Roasted Veggie Tortilla Pizza with Kale Lime Pesto

Pizza is a funny thing - most people love it and would say it's their favorite thing ever in the whole world! And there are a few who actually don't like it. What's left is someone like me. I like the idea of pizza, but prepackaged, sugar laden sauces, cheap cheese and mile hi crusts don't do it for me.

A thin crust loaded with veggies and bursting with flavor sauces are more my style. One of my most popular cooking class is my Grilled Flatbread class. But the grill is not always accessible (especially it it's covered under 19" of snow!) and sometime you need an even quicker back up. Enter the tortilla. Tortilla's aren't just for tacos anymore. I've been making a pizza crusts out of them for years and it's time you started too.

Lemony Red Lentil Hummus Spread

Having an array of sauces and spreads in your kitchen repertoire is key to elevating flavor in your dishes. Equally as important is creating those items in a healthy manner.

Sure, you could just purchase a pre-mixed, pre-packaged spread from the grocery store, but what you get with that is a whole bunch of sugar and chemicals that are going to wreak havoc on your body. Plus it's really easy to make your own, especially of you happen to have some pre-cooked lentils around.

This isn't a true hummus, which calls for chickpeas and tahini, it's a lentil spread or dip or salad topper - perfect for sandwiches and snacking. The lemon adds a brightness which is perfect on grilled chicken and veggies (I used it on a lettuce wrap filled with just such items.)

Light, super healthy and super delicious- this lemon and red lentil dip spread is a perfect addition to any meal.

Spicy Tomato Peach Jam

Tomato season- it's the time of summer we wait patiently all year for. Maybe patiently isn't exactly true. Buying those off-season tomatoes and then complaining about the lackluster flavor happens all too often, yet we rinse and repeat.

But now, now is the time to yank that fresh tomato off the vine (or off your farmers market table) and directly insert into mouth. Ah, a mouthful of heaven.

However, sometimes we are a tad overzealous in our planting (and purchasing) and find we have more tomatoes than we can chow on. This is an important time to decide what to do with your deliciously colourful bounty.

Two words: tomato jam. A lovely mixture of tomatoes and peaches with a hint of honey and spice. Earthy with just the right mix of sweet; super fantastic on grilled meats, sandwiches, crackers or on a simple piece of bread.

Save some of your next tomato haul for this delicious tomato jam, it's a happy and healthy addition to any meal!

Pesto meets Vinaigrette: Herbed and Minted

Recently I stumbled upon this Green Chermoula recipe because of a photo that look interesting, but the reviews of it were seriously lacking. And even though I'm still not a fan of cilantro, the ingredients looked intriguing, using both parsley and cilantro with a side of mint and jalapeno.  So I decided to give it a go, knowing I could doctor it up as needed.

Turns out the recipe did need a little help; a splash of lemon and a doubling of the mint and ginger did the trick. The result is an interesting herby, minty, slightly spicy pesto-like vinaigrette that grows on you. The first few tastes didn't totally hook me or my guests, but half way through our meal people were asking for the recipe (and that has happened twice!)

So far I've used this on flat bread pizza, as a spinach salad dressing, drizzled across baked sweet potatoes and then as a light spread on a chicken salad wrap. Talk about versatility! It whips up in seconds, no cooking required. And with these great health benefits (see Happy Health Tips below), adding a second helping is almost a requirement!

Pine Nut Romesco Sauce

This recipe is now at Happy Eats Healthy

Pine Nut and Sherry Romesco Sauce

Pineapple Red Pepper Salsa

 The Pineapple Red Pepper Salsa in now at this link.

Shrimp Boil Fajita with Tabasco Corn Relish

Fat Tuesday is just a few days away and  I feel the need to get into the spirit early due to a hankering for some shrimp and sausage. I wanted to make a shrimp boil, it's pretty simple as there are only 4 main ingredients to it: shrimp, andouillle sausage, potatoes and corn... on the cob.

