Grilled Salmon with Avocado Dip

   This was one of the first dishes I learned to make when I first moved into our house.  I then proceeded to make it about once a week because I felt successful and too nervous to attempt new dishes.  Luckily those anxious feelings around dinner time meals have passed!  I hadn't made this dinner in a really long time, I think because Arnauld requested that I never make it again.  But for old time sake, I made it again tonight.

Grilled Salmon with Avocado Dip

Ingredients
1 lb salmon
1 tsp dill
1 tsp lemon pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Avocado Dip
1 Avocado
2 tbsp plain Greek Yogurt
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice from 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Method
1. Mix lemon pepper, dill, and salt.  Rub on salmon.
2. Heat grill to medium high heat.  Rub with a bit of olive oil and cook salmon for 15 minutes.  Flip once about half way through.
3. To prepare the dipping sauce, mash the avocado and mix with yogurt, garlic, and lemon juice.  Season with salt and pepper.

The Taste Test
     There is a lot of flavor in this easy dish.  My favorite part is the dipping sauce, which also tastes great with cut veggies.  We have been using Greek yogurt in many ways these days.  Another new favorite is in egg salad mixed with a little Dijon mustard.  Yum!

Southwestern Bean Medley

    In the last few weeks more and more people from work have been chatting with me about things they had seen or tried from this blog.  It's been fun talking about recipes and things I've made with the people I work with.  People are beginning to share their recipes with me, which is great.  Right now I am in a funny spot because all of my monthly magazines have come and I've tried all of the things I wanted from them.  I find when I do random searches for things, I spend way too much time just browsing through recipes.  I'd much rather have limited choices or recommendations.  This recipe came from Tracey.

Southwestern Bean Medley

Ingredients
1 can of vegetable broth
1 tbsp chili powder
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dry lentils
1 can diced tomatoes
1 small can green chilies
chopped cilantro

Method
1. Combine everything in the crock pot.  Cook for 6-7 hours.
2. Serve over brown rice or couscous.

It doesn't get much easier than that!

Red Berry Risotto

    For my birthday, Arnauld got us tickets to see Wicked on Broadway.  So this weekend we were NYC bound!  We used some reward points to land a super sweet hotel room right in Times Square.  We spent the afternoon just walking around and enjoying the city.  It was pretty cold, not at all spring like!
    Wicked was great.  Arnauld and I both really enjoyed the show.  I had heard only great things so I was excited to see if for myself.  It lived up to everything I had heard and made us both excited to see another show some time soon.
     After the show we headed out for a late night dinner at Bocca di Bacco.  Whenever I am at a restaurant now I always try to figure out how the dishes were made and if I can replicate them.  Arnauld and I both had great dinners that I would love to try and make.  Stay tuned for some experiments!
      Since we are both big fans of breakfast, we spent some time this morning searching and reading reviews for spots for breakfast.  We ended up at Norma's.  Now when I heard the name, I immediately pictured a homey hole in the wall.  Norma's was not what I had envisioned-it was a restaurant within a hotel and had a simple modern feel.  Despite my initial disappointment, the food was delicious.  The menu had really different choices that all sounded great.  I finally decided on Red Berry Risotto.  As soon as I took my first bite I knew that this was something I would have to try and make myself.  It was oatmeal like I had never tasted before-a little bit like rice pudding and completely wonderful!  A quick google search resulted in a recipe from Martha Stewart...who else?  After quick trip to the grocery store, once we got back in Connecticut  I was ready to give it a shot. 

Red Berry Risotto

Ingredients
1/2 cup McCann's Irish oatmeal
1 cup Arborio rice
1/2 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 tsp vanilla sugar
1/4 cup sugar
2 cups fresh strawberries, cut

Method
1. In a small saucepan, bring 2 cups of water and oatmeal to a boil and then simmer.  I got quick cooking oats so I cooked them for about 15 minutes before setting the oatmeal aside.  If you get regular oats, you'll need to cook them for about 25 minutes.
2. In a medium saucepan, combine rice, milk, vanilla sugar, and sugar.  Add enough water to just cover the rice.  Cook over medium heat.  Once most of the water is absorbed, add another cup of water.  Stir continuously.  Add water 2 more times after it begins to absorb into the rice.  This whole process should take about 40 minutes.  The rice will be al dente when you are done.
3. Remove the rice from heat and stir in the oatmeal.  Add the strawberries and stir until the oatmeal begins to turn pink.  Serve immediately.

