The first salsa to be showcased this week is a fruit salsa.  I have heard many mentions of people eating salsa made from pineapple and mango but yet I’ve never come across any!  I haven’t seen a recipe, nor a jar of it in the store, not even seeing it listed on a menu someplace.

The pineapple and mango salsa has been out of my grasp!  I decided that it couldn’t be that hard to make and tried my hand at making a test batch.  The first step was getting some fresh mango and fresh pineapple which can be tricky depending on the season and what your grocery store has available.  Fresh ingredients are necessary though so make sure you have these for salsa time!

Andrea’s Pineapple Mango Salsa

• 1 large mango, peeled and chopped
• 1C Fresh pineapple finely chopped
• 1/4 of a Red Onion finely chopped
• 1 Jalapeno, seeded and chopped
• Juice of 1/2 a lime
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh cilantro, chopped,  for garnish

Combine all ingredients in a small glass mixing bowl and allow to sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

I was a little skeptical at first because I’m never sure how a fruit is going to taste when paired with savory things but this salsa delivered!  It’s sweet with a hint of spice and heat from the onion.  The lime juice and cilantro keep things light and summery tasting.

If you have a mango that is a bit hard because it’s slightly under ripe, you can quickly sautee it up with the pineapple, onions, and jalapeno in a touch of olive oil for about two minutes.  Remove from heat and then mix in the lime juice and cilantro.

This makes a great addition to any summer cookout or backyard party!  Perfectly paired with tortilla chips, you’ll be snacking while getting in your fruit servings for the day!

Have fun guys and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

Other OHC Salsas:

Roasted Tomato Salsa

Watermelon Salsa

I again bring your attention to the fact that it’s summertime and that means HOT.  Or if you live where I do, it means HUMID with a side of sticky.  You don’t really want to do much of anything except take time out to sip on something delicious and preferably very cold.

I do not drink mixed drinks because that kind of alcohol always seems a little heavy on my stomach.  Plus a lot of drinks are made so they are super sweet and I’m not one for sweet.  Even with wine I do not like sweet.  Scott on the other hand likes mixed drinks a great deal and I will occasionally make him a little sumptin’ sumptin’ to sip on while dinner cooks or perhaps while he’s manning the grill out back.

This new drink just came to me not that long ago and it ended up being a beautiful combo.  Scott loves it and it’s super easy to make.

Andrea’s Coconut Lime Spritzer

• The juice of half a fresh lime + one slice for garnish
• 2oz of Coconut Rum
• Lime Seltzer

In a small tumbler squeeze in the lime juice and add the rum.  Fill the glass the rest of the way with the lime seltzer.  Stir, add the lime slice for a garnish and serve!

Does it get any easier?  Even I can take a few sips of this drink and be very happy about it!  The drink is cool and has a crisp taste from the lime and the seltzer.  The rum isn’t overpowering and the drink doesn’t come across as overly sweet.  It’s a nice sipping cocktail and perfect for a hot day.

Having a party?  Make this your signature drink!  One of the best party tips is that if you are going to serve drinks, consider making a signature drink to serve instead of having multiple types of beer or wine available.  This way it helps you stretch a buck while still entertaining your guests with class.

This drink is perfect for that!  Because does it get any cheaper than seltzer?  You can get liters of it for under a $1.  Most stores will even offer up deals where you can buy 5 for $5.  I know that Giant Eagle and Whole Foods both have such deals.  I prefer the Whole Foods seltzer because it’s a bit fizzier in my opinion but any seltzer will work!

Now you have a nice refreshing drink for Thirsty Thursday!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food drinks!  Enjoy!

However cottage cheese can be a great source of vitamins and protein making it a lovely addition to other things.  My favorite way to eat cottage cheese is actually mixed in with some oatmeal.  It gets warm and takes on the sweetness of the oats.  There’s no more chunky texture but instead a nice lovely smooth and creamy texture to the oats.

I also make another warm dish with cottage cheese but you’ll have to wait on that recipe!

Since I’ve cooked with cottage cheese it then occurred to me that I could most likely bake with it as well.  I had some cottage cheese that needed used up before it went past its prime and I figured this would be a good time to test out baking with it.

