A Sunshiny Day Food Health & Other Recipes For Happiness

Honey Mustard German Potato Salad

Posted on May 17, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 7 Comments

How awesome is honey mustard? Its one of those things that tastes good on just about anything, I might even go so far as to say its more versatile than ketchup (GASP!). Yup that’s right, I said it. I love it on salads, fish, sandwiches, dipping sauce for sweet potato fries, I could go on and on…

I won’t deny that I enjoy a good mayo based potato salad, but I grew up on the German stuff. We always had our potato salad with a vinegar based dressing. Even if I make a potato salad with mayonnaise, I add some vinegar to the potatoes right after cooking, they soak it all up and it adds a great depth of flavor. I bet this would be even better with a little bacon, but we didn’t have any on hand so I’ll leave that up to you to try out (as if it there’s a possibility it wouldn’t be good, HA!)

Mustard is such a fantastic thing to have on hand in the summer. I love cooking up some fresh vegetables, tossing in a little olive oil and mustard and calling it a day. It’s also a fantastic emulsifier when you’re making salad dressing so I usually add some when I’m making a vinaigrette.

Have you ever had one of those moments where you experience something that makes you stop and wonder what larger forces are at play in the universe? Ok, so I know that is a little dramatic when we’re just talking about honey but there’s a story behind this.

So a few weeks ago I went to my doctor and I had mentioned that I have really bad spring allergies (runny nose, itchy swollen eyes, complete misery). So she told me that I should go buy some local honey because the bees eat pollen and it will help expose your body slowly to the allergens and you can develop a resistance to it. I thought it was really interesting and I wanted to give it a try, plus it was an excuse to eat honey, um yah, I’ll take that. So I went to Whole Foods to buy some but the only ones I could find were produced in Vermont and New Hampshire and I wasn’t sure if that was local enough. SO, I went home deflated, wondering where I would ever be able to find some real local honey.

THEN. I shit you not. The next day I came home to an unexpected package on my steps. I opened it up and found this sweet little jar of Dancing Bee Honey. Inside was a note from a colleague who said that she reads my blog and thought I would enjoy some of her honey that she makes. I seriously could not believe it. I got chills. Is that not crazy!?

So I’ve been enjoying my honey and my allergies really aren’t that bad. It could be the honey, it could be the fact that I’m allergic to pine pollen and I live near the ocean (not many pine tress). I don’t know, but I’m keeping up with the honey anyways because it’s delicious.

If you haven’t heard it already, you really need to listen to the This American Life episode on coincidences, its INSANE!

So anyways, back to the yummy potato salad. This would totally be a killer side to bring to that Memorial Day BBQ I know you’re going to. If you have the ability to make it the day before, do it. It tastes so much better the second day!

Oh, and one more thing. Make sure you use some quality crisp pickles in this. I used my favorite Grillos Hot Dill pickles and it was SO GOOD!

Enjoy!

P.S. – Thank you Karen for the delicious honey!

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

My sunroof.

Ok, so yesterday the weather was GOOOOORRRRGEOUS! Like literally, the most perfect day you could ever imagine. 80 degrees, sunny blue sky, warm breeze. I was driving with the music blasting and my sunroof open and I was pretty much in heaven. How can you not be happy with that? Let’s hope there are more days like this to come, now that I’ve gotten a taste of it I want MORE! Now. Please. Thank You.

Honey Mustard German Potato Salad

Print recipe

Serves	8
Meal type	Side Dish
Misc	Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Barbecue, Casual Party

Ingredients

2lb yukon gold potatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoons whole grain mustard
2 teaspoons honey
salt & pepper (to taste)
2 scallions (finely diced)
1/4 cup dill pickles (finely diced)

Directions

1.	Fill a pot with plenty of water, put over high heat and bring to a boil. Wash the potatoes and cut into small even diced pieces. Add potatoes to the boiling water and cook until they can be easily pierced with a fork.
2.	Meanwhile, whisk together olive oil, balsamic vinegar, mustard, honey and salt & pepper.
3.	When potatoes are done, pour into a colander to drain excess water. Place potatoes in a large bowl and toss with pickles & scallions. Add the dressing and stir well to combine.
4.	Place in the fridge until chilled (about 3-4 hours). You can also enjoy warm if you don't have time to chill before serving. Serve topped with more diced scallions.

