Ali Guinn

I have to toot my own horn and say that I have a knack for finding excellent recipes. My trick? Google and Foodily (by far my favorite recipe search engine).

I cook on a budget, as well with dietary restrictions — which means I generally buy a  bunch of produce and have to find different ways of using them up and incorporating them into my recipes.

In the past, I used to look up recipes that sounded delicious, then found myself at the store hunting down ingredients and leaving the store after spending $100…for a meal for two.

My shopping habits have since changed. I like to buy a bunch of produce at the beginning of the week, and then simply do web search with the ingredients I have on hand. For example, I have some frozen mahi mahi filets from costco, some coconut milk and some curry spice mixes…. so i go to foodily and search, “coconut milk, mahi mahi, curry” and instantly find a plethora of recipes. If I have to shop, the list is small and most of the time I can find some kind of substitution and improvise.

What was my latest success? Mahi Mahi Cocunut Curry Stew! Delicious!

Bookmark this recipe! We have officially bookmarked this as one of our recipe staples. It’s full of good-for-you ingredients, and easy to modify. We substituted rum for pineapple juice and left out the sugar — making a perfect blend of sweet and spicy.

Click here for the recipe.

I figure these spices mixes are a gem worth sharing. They make everything I cook 10x’s better — and because of that, I will put a little on just about everything I put in the pan. Check out eastindiapantry.com, and if you’re in the area, stop by their restaurant in South Jordan, Utah.

This is the secret ingredient to my killer Chicken Tikka Masala. I welcome any doubters to a cook off.