Andrea’s Blueberry Cottage Cheese Bread

• 1 1/2C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (or regular WW flour)
• 1C Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 1/2tsp Baking Soda
• 1tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4C Sugar
• 1/2tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1C Blueberries (fresh or frozen)
• 1 1/4C Soymilk (can use Vanilla if you like)
• 1 Overripe banana
• 1C 2% Cottage Cheese (small curd)
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 and spray a loaf pan with nonstick spray (or oil of your choice).  In a large mixing bowl combine: Flours, baking soda, baking powder, sugar, and cinnamon.  Combine with a whisk, and whisk for at least a minute or two.  In a smaller bowl combine the banana and soymilk.  Mash the banana and stir till it combines with the soymilk.  Then add in the cottage cheese and vanilla extract, combine again.  Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and gently stir until everything is well mixed.  Add in the blueberries and also gently combine.

The dough will be a bit heavy but should be moist.  If it seems a bit dry, add in more soymilk, a tablespoon at a time until the dough holds together.  It will be sticky.  Place dough in the greased loaf pan and bake until cooked through.  About 30 minutes or so.  Insert a toothpick, if it comes out clean, the bread is done.  If it comes out with dough, keep cooking.

Allow bread to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing.  Serve and enjoy!

I love when cooking experiments come out fabulous and that’s exactly what happened with this bread.  It is delicious!  It is a moist soft bread with a slight crumble which means it’s perfect for just about everything.  I normally have it as a dessert with some wine but this paired with coffee or tea would be a great combo as well!  Because this dough is thick, it’s sort of lumpy in the loaf pan creating a nice rustic look to it when it finishes baking.

The blueberries give it a nice color and is a great way to use up some of the summer berries that are now plentiful.  You cannot taste the cottage cheese at all, it just melts into the bread leaving behind a few sprinkles of white here and there.

This bread has it all, whole grains, fruit, and protein which means you can feel good about eating that third slice.

This could probably be made into muffins as well for a brunch that you’re hosting or if you’re looking for something festive to take to the 4th of July party you are headed to.  We’re currently out of the bread but I do have some blueberries and cottage cheese on hand so I might need to make another loaf!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

This particular smoothie combo is my very favorite. It’s clean tasting and very filling.  I don’t have it too often because I want to keep it special and I also save it for the times when I feel like my bod could use some very straight up clean eats.

You know those times when you’re feeling just a bit rundown.  Or maybe you had too much wine/beer/Boones the night before because it was Aunt Sally’s 80th birthday and how can you turn down an 80 year old on their birthday? Even if that would put the tally up to your 6th glass of Wild Island.

Maybe you just had a really bad dining experience the night before where the salmon was farm raised, the asparagus just showed up from Mexico covered in Shed Spread, and what should have been Himalayan rice was actually Uncle Ben’s quick fix.

Basically you just feel like you need to work some stuff outta your system and replace it with some clean stuff.  You dig? This smoothie is the ticket.  At least for this bod.

Andrea’s Favorite Smoothie

• 1C Carrot Juice
• 1C Unsweetened Cranberry Juice
• 1C Soymilk
• 2 handfuls of spinach
• 1-1.5 Frozen bananas
• Frozen Blueberries (about1/2C)
• Frozen Pineapple (literally like 5-6 pieces)

Blend in a blender until smoothie and creamy.

The liquid measurements are exact but the others are not.  Don’t overload too much on the spinach or you run the risk of the smoothie being gritty.  Kale works here as well.  The pineapple I keep to a minimum because I just want it to brighten the flavor a bit, I don’t want to feel like I’m in the tropics.  The soymilk along with the frozen fruit make this a very thick smoothie, like a shake.

This makes a lot of smoothie!  It’s enough for Scott and I each to have a big glass plus extra for Scott to have some more.  Both of us love it!

Everyday smoothies start off with the same liquid combos, just replace soymilk with water and change up the frozen fruit from time-to-time.  Smoothies never get old to us!

Enjoy guys!

P.S. Stop thinking about Wild Island!

