Is it me or are we kind of in a weird in between place with produce seasons? Maybe it’s my grocery store, but I haven’t been overly excited about what I’ve been seeing lately (I think this is a cue to take my own advice and get myself to my favorite produce market).

One thing I know for sure…we are headed into citrus season and I couldn’t be more happy about it. I walked into my son’s preschool class and his teacher had just peeled a grapefruit and the smell was intoxicating. Citrus makes me happy!

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This Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Walnuts recipe is sponsored by Fisher Nuts.

Is it safe to say spring has sprung everywhere yet? I always have a bit of spring guilt here in Florida. Technically our best “spring” weather is back in January and February and even March when the rest of the country is freezing.

By mid April we are starting to see the 90s…just the other day our heat index was (wait for it…) 101 degrees! What in the world. It’s a bit early for triple digit heat indexes but I won’t complain ever. #ILoveFlorida

With warmer spring weather comes cravings for warm weather food, am I right? Salads, salads and more salads. Some grilling too. This is my favorite food season of the year, though I think spring food and summer food are very closely tied.

This April Produce Guide caught my eye the other day and inspired this Spring Beet and Goat Cheese Salad with Walnuts – beets, arugula and citrus all scream spring, don’t they? Topping your salad with goat cheese, walnuts and a homemade Toasted Walnut Balsamic Vinaigrette is never a bad thing either, whatever month or season we are in.

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Another fish recipe! That makes two in one week, which makes me happy (hoping it makes all you fish lovers happy too). My family has always loved eating fish on a regular basis, especially when we are visiting with my sister-in-law Jamie and her family from Pensacola. They made the trip down to our house last week to spend a few days in town for my brother-in-law’s wedding. I’ve mentioned before that Jamie gets the best seafood (ever) in her part of the state, so when I remember, I ask her to bring me a cooler of seafood from her local fish market Joe Patti’s. This beautiful Blackened Salmon was such a treat for us, and I have Jamie to thank!

One of my favorite ways to prepare fish is simple – pan fried in very little oil and blackened. The blackening seasoning I love to use is this one from Chef Prudhomme, it has such a great flavor – not incredibly spicy, but it does have a nice kick.

The fresh citrus salsa I put together to serve over the salmon (made with 3 varieties of citrus!) is the perfect way to balance out the slight heat from the blackened salmon with a little bit of sweetness. People, this is honestly the most amazing combination of flavors, I can’t even tell you.

Right now you are probably seeing a ton of different citrus fruits in your markets. I know I am. It’s a treat and so fun to try different varieties of citrus this time of year, when they are in season. The seasonal favorites that I can’t get enough of right now are Cara Cara oranges, Minneola tangelos and Meyer lemons. Grab them if you see them, because they aren’t around for long!

All three of those citrus fruits are in the blackened salmon with citrus salsa recipe.

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Click here to pin this slow cooker pork tenderloin recipe!

I’m back with another pork tenderloin recipe. The Roasted Chili Maple Pork Tenderloin I shared back in November was my introduction to cooking with pork tenderloin and it turns out many of you love this cut of meat too. I’m amazed how much my entire family loves it and I can’t believe I have avoided cooking it for so long.

This time, I decided to try something different and cook it using my slow cooker. Yep, that tenderloin was cooked in the slow cooker and finished off under the broiler. I tried this new-to-me-method after seeing a recipe for Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin in The Healthy Slow Cooker Revolution cookbook from America’s Test Kitchen (if you missed it, I’m giving away a copy of this cookbook plus 3 others this week here). I wanted so bad to make the Teriyaki Pork Tenderloin recipe but I was missing some pretty key ingredients so I had to improvise and try something a little different.

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You know I’m all about salads. I am usually inspired by whatever ingredients I have in my fridge, but usually the basics often include the trifecta of fresh greens, cheese and nuts. It’s just a no-brainer to an awesome salad mix in my opinion. Add in any extra veggies or fruit and you are set.

