Summer Grilling Ideas?

I would really like to grill more often while it’s still nice outside. The only thing is that I am not creative when it comes to grilling. Burgers, sausages, salmon, steaks (which I prefer to be finished in a super hot oven anyway),  and kabobs can get pretty boring. I’ve recently tried to switch it up a little and try something new.

Swordfish
I bought a swordfish steak for the first time and had no idea what to do with it! Since I was too hungry to look for recipes or marinate it, I decided to throw it on the grill with just a bit of salt and pepper. Then I threw on some mango salsa that I bought prepackaged at Whole Foods. Can I just say that I make way better mango salsa than WF? This was super simple and kind of boring, but totally satisfying. This swordfish steak was massive!

 

What do you do with your swordfish?
 

Pork Chops

I usually roast or pan cook my pork chops so this was my first time using the grill. I wish I had thought to grill the nectarines and onions! That would have been amazing. Instead I was boring and just cooked those up in a pan with a tiny bit of apple cider vinegar. Fresh basil on top. This is one of my favorite ways to eat pork chops! I think I will do that next. Maybe grill some pineapple as well!

What are your favorite grilling recipes (especially for fish and pork)?? Send me some ideas!

I’m going to be on my way to Chicago in less than 6 hours for the Summerfest Boogie!! Boogies are basically skydiver conventions/events/parties. I’m super excited to skydive for 5 days straight with my friends from all over the country. They’re also attempting a new vertical world record where they hope to have 142 people head down in a formation. I won’t be on that, but I am super excited to support my friends and watch from the ground! Hopefully I can be on the women’s world record coming up and maybe the next world record! I’ll be back on Sunday night. I am camping the whole time at the dropzone so I’m a little worried about my food choices there. We’ll see how it goes!

Bacon and Scallop Scramble

Besides all of my paleo eggs benedict creations, my favorite breakfasts have been seafood scrambles and omelettes! If you haven’t already, check out my Dungeness Crab Scramble and my Shrimp and Chives Omelette.

My newest one uses scallops! I’ve never been a big fan of bacon wrapped scallops; I don’t usually care for the bacon and scallop flavor combination. Apparently all I had to do was throw in some eggs to really like it! Probably because I’m not one of those “bacon makes everything better!” weirdos people. I’m one of the “bacon is only good for breakfast or on burgers or around dates” people.

Bacon and Scallop Scramble

Ingredients:
– 1 slice of (uncured, low sodium, nitrate free, blah blah blah) bacon
– 1 large wild-caught sea scallop, chopped OR .5 cup or those little bay scallops
– 2 eggs, beaten
– 1/4 cup shallots, chopped
– Black pepper and cayenne pepper to taste
– Fresh basil, chopped

Directions:
Add the shallots and the bacon in the pan and start cooking! When the bacon is about half done, add the scallops and the eggs. Scramble scramble! Season, add fresh basil, and enjoy!

Second blog post in one day, fourth in a week! I think this means that I’m officially back to blogging regularly! Hooray!

Mango Tarragon Scallops

Second blog post in a week! I’ve been continuing to cook with fruit lately due to the abundance of fruit at my house right now.

This time I experimented with some mango! I saw a recipe card at Whole Foods while buying scallops for Scallops with Cherry-Tarragon Sauce. I was out of cherries, so after nibbling on tarragon and then nibbling on various other fruits, I decided on using mango. I mostly stuck to the recipe with a few substitutions, so I’ll just list the ingredients that I used. However, I added the mango at the very last moment for a quick stir because I didn’t think I would care for cooked mango.

Mango Tarragon Scallops

Ingredients:
– 3 large wild-caught sea scallops
– sea salt and ground black pepper to taste
– 1 Tbsp coconut oil (I would have used clarified butter, but was out of it)
– 1/2 to 1 shallot, chopped
– 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
– 1/2 cup mango, chopped
– 1.5 tsp fresh tarragon, chopped

I ate it with arugula, my favorite green! This was really good for the first scallop and then progressively got too sweet for me. I definitely enjoy the taste of tarragon and mango together. I also decided that I like my mangos cold, not so much warm. It’s also not much of a sauce and I can’t imagine it being saucy even if I used cherries like the original recipe. I think squeezing some lemon juice over everything would have brightened up everything for me. Or maybe some spices added to it to cut down on the sweetness. It was a beautiful plate of food though! I would make this again with a tart fruit.

