Salmon: Teaching Myself to Swim in the Culinary Seas

I bought some beautiful salmon this weekend in an effort to continue our journey of eating more healthy. I just prepped them for tonight's dinner and realized I should have paid more attention in Chef Edward' salmon skinning class! But, I prevailed. The fillets are skinned, re-checked for bones, and bones removed. I also have fillets that do NOT look like they have already been eaten on and a new recipe to try that I just pinned. Here goes nothing!

Meatless Monday: Quick and Easy Banana Bread

I realize summer doesn't exactly conjure up images of baking bread...but I had some overripe bananas left and for some reason banana bread sounded great! When the weather gets warm, and I do feel like baking (which as any of you know is not THAT often) I do my baking int he evening when the temperatures are cooling. No one wants a hot oven in the heat of the day!

I found this recipe for "quick and easy" banana bread on Cooks.com , not a terribly complex or visually appealing website but it has a tons of variations of the same dish you are looking to make, and it makes cook crooking an easy venture sometimes! This particular recipe is super quick and easy, because it uses self-rising flour...an easy short cut and something I tend to have on hand because I am such an impatient baker!

Banana Bread  Courtesy of Cooks.com

2 c. self-rising flour
1/2 c. butter
2 eggs
1/2 c. nut meats or raisins (I decided to use Blueberry Craisins to try something different)
1 c. sugar
3 mashed bananas 
Melt butter and pour into mixing bowl. Stir in sugar, eggs and bananas (in that order). Add flour to banana mixture gradually, adding nut meats or raisins last.Pour batter into well-greased loaf pans (2) or a 9x13-inch cake pan. Bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes. Bread is done when toothpick inserted in thickest part comes out clean.

I wanted to make and sure all this bread so I made one in a loaf pan and one in an 8x8 pan. In hindsight, I should have stuck to the instructions because the breads came out a little flatter than I would like, but the flavor was there...and it was eaten in about an hour when it got brought into work! I also enjoyed the Craisins in the bread. I am going to use this combination next time to make some muffins and add a little bit more banana for extra moist banana goodness!

Meatless Monday: Crab and Spinach Pasta with Fontina

Okay, so pasta with crab isn't entirely MEATLESS but I am still working to reduce the red meat intake and increasing seafood is not a bad choice. This dish also appeared to have all the elements for a dish my husband would love: red sauce, spinach, pasta and crab!

The recipe actually came from a & co-worker. She received an introductory copy to Better Homes and Garden's recipe selections and she brought it into work to give me an opportunity to copy any that piqued my interest. I was immediately drawn to this one and photocopied it right away. Luckily, a quick search and I found it online too:Crab and Spinach Pasta with Fontina

The biggest challenge of making this dish was finding a 2-quart square baking dish so I settled for a rectangular one and got my ingredients together. The recipe calls for any tomato-base pasta sauce, so I went for the arrabiata for a little spice. I was also luck to get some adorable kitchen help:

I thought it looked delicious before I even added the cheese on top. I used my favorite Wacky Mac bow tie pasta to get some extra good-for-us stuff in there.

but we all love cheese so cheese on and into the oven it went:

 And 30 minutes later a very yummy looking final product:

The thing is, it was good, but not outstanding. I thought it would be substantial enough to serve on its own, but it was extremely light and would be a nice brunch menu item to go along with other things. It also needed more spice as the arrabiata didn't come through as I hoped. We experimented adding a little crushed red pepper to our meals, and that added some depth. I think a little garlic may give it a little more life too. Hey you never know what a recipe will be like until you try it! 

Let me know if you have made something similar, have an idea or try it out.

Meatless Monday: Cornbread

I have some great recipes planned this month for Meatless Monday! However, tonight the hubby is out on Rescue Duty so I will be enjoying just a simple veggie wrap and random leftovers.

I did decide it would be a good time to share this recipe I tried for cornbread, especially with the soup, chili and stew season upon us. I got the recipe from good old standby Betty-Crocker, but I made a few "light" changes. I used light butter, skim milk and Splenda and it still came out very tasty...a little denser than the full fat kind but just as flavorful.

Remember the Meatless Monday movement is about replacing one meal a week with one that doesn't involve meat, purely for health reasons. I know this is the time of year many of use pledge to exercise and eat right, and this is a simple no stress way to eat just a little better. I made a resolution to eat more fruits and vegetables daily in every meal in order to satisfy the recommended daily amount. So far, so good!