At some point I think Whole Foods might have changed their recipe because I don’t care for their version anymore.  Something about it just tastes off and I can’t quite put my finger on it.  I never really thought about soda bread again after that until I came across Happy Herbivore’s recipe for Irish Soda Bread.

It was her recipe where I learned that one could curdle non-dairy milk with a little bit of acid, either lemon juice or apple-cider vinegar.  Did you know that?  I didn’t so I was excited to learn something new!

Why curdle non-dairy milk? Because traditional soda bread calls for buttermilk but if you are looking to keep things vegan you need an alternative.  I remembered from my smoothie making that cranberry juice will also cause soymilk to curdle, although you need equal parts of cranberry juice and soymilk.  I decided to run with that concept and make my own version of Irish Soda Bread.

Andrea’s Cranberry Irish Soda Bread

• 3C Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
• 1C Unbleached All Purpose Flour
• 1C Unsweetened Cranberry Juice
• 1C Soymilk
• 1 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
• 1C Dried Cranberries
• 2TBSP Organic Cane Sugar

Preheat oven to 350.  In a small mixing bowl, combine cranberry juice and soymilk, set aside for about five minutes.  The soymilk will start to curdle and separate.  In a large mixing bowl, combine all the other ingredients and whisk together.    Slowly add in the liquid mixture and stilr until everything is combined.  The dough will be sticky but will come together to form a heavy dough.  If needed, a splash more soymilk will help the dough form if there is still some flour not incorporated.

Sprinkle flour on a flat surface and kneed the dough for about a minute.  Dough will still be sticky.  Form into a large round loaf and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  You can make a large X across the top of the dough with a knife to create the look of four sections.

Bake for about 40 minutes (could be longer) or until the bread has set.  A toothpick should come out clean.  Allow to cool before slicing.

I expected the bread to be tasty but didn’t quite expect it to be amazing, which it is.  Both of us love this bread!  It has just the right amount of sweetness to it that makes you want to keep eating and eating.  I used cranberries because I like them over raisins in baked goods.  Plus they have a great color which leads well to presentation.  Raisins don’t have a lot going for them in the aesthetic department.

The Irish Soda Bread that I’ve had before had been really dry.  This bread is not.  It is not a super moist bread like a quick bread but it is not dry like a biscuit.  It holds together well and has a nice soft chewy bite to it.

It’s great at room temperature and also slightly toasted.  Goes well with coffee and a nice accompaniment with yogurt and granola.  I sliced mine up and froze the slices for easy access when the mood strikes.

Now that I have the method of curdling soymilk under my belt, who knows what else is in store!

Have fun guys, and remember, always play with your food!  Enjoy!

I know it sounds really odd; the first time I was presented with it I thought the same thing.  I was visiting my mom several years ago and she made a salad with mandarin oranges and red onion.  I was nervous to eat it.  Fruit and onions?  I dunno.

After one bite I was hooked!  The citrus really mellows out the bite of the onion and brings out its sweetness instead.  It tastes fresh and new, like a summer morning after a thunderstorm.  Or like a winter morning after a heavy snow storm.

Which currently, central Ohio knows all too much what that’s like.

Because it’s winter and citrus is in season, I used two “orange” flavors.  Clementines and oranges.  Clems for inside the salad, fresh squeezed orange juice for the dressing and marinade.

Andrea’s Winter Citrus Salad with Creamy Dijon Dressing

For the salad:

• Mixed greens
• Crushed pecans and walnuts
• Cranberries
• 2 Clementines
• Sliced red onion
• 1 orange

For the dressing:

• Juice of one orange
• Splash Red wine vinegar
• 1TBSP Olive oil
• 1TBSP Dijon dressing
• Salt and pepper

I didn’t give salad amounts because that’s up to you how much salad you want to create.  I just did some small side salads when I made this for us.

Peel and separate the clementines, place them in a small mixing bowl.  Add in some sliced red onion and the juice of one orange.  Mix and let sit for at least a half an hour.  The longer the better!  Stir occasionally so that everything gets covered and has a chance to soak in the orange juice.