Filed Under: Salads, Sides, Summer, Vegetables

WIAW #32

Posted on May 15, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 11 Comments

I apologize for the repetitive breakfast photos for What I Ate Wednesday. I have boot camp every Tuesday morning and when I get back from a good ass-kicking, I need a filling breakfast. This seems to completely satisfy me every time so I keep coming back to it, I promise I’ll have something different on here one day! I would assume I’m not the only one who has repetitive breakfast menus. My brain isn’t functioning at full capacity before my morning coffee so this is the best I can do. My morning meals usually depend on the day. If I don’t work out I can get by with just a green smoothie or some veggie juice, or sometimes I’ll have some yogurt with fruit. This morning I had a green smoothie (left over from the day before), a piece of ezekiel toast with Melt and an egg white scramble with kale, goat cheese, salsa & guacamole.

For lunch I had a salad, a Kentucky Bourbon Niman Ranch Sausage and some leftover honey mustard german potato salad (recipe coming soon).

For a snack I had some popcorn although this is a recycled image, I forgot to take a photo of it.

For dinner we decided to just keep it simple and make a big creamy smoothie. I used strawberries, banana, apples, carrots, tomatoes, avocado, water & almond milk. It was scrumdidilyumptious.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

A Clean House.

Isn’t it just the best having a sparkling clean house? Isn’t it even better when you don’t have to do any cleaning?? We had some professional cleaners come in this week to give the house a good top to bottom clean, it was AH-Mazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen my stove shine like that, and look at the counters! It gave me such a great fresh feeling to have everything neat and organized to start the week.

Filed Under: WIAW

Chicken Club Lettuce Wraps with Roasted Garlic Mayo

Posted on May 13, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 5 Comments

So I’ve been on a little bit of a lettuce wrap kick lately. I made lettuce wrap turkey tacos last week when my mom was visiting so I decided to keep the trend going and make some chicken clubs using lettuce wraps instead of the usual white bread used on club sandwiches.

The flavors were so similar to a regular club, we didn’t even miss the bread at all. Can I just say that I”m so excited for delicious tomatoes to come back this summer. I usually stick to cherry tomatoes throughout the winter since the larger tomatoes tend to be a little mealy but I picked up this heirloom tomato at the market and it was juicy & flavorful. There’s nothing better than a fresh sweet tomato.

I marinated the chicken breasts in a simple vinaigrette for about 6 hours and then the grill master (my husband) cooked them off on the grill. I served the grilled chicken sliced with some crispy bacon, sliced tomatoes and lettuce wraps.

A club just isn’t a club without the mayo so I created a simple mayo which I cut in half with some greek yogurt to make it a little healthier. I found this fantastic jarred roasted garlic at the store and added that to the mayonnaise mixture. If you can’t find it, you could easily make your own roasted garlic, see here for a quick recipe.

For the mayo I used:

• 2 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
• 1 tablespoon roasted garlic

You could switch it up by using sliced turkey or ground turkey or playing around with different condiments, maybe some avocado or honey mustard?

For other lettuce wrap people, what type of lettuce do you find works best for your wraps? I’ve tried bib and iceberg so far but I’m convinced there has to be a better option out there??

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Filed Under: Chicken, Dinner, Main Dishes, Salads, Summer, Vegetables

Paleo Fish ‘n Chips with Spicy Avocado Tartar Sauce

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 5 Comments

Before you get too excited, the tartar sauce is not Paleo. BUT the rest is, so if you’re going strictly paleo, just skip the dipping sauce, it’s good enough to enjoy without it. However, if you are allowing some creaminess into your life, the tartar is a must.

