Yummy Maui Food and Recipes

First off, let me mention our favorite cocktail! We loved POG Passion-Orange-Guava Juice with vodka or rum and a splash of Ginger Ale. Jeff always served it with a garnish of pineapple. It was resort-style cocktails on home living prices!

 We ate so much pineapple! It was perfect every time. We bought it from the farmers market in Kihei.

One of our favorite beers was this Coconut Porter. We loved all of the Maui Brewing company's beers. Some other favorites were the Big Swell IPA and the Bikini Blonde Ale. Yummo! But I couldnt believe how expensive not only beer was but food also. Of course we took advantage of the offerings of the island and cooked up a storm. Here are a few of our favorite meals.





Super Quick Veggie Alfredo Pasta

 Saute 2 sliced small zucchini, 1 small Maui onion, with any spices you can find in your condo. :) We used a mixed seasoning (Like McCormick's steak seasoning). We stirred in the leftover Classico Alfredo sauce (about 1/2 the jar) from the first night and tossed it all with about 1/2 lb. cooked fettuccine. Served it with the last of our sourdough bread! Sad time for us! We loved that bread! Great 20 min meal!!!

 

 This was our breakfast daily! Birds in a nest. Jeff made it for us and he mastered it perfectly!!!
Directions: Take a piece of bread (any type will work) and cut a small hole in it and remove the bread from the center leaving a hole. (About 2 inches across). Heat a small amount of margarine (its what we had) in a skillet. Toast the bread for a bit. Flip it and crack one egg in the center if the hole you created. Cover and cook until almost set, flip and cook until preferred doneness. We like it runny so you can dip the crusts in the middle. Yummy! With pineapple of course!

 Here is one lunch that we packed for ourselves but they were all pretty much the same. Turkey and Cheese sandwich on sourdough, Maui sugar animal cookies, pineapple, mango salsa and chips, and water and Gatorade. Delicious every time when you are eating it in Maui!

 So this was the best candy in the word!!! We pulled over South of Wailea and bought it on the side of the road! It was 8 dollars so I was skeptical. When walked away he said that we would be addicted and wouldn't stop at one. 

 Well he was right! It was the most amazing candy I've ever had. It tasted like coconut covered with praline. It was creamy and buttery and only had three ingredients. Gosh! I want some now!

 We went to Mama's Fish House for our "fancy" dinner. It was one of the best meals that I have ever had. The entire restaurant is open to the ocean. The walls open and it would be amazing for a sunset. Now I know why they get booked up a few weeks in advance for the sunset times. The hostess stand was literally outside. The bar was super cool.  Here is my mai-tai. They were delicious!

 Now to the meal. The chef served us a small cup of chilled ginger-asparagus soup that was such a refreshing combo! I want to try and replicate it! We had crab cakes as an appetizer. Pretty good but nothing to write home about. My meal though...that was something special. Macadamia nut crusted Mahi Mahi topped with a small lobster tail. the Mahi was stuffed with crab and lobster. It was served with rice and asparagus. I didn't eat the corn. It didn't seem to fit for me. It had a macadamia nut puree sauce around it and it was really unforgettable! I will be making this some day!

Jeff had a traditional Hawaiian luau feast. It included Mahi Mahi with coconut sauce (with extra sauce in the coconut). Kalua pork which is buried over hot coals and slow roasted for a day. The entire thing tasted like bacon. A Hana banana, sweet potato, Poi (the only food neither of us liked-sorry islanders-it's rough!). Lomi Lomi Salmon-Raw and delicious! Overall, the meal was sensational and well worth the steep $$$. I highly recommend it!

 And now for the first phase of the best home cooked meal of all. We started it off with Poke. It is fresh sushi grade Ahi Tuna marinated in soy sauce and sesame oil with some green onions. It is really fresh and good. We bought it from Safeway...imagine that?! Jeff put it in leftover lettuce cups and we had it as an appetizer. I could only eat one. I dont know it was a texture or spice thing I had trouble with. It needed to have some siracaha or wasabi on it.

 So for the main course we had sweet potatoes, bbq chicken, red bell pepper rice, and grilled pineapple. Arent these sweet potatoes the biggest ever??? They were so good. We poked them, wrapped them in a wet paper towel, and microwaved them until the were soft. Sliced them open and put some butter, sugar, and cinnamon on them. So good!!!!

 We got thin sliced chicken breast. As we only bought margarine for our week long stay Jeff melted some, basted the chicken with it, and then grilled it. Genius! He added some hickory and Brown Sugar BBQ sauce towards the end. It was awesome using the grills at the condo. It was filled with drunk Canadians and listening to them was a hoot. (Maui was filled with Canadians.)

 For the rice, we sauteed 1 Maui sweet onion, 1 red bell pepper in some margarine. Added 1 cup of long grain white rice and toasted it for 2 minutes. Add 2 cups of water and cook for 20-25 minutes. The red pepper made all of the rice taste so strong of peppers. It was delicious. I don't know if it is because it was fresh and not covered in that waxy stuff but it was GOOD!

