find a recipe!

A Life From Scratch.

A Life You Adore Around A Table You Love.

Green goddess quinoa salad.

/ By / 6 Comments

IMG_8645If this isn’t summer, I don’t know what is. Spinach, chopped up baby heirlooms, fresh mozzarella, and crunchy almonds all tossed together with a cilantro basil green goddess dressing? Mmmmm. 

Frankly, I haven’t been cooking much lately. Something with staging and showings and keeping the house perfect blah blah blah. So this one felt good to knock out. I chopped away, made a mess, mixed together and felt, for just a teeny tiny moment, at peace.

No one warned me how emotional and exhausting this moving thing can be.

The other night I dreamt my husband randomly bought a yacht and drained our savings so our loan fell through. We had already sold our current home so we were, literally, homeless. I woke up so angry at him! I refuse to ever go on a boat with him as captain why on earth would he do this to us??? A few moments later I put it together that, even in my dreams, I just couldn’t seem to catch a break from the silly drama of it all.

Whenever I get overly stressed and anxious on the home front I try to remind myself that it’s all good stuff. Really good stuff. And moments like this delicious green goddess quinoa salad in the kitchen help me center myself and just calm the heck down. 

Because my husband is not going to be buying a yacht anytime soon (or ever, dear Lord). We have secured the home. And we are going to start a kickass new adventure together in it, soon. EEK!

Green Goddess Quinoa Salad
A delicious and healthy summer side.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
15 min
Prep Time
15 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 cups cooked quinoa (I used TJ's microwaveable version because it's SO EASY!)
  2. 2 cups halved cherry tomatoes
  3. 2 cups spinach leaves
  4. ½ cup green goddess dressing (recipe below)
Add-ins
  1. fresh Mozzarella cheese, cut into bite sized chunks
  2. sliced almonds
  3. grilled veggies
  4. grilled chicken (the sky is the limit with this one!)
Green Goddess Dressing
  1. half an avocado
  2. ¼ cup Greek yogurt
  3. ½ cup water
  4. 1 cup cilantro leaves and stems
  5. 1 small clove of garlic
  6. ½ teaspoon salt
  7. a squeeze of lime juice
  8. Blend all together
Instructions
  1. Cook the quinoa and toss all ingredients together to combine!
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

 

Dark chocolate power bites.

/ By / 5 Comments

IMG_8611

Oh my heavens YUM.

Sometimes it’s really about the easiest things, am I right? With the kids (okay, mom) constantly seeming to want a ‘treat’ after almost every meal, I knew a solution had to be made that didn’t involve shelling out peanut butter cups or m&m’s post breakfast.

Enter these dark chocolate power bites.

We all know good deep dark chocolate is good for you, right? Something about antioxidants. Well, these tiny one ounce disks provides just enough melty deliciousness to satisfy any sweet tooth, all the while packing in a good for you punch with, well, anything you really want. We are having a cherry moment in our home so I went with chopped up dried cherries, pepitas, sliced almonds, and chunked up mango all sprinkled with ….. wait for it …… whole wheat flax seed and sea salt.

The kids loved them. Loved them. And it’s summer here, so there are a lot of kids to test these out on. So far I’ve got five (melty) thumbs up. 

We had them post lunch and pre baseball for a little pick us up to get us through another night game. And ok, ok, I had another when upon arriving home with a glass of wine. Heaven.

Dark Chocolate Power Bites
A delicious and healthy dark chocolate power bite.
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
10 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Total Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. Bittersweet chocolate, melted
  2. Toppings of your choice: we used dried cherries, dried mango, pepitas, sliced almonds, flax seed and sea salt. I really recommend this combo!
Instructions
  1. Drop 'disks' of melted chocolate by the TBS onto parchment paper. Sprinkle on toppings and slide into the fridge to cool (15 minutes or so).
  2. Once cool enough, I moved them into a container and stored in the freezer.
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Grilled shrimp tacos.

/ By / 3 Comments

IMG_8308When the 10 day on your iphone shows 80+ degrees every. single. day. you break out the good stuff.

The flip flops, the strawberry salsa, the sunscreen, the burrata, and the margaritas.

Heck yeah, our season is here.

We like hot. We like summer days the never seem to end. Dirty feet, sticky popsicles, sand, bug spray. We like barefeet on the patio with a cool drink in hand and something sizzling on the grill.

And this particular evening it was all about the grilled shrimp tacos.

I seasoned these little guys earlier in the day (think smoked paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, garlic) and let them hang out in the fridge. Come dinner time they took all of six minutes or so on the grill and on they slid into warm tortillas topped with all the fixings.