I’m not usually the type of person to order Fish ‘n Chips at a restaurant, in fact, I’m not sure I ever have. I’ve probably picked off of other people’s plates enough for it to count but I can’t remember ever ordering it myself. Of course its delicious, but that much fried food is enough to make me want to crawl into a hole and die after eating it.

But if you want to cover flaky white fish in a crispy breading of veggie chips, cook in some coconut oil and serve alongside baked sweet potato fries? That I can jump on board with.

I can’t take complete credit for this, I got the idea from Living Nutrition who made fish sticks using crushed plantain chips. I remembered I had a container of (probably stale) veggie chips and the idea was born.

I made the breading by processing veggie chips, almonds, salt and pepper until it was fine & crumbly.

I used coconut oil to fry these but I was somewhat limited based on the amount I had left in the jar so I kept a mesh cover handy to prevent the oil from splattering everywhere. It worked just fine but if you want to be a little safer, you can add more coconut oil.

I haven’t made tartar sauce before so I created my own little version using mashed avocado, greek yogurt, mayonnaise, tabasco and my FAVORITE pickles that I ALWAYS have on hand: cornichons. If you haven’t had them before, you need to try them. They are small and taste kind of like salt and vinegar chips. If you were to come by our house at a random time, we’re probably more likely to have cornichons in the fridge than milk. Yup. I’m weird. I know. I like my pickles.

I went down to the local fish market (that just opened again for the season, wooohooo!!) and they had Hake fillets on sale for $7.99/lb. I got a HUGE filet for only $7, it was probably enough to feed 3-4 people. Hake is a local white fish and it is often on sale for pretty cheap because some people have preconceived notions that it isn’t a high quality fish. I haven’cooked with it before but our consensus was that it was delicious, flaky and super moist. Add a low price tag to that and it works for me!

Tom liked this so much that he said we should add it to the weekly menu roundup. We all know that I don’t have a weekly menu, I rarely make the same thing twice, but maybe I’ll make an exception for this. Yup, its that good.

Enjoy!

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

Being obsessed with a new song.

I love finding a new song to obsess over. Right now its the new Pink song, even though the video is FREAKIN weird! That bear with the glowing eyes is totally distracting.

Paleo Fried Fish Sticks

Print recipe

Serves	2-4
Allergy	Egg, Fish, Tree Nuts
Misc	Serve Hot

Ingredients

1lb white fish (cod, halibut or hake)
4oz dried vegetable chips
1/4 cup unsalted almonds
2 large eggs
2 tablespoons almond milk
salt & pepper
1/2 cup almond flour
3-4 tablespoons coconut oil

Directions

1.	Add the vegetable chips, almonds and a little salt & pepper to a food processor and process until fine & crumbly. Transfer to a shallow bowl and set aside.
2.	In another bowl whisk eggs and almond milk together with a little salt & pepper, set aside.
3.	Cut fish filet into longer skinny pieces and season with salt & pepper.
4.	In a ziploc bag, toss the fish with the almond flour until lightly coated. Remove the fish from the bag, shaking off excess flour. Dip the floured fish in the egg mixture and then in the vegetable chip breading. Repeat process until all of the fish has a solid coating of breading.
5.	In a heavy duty skillet, heat coconut oil over medium high heat until hot. You should have a solid 1/2" layer of oil in the pan, depending on the size of your pan, you may need to add more oil. Add the fish and cook in batches until nicely browned on both sides and cooked through. Transfer fish to a paper towel-lined plate and blot off excess oil before serving.

Spicy Avocado Tartar Sauce

Print recipe

Ingredients

3 tablespoons plain greek yogurt
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon mustard
1/4 hass avocado (mashed)
1/4 teaspoon tabasco
2 tablespoons cornichon pickles (finely diced)
salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions

1.	Combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and let sit in the refrigerator for a few hours before serving.

