Spaghetti Squash with a Lamb marinera sauce

Ingredients:

Sauce:

1 pound ground lamb

5 ripe vine tomatoes

olive oil

2-3 garlic cloves minced

1 handful fresh basil chopped

salt and Peper to taste

Squash:

1 spaghetti squash split in half and cleaned out

olive oil

salt and peper

1 cup water

Directions:

Squash-

Preheat oven to 400F. Drizzle inside of squash with olive oil and salt and paper to taste. lay inside down on a baking dish filled with about 1 cup 0f water. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, baked covered with foil for the first 35mins and then remove for remainder of baking time. 

When squash is ready it can be easily scooped out of its shell, let cool because it will be very hot. It will be stringy like Spaghetti and is a great alternative. Scoop into a bowl when it has cooled enough to handle. 

Sauce:

Blanch tomatoes to remove skin ( when removing tomato skins cut a shallow “x” at the base of the tomato just under the skin and soak in very hot water for about 5-10mins and skins should easily peal off) dice tomatoes and set aside. In a medium bowl mix chopped basil with ground lamb using your hands, add about 1 teaspoon of salt to this combination.

In a sauce pan, heat 2 table spoons of olive oil on medium-high heat. Add garlic and sauté for about 1 minute. Add lamb and basil mixture and sauté for about 5-10min until lamb is slightly browned . Add diced tomatoes and salt and paper to taste, stir . Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 18-20mins, stirring occasionally. 

Serve sauce over a plate of spaghetti squash and enjoy!

This is a great alternative to regular spaghetti!

 

 

Grilled asparagus

Ingredients

8-12 asparagus spears, trimmed

dash sea salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

Boiling Water to cover asparagus

Sweet mustard (with heat if desired)

Directions:

Soak asparagus in a bowl of boiling water for about 10min, or until tender.

Drain Water. Sprinkle salt to tast over asparagus and coat in olive oil.

Transfer to grill, and grill for approximately 10-15mins, flipping over on all side for even cooking. 

Remove from grill and serve with sweet mustard (PC brand sweet with heat mustard is my favourite for you canadian readers). Serve as a side or enjoy as a snack!

Grilled Tomatoes and Peppers

Ingredients:

4 ripe vine tomatoes

4 ripe red and yellow peppers( halved and seeded)

olive oil

sea salt

fresh ground pepper

Directions:

Place tomatoes and peppers in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper.

Heat up BBQ, place foil on rack and grill veggies on foil for about 3-5mins (sprinkle any left over oil and salt onto veggies when placed on the foil). Take veggies off the foil and place directly on the grill, using a fork to poke a few holes into each tomato. Rotate tomatoes frequently and place back on the foil after about 1-2mins. Keep peppers directly on the grill and rotate occasionally for about 5-10mins.

Serve immediately

Cucumber and Avocado salad

Ingredients:

2 english cucumbers pealed and shredded

2 ripe avocados halved and out of shell (slice avocado in half lengthwise remove seed and scoop put of shell with a spoon.)

1 handful fresh parsley chopped

2 ripe vein tomatoes diced

Directions:

Slice each avocado half length wise, and plate. 

Mix cucumbers and parsely in a medium bowl.

Top each avocado plate with about 1-2 tablespoons of cucumber mixture (add more or less as desired).  Next top each with about 1 tablespoon of diced tomatoes. 

Serve with your favourite dressing ( I love to use Briannas’ homestyle Dijon Honey Mustard Dressing)

Note these can be prepared ahead of time and refrigerated. Serves 4

Inside out Apple Crumble

Ingredients:

2 apples pealed and cored (I prefer granny smith, or red and delicious)

2 tablespoons rolled oats

1 tablespoon wheat flour

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

2 tablespoons cold butter

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F

mix together all dry ingredients, add vanilla, and crumble in butter using your hands. Mixture should be crumbly. Stuff each apple and place on a buttered baking pan/sheet.

Bake for about 15-20 or until crumble browns.

Serve immediately

Garlic and Dill parchment paper Salmon and Shrimp with Capers and tomatos

Ingredients:

4 Salmon filets

16  Large raw peeled shrimp

1 lemon (sliced in half seeds removed)

1 handfull chopped dill

Finely chopped and blended Garlic ( I love using Gourmet Garden Garlic)

2 ripe vein tomatoes (finely diced)

40z jar capers

salt to taste

4 tablespoons Olive oil

4 parchment paper bags

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

lay out salmon on a chopping board, and put shrimp into a medium bowl. Squeeze 1/2 lemon over salmon and the other half over shrimp. lightly salt salmon about 1/4 (or less)teaspoon for each filet (make sure to evenly distribute), and about 1/2 teaspoon over shrimp. Next spread about 1/2 to 1 teaspoon (amount of garlic used is up to your own taste, I love garlic so I tend to use more) of blended garlic over each salmon filet, and mix 1 teaspoon of garlic in with the shrimp. Sprinkle each filet with dill (evenly distribute), sprinkle about 1 tablespoon of dill over shrimp.

