Teriyaki Ginger Seared Scallops Salad with an Agave Lemon Vinaigrette

Seafood lovers, prepare your taste buds for the best scallops you've ever had! One of my favorite seafoods are scallops. If you sear them just right, they melt in your mouth. You can add a variety of marinades and can add scallops to multiple dishes such as salads, pastas, or ever eat them alone. 

For this recipe, I had gone to the local fisherman's market and purchased some scallop 'splits'. 'Splits' are not whole scallops, but rather halves, which are still a generous size. My boyfriend came to visit and we both love to cook, so we decided to create seared scallops over lettuce for dinner. We both enjoy a salty/sweet combo so we created a teriyaki ginger marinade. 

Teriyaki Ginger Marinade

Ingredients:

(yield: 1.5 lbs)

• 3/4 cup of low sodium teriyaki marinade sauce
• minced fresh ginger (as much as you'd like)
• 1 tbsp of agave nectar
• 1 tbsp of water (depends on how thick/thin you would like the marinade to be)
• pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Whisk all of these ingredients together and then your marinade is ready to go. Drizzle some olive oil into your pan and have the heat level on a medium high so you get the oil really hot (when the scallops are placed, the oil will start spitting -- this is a good temp). Once you soak up the excess water from the scallops with a paper towel, it's time to dunk them into the marinade and them put them over a hot pan to get a nice sizzlin' sear.

When searing scallops, it's important to keep a close watch and turn them each on all sides to get an even sear. They cook fast and you don't want to over cook them because an over cooked scallop tastes gummy and unappetizing.

Salad

Ingredients:

• lettuce, mixed greens or spinach
• 1 avocado (sliced)
• 1 peach

I assembled some baby spinach onto two dinner plates (can add as much as you want). I cut the avocado in half, took out the pit, scooped out each half whole and then thinly sliced the avocado half. Each avocado half goes on to each salad. I took a peach and diced it up, adding even amounts to each salad. Leave room clear in the center of the salad for the seared scallops :)

Rob and I thought about what kind of dressing would be fitting for this meal. We didn't want anything to take away from the sweet flavor of the scallops. Here's what we came up with...

Agave Lemon Vinaigrette

Ingredients:

• 2 fresh squeezed lemons
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp agave nectar
• salt and pepper to taste

Once the scallops are finished, place them in the center of the salad and drizzle the agave lemon vinaigrette on top of it all. Enjoy this favorite dish of mine!

Shrimp Saltimbocca

Excellent dish that I decided to create a version of my own last night...called Shrimp Saltimbocca that literally means 'jump mouth' in Italian. Very fitting name because the flavors make your mouth go crazy! If you're a salt lover, this dish is for you. And believe it or not, you don't even need to add any table salt to this dish. The natural salty flavors of the ingredients incorporated are enough! (trust me)

For ingredients to make my mouth 'jump', I used shrimp (you can use any size -- I buy smaller because it's cheaper but the bigger, the better), capers, prosciutto, shallots and tarragon. Typically this dish calls for sage rather than tarragon but I wanted to switch it up and tarragon is one of those herbs I crave the flavor of. Plus, the store was out of sage.

In a cast iron skillet, add a generous drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, bringing that to a medium high heat and add the minced shallots. While the shallots sizzle and sweeten up, defrost the shrimp a little so you don't end up with too much water in the skillet. Add the shrimp to the caramelized shallots. Pour in as many capers as you'd like (I love them, so I add a lot) along with some of the caper juice (be careful because this makes the dish very salty). Shred the prosciutto, about two slices, and throw that in the concoction along with some finely chopped tarragon. Again, tarragon is a very potent and flavorful herb with just the smallest amount you add, so use sparingly. Just the smell alone is an indicator of the intense flavor it gives.

Once the shrimp is cooked to your liking and the prosciutto looks like it has a little crisp to it, you're ready to dig in!

One thing, if you have a lot of liquid in the dish, add a little bit of flour to soak up the juices and make a creamy texture, which makes the whole dish taste that much better ;-)

Brain Foods - Interesting Article!

6 Foods to Fuel Your Brain | Healthy Eats – Food Network Healthy Living Blog

Chicken Enchilada in a crockpot

After all these years, I was really missing out on an amazing kitchen investment -- CROCKPOT. I got one for Christmas and it came with a mini crock for sauces. This past weekend, Saturday Jan. 14, 2012, I decided to make something warm and homey since it was 8°F outside. The first recipe to try in the crockpot was Chicken Enchilada Soup. Turned out to be delicious and it was an experimental recipe/crockpot test...successfully satisfied with taste AND the crockpot.

Once you buy all of the ingredients, you basically just toss everything into the pot, even the uncooked chicken, let it cook for 4-6 hours on low and you have a meal for days! (depending on how many people you will be serving of course)

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 onions
• 3 cups chicken broth (I bought low sodium, fat free)
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp of chili paste (if you like a good spice)
• 1 cup chopped cilantro (add less if you don't like it, but cilantro is one of my favorites)
• 15 oz can of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 2-3 cups frozen corn
• cumin to taste
• dried oregano to taste
• salt and pepper to taste
• 8 boneless chicken breasts (do as much chicken as you like)

First step, you want to combine in a medium sauce pan the following: A splash of olive oil to get the onions and garlic sauteed nicely (5 minutes). Then, add the chicken broth and tomato sauce. Bring that to a boil, add some cilantro and then toss that into the crockpot.