This is Chicago and we are in the middle of a polar vortex, there are no cobs of corn to be found here. So I had to adjust my plan. I decided to skip the boil portion and just cook the remaining ingredients in ghee and lemon. Ghee is essentially clarified butter, the milk and water solids have been boiled off leaving rich, golden butterfat.

Whoa you say- butterfat can't be healthy, can it? Ghee stimulates the production of stomach acid, increases the absorption of other nutrients, and is very supportive for acid reflux, ulcers, and other digestive complaints. Ghee appears to help lower cardiovascular risks, but with everything you must enjoy in moderation. It also has a higher smoke point so great for high temperature cooking. Because it's free of casein and other milk solids, if you are intolerant to butter you might be able to eat Ghee

So the shrimp and sausage were covered, but that leaves the corn, what to do with the corn. A simple toss with some red peppers, lemon and tabasco and I ended up with perfect  relish topping for my shrimp and sausage saute. Add a tortilla and I essentially ended up with a fajita-like dinner.

Get out the beads and get your taste buds ready with this Fat and Happy fajita-like Shrimp Boil (sortof).

Grilled Tuna with Spicy Cucumber Relish and Sun Dried Tomato Hummus

Healthy summer dishes. They don't have to be difficult or time consuming to be flavorful.

In this recipe, the spicy cucumber relish is off-set by the sun dried tomato hummus. Both condiments are simple back drops to let the fresh tuna shine through.

The relish and hummus can be made a day ahead of time allowing you to get dinner on the table even faster. Enjoy the remaining cucumber salad and hummus between two slices of bread or as a dip for veggies.

Have a Fat and Happy summer dish that shines from the plate.

Pink Peppercorn, Cherry and Bacon Compote

       Yes, I've made bacon jam before.
   Yes, I do realize these are supposed to be the dog days of detox.
Yes, I anticipate reinventing bacon jam at least one more time. Maybe two.

In this version of bacon compote (or jam), the pink peppercorns reign supreme while the bacon gives that subtle, smokey pork thing that gives depth and makes us temporarily lose our wits enough to spout drunken marriage proposals to stubby legged animals. Fresh cherries are stewed into a luscious, rich sauce binding it all together.

Serve with a tangy goat cheese for an amazing bacon jam bruschetta, add to sandwiches, top burgers, dollop on roasted chicken, mix into meatloaf and chili or inhale with a spoon... just get this in your belly!

In small doses, bacon compote will give you a little reprieve from your New Years diet and the fat and happy strength to carry on.

Recipe Swap: Pork-Stuffed Bread with Cherry Relish

The monthly Recipe Swap challenges a group of bloggers to recreate an old recipe by varying the ingredients or method. These recipes are chosen from old hymnals, pioneer journals and treasured recipe books; often they are quite intriguing. Take this month's recipe for example -  pork fruit cake. The recipe literally says to mix all the ingredients (a pound of pork and a pound of currants) and then bake very slowly. Priceless.


My recipe goal is to stick with most of the original ingredients while messing with the method. But wanting to be somewhat true to the original recipe, I wanted the pork to be encased in bread. Steamed buns were calling out. But I had an overload of Asian food leading up to my weekend cooking. So I decided to stuff the pork into fresh bread loaf and use the fruit aspect as a compote on the side.

I have to admit, time got away from me and and in a rare moment of weakness I decided to purchase the bread rather than make it from scratch. The baking gods wouldn't allow it - there was no frozen bread dough to be found. I was meant to make it from scratch. So I set my alarm for early and kneaded my way through it.

What did I end up with? Exactly what it sounds like. Luscious pulled pork wrapped in warm, buttery, crunchy, doughy bread with a titillating spicy, fruity relish. Freaking yummy! Seriously.

There is life in those old recipes yet, you just gotta make them yours. Make this delicious Fat and Happy pork bread in the mean time.

Eggplant and Bacon Burritos

This is a follow up post to the Chorizo Eggplant Tacos recipe posted earlier this month. Similar to the tacos, these burritos use fresh, organic eggplant to create a super simple, healthy dinner.

