Category Archives: Lunch

King Crab Salad with Creamy Avocado & Dill Dressing

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A couple of weeks ago I Googled recipes for salad dressing made with avocados. I made the mistake of trying the recipe right before we were going to eat and the very expensive, organic dressing ended up being poured down the drain. It was too vinegary, too acidic, and I couldn’t detect avocado anywhere in the dressing except in the color. In fact the dressing had no flavor at all. I hated to waste two organic avocados but down they went.

So yesterday when I was contemplating what to do with our leftover Mother’s Day King Crab legs, I thought I’d give an avocado dressing another try.

This time, I made up a recipe. It took all of 5 minutes and it tasted fantastic.

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King Crab Salad

*Makes 2 large personal sized salads.

2 Handfuls of Organic Baby Spinach

1 Head of Organic Romaine Lettuce, sliced

A Few Slices of Organic Red Onion, thinly sliced

1 Organic Tomato, chopped

1 Organic Avocado, chopped

2 Medium Organic Carrots, grated

Juice of 1/2 Organic Lemon, for drizzling over the avocado after it’s on the salad

About 1 1/2 Cups King Crab, chilled

Gluten Free Croutons

Divide the first 7 ingredients between two plates. Top with the crab (I pulled mine apart into bite sized pieces), sprinkle with croutons. Top with Creamy Avocado & Dill Dressing.

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Creamy Avocado & Dill Dressing

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*Makes about 1 Cup

1 Organic Avocado

1 1/2 teaspoons of Organic Dry Dill, you can use fresh if you have it

1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning

1/4 teaspoon Granulated Sugar

Juice of 2 Organic Lemons

1/4 Cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise

1/4 Cup Unsweetened Organic Almond Milk

2 or 3 Grinds of Fresh Pepper

Place all ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.

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Pretending It’s Spring

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There’s not much more we can do, really.

Well, besides maybe whine and complain. But I think we’ve already tried that and it didn’t work.

So all that’s left is…pretending.

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We woke up this morning to eight inches of new snow. Yep.

And we’re supposed to get six to ten more inches before the day is over. It’s snowing heavily right now at 2:30 in the afternoon, so I’m going to assume the weather forecast was correct. Luckily snow is beautiful. Can you imagine if we had to endure months and months of something ugly falling out of the sky every year? See, it’s not hard to find something in this weather to be thankful for. I’ll hang on to that and keep pretending that this will all melt next week and it will warm up to at least the high 50′s so I can start working in the yard.

Today I made Tony and I a colorful lunch to help us get through the pretending of spring.

This whips up very quickly (maybe 10 minutes at the most) and serves two. We had about a cup leftover. Perfect for a bed for an egg “sunny” side up in the morning.

Warm Spring Salad

Organic Olive Oil

1 Chicken Sun Dried Tomato & Basil Sausage (I used Alfresco), sliced lengthwise then chopped

1 Small Organic Onion

About 1/2 Cup Organic Red & Orange Bell Pepper, sliced

About 1 Cup Organic Broccoli Florets, sliced

Large Handful Organic Baby Kale, chopped

Large Handful Organic Baby Spinach, chopped

1 Can Organic Black Beans, rinsed & drained

Blackberry Ginger Balsamic Vinaigrette

Salt & Pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet. Saute the sausage, onion, pepper, and broccoli until sausage is lightly browned and vegetables are al dente. Add the black beans, kale, spinach, and toss until kale and spinach wilt. Season with salt and pepper and a few splashes of your favorite vinaigrette.

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Baked Halibut and Sweet Potato Fries

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I only have one photo today of our lunch. Although I’m using it twice.

I took several but evidently something happened between taking them and saving them. When I went to upload, all were just plain white, except one. With all the positives of fantastic technology, also come a few negatives.

The fish was fantastically flaky and delicious. I’m sorry you had to miss it!

