Friday, May 11, 2012

Healthy Friday Links!


Happy Friday! I haven't posted links in a while and found some interesting stuff online I wanted to share with you. There's a lot going on right now that I can't wait to share. For the first time in my life, I'm going to be growing a vegetable and herb garden. I come from a long line of wonderful gardeners so hopefully I'll be able to figure it out. My seedlings are starting to sprout and I am so excited!

Onto the links:

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

Grilled Flank Steak with Chimichurri


So I may have mentioned this a few times, but Craig and I love to grill. After seven years of city living without any outdoor space, we are loving the small backyard at our new place. It's a great place to sit and have a beer and cook up something delicious. I was wondering around Whole Foods this weekend and I noticed they had flank steak on sale. I usually only ever use flank steak to make braciole, but I decided to grab some to throw on the grill. I decided to make some zingy chimichurri sauce to go with it. Chimichurri is an herb based sauce served on grilled meat. It is believed to have originated in Argentina, but it used throughout Central and South America.

Everyone makes this sauce differently and there are a whole bunch of regional variations as well. I am very protective of my version. I've been experimenting with this for a long time and think I've finally got my proportions right.

Raw garlic, parsley and cilantro make for a very intense sauce. With vinegar, cumin and red pepper, there's a lot going on. It's complex and cooling and compliments the grilled beef really well. I've never tried this with fish, but I froze half this batch and intend to do so soon. Maybe shrimp skewers ... well that's for another post.



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Sunday, May 6, 2012

Baked Coconut Chicken Fingers with Pineapple Sauce



So maybe it's the yucky rain we've been having lately or the fact that it has been a depressingly long time since I've had a vacation, but I've been in a really tropical mood! So I was excited for this tropical recipe suggestion, courtesy of my food muse, Craig - who requested coconut shrimp. Well I didn't have any shrimp but I did have chicken - so I created this recipe for baked coconut chicken fingers. I combined unsweetened coconut flakes with some breadcrumbs and curry powder for a crunchy, sweet and spicy treat.

Now you can't just dip these exotic chicken fingers in any old ketchup. I was trying to figure out a tasty sauce to compliment the coconut and Craig suggested pineapple sauce. I tried one batch my way - which was a complete disaster - so then I tried Craig's suggestion: fresh pineapple (canned will work), lime juice and some honey. The result was a chunky, sweet sauce that went sooo well with the crispy chicken fingers. We gobbled up the whole batch and I made another to last us a couple of days. It's not a Caribbean vacation, but it was definitely the dose of tropical I needed.

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