Fig season is winding down but would you believe I still have some on my tree, which I’m either giving away as tips/birthday/wedding/(early) Christmas pressies or I’m making something with them. This is a salad that my missus made herself for lunch the other day. The toasted walnuts really add a great flavor to this salad.

RECIPE:
Serves one

large handful of fresh lettuce leaves
3 fresh figs, sliced in quarters
1 oz. walnut halves, toasted dry in a pan
sprinkling of blue cheese
2 tbsp. homemade balsamic dressing

Balsamic Vinaigrette:
2 1/2 tbsp mustard
4 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup fresh oregano
1 1/2 cups olive oil
1 tsp agave / honey
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pepper

Directions:
Put all the ingredients,  except the oil in a blender. With the machine running, drizzle in oil. Vinaigrette will emulsify.
Taste for additional seasoning if required.

Store refrigerated for up to 3 weeks.

Alternatively if you do not have a blender use a recycled, clean, pasta or condiment jar. Put all the ingredients in the jar and give it a good shake.
NOTE: Fine chop the herbs first before mixing.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Hey Guys,

Just a quickie to let you know that I’m going be LIVE again! As you know, my good friend and celebrity trainer, Valerie Waters and I have been working together on her last couple of fitness programs. She’s launching her brand new and BEST program to date, TODAY at 3:30PST. We put together a e-cookbook full of great recipes (27 to be exact) as part of the Action Hero Babe offer. I’ll be joining Val on the live chat today at 4pm (ish) to shoot the shit about good food and anything else that pops up! Our good friend, Sheila from LiveWell360 will also be coming by and you might even get a glimpse of the Missus!

Pop in to say hi! Remember, 4ish PST for yours truly. Spread the word!

CLICK HERE TO JOIN IN ON THE CHAT!

A few months ago I donated an evening of culinary pampering for two to The First School of Santa Monica’s annual silent auction. (Figured this would win me brownie points for my future kids’ future education!) Last night we made good on our donation, cooking for quite a lovely couple in their cozy home.

THE MENU

Amuse Bouche :
Beautiful Farmers’ Market Caprese Salad

Appetizer :
Seared Wild Sea Scallops with White Bean Puree and Tomato Confit

Main Course :
Organic Filet Mignon on Creamy Polenta with Sauteed Spinach, Asparagus and Zinfandel Reduction

Dessert Trio :
Coffee-Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee, Champange-Cinnamon Poached Pears, Chocolate Dipped Strawberries.

Fancy a pamper? I’m for hire! Have suitcase will travel.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Peas are one of my favorite vegetables. Probably because I grew up on mushy peas (an Irish delicacy). When in season fresh peas are a delight but in winter months dried split peas come in handy. They’re not only convenient since they don’t require soaking, but they’re also high in nutrients and low in fat and calories.
If you are concerned about coconut milk, turns out it’s gotten a bad rap over the years. The saturated fat content in coconut milk has been shown in independent studies to be an easily metabolized good saturated fat, which means it does not transform into bad cholesterol, clogging up arteries. Using light coconut milk cuts the calories and fat by more than half, paving the way to a delicious healthy meal.

RECIPE:
7 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 x 14 oz can light unsweetened coconut milk
1 x 16 oz bag dried split peas
1 bay leaf
2 shallots – peeled, small dice
2 cups sweet potato – diced
1 cup red bell pepper – diced
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp chili flakes
2 tbsp olive oil
Garnish: Fresh chopped chives
S&P to taste

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat large soup pot on medium heat. Add 2 tbsp olive oil. Saute shallots & red pepper for 1 minute, stirring. Add curry powder and stir for 30 seconds. Add broth, coconut milk, peas, chili flakes and bay leaf and bring to a gentle boil. Once just boiling reduce heat to a simmer and partially cover with lid. Continue cooking for 20 minutes stirring occasionally.
After 20 minutes add diced potatoes and continue simmering soup until potatoes are cooked.
Once potatoes are cooked through, taste and season with S&P.
Sprinkle fresh chopped chives to finish.

NOTE: It might look like a lot of broth but once the potatoes start to cook the starch from them will help thicken the soup.

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Ireland’s national drink. My fondest memories of drinking Guinness (as it happened often) is sitting next to a rolling pub fire during the brutal cold wet winters eating a open faced fresh crab sandwich with a proper pint o’ Guinness in hand. Bliss.

As reported by Irish Central, this delicious black brew…

…began in 1752 when young Arthur Guinness inherited 100 pounds from his godfather, the Archbishop of Cashel, Dr. Arthur Price. The world has never been the same since.
Young Arthur’s father had helped brew beer on the Archbishop’s estate for the workers. Arthur and his brother decided to take their inheritance start a brewery in the town of Leixlip in County Kildare in 1756. Three years later in 1759, the 34-year-old Arthur took a 9,000-year lease on a rundown brewery in St.
James Gate, Dublin, and began brewing stout, a dark beer turned black by the roasting process. Not having any Madison Avenue advice on market positioning or brand identity, he simply named it Guinness.