The spongy eggplant texture offers an almost mild, mushroom essence that compliments the bacon and tomatoes.

Fat and Happy burritos that are nutritious and delicious!

Eggplant and Chorizo Tacos

I've been talking a lot about my weekly CSA delivery and rightfully so. Fresh, organic produce delivered to my doorstep direct from the farm is brilliant!

However, a couple of weeks in a row of eggplants and I was running out of ideas. Then it hit me to turn them into a taco or burrito filling. Eggplant has a mild flavor and will take on the essence of its surroundings. I played with both chorizo and bacon- look for the bacon burrito posting in the next week or so.

The ingredients are completely simple and without complication. Think of this as a rendition of a street taco. A simple, organic, healthy, Fat and Happy street taco.

Coffee Marinated and Crusted Fajitas with Jalapeno Honeydew Salsa

 Are you buying organic, fair trade, shade grown coffee? These toxin free, habitat preserving and safe working condition brews are all to rage for good reason. Sure you'll pay more for these beans but isn't it time we all pay a little more attention to how our basic purchases affect the world?

Getting off my little soap box now - what else can you do with coffee beyond just drinking it? Coffee is an easy addition to desserts but what about using it to prepare dinner? If you think of the bean as a spice, it will open up a myriad of ideas.

My goal was to use coffee in a nontraditional, yet traditional sense. Enter the traditional fajita, soak it in orange juice and coffee, then crust it in ground coffee and peppercorns and top with a spicy sweet salsa. Ya, it's pretty good.


Let's talk about the big question - will the caffeine keep you up? I think it's minimal, if any affect. Dave and I both slept as normal and he doesn't even drink coffee. The more a coffee bean is roasted, the less caffeine it will have (i.e. darker roasts have less caffeine than lighter roasts) so I'll go out on a limb and say that cooking it more may dilute the caffeine content further. Please note the FDA has not approved that statement.

Pick up a bag of coffee (preferably one that protects the environment and the workers) and put a little fat and happy zing in your fajita night.

Tips and Techniques: Nervous about the full coffee crust? Start with the marinade and only cover half of the steak with the ground coffee mixture. Let your taste buds duke it out. The image on the left is the skirt steak with just the marinade (the orange and coffee make a lovely combination) and the image on the right has the crust (bold, almost crunchy and packing a spicy coffee punch). I quite enjoyed the coffee crust as did Dave but it was fun to try it both ways.


Coffee Marinated and Crusted Fajitas with Jalapeno Honeydew Salsa



Orange Coffee Marinade

1 orange, zested and juiced
1 lime, zested
1/2 tbls black peppercorns
2 Tbls turbinado or brown sugar
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup strong brewed coffee
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1 lb skirt steak

Place all the ingredients in a large plastic bag or shallow seal-able tupperware dish. Add the meat, shake well to distribute, set aside until ready to grill. Marinate the meat at least 30 minutes, up to 1 day. Be sure to bring the meat to room temperature before grilling.

Jalapeno Honeydew Salsa

1/2 c yellow pepper, diced small
1 cup honeydew, diced small
1/4 cup red onion, diced small
1/2 cup jicama, diced small
1 small jalapeno, finely diced
1 cup chopped fresh parsley
1 tbls red wine
1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lime
salt (to your liking but roughly 1/2 tsp)

While the meat is marinating, chop up the veggies. Combine them all into a dish with the red wine, olive oil, lime juice and salt, toss to combine. Set aside.

Coffee Crusted Fajitas

1 small yellow onion
1 small red onion
2 tbls olive oil
Fresh black pepper, pinch of salt
small corn tortillas (or flour if you prefer)
1/4 scant cup coffee beans
1 scant tbls peppercorns

Slice the onions and place on a fajita pan or in a large piece of tin foil. Drizzle with the olive oil, pepper and salt, toss and grill by either placing the fajita pan directly on the grill or tightly wrapping the tin foil together and placing that on the grill. Remove when the onions are nicely caramelized.