When ready to eat, assemble the salads and scoop out the clementines and red onions adding them to the salad mixture. Leaving the juice behind in the mixing bowl.  To the mixing bowl add in the ingredients for the dressing (the juice of one orange is already in there).  Stir and taste. You will only need a few small splashes of the red wine vinegar just to give it some kick and tartness.  Once the dressing is made, pour evenly over salads and eat!

This salad did exactly what I hoped, it cut through the heaviness of the potatoes and bison while providing a nice fresh background.  The clementines were juicy and sweet while the red onions and dijon dressing gave a kick to let you know it was also savory.

Scott liked the dressing so much that he asked for it again when we had salads the next day for lunch.

In the winter I sometimes think we can forget that we still have access to some great fruit that is in season!  The summer fruits are wonderful but when the cold is creeping in and you need something with a little bit of sunshine, citrus will come through for you every time.

Have fun guys, and remember always play with your food!  Enjoy!

I also always purchased granola because for some reason I had it in my head that it was hard to make.  Eventually I started realizing how much money I was spending on granola because granola is flipping expensive!  I also became aware of how much sugar was in the granola.  I’m not a big sugar person anyway and when I realized just how much sugar is in manufactured granola, I sort of silently freaked out. I personally don’t want or need that much sugar in my life.

It was at this point that I started making my own granola.  It was a rocky start that resulted in plenty of burnt batches.  Lesson learned, granola is a project of love. Slow, easy, and steady will get you the results you want.  Aggression and haste will just leave you frustrated and unsatisfied.  None of us want that!

Andrea’s Homemade Granola

• 4C Old Fashioned Oats
• 2TBSP Light Olive oil
• 1/4C Maple Syrup
• 3tsp of ground cinnamon
• Fresh grated nutmeg, to taste (I do about 1/2 tsp)
• 1C each crushed raw pecans and raw walnuts
• 1/2C Unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1C dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 300 degrees.  In a large mixing bowl combine, oats, nuts, cinnamon, nutmeg, oil and maple syrup.  It takes about 3 minutes of stirring for everything to combine.  Allow to sit for 10 minutes.

On a large cookie sheet, line with foil and spray with nonstick spray (or use a mister with oil of your choice).  Dump oat mixture onto the cookie sheet and spread out.  Place in the oven and stir the mixture about every 10 minutes.  Bake the oat mixture for about 25-30 minutes.  The last five minutes of baking, mix in the coconut.

When the granola is browned and crispy remove from oven and allow to cool.  About 15 minutes.  When the granola is cooled, mix in the cranberries.  Store the granola in an airtight container.  Mixture keeps for ages so no worries about it turning on you.

Once I started making my own granola, I have turned into a huge granola snob.  Either I don’t care for the taste of other granolas or the ingredient list isn’t something that appeals to me.  Recently I came across some granola that had powdered milk as an ingredient.  Wha the what?  Why in the world is there powdered milk in granola?

So yeah, I’m totally picky now.

This is a loose granola.  This granola will not provide you with big cluster pieces.  In order to get that kind of granola, a lot of oil and liquid sugars are needed and that’s not something I’m down with.  If that’s what you like, feel free to up the oil and maple syrup amounts and see what happens.

This granola is awesome with yogurt, sprinkled on top of oatmeal, or even salads.  In fact I’m currently out and need to make more!  I suppose I should get moving.  The smell of baking granola is amazing and instantly makes the house that much cozier.

All I ever did with watermelon was chop it up and eat it straight.  I know some like to sprinkle it with a little bit of salt but that sort of ruined the sweetness for me.  All I wanted was a perfect piece of watermelon.

The first time I had watermelon salsa was a recent dinner outing with my husband.  I was totally skeptical about the taste.  I thought it would be weird, especially since I like my watermelon left alone.  But I gave it a try and fell in love immediately. In my head I was already starting to think of ways that I could recreate this at home.  The next time we went grocery shopping, I bought a huge watermelon and the first thing I did was make salsa with it.

Andrea’s Watermelon Salsa

• 2C Finely chopped watermelon (slightly smaller than bite size)
• 1/2 a jalapeno seeded and finely chopped
• 2TBSP of red onion finely chopped
• 1TBSP of cilantro finely chopped
• The juice of 1/2 a lime
• Small pinch of kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and let sit for about 5 minutes before serving.

