Chipotle Sweet Potato and Black Bean Hash with Guacamole

Up next for my menu for the Big Game is a hearty, tasty and healthy sweet potato and black bean hash topped with a simple guacamole for breakfast to ensure that you start the day off right! (Although I will be making this for the big game it is perfect any time of the year!) This hash is super simple to make, it starts with bacon (omit for vegetarian), followed by onions, garlic, cumin, chipotle chili powder, the sweet potatoes and finally the black beans before being topped with a simple guacamole. The key to a quick cooking time is to dice the sweet potatoes small as the larger the sweet potato cubes are the longer it will take to cook them until tender. I like to keep things simple and go with an avocado topping with lime juice and salt but if you want something a little more complex you can go with a more robust guacamole. Of course pretty much everything is better when topped with a fried egg so I like throw some on as well and that gives me a trio of my favourite foods: bacon, eggs and avocado all on a tasty bed of sweet potato and black bean hash! Feel free to add any other extras like sour cream, salsa, cheese, etc.

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Strawberry and Avocado Salad with Strawberry Poppy Seed Vinaigrette

It's time for another salad recipe and this time it's a strawberry and avocado salad with strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette! Strawberries work so well in salads and I find myself making them on a near weekly basis all summer long! This salad combines so many of my favourite ingredients from the strawberries to the avocados, the BACON, and feta and the dressing is just so tasty and summery fresh! The strawberry poppy seed vinaigrette uses fresh strawberries with white balsamic vinegar, honey, tamari, mustard, garlic and a touch of sriracha for some spicy heat and it is just perfect on this strawberry salad!

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Chipotle Tuna 7 Layer Dip

Seven layer dip is always fun at parties and I thought that I would try kicking it up a bit with the addition of a pantry staple, tuna, but not just any tuna, some chipotle tuna by Clover Leaf. A seven layer dip is a dip where Mexican style ingredients are layered on top of each other and for this dip I went with layers of seasoned beans, sour cream, guacamole, chipotle tuna, salsa, cheese and olives along with green onions for garnish. If you have all of the ingredients on hand this dip could not be easier to make where you simply need to pull the ingredients out and start layering them. You could easily use all store bought ingredients and make this dip a snap to assemble or you could make all of the ingredients yourself and keep the dip nice and light and healthy. In the recipe below I have given options to keep things simple and to keep things light and healthier with some examples being either using store bought refried beans versus using a can of beans with homemade taco seasoning mixed in or using store bought salsa versus making your own fresh pico de gallo. No matter how you make it, this is one tasty dip that is sure to please and the chipotle tuna is a great addition to a seven layer dip!

Scroll down a bit for the chance to win a Clover Leaf tuna prize!

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Taco Salad

During the summer I often like to have salads as light meals and one of my favourites is a taco salad, which as the name implies has all of the flavours of tacos! This salad is a great way to finish off any leftover ingredients from taco night though I am usually too impatient to wait and just make it from scratch starting out with a homemade taco seasoning. This recipe is very flexible where you can use whatever your favoutite taco ingredients are and I generally like to pack the salad with plenty of healthy ones like beans, corn, tomatoes and avocado before moving onto things like cheese, Greek yogurt and salsa. Although a number of salad dressing would be perfect on this, I usually go with salsa verde as a dressing. As far as salads go this taco salad certainly makes for one tasty, light and satisfying meal meal!

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Eggs Benedict with Bacon, Avodaise (Avocado Hollandaise) and Harissa

Avocados have to be one of my favourite foods so when I came across the idea of an avocado hollandaise sauce I just had to try it! A hollandaise sauce is a lemony sauce that is made by emulsifying eggs with a ton of butter that is decadently good but a little rich so a lighter and healthier version using avocados sounded amazing! This avocado hollandaise, I am going to call it an avodaise sauce, is a super simple mixture of pureed avocado and lemon juice along with some water to thin it to the consistency of a sauce and simply irresistible.

One of the classic dishes that a hollandaise sauce is used in is eggs benedict, consisting of english muffins, ham and poached eggs in addition to the sauce, and it was the perfect dish to try the avodaise sauce on. Although ham is great in eggs benedict, bacon goes so well with avocados so I could not resist going with that instead and I added a hit of harissa for a spicy kick. I have to say that this avodaise sauce is even better than the original and it is absolutely divine in bacon eggs benedict!

