Olive Oil Lime-Garlic Marinade

This is for you Lyndzee! :)

This is an easy delicious marinade that can be used on any meat, fish, or veggies. Last night I marinated chicken and veggies, cooked them in a skillet, and served them over brown rice. It was quite yummy!

Prep time: 10 minutes
Marinate time: 4 hours to overnight

RECIPE TIP: This marinade can be made quickly in a blender or food processor, or if desired, mince garlic and combine with the remaining ingredients in a small bowl. Use it to marinate meat or your favorite fresh summer vegetables.

Ingredients
2 large cloves garlic
1/2 cup olive oil (I used less)
1/3 cup lime juice
2 tablespoons grated lime peel
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
In blender or food processor, with machine running, add garlic. Add remaining ingredients. Process until blended; scraping down sides, if necessary. Pour marinade into bowl or plastic food storage bag. Add about 2 pounds meat or 4 to 5 cups vegetables; toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate**. Marinate 4 hours to overnight. Grill or broil meat. Serve vegetables with slotted spoon.

Makes about 1 cup marinade

**If desired, vegetables can be marinated at room temperature for 1 to 2 hours.

Cayenne Chicken with Avocado Salsa

I made this tonight for dinner and we loved it! This is a super easy recipe and it only takes 30 min. I got this recipe from Martha Stewart’s website. We ate this with a side of vegetables and couscous. Hope you guys like it as much as we did.

1 teaspoon salt (I used half of that)
¼ pepper
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
4 chicken breast
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium red onion, finely diced
2 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 avocado cubed

In a small bowl combine salt, pepper and cayenne pepper and rub mixture all over chicken breasts. In a skillet, heat oil over medium. Add chicken and cook until is fully cooked. While the chicken is cooking, in a medium bowl combine red onion and lime juice and set aside. Just before serving add avocado to onion and lime juice mixture and season with salt and pepper.
Serve chicken topped with avocado salsa.

Tangy Pork Chops

I got this recipe from the Kraft website. They have easy and delicious meals. Enjoy!

6 Pork chops
1 package of Stove Top Stuffing Mix (Chicken)
1 16oz can of whole berry cranberry sauce
¾ cup Barbecue Sauce
2 Tbsp. brown sugar

Cook pork chops in a skillet until they are brown on both sides. Prepare stuffing as directed on package.

Place pork chops to a 9x13 baking pan. In a medium bowl mix cranberry sauce, barbecue sauce and sugar and mix stuffing mix. Pour mixture over pork shops and bake at 325 for 30 min or until pork chops are evenly cooked.

Baked Chicken Fingers with Mango Dipping Sauce

We love this recipe! It's a delicious lowfat version of chicken fingers and the mango dipping sauce is really yummy too! Although, I had to make some revisions to the mango recipe because I didn't have all the ingredients - see my side not on the mango sauce. If you don't have mangos, you can eat the chicken with ketchup, bbq sauce, ranch dressing, or whatever dipping sauce you like. And the chicken makes great leftovers! I've chopped up the leftover chicken fingers and used them for salads - delicious! I even used them with spaghetti and parmesan cheese to make a sort of chicken parmesan dish. The sky is really the limit with these chicken fingers!

Baked Chicken Fingers

Ingredients
1 cup plain bread crumbs
1 cup corn flakes or toasted rice cereal, crushed
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon black pepper
2 tablespoons olive or canola oil
½ cup all purpose flour
3 eggs, beaten
1 to 2 pounds chicken breast tenders or boneless breasts, cut into 1“inch strips

Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray and set aside. Mix bread crumbs, cereal, brown sugar, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl or casserole dish. Drizzle oil evenly over the breading, then mix in.

Arrange three shallow containers, one with the flour, one with the beaten eggs, and one with the bread crumb mixture. Individually dip chicken tenders into flour, then eggs (letting excess run off), then breading mixture. Arrange breaded chicken pieces on the cookie sheet.
Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until crisp and brown all over. Serve with mango dipping sauce (recipe below).