The Taste Test
      I took the liberty to try and make this recipe a bit healthier.  Martha's recipe called for heavy cream instead of almond milk and 1/2 cup of sugar instead of 1/4 cup.  She also suggested using scraped vanilla bean, which I couldn't find in the grocery store.  I had some vanilla sugar which I threw in along with a splash of vanilla extract.  My risotto came out a bit thicker than Norma's but not quite as creamy.  That's probably because I didn't use heavy cream.  All in all, I'm really happy with the results and excited to share this with anyone who wants a taste!  I think this version of oatmeal holds a lot of possibilities and can be great with a variety of other ingredients. 

We sent this picture to Jaxson.  He thought we were having a play date with Elmo.

He Man Arnauld didn't bring a coat.  When he got cold, I let him borrow my gloves.

Mediterranean Barley with Chickpeas and Arugula

    My April magazines are starting to arrive, which means lots of new ideas and things to try.  I tagged several pages in the latest Cooking Light.  I tossed this one together in just a few minutes this morning before church thanks to my mom lending me a few ingredients I was missing last night.

Mediterranean Barley with Chickpeas and Arugula

Ingredients
1 cup uncooked pearl barley
1 cup arugula leaves
3 tablespoons of chopped sun dried tomatoes (I use the dry kind and just boil them a little before using)
1 can of chickpeas
Juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
2 tbsp chopped pistachios

Method
1. Cover barley with water in a pot.  Bring to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes.  I threw my sun dried tomatoes right in with the barley for about 5 minutes.
2. Combine the cooked barley with arugula and sun dried tomatoes in a bowl.
3. Whist together the lemon juice, oil, crushed red pepper, salt, and pepper.  Drizzle over the barley mixture.
4. Sprinkle with pistachios.

The Taste Test
    This recipe also called for chopped red bell peppers, but since I don't like peppers I left those out.  I really like the chewy texture of barley.  There is a lot of flavor in this simple dish and it's very filling.

Cauliflower and Bean Soup

     A quick trip to the mall to return something yesterday afternoon resulted in the purchase of another new cookbook!  I love to browse the bargain aisle of bookstores for cheap cookbooks.  Yesterday's purchase was called 400 Soups and it was only $7.99.  I joke with my friends at work that I don't really even like soup despite bringing it most days for lunch.  When I was little, I actually refused to eat my grandparents' soups that they made, claiming that they gave me a headache.    It's just so easy to whip up and bring for lunch.  I don't have enough time during the week to plan lunch. 
    This recipe comes from my new book.  This book will keep me posting new soups forever...

Cauliflower and Bean Soup

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 onion, chopped
1 head of cauliflower, cut into small pieces
1 can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups of vegetable stock
1 cup of water
salt and pepper
parsley

Method
1. Heat the oil over medium heat.  Add the garlic and onion and cook for 5 minutes.
2. Add the cauliflower, half the beans, and the vegetable stock and water. 
3. Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 minutes, or until cauliflower is tender.  Blend with the immersion blender.
4. Add the remaining beans and season with salt, pepper, and parsley. 

The Taste Test
     I was bummed making this soup today because my immersion blender refused to spin.  I'll have to have my dad take a look at it and hopefully he can do his magic.  I ended up using my food processor, which went alright but it was leaking a bit so I didn't let it blend enough.  This soup didn't come out as creamy as I had imagined.   The taste is also a bit blah...maybe not a keeper.  Hopefully the other 399 soup recipes from my new book come out a little better.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

    Talk about quick!  I literally threw this one together in five minutes after getting home from work later than expected, in the midst of cleaning up a dog disaster as well as a bowl I dropped on the floor.  I am amazed I didn't burn the house down.

Parmesan Crusted Tilapia

Ingredients
3-4 tilapia filets
3 tbsp softened Smart Balance (or butter)
juice from 1 lemon
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
salt and pepper

Method
1. Sprinkle both sides of the tilapia with salt and pepper and place on a baking sheet coated in cooking spray.
2. Combine the softened Smart Balance with lemon juice and Parmesan.  Sprinkle over the fish.
3. Broil the tilapia until it is cooked thoroughly and the topping is golden brown-about 10 minutes.

The Taste Test
Arnauld: "It tastes amazing!"

