Wild Rice, Pistachio, Cherry Salad

With November here, my palate is excited to embrace the tastes  and colors of Autumn: green, ruby, brown, orange; and tastes: spiced sausage, wild grains, tart cherries, crunchy nuts. This salad encompasses all of that and a little more! It is a comforting salad with a few surprises: tart dried cherries, crunchy pistachios and a classic vinaigrette. Not only does it look and taste festive but it’s forgiving on the calories!

Cauliflower Fried Rice

I grew up in a family that enjoyed Chinese cuisine. I enjoyed the soups, noodles and especially the fried rice. Overtime, I developed an appreciation for the unique ways each restaurant made their own fried rice dish. But, just last year something changed the fried rice game for me. It was cauliflower “rice”!  In this recipe, I take some of my favorite ingredients from different fried rice dishes and gracefully incorporate them into this recipe: pineapple, all natural bacon, cashews, green onion, eggs, cilantro and raisins. In the end, I skip out on the soy sauce and instead use a combination of amino acids, sesame oil, and a tad bit of fish sauce. Intrigued? Better be because you’ll be so surprised how this dish hits the spot and you didn’t even see it coming!

Honey Garlic Shrimp

The past couple weeks, husband and I haven’t been eating so well. And our bodies felt it. This past week, we decided To Eat Healthier, as one tends to do after binging on takeout food and feeling horrible. So, what does that mean? Well mainly, it means I add a ton more veggies to every dish I make. We also stop eating out. Oh the difference this makes.

Confession: I used to not like shrimp. I think it was somewhere along my pregnancy with Ari that I started to really like shrimp. Now I actually crave it once in a while. So for this recipe, I decided to go with shrimp and veggies for dinner. I bought some baby broccoli for this dish since we normally rotate between spinach, kale, asparagus, and broccoli for our dinner veggies. Plus, broccoli is great for sautéing. 

Fennel, Apple, Celery Spring Salad

With Spring season here, it’s hard not to notice all the greenery and super blooms that have been flourishing throughout all of Southern California. This salad  is my favorite “green” salad – refreshing, tangy, crunchy and light. The vinaigrette used for this salad combines fresh lemon juice, red wine and apple cider vinegar which compliments the ingredients.  This salad is perfect paired with a crisp flavor profiled chardonnay. Oohh la la la! 

Asparagus & Spring Mix Salad

I used to always just steam my asparagus before I ate them. But one day, I saw my sister-in-law sautéing them. This opened a whole new way of how I cooked some of my veggies. So many possibilities!

This recipe is inspired from my pregnancy. Since the baby seems to be rejecting all kinds of meat, I decided to make salads with more flavor and texture to keep my palate happy and satisfied. This salad is one of my favorite discoveries.