Tag Archives: avocado

Lulu’s Chicken Burgers

29 Friday May 2015

Posted by in Burgers, Chicken, Grilling, LuLu's Classics, Main Dish

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Chicken Burgers

I can’t quite remember when our family started the summer tradition of grilling chicken burgers. Maybe my mom came up with it because a certain daughter of hers (cough cough) was always really picky about regular hamburgers. Or maybe we all just realized that these were better than any other homemade grilled sandwich out there. I rarely order grilled chicken sandwiches at restaurants, because nothing ever compares to Lulu’s classic summer chicken burgers.

Chicken Burgers

In the past, I’ve tried to recreate these chicken burgers myself, but I never can seem to get the marinade quite right. The secret is store-bought margarita mix. Now, this isn’t always something I have laying around, so I have used lime juice instead with sub-par results. As you probably know, margarita mix has added sugar that lime juice does not, and though we have tried with other sweeteners, nothing has ever compared to this marinade and how perfect it tastes on a toasted bun with all the fixings. Continue reading →

Smoked Salmon BLT’s

03 Monday Feb 2014

Posted by in Easy, Main Dish, Sandwiches

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Smoked Salmon BLT's

Having in-laws that live in Alaska is awesome for many reasons, one of them being is they send you smoked salmon around the holidays! One can only eat so many smoked salmon bagel sandwiches for breakfast, and I wanted to get creative with our salmon, and these epic smoked salmon BLT’s were born.

Smoked Salmon BLT's

 

Smoked Salmon BLT's

A Wingin’ It Recipe
Smoked Salmon BLTs
Makes 2 Sandwiches

Ingredients

  • 8 slices thick cut bacon
  • 1/4 cup mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup whipped cream cheese, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
  • 1 – 2 tablespoons capers
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh dill leaves
  • 4 slices multigrain bread
  • 6 – 8 ounces smoked salmon
  • 1 cup arugula, divided
  • 2 medium tomatoes, sliced
  • about 1/2 – 1/4 of a red onion, either sliced thin or diced small
  • 1 ripe avocado

Directions
In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, cook the bacon until crispy, about 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Remove from the skillet and drain on paper towels.

In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise, cream cheese lemon zest, lemon juice, fresh dill, and capers. Stir together to form a spread. A note of the amounts – you can use as much cream cheese and mayo as you like, doesn’t have to be 1/4 cup of each. Spread the mixture over 1 side of each slice of bread. Arrange the smoked salmon on 4 slices of the bread. Break the bacon in half and put on top of the smoked salmon. Top the bacon with tomatoes and arugula. Add sliced avocado and onion slices (if using). Cover with remaining slices of bread, spread side down.

Arrange the sandwiches on a platter and serve.

Black Bean and Cilantro Pesto Wrap

17 Wednesday Apr 2013

Posted by in Bloggerific, Easy, Healthy, Main Dish, Salad, Vegetarian, Weeknight Meals

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Compare my photo to the one at Thug Kitchen, and you will laugh.

Compare my photo to the one at Thug Kitchen, and you will laugh.

I recently found out about Thug Kitchen and couldn’t be more thrilled with a vegan recipe blog that simultaneously enriches my life with its wonderful teachings on not being an idiot about what you eat.

I highly recommend you go over there and check things out. If I swore as much on this blog as I do in real life, it would probably be close to what’s over at TK.

Thug Kitchen was recently nominated for Saveur’s Food Blog Awards as Best New Blog. Head over there and check things out, lots of blogs way better than this one are nominated!

Recipe
Black Bean and Cilantro Pesto Wrap
adapted from Thug Kitchen (Sorry TK, I’m not Vegan but sometimes I try to eat really healthy)

Ingredients

  • 1 large bunch of cilantro, chopped, about 2 cups
  • 2/3 cup slivered almonds
  • 2-3 cloves of garlic, chopped
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon lemon zest 
  • ¼ cup olive oil
  • ¼ cup vegetable broth or water (I used chicken broth, oops)!

For the Wrap:

  • whole wheat tortillas
  • Veggies (spinach, tomato, cucumber, carrots, lettuce, corn, avocado, etc)
  • Cream cheese

Put all the ingredients for the pesto in a food processor and blend until desired smoothness/chunkiness. You can dice everything if you don’t have a blender or food processor.

