STRAWBERRY JALAPENO SPINACH SALAD with a very special dressing too!

We can’t always explain why we are the way that we are.  We can’t usually find reasons to explain our behavior…. Some  days are good, some are not as good and some are just not good.  It happens.  Well, at least it does to me.  When I get like that it’s no ones problem but my own so I have to find a soloution.  To the kitchen we go….

Something new, summery, and delicious, found it’s way into my menu tonight.  For years I’ve enjoyed my Mommy’s awesome Spinach Salad.  I’ve made it many times and I’ve blogged it here before.  I needed some fresh basil and feta for another dish so I was racing to the grocery store for probably my 3rd trip this week (my organization skills blow chunks)  I walk in and all the fruit was glorious AND….. on sale!  Strawberries were calling my name as were the glorious BC cherries.  KIWIS!! oh and 3 bananas and seriously, these are the largest grapes I’ve seen in my life!!  How lucky to live in such a great place with so much healthy crisp produce. Woooo Hooooo.  Who wants to come visit me??  I’ll feed you!

juicy giant grapes. I am not a lion!!! Big right!

With a cart full of fruit and the rest of the stuff I needed, homeward bound.  I’ve always wanted to add strawberries to a spinach salad but never had the push to do it.  Well its go time now and I’m super excited.  Then the flavour profile I’ve been desiring came to me!  Oh but wait.  I don’t have what I need and I just got back!!!  In a grocery store, I am easily distracted.  Always sure to forget something or things, so I make lists… and even then I fail.  I’m not going back…. so after begging Hubby to go once, twice, 4 or 5 times.. pouted around for a bit…. he put down his tools and ran to the market to get me some Jalapenos.

K so maybe you know your peppers, and you’ve looked at the pics from this post and you know those are not jalapenos in my photos.  Well the little market up the street didn’t have good looking jalapenos…. they were old and wrinkled and worthy mind you but for photos… nope.    Serranos are a great sub for jalapenos but 3 times hotter FYI….

Serrano Chili Peppers are the thinner of the 2, where as a Jalapeno Pepper is the girthy one. *wink wink*

Ladies, I mean chefs…. pick your preference… haha

Photo from http://www.direct-arts.com

The idea in my head comes to life and I’m very pleased with how it turned out.  Photos by me, House Of Haley Photography

Here is my Strawberry Jalapeno Spinach Salad with a very special dressing.  Strawberry Jalapeno Balsamic Red Wine Vinegar Dressing.  Try saying that after a few glass of wine… or bottles for some of you.  Hey, I don’t judge, you do you, its cool!

I’m pretty sure I could have come up with a much more simple name but when I’m looking for a recipe or when i’m wanting to make something it frustrates me having to read through a recipe to try and figure out the flavour profile from it.  The title says it all!

And here is the dressing.  Almost as cute as Strawberry Shortcake LOL.   Seriously made him go to the store for the pepper for this shot.  Let me add in another “LOL”  OMG i’m howling, I’m sorry if that’s not as funny to any of you as it is to me!  Thanks Hubs
STRAWBERRY JALAPENO BALSAMIC RED WINE VINEGAR DRESSING

♥ 2 CLOVES GARLIC
♥ 1 C. RED WINE VINEGAR
♥ 2 T. JALAPENO WHITE BALSAMIC VINEGAR
♥ ½ C. OLIVE OIL
♥ 1 TSP. SALT
♥ 1 TSP. SUGAR
♥ 1 TSP. GRAINY MUSTARD
♥ ½ TSP. GROUND BLACK PEPPER
♥ 1 WHOLE STRAWBERRY

Combine and blend/pulse for just a few seconds till the garlic is no longer whole and vinegars and oil have blended. DO NOT OVER DO IT. Trust me….. Just for a few seconds.

The Jalapeno White Balsamic Vinegar was a Christmas gift from Sister In-Law and it’s a great addition to many meals.  I use it mostly when I do any type of roasted potatoes.  With the right seasonings, its a great way to brighten up the flavours.