I understand if you’re concerned with the complexity of this recipe but I urge you to still give it a try.

Both my husband and I loved this salsa! It was refreshing from the watermelon, yet the jalapeno and red onion gave it a little bit of depth and savoriness.  Not too much, and it wasn’t overpowering, which was exactly what I was looking for.  I wanted the watermelon to shine, not be hidden behind stronger flavored ingredients.

This recipe does not make a huge batch. My husband and I were able to finish it off in one sitting.  Obviously you’ll have to play around and up the ingredients if making this for a party. Even if you aren’t making this for a party I still urge you to make a huge batch because it’s that damn good.  We ate it with chips and we also ate it straight up as a side dish to dinner.  My husband adored this dish and kept raving about it.

If you like watermelon and are looking for different things you can do with it, give this recipe a try.

Have fun guys and remember, always play with your food! Enjoy!

I was intrigued when I saw Angela of Oh She Glows start making her green monsters. Kale in a smoothie? Um, what?

Now I love me some kale, but it can be a bit bitter so I was a little concerned. But she loved them and I decided to give it a try, and you know what? You can’t taste the kale at all. Amazing! My smoothies are different than the typical green monsters because I want fruit and veggies in my smoothies.

That means that my smoothies typically aren’t green.  And I prefer to use juices and water as a base instead of almond or soymilk.  The milks tend to make the smoothies thicker which isn’t something I’m looking for because I don’t use smoothies as a meal or as a meal replacement.  They are an accompaniment to my lunches.   I also add in lots of frozen fruit because why not? Frozen fruit also helps keep the smoothies cool and give it a sort of frozen drink texture.

A typical smoothie for me usually has:

• Unsweetened cranberry juice
• Sometimes OJ or POM juice
• Water
• Kale or sometimes spinach
• Carrot

And a possible combo of fruit usually from this list:

• Frozen pineapple
• Frozen peaches
• Frozen mango
• Frozen blueberries

All those ingredients go in a blender and I blend away.  I make enough smoothie for both Scott and I to have a big glass with some remaining so Scott can have more because he loves them so much.

The goal for my smoothies is to help me get in more fruits and veggies during the day in a different and tasty way.  I love greens and feel they are important in our diets (help provide fiber, vitamins and minerals, and iron) and smoothies help me get a daily dose of greens.

At first I was concerned with the smoothie calorie content. Now I don’t count calories but smoothies were an addition to my lunch and I was concerned that it would put me over what my body needed.  But I loved them and felt great for drinking them! So I kept making them. They are the perfect addition to lunch. I’m getting fresh whole foods that help fill me up and keep me full for the rest of the day.

I realized that these did not affect my diet or calorie intake in a negative way at all.  In fact, I think smoothies improved my diet and the way my body feels.

I now feel sort of off balance when I don’t get a smoothie and my body doesn’t feel like it is running it’s best.  Remember those old V8 commercials with the people walking around leaning to one side because they didn’t get their V8 that day? That’s exactly how I feel if I don’t get a smoothie.  A day without a smoothie, while I don’t like it, I can manage. More than that and I get cranky and my body doesn’t respond well.

When I don’t get in enough fruits and veggies (my body demands a lot of fresh produce) I get bloated and feel yucky. When I get plenty of fruits and veggies, my body runs much smoother and there is no bloat to be found! My skin also looks and feels a ton better. My hair is even more shiny!

My point is that smoothies work for me and I’m so glad that I stumbled on the concept behind them. If you haven’t tried a smoothie, give it a go! I promise that you can’t taste the veggies if that is holding you back.  And smoothies are a blank canvas, you can build whatever kind you like!

The times when I needed an extra boost out of my smoothies, I’ve added Greek yogurt, soymilk, and even raw oats! Yup! And it worked out and tasted great.

Since I’ve been working on my heat tolerance level, I decided to try something new with the salmon by creating a sweet and spicy glaze.  Glazes aren’t something I really work with too much and I thought it was about time I changed that up.  I pulled out some chipotles and put together this really great tasting glaze.

