Now we're cooking with gas

Summer=BBQ=Al Fresco Dining= some of my favorite delicious healthy meals!

Hope you all had a marvelous holiday weekend. I’m sure most of you hosted or attended some sort of BBQ. I wanted to share what I threw together for our BBQ because it’s one of my favorite “go-to” meals that takes no thought and it’s simply delicious and the colors of this meal are just delightful.

Marinated Flank Steak:
Flank Steak
1 Large piece of Ginger
Several cloves of garlic
Several Limes
Low Sodium Soy Sauce

Place flank steak in a large Ziploc bag. Peel ginger and cut in pieces. Peel garlic and put ginger and garlic in food processor. Mince that all up together. Rub this ginger garlic paste all over the flank steak. Pour in a good amount of low sodium soy sauce, then take 2 or 3 limes and squeeze all the juice into the bag. Seal and mix it all together, let sit overnight or one day.
BBQ the whole piece, then thinly slice this to serve.

Next I make this mango salsa, a recipe I got from a friend a long time ago, and since have added a few other ingredients that make this such an amazing accompaniment to most anything grilled.

2 large mangos, peeled and diced
½ red onion, diced
1 avocado, peeled and diced
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
2 tsps minced peeled fresh ginger
2 tsps sugar
¼ cup fresh lime juice
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp salt
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced (or keep seeds to add the heat!)

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, voila.

Lastly a “French” potato salad, that consists of small red potatoes tossed with olive oil and lots of fresh herbs! It’s so much fresher and I prefer it to the goopy mayonnaise filled potato salad.

2 lb small red potatoes
1 ½ Tbsp whole shallot diced
1 ½ tsp Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley
1 ½ tsp Fresh Tarragon
2 Tbsp Fresh Dill
1 Tbsp Fresh Chives
2 clove crushed Garlic
2 tsp Dijon mustard
½ tsp Pepper
2 tsp sea salt
1 ½ Tbsp Red Wine Vinegar
½ cup Olive Oil

Cut potatoes in ¼ “ slices with 2 Tbsp salt. Bring to a simmer until done. Save ¼ cup of the water you boiled potatoes in. Drain potatoes and spread on cookie sheet. In a bowl, mix ¼ cup of the potato water, Dijon, pepper, vinegar, olive oil, and crushed garlic. Pour mixture on potatoes, set aside 15 min. Pour potatoes in large bowl and finely chop herbs and spices – mix gently.

Dessert - bowl of strawberries and blueberries and a tray of personal size Haagen Daaz! Done.

With this meal you can prepare everything before the party and actually ENJOY your guests and your vino!