I’ve been having a pretty awesome week with some pretty awesome friends!
Monday – “The Dark Knight Rises” in IMAX (loved it), tunnel flying
Wednesday – tunnel, 3 skydives, skating
Thursday – tunnel, indoor bouldering
Friday-Sunday will be full of more skydiving!!!

It was the first time I had been on the ice in many many months. My ankles and feet hurt really bad from not being used to my skates anymore. I’m still on my last pair of skates, made for me in 2006! That was after I quit, so the skates are still in pretty good shape. It’s crazy to think how much I used to skate to need new boots every year and blades every other year. They make super light skates nowadays though, I kind of want new ones! I’m starting to think I want to skate regularly again, just recreationally, to not waste the massive investment my parents made. I skated a public session so I didn’t try to do much, but I know I’m out of shape.

Climbing went a lot better. I let too many months go by without climbing as well. I had lost all my calluses and my hands were burning by the third route. However, I was super happy that I didn’t have to downgrade TOO much. I was climbing most V3s easily before I stopped climbing regularly, now V2s are still easy but V3s are more challenging than I remember. I managed to climb a couple of them, but with my hands and grip strength not where they used to be, it was much more challenging. I had really missed the climbing gym! I didn’t think I’d ever be so happy to smell stinky feet and sweat! Of course I renewed my membership, so now I have to go regularly.

Conclusion: I’m in excellent tunnel shape, but out of shape for everything else I like to do that I haven’t been doing. Time for more balance in my life!

Coconut encrusted shrimp and crab cakes!

I can’t believe it has taken me over a month to get back to blogging! I have some new delicious paleo recipes to share. I’ll start with these coconut encrusted shrimp and crab cakes, i.e. possibly the best thing I’ve ever made! I decided to add a couple ingredients to my original paleo crab cakes. The shrimp really adds a meatier texture while the coconut gives it this delicious crispy crust. It’s like crab cake and coconut shrimp’s love child!

 

I didn’t measure out anything, but I’ll try to write down the recipe as closely as possible. The ingredient amounts are approximate, adjust them according to your taste. I was out of celery, but it would have been a nice addition.

Ingredients:
– 1 Tbsp olive oil
– 1 medium carrot, peeled and chopped
– 1/4 onion, chopped
– 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
– 1/4 cup chopped green onion
– 1 heaping tsp minced garlic
– 1/2+ cup shrimp, chopped
– 1 cup lump dungeness crab meat (precooked)
– cayenne pepper to taste
– black pepper to taste
– 1 egg
– 1 Tbsp dijon mustard (check ingredients, I use Annie’s)
– 1/2 cup almond flour
– 1/2 cup shredded coconut
– 1 Tbsp coconut oil

Directions:
1. Sauté the first three ingredients in olive oil until the onions are transparent. Add the garlic, green onion, and shrimp. Continue to cook until the shrimp starts to turn pink/orange. Remove from heat and transfer to a large bowl.
2. Mix in the crab meat, cayenne and black peppers, egg, dijon mustard, and 1/4 cup of the almond flour.
3. In a shallow bowl or a plate, mix together the rest of the almond flour with the shredded coconut. (I first ground the shredded coconut in a food processor for a finer texture.)
4. Form the crab cake mixture into patties and coat in the coconut-almond flour.
5. Cook the shrimp and crab cakes in coconut oil (extra virgin for more coconut flavor) until golden brown on both sides.

Enjoy!!

I have a lot of catching up to do on my blog. Hopefully I can complete at least one more post before my weekend skydiving trip to SoCal!

Lox Salad – Better with romaine!

I’ve posted before about my favorite way to eat lox/smoked salmon:

Lox, cucumber, avocado, red onion, and capers!

I’ve always wanted more crunch without adding another flavor and I finally had some romaine lettuce on hand to make it into a real salad. Even better than the original! Lots of crunch without a real flavor and more filling. This is my new favorite salad. As always, I don’t use a dressing.

Pan-seared Scallops

I rarely buy and cook my own scallops for some reason, even though I frequently order them at restaurants. I made some really easy pan-seared scallops with a side of steamed broccoli yesterday. So easy and so yummy, I’m definitely buying scallops every time I see fresh wild sea scallops at the store.

