Thanks Georgie

Rob & I hav become obsessed with the George Foreman Grill.  We usually cook turkey burgers or salmon burgers on it.  Recently, I've discovered how easy it is to cook grilled veggies on it.  Check it out!  This whole meal was George Foremanned!

Dolphin Dinner

Dolphin Dinner

As you can tell.  Flipper is on on our plate.  Actually we went to Costco & got ourselves some groceries this week.  Mahi Mahi (which I was informed by my neighbor) in english is dolphin not to be confused with the porpoises that they eat in hot lunch at the Japanese grade school cafeterias.  Humm... did I ruin your apetite?  Anyway you know how to make quinoa, fry fish on the george forman... I'll tell you how I made the salad because it is so Russian/ Italian and it was so good.

It was Russian because of the cabbages and the tomatoes and Italian because of the dressing and the Basil.

Russian/ Italian Salad

Slice what ever portion of cabbage you want in your salad. Chop the Cabbage finely as if you were making a coleslaw.  Chop a few basil leafs into fine strips.  Slice grape tomatoes in halves.  Add a spring mix or romain lettuce.

Generously add olive oil.  Add less apple cider vinegar than the olive oil about 1/4 to 1/2 the amount of olive oil.  Salt and pepper to taste.  Be more generous with the salt and pepper!

GREEK YOGURT

WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH THIS PICTURE?

I was talking to one of my girlfriends the other day and she mentioned that she had picked up some FAGE yogurt the other day.   BLAH EH ECK... were the noises she made as she described how "disgusting it was."  I was laughing because I knew that she had eaten it plain.

I am a huge fan of any greek yogurt wether it be by FAGE or Trader Joe's.  My favorite things to top it with is honey & frozen berries.  Sometimes when I am in the mood for something  different, I put honey, cinnamon, and almonds into the mix.

And the reason I discovered Greek yogurt was from my big sister.  She makes the "tart" flavor frozen yogurt out of one bucket of Trader Joe's Greek Style Yogurt and 3/4 to 1 Cup of sugar.  Thats the recipe.  Mix it all up and then you've got your own Yogurtland tart fro yo.

Spoiled Baguette

Have you ever been so excited to be in Santa Barbara that you forgot your baguette in the car?

We did.  It was a bummer for sure when we got it out later and realized it was hard as a rock.

Holding it in one hand while the other hand naturally had fallen to the side gestured what a disappointment this was!  I was dazed almost in a transe with thoughts flooding my mind about this $3.00 bread stick.  It was my Easter Baguette; a celebratory snack.  Because eating white floured bread isn't something I let myself do very often.

Croutons somebody said.  "Huh, I guess we could make croutons," I thought to myself as if that was the only way to salvage it and pretend that we were helping the starving kids in Africa by eating the spoiled food rather than wasting it.  How those thoughts of justification come into our American psyches I'll never know.

Anyway Croutons is was and I will say... they were my favorite part of the Easter feast.  Artichokes made a quick second to the croutons.

Spoiled Baguette Croutons

Olive Oil

Fresh Pressed Garlic

Garlic Salt

Ground Pepper

Fresh Rosemary

1 Baguette

Chop the bread into slices and slice those slices until you have cubed squares somewhere between 1/2 inch and 1 inch.  Toss those in a steril plastic bag and throw in some freshly pressed garlic and olive oil.  Sprinkle on some garlic salt and fresh ground pepper.  Shake this all around so that the flavorful glaze is even.  Dump them out onto a pan that will go into the oven preheated at 350 degrees.  Arrange them nicely as you gently piece fresh rosemary flakes from your Summerland garden onto each crumb.  Its beautiful; it's gorgeous.  It's going into the oven and when it comes out after 3-5 minutes... you'll be in heaven.

Veggie Juice

I am a morning person despite my husbands internal clock.  I have a bad habit of pestering my husband to wake up because I want to hang out and go and do something fun.  The other morning Calli and I had an extremely early morning get together.  I think I was there by 8:00 am.  This was probably to the relief of my husband who could finally catch a little more Z's.

Our top secret early bird gathering was rooted in one of Calli's specialty morning drinks.  She has a juicer.  She juiced me up some carrots, cucumbers, celery, & apple.  It was oddly enough delicious.  It was sweet and had a beautiful texture... actually there was no texture and that was the beauty of it.

This morning I figured why not make my own?  I don't need a juicer to indulge in such a nutrient rich morning treat.  I will admit I was wrong.  I added carrots, brussel sprouts, spinach, & apple.  The taste was bearable, it was the texture that was heinous.  I really had to water it down and let everything settle to the bottom before I came close to finishing it.

I think I'll be sticking to my spinach fruit smoothies or use a juicer next time.

People Who Try

Starting a blog is way easier than keeping one but it definitely helps knowing that others do read what I write and actually try out some of the recipes.  Here are two of the latest entries from people who actually have tried some of the recipes!  This is so exciting!

This is from Lindsey & Ben who have made Coconut Curry Soup with Quinoa a couple favorite.  They add chicken so than Ben can feel like he has gotten his protein even though the soup is already jam packed with grams of protein.  You can never get enough protein if your a big guy I guess.

Next is Dani who is drinking a green smoothie Linda and the girls in Austin made.  They apparently grow fresh spinach.  How cool is that?  I want to try one of those.

How cute is she?  And healthy too.  When Ryanne's boys were over I tried to get them to drink it by calling it a monster drink.  Only Tavin tried it.  He was stoked his brothers didn't want any because there was more for him.  Thanks to everyone following!

Fruit Tops Them All

Toast is an ultimate favorite breakfast food in the Pike home.  Why use jam or jelly when you can have fresh fruit?  The healthy enzymes are alive and well in freshly cut strawberries, it tastes better too.  Sometimes we like to add peanut butter on the bottom and or honey on the top.  Enjoy.  We love it.  We do it with blueberries, blackberries, bananas, and I'm going to try grapes this morning.  Sounds so much more appetizing than grape jelly.  Doesn't it?