Nutella -Banana Sandwich

I got this recipe after watching The Food Network. I'm not gonna lie...there is nothing healthy about this dish, but it's oh, so good!!! This is great for a snack, breakfast, or it could served for a brunch.

Ingredients

• 2 Tblsn room temperature butter
  
• 2 slices of bread
  
• 1/4 cup cinnamon and sugar mix
  
• 1/4 cup Nutella
  
• 1/2 ripe bananas, sliced 1/4-inch thick

Directions

Heat a griddle or large nonstick saute pan over medium heat. Spread butter evenly on the bread, then sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture on one side of each bread. Place cinnamon side down on the griddle. Cook for about 3 minutes or until golden and flip; cook for a few seconds so cinnamon sugar adheres. Flip bread back over and spread with chocolate hazelnut spread. Arrange sliced bananas on top. Enjoy...you will!!!

AHHHH....SOOOOOO....GOOOD!

Citrus Salmon

This is healthy and easy!

2 Salmon Fillets
1 lime - juiced
1 orange - juiced
1 diced jalapeno
1 tspn Pepper

Mix ingredients fruit and jalapeno in a bowl - add in salmon. Marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Preheat a grill to medium heat.

Brush the salmon on all sides with the olive oil and season with pepper. Place the fish on the grill and cook for about 4 minutes. Turn the fish over and cook for an additional 2 minutes or until cooked through to the desired degree of doneness.

Serve with Grilled Corn and Spicy Beans

New York Strip Steak

For those of you who think red meat can't possibly be healthy, you're wrong. It's all about portion control. One serving of this steak or about 5 oz. is around 360 calories. If you serve it with steamed or grilled veggies it's still under 500 calories. This one is easy and ready to go in 30 minutes...take that Rachael Ray!

What you'll need:
3 Tblsn Olive Oil
2 Tblsn White Wine Vinegar
2 Diced Garlic Cloves
2 Tblsn Dijon Mustard
1 Tblsn Worcestershire sauce
2 Tbln diced fresh tarragon
Pepper
2 5 oz strip steaks

Preheat grill to medium high
Mix first five ingredients in a bowl. Place steak in the bowl and cover with marinade. Allow steaks to marinade in the bowl at room temperature for 20 minutes. Rotate the meat at least once.

Brush off all excess marinade from the steaks. Place the steaks on direct medium heat -- go set your timer and discard the marinade. Cook the meat for approx. 8 minutes* (4 minutes on each side). Allow the steaks to rest for 3 minutes. Slice against the grain.

I served this with steamed squash and zucchini with 1 tablespoon Smart Balance Light butter and 1 teaspoon of shredded parmasan cheese.

Just a note...my steaks were REALLY thin so I should have cooked them for about 6 minutes total for medium rare. Next time!

Goat Cheese Tart

I'm really excited to share this because it's super easy and so good. I have a friend who is an amazing gardener, in fact she completely changed her front yard into a huge garden. Yesterday I went over to her place to go "shopping". I came home with a bag full of squash, zucchini, various tomatoes, onions, and fresh herbs. Nothing beats fresh veggies.

These two tarts are a cinch to put together. The dough is from a Middle Eastern store - it comes in squares and is found in the frozen food section next to the phyllo dough. If you can't get it, puff pastry will suffice.

The base is the same for both of these, I just used two different toppings. This recipe is good for 4 individual tarts -- or you can cut them in four and make sixteen for bite sized servings.

Goat Cheese Spread -
4 oz. Goat Cheese (room temperature)
2 tspn fresh thyme
1 small garlic chopped
1 tspn olive oil
1 tspn pepper
1 tspn course salt

Thoroughly mix all the ingredients together and set aside

Tomato Tart
4 or 5 yellow tear-drop tomato
1 Tbls olive oil - divided
1 tbsn fresh thyme
1 tspn fresh basil
1 tspn pepper
Goat cheese spread

Preheat oven to 375
Slice tomatoes thinly, remove the ends. Spread goat cheese mixture in the middle of the tart square leaving 1/2 an inch on the ends. Place tomatoes on the tart without overcrowding it. Drizzle with olive olive oil and sprinkle pepper and thyme. Roll and pinch each of the tart ends together and rub or brush remaining olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown. Finish with fresh basil.