My husband has a huge aversion to oil. He hates greasy food and particularly liked this fish because “it gives you the sense that you’re eating something fried but it’s not overly oily”. I would have to agree with him. This meal feels like you’re really indulging, but in reality, it’s all baked and has very little fat. What fat it does have are pretty healthy fats; the mayo is even made with olive oil.

It feels like we’re finally settling in to our new home and getting into somewhat of a routine. The one thing we can’t seem to acclimate though, is dinner time. We’re hungry for breakfast a later time than usual, then end up missing lunch, and are ready for dinner around 2:30. That would be 11:30 Washington time, which I guess is actually lunch… See what I mean about time acclimation? Amazing how firm our inner clocks are set, isn’t it? This is why it appears that we are having dinner for lunch…because we are. It’s probably better that way anyway. Then we aren’t full when we go to bed and we can have dessert for dinner. See how that works out so nicely? Yay!

For those of you who are visiting for the first time, in November we moved almost 3,000 miles away from our home town in Washington State to southern New Hampshire.

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We love the new house, the neighborhood, the surrounding area, and the abundance of fresh seafood. I’ve probably eaten more mussels and clams in the last three months than I have in my entire life.

But I would have to say that the people of New Hampshire are what really have made all the difference and have taken the sting out of what would normally be a rather stressful experience. They are just so nice. I know it sounds odd, and maybe even kind of dorky…and you may think I’m exaggerating, but I kid you not. In the three months we’ve been on the east coast, I can say I have not seen one person in public be rude to another person, I haven’t seen anyone flip each other off in their cars or yell, people actually stop for you to cross the street whether you’re in a cross walk or not and they don’t get angry about it, and they don’t invade your personal space at the check out stand (all things that happen frequently in our home town). They stop and talk to you and shoot the breeze as if they don’t have any thing better in their day to do than really chat with you and find out how you’re doing. And they are incredibly patient people.

And these are the strangers, people we don’t even know!

Just a few days ago I stood in the gluten-free isle at Hannaford’s and talked to a couple from Massachusetts for about a half an hour (we’re only a few miles from the border).  The wife has Celiac and the husband does all of the cooking for her. I would say they were in their early 60′s. They were shocked to hear that we love the east coast so much and when I told the husband that I was amazed by how genuinely friendly people are, the man was taken aback and thanked me and told me that he considered that quite a compliment.

Moving almost 3,000 miles across the country and starting a new life in our mid 40′s has been an adjustment to say the least. But it is also a fantastic adventure and I’m incredibly thankful we were smart enough to set all the “what-if’s” aside and take the leap!

 “The purpose of life is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experience.”  

~ Eleanor Roosevelt

And I’m going to have to say, Amen Eleanor! Amen!

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Baked Halibut with Sweet Potato Fries

You can find the recipe for the sweet potato fries here.

You’ll want to start the sweet potato fries about 30-40 minutes ahead of baking the fish, which only takes about 20 minutes.

For the dipping sauces:

Tartar Sauce

About 3/4 Cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise

2 Baby Sweet Gherkins, finely diced

1 teaspoon Maple horseradish Mustard (Dijon would be fine too)

About 1 Tablespoon Gherkin Juice

About 2 teaspoons Fresh Lemon Juice

Dash of Tabasco

Kosher Salt & Pepper To Taste

Mix all ingredients together and refrigerate until ready to use.

Red Sauce

1/2 Cup Olive Oil Mayonnaise

3 Tablespoons GF Ketchup

1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika

1/4-1/2 teaspoon Cayenne Pepper

1/4 teaspoon Garlic Powder

Dash of Kosher Salt

Mix all ingredients and refrigerate until ready to use.