Pan-seared Scallops
Ingredients:
– Fresh parsley, finely chopped
– Paprika
– Italian seasonings mix
– Minced garlic
– Lemon juice
– Sea salt
– Fresh, wild sea scallops
– Olive oil

1. Combine the first 6 ingredients in a ziploc bag in proportions depending on the number of scallops and your own preference. (I put like a heaping tsp of garlic, 1 Tbsp of parsley, 1/4tsp paprika, 1/2 tsp italian seasoning, dash of salt, and the juice of one lemon wedge for 6 medium scallops).
2. Add the scallops and shake it up in the ziploc so that everything is evenly covered.
3. Heat olive oil in a frying pan. Add scallops and sear on each side. Make sure they don’t overcook!

Cioppino

I’m out of food again, which means I rely on the massive stockpile of seafood in the three freezers at my house. I did a quick ingredients search on allrecipes.com and decided to make cioppino!

Cioppino is one of those classic seafood dishes that I never wanted to try because of all the clams and mussels. Even just the smell of classic cioppino is nauseating to me. I pretty much hate all bivalve mollusks! Clams, mussels, oysters… I’ll eat them, but I’ve never like them. The smell, taste, texture, look, and everything about them isn’t appetizing to me. Except I do love scallops, especially big diver’s scallops.

So my cioppino doesn’t really look like cioppino without all the clam and mussel shells sticking out. I personally think it looks, smells, and tastes a hundred times better without them. I used cod, shrimp, squid, and crabmeat. I would have loved to add scallops, but didn’t have any on hand. Super good! I loved it and had two bowls. I usually don’t like seafood stews!

I used this recipe, reducing the amount and using a few different ingredients. It was otherwise the same so I’ll just list the ingredients I used instead of the whole recipe. I don’t think the water was necessary.

– 1/4 cup clarified butter
– 1/2 onion, chopped
– 1 heaping tsp minced garlic
– 1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
– 1 14.5oz can stewed tomatoes (don’t forget to check ingredients)
– 1 cup chicken broth
– 1 bay leaf
– 1 tsp dried basil
– 1/4 tsp dried thyme
– 1/4 tsp oregano
– 1/4 cup water
– 1/3 cup white wine (dry, not sweet)
– 1 cod fillet (I think mine was like 8oz?)
– 12oz large shrimp, peeled and deveined
– 1/3 cup chopped squid/calamari
– 1/2 cup crabmeat (might have been more)

Dungeness crab scramble

One of my favorite places to go for breakfast in Seattle makes a Dungeness crab and Asparagus scramble with gruyere, chervil, chives, and mornay sauce. I’ve wanted to recreate it for a while, but I never seem to have asparagus and crab at the same time! I didn’t have asparagus, chervil, or chives, so I used other green stuff that I thought would go well with the crab. I’m happy to report that my crab scramble was delicious! Maybe even better than the original source of my inspiration! I especially enjoyed the crunch of the lightly cooked broccoli and the softness of everything else. It has a mild flavor that doesn’t overpower the crab and manages to taste light/fluffy and rich/filling at the same time. I think breakfast is the most boring meal of the day, but that means it has the most room for creativity!

 

 

Dungeness Crab, Broccoli, and Spinach Scramble

Ingredients:
– 1 Tbsp olive oil
– 1/4 cup broccoli, chopped
– 1 Tbsp (1 sprig?) green onion, chopped
– 1 tsp minced garlic
– 1/2 cup Dungeness crabmeat (I found a great 16oz container of it at Costco)
– 2 eggs, beaten
– 1/2 cup spinach, chopped
– 1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
– sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Directions:
1. In a medium pan over medium high heat, lightly sauté broccoli, green onion, and garlic until the broccoli is slightly tender as if it was flash steamed. Then add the crab and briefly sauté until heated through (crabmeat is already cooked).
2. Stir in the eggs and continue to stir until fluffy and cooked.
3. Stir in the spinach and parsley until just wilted. Serve with salt and pepper to taste. (I didn’t add extra salt since the crabmeat was already salty.)

Yum. Hope this recipe is helpful, I have no idea what I’m doing when it comes to writing recipes from scratch! The ingredient amounts are approximate since I didn’t actually measure out everything.