Veggie Burgers over Apple-Onion Salad

     These recipe come from March's issue of Better Homes and Gardens.  I was excited to try this new version of veggie burgers.

Veggie Burgers

Ingredients
1 can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 cups of whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 finely chopped onion
1 egg
2 tbsp fresh parsley
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper

Method
1. Mash means in a medium sized bowl.
2. Stir in 3/4 cups of bread crumbs, carrot, onion, egg, 1 tablespoon of parsley, 1 tablespoon of oil, and 1/4 teaspoon each of salt and pepper.
3. Combine 1/4 cup of remaining breadcrumbs and 1 tablespoon of parsley in a shallow bowl.
4. Form the bean mixture into 4 patties.  Dip both sides into the bread crumb and parsley mixture.
5. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large skillet.  Add the patties to the heated oil and cook each side for about 4 minutes or until browned.

Serve over Apple-Onion Salad

Apple-Onion Salad

Ingredients
2 medium granny smith apples, cored
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp honey
1/2 small red onion

Method
1. Slice apples and onions and set aside.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the lemon juice, olive oil, honey, 1/4 tsp salt.  Add the apples and onion slices and toss together.

Kale, Sweet Potato, and White Bean Soup

    I recently purchased a new cook book called Clean Start.  It is a vegan cookbook that has simple recipes categorize by season.  Since spring is almost here, I skipped right to the spring section and found this recipe for Kale, Sweet Potato, and White Bean Soup.  The book has many ingredients that are new to me.  For instance, this recipe called for mirin, which I had to google in order to figure out what it was and where I could find it in the grocery store.  Just so you know, mirin, is a Japanese cooking wine-supposedly a staple in Japanese cuisine.   Also, I knew what kale was but I had never used it before. I plan to try some more recipes from this book and slowly build my pantry up with new ingredients.


Kale, Sweet Potato, and White Bean Soup

Ingredients
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 tbsp grated ginger root
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 medium sweet potatoes, cut into cubes
1 can of great northern beans, drained and rinsed
3 tbsp mirin
1 bunch of kale, chopped
4 cups vegetable stock
Pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. In a large pot, saute onion and ginger over medium heat in the oil for about 3 minutes.
2. Add the celery, sweet potato, beans, and mirin.  Stir and then add kale and enough vegetable stock to cover all of the ingredients.  (I added a bit of water to my mix since I had a lot of kale in the pot.)
3. Bring the soup to a boil and the reduce the heat, cover, and cook for about 30 minutes.
4. Season with salt, pepper, and nutmeg.

This recipe made 9 cups of soup.

The Taste Test
   I plan to bring this soup to work this week, but I had a bite and it was great!  I think the nutmeg really adds a nice unexpected flavor to this healthy soup.

Spaghetti with Clams

    Arnauld and I gave up meat for lent.  Arnauld is actually the one who suggested it, which surprised me greatly!  He is a meat eater.  He is careful to have enough protein at every meal.  I was very excited about his idea because I really only ate meat every once in a while and only cooked it for him.  I have to admit, I have had a bit of anxiety this week thinking about adding new dishes to my rotation but I am excited to have this challenge to force us to try new things.  Tonight Arnauld requested spaghetti with clam sauce, something we had made probably a few years ago at this point. The recipe comes from a Giada book.

Spaghetti with Clams

Ingredients
Salt
1 pound of spaghetti
1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
2 pounds Manita clams, scrubbed clean
1/2 cup white cooking wine
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
2 tbsp unsalted butter
Zest of 1 Lemon

Method
1. Bring salted water to a boil and add spaghetti.  Cook until desired tenderness.
2. While the spaghetti is cooking, heat the oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat.  When is begins to smoke, add the shallots and cook for about 3 minutes.
3.Add the garlic and cook until they are golden brown and the shallots are translucent, about 3 more minutes.
4. Add the clams, wine, salt, pepper, and 2 tablespoons of parsley.  Cover the pan and simmer for 6 minutes or until all of the clams have opened.  Whisk in the butter to thicken the sauce.
5. Drain the spaghetti, reserve about 1/3 cup of the liquid.  Combine the spaghetti and clam mixture.  Add reserved water to moisten if needed.
6. Serve with a sprinkle of lemon zest and parsley to garnish.

