This salad, oh em geeee, this salad.  Not only does it go perfectly with my Christmas-themed tablescape (weirdo-alert), but it is packed full of everything you need, as well as some of my favorite ingredients.  We’ve got a superfood, healthy carbs, fresh veggies, calcium, protein and flavor for days.  This would be a great lunch, light dinner OR you could pair it with a small skirt steak (like we did tonight) for an extra punch of protein.

You could probably do this with regular mozzarella, but then you’ll miss the creamy goodness that burrata provides.  If you’ve never had burrata before – it’s a fresh mozzerella with a mix of cream and mozzerella in the middle.  It’s like what Maya says, “When you know better, you do better.”  So now that you know better… try some burrata.

Pull up your boot straps kiddos, it’s finally fall in Southern California.  I’ve stocked up on seasonal candles, crockpot recipes and baby pumpkins so even if Helen Keller came to visit, she’d know what time it was in our house.  BOOM.

Tonight was perfect for a simple soup that is one of my favorites – inspired by Cooking Light – this one pot White Bean and Turkey Sausage Ragout with Tomatoes, Spinach and Zucchini can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes.  As with all soups, it gets better with age – so you’ll be happy to know it feeds four with leftovers for lunch the next day.

The ocean and I have a such a love/hate relationship.  Let me be more specific, the PACIFIC Ocean and I have such a love/hate relationship.  I remember when I first moved from a little town in Maryland out to sunny Southern California.  My impression of this side of the country had almost solely been based on Bayside High and Baywatch.  When I moved here, I wanted to drive a yellow convertible right up to lifeguard stand, give David Charvet (if you don’t know who that is, I’m sorry for your eyes) a boyfriend-worthy kiss and bound into the warm blue waters that lapped up onto this beautiful left coast.

However, my experience was a bit different.  I drove up in a black Mazda Protege (black, lowered, with illegally tinted windows and black rims that I had to buy from a “Your Job Is Your Credit” used car lot), ran across the grey sand into the dark blue water and went into immediate shock.  It was about 50 degrees and my entire lower body was wrapped in seaweed and my foot was bleeding from a rogue shell colony.

Since that day, I have been in the Pacific exactly 5 times in last 7 years.  And once was to save Gidget when she got caught in the current and I found out not all dogs can swim.

Moral of this story: Don’t believe everything you see that stars  David Hasselhoff.

But what, I DO love about the ocean?  Eating everything in it.  Sometimes I wish I was a shark, so I could just swim around with my mouth open and get free sushi for miles and miles. But, I’m not.  So, tonight we settled for the next best thing – this Roasted Lemon and Garlic Shrimp.  It was fantastic and reaffirms my love for the ocean… from afar.

It’s funny how your life and priorities change as you get older.  How you become what your high school self would consider the LAMEST person EVER. And how you just love every minute of it.  When I was in high school, the moment any friend’s parents were going to be out of the house for longer than 4 hours we were concocting a plan to have a party and have every person we’ve ever know be there to enjoy some Beast Ice and Boone’s Farm (if you know, you know) in a basement or garage.  Now, I won’t even answer the door if you come over unannounced.  I mean I will, but I won’t like it.

Now, my “social hour” is during boot camp (I do have friends… right guys?? Are you out there?? But during the week, it’s me being lamer than your Grandma.) As much as I love creating and finding fun recipes, sometimes there’e something to be said for letting your food have a little “alone time” of its own and just letting the main ingredients sing.  The summer provides so many naturally flavorful fruits and veggies – I try to take advantage of that as much as possible.  Tonight, I let my dinner components stay home from the ingredient party and kept it really simple.  This is the kind of clean eating that gives you no excuses – it’s simple, low carb and will make your body feel great.

Tonight we dug into Grilled Lemon Pepper Salmon on a bed of sauteed garlic spinach with heirloom tomatoes on the side.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 pound of wild caught salmon (cut in half)
• 1 large bunch of spinach, washed and chopped
• 2 small cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp. olive oil
• 2 heirloom tomatoes, sliced
• 1 lemon
• Lemon Pepper Seasoning
• Salt to taste

Preparation:

Preheat grill.  Season salmon with lemon pepper and salt (optional). Grill for 7-10 minutes, skin side down until fish flakes easily with fork.

During the last 4 minutes of cooking, saute garlic in olive oil over medium heat, about 30 seconds.  Add spinach and a pinch of salt and stir while it wilts.

Plate sliced tomatoes, spinach and salmon on top.  Sprinkle with lemon and serve immediately.

One reason why I love summer cooking so much is the easy clean-up when you grill up your dinner.  Today was suuuuper hot in San Diego and after an extra sweaty session of boot camp, all I could think about was eating a light, fresh dinner.   Adam is back from another out of town trip and the last thing I wanted to do was waste any time cleaning dishes, so this dinner hit the spot and checked all the boxes – Clean Eating, Low Carb, Fresh Ingredients, Easy Clean-up.  CHECK!

This would be a great meal for this weekend as well!  Any fun plans for Labor Day?  Not laboring, I hope. That’s unpatriotic, tell your boss I said so and proceed to your bbq/pool party/etc.. Adam and I are going to Joshua Tree for some hiking, camping and off-the-gridding, I’m really excited to figure out some creative camping food.  This gal doesn’t do hot dogs more than once a year.  And I’ve already been to a baseball game, so…. you do the math.