That proved to be a wise move.
Today, Guinness is one of the world’s most-popular drinks, and its 250th anniversary will be marked with a worldwide celebration: From Auckland to Austria and Dublin to Durban, the world will tip its hat and raise a pint to old Arthur and the legend he began.

At St. James Gate in Dublin, where the 9,000-year lease still has 8,750 years to go, the workers will still be brewing Guinness pretty much in the same fashion as Arthur did all those years ago.

But now it is a worldwide phenomenon, one of the biggest-selling alcoholic drinks in Africa, a national treasure in Ireland where the Guinness storehouse is Ireland’s leading tourist attraction, and exported all over the world wherever thirsty drinkers live.

Speaking of thirsty drinkers, the way to pour a Guinness is practically a science. “The entire process should take 119 seconds,” according to the Guinness master brewers. For many, it is well worth the wait and wait you should. I remember the first time the Missus had one in our local–as soon as it was set on the bar she grabbed it and there must’ve been 10 of us (or 3) that reacted fast to stop her. Guinness has to rest you see. As soon as it turns completely black that’s when you know it’s ready to be drunk (and yes, drunk we all became!)

My brother-in-law, Jarlaith, used to work for Guinness so I just texted him to find out some inside scoop on today’s “Arthur Day” festivities across the pond in Dublin. Reporting from Neary’s on Chatham Street, a pub “so old world that they refused to buy into the great free music planned in 40 ’stout house’ pubs in Dublin [for today's celebration like] Tom Jones, playing in The Brazen Head (I shit you not!). Though it is amateur night out. Miserable alcoholics like myself can’t even get into our usual pubs.” Sounds like he’s having a jolly good time!

Join me today at 17:59 (5:59pm) your local time (if it hasn’t already passed), by raising a glass of Guinness to the late great Sir Arthur. Sláinte!

BEFORE                                                                     AFTER

Hard to believe today marks the official end of Summer with Autumn creeping in oh around 5:18pm EDT for us Northern Hemisphere folk. (How can they pinpoint the time with such accuracy like?) Though summer is my favorite by far (and prob the main reason I moved here) I’ve grown to really like autumn here in SoCal–not too much change really, just the way I like it! In Ireland, unless you’re having an Indian summer (September is usually the best month for sun), the weather just goes from winter to spring winter to summer winter to autumn winter to winter again, with the odd drop of rain thrown in for good measure. Makes sense why our dinners were often stews to warm ye bones.
This recipe pays homage to the poor craters who are about to pull on the long johns (those in Colorado already got snow yesterday!) and for those of us still in the heat, well this’ll be one to put in the vault for when the temperature does head south.

RECIPE:

Serves 4

2 lbs organic lamb shoulder – on the bone
good sprinkle ground cumin
S&P

1/2 white onion-sliced
4 garlic cloves – crushed
2 large parsnips – peeled, 1/2″ slice
1 cup white wine
8 oz baby carrots
1 large yam or sweet potato – peeled, halved lengthwise, 1/2″ slice
1 bunch asparagus – trimmed and halved
bouquet garni – fresh oregano, thyme
1 quart (4 cups) beef broth
olive oil

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat large saute pan on high for 1 minute. Lay the lamb on oven tray and season both sides with S&P and sprinkle with cumin. Rub into meat. Drizzle 2 tbsp olive oil in large skillet and sear each lamb piece for 2 minutes each side until golden.

Remove browned meat and put into large casserole dish.
Preheat oven to 375°F  (190°C).
Wipe out the pan with a paper bowl and reduce heat to medium and add another tbsp olive oil. Add onions and saute for 2 minutes, stirring. Add garlic and continue cooking for another 30 seconds. Add wine and deglaze pan by scraping all browned bits from bottom on pan. Cook for 30 seconds and add to lamb along with bouquet garni, broth and vegetables EXCEPT asparagus. (You don’t want those to turn to mush.) Cover with foil and cook for about 1 hour 45 minutes. Add in asparagus for the remaining 15 minutes, or until lamb is fork tender and all veg are cooked. The meat should be so tender it’ll just fall off the bone.

Taste and season. Discard bouquet garni before serving.

NOTE: You may be wondering why I don’t add salt while it’s cooking. When cooking a stew like this it’s always better to season at the end of the cooking time because if you add salt to the broth in the beginning, the broth will reduce during cooking and will end up being too salty once fully cooked.

Cheers!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

There’s an all out taste war going on over here between El Pollo Loco and Kentucky Fried Chicken (we’re talking fast food) ever since KFC, as they’re now known, launched their “Kentucky Grilled Chicken” in April. El Pollo Loco acted fast, challenging KFC to a public taste test and has since gone as far as exposing a few shockers in KFC’s grilled chicken recipe. Check this out:

Pretty clever marketing on EPL’s behalf and yes, it’s true. I just checked out their ingredient list myself. Pretty sneaky addition, especially for those who are off read meat, wouldn’t you say? Now I’ve never eaten at either place before so I’m not in favor of one or the other. Just stating facts here. I’m pretty sure both companies don’t use grass-fed or organic chickens, not that they claim to, but after seeing the movie Food, Inc. I’m rather skeptical of any fast food chain’s food quality. (I encourage you to see Food, Inc. if you haven’t already.)