I certainly don’t expect you to have this Jalapeno White Balsamic Vinegar, nor do I expect you to go out and buy some.  Althought, it’s totally recommended for your pantry fo sho!  This one is from Evoolution out of Edmonton, Alberta, CA.

Let’s get to it shall we!

Words can’t explain what it’s like to cook upstairs…. renos are coming along… thats all i can say.   So cool!  Look at the way that natural daylight casts across all that divine good-for-you food up there.  haha  It’s the simple things in life.

I’m a hardcore #clasher Clash of Clans junkie… game always on… always creepin.  LOL

Again I’m using my new immersion hand blender and the mixing vessel it came with to make this.  You can use a blender but you’ll end up with most of it on the sides.  Use a battery operated whisk or just chop up the strawberry and garlic before you make the dressing, put it all in a jar and shake the crap out of it.

I peeled 2 cloves of fresh garlic.  Its hard for me to use such a little amount, but 2 cloves is just right.

Add in the vinegar’s and then the oil.  If you find after it’s all done that it’s too thick… add in some more vinegar and whisk it up.  If you over blend this you’ll end up with a strawberry like mayonnaise.

Next add in the S+P, sugar and mustard.  The mustard is crucial to the flavour of this dressing.  I’ve used mustard powder before but I find French’s Bold & Spicy Deli Mustard to be the perfect one.  I’m actually addicted to this mustard.  So so so good I could eat it with a spoon.

Now blend.  I’m going to be straight up honest here… I bombed this the first time, hence my warnings…. DO NOT OVER BLEND hahaha.  Pulse a few times, The strawberry is obviously going to thicken it up quite a bit.  I’ve increased the amounts of vinegar to hopefully compensate.  This is why I say recipe blogging is tricky.  So as always, make it your own.  Do what you feel is right and adjust to your liking.  We are all different.

STRAWBERRY JALAPENO SPINACH SALAD

♥ 1 BAG BABY SPINACH, FRESH AND WASHED
♥ HARD BOILED EGGS, COOLED AND SLICED (1 PER PERSON)
♥ MUSHROOMS, FRESH AND SLICED
♥ STRAWBERRIES, SLICED AND SLICED
♥ BACON, COOKED AND CRUMBLED
♥ 2 T. GREEN ONIONS, FINELY CHOPPED
♥ 2 TSP. JALAPENO OR SERRANO PEPPER, FRESH AND DICED

Make this salad up just before you’re ready to eat. Plate it per person rather than in a large salad bowl. I find that the ingredients are at such different weights that you don’t get a proper serving. Person 1 will get all spinach and egg, while the last person gets all the bacon onion and pepper. LOL Just my opinion.

This is where you get to do your fancy…. BE FANCY Plate it up per person, make it pretty, show you care. Then you can give yourself those extra slices of strawberries and bacon. Haha shhhhhhhh….

Use about a handful of spinach leaves per person. Layer in individual salad bowls or plates and drizzle with a little of our Strawberry Jalapeno Dressing from up above.

It was delicious to eat.  Looks pretty cool too.  Each bite held a yummy little mouthful.

♥♥ Thanks for visiting, if you liked this blog please click LIKE below. If you want to follow my blog please scroll to the bottom, click the FOLLOW button and enter in your email address.
Love Haleykins♥♥

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Blackened Seasoning

Hi guys, I posted some pics of the Blackened Salmon and Blackened Fish Tacos to my Cooking With Hay Facebook page, and the requests came in for the recipe. As well as the request for me as your personal chef. Thank you for that! It actually is much easier to make the food than to blog the recipe… just in case you were curious. LOL so much time spent running a photoshoot and a kitchen at the same time. I love it tho and anxious to spend more time doing it. The balance between stoning the front of the fireplace and installing bathroom sinks… or blogging…. its a tough one….

I’m quite pleased with the photos from recent photoshoots. I’m working partially upstairs while I can get the good natural daylight and partially still down in the dungeon, errr, I mean, basement. Natural daylight makes for much more appetizing food pics. Less shadows and more true to life colouring of these meals. After all, we taste with our eyes and our noses before the food even hits our tongue or tummies.