For The Fish

Bake at 425 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

1 Halibut Steak, skin removed and boned

(This will depend on how many people you are feeding, you can also use any other type of firm fish that you like)

About 1 Cup GF Bread Crumbs

A Generous Pinch(s) of Kosher Salt

About 1 Tablespoon Dried Oregano

About 2 teaspoons Garlic Powder

About 1/4 Cup Dairy Free Butter

About 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Baking Sheet, Cooling Rack, Aluminum Foil

Remove the skin and bone from the halibut if necessary, this will leave you with four pieces. Dry each one off with a paper towel and set on clean paper towels.

Place the bread crumbs, salt, oregano, and garlic powder in a shallow dish and stir with a fork until completely combined. Set aside.

Melt the butter and olive in a shallow dish in the microwave for about 30 seconds, not until it’s boiling, just melted.

Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and top with a cooling rack.

Take the fish and roll it in the butter, then roll and cover completely in bread crumbs. Set on rack and repeat until all of the fish are dipped and covered in bread crumbs.

Next, take any remaining butter and olive oil mixture and drizzle it with a spoon over the breaded fish. Sprinkle a little more bread crumbs over the top.

Bake in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. Don’t over cook or the fish will become rubbery. You want it to flake nicely with a fork.

Serve with the sweet potato fries, lemon wedges, and a dollop of both dips.

Cheesy Grilled Tuna with Spinach

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The first thing I usually hear when I tell someone I’m allergic to gluten and dairy is,

“Wow, that must be really difficult.”

Does this look like I’m living the rough life to you?

Surely not.

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On the contrary, although I would say going gluten and dairy free makes things a bit more challenging, it is not difficult.

I can eat cheese, drink milk, eat ice cream, and enjoy pizza, enchiladas, even lasagna.

I can eat bread, pasta, pancakes, waffles, crepes, cookies, pie, cake…

They just simply cannot contain dairy or gluten.

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There are more than 100 different types of gluten free grains and flours and there are numerous alternatives to dairy.

Eating at home is a breeze, of course. Just take a tour through my blog and you’ll be assured that we eat like “normal” people. Eating out can prove to be a challenge, but I’m always up for a good challenge. I would say only maybe 2 times out of 100 have we had to leave a restaurant because I couldn’t find something on the menu I could eat.

So if you are new to this life or even contemplating it, I will promise you, it is not as difficult as you may think.

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Facing a challenge and doing something truly difficult are two different things. Don’t allow fear of what your family members and friends may think or say, or overwhelming feelings of how you’re going to completely re-vamp your food life keep you from making the leap from your “I feel like crap all the time” life, to “I feel fantasic!” life.

Waking up every morning pain free, free of swelling, intestinal issues, free of shingles, migraines, and all of the other hundreds of issues food allergies cause, make the destination well worth the journey.

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If you are contemplating going gluten free, you can go here for quick tips and help in getting that healthier life you want:

Don’t Panic, Gluten Free Living Is A Breeze!

Where Do I Start?

Arm Yourself With Knowledge

Change Isn’t Easy, But It Is So Worth It

For the sandwich I used:

Udi’s Gluten Free Multi Grain Bread

Earth Balance Soy Free Butter Spread

Organic Spinach Leaves

Daiya Cheese

Olive Oil Mayonnaise

Tunafish

Pickles

Pepper

Sit And Have Lunch With Me, And I’ll Give You An Update!

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I’ve missed you! Every time I try to bake you something wonderful, or even sit down with a few Fall photos to say hello, something else calls for my attention. But a girl has to eat lunch, right? This gives me the perfect opportunity to sit and relax for a few minutes and give you an update on our upcoming life change.

In 11 days the movers will arrive to pack all of our breakables and load the semi truck. I opted to pack all of the non-breakables because it just kills me to give away money for something I can easily (?) do myself. The packing will begin this weekend.

My husband is in New Hampshire  for the third weekend in a row to look at houses. Let me just say that there are an abundance of homes for sale in NH. There’s also an abundance of blue counter tops, purple carpet, wallpaper, and houses that more than likely have ghosts (which I don’t believe in…but why chance it, right?).

