Asian Slaw Salad

I love when you get to share a meal. There's something extraordinary about a seemingly ordinary meal around a table. Sharing a meal seems to bring added intimacy and an opportunity for great conversation.

My friend, Claudette, invited my husband and I over to her lovely home and made a delicious meal. The stand-out dish for me was this amazing Asian slaw salad. It was salty, a little sweet, and had a ton of crunch. She served the meal on a variety of colorful Fiesta ware. It was casual and felt special without being precious. You know that feeling? When you know someone made an effort, but it's not too fancy that you're worried about breaking something or accidentally putting your elbows on the table.

This Asian slaw salad is my entrée version of the side that I had at my friend's house. I hope you enjoy it! Here's the recipe.

Ingredients
2 cups shredded purple cabbage
2 cups shredded green cabbage
1 cup English cucumber, julienned (cut into long strips)
1 pack of ramen noodles
1/4 cup almonds, toasted
1 pound chicken
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

For the salad dressing:
1/4 cup canola oil
1 Tablespoon sesame oil
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 Tablespoons granulate sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Equipment
Cutting board
Chef's knife
Large mixing bowl
Small mixing bowl or Mason jar
Whisk
Small sauté pan
Large, oven-safe sauté pan

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400*F. Preheat a large sauté pan. Add oil if pan is not non-stick. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Sear chicken on both sides for 5-7 minutes until golden. Transfer chicken to oven and cook until 165*F internal temperature.

In a dry sauté pan, toast almond over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Set aside to cool.

Shred purple and green cabbage. Place in a large bowl. Julienne cucumber. To julienne, cut the cucumber in long strips. Then, cut each strip into matchstick-size rectangles. Place in the large bowl.

To make the dressing, pour canola oil, sesame oil, vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper into a small mixing bowl or Mason jar. Whisk until combined.

About 30 minutes before serving, pour 4 Tablespoons of dressing onto salad mixture to lightly coat. Toss to distribute evenly. **If you're not eating all the salad, wait to dress the salads individually.

Divide the salad into four bowls. Top with sliced chicken. Add a tablespoon of broken, uncooked ramen and toasted almonds. This adds delicious crunch and texture, which is super important in salad.


I hope you enjoy this recipe! Make it and share it with a friend. If you want it to be a side salad, you're welcome to leave off the protein. Let me know if you make this recipe; tag me on social media!

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

10 Simple Salad Ideas

Roasted Asparagus Recipe

Vegetable and Cheese Board

When you think about entertaining, how do you feel? Are you excited, nervous, anxious, tired? Entertaining can be all of those things, but it doesn't have to be. Entertaining can be fun, easy, and enjoyable. To help make hosting easier, I'm sharing an easy appetizer. It's a vegetable tray with some cheese. It's friendly and not fussy.

 

I love having an appetizer ready for guests. It gives them something to munch on if they're hungry before dinner is ready. It also gives me a buffer if dinner is running late. It means that my guests aren't starving and smelling dinner.

This appetizer is super simple. It's 4 steps: wash, dry, chop, arrange. I like to include seasonal fruits and vegetables. For one, they are local, which means fresher because they weren't shipped far. Secondly, they tend to taste best in season. Fruit is sweeter, and veggies are crisp.

Adding fruits and vegetables to your cheese boards has several benefits. First, fruits and vegetables are nutrient-dense. In other words, they have a ton of vitamins and minerals. So, they're super tasty and great for your health! Secondly, fruits and vegetables tend to be more economical (read less expensive) than cheese. So, you can make a huge fruit, veggie, and cheese board for a fraction of the cost of a cheese board. Third, I love the colors and textures that fruits and veggies add to a cheese board. Visually, there's more interest and I find it more aesthetically pleasing. So in summary, fruit and veggie cheese boards are good for you, good for your budge, and visually pleasing.

If you've ever felt nervous about hosting, here are a few tips.

5 Tips for Low-Stress Hosting 

1) You're hosting not entertaining.
These two terms, host versus entertain, make a world of difference. To me, an entertainer sets a stage and has a flawless performance. A host offers a place to come and gather. An entertainer has the focus on the performance. In contrast, a host gets to welcome and offer a safe space for people to gather, be themselves, and enjoy community.

