When I was in Belize a couple of years ago, we stayed in a house overlooking the ocean. When we came back from sight seeing one day we saw a local woman fishing at the end of our deck. After we introduced ourselves, she told us she was trying to catch snappers and that dusk was the best time for them to bite. She ended up catching five fish, and gave one to us. With the limited ingredients we had in the house, we developed this spice rub of fennel seeds, paprika, and garlic powder. Fennel seed has a delicate flavor; light and sweet and is a great compliment to fish. Paprika has a full, sweet pepper flavor without the heat and the garlic powder when roasted adds a mellow, nutty flavor where regular garlic may be too sharp.

I love cooking whole fish, there is something festive about baking a fish to eat and share. I also love eating the skin, it’s a great contrast to the flakiness of the snapper. I have made this dish many times since Belize and is always delicious. Snapper is easy to find in grocery stores. Typically snapper is either from New Zealand or Mexico and is pink. You can easily substitute snapper with cod or talapia. You can also use fillets of fish instead of a whole one if you don’t want to deal with removing the fish bones. View recipe

How about this for the big kahuna of a spice rub. No less then 16 different spices for a chicken rub. Bobby Flay goes big on this rub. He has great style—simple food with big bold flavors that the majority of us can make. This spice rub takes chicken to a whole new level. Bobby uses four different types of chili to help layer the flavor. Ancho chile is a large dried pablano chili has a mild fruity flavor with notes of coffee, tobacco, wood and raisin whereas the pasilla chile adds a fruity herb like note with a faint licorice undertone. Cayenne pepper is a blend of chili powders made to achieve a uniform orange or red color and consistent heat. Behind the heat chile de arbol has a tannic, smoky, slightly earthy flavor. All the other spices add a little something something to create this wonderful spice rub. When I was putting this together, I felt like I was a mad scientist. Now if you don’t have all the spices on hand, Bobby does sell it in a jar for $7. It was a great topic of conversation last night. We played the game, can you name all the spices. No one came even close. View recipe

When I come back from work travel, the first thing I usually do after unpacking is to go to the grocery store, and buy as many fruit and vegetables as I possibly can eat. Work travel tends to be late night dinners, wine at every meal and food on the go. So when I come home I crave healthy eating. My friend Sharon passed on this recipe. It’s healthy with a capital H.

Quinoa is a recently rediscovered ancient “grain” native to South America, quinoa was once called “the gold of the Incas,” who recognized its value in increasing the stamina of their warriors. Not only is quinoa high in protein, but the protein it supplies is complete protein, meaning that it includes all nine essential amino acids. Add in garbanzo beans, grilled zucchinis and a great spice mixture of cumin, paprika and turmeric, this delicious and healthy meal made up for eating poorly while traveling. Enjoy! View recipe