People also have so much stuff. I mean so much stuff that it’s hard to see past all of it and envision what the house would look like if you lived in it. Another interesting thing about NH is that unless you live in Manchester, pretty much the entire state is rural. This means that almost every single house is on at least an acre of land. And hundreds of houses on the market are on 3+ acres. Plus going all the way up to 27!  At first we thought we wanted a lot of acreage. I had dreams of huge organic gardens, chickens, maybe a goat for fresh goat’s milk cheese, a barn to lay in the hay and contemplate life…. Then, reality struck. We are used to having dinner parties and family over to the house regularly where we live now, but when we move, it will just be the two of us, two dogs, and a cat. We talked about it and decided that we thought it would be a better idea to downsize. Why have all that to take care of when we would rather spend our weekends and our $$$ traveling around the east and seeing what there is to see? Enter an issue…it’s actually HARD to find a small house in NH. Every house Tony is looking at today has at least 1 acre. And they all have more square footage than we have now. Hmmm…well, if we don’t want a haunted, dusty, wallpapered, purple carpet, blue counter top kind of house, then we’re just going to have to go with it. On the plus side, we’ll have plenty of room for visitors.

So although there are a lot of houses on the market back there, there are not an abundance of houses that we would like to live in or take on as a project. I have searched through at least 900 homes on the internet. Yes, you read that right. Out of those 900 homes, I believe after this weekend Tony will have looked at less than 20 in person. So that gives you an idea of what’s out there. We have a decent price range too. But I keep telling my husband, “Gee honey, if we could just pop it up a notch (several) to a million, we’d have a lot more to choose from.” Ha! Needless to say, that got a good laugh.

If we can find one this weekend and our offer is accepted, then depending on the weather, we will either head to NH or North Carolina to wait it out until it closes. If we don’t find a house, then really, our only option is to try to rent something, somewhere in NH, on a month to month basis until we can find something that is a good fit for us.

I’ve been trying to keep up on all of your blogs every few days! If I haven’t left a little note, please don’t think I’m not looking. I love to see what’s happening with all of you. Things will be getting more hectic, but I’ll try my hardest keep up on all of the exciting things that you guys are all doing too!

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

~ April

Focaccia with Olive Oil, White Balsamic, Roasted Garlic, & Goat Cheese

This is incredibly easy. In an hour tops you can have freshly baked focaccia bread dipped or spread with whatever you like. I used a half portion of  my favorite gluten-free french bread mix (add any type of herbs, garlic, seasonings that you like in the bread dough). It was left over from pizza the other night. I used half for the pizza crust and then just sprayed a ziplock with olive oil and stored the remaining dough in the fridge.

First, take a whole head of garlic and slice off the top. Set it on a piece of tin foil and drizzle with olive oil and herbs. Close up the tinfoil and bake in a small dish (the olive oil will leak)  for about 45 minutes at 350 degrees. While the garlic is baking, get the dough ready.

It will be really sticky when you take it out, so you’ll want to have gluten-free flour handy. I covered a small baking sheet with parchment, patted out the dough with floured hands, and lightly poked holes all over it with my fingers. Then, drizzled it generously with olive oil, sprinkled with kosher salt, garlic powder, and herbs. I used basil, thyme, and rosemary, because that’s what I had on hand. I also sprinkled it generously with dairy free Parmesan. Cover it loosely with plastic wrap and place on top of your stove to rise.

When the garlic is done, remove the plastic from the dough and bake for about 35 minutes or so, but don’t over bake it! You want it to feel “springy” when you touch the middle.

Slice and enjoy however you like. I dipped mine in good olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, spread the roasted garlic on top, and sprinkled it with crumbled goat cheese. And yes, I ate the entire head of garlic in one sitting, by myself. 

Kurobuta Loin Chop Grilled Cheese

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You may remember a while back I baked a Kurobuta ham for Easter. Have you ever had one? This is our Easter ham from last year. All I can say is, “WOW”.