Mango Dipping Sauce

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
2 cups ripe mango, peeled and diced into 1/4“inch pieces
¼ cup orange juice
1 tablespoon agave nectar or honey
Salt to taste
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 tablespoon seasoned rice wine vinegar
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (2 to 3 limes, squeezed)

SIDE NOTE: I didn't have some of the ingredients so I substituted sugar for honey, used mango orange juice instead of plain orange juice, used white vinegar instead of seasoned rice wine vinegar, and skipped the lime juice - and it still came out really tasty. I also didn't have enough mango so I just cut down on the ingredients and eyeballed the amounts.

Directions
Heat oil over medium heat in a medium saucepan. Add onion and cook, stirring, about 7 minutes, or until translucent but not browning. Add mango, orange juice, and nectar or honey to pan. Season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes more, or until thickened. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar and lime juice, adding more to taste, if desired. Serve alongside chicken fingers warm or at room temperature.

Home fries

I make these occasionally for breakfast. Frozen hash browns are easier and faster, but there is nothing like the homemade version. If you have the time, they are worth it.

Cube as many potatoes as you think you will need. For two adults I usually cube about 5 small-to-medium sized potatoes and that may result in some leftover. Depends on potato size.

Cook potatoes in the microwave to soften them up. Five to 10 minutes depending on how many potatoes you have. Could cook longer if you want this process to be faster. Meanwhile, dice an onion. Bell pepper too if you have one.

Throw vegetables in a pan with a little oil to coat. Add generous amounts of season salt (I love Lawry's Season Salt but it is hard to find in Grenada - generic version will do).

Stir occasionally until potatoes brown and are soft. About 20 minutes. Sample potatoes if you are not sure.

Cowboy cavier

While avocados are in season in Grenada, this makes a fantastic dish. A crowd pleaser at any occasion. It's like a fancy, fresh, tasty variation on salsa but hardier because it has beans in it. I made it once and then made it again just a few days later because I was craving it.

2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 to 2 teaspoons hot sauce
1 1/2 teaspoons salad oil
1 clove garlic, minced
1/8 teaspoon pepper
1 firm-ripe avocado (about 10 oz.)
1 can (15 oz.) black-eyed peas
1 can (11 oz.) corn kernels
2/3 cup thinly sliced green onions
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 pound Roma tomatoes, coarsely chopped
Salt

1 bag (6 oz.) tortilla chips or 2 cups finely shredded cabbage
Preparation

1. In a large bowl, mix vinegar, hot sauce, oil, garlic, and pepper. Peel, pit, and cut avocado into 1/2-inch cubes. Add to vinegar mixture and mix gently to coat.

2. Drain and rinse peas and corn. Add peas, corn, onions, cilantro, and tomatoes to avocado; mix gently to coat. Add salt to taste. Serve pea mixture with chips as an appetizer, or add cabbage and mix to make a salad.


I served with chips, not cabbage. If cilantro isn't available that's o.k., it still tastes great. I mixed everything together in one bowl, skipping the two-step process, and it turned out fine.

Fish cakes

C.J. went on a fishing trip and came back with a 25-pound Wahoo. I cooked up a huge portion of it, and we ate some of it one night as fillets. Dreading five more days of fish fillets, I found this recipe for the cooked fish leftovers. It was delicious!! Since the fish was already cooked it was not such a hard process - just mix and fry in the pan.


4 to 5 med. size (or 2 lbs. raw meat) fresh trout
1/4 c. diced onion
1/2 c. salad dressing
2 eggs
1 tbsp. parsley flakes
1 tbsp. lemon juice
1 tbsp. Seafood seasoning
2 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp. Season salt
1 c. bread crumbs
2 c. Italian bread crumbs

Pan fry trout for 6 minutes each side or until flakes easily with a fork. Remove from heat, cool. Remove skin and de-bone. Add remaining ingredients except Italian bread crumbs. Mix well. Shape into 3 inch round patties. Roll in Italian bread crumbs.

Fish cakes can be baked in 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or pan fried until golden brown. Fish cakes can be frozen (unbaked or fried) for 6 months.

Makes 12 fish cakes.

