabbing a cheeseburger, I mean no bread right? Wrong, duh me. I'm not going to lie, I still love a good, crispy chicken nugget but avoid the drive through like crazy nowadays. It's a good thing, a very, very good thing that home made chicken nuggets happen to be one of the very easiest things you can make. Yippee!

Cottage Cheese Pancakes {gluten free}

I think these pancakes could fall under the paleo diet guidelines.  Wait, did cavemen eat cottage cheese? Oh well,  I'm pretty sure that cave men ate pancakes. After all they apparently ate muffins, cookies and pie why not pancakes. O.k. so I haven't read up on this new fad. I know it's a pretty basic concept of eating whole foods but as far as trying to figure out exactly what cavemen ate, I'm not sure I really get it. Like coconut for instance? Did cave men eat coconut? Maybe if there were cave men in Hawaii. Coconut is good for you but if cave men didn't eat it then are Paleoians not allowed to eat it either? Why?

Smokey Baba Ganoush {roasted eggplant dip}

Teenagers. sighhhh.  Why didn't anyone ever warn me about how exhausting, annoying and all around taxing teenagers are? I'm pretty sure that had someone warned me I would have planned better. Prepared myself in some way, maybe gone to  pre-conditioning therapy, meditated more or sent him to boarding school at age 13. That would have been smart, best for everyone. Had someone only warned me.

Preparing for Food Revolution Day with Jamie Oliver: Healthy Snacking

Let's get straight to it shall we? I am under the impression that most of you are busy peeps and don't have time to read about another "The importance of eating healthy" post. So am I, I totally get it! We live in a time where if it can't be done NOW, made NOW or instantly downloaded onto one of our many electronic devices which will tell us how to do it while we drive, change a diaper or get ready for work than forget about it!

Lobster Fettuccine in a light Béchamel Sauce

Instead of talking about how much today sucked big time, I'm going to harness my inner  Chi  and  focus on Lobster Fettuccine. It's my happy place.

 HuummmmMmmmmmmm...................



Tomorrow will be a better day. I know it. Period. No big deal, don't worry friends just another day working in surgery with a few surprises and challenges. Nothing a pair of comfy jamies, a glass of wine and a bowl of creamy lobster pasta won't fix. Tomorrow I have the day off and can hopefully spend time with my children and remember what the important things in my life are. Snuggling babies is God's way of gifting you free therapy.

The Best Grilled Fish Tacos on Home Made Blue Corn Tortillas with Mango Salsa, Cumin & Garlic Black Beans and a Healthy and Simple Cinco de Mayo Roundup.

I've lived in the Southwest most of my 30 errrr  something years. Mexico has a big influence here in the Valley of the Sun. Mexican food, style, culture and architecture are all prevalent here in the Phoenix area.

One thing I've never really understood is where the celebration of Cinco de Mayo comes from and why we celebrate it here in the States. I have many friends from Mexico or with strong Mexican roots and not a one of them have ever celebrated Cinco de Mayo. "Sure" they say, "We will hang out and have a cervesa but it's not a holiday in our book."  Part of this was said in Spanish so I'm guessing that's what they said. 

Over Night Tart Cherry and Pear Crisp Breakfast

I am not a morning person. Everyone who knows me knows that it's best not to ask me anything serious, important or annoying in any way shape or form before I've had a cup of coffee. You would think that I would be used to being up and at em' at the crack of dawn since I've been doing it pretty much my entire life. I have to be up around 5 a.m. for work with my head screwed on tightly by 6:30 and ready to focus in surgery. Also, after having 4 kids, my first one at age 19 I've known many a early mornings in my day.

Healthy Almond-Coconut Chocolate Thumbprint cookies ~ gluten free

Some days things just don't pan out the way I planned them to. Actually, that seems to be the norm rather than the exception lately. And by lately I mean since I had my first child 18 years ago. Holy crap! I have an 18 year old?!!  Anyway, this weekend I had to work on Saturday and was supposed to be off at 3p.m. and then planned on doing a little shopping at my favorite adds and ends Home store for kitchen props, plates, bowls, napkins etc. then go to Sprouts and then go home make a yummy dinner and possibly get some decent shots to put on the blog. 

Roasted Chickpea, Heirloom tomato, Avocado, Lemon Tarragon and Basil Salad.

My mom is in the background reminiscing about how she always used to win the spelling bee. Every year she says, and there was a big stage and real prizes, that's how they did it in my day. All because I asked her how to spell extraordinaire. I should have known better. She's still going on and on (can't blame a gal for reminiscing) so of course I ask her how to spell reminiscing and she pauses with a bit of doubt..... HA! I totally know how to spell doubt! So I promptly turn to my handy dandy, new age spelling check thingy on my state of the art MAC computer and it shuts my poor mom down and tells me how to spell reminiscing before she can spout it out.   Pooooor  mommy.

Grain Free PB&J Bread

My 6 year old has 4 cavities. FOUR! If ever I felt like a failure as a mom, this is it. Epic fail. The fact that the dentist is my sisters husband may or may not have made me feel even punier. Not that I ever claimed to be World's Best Mom but I DO however like to think of myself as a fairly healthy eater and especially when it comes to feeding my kids healthy foods and snacks. I mean that's the entire premise of my blog! 

So how is it that my baby has 4 cavities? The dentist a.k.a. my brother-in-law asked me what his weakness was when it came to snacking.  "Errr, weakness?"  "Yeah, like does he love gold fish crackers and pretzels or candy?" Me, "NO! Well, I mean he does, actually have a big time sweet tooth but I SWEAR I can't even remember the last time I've bought gold fish crackers, or any crackers other that our GF quinoa and seed ones or any fruit snacks, candy or cookies or doughnuts....... (my mind is working over time trying to figure out where I went wrong).  So I say, "I mean sometimes I buy Popsicles, and there was Halloween where he gorged himself with candy  Oh!  all of those birthday parties at school with the cup cakes, that's got to be it right?