I happen to come upon plenty of grapefruit regularly around this time of year, my grandpa’s tree is an amazing producer and I love that he sends me home with large bags of them whenever I see him during the grapefruit months. My mom just brought me some this past weekend and I couldn’t help but remember this simple grapefruit vinaigrette I made a couple of years ago. I ate this Spinach and Pistachio Salad pretty often drizzled with that bright vinaigrette and I’m ready to make it again. Like today, for lunch.

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I have been really enjoying reading all of your entries to my Favorite Things / Amazon Gift Card Giveaway! It sounds like a lot of you want to use the gift card to purchase Christmas gifts, but books (yay!), stand up mixers, fitbits and even a few sewing machines are making the list too. You have all week to enter the giveaway if you haven’t already, and don’t forget to check out the other 14 blogger hosted Favorite Things giveaways too (prizes range from more gift cards, a fit bit and lots of kitchen items!).

One of my favorite “Feel Good” meals is broiled salmon and veggies. It really doesn’t get much healthier than that does it? I haven’t been cooking as much fish as I used because my son can’t eat it. We haven’t had him officially tested yet, but we think he has an allergy. I usually end up cooking fish on nights that I have leftovers of something else that I can give him for dinner so that I don’t have to prepare two separate main courses. The rest of us love fish so I am making an effort to plan better so that we can have it regularly again.

The best thing about fish dinners like this almond crusted honey mandarin salmon are how quickly they cook up, usually in just about 10-15 minutes!

Turn on the broiler and prepare a salad or saute some vegetables while your fish cooks and you have yourself the perfect “Feel Good” healthy dinner.

I don’t know about you, but this time of year, I need more of these types of healthy meals to balance out the other types of meals. You know, those indulgent ones that tend to creep up every other day or so during the holidays. 😉

For this easy broiled salmon recipe, I used the juice of a couple of mandarin oranges (or are they clementines, I have always called them clementines – what is the difference?) that are starting to pop up in crates in the grocery store. We eat them like crazy at our house and I am so happy to see that they are back in season! I combined the juice with some honey, smoked paprika and crunchy almonds for a flavorful, light coating and sauce.

I served this Honey Mandarin Salmon with Almond Crust with a simple spinach salad with red onion, feta and vinaigrette – it was delicious!

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You know that Honey, Lime and Garlic Vinaigrette recipe I shared with you all yesterday? Well this is the salad that I’ve been enjoying it on all week. This Spinach and Arugula Citrus Salad came together literally as a mish-mosh of two salad combinations I have been craving – actually three – spinach and orange, fennel and orange, and fennel and arugula. Since I am totally indecisive and have major ADD these days I ended up throwing it all together to use up my ingredients before they withered away. Avocado was invited to the party at the last minute and boy am I glad.

I have been in a major salad (food/cooking/eating?) rut lately. I can’t blame it on the weather (Florida + Winter = a little bit awesome, but don’t worry paybacks are in fall!), but I can blame it on laziness and feeling a little uninspired from food/cooking/eating in general. I am making a huge effort to get out of this rut because honestly, I’m just plain sick of it. I miss cooking, feeling excited about cooking and eating a variety of foods (no offense to crock pot chicken and Greek salad but I am so over you).

I want to eat exciting food!

(after I took this pic I decided that this salad needed avocado…yes, it totally did)

This Spinach and Arugula Citrus Salad got me a little bit excited. I hope it does the same for you.

Have a great weekend!

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Did you all have a nice Easter weekend? I took some time off online the last couple of weeks, enjoying Spring Break with my fam. Hard to believe we are heading into the last 9 weeks of our school year here, I feel like the time after Spring Break always zips by and next thing you know it’ll summer.

But let’s not move too far ahead yet. Is it finally safe to say Spring has Sprung yet?? If it hasn’t yet by you, please, make yourself this smoothie, close your eyes and picture yourself somewhere warm and sunny. I promise, it will work. The weather seems to be cruel this year in parts of the country, I truly feel bad for anyone still dealing with low temps and even (I really can’t believe it) snow. It’s just not fair.