Also add to the crockpot, black beans, corn, diced tomatoes, cumin, dried oregano, chili paste, salt and pepper, and the chicken breasts. Cook on low for 4-6 hours. Once cooked, shred the chicken. A great technique I found was by using two forks. Add the shredded chicken back to the pot, let it cook for another 10 minutes so the chicken soaks up extra flavor, give it a final stir and you are ready to indulge!

Great toppings: shredded cheese, a dallop of fat free or light sour cream, extra cilantro and some scallions.

This dish will definitely be made again soon! It's great for lunch, dinner or a light snack (smaller portion). Dip some fresh warm bread into this soup and your taste buds will be happy :)

Perfect Christmas Appetizer

Over the Christmas holiday, I made the perfect festive appetizer...Basil white bean crostinis with crispy prosciutto sprinkled on top. It creates a green and red delicious bite size app to enjoy (and not feel guilty or over stuffed prior to the big meal!)

Ingredients:
1 French baguette
1 can cannellini beans
fresh basil leaves
shredded parmesan cheese
olive oil
lemon juice
salt & pepper

The process is simple: thinly slice a loaf of French baguette, drizzle a little olive oil on a sheet pan and on top of the bread slices and put in the oven at 350°F. Bake the crostinis until they are lightly golden brown and crispy. On another sheet pan, crinkle four slices of prosciutto and bake in the oven until crispy (crinkle the slices so there are waves and the slice is not laying completely flat otherwise it will get stuck). Put that sheet in the oven with the crostinis. While the crostinis and prosciutto are baking in the oven, you prepare the dip. In a food processor, combine one can of cannellini beans, 1.5 cups of basil leaves, 1 tbsp of shredded parmesan cheese, 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, 1-2 tbsp lemon juice and salt and pepper to taste. Combine all of these in the processor until a thick, smooth consistency is achieved.

Now the set up: Take the crostinis and prosciutto out of the oven. Take a spoon full of the basil bean dip and spread it on the baked crostinis. Once you have done this for all of the crostinis, arrange them on a decorative plate/serving tray, sprinkle little bits of the crispy prosciutto on top and serve!

If you're a salt lover, this is a great healthy and light appetizer to serve. The prosciutto when baked, has an even saltier taste to it. A bite of the prosciutto with the basil and white bean dip, you will be in heaven!

Mangia!

Some people think that eating healthy means no carbs or 'good' stuff. However, that's wrong!

If you were to ask me 'what's your favorite food?' my answer would be PIZZA.

Pizza is amazing for many reasons...it's salty (which I prefer over sweet), colorful (a colorful dish means healthy), you can put any toppings you want on it (love creativity) and it satisfies multiple food groups that all contribute to one's daily food intake.

On tonight's dinner menu, I made pita pizza with spinach, mushrooms, garlic and goat cheese. YUM!

Recently I've been buying Joseph's pita breads (very tasty and low in fat and calories) and using that as my pizza dough base. It saves time from rolling out the dough and making a mess in the kitchen, which don't get me wrong is a great time, but after work, you just want to mangia and veg out infront of the TV.

Ingredients:

• 1 pita
• 2 tbsp tomato sauce (I used Prego, tomato basil garlic)
• 1 garlic clove (minced)
• 3-4 whole mushrooms (sliced)
• spinach (add as much as you'd like)
• goat cheese
• salt & pepper to taste

I first warmed up the pita on a cast iron skillet and added the sauce.

Add 1-2 tbsp of tomato sauce onto the pita and spread it out evenly. Mince some fresh garlic and toss that on. Then, create a layer of spinach, covering the tomato sauce. Add as much as you would like! Great source of iron, vitamins and minerals for the body. Then, slice mushrooms and layer those on top of the spinach. Next, sprinkle on some goat cheese in the quantity you choose (you could also use mozzarella which is low in calories and fat). Now you're ready to toss it in the oven or toaster oven. Cook until the pita is crisp and the cheese gets a little melty.

Total calories for this dish ~ 170

Mangia & enjoy!

Lets Begin

Welcome to my blog that I decided to make on my delicious food creations!

Ever since I was a little girl, I loved to help my mom cook. You could find me in the kitchen, perched on the stool, at work by the stove being mommy's little helper. After all, I am 50% Italian, which already means I'm a food lover. Favorite TV channels: Food Network and Travel Channel.

One of my latest goals in life has been to create a recipe book that I can someday publish and call my own. With a passion for cooking, crafts, travel and photography, what better way to combine my interests than to start out by making a recipe book of delicious concoctions influenced from places I've traveled and would like to travel to all over the world!

Join me in this tasteful journey...have an imagination that will help enhance your palate and don't be afraid to try new things!