Healthy-ish Pasta Salad

As summer quickly approaches, Memorial Day just passed, weather heats up;  our invitations to BBQs rapidly increases. There is a typical BBQ spread of hamburgers, hotdogs, potato salad, guacamole, chips, and the ever mayonnaisey (new word you guys) pasta salad. Did we mention that summer is also bikini season/ buff man season? No need to add extra fat to your diet, but also no need sacrifice flavor.

We have made for you a healthy-ish pasta salad! Bring this to the next BBQ you go to or the one that you have!

Ingredients: serves 5-10 people (depending on the size of your sides!!)

1 box of whole wheat pasta
2 pieces of corn
2 large beefsteak tomatoes
2 large carrots
3 green onions
3 Tablespoons lite mayonnaise
3 Tablespoons lite Greek yogurt
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons sea salt

 

Start by boiling a large pot of water with a pinch of salt.

Create your mise en place for your pasta salad. Cut all the kernels off the corn by holding the fat end of the corn and using a knife, run a blade down along the center the corn, cutting the kernels off. Set aside. Dice the two tomatoes into small pieces, set aside. Peel, and thinly slice the carrots, once sliced, chop into smaller pieces, set aside. Cut any browned ends of the green onion, and the little frizzle as well, thinly slice, from end to end, set aside.

In a small bowl, mix together yogurt, mayonnaise, and white wine vinegar.

Once water boils, add pasta and let cook about 8-10 minutes or until the pasta is slightly al dente. Once cook, drain water, and add pasta to a large bowl. Add yogurt  and mayonnaise mix to pasta, and lightly toss while adding salt a little at a time. Add in vegetables.

Set in refrigerator to cool, and then take to whatever lovely eating party you are attending! YAY!

 

Grilled Salad Pizza and Grilled Sausage Pizza!!

The summer is officially winding down, which is absolutely not okay, seeing as Michael and I feel that we have barely been able to enjoy it at all. However we did receive sweet vacay time last week, this is the reason why we have been MIA.

My family has a cabin in sequoia national forest, about 4 hours from Los Angeles, with a view of mountains, trees, and the Tule river; it is one of my favorite places to go in the whole world. This last time we decided to try some really healthy eating, and in the meantime also slide in a lil grilled pizza.

This recipe is so simple, and because we wanted it to be camping and BBQing friendly, we used a simple dough mix and added our favorite toppings. We made a sausage, onion, and mushroom pizza with a light sauce, and a salad pizza. Enjoy these recipes, there is no way you will be disappointed.

*We used Auntie Annie’s mix, the kind that makes pretzel, it is also a bomb pizza dough mix.

Ingredients:

Dough mix or premade dough

Sausage Pizza:

1 cup crushed tomatoes

1 teaspoons dried oregano

1 teaspoon garlic salt

5 sweet Italian sausages

3 small green onions

½ cup sliced mushrooms

Salad pizza:

2 cups mixed lettuce

3 cloves garlic diced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Pinch of salt



 

 

Before you do anything, if you need to mix your dough, do so now because dough needs about 40 minutes to rise. The actual cooking of the pizza goes by really quickly so it is important to create your mise en place and lay out everything first.

Start by slicing mushrooms, slicing onion, dicing garlic, and measuring your olive oil out. To create the sauce all you need to do is mix the diced tomatoes, oregano, and garlic salt in a small bowl.

Next because we don’t want any of the sausage to be served raw, in a sauté pan, break up your sausage links into small bits and cook until your sear it and it is almost completely cooked all the way through.

Now that we have everything prepped, get your grill started. Lay your coals out evenly because we don’t want just the middle to cook. Have low heat, otherwise the dough will burn before you have time to cook the middle (trust me I had REALLY doughy pizza the first time haha).

Maybe set up a little table by the BBQ  so that you have everything close by, and be sure that you have a paper towel or a brush to brush the olive oil on for the salad pizza.

Once the dough is ready, separate it into two different pizzas. Roll them out about a 1/4 inch thick, so not that thick, and put back in the fridge to let harden for about 5 minutes.

Now lets get grilling! Start with the salad pizza, because this one is good cold. Once the coals are ready, pull the pizza off the plate and lay on the BBQ. The pizza will instantly start to bubble, and you only want to cook for about 2-3 minutes, brush with olive oil trying not to pop the bubbles. Now flip, and brush more olive oil on, top with garlic, and a pinch of salt. Cook for another 3 minutes and pull off and let cool.

Now to cook the sausage pizza, cook first side of down then flip. Quickly put sauce on, then sprinkle evenly the sausage, mushroom, and onion, and then cover the BBQ with the lid. This lets the toppings cook a little while preventing the bottom from burning. Only do this for about 4-5 minutes, and then pull off.

*If you aren’t happy with how cooked the toppings are but the crust is cookes, put the pizza under a low broil in the oven for about 5-10 more minutes until the toppings are cooked more, even add a little olive oil to help. But watch it, you don’t want to burn it.

Finish up the salad pizza by adding the lettuce and the remainder of olive oil and balsamic vinegar and serve with the hot of the grill sausage pizza.

Happy pizza grillin!