Kurobuta pork (Japanese Black Hog) is hands down the best pork I’ve ever had. It’s basically the “Kobe beef” of pork.

The other day while I was out and about trying to come up with something for dinner I was thrilled to see the Kurobuta pork in something other than ham form at my local butcher. Don’t get me wrong, the ham is absolutely divine, but it’s also extremely expensive and way too much meat for just the two of us. I purchased two loin chops and grilled the for dinner that night. They were amazingly tender and juicy and of course, because I can’t seem to figure out how to cook for just two people, there were leftovers.

Yesterday we started the day off with french toast and bacon and that was followed by me making  peanut butter no bake cookies and cookie dough truffles. Lunch came and went and by 2:30 I was starving and hungry for something that didn’t involve sugar. The chops have been staring at me every time I open the fridge for the last couple of days so I decided on a gooey grilled cheese to help balance out some of the sugar. A day of cheese and sugar? Mmmm…it was lovely. Don’t judge.

Loin Chop Grilled Cheese

*You will need:

Dairy Free Butter

Gluten Free Bread

Daiya Cheddar Style Cheese

Thinly Sliced Sweet Onion

Baby Spinach Leaves

Thinly Sliced Loin Chop

Note: Dairy free butter browns very quickly and dairy free cheese melts very slowly. Construct your sandwich, cover, and grill on medium low so the cheese has time to melt and the butter doesn’t brown too quickly.

Out With The Old, In With The New!

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Vegetable Pakora Lunch

Quite yummy but maybe being a bit overshadowed by those gorgeous organic strawberries…

I am quickly learning that until our house sells, I pretty much cannot commit to a whole heck of a lot. I kind of just have to wake up and greet the day and whatever happens, happens. But that doesn’t stop me from trying to make plans. You would think I would learn. Ha!

Last night I had visions of a glorious day in the kitchen baking and frosting sugar cookies and trying to see if I could come up with a savory pumpkin boule. I convinced myself, and then posted it on Facebook (pretty much jinxing myself) that I was going to get up, take the dogs on a beautiful walk and then spend the entire day in the kitchen doing basically whatever I pleased.

I managed the walk, which was nice. But never got around to the baking. This morning my husband “parted ways” with our realtor. There were a lot of valid reasons but the icing on the cake was that we had an open house two days in a row last weekend and they listed our house in the local newspaper at the wrong price. Yep. And of course the deadline was Friday so it couldn’t be changed or cancelled. So we spent the only two days my husband was home carting animals back and forth and waiting for the open houses to be over. And guess how many people showed up? Zilch. Zero. Nada. No big surprise since the price was wrong and we weren’t even catering to people in our price range. It was quite frustrating and actually made me want to just sit in a heap and cry…or strangle someone. I did neither. We sucked it up and dealt with our weekend like big people. But it wasn’t easy.

So! Out with the old and in with the new! We hired a new Realtor who started working for us immediately. The house will be back on the market on Friday.

I meet with our new Realtor tomorrow so he can take pictures of the house and I can fill out all of the necessary paperwork. Instead of sugar cookies and beautiful pumpkin bread dancing through my head, I had to don work gloves and clean the house and mow the lawn. Oh well, such is life. My expanding hips probably didn’t need sugar cookies and bread anyway…

I did manage to make myself some lunch. I don’t typically buy pre-packaged foods… but have you been down the frozen isles in Trader Joe’s?  H-O-L-Y   C-O-W…how I envy those of you who can eat whatever you please. It’s probably a good thing that I can’t eat 98% of what they sell or I would be gorging myself on perogi, lasagna, cheese tamales, baby frozen quiche, death by chocolate cake, cheese cake, and all kinds of frozen little delights I’ve never even heard of. I did happen to run across one thing I could try. Vegetable Pakoras. They are basically vegetable fritters but with an Indian kick. They are quite yummy and made for a very nice and quick lunch!