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Chorizo and Egg Breakfast Nachos

On Cinco de Mayo there is no reason to hold off on celebrating until later in the day; start it off with a Mexican inspired breakfast, nachos! Spicy chorizo sausage and scrambled eggs make for a tasty breakfast all by themselves but why not enjoy them nacho style on tortilla chips covered in melted cheese? These breakfast nachos are fully loaded with salsa, beans, tomato, avocado and jalapenos in addition to the sausage and eggs making them a hearty and tasty way to start the day!

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Roast Turkey Cobb Sandwich

Although planning the Thanksgiving dinner is always fun I have even more fun planning on how to enjoy all of the leftovers! I usually start with the turkey breast which is perfect for sandwiches and up first this year is this monstrous roast turkey sandwich inspired by the cobb salad with layers of lettuce, tomato, bacon, avocado, blue cheese, roast turkey and an egg. A cobb salad normally uses hard boiled eggs but I really could not resist going for a fried egg, sunny side up, for that amazing runny egg yolk! I have to say that this is one of the tastiest roast turkey sandwiches that I have had in a while! The only problem is how to get your mouth around it! :)

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Pork Tinga Tacos

Today is national taco day! I am a huge fan of tacos and of course I have some tacos to share with you today, some tasty pork tinga tacos. Pork tinga is a Mexican style 'stew' with moist and tender shredded pork along with chorizo in a tasty chipotle tomato sauce that is just perfect for filling tacos. I like to keep my tacos nice and simple and a great place to start after adding the meat is some cilantro, onions (fresh or pickled) and a splash of lime juice. You really cannot go wrong adding some creamy avocado to cool your mouth down and cheese is almost always welcome! Once the tinga is made these tacos only take a few minutes to throw together making for one really quick, easy and tasty taco meal!

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Esquites Quinoa Salad with Avocado

One of the best ways to enjoy corn is right from the cob and one of my favourite ways to do that is Mexican style, aka elote, where the corn is covered in butter, mayo, cotija cheese, a squirt of lime and a touch of chili pepper. Of course you can easily cut the corn from the cob and if you do that with elote you get esquites, a Mexican style corn salad which I also like a lot! Quinoa is often on my mind and I could not help think that adding some would only make things better both by adding an amazing texture and by adding a healthy source source of protein! I often enjoy the addition of avocado to my esquites and so I could not leave it out of this quinoa salad! I have to say that the combination of sweet corn, creamy avocado and quinoa is quite amazing and it makes for a great side dish or even a light meal!

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Pesto Guacamole BLT

This has to be one of my favourite times of the year with all of the fresh field ripened tomatoes around and my favourite way to enjoy them has to be in a BLT or a bacon, lettuce and tomato sandwich. BLT sandwiches never get boring and I like to experiment with them adding different things. Two of the best ways to go are with a BLT with basil mayo or a BLT with avocado or guacamole and so when I made the pesto guacamole I knew that I would have to use it in a BLT! You just cannot go wrong combining fresh rip tomatoes, basil pesto and avocados with bacon in a sandwich! I will definitely be enjoying a lot of theses pesto guacamole sandwiches over the next few days!

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Pesto Guacamole

When I came across the idea of a pesto guacamole on two peas & their pod last week I knew that I would have to make it and make it soon! You really cannot go wrong combining two already amazing things like pesto and avocados and with all of the fresh basil around now it was the perfect time to make it! This guacamole could not be easier to make, you simply mash the avocado and mix in your basil pesto along with some lemon juice to brighten things up and to help prevent the avocado from browning. Of course I went with my own homemade basil pesto which is also super easy to make and inside of 10 minutes I was enjoying some super tasty pesto guacamole! I polished the first batch of pesto guacamole off in a few minutes just snacking on it with tortilla chips but I already have several ideas about what I could use it in!

