Alina's Spice Infused Edamame

I've been eating a lot of edamame lately. What's not to love? It's tasty and fun to eat. It's simple to whip up some well-seasoned edamame and it makes a great side for salmon, sushi or stir fry.

Alina's Pineapple Overload Stir Fry

In college I ate at Miami's stir fry bar twice a week. I had my choice of about 30 toppings and so I tried all kinds of different combinations. Eventually I realized that my perfect stir fry always has pineapple in it. It's just consistently mouthwateringly delicious.

My meal this week takes it one step further and uses the pineapple juice as the base for the stir fry sauce. The result is succulent, sweet, and secretly healthy.

Alina's Grilled Salmon with Nectarine-Red Onion Relish

On the 4th of July I perused our local market, Brennan's, for foodie inspiration. It's a form of tabula rasa grocery shopping, if you will. There are recipe cards everywhere, so I pick those up, eat gobs of samples, and try to come with an open mind and a sensitive palate.

This time the nectarines were chin-dripping decadent, so I decided to make Brennan's suggested nectarine-red onion relish. The salmon was the perfect thing to integrate into our 4th of July cookout and the result was... pure fireworks.

Alina's Spanakopita Calzones

I'm a big fan of Greek food and spanakopitas are right at the top of my favorite foods list. This week I decided to make a calzone that pulls its influence from spanakopitas. Spanakopitas are Greek phyllo dough pastries stuffed with cheese and spinach. I decided to stuff mine with tofu and spinach and stuff it all in a calzone crust. The result is a delicious, healthy dish that hints of Greek flavors.