Zucchini Tart
1/2 zucchini
1/2 yellow or white turban squash
1 Tbls olive oil - divided
1 tbsn fresh thyme
Goat cheese spread

Preheat oven to 375

For each tart slice the tomatoes and zucchini extremely thin. Spread goat cheese mixture in the middle of the tart square leaving 1/2 an inch on the ends. Place zucchini on the tart without overcrowding it. Drizzle with olive olive oil and sprinkle pepper and thyme. Roll and pinch each of the tart ends together and rub or brush remaining olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brow.

Salad Fattoush -- my version

Salad Fattoush is a staple Middle Eastern salad. I think traditionally it doesn't have feta cheese in it, and it usually calls for red onions and radishes. I love Feta so I added it. You can also add in cooked diced chicken or maybe some albacore tuna if you want to add more protein.

Ingredients:
1 Small Romaine Lettuce washed and cut
1 diced cucumber
1 diced Roma tomato
1/4 cup mint
1/4 cup parsley
1/4 cup crumbled Feta Cheese
1 sliced shallot
1 toasted pita bread diced in squares
1/2 cup lemon dressing -- or more or less to taste

Lemon Dressing:
Equal parts fresh squeezed lemon and olive oil
1 small clove of garlic
1 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp Sumac (divided)-- this is the star of the salad, it can be found in Middle Eastern stores You can make the salad without it, but it's not as flavorful.


First make the dressing. I use a shaker to mix all the flavors together. Make sure you taste it, add more seasoning if need be. Slice the shallots and put them in the dressing. This takes the bite out of the shallots and marinates them nicely.

Place tomatoes and cucumbers in a bowl, sprinkle with a tablespoon of the dressing, this will also marinate the vegetables and let them soak in the flavor. Add chopped lettuce, mint, parsley, and cheese, toss together. Before serving add in the toasted bread and dressing. Toss and serve chilled.

Filet Mignon w/sauted onions and Grilled Corn

Filet has to be my favorite cut of red meat. When we go out though I usually don't order it for three reasons: 1. because it's usually over seasoned, 2. it's over priced, and 3. We can make it better at home. Tonight's creation was proof positive that it so much better to make at home than out. Yes it's expensive, but it's probably not as bad as some might think.

Costco has great filets -- they come four to a package -- more than we need but we grilled up the two extra and they will be steak sandwiches for tomorrow!!! If you really want to get the right amount I have found Stater Bros. to have a good selection. Just make sure the butcher cuts them thick. Anyway for the four filets it cost around $20.00 -- the two ears of corn were 50 cents. So yes, we had a steak dinner for 10.25. (Okay, maybe a bit more if I include the condiments and spices but you get the idea.)

Here's what you'll need for the entire meal:
Filet
2 thick cut filets
olive oil
1 Tbls Course Salt
1 Tbls. Pepper
1 tspn. Lawry's seasoning

Corn:
2 ears of corn shucked
1 tspn olive oil
1 tspn Course Salt
1 tspn pepper

Sauted Onions
1 large yellow onion sliced
2 shallots sliced
1 small diced garlic clove
2 tspn Course Salt
2 tspn pepper
2 Tbls butter

To Prepare Filet:
Heat Grill to high
While grill is heating drizzle ROOM temperature filets with olive oil. Spread the oil evenly on both sides. Apply the seasoning to both sides of the meat. Place meat on the grill and put the lid down. Grill for about 8 minutes each side for medium. Just like chicken...don't poke it, don't stick it with a fork, don't flip it over more than once, just leave it. *** Watch the grill carefully for flare-ups because of the oil. Allow the meat to rest for about 10 minutes under a loose foil tent.

To Prepare Corn:
Place each ear on foil. Drizzle thoroughly with olive oil. Spread salt and pepper evenly. Roll the the corn in the foil. Place on the grill for about 20 minutes. Rotate the corn about a quarter turn every 4 minutes or so to prevent burning.

