Block Island Zucchini Recipe

For many years I catered houseboat trips at Lake Powell, so I'm not shy about cooking for a crowd. In fact, one thing I love to do is what I call "creative cooking", which means taking whatever ingredients are available and seeing what I can make out of it that will be unusal and tasty. This is especially fun when there is an appreciative crowd to cheer me on, that is if the dish turns out, which it usually, but not always, does. 

Recipe for Southwestern Ranch Dip for Bell Pepper Strips or Veggies

When I visited my friend Tia's house in Rhode Island, she served a delicious spicy veggie dip made by T. Marzetti. It had only 2 carbs per serving and was really tasty, but when I got back to Utah I couldn't find it at any of the stores where I normally shop.

I came up with this version, which was delicious. Food snobs may turn up their nose at the ranch dip mix, but maybe I can redeem myself with the ground Chipotle pepper which gives this such a delicious kick. Chipotles are smoked jalapeno peppers, and they're pretty spicy, so use the ground chipotle sparingly. I used ground red Chipotle pepper from Penzeys to make this. If you don't want to buy the Chipotle pepper you could use regular chile powder with a tiny amount of cayenne pepper.

Joseph's Oat Bran and Whole Wheat Flour Pita Bread

(Update: I wrote more about Joseph's Flax, Oat Bran, and Whole Wheat Tortillas and Pita Bread in April 2008 and then in 2011 I was excited when I was able to order the Joseph's products from their website.)

I recently stayed with some friends on Block Island, a beautiful and charming island get-away off the coast of Rhode Island shown in this photo. I knew that on Block Island we would be having lots of good food, and I wanted to be sure I had some low carb options available, so in Portsmouth I picked up a package of low carb pita bread to take with me. This was absolutely without a doubt the best pita bread I had ever tasted, low carb or not! I used it to make "sandwiches" with cheese and lunch meat and enjoyed it every time I ate it. We had a delicious tomato spread that everyone was eating on french bread, and I happily spread it on my pita.

Recipe for Greek Dressing for Spring Mix Baby Lettuce Blend

Costco sells a great blend of baby lettuce and greens that is called "Spring Mix" (also often called Mesclun Salad Mix). Although I love the lettuce, and eat it often with my friend Mary's dressing mix (olive oil, lime juice, splash of red wine vinegar, salt and pepper) I longed for another dressing blend that would be good with this. (Ok, so I didn't actually long for it, but I did think of it several times.)

Block Island Breakfast Casserole Recipe with Fresh-From-the-Garden Green Peppers

I recently returned from a fabulous trip to Rhode Island, where I stayed with a good friend in Portsmouth and then visited some other good friends at their summer house on Block Island. At the island house, I was the only South Beach Diet eater, but everyone enjoyed this casserole I made for breakfast one day. Again, in this dish the sum was greater than the parts.

Kalyn's Garden Tomato Pasta Sauce with Italian Sausage and Basil

(In August of 2006 I posted a recipe for Sausage and Basil Marina Sauce with Fresh Tomatoes which is an improved, slightly revised version of this recipe. That post has step-by-step instructions with photos. In 2006 it wasn't possible to update an old post without breaking the link, so I am leaving this here in case anyone had the recipe bookmarked.   Click the link above to find the new recipe.)

Recipe for Grilled Cuban Pork Chops Mojo

I've been lucky enough to visit Miami several times, and when I was there I always enjoyed the Cuban food. Beef or pork marinated in lime juice was one type of Cuban cuisine that I loved each time I tried it. I developed this recipe to capture some of the flavors I remembered from Miami, and it turned out to be much like I remembered. Be sure to serve it with limes cut lengthwise into fourths, so each person can squeeze lots of fresh lime juice over their pork chop.

Recipe for Chicken Sausage, Zucchini, and Red Pepper Kabobs

In 2009 I posted World's Easiest Zucchini and Sausage Kabobs, which is an updated version of this recipe with photos and step-by-step instructions. I am removing this post so the recipe doesn't come up twice in search engine results, but you can click the link above to see the updated version.)

Trudy's Recipe for Salad in a Cucumber Cup

Recently I had dinner at my friend Trudy's fabulous loft in downtown Salt Lake City. Trudy has a lot of class in everything she does, and the dinner was no exception. This salad looked incredible and tasted just as good. 

Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce

In September of 2006, I posted an updated recipe for Spicy Cherry Tomato Sauce with a photo.   In those days it was not possible to move a post forward without breaking the link.  I am removing this post so the recipe doesn't show up twice in search engine results, but you can click on the link above to see this recipe.