 

On a baking tray lay out parchment paper bags. Place a pieces of salmon in each bag, top each filet with 4 shrimps  and sprinkle each with 1 table spoon of olive oil. Top salmon and shrimp with 2 tablespoons of tomatoes each and 1 teaspoon of capers. Seal each bag.

Bake for about 15mins. Serve immediately

Note: this recipe serves 4, and I like to serve it with sweet potatoes, zucchini and asparagus.

Easy Cucumber Salad

Ingredients

4-6 cucumbers sliced

1/4 cup chopped Dill

1 tablespoon Olive Oil

Balsamic vinegar to taste

Directions:

Combine Cucumbers, dill, and olive oil. Add a few dashes of Balsamic vinegar to taste. Serve as a side salad or have as a snack. 

Shrimp and Bass Ratatouille

Ingredients

3 tablespoons Olive oil (split 2:1)

1 sweet spanish onion, chopped

5 cloves garlic, minced (split in half)

2 zucchini, cubed (about 1/2 inch cubes)

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 yellow bell pepper, diced

1 tablespoon fresh thyme, chopped

2 large ripe vine tomatoes, diced

1/3 cup sliced green olives

pinch cayenne pepper

1 handful parsley (coarsely chopped)

1 lemon

salt to taste

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

1 bass filet (chopped onto 1 inch chunks)

Directions:

In a large bowl combine shrimp and bass, squeeze lemon over mixture. Add parsley, half the minced garlic, and a pinch of salt into the shrimp and bass mixture. Heat 1 tablespoon of  olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shrimp/bass mixture and cook on each side for 2-4mins, or until shrimp are pink and bass is slightly flaky.

Set shrimp/bass aside.

In a heavy nonstick skillet, heat remaining oil over medium heat. Add remaining garlic and onion and saute for about 2mins, add zucchini, and bell peppers and cook for about 4-5mins. Add the thyme, tomatoes, olives, cayenne pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt. reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for about 15mins. Mix in prepared shrimp and bass mixture to the vegetables and simmer on low for about 3-5mins.

Serve immediately

note: For vegetarians no need to add shrimp and bass to this recipe, it’ll makes a great side dish.

Spicy Sautéed Shrimp with Rice and avocados

Ingredients

1 1/2 tablespoon Olive oil

1 pound large raw shrimp, peeled and deveined

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 hot pepper (any variety seeds removed)

1 lemon

1 handful parsley

1 ripe avocado

1 cup basmati rice (or wild rice)

1 bouillon cube (chicken or vegetable works best)

1 tsp butter

2 cups water

salt to taste

Directions

Rice:

In a medium sauce pan combine rice, butter, and bouillon cube, cover with water. Bring to boil stirring until bouillon cube is completely dissolved. reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and let simmer for about 10-15mins. Water should be completely dissolved. Fluff rice and serve with sauce.

Sauce:

Chop pepper medium to fine. Put shrimp into a large bowl and sprinkle with a  dash of salt, and squeeze juice from lemon over shrimp untill throughly coated (be careful to remove any seeds), roughly chop parsley and combine into shrimp mixture.  Heat olive oil in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat, add garlic and saute for about 1-2mins or until garlic begins to slightly browns. Add shrimp mixture and hot pepper and saute for about 2mins over medium-high heat. Reduce heat and let simmer, while flipping occasionally until shrimp turn light pink about 6-8mins.  While shrimp simmers, slice avocado in half (lenth wise) and remove the core. While in the shell slice each half of avocado horizontally and vertically making 1cm cubes, then use a spoon to scoop out avocado from the shell.

Serve shrimp over a bed of rice, with avocados on top or on the side.

note: prep rice after chopping pepper and prepping shrimp, then put the rice to cook when you start your garlic and shrimp.

Strawberry Mojito

I make this Mojito with tonic water instead of club soda and sugar, if you’re not a fan of tonic water then this isn’t for you.

Ingredients

ice cubes

1 lime

5 mint leaves

2 strawberies (sliced)

White Rum

Tonic water

Directions:

Cut lime into wedges (4-8 wedges). Fill a tall glass a third of the way full with ice. Squeeze 2 lime wedges into a cocktail shaker, then place the wedges into the shaker. Add half of the strawberries, and mint leaves into the shaker, then crush everything together. Fill 1/3 of the shaker with ice. Add I shot of rum and 1 cup of tonic water, shake well. Put the remaining strawberries and mint leaves into glass with ices, lightly crush. Pour the rum mixture into the glass with ice, and fill the cup with more tonic water if needed. Garnish with a lime wedge stir and drink.

Note: This recipie only makes one drink. You can use any soft sweet fruit or berry in this drink