2) Consider your guest's preferences.
Sometimes the barrier to having guests is the fear of not knowing what to make. So ask! I like to give 2-3 options that way guests have input on the meal.

Also, I think it's important to ask about food allergies. You can also ask if people have any foods they hate.

3) Prep ahead.
I am a planner, type A kind of person. I feel stressed when things are left to the last minute. I don't like to procrastinate. To help me keep my sanity, I like to prep ahead as much as possible. This looks like, menu planning. I try to clean a day or two before the party. I try to have some parts of the meal or appetizer ready to go.

4) Make easy meals.
I encourage you to make easy meals. Make familiar meals; make something you've cooked before. I wouldn't try a new recipe or challenging dish when I host. It just increases anxiety. What if the dish doesn't turn out right? What if it tastes bad? Instead of worrying, cook a go-to, tried and true, tasty meal.

5) Ask for help.
You don't need to be a one woman show. Ask guests to bring something. Or if you're the guest, ask if you can bring something.

What dinners work well? Try a pot luck. Host a taco night - make the entrée. Have a guest bring an appetizer - chips and dip. Encourage someone else to bring a side or dessert. In the Fall and Winter, I love a baked potato bar with fixings. Or, try soups and sandwiches. Also, there's no judgment here for ordering pizza. Who doesn't like pizza?

Try a cooking club. Have people over to cook and then eat together. That sounds so fun! Don't feel like you have to do everything.

Have you ever thought about hosting versus entertaining?
What keeps you from hosting more? 
What motivates you to host?
What are your go-to recipes to make for company?
I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below.

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

 Tips for Holiday Hosting

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

Chicken Cordon Blue Sliders

aka Fancy Ham and Cheese

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

I love the changing of the seasons There's beautiful weather, which provides amazing produce. You can dine outside. So, today I'm sharing one of my favorite Spring dinners that is great served warm or room temperature. It's my Spring Vegetable and Shrimp Pasta.

This dish takes advantage of seasonal produce - asparagus and mushrooms. And, shrimp are in season! This recipe celebrates all of these seasonal ingredients. It's a quick, easy and most importantly delicious meal. Here's the recipe.

Cook time: 30 minutes
Serves: 4

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups orzo
1 cup portabella mushrooms, washed and sliced
1 bunch of asparagus
1 pound large (20/25 per pound) shrimp
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 cup pesto
2 Tablespoons olive oil

For the pesto:
1/3 cup pine nuts, toasted
2 cups basil
2 Tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (the juice of 1 lemon)
1 garlic clove
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil

Tools
Pairing knife for deveining shrimp
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Cutting board
Skillet
Medium-sized saucepan
Food processor

Instructions
In a dry pan, toast pine nuts for 5-7 minutes until fragrant and light brown.

To make the pesto, add basil, toasted pine nuts, lemon juice, garlic clove, salt, peeper and olive oil to a food processor. Pulse to combine. Set aside.


Heat oven to 400*F. On a baking sheet, toss asparagus with 1 Tablespoon olive oil. Roast for 15-20 minutes or until fork tender.


In a medium-sized sauce pan add 4 cups water and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook according to package directions. Drain orzo, and set aside.


In a large skillet, add 1 Tablespoon olive oil, and heat over medium heat. Add mushrooms and sauté until tender. Add shrimp. Cook 2-3 minutes per side until opaque and firm. Internal temperature should read 145* F. Set shrimp aside.


In a large mixing bowl, add orzo, pesto, shrimp, mushrooms and asparagus. Toss to combine. Plate and enjoy!

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

Muffuletta Sliders

Roasted Asparagus

Mediterranean Cooking Class

10 Simple Salads

2018 Goals Update

Goals - I love them! I like resolutions. I like to plan, make lists, and work toward a goal. I set yearly goals, and I have monthly goals. These monthly goals help me break long-term, yearly goals into short-term, achievable goals.

Monthly goals help me reach my yearly goals by pacing myself. For example, I'm trying to cook 12 new recipes this year. This divides evenly into an average of 1 recipe per month. However, some months are super busy, and I rely on quick, family-favorite recipes. If I find that I'm not averaging 1 recipe per month, I can try to catch-up the following month. If you've ever had problems achieving long-term goals, I encourage you to set short-term goals that help you reach your long-term goals.