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I’ve laid out all the ingredients that I used to make the Blackened Seasoning, on this fancy bamboo KitchenAid cutting board that Hubby came home with for me! *SMILES* This is the seasoning for the Blackened Salmon Tacos and Blackened Fish Tacos that I’ve been mentioning. (Blog posts to follow guys!)

I pulled this from a website a while back, I haven’t altered anything except that I use whole wheat flour instead of white flour. It actually just adds to the crispy factor we’re going for here! Yummy

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Don’t confuse T (tablespoon) for TSP (teaspoon)!!

Oh come on, like you haven’t done that before.

The original image said 2 T. Chili Powder… LOL its got to be 2 TSP. Teaspoons
I made the same error when I first made Butter Chicken. That was a hot hot hot meal. Great tho. Just a real kicker that’s for sure.

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BLACKENED SEASONING

♥ 2 T. FLOUR (I use whole wheat)
♥ 2 TSP. CHILI POWDER
♥ 1 TSP. PAPRIKA
♥ 1 TSP. BROWN SUGAR
♥ ½ TSP. ONION POWDER
♥ ½ TSP. GRANULATED GARLIC
♥ ½ TSP. CUMIN
♥ ½ TSP. CAYENNE
♥ ½ TSP. SALT
♥ ½ TSP. PEPPER

Mix together well. Store in an air tight container.

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↓ This made enough to do a big slab of salmon or 4 large cod fillets. If you’re doing more you may want to double this recipe. Or to save you some prep time on the next go around, make up a big batch now.

↑ I made one batch of this seasoning and mixed it in this shallow plastic container. All ready to go so I can just lay the piece of fish or meat or whatever it is that you’re going to use, onto the seasoning.

This works great for everything, even prawns and scallops. Try it out and I hope you like it.  I’ve made it 3 times this July.  Cuz it’s that good.  LOL yum!

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Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

Blog Post with recipe and pics COMING SOON!

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Love Haleykins❤️

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CHIPOTLE CILANTRO DRESSING or dip

Hi Guys, How is summer???  EEEEEK I’m super excited.  As many of you know my house is still under reno’s and just recently got my new Caesarstone counter-tops installed.  I’m ecstatic!  They are flawless and beautiful and exactly what i’ve wanted for oh so long now.  Now my foodblog pics have a higher quality look to them.  I’m so pleased.  Time to fine tune my Canon Rebel T3i camera and get to work!

Last week I made some Blackened Salmon Tacos.  There are no words for this easy recipe and there was also no room…. no room to eat as much as I could have, that’s for sure!  Wow, great way to enjoy some tender flaky juicy fish this summer. The recipe for the Blackening Seasoning will be my next blog post.  This is the dressing that I always make and it was great on the fish tacos.

Hope you like!

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CHIPOTLE CILANTRO DRESSING OR DIP

♥ 1½ C FAT FREE SOUR CREAM
♥ 1 T LIGHT MAYO
♥ 1 T MILK
♥ 1 T CHIPOTLE PUREE
♥ 1 TSP CUMIN
♥ ½ TSP CRUSHED BEE POLLEN
♥ HANDFUL FRESH CILANTRO
♥ JUICE OF ONE LIME

Blend together using an Immersion/Hand Blender or a Food Processor.
Chill in the fridge until its time to serve.

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↑ I love me some chipotle! I buy chipotle peppers in small cans in adobo sauce and puree them with a hand blender or food processor. Chipotles pack a punch let me tell ya. The heat from these peppers is potent and smoky and is great for everything.

**If you don’t do heat. Use a very small amount, like 1-2 teaspoons of pureed chipotle for this recipe instead of the requested amount.**

↑ If you don’t have canned chipotles in adobo sauce then you can certainly use a dry powder version, there are many out there. I have these 2 in my pantry. Remember that the longer the dressing sets for the more the flavour is enhanced, and therefore making it much much much hotter the longer it sits.