To Prepare Onions:
Melt butter in a saute pan until melted. (Make sure the pan is the right size, if the pan is too small the onions will get too mushy.) Place onions in the pan and mix with butter. Add salt and pepper. Allow to cook over medium heat for about five minutes. Add the garlic. Mix together in the pan. Reduce the heat to medium low. Allow onions to get soft. Serve with the filet.

Enjoy!

Jerk Chicken

Super EASY!!!

2 chicken breasts (with bone) I peeled the skin off*
4 Tablespoons of Jerk Seasoning -- if you want to make your own go for it.
1 juice from a lime
1 juice from an orange
1/2 cup tequila or rum (optional)

In a bowl spread the seasoning on the chicken -- press it in with your fingers. Add in the juice from the fruit. Marinate chicken for at least 30 minutes -- or up to 1 day...the longer the better.
Preheat BBQ to 350 **
Grill chicken for about 17 minutes or so on each side. Do not flip the meat more than once...don't open the lid. If you flip it, poke it with a fork (no dirty jokes please), touch it, move it around, it becomes tough.

Serve with spicy beans.

Time saving tip:
Make more than one serving of chicken -- you can use the leftover chicken the next day in a salad or reheat for chicken tacos, or a sandwich.

* If you used boneless you really only need about 11 or 13 minutes on each side...use a timer.

** You can bake the chicken on 350 - for 45 minutes.

Spicy White Beans

This one is not fast -- it actually takes some planning, unless you're in a pinch you can always use canned white beans. If you use canned beans be sure to rinse them thoroughly.

This is also good for large groups -- just double everything up.

Ingredients:
1 cup of soaked white beans (soak overnight in 4 cups of water)
Approx. 4 cups of water - divided
1 shallot diced
1 serrano chili diced
1 small tomato diced
1 small garlic clove diced
2 Teaspoon cheyenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon sea salt

On medium heat saute shallots, tomato, chili, and garlic for about 5 minutes in 1 TBLS of olive oil. Add in beans, toss for about 5 minutes. Add water to cover the beans. Add spices -- but don't include salt. Bring to a boil, then simmer and cover. Check the water level, the beans should never be dry. Continue to add water if needed. Cook for about an hour or until beans are soft. 10 minutes before serving add salt and stir.

We ate this with a grilled jerk chicken* (See post for recipe)

If anyone tries this using a crockpot let me know.

Grilled Veggies

I love vegetables. I could probably be a vegetarian if I didn't love pork so much, and the occasional In-N-Out. Another one of Morgan's favorites are these grilled veggies. We serve them a lot when we have people over for dinner. I usually do all the prep in the morning so I don't have to worry about it later.

There are a lot of ways to cut the veggies, but after years of trial and error it seems that the best way to slice the veggies is by making long strips. Chunking them for skewers is good but it's not as flavorful.

1 - 2 zucchini
1 - 2 yellow squash
1 - 2 yellow onions
Asparagus
mushrooms
1 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
sea salt
pepper

Line the veggies in a deep pyrex pan -- or jelly roll pan (anything that has a lip so the oil won't drain out). Once one layer is in the pan drizzle with Olive Oil. LIBERALLY apply pepper and sprinkle salt. Drizzle a dash of vinegar on the veggies. Repeat process until all the veggies are seasoned.

If you're not cooking immediately, put a damp paper towel over the veggies and put in the fridge.

Over medium heat place the veggies on the grill -- or if you have a BBQ basket use that. Grill veggies, flipping (carefully) once, about 15 - 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

Place

Cucumber Salad

This is one of Morgan's favorites. It's super easy, and healthy. Sometimes this is what we have for dinner!

Ingredients:
1 - 3 peeled cucumber (preferably English)
1 small onion
Chinese Garlic-Chili sauce
Diced Jalapeno
Pepper to taste
Approx. 1 Cup Rice Wine Vinegar

Thinly slice cucumbers and onions at the same width. Toss in ingredients 1 - 5 in a bowl. Cover the vegetables in vinegar. Make sure there is enough vinegar that the veggies are completely covered. Toss one more time. Chill in the refrigerator. It's good for about 3 days.