 We sliced this pineapple into long wedges and grilled it wth the chicken it was great with the rice and with the chicken!

And Success!!! A dinner fit for a king...or 2! :)

 LEFT OVER MANIA: On the last day we had to use up all of our food. (And drink up all of our liquor.) Needless to say it was a rough day. :) So we used our leftovers from the bbq chicken meal and our fridge to make: Chicken Fried Rice.

We had some left over snow peas from the farmers market that we had been snacking on all week. We chopped them in half and sauteed them with the bell pepper rice, 2 diced BBQ chicken breasts. Saute until everything is warmed through. While that is cooking scramble one egg and one egg white in a pan. Remove from pan. We added some pineapple juice to the rice at the end to give it an island flair. I wish we had more pineapple but it was not to be. Combine the chicken and rice mixture with the egg and serve! It was light and delicious!!!

Chicken, Snow Pea, and Red Pepper Fried Rice

 I cant wait to relive our trip through all of the meals and flavors that we enjoyed while there! I will be including Mahi-Mahi, macadamias, fried rice, and pineapple in my future recipes!!!!

Maui Continued!!!

I will make this one short and sweet. I want to get to posting recipes! I wish the pictures could do the island justice. It really was the best trip of my life. We were busy every second unless we didn't want to be.

We took the road to Hana which was an 8 hour drive through the rain forest to the desert on the back side of a volcano. Here is a shot from the road. You could see down into the taro fields and little towns. We just pulled over at random spots and explored.

This is the most amazing waterfall we found. I spotted it from the road and we pulled over and found a way in. I was a short but tricky hike because everything is so moist and slippery there. We jumped in the second pool. It was so refreshing. After this we were starving so we stopped on the side of the road literally in someone's front yard for a mixed plate lunch. We each got the Teriyaki Chicken. It was the best teriyaki sauce I've ever had! All mixed plates come with 2 scoops of white rice and 1 scoop of macaroni salad...carb. overload! It was so much food we could have shared one plate and still had leftovers. But we didn't. :)
  

We continued on and found the black sand beaches at Wainapanapa State Park. It was a beautiful area. Great for picnics!

These are the "Seven Sacred Pools" now called the Pools of O'heo. We didnt think that they were too sacred. Swimming in a pool not much bigger than my diving pool didn't look to relaxing. We preferred our little secret pools much more.

A beautiful tree on the South side of Maui. We took the full loop around instead of taking hwy 36 back though Hana. Its about the same distance both ways. This drive was so geographically different from the other. Fun fact for ya: This side of the island has the most recent lava flow from about 300 years ago.

The back of Haleakala volcano was a sight to see! We felt like we were in another country!

Toward the end of our drive we found a winery and vineyard. It was perfect timing as it was about 4pm pm. on St. Patrick's day and we hadn't had a drink yet! I know, bad! So we tried 4 different types of wine and fell in love with the wines that were made from pineapple instead of grapes. Wow! The Maui Blanc was our favorite. We bought two bottles and ended up buying more at the grocery store a few days later to bring home with us! We still have some! I eye it nightly....

Another beautiful sunset enjoying a cocktail from our condo. Postcard views nightly.

We took a boat to Molokini crater and on the way saw whales and dolphins. It was amazing to be so close to them. I couldn't get a good pic. They just wouldn't hold still for the camera. It was a good adventure but we found better snorkeling at the random spots that we stopped at on Maui.

 Stop one on our beach exploration adventure: a beautiful beach with amazing snorkeling. The reefs here were so colorful.

On this day we went to four beaches (including the previous one) that we read about to snorkel, body surf, hike, relax, and swim. It was a great day. This is Kapalua Beach. We sat on the beach for a while but it turned into a sand storm. I think I still have sand in my ears.

This is Honolua Bay. It was beautiful with some crazy waves. When the waves were receding they would crash with the incoming wave and it was wild! It was great body surfing! Some wonderful old, bald dudes were body surfing like 10 year olds. It was awesome!






Overlooking where the Nakalele Blowhole is located. We never made it to the blowhole and were happy with the cliff views. And...I almost fell off the side one time so we were out! The beaches and adventures were amazing. We felt as though we got to accomplish everything we wanted to. I feel so lucky to have had this experience! Now, we want to go back with friends! Who's in?


Next up, the amazing foods we ate in Maui!

Maui or Bust!

We are back and recovered from our trip to Maui. It was as amazing. It was everything we expected and more. We got to do everything that we wanted including snorkeling, hiking, eating amazing food, and relaxing on the beach. I will post the different adventures and meals by day as there is so much that I want to have to remember the trip by.