The Taste Test
Arnauld wanted me to be sure to include in this blog post that this is not a clam sauce, it is pasta with clams.  It is a much lighter recipe than traditional pasta with clam sauce.  Once everything was chopped, this was a very simple recipe to execute and smelled delicious as it cooked.  The final results were light, fresh, and flavorful.

Happy Birthday Mom!

     Yesterday was my mom's birthday as well as Ash Wednesday.  When planning a celebration for this busy week night, I had a lot to consider.  It had to be quick and relatively easy, meatless, and of course appealing to a wide variety of appetites. 
     Recently my parents went to dinner at restaurant in Maine.  They both came back pretty impressed with a dish my mom ordered.  It was fish cooked and served in parchment paper.  That sounded pretty interesting to me so I googled a recipe and found one that fit the criteria for the evening at sparkrecipes.com. 
     For my other creation, I decided to go with spinach balls.  This recipe was gifted to me by some of my pals at work.  I had been excited to try them out, so they also made their way onto the menu.  I thought they would compliment the baked ziti my grandma was bringing.

Parchment Wrapped Tilapia

The great thing about this dish, is that it is so individual.  You could cook one piece of fish, or in my case 8.  I will list the ingredients below per serving.

Ingredients
1 Tilapia Filet
2-3 Lemon Slices
3 Onion Slices
2 Potato Slices
3-4 Spears of Asparagus
5 Black Olives
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 tsp Olive Oil
Parchment Paper

Method
1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Lay the tilapia in the center of a sheet of folded parchment paper.  It should be large enough to form a pocket around the contents.
3. Layer the vegetables on top of the fish.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
5.  Roll in the edges of the parchment paper to form a pocket and place on a baking sheet.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes, or until fish is cooked completely.

The Taste Test
     The recipe I used said that this dish only needed to bake for 12 minutes on 350.  After 12 minutes, the fish was not cooked.  I upped the temperature and cooked it for an additional 12 minutes.  The parchment paper should begin to turn brown and you will be able to hear the contents sizzling.  Once we got the time and temperature right, this was really tasty.  The fish was soft and flavorful and I was amazed at how tender all of the vegetables got in the parchment paper...even the potatoes.  You can totally throw a variety of other vegetables in with the fish-something I would like to experiment with some more.

Spinach Balls

Ingredients
2 cups crushed seasoned stuffing
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 eggs and 2 egg whites
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
3 tbsp vegetable broth
1 garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp pepper
1/8 tsp salt
2 packages of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Method
1. In a large bowl, combine all of the ingredients except the spinach.
2. Stir in spinach until blended.  Roll into 1 inch balls.
3. Place your spinach balls on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray.  Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown.

The Taste Test
I loved these!  I was actually surprised that my dad also liked them along with my grandma and uncles (sometimes a tough crowd!).  I can't wait to make these again.  They were also VERY easy.

    It was so nice to get my family together in the middle of the week to celebrate my mom's birthday.  I literally threw everything together, which goes to show that in the end all that really matters is being together.  Once again, I am grateful that we are all close enough to make these gatherings happen as often as they do. 

Ace decided to really test out his walking skills to celebrate the occasion! 

Jax is always front and center when it is time to sing and blow out the candles.

Happy Birthday Mom!  

I love you!

xox

Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

    Yet another recipe from March's Cooking Light.  This one was pretty easy and I had most of the ingredients in stock.  I marinated the chicken overnight, although the magazine says that an hour will do. 


Asian Glazed Chicken Thighs

Ingredients
1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/4 cup low sodium soy sauce
3 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sesame oil
1 1/2 tbsp chili paste
10 garlic cloves, minced-I completely overlooked the garlic in this recipe and it was still delicious!
6-12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
Cooking Spray
1/2 tsp salt

Method
1. Combine vinegar, soy sauce, honey, sesame oil, chili pasts, and garlic in a small bowl.  Stir until the honey dissolves.  Pour the mixture into a ziplock back with chicken.  Marinate for 1-12 hours.
2.  When ready to cook, remove chicken from the bag but hang on to the marinade.  You will need to heat this over medium high heat in a small saucepan until it comes to a boil.  Cook it for 2 minute, or until it begins to thicken.
3.  Place the chicken in an oven safe dish, coated with cooking spray.  Baste the chicken with the marinade and sprinkle evenly with salt.  Bake at 425 for 10 minutes and then baste the chicken again.  Cook for 10 more minutes and baste.  Finally, bake 10 more minutes or until the chicken is done.  Let the chicken stand for five minutes before serving.

