You had me at...

So this recipe for Fresh Summer Corn Cakes HAD me at "corn cakes"...but it was the part that followed that REALLLLLLLY sold me.  And it was awesome!

But first, let's not get too far ahead of ourselves.  Let's start with the cakes, shall we?

I shucked 3 ears of corn directly into a bowl (letting all of the juices collect right along with the kernels)...

Take two-thirds of the corn and toss it in a blender or a food process for a quick blend...

I mixed the 'creamed' corn back in the bowl with the whole kernels and added:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or white)
• 1/2 cup cornmeal
• 1/4 of a diced red onion
• 2 tablespoons diced chives
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 2 tablespoons melted butter
• SALT & pepper  (make sure you salt these well...I did NOT and noticed it quickly!)

Mix until JUST blended.  Do not over mix or the batter will get tough.

Heat a pan with a couple tablespoons of canola oil before dropping the mix by rounded tablespoon into the oil...

The batter will be sticky, so it's easier to flatten the cakes once their flipped.  Just be sure that all the edges are cooked & lightly browned.

Once both sides of the 'cakes are browned, let them hang out for a few minutes on a paper towel to soak up any excess oil and then pop in the toaster oven to keep warm.

Once the cakes are cooked, it's time to work on the BEST PART!!!!

THE AVOCADO SALSA!!

And you know how I LOVE me some avocado!

In a bowl mix in:

• 1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (roasted and cooled if you're like me J)
• 1/4 cup diced chives
• 1/4 of a diced red onion
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• Drizzle of olive oil & red wine vinegar
• salt & pepper

And lastly, fold in the beauteous diced avocado!

DO. NOT. SKIP this stuff!!!  The corn cakes were tasty and flavorful....but the salsa???

Oh my God...the salsa.  It just put it OVER. THE. TOP!

I keep trying to think of more things to 'top with it!  Hell, I think my SHOE would taste good topped with avocado salsaJ  

And if you didn't catch my subtle hints, I'll repeat again:  DON'T SKIP THE SALSA!!!

Alright, well I think I've used my quota of the word salsa for the dayJ  Hope you guys have a great TuesdayJ

Clean Monday...

Morning everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  We were here, there & everywhere the last few days with not a whole lot of cooking going on in this house, so I thought I'd share a great recipe to kick off your week on a healthy note (and to help detox any of those extra 'weekend calories'!)

Chicken & Kale Salad with Curried Peanut Dressing

(based on THIS recipe)

And it all started with this bundle of GREEENNNNNNN...

Kale can be a pretty tough vegetable and I usually either boil or bake it (into Kale CHIPS!).  But there are a few things you can do to help turn those tough leaves into a delicate salad.  

First, I strip the kale right off of the tough stems.  Just run your hands up the stem and the leaves will peel right off...

Next, I pile a few leaves on top of one another...

....and chop them into THINNNNN slices....

Like so...

After all of the kale is thinly diced, I gave it a good rinse and kneaded the whole pile as if you were kneading bread dough.  It really helps break down all the tough 'kale fibers.'

While I let the kale to lounge, I chopped up a few more goodies from my fridge to toss in the salad...

• 1 apple
• 1/2 cucumber
• 1/4 cabbage
• 2 shredded carrots

And whisked up the quick dressing...

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger (or fresh)
• 3 garlic cloves, diced
• 1/4 cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (or curry powder)

I poured 3/4 of the dressing on the salad and let it sit in the fridge for a bit (to FURTHER soften the kale)...

And the rest made for a quick marinade for the chicken breast...

We were about to toss the chicken on the grill, until the lightening & pouring rain made for OTHER plans....

After the chicken was cook through, I diced it up, tossed it on the dressed kale and CHOWED DOWN!

I'm tellin you, those few quick tricks and you would never know you were eating "rough kale," but rather a delicate lettuceJ.  And the spiced peanut dressing made a nice compliment to the kale, cabbage, carrots, cucumber, chicken...and apple salad ;) hehehhehee....

I've been REALLY enjoying dinners like this, made with nearly ALL produce.  Not only is it SUPER healthy and feels "clean," but this time of year, it is incredibly CHEAP with all of the great fresh fruits & vegetables available now!  After a trip to the farmer's market this weekend, the ONLY item on my 'grocery' list was cream cheese!  EVERY other ingredient for our meals this week came right from the market (or just  a few remaining stragglers that we had in our fridge.....ummmm....where did you come from, English muffins??J)  Can't beat seasonal, healthy and CHEAP!  Hit up your local markets and see what goodies you can create.  

Alright....I'm outta here!  Have a great MondayJ.

Packin it in...

So I was successful at packing in a bunch of fruits & vegetables into my day yesterday (my goal for August...and, uummm, lifeJ).  In fact, I managed to sneak em into breakfast lunch and dinnerJ

First up, I added some strawberries to my 'overnight oats'...

Ever try overnight oats?  They're a GREAT way to sneak oatmeal into the summer when you're JUST not in the mood for a hot breakfast.  Simply combine:

• 1/4 cup of oats
• 1/4 cup nonfat vanilla yogurt  
• 1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
• 1 teaspoon chia seeds (optional)

Mix everything together and pop it in the fridge until morning.  Top with any fruit you like & enjoy.  I also like to add a tablespoon of slivered almonds to make it a little more filling.  But this makes a great, filling, ON THE GO breakfast.