They are vegan and as far as I could tell from the ingredient list, gluten-free. However, they are processed in a plant with other gluten items. So if you are that sensitive…I would steer clear. So far I feel fine, but I will be sure to let you know in the morning if I wake up stiff and headachey.

I was also able to finally find real buffalo mozzarella at Trader Joe’s! I was so thrilled I was sad that I was shopping by myself and there was no one there to jump up and down with me. I think I actually gasped out loud when I saw it tucked in among the goat cheese containers. However, I did refrain from jumping up and down. I surprised my husband with a pepperoni pizza lunch the first day he was back in town.

The buffalo milk didn’t bother my stomach at all, tasted wonderful, and melted like regular mozzarella cheese. It was heavenly.

Well, as I sit here eating a rather dull dinner and dreaming of pizza (a plate of black re-fried beans with Daiya cheese and Tabasco) …I still have bathrooms to clean and it’s already 7:45. I wanted to check in with you all and make sure you knew I hadn’t forgotten about you.

Hope all is well in your neck of the woods! ~ April

Crab Stuffed Artichokes & Cherished Memories

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Throughout the time that Brandon attended grade school and middle school I volunteered. I volunteered a lot. I worked in kitchens, in classrooms, in the office, copied papers, corrected papers, made classroom snacks, did recess duty, went on field trips, and was involved in many, many, auctions.

We had heard about an “out of the box” public middle school when Brandon was leaving his private grade school. They have a somewhat open concept based on relationships and do hands on, project based learning. They also have a “city” in the basement of the school. The students are taught how to create resumes, how to interview appropriately, and each student interviews each semester for jobs as police officers, judges, attorneys, small business owners, IT people, cafe managers, waitresses, maintenance, etc… They even have an aquaculture business that raises fish and grows hydroponic vegetables. A real greenhouse where they grow flowers and vegetables for sale in the spring. A full running cafe during lunch that the students take care of, and they all earn city money that they can spend in the marketplace on Friday afternoons. The marketplace is where enterprising young minds bring their small business ideas and sell crafts, food, and fun activities. They can also receive tickets for inappropriate behavior…that explains the need for a judge and attorneys.

Fresh Crab Salad

It was at that school that I had the opportunity to do a type of volunteering that I had never done. Brandon was in the 6th grade and I was asked to teach an 8th grade Leadership class. By myself. It was terrifying and awesome. It was an eye opener. It was heart wrenching and unbelievably stressful at times. But most of all, it was a huge blessing and I learned so much about young people and life.

Crab Salad & Rustic Crackers

My first class was so nerve-wracking I couldn’t believe how terrified I was to have an entire room full of teenagers staring at me. What am I doing? I had to keep telling myself, “You are an adult for crying out loud, in a room full of children, get it together!” Ha! Hard to believe when more than three-quarters of them were bigger than me. They were just waiting for me to prove that I was just like a lot of other adults in their lives, there to babysit and not participate in their lives and not care what they had to say.

We had a lot of discussions. Sometimes there were days I had things planned but I could tell they just wanted to talk about “life” and relax, so that’s what we did. I loved listening to their perspectives on life! I used my relationship with Brandon as an example, a lot. Brandon didn’t care for that much… But what else did I have to draw from? I tried to convey to them that their parents loved them insanely and that’s why parents do what they “do”, all the time understanding that they would never “get it” until they had children of their own. I tried to talk to them in a down to earth and very honest way. Up front…another thing I learned about young people. They want you to be up front with as little of “adult talk and tone” as possible, and totally honest. Even if they don’t agree with what you are telling them. They also like to hear about some of your life mistakes, how you got through it, and what you did differently the next time you were challenged with the same situation.