The Taste Test
     Very tasty and an easy dinner to plan the night before and just toss in the oven.  For some reason, my marinade never became syrupy-not sure what I did wrong but it didn't seem to have any negative impacts on dinner.

Homemade French Fries

    Browsing through my Cooking Light magazine inspired Arnauld and I to make homemade french fries today.  There was an advertisement for the website, healthypotato.com and a picture of very delicious looking potato wedges.  These were very easy to make and were as tasty as they looked in the magazine picture.


Homemade French Fries

Ingredients
4 medium potatoes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp rosemary
Olive oil cooking spray
salt
pepper

Method
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Place scrubbed potatoes in a microwave safe covered dish.  If covering with plastic, poke a hole in the plastic.  Cook in microwave on high for 3-4 minutes.  When done, remove from microwave (make sure you wear oven mits).  I put the bowl in the fridge for a few minutes to cool the potatoes down so cutting them would be less painful. 
3. Once potatoes are cool enough, cut each potato into 8 wedges.
4.  Put the wedges in a bowl and coat with olive oil and rosemary. 
5. Place wedges in a single layer on a baking sheet.  After about 10 minutes, spray with olive oil spray and turn wedges.  Spray the fries again and cook for 10 more minutes or until golden brown.
6. Take fries from the oven and sprinkle with salt and pepper. 

The Taste Test
     Cooking the potatoes for a few minutes in the microwave made these fries really easy to cut.  What a great idea!  These fries were really good and the best part was that they did not leave me feeling greasy or guilty for eating french fries.

Pad Thai

    My latest Cooking Light magazine came full of great ideas so I bookmarked several pages.  This recipe was part of a spread about restaurant favorites and ways to make them healthier at home.  This recipe has a lot less sodium and calories than Pad Thai you would get from a Thai restaurant.  Arnauld was looking through my magazine one night and requested Pad Thai.  We gave it a shot tonight since Pad Thai is one of our favorite things to order when we get Thai food.   It is rare these days that we are both home to make dinner together.  We work well as a team and it was nice making this together. 

Pad Thai

Ingredients
8 oz flat rice noodles
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lime juice
1 tbsp chili garlic sauce
2 tbsp canola oil
1 cup green onion pieces
1/2 pound shrimp
1 chicken breast, cut into small bite size pieices
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup fresh bean sprouts
1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts, unsalted and chopped

Method
1. Cook noodles by placing them in a bowl of very hot tap water.  Soak them for 35-30 minutes, stirring occasionally so they don't stick together.  Drain them before adding to the wok.
2. Combine sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, garlic chili sauce, and lime juice in a small bowl.
3. Heat a wok over medium-high heat.  Add oil and coat the wok.  Add onion, chicken, shrimp, and garlic.  Stir fry these ingredients until the chicken and shrimp is done.  Add cooked noodles and toss in order to combine.
4.  Stir in the sauce and cook for 1 minute.
5.  Arrange noodles in bowls.  Top each serving with 1/4 cup bean sprouts and 1 tbsp of chopped peanuts.

The Taste Test
     Since Arnauld helped in the kitchen tonight, I asked him to contribute to my blog as well with his own "taste test."  Here is what he had to say:

Dear J,

Just shooting you a quick note to let you know how much I enjoyed the Pad Thai tonight. As you know, when it comes to Thai food, the only route I go is Pad Thai. So when I saw the Pad Thai recipe the other night in that healthy cooking magazine that you subscribe to (sorry, too lazy to get up to check the name), I knew we had to try it out this weekend. It came out great. I was curious to see how the fish sauce would work into the recipe, and I was surprised to find out that, as bad as it smelled, I don’t think I even tasted it (I think it functions to bring out the flavor in the other ingredients, not that I’m a culinary expert or anything). The chili sauce added a great kick to it, and the noodles were on the al dente end of the spectrum (a plus for me). Best of all, it tasted like my favorite Pad Thai dishes (from Pan Thai and Brown Sugar, both in Boston), but a lot lighter (not that I’m big into eating light, but I’m sure the ladies that read this blog will be pumped about it). Great job, J. Keep up the good work in the kitchen, because it’s reflecting well on this blog.

I love you,
@