Improvements to my blog are underway! I have to admit, my food undeniably looks 1000x better photographed with a DSLR than an iPhone 4. It takes a little longer to blog now, but the prettier pictures are worth it! I’m excited to study up on food photography so I can fill my blog with beautiful pictures! What’s the best lens for food? What about for companion parrot portraits?  Why do lenses cost so much?!?? Looks like I just found yet another expensive new hobby…oops.

Super spicy jalapeños and lots of seafood

I made pico de gallo yesterday! I don’t really use a recipe, I just throw it together until it tastes good.

• 2 medium tomatoes
• half red onion
• 2 tsp-ish minced garlic
• 1 fresh jalapeño
• like 1/4 cup chopped cilantro (looove cilantro!)
• fresh squeezed lime juice to taste
• sea salt to taste

Usually this results in really good pico de gallo. Yesterday, however, the jalapeño was MUCH hotter than usual. I chopped it up really little and even the tiniest morsel packed a lot of heat! And it’s not like I can pick out tiny bits of jalapeño, so I just had super spicy pico yesterday.

Macadamia nut coated mahi mahi

I admit that I miss fish tacos. So I thought I’d make a deconstructed fish taco without the tortilla. The problem was that I was out of lettuce and was too lazy to make a sauce. But I had mahi mahi and pico! Since battered, deep fried fish is not very paleo, I decided to be clever and coat the mahi mahi in crushed macadamia nuts and almond meal instead. I probably should have coated it in egg first so that the nut mixture would stay on better and be more like a batter. I fried the fillet in bacon fat on both sides to lightly brown the nuts and then popped it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 12 minutes. I got a little impatient at the end so I put the oven on full broil and burnt a bit of the nuts… don’t do that.

With how spicy my pico was, I was really wishing my avocados were ripe. This probably would have been much better with a mango salsa. Or make it Hawaiian with some pineapple since I’m using macadamia nuts anyway. I loved the crunch and flavor that the macadamia nuts and almond meal gave the fish.

So that was lunch. Then I baked some white chocolate cranberry macadamia nut cookies to take to the BBQ (I may have eaten some, yes I know they’re not paleo) while eating some steak. I eat BBQ before a BBQ. I was hungry! Then I hit the road and realize that I had a small puddle of chocolate in the middle of my car. I had left chocolate, loosely wrapped in its foil, in my car outside and it was actually warm all day. Oh and yes, 85-90% chocolate is included in my <5% non-paleo diet. Anyway, because I am a genius (no, really, I am) I picked it up while looking for a bag and it dripped through my fingers and all over everything. EVERYTHING! There was melted chocolate on my hands, the console, the stick thing, my sweatshirt, my hair, the window… The only thing I found to contain the mess were socks. I drove with socks on my hands, keeping my car warm so that the chocolate wouldn’t cool and harden – most miserable drive ever.

But a skydiver BBQ made me feel better! It’s easy to stay mostly paleo at BBQs! Other than some cookies, the only other non-paleo food I ate was some cheese. Ok, I had a few sips of beer as well.

Deb made oysters w/bacon and pepperjack cheese…

…as well as these mussels and clams. I only tried the broth because I don’t like shellfish, except I do eat oysters…

…and scallops! I actually love scallops! Charles and Gwyn brought bacon wrapped scallops to grill and share with us!

So back to the topic of spicy jalapeños… I think Jesse was trying to burn us from the inside out. I don’t know why I ended up eating like eight of them. Some weren’t so bad and quite tasty! The others though… people were literally crying. My ears, throat, mouth, and stomach were in the 9th circle of hell. My fingers burnt just by touching them. But I did get an idea to make paleo stuffed jalapeños in the near future. I think my lesson yesterday was to definitely taste the jalapeños before adding them to anything.

Luckily, he redeemed himself by bringing mangos and more importantly, with these great lamb skewers! Jesse, I’ll trade you my cookie recipe for the lamb recipe!

My “little” Maya has been insanely cranky lately. She’s going through a heavy molt and has pin feathers everywhere. I’d be cranky too with pins poking through my skin everywhere. I think I’ve permanently lost hearing in both ears the past few days. This was like her one sweet, quiet moment yesterday, playing on my lap.