Filed Under: Cooking, Dinner, Dips, Main Dishes, Seafood, Summer

WIAW #31

Posted on May 8, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 6 Comments

Holy moly today was gorgeous! With an extended forecast full of clouds and rain drops, I tried to get out and soak in as much sun as I could. I realize it’s only weather but its crazy how much it changes my entire day. Sunny out? I’m motivated, active and productive. Rainy & cold? I pretty much want to crawl up under the covers and do nothing all day. Of course I don’t, I force myself to be productive, but it doesn’t mean I like it. I’m prepared to deal with this upcoming week of crap but we better get some warm weather after that. Memorial Day is coming up and I want to unpack the flip flops! Let’s get going summer, enough of this distance makes the heart grow fonder crap.

Ok, enough weather talk, time for some Wednesday eats (or Tuesday, whatever). For breakfast I had an egg white scramble with spinach, salsa and avocado along with a slice of ezekiel bread spread with coconut oil. I haven’t really been eating much bread lately but I decided to give it a try today. I’m probably not going to make it a regular thing again but it sure hit the spot this morning.

For lunch I had some paleo fish n’chips (minus the tartar sauce). I breaded the fish using ground veggie chips and cooked it in coconut oil. I served it alongside some sweet potato fries and a spicy avocado tartar sauce. Recipe coming soon! SO good! I had the screen door open while I was cooking and the mailman told me I was making the whole neighborhood drool with the smell. Now that’s what I like to hear!

For a snack I had a Spindrift Orange Mango and 2 squares of mint dark chocolate. Whole Foods needs to stop putting this chocolate on sale, it’s encouraging my dark chocolate addiction.

For dinner I made a big salad with a billion lettuces (kale, arugula, spinach & microgreens) along with some onions, peppers & guacamole.

Overall, a delicious day of eats!

Thanks Jenn for hosting!

Filed Under: WIAW

Mixed Grill Salad

Posted on May 7, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 0 Comments

Guess what? Summer’s coming. At least I think it will. Someday. We seem to have been caught up in a 50 degree time warp but for now I’m going to look outside at that beautiful sun and imagine it’s 80 degrees out there. Pretend with me will you?

The farmer’s market will be opening soon which means lots of fresh produce and lots of amazing salads. My lunches usually consist of leftovers or a HUGE spinach salad. I try to switch it up a lot so that I don’t get bored with the same thing. For this one I decided to combine two of my favorite things: salads, and mixed grill. I love throwing a whole bunch of stuff on the grill and getting a little bit of everything.

I grilled up some pork tenderloin pieces seasoned with herbs de provence, spicy chorizo, onions, peppers and zucchini and topped off with some goat cheese and a basic vinaigrette. My usual dressing consists of olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, honey mustard, parmesan cheese, salt & pepper. It is super easy and completely addicting.

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

My new hydrangea.

I’m so excited about the new blue hydrangea that my Mom brought me when she visited last week. I’m going to try SO hard to keep this one alive. My last attempt was not too successful. I made the mistake of planting it in front of the house and Oto decided it looked tasty and he took out the only flower with one big gulp. I’m not the most talented gardener but I’m certainly going to give it a try! The herbs and other flowers will be going in next week, I can’t wait to have an endless supply of fresh basil and thyme.

Filed Under: Dinner, Grilling, Salads, Summer, Vegetables

Pineapple Coconut Shrimp “Fried” Quinoa

Posted on May 3, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 3 Comments

So I was going to start by apologizing for the lack of recipes I’ve been posting lately but I think I’m going to stop myself. I started this blog as a way to share my love for cooking delicious food and sharing it with all of the like-minded folks out there. I didn’t start it so that I could feel guilty every day I don’t get a chance to create a new post.

Lately I’ve been extremely busy with work and when I’m not working, I just want to relax and spend time with my husband and puppy and NOT sit in front of the computer more since I spend my entire day in front of it. When it comes to enjoying my life and spending time with friends and family, I think that should always come first. SO, I’m putting it out there. I may not post every day, but when I do, I’m going to have fun doing it and I’ll continue sharing delicious recipes with you. I hope you’ll keep coming back and continue to follow me on my journey .