Chicken Chipotle Skewers with Avocado Creme

Ingredients:

Chicken

• juice of 1 lime
• 1/4 cup canola oil
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1/2t  chili powder
• 1/2t paprika
• 1/4t  cumin
• 1/8t cayenne pepper
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 1/2t light brown sugar
• 1 1/2t minced chipotle in adobo
• 1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts cut into 1 1/2-inch pieces
• minced fresh parsley, to garnish

Avocado Cream Sauce

• 1 avocado
• 1/2 cup nonfat greek yogurt
• 1 clove garlic
• Juice of 1 lime

Directions

Whisk together the lime juice, canola oil, salt, chili powder, paprika, cumin, cayenne pepper, garlic, brown sugar, and chipotle in a pie plate. Add the pieces of chicken and toss to coat. Cover the plate with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (or up to an hour), stirring and turning the chicken once at the halfway point as it marinates. (OR just toss it all in a gallon ziplock, shake it up and lay flat on in the fridge – turning once)

Preheat grill to medium-high heat. While it’s heating up, thread the chicken onto skewers (throw away any remaining marinade). Transfer the kebabs to the grill, and cook, turning every few minutes so all sides are browned, until an instant-read thermometer registers 160 F. Transfer the kebabs to a plate, tent with foil to keep warm, and allow to rest for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the avocado sauce: Split the avocado in half and remove the pit. Scoop out the flesh and add to the bowl of a food processor along with the yogurt, garlic, and lime juice. Process until the sauce is smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Sprinkle the kebabs with the minced parsley to garnish, and serve with the avocado sauce for dipping.

Side: I added a tomato, avocado, cherry tomato and bacon salad.  Just chop everything up; add salt, pepper, a drop of Tabasco and a tiny bit of olive oil and you’ve got a perfect summer side!

I’m an only child.  Surprise, I don’t like to share my toys or my food, so don’t ask.  I think my parents were pretty good with trying to combat the dreaded “only child syndrome”.  However, there are just some things that I’ve seemed to develop as a result of growing up as the only person under 3 feet in the house for many years.  First, I hate books on tape.  My parents once listened to books on tape for the entire trip from Maryland to Florida.  I think I would have rather not gone to Disney World than have had to listen to Dean Koontz for 12 hours.  Second, I also really enjoy time alone.  I’m a very social gal, but I need some time to recharge my battery.  I think that’s one reason I enjoy my time in the kitchen so much, it’s focused and quiet.

When it comes to my workouts, however I am NOT a lone wolf.  I like a partner to compete with, to push me to take it beyond my comfort zone.  So, I have a fun partner work-out to share that you can complete in under 30 minutes.  This can be done at home, (esp. if you have TRX straps and a resistance band to help modify the pull-ups) or at the training room at your gym.  Just turn up your music and prepare to sweat.

*In case it’s not clear – the total number of reps for each exercise is split between the two partners (100 burpees = 50 each partner)**

We did this work-out at boot camp  today, followed by 50 massive tire flips. NBD.  Stretcher, please.

After doing all that work, I wanted to keep it clean and delicious for dinner so I whipped up a Very Veggie Turkey Bowl.  This recipe makes more than enough for 4.  I’m going to freeze the leftovers or use them for lunches…  that I won’t share with anyone for obvious reasons.

Clean Eating Very Veggie Turkey Bowls:

 Ingredients:

• 1 lb. lean ground turkey
• 2T olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
• 1 medium yellow squash, halved and sliced
• 1 tomato, chopped
• 1 green/orange pepper, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 1/4 pound of mushrooms – or 1/4 little package of mushrooms
• 1 cup instant brown rice
• 1.5 cups of chicken broth
• 4 cups fresh spinach

Directions:

Cook turkey in a non-stick skillet until no longer pink, breaking up as you go (about 8 minutes). Drain and set aside.

Heat oil in the same skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and garlic, cook and stir for about 5 minutes until tender.   Add squash, tomato, pepper, mushroom and carrot.  Cook for 5 minutes until tender-crisp.

Return turkey to the pan.  Add rice and broth.  Bring to boil.  Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until rice has softened.  Stir in spinach. Cook, stirring, about 1 minute, until spinach is wilted.

Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 lbs jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined (weight after peeled)
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 red bell pepper, sliced thin
• 4 scallions, thinly sliced, white and green parts separated
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• kosher salt (to taste)
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 14.5 oz can diced tomatoes
• 14 oz can light coconut milk (50% less fat)*
• 1/2 lime, squeezed

For Serving:

• white or brown rice

Directions:

In a medium pot, heat oil on low. Add red peppers and sauté until soft (about 4 minutes). Add scallion whites, 1/4 cup cilantro, red pepper flakes and garlic. Cook 1 minute.

Add tomatoes, coconut milk and salt to taste, cover and simmer on low about 10 minutes to let the flavors blend together and to thicken the sauce.

Add shrimp and cook 5 minutes. Add lime juice.

To serve, divide equally among 4 bowls over rice and top with scallions and cilantro.

And let me let you in on a little secret.  I’m an idiot and what can and will go wrong… usually does for me.  To really up the ante, I added a couple crab rangoons that I baked up from a frozen food section package.  As Adam and I sat down to dive into this little trip to S.E. Asia, I grabbed a rangoon, bit in and immediately felt burning hot cream cheese IN MY NOSE.  Not only did the rangoon explode the moment I bit into it, but it exploded UPWARD and covered my whole upper lip, bottom of my nose and inside my nostrils.  I. mean. really? I’m so sexy, I totally understand why Adam loves me.

I’ll let ya know tomorrow how much skin is missing. Dodo Brain —> ME.