Potato chips are fantastic. But the kind you find at your typical BBQ are definitely not something you should be eating all the time. But these homemade versions are much better for you, and yet still delicious and addicting!
Category Archives: Dinner
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Pork Tenderloin with Plum Chutney
While home this summer, my parents served this dish for a dinner party we were having. It was mostly motivated by the fact that they have a very excited little plum tree that is giving them tons of fruit and they were looking for ways to get rid of it. But it turned out to be delicious. So even though you guys don’t have plums growing in your backyards, you should make this. Who doesn’t love meat cooked on the grill? Oh, and then wrapped in prosciutto?
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Corn Cakes and Green Bean Salad
To me, this is one of those quintessential summer dinners. It involves a lot of different vegetables, and is healthy and light, but also filling. The corn cakes are similar to the zucchini fritters I posted previously, so if you liked those, definitely try this out. These have quickly become a new favorite in my house, made even better by the tomato and avocado home-made salsa we served with them. The green bean salad is another light and healthy item with a lot of diverse flavors, but it takes very little time to throw together.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Baked Salmon
Salmon is another one of those things I’ve only come to enjoy as an adult. It’s been a battle (even when I started eating white fish, I couldn’t do salmon). But recently, I’ve been wanting to try a salmon dish at home because the last couple times I’ve had it at restaurants, I’ve really enjoyed it. Dave had a recipe from his mom, Carmen, that he really wanted to try on some frozen salmon he’d found at Trader Joe’s, so I decided to be the taste tester so that I could share it on the blog. And I have to say, while I may not have helped, I did supervise and it’s very easy to prepare. We just served ours with some sautéed broccoli.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Ceviche
Ceviche is one of those things I’ve only more recently started to like. For a long time, I avoided almost all seafood. This really only ended when my parents took me to Turks and Caicos for Christmas and I realized that if I was going to eat anything on the trip, I really needed to start enjoying fish. So while I was home this summer, I got my dad to make his famous ceviche. And I have to say, I deserve no credit for this recipe. I just simply sat back, photographed the steps, and then ate the amazing food.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Grilled Veggie Sandwich
When I come home to California in the summer, I feel like all I eat is fresh veggies and fruits. In my parents’ garden alone, I can find tomatoes, zucchini, squash, eggplants, nectarines, plums, peaches, blackberries, and tons of flowers and herbs. And living on the east coast, I definitely feel deprived of all of this fresh produce, so we often try to eat as many vegetables and fruits as possible in one meal. One of my favorite meals at home is grilled veggies on bread with pesto and fresh tomatoes. So before summer ends, I just wanted to share this dish with you. This is one of those that doesn’t really have a recipe. It’s really about doing whatever fresh vegetables you can find at your local market. But here’s a list to give you some ideas.
Ingredients
2 slices of your favorite bread per person (I bought rosemary bread at Whole Foods)
1 cup fresh made pesto
Sliced zucchini, squash, eggplant, onion, pepper, brushed with oil
Sliced tomato to garnish
Sliced cheese, optional
1. Warm bread in oven (if using cheese, go ahead and melt it on the bread). Grill veggies on grill. Make pesto (see here).
2. Top bread with pesto and cheese, cover with as many vegetables as you can, and then top with fresh tomato.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Healthy Curry Chicken Salad
I love a good curry chicken salad. And for the last couple years, I’ve been relying on the pre-made one from Trader Joe’s. But for some reason, the last two times we’ve bought it, I haven’t liked it as much. I think they started putting too much mayo in it. So I decided it was time for me to just start making my own. But because I don’t really like mayo, I decided to use my mom’s healthy version – with hummus instead. I love throwing it on a bed of lettuce or some toasted bread for lunch.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Spicy Cucumber Gazpacho
At a dinner party this summer, our friends made an amazing spicy cucumber gazpacho that I wanted to recreate. I decided it would be the perfect thing to take to jazz in the sculpture garden on a humid Friday night. But as luck would have it, jazz got rained out. But we still really enjoyed this soup. We ate it for dinner with some garlic bread, but you could also serve it as a light summer appetizer.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Grilled Cheese Bar
In my opinion, the all-American meal is a grilled cheese with a cup of tomato soup. Not sure why, it just is. It’s also the best comfort food! For the birthday party I threw back in June, I was trying to do really fresh, all-American food because the guest of honor had just returned from a month long stint in the Middle East. And so of course I had to serve grilled cheeses. The hard part is that these are obviously best when hot. So I set up all of the ingredients, and then let people make their own on a little George Foreman Grill. I also had a pot of tomato soup warming on the stove, that people could ladle into small cups to eat with the sandwiches.
My Favorite Meal of the Week – Watermelon, Feta, and Mint Salad on a Stick
In the summers, I live for watermelon. When I can, I eat half a mini-watermelon every day. I literally cut it in half, and then sit with the half I’m going to eat, using a melon baller to scoop out bites (which immediately go into my mouth, no need to get a bowl dirty). It’s so refreshing and is the perfect palate cleanser after dinner. But sometimes, I need to class it up, and you know, serve it to people. Recently, I’ve started serving a watermelon, feta, and mint salad. The first time I did it as a traditional salad for a dinner party. The second time, I did mini ones on toothpicks for a birthday party. Both were delicious.
the petite croissant 