Ok, let’s talk about this AMAZING shrimp dish.

I was kind of craving Chinese takeout the other night so I wanted to create something equally as delicious but a little bit more friendly on the waist line. I decided to make a little version of fried rice but use quinoa instead of rice.

I started out by cooking some onions & peppers and scrambling some eggs. Then I added the shrimp, cooked until done and finished off with the pineapple, quinoa and asian sauce. This whole meal will be on the table in about 30 minutes or less.

I wish I had made more of this for leftovers, it was almost even more delicious the 2nd day. Finish off with a little extra sriracha if you like it spicy.

Enjoy!

Pineapple Coconut Shrimp “Fried” Quinoa

Print recipe

Serves	2-4
Allergy	Egg, Soy
Meal type	Main Dish
Misc	Serve Hot

Ingredients

1 tablespoon coconut oil
1lb raw shrimp (peeled & deveined)
2 cups cooked quinoa
1 1/2 cup pineapple (diced)
1/2 large onion (finely diced)
1/2 cup bell pepper (diced)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 teaspoon sriracha
2 teaspoons rice vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
2 tablespoons sweet chili sauce
1/4 cup shredded coconut

Directions

1.	In a small bowl mix together soy sauce, sriracha, rice vinegar, ground ginger and chili sauce. Set aside.
2.	Melt coconut oil in a wok or large skillet over medium high heat. Add the onions and peppers and cook for 5-10 minutes stirring occasionally. Add more oil if necessary, crack both eggs into the pan and cook, stirring until egg is scrambled.
3.	Lightly salt & pepper the shrimp. Add the shrimp and pineapple to the wok and cook for another 3-5 minutes until shrimp is cooked through.
4.	Add the quinoa and reserved sauce to the wok and stir to combine well. Continue cooking for another 2-3 minutes. Stir in shredded coconut before serving.

Filed Under: Cooking, Dinner, Main Dishes, Sauces, Seafood, Summer, Uncategorized

WIAW #30

Posted on May 1, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 4 Comments

It’s Wednesday, time to take a look at those eats! I started off the day with a super crazy kick ass boot camp which left me needing a good refueling so I made some quick paleo pancakes. Its funny how it seems like such a process to make pancakes but it probably took me about as long as it usually takes to make a green smoothie. They were so filling I only needed two of them. I made them using a mashed banana, almond milk, coconut flour and vanilla. I cooked them in some coconut oil and then topped with fresh strawberries, coconut and pineapple. Yummy! Got 2 more waiting for me in the fridge for tomorrow!

For lunch I had some left overs: Coconut shrimp & pineapple “fried” quinoa. Holy moly this was delicious, and probably even better the next day. I’ll be posting the recipe for this baby soon.

For dinner I had half of a grilled lamb burger which I served in a pita with spinach, caramelized onions & a quick sauce I made with cottage cheese and pesto. On the side we had a spinach salad and some roasted radishes. If you haven’t roasted radishes before you need to do it. Now. Just toss in a little olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper & rosemary and then roast until tender & browned. They kind of lose their radish flavor and turn into little juicy nuggets of goodness. Tom described them as tasting somewhere between an onion & a potato which I thought was pretty spot on.

Head on over to Peas & Crayons to check out more delicious eats! Thanks for visiting!

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

Sunday Mornings.

I love sunny Sunday mornings when we make a nice breakfast and sit down at the table to relax, read the paper & drink some coffee. Its a time to truly decompress and relax before starting a productive day. Oto usually joins me by laying next to me in his bed, he’s a good little reading buddy

Filed Under: WIAW

America’s Farmstand

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 0 Comments

Hey everyone! Today I want to introduce you to this amazing little company called America’s Farmstand. I just finished designing their logo and they’ve got a brand new shiny website up and running now! If you haven’t heard of them, they are an online farmer’s market where they source all of their products from small, responsibly run farms.