I was supposed to be teaching them, but really they taught me. They taught me about the power of being present for someone. How just being aware of how a younger person felt, even if I knew they would get over it or that it was a silly emotional day for them, just listening and being there for them made a huge difference. All of their unique little personalities blessed my life tremendously. Some of them were well-rounded and relaxed and some of them had very hard lives and were rough around the edges. Others were very tough to get along with and I had to work hard to get through their thick shell and see past their smart aleck natures. A couple refused to ever let go and have fun and enjoy the class for what it was. Those were always the complicated ones that had issues that we couldn’t resolve with just creating a “community” within a classroom. Those kids were hard to let go of. I wanted to take them home and give them real attention and cook them real food, and show them what a loving family feels like. I learned a lot about letting go.

Some of them were so smart is was shocking. Some of them were very wise for their age and yet still so vulnerable to all of the peer pressure that comes with being a teen. I gained an enormous amount of respect for teenagers and an unsettling understanding of the stress and pressure they are under not only at school but also in their private lives.

I am happy to report that seven years later, many of them still keep in touch with me! They are 20-23 years old now…so hard to believe. They are in college and working and a few are even married. One who was particularly hard to get along with, but has since kept in pretty close contact with me, has been through an enormous tragedy and has managed to keep his head on straight when most of us would have crumbled. They are getting to the age now where they have had to experience the “real” world of serious consequences, pain and hurt, sick parents, and bad relationships. They are strong…so strong, just like I knew they would be after listening to them talk about their lives in the classroom.

I’m so proud of them. Proud of them and thankful that they allowed me a small glimpse into their lives and that they trusted me and they shared with me and chatted with me and were just so incredibly loving and forgiving of me because seriously…I started from scratch and picked activities for us to do together with no experience in teaching anything ever.

They disproved a lot of the hubbub about teenagers and their “typical” attitudes. They grasped onto each activity I planned and stepped out of their comfort zones many times and did it all with honesty, which isn’t easy to do in a room full of your teenage peers. Some of it was hard too. Soul searching stuff and things they had to do within the school…”pay it forward” kind of things toward people they would normally ignore. They were thrilled at how good it felt to get out of their own groups and get to know or do something nice for someone they would normally not associate with.

I loved going to a class every day filled with teenagers! Can you imagine? I could not wait to get there to hear what they were going to say next. Teenagers are supposed to be difficult, ill-mannered, little creeps who are hard to get along with and even harder to understand. Self absorbed, eye rolling irritants, snotty…you know all of the labels.  I’m sure they have their moments, but I was proven absolutely wrong on more occasions that I can count. I had to hold back tears of joy numerous times because I was so shocked by some of their responses to our projects. I was absolutely floored at the depth of their feelings and thoughts.

The crab for my lunch today comes from two of those students. Every year their family heads to the Pacific coast to go crabbing. They have the funnest family I have ever met. They are all extremely close and loving and live for fun.

Crab Stuffed Artichokes

4 Organic Baby Artichokes, steamed and cooled middle leaves removed

About 1 Heaping Cup of Fresh Crab Meat

About 2 Tablespoons Organic Red Bell Pepper, diced

About 2 Tablespoons Organic Red Onion, sliced

1 Organic Avocado, diced

About 2 1/2 teaspoons Organic Dried Dill

About 5-6 Tablespoons Olive Oil Mayonnaise

Juice of 1 Lemon

Kosher Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper To Taste

Mix all ingredients together (except the artichokes of course!). Chill and spoon into the middle of the baby artichokes.

Here’s a silly picture of me, my husband, and Brandon, at one of the girl’s 21st birthday parties in the “photo booth” area.

Stephanie’s 21st birthday…time flies.

Stephanie is outgoing and sweet and comfortable in her own skin. I love that about her. At her party  one of her friends was talking about getting eyelash extensions because she doesn’t like the length of hers. Stephanie looked at her, shrugged her shoulders in an “oh well” kind of way, giggled, and said, “I like my eyelashes!” I could have jumped up and hugged her. I’m happy she likes who she is.

So Sunday, Stephanie’s sister, Morgan, surprised me with a text asking if I would like some crab. Are you kidding? Of course!

