Vegetarian Chik'n Tikka Pizzas

I found the original recipe for this leafing through a Cooking Light magazine during our recent trip to my bf's parents' lake home in Minnesota. One of bf's favorite things to eat is pizza and mine is Indian food so it seemed like the perfect thing to satisfy both of our needs - and of course I took my own steps to reduce the calories in it. The result was an extremely happy boy and girl. This can be made vegetarian or not, take your pick!

Vegetarian Chik'n Tikka Pizzas

Serves: 2 hungry people

Ingredients

• 2 Joseph's multi-grain flatbread* or 4 whole wheat pitas
• 1 12 oz. package Quorn Chik'n Tenders [12 oz. diced chicken breast can also be used**]
• 1/4 cup fat free plain Greek yogurt
• 3 tsp garam masala***, divided
• Cooking spray
• 1 tsp finely minced fresh, peeled ginger
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 tsp ground red pepper
• 2 10-oz. cans Rotel diced tomatoes, drained
• 1/4 cup fat free sour cream
• 3/4 to 1 cup shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese [We also sprinkled crumbled gorgonzola cheese on top]
• 1/3 cup thinly sliced red onion
• 2 Tbsp roughly chopped fresh cilantro

Exotic Dragon Fruit Cocktail

On my last trip to the local farmer's market I was feeling adventurous and of course the pretty pink thing in the corner caught my eye -- the dragon fruit. The best thing to compare a dragon fruit in to in terms of taste and texture is a kiwi. It's sweet and filled with tiny black edible seeds.

A few things to know about dragon fruit: a. the pink skin is not edible and b. selecting a ripe fruit is much like selecting ripe kiwi: squeeze it lightly and it should give, but not too much and look for fruit that is brightly and evenly colored with yellow to yellow-green leaf tips and stems.

Exotic Dragon Fruit Cocktail

Serves: 2

Give In to the Asian Persuasion + Lotus Root Chips

I cook a lot of Asian dishes - they're easy to make vegetarian and the varieties and options are endless. And, as the "foodie" culture has grown, so has the availability of ethnic ingredients at your standard grocery store. If you're really into cooking authentic dishes however, you're going to reach a point where certain ingredients become hard to find. That's when you make your first trip to an Asian or other ethnic market.

Vinh an Oriental Market in North Miami Beach

In Miami there isn't a huge Asian population so you won't find as many markets as you would say, the West coast, where there seems to be one on every block. In fact only 1.5% of the population in Miami-Dade is Asian (compare that to Seattle with 13% of the population). Either way there are several great markets in the area.

Champagne and Strawberries & Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shots

Strawberry Margarita Jell-O Shots - a new Cinco de Mayo tradition

These are an absolute hit wherever you take them! In fact, I even took the champagne and strawberry shots to an event where the average age was 3x my own and they were the talk of the evening (I dragged the poor bf to this and he was wide eyed when we showed up, "you said they were older, but I didn't think you meant THAT old!! WHAT DID YOU BRING ME TO?!" Let me add that by the end of the evening he was thoroughly enjoying himself and realized old people can be fun too).

 Champagne and Strawberries

INGREDIENTS

• 2 pints of strawberries
• 1 small box strawberry Jell-o (sugar free of course)
• 3/4 cup boiling water
• 1 1/4 cups sparkling wine, very cold - you will have left overs in the bottle so make sure you have someone to drink the rest :)

Fried Riced Cauliflower

This dish is absolutely amazing, you would never miss the rice or oil and it tastes just like real fried rice. On top of that 1 serving clocks in at only around 200 calories.

Servings: 4

• 1 large head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1 package lite firm tofu, drained and cut into bite-sized pieces
• 1/2 cup carrots, thinly sliced
• 2 cups bean sprouts
• 1/2 onion chopped
• +Any other veggies if desired - I sometimes add zucchini
• 1 cup snow peas
• 1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
• 1 egg lightly beaten or 1/4 cup liquid egg whites or egg beaters
• 3 Tbsp soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• About 1/2 cup vegetable broth for sauteing and extra flavor

Mexican Pad Thai

A work in progress but turned out good nonetheless. A traditional Pad Thai recipe with added taco seasoning, avocado, black beans, corn and Mexican Rotel tomatoes. It will get there some day...