I’ve been in a major smoothie making mood lately. I love this time of year when it seems like our grocery produce section is bursting with so much color. I’m truly happy to see it, especially all the melons and berries. My favorite kind of smoothies are simple, a combination of fresh (and sometimes frozen) fruit, a splash of juice or water, and a handful of ice. I have learned that the order you put your ingredients into your blender really help how your smoothie blends – start with your liquid, then your softest or juciest fruits, then add the rest of your fruit and ice. You basically want to have a good base of liquid working in your blender base so that all your ingredients have a chance to incorporate without burning out your blender. I put all the ingredients in at the same time, just in layers following that order.

Hope you enjoy this bright and refreshing smoothie today!

And oh…by the way. I’ve got some happy and exciting news to share. It’s been hard keeping it a secret, and I’m finally ready to let you know that this upcoming September there will be a new little addition to the Aggie’s Kitchen family. Yep! You heard right….our little family is growing and we are thrilled. 🙂

I’m officially out of the first trimester cave I’ve been living in. I was hit pretty hard by the typical first tri stuff and am so happy to be finally feeling like my old self again this week! Food is my friend once again.

Especially smoothies just like this cantaloupe smoothie 🙂

Cantaloupe Smoothie

Yield: 1 smoothie

Ingredients:

• 1 clementine or small orange, cut into segments or chunks
• 1/4 cantaloupe, cut into chunks
• 1/2 frozen banana
• 6 ice cubes

Directions:

1. Place fruit in blender starting with your softest and juiciest pieces. Top with ice cubes. Blend and enjoy!

More smoothies for you to love:

Cinnamon Pear Green Smoothie

Fruity Greek Yogurt Smoothie

You Are My Sunshine Smoothie

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I’ve always loved grapefruit. Since moving to Florida when I was 10, my family has been growing lots of pink grapefruit on trees in the backyard. When season hits, we always have an over abundant amount of grapefruits to deal with. You could always count on finding a carafe of freshly squeezed juice in the fridge, a huge bowl of them on the counter and bag fulls ready to bring to neighbors and friends. For anyone else who grows grapefruit, does this sound familiar?

For obvious reasons, I’ve never really had the need to buy grapefruit, but now that I live an hour away from my family’s backyard I definitely don’t have access to them as much as I used to. I usually get sent home with at least 1 or 2 shopping bags from my grandpa a season, but it really depends on the timing of our visits.

Last week, I came home to a TREAT. Since my visit with Harry & David last fall, I’ve been receiving the Fruit of the Month club from them (a wonderful and generous gift from H&D themselves, best gift ever!). Each month a box of fruit arrives, and my family and I have enjoyed it so so much. The grapefruit that were sent this month have got to be some of the best and sweetest tasting grapefruits I have ever tasted (ssshhh don’t tell my grandpa!). They are seriously amazing. The day they arrived, I posted a pic of them on Instagram and was asked by Brenda what I was going to make with them. Honestly, it never dawns on me to make anything with grapefruit, I love eating them straight up – halved, placed in a bowl, then juiced by hand in a glass (a grapefruit spoon like this has made eating them even more enjoyable over the years). Brenda’s question got me thinking…maybe I should try making something with them.

That’s where this bright and simple grapefruit vinaigrette comes in. It was the perfect homemade salad dressing to put over a bed of baby spinach, pistachios, a little red onion and gorgonzola cheese. I love adding citrus to vinaigrettes, and this one turned out wonderfully.

Homemade vinaigrettes are so easy to make and can really help change up your typical salad. Here are a few more delicious homemade salad dressings for you to enjoy:

Maple Vinaigrette

Mustard and Herb Vinaigrette

Cilantro Lime Vinaigrette

Smoked Paprika Dressing by Cookin’ Canuck

Kalamata Olive Vinaigrette by Kalyn’s Kitchen

Balsamic Vinaigrette by Bell’alimento

Red Wine Tomato Vinaigrette by Skinny Taste

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{Giveaway Now Closed}

I’ve mentioned a few times that we are a smoothie family. Smoothie making definitely got a little easier after the addition of our Blendtec blender, but I’ll be honest, we were making smoothies regularly way before that happened. My blender has always been my friend.

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