White Sangria Fruit Salad

This ain't your mama's fruit salad, it has been kicked up a notch with some white wine and honey dressing for a sangria spin.

You know I don't do boring... Like if someone asked me I make them fruit salad, it wouldn't be just some fruit in a bowl. Nope!!

So you know what also has fruit? Sangria! So why not fuse the two and make sangria fruits salad. Like regular sangria with the wine as more of a dressing...

I mean who doesn't like some alcohol in their fruit salad?! It's still healthy since there is just a little bit... just a little, it doesn't count right?

I looked up some traditional white sangria recipes and the fruit they used did not thrill me. Since this is a white sangria I wanted to keep the flavors sweet and use fruit with similar textures and flavors and lighter in color more in line with the taste of a white wine. I chose peaches, nectarines, pineapple and apricots.

I then went a little wild and added some fresh ginger to awaken the senses and I thought it would also pair nicely with the white wine and it totally did! Then to add some sweetness I added a little honey as well!

BAM! Not yo mama's fruit salad!

What you need

1 cup fresh pineapple
2 apricots, pitted and sliced
1 large ripe peach, pitted and sliced
1 large nectarine, pitted and sliced

Dressing

1 teaspoon grated ginger
2 teaspoons honey
1/3 cup Pino Grigio wine

How to make it

1- in a large bowl combine all the fruit
2- In a smaller bowl whisk together all dressing ingredients
3- Toss dressing into the fruit and mix it in.
4- Serve it all fancy and shit in a martini glass!

Nutritional Information

See still great nutritional stats, even with little bit of fun added ;)

A Vegan Foodgasm: Double IPA Braised Bean and Salsa Verde Bowl

This is one badass vegan and gluten free recipe that is sure to satisfy even the most carnivorous of friends kicked up with some California craft beer action!

So proud, this is my very first attempt at a Vegan recipe and it is pretty badass at that! It also happens to be gluten free! Not just some normal meal with no animals harmed in any way... but it is filling and totally kick ass complete vegan meal busting at the seams from the flavor EXPLOSION! Did I also mention it is made with some BEER!

It is well known, there are two things I don't fuck around with, FOOD and BEER!

So yeah I went ALLLL the way over the top for this puppy! I have been talking to my friend The Beer Wench and she wanted to know if any good vegetarian recipes existed for beer, there is of course the obvious beer mac and cheese, maybe beer cheese soup. But I took this shit to a whole nother level and went straight to vegan.... did I mention I like a challenge?!

Lemon Pesto Chicken

Why is this a Foodgasm?

So I am already sure you know the foodgasm that is pesto. Especially fresh pesto (PS- fresh pesto is so easy to make it is criminal to buy the stuff. Seriously!). So I recently was making pesto and wanted to add my own spin to it, just a little spin by adding the zest and juice of one large lemon. Just the simple addition of lemon to pesto brightened it up and brought out some more complex flavors. It's like summer as a sauce. That is what I imagine summer would taste like: bright, light, fresh and earthy with some pep in it's step.

I learned the joy of pesto from my chef obsession Fabio Viviani. What I like to say about pesto is like he says, I can give you some measurements, but you gotta go by the how thick you want it. Also take into account the more oil, nuts and cheese you add the more fat that sauce is gonna have. The awesome thing about this recipe is that not only does the lemon add flavor but some of the liquid in this recipe is from lemon juice and that adds NO FAT! YAY!

Totally Roasted Marinara

Why is this a Foodgasm?

Sometimes you have to go back to the basics and back to your roots. I was really feeling my Italian roots and I know my favorite chef Fabio Viviani would approve of this one! This recipe is a different way to get that slow cooked marinara flavor with less stove babysitting. What's an easier way to make a magically foodgasmic marinara than to throw a bunch of ingredients in the oven for about 40 minutes and throwing it all into a food processor? Then it's done! Simple! Not to mention slow roasting anything brings out the sugars and then the yum!

I saw a similar idea on some other blogs and I decided to try it myself and I am soooo glad I did! This was time consuming in the roasting but the prep is minimal. I roasted all the classic ingredients for a marinara, but used cherry tomatoes for a little extra sweet punch. To add to the ease of this recipe I lined my baking pans with non stick aluminum foil for easy clean up! My husband appreciated this since he usually does the dishes!

This is also incredibly healthy and local! I used cherry tomatoes from my own co-op garden with my neighbors and from the farmer's market. Using very little EVOO this recipe is very low in fat, but VERY high in flavor.

Bourbon Marinated Carne Asada Tacos with Pineapple Salsa and Honey Lime Cream

Why is this a Foodgasm?

You take a nice lean cut of steak and marinate it in bourbon and lime overnight- SCORE! But then you toss on top some perfectly sweet and spicy pineapple salsa- BASES LOADED! Then we put all that in a warm corn tortilla and drizzle with a Honey Lime Cream- HOMERUN!

This dish packs on so many layers of flavors: so delicious, so sweet, so spicy and sinful you will think you have entered Dante's third level of hell (for the gluttunous). But wait this is NY Foodgasm so I have slimmed down this amazing dish for your guilt free pleasure!

So now you cowgirls can have your steak and eat it too!