In a coffee grinder or using a mortar and pestle, grind the coffee beans and peppercorns together, grind this relatively fine. Pour onto a large, shallow plate. Remove the steak from the marinade and drag through the coffee grounds on both sides.

Wrap the tortillas in tin foil and place on the top grill basket to gently warm.

Grill the room temperature steak over medium high heat for about 2-4 minutes per side (depending on the thickness of your steak), it's better to under cook than over cook. The high heat will sear in the juices with the coffee crust. Remove from heat and let rest for at least 10 minutes. The skirt steak will be the most tender if you slice the steak across the grain at a very sharp angle, in thin strips.

Layer each tortilla with thin slices of the grilled skirt steak, caramelized onions and a scoop of the jalapeno honeydew salsa. Serve with a wedge of orange and enjoy.

Tortilla Soup

 It's the middle of winter but I have a hankering for warm roasted tomatoes, yet something more than just salsa. It's not the best time of year to cook with fresh garden ingredients but if you have a produce store you can trust, go for it. Plus the roasting will help bring out deep, sweet flavors of the winter fruit.

The way I create this soup follows similar principles of making a roasted salsa which starts by roasting the fruit/veggies and then blending them; the addition of chicken broth to the blended 'salsa' creates the soup. The result is a spicy, roasted flavor that is slightly cooled by the queso fresco (cheese) and the toasted corn tortillas.

Another super simple, warm soup that gives you a healthy option over heavy cream and calorie laden soups - that's something to be Fat and Happy about.

Tips and techniques:  Mix and match the peppers you put in this soup for more more or less heat.

Tortilla Soup

3 tomatoes
4 tomatillos
1 poblano pepper
1 medium sized yellow onion
4 cloves garlic, leave outer paper on
1 small dried pasilla chile (optional), could substitute a small jalapeno, or chipotle pepper
4 corn tortillas
2 1/2 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1 tsp salt
pepper

Soup toppings
1 avocado
juice of 1 lime
hot sauce
Queso Fresco

Turn the oven broiler to high and line a cookie sheet with tin foil. Place the tomatoes, peppers, onions and garlic on the cookie sheet and place under the broiler. Let each side become nearly blackened and then turn.  Take the garlic (and the dried pasilla chili if using) out first as it will only take a few minutes before it burns. Remove everything from the broiler and let cool slightly.

Peel the garlic, (remove seeds and veins from the pasilla/jalapeno if using) cut the stem off the peppers and add all the roasted items to the blender. Add one torn up tortilla.  Blend until smooth (if you want a chunkier soup, pulse the ingredients until desired thickness is reached.)  Pour the salsa into a soup pot over Medium heat.

Add the broth, salt and pepper to the pot. Simmer for about 20 minutes. In the meantime, place the remaining tortillas in a heated oven until crispy. Mash the avocado, lime juice and a few shakes of hot sauce together with a fork.

To serve, add soup to bowls and top with a scoop of avocado, crumbled queso fresco and a few strips of corn tortilla.  Makes 4 large bowls of soup.

Quinoa Lentil Meatballs in Tomatillo Sauce

Quick, name something that looks like a meatball, has the same protein as a meatball but doesn't have any meat in it...

Quinoa-lentil-balls. Doesn't exactly roll off the tongue, does it? But these little babies are packed with nutrition and flavor! Both the quinoa and the lentils are loaded with protein, essential amino acids and vitamins; these aren't just veggie meat balls, they are super balls!

The simple tomatillo sauce takes these super veggieballs to the next level with a bursting roasted flavor.

Here's the deal, if you really need meat, add it. Use a little ground turkey, ground hamburger or even chorizo.  Dave needed meat so I added 4oz of chorizo to half of the dough for him. The key is you're still getting the nutrients from the quinoa and by cutting down the amount of meat used, it cuts out half of the fat.  All good things.

Remember, just because it looks like a meatball but isn't made with meat doesn't mean it isn't good- just different. And keep this super simple tomatillo sauce recipe, it could be a quick salsa or a sauce over rice and beans. Transform you meatballs into something a little fat and happy today!