I may have, perhaps, gone a bit over board on the fixings part as you, um, barely can see the shrimp. Whoops. But know that they are down in there. We piled ours with cojita cheese, shredded purple cabbage, salsa verde, homemade guacamole, and a few tomatoes on top. A mouthful for sure, but worth every delicious messy bite.

Grilled Shrimp Tacos
Full of flavor seasoned shrimp perfect for the grill and shrimp tacos!
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
5 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 lb raw, organic shrimp
  2. 1 tsp olive oil
  3. juice, 1 lime
  4. 1 garlic clove, minced
  5. 1 tsp chili powder
  6. 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
  7. 1/4 tsp cumin
  8. dash of red pepper flakes
  9. 1/2 tsp dried oregano
  10. salt and pepper
Instructions
  1. Season the shrimp with all of the above at least one hour before cooking (I gave mine three hours to marinade). Place on a medium hot grill for a few minutes a side.
  2. Top with your favorite toppings!
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Strawberry salsa.

/ By / 2 Comments

IMG_8288Is this not the most delicious looking thing on earth?

I’m telling you, it is. Like best summer recipe to have ever graced the planet.

It all began while I was daydreaming during the six hour car ride home from Nana’s 95th birthday celebration at the farm. The boys were zoned out to Scooby Doo, M was jamming to his gangster rap, and I was busy scrolling on my phone for the most perfect recipe to celebrate 80 degrees and sunshine on a beautiful Sunday evening.

And then I saw it: strawberry salsa. My goodness was it just so beautiful.

We arrived home a bit tired and cranky as most people are after being in a car for hours. I threw the boys into the yard and told them absolutely no TV or electronics for the rest of time and off to the store I went.

And there they greeted me, in all their bright delicious summer glory: pounds upon pounds of juicy red strawberries. The kind that disappear for months around here and then reappear just begging to be made into something glorious.

In the cart they went, along with all the usual salsa contenders: cilantro, lime, jalapeno, red onion. Mmmmm.

Upon arriving home it was all chop chop chop and in the fridge it went to blend flavors while we took the boys out on the boat for a bit of fishing. One (almost) bass later, we arrived home to strawberry salsa and tortilla chips on the sunny patio. Very happy boys, very happy mama. My goodness I think it’s safe to say it….SUMMER IS HERE! (I hope).

Strawberry Salsa
A healthy and delicious summer twist on salsa!
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
10 min
Prep Time
10 min
Ingredients
  1. 1 lbs fresh strawberries, chopped
  2. 1/2 red onion, minced
  3. 1/2 jalapeno, minced
  4. 1 juicy lime, squeezed
  5. 1 handful of cilantro, chopped
  6. 1 tsp sea salt
  7. sprinkle of sugar
Instructions
  1. Mix above ingredients together. I then let all the flavors hang out and blend together for an hour or so in the fridge. Serve with tortilla chips and a good margarita.
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

Ceviche.

/ By / 6 Comments

1I’m assuming we are all on the same page with this one. Ceviche is fancy. It’s something you order when you head south to some exotic island or beach or resort. It’s nothing something you are like, making for dinner mid week. And that’s exactly what I love cooking club so so much. It’s about trying new things you wouldn’t normally do, like dine on fresh almost tropical ceviche on a random Thursday night in Illinois. Who does that? We did my friends, we did. And you know what?

It seemed totally attainable. Like, I could actually do this mid week on a Tuesday. Or, serve on a large tray for friends on the patio while entertaining because it totally has that fancy, impressive vibe but all that is involved in chopping away. Which, I just happen to love to do.

Yep, chop chop chop – lots of fresh flavors and beautiful colors and bam! You’ve got yourself quite the impressive dinner. And hey, want to hear the way cool tip I learned?

Fresh Ceviche
A fresh, delicious, tropical, and EASY ceviche!
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Prep Time
10 min
Cook Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. 2 lbs tilapia (finely diced)
  2. 1 cup fresh squeezed lime juice
  3. 1/2 cup cherry tomatoes, finely diced
  4. 1 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
  5. 1 jalapeno, seeded and finely diced
  6. 1/2 cup purple onion, finely diced
  7. 1/2 cup freshly chopped cilantro
  8. 1 TBS hot suace
  9. salt & freshly ground pepper
Instructions
  1. Dice the tilapia when it's partially frozen and place in a bowl. Pour lime juice over, stir, and place in fridge covered for 30 minutes or so (until fish turns white).
  2. Pull out and mix in the rest of the ingredients. Serve chilled with corn chips.
Notes
  1. Be sure to buy the fish from a source you trust!
A Life From Scratch. http://a-life-from-scratch.com/

The lime juice is actually what cooks the fish! Make sure to chop your fish quite finely so that it’s small and thin enough to absorb the juice and get cooking. 

Julie, thank you for being our adventurous cook! So inspiring. 

 

Top