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Chipotle Lime Grilled Shrimp Salad in Cilantro Lime Dressing

Summer isn't quite over yet which means that I can still squeeze in some more salads, especially if they contain grilled meat like this chipotle lime grilled shrimp salad in cilantro lime dressing! I have been totally obsessed with grilled shrimp this summer including the chipotle lime grilled shrimp which has to be my favourite! I wanted to make the chipotle lime grilled shrimp at least once more and enjoying it in a salad with my newly minted cilantro lime vinaigrette seemed like a great way to go. I went for a simple salad using some more fresh summer produce including corn and tomatoes along with some avocados and black beans to get a nice mix of sweet, juicy and creamy. The cilantro lime vinaigrette and the chipotle lime shrimp go particularly well together in this salad but then again I think that the cilantro lime vinaigrette would go well on pretty much everything! This salad is definitely a great way to enjoy some of the amazing freshness of summer!

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Southwestern Grilled Chicken Jalapeno Popper Salad

Now that I had my brand new jalapeno popper dressing I needed a salad to test it on and it could not just be any salad, it needed to be one that was strong enough to stand up the the total amazingness of the dressing. One of the first salads that came to mind was a southwestern style chopped salad filled with plenty of hearty and tasty ingredients including grilled corn, black beans, tomatoes and avocado. Continuing with the dressings jalapeno popper theme I added pickled jalapenos to the salad along with cheddar cheese that the poppers are sometimes filled with, bacon that they are sometimes wrapped in and crumbled tortilla chips for the crunchy popper coating. I wanted this salad to eat more like a meal so I topped it off with some seasoned grilled chicken. All of the flavours and textures in this salad work wonderfully together from the creamy beans and avocado which temper the jalapenos heat to the juicy tomatoes, the salty bacon, the crunchy tortilla chips and of course the super tasty jalapeno popper dressing! What a salad!

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Strawberry and Avocado Spinach Salad in Raspberry Balsamic Vinaigrette

Right now the markets are filled with fresh strawberries and raspberries and that made me think about one my favourite ways to enjoy them together, in this strawberry and avocado spinach salad with raspberry balsamic vinaigrette. You might think that it is a bit odd combining strawberries in the salad and raspberries in the dressing but they work beautifully well together especially in a baby spinach salad with cool and creamy avocado, salty bacon and tangy blue cheese! Individually all of the ingredients in this salad are pretty amazing but combined they take things to a whole new level! This strawberry and avocado spinach salad in raspberry balsamic vinaigrette is so easy to throw together and it makes for a tasty treat of a light meal on hot summer days!

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Corn and Cotija Guacamole (aka Esquites Guacamole)

One of my favourite dishes with corn has to be esquites which is a corn salad inspired by elote a Mexican style corn on the cob with butter, mayonnaise, cotija cheese and a shot of lime juice. The combination of sweet grilled corn, salty butter and cheese along with the bright and tart lime juice is addictively good and I never tire of it. One addition to esquites that I really enjoy is diced cool and creamy avocado and I couldn't help but think that a guacamole with corn and cotija would also be amazing! This guacamole is pretty simple with avocado, jalapeno, onion, cilantro and lime juice in addition to the corn and cotija. Just like with esquites, I like to cut the corn from the cob and cook it in a cast iron skillet until it starts to blacken, char and even pop a bit as this caramelizes the corn bringing out even more of its natural sweetness, though grilling the corn on the cob is another good option. This corn and cotija guacamole is fabulous dipp-able take on esquites and a great alternative to plain and boring old guacamole! (Clearly I jest, guacamole could never be considered to be plain, old or boring!)

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Chipotle Lime Shrimp and Guacamole Dip with Tomatoes and Charred Corn

I am always looking for tasty new dips and I am a big fan of shrimp so when I came across the idea of a taco shrimp dip on Jeanettes Healthy Living I was enthralled and the ideas started to spin in my head! There are a lot of ways that you could go with a shrimp taco dip but the one that fascinated me the most was combining spicy and smokey chipotle lime shrimp with a cool an creamy guacamole. Although I could have stopped there and the chipotle lime shrimp guacamole would be super tasty I could not stop thinking of a seven layer dip and how juicy tomatoes and sweet corn would add new layers of complexity and depth of flavour to the dip. Instead of just adding the corn raw I charred it in a cast iron skillet to bring out even more of its natural sweetness. You could serve this dip all mixed up but I decided to go with layers so that you could see all of the ingredients and I placed it in small bowls that were perfectly sized for individual servings! The cool and creamy guacamole, spicy succulent shrimp, juicy tomatoes and sweet corm are an amazing combination of flavours that combine to make a totally irresistible dip that is pretty healthy to boot!