Our condo was in Kihei, a low key town on the South side of the island. We were so glad to stay her after visiting Lahaina. It was local, friendly, and had everything that we needed. We stayed at teh Sugar Beach resort at the North end of Kihei. Our condo was right on the beach and felt like our own little house.

The sunset from our lanai.

Our two favorite chairs!!!

Love this! We can share a suitcase!

Our comfy bed.

It had a full kitchen, bedroom, living room with TV and DVD, and lanai (patio) 15ft from the beach. It had all of the amenities we could ever need including beach towels, a cooler to take on excursions (complete with cold packs in the freezer), all of the  cooking utensils one could need, a washer and dryer, safe and more.

This is a view of Lanai.

View from the kitchen

We folded out the couch.

Our living room.

I read the book I am Number Four which was a quick and entertaining read. I began to read Bram Stoker's Dracula which was great but thank god my Kindle has a built in dictionary. Jeff read In the Heart of the Sea a great lost at sea story.

On the first night we were tired from travel and decided to go grocery shopping and stock up for the week ahead. Wow, groceries are expensive in Hawaii! We picked up the necessities and a a ton of pineapple. It was our favorite snack we ate it with almost every meal. We made Shrimp Alfredo pasta that night using a jarred Alfredo sauce to make our lives easy. It was delicious. Our favorite cocktail mixer was POG Passion-Orange Guava Juice. Amazing!!!

Our shrimp alfredo pasta!!! Yummo!

I will continue to retell our adventures. It was truly a magical vacation!

Day one of spring break...

And what a beautiful day it is. It's already 80 degrees and a slight breeze. I love spring. This is WHY I live in Arizona! I just received a long over due hair cut and am going to the Scottsdale Art Festival with a friend. Too much fun for one day! I am sure we will make our way to lunch and perhaps a cocktail. First, I must water the garden and plant some hibiscus flowers! Everything is growing strong so far!

I just found this recipe on an awesome food blog that I might make tonight. Especially, with the spaghetti squash!

Click on the link below:

Baked Chicken Parm

Yu-um!!!

DInner with Little D

Spring Break baby! I am so excited to be on vacation that all I wanted to do tonight was to go out to eat. I had some self restraint and cooked instead. A good friend, Little D, came over and we had some definite comfort food. I made a simple but super yummy spicy turkey sausage pasta. Here's the scoop:

I didint have any onions...Luckily, I have a steady supply of green onions growing in the back, so I used those. Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the delicious Trader Joes penne pasta that has such great texture. I usually go for whole wheat but this was a splurge.

In a large saute pan, on medium, saute 4 sliced green onions (using the white and the fresh part of the greens), with 2 tbls chopped garlic (I likea lot of garlic!), 1 tsp red chili pepper flakes, in cooking spray or enough olive oil to coat the bottom. Once they are soft, add 1 lb. of spicy lean turkey sausage (either ground or taken out of the casings). Cook until meat is brown. At this time start to cook pasta to your preference.

 

Add 1-14.5 oz can no salt added diced tomatoes, 1-14.5 oz can no salt added crushed tomatoes, and 1 small can no salt added tomato sauce. I used 2 bay leaves, 2 tsp dried oregano, and 1 tsp thyme, 1 tsp pepper, and salt to taste. Simmer for 25 minutes on med low.

 

Once pasta is cooked and sauce has cooked for 25 minutes, combine in sauce pan. Top with a combination of fresh basil and parsley. Serve in bowls and top with fresh Parmesan cheese.

 

We had it with TJ's broccoli slaw mixed with spinach and low fat Honey-Dijon dressing. It was awesome!!!

 

 It was a delicious dinner but we had a sweet tooth. I made us a batch of oatmeal cookies with mini chocolate chips....Yeah....magical! I also added raisins per Jeff's request to a few cookies for him. (Not my cup of tea.)

Finishing up the Limoncello. Will post tomorrow. Night all. :)

Garden is complete!

Hello there! Not too much cooking yet this week as we were able to celebrate sweet Kenny's birthday last night and tonight were invited to dinner at a friends. (Where we had an amazing blood orange olive oil that I want to replicate.) I have to admit I do love the nights off from cooking but I am excited to actually get in the kitchen tomorrow.

So today we finished the vegetable garden. I had the pleasure of spending time with my glorious husband after work today. We went to Home Depot and picked up the last of our plants for the veggie garden. We added zucchini and cucumbers, both planted directly in Miracle Grow bags, four pots of brocolli, and a heirloom tomato called "Mr. Stripey" planted in a Trader Joe's shopping bag. Awesome!

How cute is the TJ's bag? Best pot ever!

DONT be tricked! I saw that Miracle Grow now sells "Gro Bags" which is basically a bag of $4.79 Miracle Grow soil that has three holes cut in it. It sells for about ten dollars. Save your money or I will gladly cut the holes for you at a discounted rate. :)

And here are some pics of our new cacti as our previous ones were destroyed by frost. Love the tall one!

Night all!