This is Morgan, picking out the best crabs!

Not only does she share beautiful fresh crabs from the Pacific with me, she’s also an excellent house sitter, cat feeder, and plant waterer. Morgan is solid. She’s well thought out, organized, extremely thoughtful, and has an impressive shoe collection.  She’s also shy and quiet and I’m thankful that doesn’t stop her from coming over and chatting with me every now and then.

What an incredible blessing it is to have people in your life who think of you. All of this learning, life experience, friendship, and wonderful memories…

just from a little volunteer job.

Grilled Cheese with Spinach, Chicken & Pesto

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I’ve been trying to stick to salads for lunch to up my daily veggie intake, but yesterday I had almost an entire vegetable day purely by accident. I love vegetables, but all day? I must have had a lot going on because typically I’m a protein lover.

After walking the dogs late this morning I couldn’t get my mind off of a grilled cheese sandwich. I also had chicken breasts that needed to be grilled and leftover vegan pesto from the sandwiches I made over the weekend. After the dogs got their “you were good on your walk” treat, I rummaged around and also remembered I had organic tomatoes and a nice bunch of organic flat leaf parsley. I’m crazy for parsley. I don’t know why, but I’ve been that way since I was a kid. I used to eat everyone’s parsley off their plate when we went out to dinner.

So, once I realized I had the makings for a delicious sandwich, I shoved the salad I made yesterday to the back of the fridge and told myself I would eat it for dinner instead.

Grilled Cheese with Spinach, Chicken, & Pesto

2 Slices Gluten Free Bread (I used Udi’s Whole Grain)

Slices of Grilled Chicken Breast

Spinach Leaves

Vegan Pesto

Diaya Cheese

Dairy Free Butter

Fresh Tomatoes

Flat Leaf Parsley

Kosher Salt

Freshly Ground Pepper

I’m sure you know how to make a grilled cheese so I will just give the basics. Grill the chicken first, or use leftovers, your preference. Spread pesto on the insides of both pieces of bread. Place the cheese on the bottom piece of bread, closest to the heat. Layer everything else however you like and cook until nice and toasty.

Vegetable Stuffed Portobello For One

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A very long time ago I said we were going to go to “Meatless Mondays” . We never quite made it. Although, we have cut back on our red meat consumption dramatically, I find it hard to stick to one thing on a specific day of the week. Partly because I haven’t put much effort into figuring out enough meatless meals and also because my husband travels so much that I rarely exert a lot of energy into figuring out what I’m going to make myself for dinner when he’s away.

Last night, it was black bean re-fried beans, dairy-free cheese, and Tabasco that I heated in the microwave. Then I ate it while reading a book.  Don’t scoff, it was quite enjoyable.

But, tonight, in an attempt to get my daily recommended allowance of vegetables, I thought I’d put in a tad more effort. But not so much that it would be too complicated to eat while reading my book.

Grilled Vegetable Stuffed Portobello with Sautéed Rainbow Chard

1 Portobello Mushroom

1/2 Orange Bell Pepper

1 Small Sweet Onion

About 3/4 Cup Broccoli

About 6 Sugar Peas

Rainbow Chard, about 8 leaves, stems removed

Olive Oil

Garlic Powder

Kosher Salt

Diaya Cheddar Style Cheese, optional

Drizzle the mushroom with a little olive oil and rub to coat, set aside. Add the cut vegetables to a bowl, drizzle with a small amount of olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and garlic powder, and toss to coat. Add everything to a grilling pan and grill on medium-high until mushroom is cooked and moist and vegetables are tender and browned on the edges.

While vegetables are grilling, coat a saute pan with a little olive oil. Heat on medium-high and saute the chard until it is wilted. It will wilt a lot, just like spinach does, so if you’re cooking for more than one, you’ll need to use a full head or more.

If you would like to top yours with dairy-free cheese, you’ll need to melt it under the broiler or in the microwave.