So I decided to issue my own taste challenge, if you will. KFC vs. THI (The Healthy Irishman). My goal here is to prove that you can still get the same great taste of fried chicken without it actually being fried, saving you tons of saturated fat, calories & sodium AND to prove that you can make a homemade healthy meal for the family in basically no time at all. Think of it this way, if you’ve got time to drive to KFC, get the food and drive home, then you’ve got time to make this!

RECIPE:

1 whole organic chicken portioned (2 breasts, 2 drumsticks, 2 thighs, 2 wings)

2 cups bread crumbs (I used Ener-G Gluten Free bread crumbs)
3 egg whites – whisked
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp salt
olive oil spray

DIRECTIONS:

Arrange all the ingredients in a row in the following order: the chicken pieces, the flour with paprika and salt mixed together, the egg whites, the breadcrumbs. Begin by dredging the chicken pieces in the flour followed by the egg and then coat in the breadcrumbs. Lay on a foiled oven tray. This assembly line is a great time to get the kids involved!

Once all the pieces are crumbed spray liberally on all sides with the olive oil spray.

Pop in the oven for 15-20 minutes until internal temp of 165°F and the crumbs are crispy and ‘fried’. That’s all there is to it! Once you get the basic recipe down you can always add in more spices to the flour mix like a little cayenne if you like it spicy.

I served this with sweet potato mash and sauteed spinach. So the taste-off begins. Which version would you rather eat?

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

Photo by MICHAEL GALLACHER/Missoulian

Apparently, it’s all the rage. First it was Urban Gardens (which we love) now the new growing trend is Urban Chickens. Recently I saw a piece on The Today Show (clip below) about such chickens (you can take the Paddy out of Ireland but……) living in Urban NY and this got me wondering where else Urban Chickens are hatching. My missus’ bff, Grace (I think I’m too old to use the term bff but omg whatev) lives in Maui and says chickens are like stray dogs there, roaming where they please. I know Maui isn’t exactly a metropolis but she does live in a city-like community vs. a plantation! Then I saw a blog where a couple is raising chickens for fresh eggs in their back yard in Culver City, CA (Los Angeles basically). So then I Googled ‘Urban Chickens’ and yep, you guessed it. It’s official: we’ve found a trend!
Now, if only I had enough space for my own chickens because I have been known to delve into the odd dozen egg whites a day…..on occasion. Can you imagine all the money I’d be saving on organic eggs?! Not sure I’d want Chinese or pizza tasting chickens though! (Watch the video.)

Do you have or know of someone who has Urban Chickens? Looks like Inner city chicks have taken on a new meaning!

My neighbor not only has a fantastic fig tree (that I’ve been delving into for the past few weeks), but she also had success this year growing fresh tomatoes. The poor crater hasn’t even been in town to enjoy the fruits of her labor so to speak, but we certainly have (with her blessing of course!)

left on our doorstep

Thanks Cristina but now what to do with them? Figs and tomatoes….

You see, I wasn’t really big on figs until I found myself with a tree full of  ‘em so pardon me if I went searching for recipes online. Didn’t take me too long to find this gem created by A Gluten Free Guide. I know it may sound strange but this salsa is the dogs bollix. Right now figs are in season so it’s the perfect time to make this with fresh figs vs. dried. For those of you that missed my
Fig and Goats Cheese Pizza from last week it’s well worth a gander. Quick and damn tasty!

Healthy Fig and Avocado Salsa Recipe

1 cup diced dried figs or 3 cups diced fresh figs
juice of one lime
3 medium firm ripe California avocados, diced
3 fresh jalapenos, small diced, seeds and ribs removed
2-3 medium, vine-ripened tomatoes, diced, seeds removed
4 teaspoons honey
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 small cloves of garlic, minced

TIP: If you use agave like I did, you can use less than honey because it’s sweeter than honey.

Combine all ingredients in a medium bowl and stir gently. Refrigerate several hours to let flavors blend. Serve with gluten-free corn tortilla chips.

(It’s great right away if you are like me and aren’t patient enough to wait for it to come out of the fridge.)

This salsa lasted about 2 days in my house because it was so good. Thanks to Catherine for this idea!
Cheers!

All recipes are made with the finest quality farmers market whole foods, natural and non-processed ingredients as much as possible.

On Sunday we ventured out to the 8th Annual Taste of Santa Monica, a local food fare featuring great food from 50 local exhibitors, benefiting local charities.

We met our friends Ryan & Sheila from LiveWell360 and plowed through all the scrumptious food. The restaurants featured ranged from healthy organic restaurants such as FIG and Real Food Daily to Hooters to crepes, smoothies & ice cream.

Eating my way through the city while giving back to the community? Good deed for the week………..done!