I also find that sharing my goals keeps me accountable. You can share your goals with a friend or post them below. Do you have any tips for achieving goals?

Let's dive into my first quarter 2018 goals update. 

1) Try 12 new recipes.

This goal is to challenge me to find new dinner inspiration, to try new cooking techniques, and taste new foods. So far, I've made the following recipes:

- Greek meatballs (keftedes) with taziki
- Roasted cauliflower with a tahini and lemon sauce
- Grilled shrimp with chermoula
- Avocado toast with a poached egg and everything bagel seasoning (so good!)
- Stove-top mac and cheese
- Blueberry honey scones

Do you have any favorite recipes? If so, share them below. I would love your recommendations!

2) Read 12 books.

So far, I've ready the following books in 2018:

- Church of the Small Things by Melanie Shankle
- A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
- Becoming Madeleine by Charlotte Voiklis

- Daring Greatly by Brene Brown 
- A Wind in the Door by Madeleine L'Engle
- 100 Days to Brave by Annie F. Downs

I'm trying to average about 1 book a month to reach my yearly goal. What books do you recommend?

3) Be physically active consistently. 

So far in 2018, I've been walking, jogging, and doing PT. The weather has been mostly fantastic, so it's a good way to enjoy the weather before the Summer heat.

I took try tennis lessons and plan to try some new exercise classes.  Do you have favorite exercise class?  What motivates you to be physically active? What keeps you consistent with physical activity?

4) Learn and improve a skill.

I've taken one cooking class this year. It was a Mediterranean class. You can read more about it here, and there are some tips to make cooking less stressful.

Do you have anything you want to learn to cook this year?
Do you recommend any particular cooking classes?

Also, remember your "why" behind the goals, and give yourself grace. Any progress is progress. If I don't challenge myself, I will never change or grow. That's my "why." I want to continue to learn and grow and become better. 

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

 Setting Healthy Goals

2017 Goals Update

Physical Activity and Heart Health

Mediterrenean Cooking Class

I love learning and cooking! I have a not-so-secret dream of teaching people to cook. I love talking, teaching, and helping people live healthier lives. So, it makes sense.

I went to school for dietetics and nutrition. We had a few cooking classes, and I loved them! Since I didn't go to culinary school, I love continuing to learn to cook by taking cooking classes. It's one of my favorite hobbies. I've taken some sweet and savory cooking classes. I've also taken two pasta classes.

 Homemade Pasta Cooking Class

Summer Pasta Cooking Class

The most recent cooking class I took was a Mediterranean cooking class. The menu was rosemary and olive oil flatbread, Greek meatballs (keftedes) with a herbed yogurt sauce (taziki), roasted cauliflower with a tahini and lemon sauce, grilled shrimp with chermoula. There are a few great things about taking a cooking class.


1) You learn a new skills.

2) You meet new people.
3) They grocery shop and organize all the ingredients.
4) They wash the dishes!

Look at all those beautiful ingredients! All the ingredients are on half sheet pans. The ingredients are divided by recipe, so everything is ready to prep and cook.


First, we started with the flatbread. The bread was a yeast -based bread, so it needed time to proof.

Next, we made keftedes or Greek meatballs. This was the main reason I wanted to come to the Mediterranean class. I have never mastered making meatballs. In the past, they've been to dry or they fall apart. But, this protein was full of herbs and super flavorful. There was a delicious taziki sauce

Then, we made roasted cauliflower. This was the recipe I was most excited to taste. Here's the before shot. Such a simple recipe; it's just a few ingredients.
 

And, here's the after. Such deliciously seasoned roasted cauliflower. It's one of my top favorite vegetables now.

Then, we made a sauce for the shrimp. It's a chermoula sauce, which is an herby sauce with origins in North Africa. It's usually paired with seafood. If I had to compare it to another sauce, it's most similar to a chimichurri sauce - but with different herbs.

Finally, we made herbed shrimp. I'm a Louisiana girl, so I love shrimp. Does the word 'shrimp' remind anyone else of Forrest Gump (i.e. fried shrimp, boiled, shrimp, shrimp poboys). I bet that Forrest would have loved these chermoula shrimp.

  

Here are a couple great tips that you can take away from the cooking class. Here are four tips to help you stress less and enjoy cooking more!