I used Wahoo instead of trout, obviously. And cajun seasoning instead of seafood seasoning. And I used Italian bread crumbs inside and for the outside coating (although didn't need a whole two cups for outside coating). And I fried them in a little oil.

Pumpkin Cake

Ingredients:
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 cup margarine/butter, softened
1 egg
1 1/2 cup pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ginger
3 eggs
1/2 cup evaporated canned milk
1/2 cup regular milk
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup margarine
whipped cream

Directions:
Take yellow cake mix and set aside 1 cup. Mix remaining cake mix with margarine/butter and one egg. Press into bottom of a greased 9x13 cake pan. (It will be very sticky.)

Mix together pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, salt, ginger, 3 eggs, milks and vanilla. Pour into cake pan on top of cake mixture.

In a separate bowl, combine remaining 1 cup dry cake mix, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 cup margarine/butter (cut into small pieces). Sprinkle on top of pumpkin mixture. Bake at 350 for 45 minutes or until knife comes out clean. Cool. Serve topped with whipped cream.

Veggie Mac n' Cheese

If you are low on meat but still want to make something filling, this is a great recipe to try. I found it on Shape.com (Shape Magazine's website - they have a lot of great recipes) and it turned out pretty well. The thing I love about Shape recipes is that they often give you the nutrition score per serving (see below recipe). The only veggie that the recipe calls for is diced tomatoes but since Ryan doesn't like tomatoes I added some chopped broccoli and diced red bell peppers instead, which I definitely recommend - they added color, flavor, and a little extra nutritional value :) Enjoy!

Veggie Mac 'n Cheese

Ingredients:

1 12-ounce box of uncooked elbow macaroni
1/3 cup reduced-fat sour cream
1 14-ounce can diced tomatoes, drained
1 12-ounce can evaporated fat-free milk (or 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk)
4 ounces (1 cup) reduced-fat Cheddar cheese, shredded
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon black ground pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
2 tablespoons bread crumbs, dried
2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Cook pasta according to the package directions. Drain and reserve 1/3 cup of the pasta water. Transfer pasta to a large bowl. While pasta is still hot, stir in sour cream, reserved pasta water, and diced tomatoes. Set aside.

Scald milk by heating it in a medium saucepan over medium heat until tiny bubbles appear around the edges. Add cheese, mustard, pepper, and nutmeg. Simmer, stirring constantly, until cheese melts.

Fold cheese mixture into the pasta and transfer to a casserole dish (mixture will be thin but will thicken as it bakes).

Mix together bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese. Sprinkle over pasta.

Bake uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes or until the top is golden brown.

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 10-15 minutes

Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

Nutrition Score per serving:
(2 cups) 484 calories, 466 mg calcium, 79 g carbs, 7 g fat (12% of calories), 4 g fiber, 28 g protein, 3 g saturated fat, 3 mg iron, 464 mg sodium

Mexican Stuffed Shells

18 large shells (cooked & drained)
1 lb. hamburger
18 oz. picante sauce
2 cans tomato sauce
cheese

Brown your hamburger with onion and drain. In separate bowl mix picante sauce and tomato sauce. Add 3/4 cup of the sauce to your hamburger and also 3/4 cup cheese. Pour half of remaining mixture into 9x13 pan. Stuff the shells with hamburger mixture and place in pan. Once all shells are in pan, pour remaining sauce on top. Cook covered for 30 minutes on 350. Cover with cheese and bake for 5 more minutes uncovered.

Sausage & Egg Casserole

(Picture courtesy of Google Images)

This is a super easy casserole. You can make it for breakfast, for dinner and even for potlucks. I mainly use it when we have brunches for baby showers. Hope you guys like it.

6 Slices of white bread, cubed

1 pound of sausage, crumbled, browned and drained (I found the sausage in the frozen isle of IGA)

1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

8 eggs, beaten

2 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of salt

Pepper to taste

Take the cubed bread and place evenly in a greased 9x13 pan. Sprinkle sausage and cheese evenly over cubed bread. In a mixing bowl mix eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over cheese. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Bake at 325 F for 45 mins.

You can also add some green chiles, mushrooms and onion to this recipe. Just play with it and see what works best for you.