Their mission is to empower consumers to change the way they source food:

We don’t just blindly talk about being “fresh” “sustainable” and “organic.” We care about what those things stand for: flavor and nutrition; preserving water and soil resources; biodiversity; reducing harmful chemical use in food production; fair treatment of workers; and spending our dollars closer to home and growing our local economies.

I often take for granted the fact that we have access to such great local foods. I work for our local farmer’s market, we get our grass-fed meat from a cow share with our friends and we can walk down the street to the fish market to buy local fresh fish. There is nothing better than knowing where all of your food came from and supporting people who care about their products as much as you do. Unfortunately, we don’t always have access to these amazing foods depending on what part of the country you live in. Even with access to all of these local food suppliers, there are often items that are not grown locally like fresh peaches and Valencia oranges. That’s where America’s Farmstand comes in.

I was so excited to work on this project and it was a pleasure working with Todd & his team to help develop an identity for this inspired concept. Head on over and check it out to support these local food suppliers & save 10% site wide by using the coupon code FARM.

Filed Under: Vegetables

Lemon Pesto & Avocado Chicken Salad

Posted on April 25, 2013 by Mai-Lis • 2 Comments

Ummm, did Spring just arrive in one day?? I’m pretty sure it was 35 degrees yesterday, cold and rainy and then this afternoon I emerged to a sunny 65 degree day with green grass and flowers blooming everywhere!! Its amazing how Spring arrives in New England. One day you’re looking at brown branches and dried leaves and the next day the trees are full of light green buds and flowers of every color are blooming wherever you look.

I took a walk this evening as the sun was going down and it was SO GORGEOUS! I couldn’t wipe the smile off my face. The kids were out on the baseball field, the birds were chirping and the smell of BBQ was in the air. Hello Spring. Nice to see you again. It’s been a while.

So I’ve made chicken salad before with avocado but I’ve always sneaked a spoonful of mayonnaise in there, thinking that it just wouldn’t taste as good without it. But this time I resisted and just used avocado. It was creamy and delicious and I didn’t miss the mayo AT ALL. To bump it up another notch I added some fresh squeezed lemon juice and basil pesto. I literally just ate it out of the bowl, no bread needed.

I can’t wait until summer so that I can just go out on the patio and pick some fresh basil to make pesto. BUT, since we’re not there quite yet and I’ve gone through my frozen stash, I picked up a bottle at Trader Joes. Homemade is always better but this one is pretty damn good!

I also cheated and used some canned chicken but you could always use leftover roast chicken or even better, grilled chicken!

This just gets me excited about all of the amazing light summer foods. Fresh juicy tomatoes and strawberries from the farmers market. Simple grilled meats and as always, lots of salads!! Can’t wait!

Hope you enjoy this as much as I do, it makes for a killer lunch!!

WHAT MAKES ME HAPPY:

Those beautiful little green buds that pop up on the trees in Spring.

You know that once you see these little guys, its only a matter of time before the landscape turns from brown to a vibrant green. They also mean that I’m going to have a miserable few weeks of itchy eyes and runny nose, but that’s ok, its worth it, I’ll deal with it if it means summer is coming…

Lemon Pesto & Avocado Chicken Salad

Print recipe

Serves	2-4
Prep time	5 minutes
Meal type	Lunch, Salad
Misc	Serve Cold

Ingredients

12-15oz chicken
1/2 medium hass avocado (ripe)
1/2 medium lemon (juiced)
1 tablespoon pesto (jarred or homemade)
salt & pepper (to taste)

Directions

1.	Cut the chicken up into small pieces and mash together with avocado, pesto and lemon juice. Season to taste with salt & pepper.

Filed Under: Chicken, Lunch, Main Dishes, Salads, Summer

Honey Mustard German Potato Salad

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Paleo Fried Fish Sticks

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Directions

Spicy Avocado Tartar Sauce

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Directions

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Pineapple Coconut Shrimp “Fried” Quinoa

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Lemon Pesto & Avocado Chicken Salad

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Directions

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