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Crispy Baked Avocado Fries

Up next in my series of baked vegetable 'fries' is avocado fries and given my obsession with avocados I really cannot believe that it has taken me this long to get around to trying them out as fries! Like the other vegetables fries these avocado fries are super simple to make, you pretty much just need to slice up the avocados, dredge them in flour, dip them in egg and panko and then bake them until nice and golden brown and crispy and good! In total they take less than a half an hour to make so you can easily make them whenever you have a craving for fries or avocados! You might be a little surprised to learn that avocados work really well when cooked or baked and they are especially nice in these fries coated with the crispy panko bread crumbs! I served the baked avocado fries with chipotle ranch and basil ranch sauces for dipping.

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Carne Asada Tacos

Speaking of grilling, after making the carne asada a few weeks ago I have been obsessing about it and I just had to make it again. The carne asada is flank steak that is marinated in a tasty Mexican style mojo with orange juice, lime juice, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro and then grilled until a perfect medium rare, or well done if you prefer. I used the last batch of carne asada that I made in a carne asada salad but I had been dreaming of carne asada tacos ever since. I hardly need an excuse to grill some steak so the carne asada tacos quickly made it to my meal plan! I kept things nice and easy to let the grilled steak shine and used a homemade pico de gallo along with some dice avocado and crumbled cotija to complete the tacos. It is always wondeerful to see such simple ingredients come together to make something so fantastically good! What a great way to enjoy some steak and to get outside and to use the grill!

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Avocado and Goat Cheese Alfredo Pasta

Not too long ago a reader asked me if I had ever combined avocado and goat cheese in a pasta dish, which I had not, but since I am a huge fan of both ingredients I was immediately intrigued. I have used avocado and goat cheese in a lot of recipes together but mostly where other ingredients were the star of the show with the avocado and goat cheese there as backup and it was about time to let them shine together. I already had plans for dinner that night but I had both avocado and goat cheese on hand so I threw them into the salad that I was having with the meal and that only confirmed that the two ingredients are indeed truly magical together!

I had avocado and goat cheese pasta on my mind for the next few days as I ruminated various pasta recipes and in the end I decided to go with a simple alfredo style pasta. An alfredo pasta is a pasta with a sauce made from butter and parmesan to which I like to add cream and I figured that that would be a great base to melt the goat cheese into. On the avocado side of things I knew that I would have to add some lime juice to brighten things up and from there it seemed only natural to continue with the theme and add some cilantro and jalapeño pepper. (At this point I was thinking that this was almost like a guacamole and goat cheese pasta!) I did not want to cook the avocado too long so I pureed it in a food processor and mixed it into the goat cheese sauce and heated it just until it was warm before tossing it with the pasta. This avocado and goat cheese pasta is super easy to make and all things said and done this recipe takes less than 20 minutes to make so it is definitely doable on a busy weeknight.

I had some pretty high hopes for this goat cheese and avocado pasta and they were easily exceeded! The creamy avocado and tangy goat cheese is an amazing combination and it goes fabulously well in this pasta!

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Baked Avocado Bacon and Eggs

I have been seeing these baked avocado bacon and eggs on pinterest for a while now and I cannot believe that it has taken me so long to make them! Both avocados and bacon are two of my favourite foods and eggs are not far behind so combining them together in one simple dish can only be loads of goodness! The basic idea is to cut an avocado in half, scoop out enough to fit an egg, fill it with the egg and then bake it until the egg is set the way you like. In total it only takes about 15 to 20 minutes and in that time you can cook some bacon up to sprinkle on top. Once baked you can eat it by the spoonful right out of the avocado shell or you can spread it on toast. The warm baked avocado is sublimely good and combined with a runny egg yolk and smokey bacon and you have a breakfast made in heaven! (See below for the runny egg yolk in all of it's glory!)

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