↑ My Immersion Blender came with this cool mixing vessel. What I love about this machine compared to a hand mixer or hand beater is that it will stand up inside the vessel and not topple over. Flat bottom makes it easy to leave it standing and use both hands to if you need to pause to get an ingredient or whatever. Anything to help keep the counters less messy.

↑ Bee Pollen is one of Mother Natures little goodies. I add a little to every salad dressing I make. You can add it to anything though; soups, sauces, whatever you like. The flavour is like a flower. Its got a floral taste when it hits your tongue. It comes in the natural foods section of your grocery store and looks like little gold nuggets. I grind them down with a mortar and pestle. I have a small one that I use for spices and such. Another inexpensive way to make your kitchen/cooking life a little easier.

Here’s some info on Bee Pollen I picked up from http://www.mercola.com

What Is Pollen?
Pollen is the male seed of flowers. It is required for the fertilization of the plant. The tiny particles consist of 50/1,000-millimeter corpuscles, formed at the free end of the stamen in the heart of the blossom. Every variety of flower in the universe puts forth a dusting of pollen. Many orchard fruits and agricultural food crops do, too.

Bee pollen is the food of the young bee and it is approximately 40% protein. It is considered one of nature’s most completely nourishing foods. It contains nearly all nutrients required by humans. About half of its protein is in the form of free amino acids that are ready to be used directly by the body. Such highly assimilable protein can contribute significantly to one’s protein needs.

To view the full article, please click here.

↑ Place all the ingredients into the mixing vessel and blend away. Lift the machine up and down to get it good and blended. Oh so easy I want to blend everything in sight.

↑ ❤ Immersion Hand Blender! ❤ NEW TOY! LOL ❤

↑ COMING UP NEXT → Blackened Fish Tacos, using this dressing!
Stay Tuned and if you’d like…. FOLLOW MY BLOG

❤️ Thanks for visiting, if you liked this blog please click LIKE below. If you want to follow my blog please scroll to the bottom, click the FOLLOW button and enter in your email address.
Love Haleykins❤️

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Bellies To Babies Celebration ~ Fall Tradeshow for Mommies!

Gather up your mommy-to-be friends, grab a Canterbury Coffee and head on down to the Croatian Cultural Centre in Vancouver. Mark your calendars for Sunday October 6th, as the Babies To Bellies Celebration Tradeshow is coming this fall!! Here are some screenshots from their website. The link to their site is above.

Best of all, Justin Jones of Knowledge First Financial will be there! Talk to him to find out how you can start saving for your child’s education and how to get started on receiving the free government grant money.

Find him at booth #30


Contact me for more information about an RESP

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Love Haleykins

PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

I wanted to make something easy tonight so I threw a pork roast in the slow cooker with some seasonings and such and voila…. dinner was served.  I put these ingredients together because I dislike BBQ sauce and hubby isn’t too fond of it either.   Worked out pretty perfect for me and any leftovers make for great lunch sandwiches cold too.

PULLED PORK SANDWICHES

5-6 hours in slow cooker on high

Ingredients:

Pork Butt Roast or Pork Roast

Salt & Pepper

Garlic

Chili Powder

Cumin

Crushed Red Pepper Flakes

2 cups Chicken Broth (low sodium)

1 cup Water

Dash of Worchester Sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. Season roast with Salt & Pepper, Garlic, chili powder, cumin, crushed red pepper flakes
2. Place seasoned roast in a ziplock bag and marinate overnight or for approx. 6 hours.
3. place marinated roast in slow cooker.
4. Add chicken broth, water and Worchester and cover with lid
5. Cook in Slow Cooker for about 6 hours on High
6. When roast is fully cooked and almost falling apart, remove from slow cooker place in a bowl to catch any juices, let cool and begin to pull the pork apart with your hands.
7. Place pulled pork in shallow oven safe dish with lid
8. The liquid left in slow cooker can be added to a pan and heated till most of the water evaporates and a nice dark rich glaze has formed.
9. Pour glaze over pulled pork.

