I have never known much about olive oil. I spend so much of my life in the kitchen, but I know next to nothing about olive oil. I intend for that to change this year, and my first step was purchasing some unique olive oil from Oliv You & Me, a local olive oil specialty shop located here in downtown Boulder, CO.

Oliv You & Me is going to be a stop on some Local Table Tours (my new business with my friend Julie), where guests can sample different olive oils, much the same way you taste wine. I was very impressed with the distinct flavors of each oil I sampled. My favorite was this bottle of Olio Sapora because it has a peppery finish that you really must taste in order to believe. It is a delicious olive oil and it will be featured as an ingredient from now on here on my blog.

This might not sound good to you. I don’t know if it would have sounded good to me a few months ago… during the stage of my life before I had my Vita-Mix. Everything has changed now.

Why has everything changed? Because now I grind up a ton of veggies to drink for lunch. I had been living on peanut butter or almond butter sandwiches for lunch for almost the entire 5 years I’d been living in Colorado. This past January I spent my birthday money (plus some of my own) on a Vita-Mix, and it has changed my life. If you have one, you’ll likely understand. If you don’t, you might find me weird. Either way, here is one of my healthy lunch smoothies.

Ingredients:

• 1 apple
• 2 kiwis
• 1/4 golden beet
• 1 stalk celery
• 1 handful parsley
• 2 carrots
• 3/4 cup snow peas
• 1/2 cup frozen strawberries
• ginger (as much fresh ginger as you like- I used 1 tsp)
• 1-2 cups water (add more if you like it thinner… or should I say, less thick)

This month I was paired with My Year on the Grill for Taste & Create. I recreated Raspberry Chipotle Sea Scallops, but since I didn’t have the same raspberry chipotle sauce used in the original recipe, I created my own version, which turned out to be pretty good. Also, I made my version with shrimp and scallops as well as a side of coconut basmati rice.

After I made the sauce, I opened a small can of undisturbed coconut milk and separated the fat from the water. I added the coconut water and a small scoop of fat to the water for my rice. When that came to a boil I cooked some basmati rice. Coconut rice is so good, and it seemed to be a perfect companion to the spicy raspberry chipotle sauce.

Meanwhile, I melted a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of coconut fat in a heavy skillet. When that was hot, I added the shrimp first, scallops second, and cooked until just done, moving them around a bit to coat with buttery coconut goodness.

I love raspberries, and I love spice, so why not marry the two together into a chipotle sauce?

Ingredients:

• 1 cup raspberries, fresh or frozen
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 2 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp onion powder
• 3 tsp chile chipotle powder
• 2-3 TB evaporated cane juice
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1 TB apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tsp liquid smoke

Start by heating the raspberries in wine. Bring this to a boil and drop the temp a little while adding the rest of the ingredients, stirring well until the fruit breaks down and becomes a sauce. Make sure you like the spice level before serving. Add more chile chipotle powder if you like things spicy, or more sugar if you like it sweeter. I made this specifically for Raspberry Chipotle Scallops and Shrimp. Enjoy.