Blood Orange and Beet Salad

I whipped this salad up over the weekend.  I used what I had in the fridge and it was a total hit!  I think it would also be a great Valentine's Day salad, if you're trying to go for an all red meal.  It has beets, blood oranges, and tomatoes, all which are red!  Blood oranges are now in season, they are one of my favorite types of oranges!

Blood Orange and Beet Salad
(serves 4)

1 package baby arugula
3 ears of corn, shucked
1 container of grape tomatoes, halved
3 red beets, cooked and sliced
4 persian cucumbers or kirby, sliced
2 blood oranges, peeled and edge trimmed
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
salt and pepper, to taste

Place first 5 ingredients in a large salad bowl.  Right before you are ready to serve the salad, hold one blood orange over the bowl, and using a paring knife, cut along the membrane on both sides of each segment. Free the segments and let them fall into the bowl.  Allow the juices to drizzle over the salad, squeeze the membranes to extract the rest of the juice. Repeat with the second blood orange.  Add olive oil, the juice of 1 lemon, salt, and pepper.  Mix salad, serve, and enjoy!

Mixed Veggie Quinoa Salad

Here's a recipe for a salad that I served to a bunch of people at work for lunch!  They all enjoyed it and I think you will too!  Of course, there's quinoa in it!  You know I loooovvvvvveeee QUINOA!!!  I just believe it's a great grain to add to any salad, and it's super easy to make!  So why not have it?!


Anyways, I fed 7 people with this recipe and served it for Lunch, but it could easily be the main dish if you added some grilled chicken, fish, or tuna to it!  To make it for more people add more of all the vegetables and add another cup of quinoa.  I realize I don't have a photo for you but count on me for this one!!  


Mixed Veggie Quinoa Salad
(serves about 7 people for lunch)
1 cup measure of uncooked quinoa, cooked
To cook quinoa: Combine  1 cup quinoa and 2 cups water in a pot, bring to a boil, and lower to a simmer for about 15 minutes. If there's still some water left in the pot don't worry, just drain the quinoa in a fine mesh sieve. 
2 sweet potatoes cut into a medium dice, roasted
2 zucchinis cut into a medium dice, roasted
(To roast vegetables: Preheat oven to 400 degrees, toss veggies in olive oil and sprinkle with salt and then place on a baking sheet, roast for about 20 minutes)
4 large tomatoes, cut into medium chunks
4 persian cucumbers, cut lengthwise and sliced
3 ears of RAW corn, kernels shucked 
1 cup chopped parsley
1 large bunch fresh arugula, chopped (you can substitute any greens for this)
3-4 medium balls of fresh mozzarella cheese, medium diced


Balsamic Dijon Vinaigrette
1 cup olive oil
3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
1/4 cup water 
2 shallot chopped
salt and pepper, to taste


Combine all ingredients for the salad in a large bowl. To make the dressing combine all ingredients in a mini food processor or blender.  Drizzle over salad and toss well to combine! Dress the salad right before serving. Enjoy!

Tex Mex Burgers

My friend makes these burgers and I thought I'd adapt it a bit and share it with everyone!  They are healthy, full of protein, and very tasty!  You don't even need to add salt! 

Turkey Tex Mex Burgers (serves 6)
1 pound ground lean turkey or chicken
1/2 cup canned black beans (drained and rinsed)
3/4 cup canned corn (drained and rinsed)
4 tablespoons BBQ sauce
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (red or white)
1 cup finely chopped cilantro

Combine ingredients together in a bowl and divide into 6 patties.  Mixture will be sticky so wet your hands before making the patties.  Grill, pan fry, or broil burgers for about 5-6 minutes on each side. Enjoy with some more of your favorite BBQ sauce with some roasted or grilled veggies for a delicious healthy meal. 

Calorie Count per burger: about 220 calories
Protein Count per burger: about 18 grams protein

Tex Mex Turkey Burger, roasted zucchini, and sauteed spinach

Miso Butter Corn

The other day I went to Momofuku Noodle Bar for lunch with a friend.  They are constantly changing up the menu so it's always nice to go there every so often to see what they are serving that day.  On the menu was this corn dish sauteed in miso butter, it was served with scallions and roasted potato.  It was amazing, the miso butter gave the corn a great twist!  AFter devouring the corn I said to my friend, "I'm definitely going to try to recreate this at home one day very soon!"  It seemed pretty easy actually.  Miso, butter, corn, scallions, and potatoes.  Simple as can be!


I went for it.  I bought farm fresh corn at Whole Foods and also picked up some white miso paste, scallions and unsalted butter.  I dropped the potatoes from the dish because it was really the corn that I was after.  I couldn't care less about the potatoes.  Here are some photos of the process.

Miso Butter Corn (serves 4)

2 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature

2 tablespoons white miso paste

green parts of 2 scallions sliced thinly

4 ears of corn, kernels stripped

Combine butter and miso paste in a small bowl with a fork.  Place stripped corn kernels in a large saute pan, along with miso butter.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  Saute on medium heat for about 3 minutes, add scallions, and cook for 2-3 more minutes.  Enjoy!

One night for dinner I had the corn with a simple grilled chicken breast.

The next day I had leftovers for lunch!  I saved this compartmentalized takeout container for this purpose, it's really a great alternative to a laptop lunch box.  Which someday I will buy for myself! I myself am organized and so why shouldn't my lunches be as well!

BBQ...and more Quinoa

Another quinoa creation made by me, I call it non other than, Asian Style Quinoa. It contains edamame, cilantro, sauteed shitake mushrooms, slivered almonds, toasted sesame seeds, and 2 cups cooked quinoa.

Asian Style Quinoa Dressing

(This is enough to pour over 2 cups cooked quinoa)

1/4 cup rice wine vinegar

2 shallots finely chopped.

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 tablespoons peanut butter or tahini

1/2 cup sesame oil

1/2 cup peanut or vegetable oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

Mix all ingredients together and pour over quinoa salad before serving.

Errol eating the quinoa...he's a first time quinoa tryer and now he's a quinoa lover! Sous Chef Seth enjoying the quinoa as well! Bacon Wrapped Scallops made by Seth

Seth also made Mexican style corn smothered in sour cream and shredded cojita cheese sprinkled with lime, AKA Elote....who knew it would be so easy to make something so good! Let me tell you, it was f-cking amazing!!! I think I ate it up in 2.5 minutes! YUMMY!