Labor Day weekend hails the end of summer and is considered by many Americans to be the last grilling weekend of the season. This coming weekend, we recommend you polish off the summer in style with one of the tasty marinades  below. These have been adapted from the June 2008 issue of Real Simple Magazine.

All recipes below will marinade 2 pounds of meat, seafood or veggies. To prepare, mix all ingredients in a baking dish or sealable glassware and marinate for 20 minutes to overnight, turning a few times to ensure proper soaking of all surfaces. The exception to this is all forms of seafood – it should not be marinated more than 15 minutes as the acid in marinades break down the delicate tissue quickly and you will be left with mushy fish.

Photo by JaBB|Flickr Creative Commons

Southwest Marinade

• 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup avocado or grapeseed oil (these withstand the high heat of the grill better than EVOO)
• 1/2 tsp. sea salt (VIBRANCE is a fan of Celtic Sea Salt)

Best as a marinade for chicken, flank steak, pork chops, bell peppers, corn on the cob and summer squashes.

Ginger Sesame Marinade

• 1/4 cup coconut aminos (or tamari if you can tolerate soy)
• 1 tbsp. sugar free fish sauce  (Omit if using tamari)
• 1 tbsp. grated ginger
• 1 tbsp. sesame oil
• 2 scallions,thinly sliced
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper

Delicious with scallops, shrimp, salmon, pork tenderloin, London Broil, mushrooms, and eggplant.

Lemon Rosemary Marinade

• 1/3 cup avocado oil
• 1 lemon, thinly sliced
• 6 sprigs fresh rosemary stolen from your neighbor’s yard (it taste’s better that way!)
• 2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp sea salt

Delightful with chicken (one-in), boneless leg of lamb, shrimp, bass, lamb chops, zucchini, summer squashes, asparagus, shallots and leeks.

This rice pudding is a perfect cozy breakfast or dessert on a cool day. You can also make this in the rice cooker and have it available to you – piping hot – for a few mornings!

2 cups water
1 cup brown rice, rinsed
1 1/4 cups rice or almond milk, or other non-dairy milk of choice
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup brown rice syrup or maple syrup
1 t. vanilla
1/2 t. cinnamon
1/4 t. ground ginger
1/8 t. ground nutmeg

In a medium saucepan, place the water, and bring to a boil. Add the rice, cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for 35 minutes or until all of the water has been absorbed. Add the remaining ingredients, stir well to combine, and continue to cook the mixture over low heat until all of the liquid has been absorbed. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and place the pudding in the refrigerator to chill. Top individual servings with a little additional cinnamon before serving, if desired.

Serves 3-4

I met Peter the day after Christmas at The Market in Anacortes, WA. He was passing out samples of this salsa with a cashew-crusted chicken breast seasoned with his personal spice blend. Chef Peter had a bad experience with a computer once — so bad that he no longer has one, nor a website. So I cannot properly direct you to Chef Peter, his spices, or other recipes of his, but I can share with you a smashing spicy, fruity pico de gallo recipe that would pair well not only with cashew-crusted chicken but grilled whitefish (halibut! mahi-mahi!) or tossed in grilled or steamed shrimp. You may also wish to fold it into a quesadilla or place a spoon of it atop brie and crackers for New Year’s hor d’oeuvres.

• 1 cup dried, unsulfured apricots
• 1 fresh pineapple – slightly unripe (rock hard – no soft spots)
• 2 Braeburn apples, peeled and cored
• 1 red pepper, cored and seeded
• 4 jalapenos, stems, seed, and veins removed (keep veins for a little more heat, seeds for extra heat)
• 1/2 cup lime juice
• 1/2 cup honey or agave nectar
• 4 tbsp. fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 pinch salt

Peel and core pineapple. Dice all produce into tiny pieces. Mix with lime, honey and salt. Refrigerate until chilled and stir in cilantro just before serving.

t’s really criminal how the brain tortures us. My chocolate cravings have given way to macaroni and cheese. I did not grow up on the “good stuff”, but rather the boxed Kraft brand that is Cheeto-orange and probably stains one’s intestines.
Regardless, I have been wanting it all – boxed mac and cheese, frozen mac and cheese so I can put it in the oven and gnaw on the crispy burnt edges, and the ultra-greasy, mega-cheesy variety in the Whole Foods hot bar that, until now, looked positively disgusting (I’m not a fan of greasy food).

I had forgotten about the recipe from my vegan days for a cheese sauce until a new review for it was posted on Recipezaar. Now that it has come across my path again, I see rice elbow noodles and carrots in my future….

Shockingly Good Vegan Mac and Cheese Sauce

I obtained this recipe from someone named Tracy over the vast Internet, at a website I cannot recall since I was doing a search through many at the time. Combining the below ingredients sounds wretched, but it was shockingly good! Could this be Kraft’s secret?

6 servings

15 min 10 min prep

1. Blend all ingredients together in a Vitamix or blender.
2. Pour into pan and stir until boils and thickens.
3. Take off heat and pour into rice noodles, over broccoli or potatoes, etc.