1) Read the recipes before you start cooking.

Read the recipes through fully before you start cooking. This helps you know which recipe to start making first. It also helps you familiarize yourself with the recipe.

2) Organize your ingredients.

Organization is key to stress-free cooking. Chefs organize their ingredients by recipe. They premeasure and prepare ingredients before they start cooking. This is called mis en place - or to put in place. It's simply following the recipe. So, recipes start with ingredients. Measure them and slice, dice, or chop as instructed. Then, put them in small containers. Next, start cooking.
This may seem like more work and more dishes. But, it's actually very helpful. If you've ever watched cooking shows, you'll see this is how they follow a recipe. Prep the ingredients. Then, cook the ingredients.


3) Clean as you go.

This tip is super helpful to decrease stress. If you clean up as you cook, your kitchen work surfaces with be clear and less cluttered. I find a great sense of satisfaction when the kitchen is clean as a meal is finishing cooking.

4) Try something new!

I make new recipes at home; it's one of my New Year's resolutions. So, I like trying to make new types of foods. And, I love tasting new foods! I tend to go to cooking classes that teach me a new skills, so I have hands-on experience. I also like being able to ask questions and immediately get feedback from the chef.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Do you clean as you go?
Do you practice mis en place?
Do you read the recipe through before cooking?
What new recipes have you tried lately?

Comment below or on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. 

If you liked this post, you might enjoy: 

 

Seafood Cooking Class

Cake Decorating Class

Favorite Cooking Classes

Roasted Asparagus Recipe

Happy Spring! The beginning of a new year and new seasons tend to inspire change. When the seasons change, it feels like a good time to review resolutions, set a new goal, and make healthier choices. Changes in season can inspire change in other aspects of life.

As a registered dietitian, I talk with my clients about goal setting, healthy change, and barriers to maintaining healthy changes. The main barriers to healthy eating are time, budget, lack of confidence in cooking ability, and food preferences. I work with kids, so you can read food preferences as "picky eating."


Roasting vegetables is a quick, easy way to prepare vegetables. Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat to cook food. It brings out a caramelized flavor through the Maillard reaction, which is a chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars (reducing sugars include all monosaccharides, including sucrose, glucose, fructose, and galactose, and some disaccharides, oligosaccharides, and polysaccharides). Roasting at high temps, above 340* F, caramelizes sugar naturally found in foods. Roasting at a high temperature brings out a caramelized, nutty quality in vegetables that is super tasty. 

One of my favorite roasted vegetables is asparagus. Asparagus is in season in the US from February to June. Eating vegetables in season is a great way to save money. Produce is cheaper when it's in season.

If you or someone in your family has strong food preferences, try including them in the cooking process. This is a great beginner cook recipe or recipe to try with kids. You can break the asparagus with your hands, so you don't have to use a knife. Or, kids can help you toss vegetables with oil and seasoning. It's a great hands-on activity. 

 

Here's my recipe for roasted asparagus. I use the term 'recipe' loosely because this is such a quick and easy preparation. Give it a try!

Ingredients
1 bunch asparagus, rinsed and dried
1 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

Tools

Half sheet pan
Spatula
Cutting board
Chef's knife

Instructions
Preheat oven to 400* F.

Rinse asparagus and pat dry. Break off the end of a few asparagus. This will give you a guide of where to cut your asparagus. Slice the bottoms of the asparagus off and discard  The top of the asparagus is tender, but the bottom of the asparagus can be tough and fibrous. 

Place asparagus on the half sheet pan. Drizzle olive oil. Sprinkle salt and garlic powder. Toss asparagus to coat.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the vegetables are fork tender. The cooking time of asparagus varies based on the diameter of the asparagus. I've purchased asparagus that's as thick as a pencil and other asparagus is as thin as a chopstick. So, the cooking time will vary as the size of the asparagus varies.

Have you ever tried roasted vegetables? If not, I hope you try this recipe. Let me know what you think.

For more tips, encouragement, and recipes for a healthy lifestyle, you can follow me on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter. Tag me if you make any recipes!

If you liked this post, you might enjoy:

Tips for Easy Entertaining

Easy Breakfast Ideas for Entertaining

2017 Goal Update