The Devil's Summer Chicken

The name of this chicken might be alarming, but don’t be scared! This chicken is loosely based on a classic Italian recipe of Pollo Fra Diavolo which means chicken for the devil, or chicken from Hell. This is a spicy yet refreshing chicken dish made of juicy olive oil, bright lemon juice, and an amazing pop of red chili flakes. We want to bring this amazing and refreshing pop of flavors and serve it as an appetizer dish, a little teaser at our summer BBQs. We use small chicken drummettes as the perfect finger food that delivers a big punch! Try it at your next BBQ!!

*This requires marinating, a minimum of one hour, max 24 hours. We marinate about 24 hours because the longer you marinate the juicier the chicken and the more the flavors get soaked up.

Ingredients: (serves 3-4; based on two per person)

Pack of chicken drummettes about 8
Two lemons
Two teaspoons chili flakes
½ cup olive oil (enough to half cover drummettes)
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon pepper
Teaspoon garlic salt

Season both sides of drummettes with salt and pepper and sprinkle a pinch of chili flakes. Place the drummettes in a dish with some depth, and fill with oil so that it is half way covering the chicken. Squeeze juice of one lemon and sprinkle with a half teaspoon of chili flakes, and a half teaspoon of garlic salt. Let marinate in the refrigerator for as long as you would like, at least 30 min up to 12 hours per side. Once you marinate for the desired time, flip the chicken and repeat the above steps. Turn on the broiler to high, and once you reach desired temperatures you can put the chicken in (Preferably use a broiler tray which is a tray with slots for the fat to drip down, this prevents fat for spitting up and catching fire). Place on cooking tray and sprinkle with a half of the left over chili flakes and cook on one side for 5 minutes, pull out, flip, add rest of chili, and cook another 5. While these are in the broiler heat up a grill pan on the stove to finish the chicken off, spray some pam or place a little olive oil on so they don’t stick. Place the drummettes on the grill pan and cook another 4-5 each side, or until you have that beautiful golden brown color we all love in chicken.

Serve chicken with slices of lemon, and we promise these will not disappoint.

Jumbo Tarragon Shrimp Roll with an Orange Mayo

Not all of us can afford lobster for lobster rolls, and let’s face it when you are feeding a bunch of mouths and you have had a couple of cocktails at a BBQ no one will know the difference. We give you the shrimp roll! Tadah! This roll is very simple, we combined grilled shrimp, mayonnaise, tarragon, green and purple cabbage, and bread. What truly makes this roll unique however is the orange mayonnaise we made to bring a touch of brightness to your palette, and create that fresh summer taste.

Mayonnaise:

1 whole egg
1 egg yolk
1 cup vegetable oil
1 juicing orange
1/2 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp. white wine vinegar

Shrimp Roll: (makes 4 rolls)

4 Rolls- we prefer sourdough or kaiser
2 Lbs. of  jumbo deveined and peeled shrimp
2 twigs fresh tarragon
1/4 cup orange mayonnaise
1/2 a green cabbage
1/2 purple cabbage
1 lemon

To make the mayo, mix one egg,  juice from one orange, and vinegar, and pour into a blender. Most all blenders have an area on the lid where you can pour stuff in while you are blending. While blending everything on a low speed, slowly add the oil, and salt until the mixture starts to thicken. Next add your egg yolk, and continue to blend. If the mixture doesn’t thicken to a normal mayo consistency add another yolk and oil until it reaches desired thickness. Pour out and refrigerate for about an hour to let set, and you are ready to use!

For the shrimp roll; cut your bread so that there is about an inch left where it is still attached, so you can fill the bread with goodies. Now chop into thin slivers all of your cabbage and mix together. The purple will add a nice color that everyone will appreciate.

Butterfly your shrimp and season with salt, pepper, and tarragon (for tarragon chop 2/3 or the tarragon leaving the rest to the side). Grill the shrimp until it is completely opaque and a beautiful orange. Mix your shrimp in with the orange mayonnaise and get ready to eat it.

Now all we need to do is assemble everything. Spread some mayo on the bread. Lay some cabbage down, now stuff your shrimp into the roll. Sprinkle the left over tarragon on top, and top off with some more cabbage and if needed a squeeze of some lemon. Enjoy! There is no way you will be disappointed!

Summertime Watermelon Skewers

When invited to a BBQ most of us bring something in a bowl, something marinated, or something to drink. Well here is something on a stick! It is not marinated, it is chopped and assembled. The saltiness of the feta, the sweetness of the watermelon and the savoryness (not a word) of the prosciutto make for a perfect bite. So why not put three perfect bites on a stick, it is portable, delish, and so easy for your backyard BBQ.

Ingredients:

1 medium watermelon

3 blocks goat’s milk Feta

¼ Lb. of Prosciutto

A tip while looking for ingredients is to use goat’s milk Feta, it is has less of a bite than regular Feta, and is not as salty and wont overwhelm the watermelon. Also get a sample of Prosciutto and you want it to be on the savory sweet side.  Making this is so simple, and comes in a few simple steps. Remove the watermelon rind and all the white parts, and cube into 2 inch cubes. Now cube the feta into 1 inch cubes. On your skewer put a piece of watermelon, then a piece of feta, and tear a small piece of Prosciutto and put on the skewer. Repeat three times, place on a beautiful plate and serve!

There is not a single person that won’t love this.