Serve on toasted kaiser buns with garlic butter and mayo

GETTING THROUGH THE DAY…

How do you get through your craptastic days?  We all have our own little things we do I’m sure.  But one thing that has helped me get through work days or rainy days or not the best days in general has been a webcam that is right on the beach in Playa Del Carmen Mexico…. so for those of you that love the Mayan Riviera and love a tropical view…. please ensure you have the most recent flash player available…. you can click here to get it.

To see the webcam which is on Playa Palms property… my favorite little boutique hotel in Playa Del Carmen, please follow this link below

http://www.playa.info/webcam-playa-palms.html

Oh and enjoy the view!  Please let me know what you think of the webcam.

It’s almost here…. set your PVR’s

Bored one night Hubby and I scrolled through the lame movies channels on our TV for something to watch.   We came across Shark Night…. what a waste of time… It’s a movie about 7 college students who head over to one of the girl’s family vacation home on a private lake.  One by one they begin to be attacked by sharks… when they think they have found help…. their help turns out to be a bunch of sick men who have put the sharks in the lake and attached cameras to them…. then they take people out on a boat and lure the sharks…. Obviously it’s bloody and cheesy and lame but they do it because of……. SHARK WEEK!  The sick and twisted fellas feel that so many people tuned in to watch Shark Week and left many viewers wanting to see the real juicy murderous shark videos…. so   they    make    them !!!

Bah…. terrible show.  I don’t care if I ruined the movie for you it’s crap….. but it got me freaked for SHARK WEEK and it starts in just a few days.  🙂

SHARK WEEK 2012

Begins August 12th on the Discovery Channel….

“So let’s do it like they do on the Discovery Channel”

Shark Week for those that don’t know, as per Wikipedia, is a week-long series of feature television programs dedicated to sharks. Shark Week is held annually, normally running in July or August. Shark Week was developed to help the average person have a greater respect for sharks. Shark Week is now broadcast in over 72 countries.

This year is the 25th anniversary of Shark Week.  It’s first year was in 1988.

I’m not the only one excited for Shark Week… (I’m also terrified of it as well!)  Check out some of the cool “Sharkie” stuff I found on the web…

To honor the upcoming 25th anniversary, The Discovery Communications headquarters in Silver Spring, MD has added giant
inflatable shark to it’s building. The giant shark, named Chompie, is 446 feet long from his nose.. er.. snout… whatever it is… to his tailfin. It took 6.65 miles of fabric to make.

And if you’re having a shark week party!  Perhaps you might want to make these little cuties…

5 Year Wedding Anniversary in Las Vegas

This year we celebrated our 5 Year Wedding Anniversary in style and this is how it started….

We were cuddling watching TV one night about a week before our 5 year wedding anniversary when he got up and came right back with the envelope…. “To my Wife”

I thought, “how sweet”  but he’s so early… did he get the day wrong?

“Open it” he says and so I do.

the inside was filled, top to bottom, side to side with the nicest words in the world.  I cried.  It also had a little note in it that said to “pack a bag because we are headed somewhere very hot next weekend.  The initials are PH.  It took me a few minutes to put it all together…. Planet Hollywood Resort in Las Vegas.  OMG excited doesn’t even begin to explain it!

Friday couldn’t come soon enough.  Our flight was to leave at 10am friday morning and we completely overlooked traffic and were less than 1 minute away from missing the flight.  They actually didn’t know if we were going to make it on.  Thankfully…. we did!  And we will not push it that late ever again!!  I watched one plane take off for Vegas that I was supposed to be on once before and I’ll be damned if it was to happen again.

10am and we are on the plane…. drinks on the plane… Rum Rum Rum…. YUM YUM YUM

We were happy being in the first row…. we were the last to get on and the first to get off!  PERFECT.  The flight attendants thought we were on our honeymoon because we looked so in love.  So funny and so cute!

