You put de lime in de coconut....

I rocked the family dinner tonight.

I made coconut chicken , which you most definitely should make soon. Don't worry, I don't like coconut either, but this is an exception (it's coconut milk not coconut flakes so that's a million times better). The only changes I made to the recipe were that I added mushrooms (on the grill with the chicken) and added some cilantro in the blended coconut milk mixture (I also did Janssen's trick and used the jalapenos from the jar). It.was.awesome.

In addition I also made a variation of Ralphie's delicious salad. Here is the original and I will put how I varied at the bottom

Avocado and Apple Salad
Salad:
1 (10 oz) package of baby greens
¼ cup chopped red onion
½ cup chopped walnuts
1/3 cup crumbled feta or blue cheese
2 tsp. lemon zest
1 apple- peeled, cored and sliced
1 avocado- peeled, pitted and diced
Dressing:
4 mandarin oranges, juiced
½ lemon, juiced
½ tsp lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
salt to taste
1. In a large bowl, toss together the baby greens, red onion, walnuts, cheese, and lemon zest. Mix in the apple and avocado just before serving.
2. In a container with a lid, mix the mandarin orange juice, lemon juice, lemon zest, garlic, olive oil, and salt. Drizzle over the salad as desired.


We have it or variations of it like every other night, which is great because I think it's got to be pretty good for you. The variation tonight (our favorite so far) was to add strawberries (today we went to Costco and I got the most delicious strawberries that are the size of my head), replace the feta with Gorgonzola, omit the avocados, omit the nuts.....and I never have an actual lemon laying around so I usually always omit the lemon zest. Oh yes and also I use spinach instead of the baby greens (spinach is a lot less expensive, well like fifty cents, both ways are good). Uh and reading it now I guess I forgot to add the red onion, that's a shame because red onions rock. Oh and also who has real mandarin oranges? I drain a can of half the liquid and then smoosh the rest in a bowl. Wow. I have really adapted the salad, once you try Ralphie's recipe you will want to have it every night too and to keep your family satisfied you will start variations. Please, send them to me. It'll be great! Thanks Ralphie!

Speaking of Ralphie's salad. I have to tell a quick story about that. We had a can of mandarin oranges that I think we got for our wedding shower. Folks that sucker moved with us from Provo to Oregon back to Provo to Minnesota and back to Provo again. The same can. Finally I threw it away (I think it had finally expired) because we were moving again soon. Then for Christmas my mother bought us a bunch of food storage, including a 24 can pack of mandarin oranges [insert that freaky violin screeching from Psycho here]. I am happy to admit that I just ran out of mandarin oranges about two weeks ago and I am happy to go and buy more because I cannot live without the delicious dressing recipe for this salad. It is delicious.

Blaine also just informed me that he can't stop thinking about what a good dinner this was (is there a higher compliment to be given?). He says it is the best meal he has had in a long time. Think about that. We just spent x amount of dollars at the Melting Pot (x=an amount I am embarrassed to admit, but please keep in mind it was our FIVE year anniversary and Valentine's day), and he liked this dinner better. Wow. You should make it tomorrow.