Andrea’s Chipotle Glaze

• 1 chipotle in adobo sauce
• 1/2 TBSP of the adobo sauce
• 1TBSP honey
• 1 garlic clove
• 1/2TBSP soy sauce
• 2tsp grill seasoning (salt free!)
• 1/2tsp smoked paparika
• 1/2tsp garlic powder
• 1tsp olive oil
• 1tsp of lime juice
• Pinch sea salt

Put all ingredients in a mini-food processor and pulse until a nice thick sauce is formed.

Simple right?  And this glaze could be used on anything from tofu to chicken. I used it on salmon steaks and here’s what I did:

Andrea’s Chipotle Glazed Salmon

• 2 salmon steaks
• Chipotle glaze

Preheat oven to 400.  Line a cookie sheet with nonstick foil and place the salmon on top.  Brush the salmon with some of the glaze reserving about 1/3.  Allow the salmon to cook for a few minutes and then add the rest of the glaze.  Finish cooking the salmon, about 7-9 minutes total cook time. Allow to rest for a minute and serve!

The glaze worked exactly how I was expecting it too and it was so tasty!  I was a bit worried if it would be too spicy for me and it was not at all.  It was spicy and sweet, the prefect balance.  Completely full of flavor and made one of the best salmon dishes we’ve had yet.  The smokiness of the adobo sauce provided a nice background while the honey helped the glaze stick and provide nice carmelization as the salmon baked.

I wasn’t done with it though.  I wanted to know how this was going to work with something grilled.  An even bigger test.  I still wanted to work with seafood and decided to try this out on some shrimp, but how? I finally decided to make some shrimp and pineapple skewers.

Because I wasn’t brushing this on but using it as a quick marinade and coating, I needed to bump up the glaze amount a bit.  Here’s what I did:

Andrea’s Chipotle Glaze for marinading

• 2 cloves of garlic
• 3 chipotle peppers
• 1TBSP sauce (plus a pinch more)
• 1.5TBSP soy sauce
• 1TBSP honey
• 1.5 tsp olive oil
• 1tsp garlic powder
• 1tsp smoked paprika
• 2tsp grill seasoning
• Pinch seasalt

Add all ingredients to a mini food processor and pulse until you get a sauce mixture.  By upping some of the ingredients, you get a little bit more of a sauce which makes it more appropriate for a marinade.  Seafood you only want to sit in the marinade for a few minutes. Things like pork, chicken, and steak can handle it for a bit longer.

Now I made shrimp and pineapple skewers with this and grilled.  Here’s what I did:

Andrea’s Chipotle Glazed Grilled Shrimp and Pineapple Skewers

• This makes 4 shrimp and pineapple skewers
• 1C pineapple chunks
• 1/2-1 lb of EZpeel shrimp
• Chipotle marinade

If you’re using bamboo or wooden skewers, soak them for about 15 minutes in water first.  Then rub them with a little bit of olive oil. This helps prevent food from sticking to them and from burning on the grill.  In a medium sized bowl, combine all the ingredients.  Allow to sit for about 5 minutes.  Then assemble the skewers alternating pineapple and shrimp and plate.  Pour the remaining sauce over the skewers and squeeze a little lime juice over top. Place skewers on a hot grill.  Cook about 2 minutes on each side.  You’ll notice the shrimp turning pink and that means they are cooked and done on that side.  Shrimp do not take long to cook at all, be careful not to overcook them. When cooked, remove from grill and allow to rest for a minute, then serve!

These were perfect!  Slightly spicy with a sweet finish from the honey and the pineapple.  Grilled pineapple is such a surprisingly tasty experience.  The smokiness from the grill and the sweetness from the fruit make for a great flavor combination.  The shrimp were juicy and flavorful.

In the glaze, I used seasalt but if you don’t have any, kosher will work fine.  Just a very small pinch because there is plenty of salt action from the soy sauce.

You’ll also notice that for the skewers, I added the lime juice last. When working with seafood, the citric acid will start to “cook” the seafood which can result in a mushy texture after you actually cook it with heat.  Save the lime for right before cooking.  If you’re working with something other than seafood, you can add the lime juice before cooking.

There you go guys!  Two great applications for my Chipotle Glaze!

Enjoy guys!  And remember, always play with your food!