For lunch, I had some leftover Cornbread salad, but brimming with jewels of green beans, fresh corn, red peppers, kidney beans, cornbread croutons & fresh, homemade dressing...YUM! 

And finally, dinner was a new recipe I could not WAIT to try! Kristin's Grilled Chicken & Barley Salad! 

The part I was MOST excited for was the homemade marinade to coat the chicken AND the barley. 

Into my mini chopper went:

• 1 cup of halved cherry tomatoes
• 2 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Juice from 1/2 a lemon
• 2 tablespoons of water
• 1/4 of a red onion
• salt & pepper

 After a quick whirl...

I used about 1/3 to marinate the chicken breast and saved up the rest for the barley salad. 

Speaking of the barley, you may want to get it started a little early (or over the weekend and save it for a quick weeknight dinner)....  

It takes about 45 minutes to cook, PLUS you'll need time for it to cool if you'd like to make this a 'summer salad' type of dish.

Once the barley was cooked and Scott was grilling up the chicken breasts, I gathered up my ingredients for the barley salad, as well as my sous chef... 

(All festooned in her RED, WHITE & BLUE to cheer on the GOLD MEDAL WINNING GYMNASTICS TEAM!J)

Although I had to bring in some 'back up reinforcements,' as SOMEONE got a little bored of Mommy's 'cooking show'J

 Into the barley salad went:

• 3 ears of corn, shucked
• 1 roasted red pepper, diced
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 minced red onion, minced
• 2 slices of bacon , crisped & crumbled
• 1 avocado (I know...shocking J) , diced

And if any of you out there are like me and are NOT a fan of fresh tomatoes, just toss em into the (toaster) oven for about a half hour with a little drizzle of olive oil.  I may not like fresh, but I LOVEEEE roasted tomatoes!   

I mixed everything together and let it chill in the fridge until the chicken was ready.  

Then it was time to plate the barley & top it with the chicken... 

I loved the fresh taste of the tangy tomato marinade and Scott & I are ALWAYS big fans of dishes with grains and LOTS of veggies (ummm...couscous salad, much?)  He even gave a resounding "OH WOW!" when I told him all that was going into the saladJ  Pretty good reactionJ

So how 'bout those gymnasts, huh????  I've been waiting since '96 for the team to win again and Gabby, Jordyn, McKayla, Aly & Kyla were finally able to pull it offJ  YAY!  Although, is anyone ELSE tired of the NBC coverage??  One rotation of gym and then BACK TO SWIMMING!  Another rotation of gym, BACK TO MICHAEL PHELPS!  Come on, NBC...one thing at a timeJ

Anyone else have any favorite Olympic Sports?

I obviously love gymnastics, but I also love the swimming & track and field events, but I'll watch anything at the Olympics.  Not much else is funnier than waking up the day after the opening ceremonies and proclaiming "YAY!  Table tennis is on!"

Or is that just our house??J

Anyway!  Have a great WednesdayJ

Throwing my hat in the ring...

OK...so I liedJ  While we actually DID NOT have a dinner that included avocados last night (we had "Cornbread Salad"...check it out!  It's soooo good!), the recipe I thought I'd show you today STILL included avocadoJ  I just can't get away from it...hehehhehehehehehe  Anyways, here was a great dinner we had a few weeks ago (which I *ahem* never got around to posting) that is still brimming with veggies:

Fajita Sloppy Joes!

Don't get me wrong, I love a good ole' fashioned sloppy Joe, but I love seeing all the new cool, variations that they've made over the years. (Here's a delicious Philly Cheesesteak Joe, which reminds me that I need to make this again ASAPJ)  So here's my attempt to throw my hat in the ring with my own version.

Into the pan, I tossed a pound of ground turkey.  I broke it up with the spoon and cooked it until it was all browned up... 

I spiced up my 'joe with a bit of chili powder... 

...and a little cumin for a bit of a southwestern flairJ 

Then, to make the sandwich a little SAUCY, I mixed in a couple tablespoons of beef broth...(just enough to coat the meat) 

...and a couple shakes of Worcestershire.  Because, well, everything is better with WorcestershireJ 

Finally, into the pan went some peppers & onions.  You can certainly use FRESH (especially NOW!), but I just so happened to have this bag in the freezer and they worked out great...

I would use a small onion, 1 red pepper & 1 green if using fresh...and bag of frozen.  I had only used half a bag and wished I had tossed in more.  Because you can never go wrong with MORE vegetablesJ

Simmer everything together for about 10 minutes... 

...and you're good to go.   

Top your burger bun with fajita meat on one side andddddddd.....

...wait for it! ....

...GUACAMOLE on the otherJ   

Are you surprised?J

Savory, spicy meat, cool & creamy avocado and tangy peppers & onions...definite winner in my bookJ

And Scott & I have been on a COLE SLAW KICK all summer!  I think I finally made Scott a 'cabbage convert'J  He used to say he hated the stuff and is now polishing off the bowls anytime we have leftoversJ  SUCCESS.  

(ps-to lighten up the slaw, use my trick of 1 part mayo to 2 parts non-fat greek yogurt for the mix!)

Alrighty, I must head off to go prep myself for the gymnastics TEAM FINAL in about 1 hour (watch live online here!).  I LOVEEEEEEEEEEEE gymnastics, so OLYMPIC TEAM FINAL is definitely a little like  Christmas day around hereJ

Have a great Tuesday!