Tips and techniques: This is a delicate mixture and rolling these balls takes a light hand, if you are having problems forming these into balls, simply form them into mini little patties instead.
To peel the tomatillo's, do this under running water.  It will make removing the outside paper easier and help to remove the stickiness that is left over after the paper is removed.

Tomatillo Sauce

15 tomatillos
1/2 white onion, chopped in quarters
3 cloves garlic
2 oz green chili's
1 cup broth

Turn the broiler on your oven to high. Line a cookie sheet with tin foil or parchment paper.  Peel the tomatillos and place them on the cookie sheet. Add the chopped onion and garlic cloves. Roast until all the veggies begin to turn to blacken.

Remove the sheet from the oven and place in a blender with the green chili's, add the broth slowly until desired consistency is reached. Add salt to taste.   


Quinoa Lentil Meatballs


1 cup quinoa
1 cup yellow lentils
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp ancho chili or chili power
2 eggs
1/4 cup finely diced apples
2/3 cup bread crumbs (use gluten free bread crumbs to make this recipe gluten free)
1/4 cup chopped parsley

Make the lentils according to the package directions, half way through the cooking add the quinoa so that they will both be complete at the same time.

Add the cooked lentils and quinoa into a bowl, add all the remaining ingredients and mix well with your hands. Carefully roll small balls balls and set them aside. If you are having problems rolling the mixture into balls, just make small patties instead.

Heat a fry pan with a little Pam or canola oil, cook the quinoa meatballs until golden on each side. Add the tomatillo sauce to meatball pan, simmer to ensure everything is warm. Serve a couple of the veggieballs with a few spoons of the tomatillo sauce.

Red Pepper Salsa

Today Dave declared he was making eggs with salsa.  'Sounds great, but we don't have any salsa' I smugly quipped. 'There's a tomato in there, you can make some' Dave replied.  He was quite serious too.  This from a guy who doesn't want to be an inconvenience; it was a rare statement.  I could do nothing but rise to the request.

He was right, we indeed did have a tomato, along with one jalapeno pepper, a lime and some parsley.  These ingredients were screaming for a salsa.  After removing those ingredients from the fridge, a stray red bell pepper stood silent; it looked so lonely I just couldn't leave it in the cold dark fridge alone, so in the salsa it goes.

Quite honestly, there is nothing super secret or different about this salsa recipe, it uses all the typical base salsa ingredients and it goes together in about 10 minutes.  It's a combination of a fresh salsa and a roasted salsa without the long wait of the full roasting.  My red pepper salsa was ready at the same time the eggs were, we ate and went about our day.  Simple.  Another fat and happy request complete.

Tips and Techniques: If you do have time and want to further roast the tomatoes and the red pepper, drop them on a cookie sheet and into the oven until the skins burst. They become sweeter with roasting. If you want a milder salsa, do not use the full jalapeno after roasting it.  Start with half and then add more according to your taste.

Red Pepper Salsa 

1 lime
2 large tomatoes
1 jalapeno
1 red pepper
1/4 cup chopped onion
1 large garlic clove
1/2 cup rough chopped parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Pan roast the jalapeno and garlic. Do this by simply placing them in a dry fry pan on medium high heat to sear the skin.  Toss often and be careful not to burn the garlic.

Remove garlic clove, cut the tomatoes into 4 quarters and add to the pan (skin side down).  The goal is to just add a hint more flavor by a quick roasting. Don't toss them, just let them sit in one spot, that spot will become dark- remove from heat just before that spot on the tomatoes turn black. Should take just a few minutes.

Finely chop the onions and red pepper.

Place jalapeno and garlic in Cuisinart, blend until finely chopped. Add tomatoes and salt, pulse until all combined and tomatoes are chopped up. Pour into a bowl.

Add chopped onions to bowl.  Add half of the red peppers to bowl and the other half to the Cuisinart. Add the parsley and juice of one lime to Cuisinart - blend until finely chopped.  Add to bowl. Mix and serve.