We’d been to Vegas before in October but never in the summer.  We were slightly nervous about how hot it was really going to be….  105, 106, 108, and 107 were the temps for the next 4 days!!  I couldn’t even begin to imagine what it was about to feel like….  LIKE A BLOODY HAIR DRYER BLOWING ON YOU FROM EVERY ANGLE.  HOT AS HELL.  But the best part…. no humidity…. which means… you guessed it… no hair frizz.  I was certainly pleased!  The heat was absolutely amazing and we will definitely be going back in the summer months again.  It did not bother us at all!  In fact we loved it.  Even at night it was hotter than any day in the Caribbean….. ahhh I’m actually cold sitting here back home…

We get to our room at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino…. and get upgraded twice to a Fountain View room and the view was spectacular!  Although the windows needed to be cleaned in a bad way…. we mentioned it upon checkout and were given a substantial refund!  Again… pleased!

 

To Be Continued…. tomorrow….

YUM! ~ Chicken Fajitas

Is it too soon for another recipe?  This one is really good tho so I just have to share.  It’s late… I’ve been downtown and back reading lusty love books… yes you know the ones… I’m sad to have finished such a wonderful love story but… that’s for another time.  Time to share.  Cuz it’s yum yum in my tum tum!

 

Chicken Fajitas

I’d say this makes 6 servings?  I use the big big big giant size flour tortillas tho…

 

4 chicken breasts cut in thin strips

1 green pepper cut in thin strips

1 red pepper cut in thin strips

1 orange pepper cut in thin strips

2 jalapeno peppers cut in thin strips

1 white onion sliced in half and then in thin slices, seperating the half rings

8 cherry tomatoes sliced in half lengthwise

 

now the rest… I eyeball and adjusts to taste.  Here is my approximate guess on the measurements

2 Tbsp cornstarch

pinch of sugar

2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp chipotle powder

2 tsp chili powder

1 tsp cumin

juice of 1/2 a lime

1/2 C of water

3 Tbsp oil

2 C  Pepper Jack/Monteray Jack Cheese

2 C cheddar cheese 

4 C cooked white rice

flour tortillas

 

 

Heat 1 Tbsp of oil in a frying pan

fry up the chicken till no longer pink. 

 

Once the chicken is cooked:

add in the onions

cover and fry for 2 minutes

add the peppers fry for 2 minutes

 

 

add the tomatoes fry for 2 minutes

 

 

add the juice of lime 

 

 

I find adding the lime juice to the chicken and veggies enhances all the flavors and gives it some bite.  Feel free to add more or omit completely.  Your call!

 

In a bowl mix the cornstarch, sugar, salt, chipotle powder, chili powder, & cumin, with the water and the remaining 2 Tbsps of oil.  Gently whisk together till fully blended

 

Cook on medium heat till the sauce thickens.

 

Heat tortillas in the oven.

 

in a line across the tortilla:

add a bit of the cheeses

then the rice

then the chicken and pepper mixture

 fold the sides in and then from the bottom up, wrap the toritilla around the filling. 

 

Heat a small amount of oil or spray oil in a pan and fry till brown and crispy on both sides.

 

serve with sour cream and salsa!

Enjoy!

 

I didn’t take a picture of the finished product cuz we were to hungry… I will take a picture tomorrow.

 

 

Anderson Silva on Chael Sonnen… “I’m going to break his face”

Anderson Silva on Chael Sonnen!

Finally someone gives Chael a taste of his smart mouth.  Love it!

“First of all, Chael is a criminal,” Silva (31-4 MMA, 14-0 UFC) said through translator and manager Ed Soares. “He’s been convicted of crimes. He doesn’t deserve to be inside the octagon. And when the time comes and the time is right, I’m going to break his face and break every one of his teeth in his mouth.”

“People who live in the past, and things that are in the past, are in museums,” Silva said about his past performance against Sonnen, which took place at UFC 117 and ended in a come-from-behind, fifth-round submission victory for the champ. “Right now, I’m focused on what’s going to happen in the next few weeks, and right now, playtime is over.

“I’m going to beat Chael like he’s never been beaten before. The joke is over. There’s no more talking. I know he’s on the line listening, and the game is over. I’m going to beat his ass out of the UFC. He’s never going to want to fight again after I’m done with him.”

I borrowed this from Detroit Free Press.