This recipe makes about 1 cup of pesto. You can mix the pesto with about 1 or 2 15 oz cans of black beans. Mix the beans together with the pesto and wrap it up with whatever vegetables you like: I took a whole wheat tortilla and added a little cream cheese (sorry vegans), spinach, tomatoes, carrots, and avocado. Other tasty options include cucumbers, red onion, lettuce, corn, salsa, black olives, lime juice.

The black bean pesto makes for an excellent next day lunch: I just mixed the leftover pesto with tomatoes, bell peppers, and then added fresh sliced avocado on top before diving in. Yum!

Experiments worth elaborating on: Gnocchi with Avocado Pesto

23 Thursday Aug 2012

Posted by in Chicken, Easy, Main Dish, Pasta, Sauces, Uncategorized, Weeknight Meals

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gnocchi with avocado pesto

I think I have to call this an “experiment” because there is more I want to do with this recipe in the future – it’s definitely something you can elaborate on. Like several other recipes on this blog, I got this one from Oprah’s “Recipes to Commit to Memory” article from March 2012. It’s not really a recipe, no measurements or anything, you just kind of throw it together. I didn’t think this was going to turn out that well (I’ve had some interesting pesto experiments in the past) but it was great! I really can’t wait to try to improve on it even more in the future.

Gnocchi with Avocado Pesto

Rough Recipe – Gnocchi with Avocado Pesto

From O Magazine

 

Ingredients

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 2 cups loosely packed basil
  • handful of any nut (I used almonds, but next time I will try walnuts or pine nuts)
  • splash of lemon juice
  • drizzle of olive oil
  • water, as needed
  • salt/pepper
  • store bought gnocchi

In a food processor or blender, combine 2 ripe avocados with 2 cups loosely packed basil, a handful of any nut, a splash of lemon juice, and a drizzle of olive oil. Blend until smooth, adding water as necessary. Season with salt and black pepper, then toss with cooked store-bought gnocchi.

In the future, I think I will add grated parmesan to the pesto and see how that fares. This time around, I just added the grated parmesan over the finished dish and it was totally necessary. I also added some chicken sauteed with onions and tomatoes, which also added a little more flavor and protein.

Corn Poblano Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette

15 Tuesday May 2012

Posted by in Easy, Entertaining, Grilling, Healthy, Salad, Side Dish

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grilled corn salad with tacos and a margarita? yes please.

I first made this corn salad last year after seeing it in Sunset magazine, and it’s been a hit every time.

I love corn on the cob, half the time I might say I’m a corn on the cob purist…it’s just so good the way it is. But there are just too many other good things to do with it! This salad is no exception.

I have one gripe about this recipe – the canned chipotle chile. Every time I’ve looked, they only have larger cans at the store. You only use 1 teaspoon for this recipe! I haven’t quite figured out what to do with the leftovers, or what else I could use as a substitution. If anyone has any ideas, let me know…

You can do a lot more with this salad. After serving it with a Taco Bar for lunch, I added leftover blacks beans. This addition might be the way I make this salad from now on.

Additionally, leftovers make an awesome scramble the next morning. (Thank you, Jordan, for being a genius).

leftover corn salad scrambled with eggs.

Recipe
Grilled Corn Poblano Salad with Chipotle Vinaigrette
From Sunset
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

  • 3 ears corn, shucked
  • 1 poblano chile
  • 3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
  • 1 tablespoon lime juice
  • 1 teaspoon finely chopped canned chipotle chile
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 avocado, cut into chunks
  • 1/4 cup cilantro leaves
  • 1/2 cup slivered sweet onion, rinsed, patted dry

Preparation

  1. Heat grill to high (450° to 550°). Rub corn and poblano with 1 tbsp. oil. Grill both, turning occasionally, until poblano is mostly blackened, 5 to 10 minutes, and some corn kernels have browned, 10 to 20 minutes. Let cool. NOTE: If you do not have a grill, cook corn in boiling water for 6 minutes, and let poblano blacken in a 450F oven.
  2. Cut corn kernels from cobs into a large bowl. Peel and seed poblano, cut into 1/2-in. pieces, and add to corn. In a small bowl, whisk remaining oil with lime juice, chipotle chile, and salt.
  3. Stir avocado, cilantro, and onion into corn mixture along with chipotle dressing.