Fish dinner

I love me some Tilapia! Yum yum… And some spiced up quinioa with crisp snappy green beans!

So good washed down with the sweet and nutty smoothness of a Newcastle Brown Ale too!

 Yum food! Yum art!

Night out

Cocktails and good grub at Sarasota’s Half Shell Oyster House

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Single malt scotch on the rocks!

Blue claw crab cakes and fried green tomatoes!

Spinach artichoke dip!

And some crispy fried okra!
Great food, good company and a beautiful night out in downtown Sarasota!

 Yum Food! Yum Art!

© [Jay Mora-Shihadeh] and [artistfromtheinsideout.wordpress.com], [2012]. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material, artwork, or photo’s without express and written permission from this blog’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Jay Mora-Shihadeh] and [artistfromtheinsideout.wordpress.com] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

Apple Crisp

We had alot of apples on hand and decided to whip up this healthier version of apple crisp! When I say healthier I mean cutting out white sugar for agave and adding oats and flax seed to our topping. Turned out yummy and we felt better about eating it, we opted for frozen vanilla soy ice cream to keep with our healthy theme too. Not too awful, we like the brand made with coconut milk better though. But this was a little cheaper on our wallet!

Comfort food

Spinach Florentine soup with fresh basil!
Easy to make if you use a rotisserie chicken and a good quality low sodium broth.
Ingredients for my version:
I lemon pepper rotisserie chicken
2 32 oz low sodium broth/ stock
1 medium onion
3-5 garlic cloves
1 16 oz bag of frozen spinach
A bunch of fresh basil
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
Extra virgin olive oil @ 3 tablespoons
1/3 cup of grated parmesan
1/2 Lemon
1/2 box of whole wheat pasta shells
Salt/ pepper to taste
Gremolata (1/2 cup finely chopped basil or flat leaf parsley, 1 clove minced garlic and 1 tablespoon, or so, of lemon zest stir together)

In a stock pot sautee’ onion, and garlic in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, add a small handful of basil chopped.
Add nutmeg and white pepper.
To this add the broth and spinach.
Simmer a bit, add the parmesan and then squeeze in the half lemon, season more if needed. Par boil the pasta separately then drain. Add pasta to the stock pot and simmer ’til done.
After simmering a bit add the shredded chicken pulled off the rotisserie to some bowls and ladle soup over top.
Add more Parmesan and a pinch of the gremolata for a whopping punch of flavor!! Bon Appetit!

More veg only nights

Here is another great veggie only night, put together by my lovely fiancee’.
Black bean hummus with assorted veggies fruit and crackers with of course some bubbly spirits to accompany it!

Curried potatoes and peas

Curried potatoes with peas. A veggie night for dinner? Spice it up to keep it unique and fresh. Experiment with your spice rack to come up with different flavor profiles. This quick dish was a hearty and tasty bite! Yum food! Yum art!

Christmas dinner

Christmas dinner.

Christmas dinner

We had a nice relaxing Christmas holiday this year. The tree was trimmed, lit and looking great.

I made filet mignon for our dinner, with whole roasted sweet onions and rosemary.

 My version of a bloomin’ onion:

I Split one sweet Vidalia onion in half, doused it with extra virgin olive oil,  some salt and pepper,  and lots of fresh chopped rosemary.

Then I roasted it for an hour at 375 degrees until it got all carmelized and soft, a wonderful side to a perfectly cooked medium rare filet mignon.

For dessert, a Cranberry Blueberry pie baked from scratch , the perfect Christmas pie!

Ta da, baked to perfection, golden , hot, bubbly, and rustic! 

Just the way I like my pie’s.

Topped with some vanilla bean ice cream and I’m in a pie state of mind!  

 Yum Pie!!

We also had some fresh baked Christmas cookies dropped at our door by our neighbor Joan.

After we had our fill of food everybody chilled on the sofa watching a movie.

The doggie was in heaven this day!!

All in all it was great food, great people, and great times.

On to 2012, Happy New Year everybody!!

Yum food!! Yum Art!!