Recipe for Green Goddess Asparagus

This is a versatile, easy recipe my brother and I put together for a picnic this summer.  I've done something similar with green beans too, but I think I slightly prefer the asparagus.  The secret to keeping the veggies nice and green is to sprinkle about a TBSP of baking soda in the water while cooking.  Cook just a few minutes until still slightly crispy and then quickly shock in an iced water bath to stop the cooking.  Marinate in dressing, add some seasonings (if needed) and chopped tomatoes and enjoy!

Recipe for Raspberry Lemon Bars

Here’s a "special treat" recipe I developed for a contest (sponsored by Earth Balance but I wasn't paid or given product to participate or blog about it).  It was a bake off and we had to bake some type of brownie or bar.  I thought about submitting my Double Chocolate Zucchini Brownies but wanted to try something new.  The recipe didn't win the contest (but my pie won in the pie section!)

Recipe for Curried Rice Salad

One of the great things about living on Maui (there are so many!) is the opportunity to eat “al fresco” almost all year round.  Get togethers often include a picnic at the beach or at someone’s pool.  Community pot-lucks can be held at an outdoor pavilion.  This rice dish is one that I made for our community holiday party which we held at this beautiful setting.

I know many of you are bundled up right now in the middle of winter, not eating outside!  But I’m guessing you are still going to school or church potluck dinners or getting together with friends to watch sports or play cards.  This is a great dish for any of those activities too!

I got the inspiration for this dish from a neighbor who makes this with rotisserie chicken which is a great main course.  I’ve also made it with almonds instead of peanuts and with left over pork roast chopped and thrown in.  For added crunch, sometimes I’ll add in chopped red bell peppers.  I love versatile recipes like this!  The flavors actually get better and better with time, so make it ahead and let everything get happy together.  And enjoy the leftovers (if there are any).

Recipe for Santa Maria Tri-Tip Roast

We recently went to a barbeque and had a delicious tri-tip roast off the grill.  I asked my friend for the recipe and was told it was “Santa Maria”.  Almost everyone else seemed familiar with this but it was new to me.  I got my friend's recipe and also looked on the web and sure enough, tons of recipes.  I guess Santa Maria California is known for tri-tip, go figure!

I tripled my friend’s recipe and used Italian seasoning where hers called for dried parsley.  I also used smoked paprika instead of plain because I love the smoky taste.   The result was quite good although for some reason, much more peppery than hers.  Everyone I served it to at a sunset picnic liked it but next time I’ll dial the pepper back just a tad.  Although, the next day I made a gyro with some of the leftovers and cucumber raita sauce.   The cool cucumber sauce toned down the pepper perfectly!

If you aren't grilling this time of year where you are, I would give this a try in the oven or even maybe the crockpot.  The texture would be different in the crockpot, and you'd might need a bit of moisture for cooking but the flavors are worth the try-let me know how it turns out.

Recipe for Sunset Potato Salad

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

I hope you are having (or had) a great Thanksgiving.

When my kids (adult) were here from GA visiting us recently, we wanted to do a sunset picnic with them and some of our friends.  The sunsets here are amazing as you can imagine.  Heck, don’t imagine, here is a picture from that night! 

I wanted to do some tasty and easy sides that would hold up in the Maui weather.  Even though it is winter, the temps at sunset are still in the low 80’s.  My kids have hearty appetites so a potato salad was a good, filling option.  I concocted this recipe to avoid worrying about mayonnaise going bad.  Boy did it turn out flavorful!  It is also low calorie and low fat (assuming you eat a regular portion size!)

You could play around with the heat level if you wanted to but I loved the mild flavor of the chiles and the tang of the lime just as it turned out.  This makes a huge amount so you can definitely cut the quantities down if you're not feeding a crowd.