Pork Tenderloin with Spicy Apricot Glaze

My son is obsessed with the garage. It’s no surprise. His father and his grandfather (my dad) love it as well. It’s where they spend many a Saturday, working on projects of various sorts. The other evening as we were getting ready to start dinner, Levi made his usual “uh? uh?” sound while pointing emphatically [...]

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Argentine Hot Dogs (with Chimichurri, Pickled Red Onions, Marinated Queso Fresco & Chorizo)

It’s nearing the end of summer, and you’ve probably had your share of hot dogs, but these Argentine dogs are as far from yellow mustard and ketchup as you can get.  Grilled all-beef hot dogs get an array of colorful and flavorful toppings: a verdant chimichurri with the addition of finely chopped sweet red and [...]

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Goat Cheese, Tomato & Basil Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I failed to produce a grocery list before we entered the store last Sunday. Luckily, the order in which we strolled through the produce section determined the menu. It was hard to miss the pile of huge portobello mushrooms, dwarfing the other fungi varieties around them. We decided that their savory, rich umami flavor would [...]

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Grilled Pita Bread

They’re chewy, they’re hot off the grill, and their pockets can be filled with everything from scrambled eggs to falafel. Pitas are a versatile staple to have around the house, and it felt very satisfying to make at home what we usually just grab at the store. The original recipe suggested placing a cast iron [...]

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Grilled Butter Lettuce with Buttermilk-Chive Dressing

It’s easy to get into a salad rut, so I wanted to share a quick recipe that we discovered this past weekend. If you’re already grilling for dinner, why not throw the salad on too? Just halve a head of butter lettuce and grill cut-side down for a few minutes until it’s nicely charred and [...]

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Southwestern Grilled Chicken Salad with Cherry Tomato-Black Bean-Corn Salsa

As I’m writing this it’s drizzling, and since we can’t play outside, Levi is entertaining himself with a drawer filled with various kid-friendly kitchen implements (the “decoy drawer,” as I call it, because it keeps him away from the dangerous stuff and buys me a few minutes here and there to write blog posts, fold [...]

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Grilled Halloumi with Rosemary-Grape-Walnut Relish & Garlic Bread

Here we are in the heart of grilling season. There are a lot of enticing recipes out there – most of which revolve around meat – but I’m going to share something a little different, and if you’re a cheese-lover like me, you are sure to get excited about this one. It’s a cheese plate [...]

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Tea-Smoked Duck

We all appreciate quick and easy weeknight meals, but there is something to be said for more complex recipes, when the steps can enjoyed over the course of a Saturday afternoon while sipping a beer. Two weekends ago was especially eventful and worthy of such a recipe; Levi took his first steps on my parents’ [...]

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Ultimate Sriracha Burger

If you go through the Rooster Sauce bottle as often as we do, then you probably know that they recently came out with a Sriracha Cookbook, and in it you will find a variety of recipes ranging from “Srirachili con carne” & bacon-Sriracha cornbread to peach-Sriracha sorbet. This stuff is versatile!  (Photo from Amazon.com) They [...]

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Caramelized Chipotle Chicken

Happy New Year! Obviously my resolution was not to blog more frequently. In fact, I didn’t make any resolutions because I didn’t want to set myself up for disappointment. I just want to be a good mom this year and try to take one day at a time without worrying about the next one! It’s [...]

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Grilled Cornmeal Crust Pizza with eggplant, summer squash, goat cheese, prosciutto, and caramelized onions

I can’t believe it’s October already. There’s finally a little chill in the air, and for the first time in ages I heard “chance of showers” on the weather.  Yay! It’s funny to think that at this time last year, I was 2 months pregnant and had a strong aversion to pizza and anything that [...]

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Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall “Steak & Potatoes”

Levi turned 5 months today. He recently rolled over for the first time and surprised the crap out of himself (not literally).  In all the excitement of watching my little boy go from newborn to smiley guy, I feel like summer never happened. Now it’s September and I can hardly believe it.  It’s hard to [...]

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BBQ Turkey Meatballs

When Whole Foods came to Santa Cruz, we protested and threw a fit, in fear that our locally owned grocery stores (two in the vicinity of Whole Foods) would be overshadowed by “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.”  That’s just the normal reaction around here when a chain store comes to town. I (unfortunately) remember as a [...]

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[1st post-baby dinner!] Grilled Red Trout Fillets, Artichokes, and Salad with Grilled Lime Slices

Hello oishiifood followers.  This is a guest post by Dustin.  As you all know, Brianna does most of the writing for this wonderful collection of recipes we’ve come up with/tried.  I’m usually the “behind the scenes” guy doing my part in the kitchen and behind the camera.  So it’s a treat for me to share [...]

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Yakitori

We miss our “yakitori man.” There was a supermarket right across the street from our apartment in Japan, and every Friday a man would set up a little red cart right out front. Starting at about 10 am, we’d start to smell that sweet sauce brushed over skewered chicken (and other meats) cooking over an [...]

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Grilled Lamb Gyros with Tzatziki & Summer Chickpea Salad

We’ve been thinking about gyros ever since we went to a Greek Food Festival with our friends last month. I think my favorite part of a gyro is the tzatziki. The cucumber, lemon and yogurt make for a refreshing sauce that goes perfectly with grilled meat, tomatoes and onions. Last night we made our own [...]

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Spice-Rubbed Pork Tenderloin with Ancho Chile-Mustard Sauce

We took pork tenderloin to a whole new level last night. I had confessed over dinner with our friends that I often get bored with pork tenderloin. Well, when I took the first bite of the meal that we had made together, I took it back. Wow. The pork was tender, moist, and spicy! The [...]

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Chicken Satay with Peanut Sauce

We’ve been having unusually warm weather for January! Last Sunday we pretended it was summer (although it wasn’t that hard to pretend when it was 70 degrees at 5:00 in the evening), fired up the BBQ, and invited some good friends over for appetizers. They brought rounds of polenta (both regular, and sun-dried tomato) topped [...]

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Barbequed Trout with Herbs & Potatoes

When I was a little girl, I refused to eat seafood. It’s really unfortunate because I must have missed out on a lot of delicious experiences. For example, in Felton, a small town outside of Santa Cruz, there is a restaurant called The Trout Farm Inn where you can C.Y.O.T. (catch your own trout) in [...]

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A Birthday Dinner at the Tree House

We have the best of both worlds up in the Santa Cruz Mountains: Ten minutes from the ocean, yet surrounded by beautiful, stately redwood trees. My cousin Nikita turned 21 on August 11th, so we had a family birthday dinner at my parent’s place; aptly named “The Tree House.” These are some of the highlights. [...]

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