Have a meatless meal you love? Share your pics and recipes with me and you might be our reader recipe!

Meatless Monday: Brownies on the Lighter Side

I have often made the statement that "I don't bake" right? For years I have stood by my mantra of being a cook and not a baker....but after hearing Tom Colicchio chastise many a chef on Top Chef for a similar mantra, I decided I couldn't stand on that principle anymore. So I have started slowly, cheating with mixes and taking baby steps to doing some real baking. I have a huge chocolate fan on my hands, also known as my husband, and a step-daughter also with mad-love for the baked good, so I have been experimenting a little more each week.

Recently, when I saw the Cooking Light recipe for classic fudge brownies I had to give it a go! And having recently purchased my first digital kitchen scale, I was determined to follow the recipe to the letter. Actually one of the reasons I have shied away from baking has been the lack of creative freedom I always thought it had, Now I am learning there is still room for changes and creativity, once you get the basics down pact! Even with this recipe I made a few changes (like no nuts for my no nuts in brownies gang) and felt good about the results.

The recipe and Cooking Light as a rule always recommends that for the best light recipes, you have to have quality ingredients where it counts. In this case, I went high quality chocolate:

And because it was baking, I worked really hard to prepare a proper mise en place:

One big change I made was to substitute half of the sugar for Splenda. I wasn't brave enough to make a full substitution but thought the half and half would work out well. I also substituted dark chocolate chips for the chopped chocolate portion of the recipe. The batter seemed a good consistency and into the oven it went:

Now here was a case of me not reading the ENTIRE recipe before proceeding. I missed the pan size portion of the recipe. Their recipe calls for a 9x9 but at the bottom mentions you can use an 8x8 but need to cook them about 5 minutes longer. Missed that completely so it is entirely possible I pulled these out three times before they were done! But they did come out looking good. The real test was going to be my two chocolate treat experts. Husband demanded a second one after inhaling the first.

This is the picture of my step-daughter when I joked about taking the brownie from her:

So this recipe is a keeper...and I look forward to perfecting it a bit. Personally I thought they were a little too fudgy but the experts all chimed in that they were perfect as is...maybe I will just make a batch with nuts for me sometime!

Meatless Monday: The End of Thanksgiving

Sick of turkey yet?

Even if I did cook a 14-pound turkey for just me, my husband and son and then inexplicably also cook enough sides for as many people as a 14-pound turkey could feed..I do enjoy Thanksgiving because it is THE holiday dedicated to eating. As the below photo shows:

Did I mention this was for just me, my spouse and our 4-year old?

Anyway, there is turkey pot pie filling in the crock-pot while we speak , augmented by leftover veggies. Speaking of veggies, with it being Meatless Monday I thought I would share some vegetable dishes starting with 3 different broccoli preparations from my favorite Cooking Light::

Cheddar Beer Sauce Broccoli

Broccoli with Red Pepper and Toasted Garlic

Lemon Parmesan Broccoli

I made my broccoli for Thanksgiving in the spirit of their lemon broccoli but having used all the lemons during my other prep and cooking I improvised with leftover lemon Caesar dressing…quite good!

Next it’s a good time to revisit those mashed sweet potatoes because since according to my husband I made 3 pounds of them, I had leftovers I used in a sweet potato cheesecake:

Finally I direct your attention to my new favorite easy and tasty appetizer/side item: spicy saltines! These went fantastic with a good friend’s famous white chicken chili at the recent college football tailgate. Literally there are 4 ingredients: 1 ¼ cup canola oil, 2 tablespoons crushed red pepper, 1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch Dressing mix, 1 box of saltines:

Have a great post-Thanksgiving week everyone! Next blog will be the December menu…only 27 days until Christmas!

Meatless Monday: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese

Every once in a while I try a recipe just because I am curious. Maybe it’s something I have never prepared before (like short ribs) or maybe it’s something that has a unique ingredient. Thumbing through my Cooking Light magazines and cookbooks in preparation of creating the monthly menus, I revisited their September cover recipe: creamy light macaroni and cheese.  I had some real interest in this because my hubby bless his heart loves the stuff but he has high cholesterol so I very rarely if ever make it. What makes it light? Well, here is where the unique ingredient comes in: butternut squash! Yep, Cooking Light shared a recipe that calls for a butternut squash béchamel and since they are in season I said, why not?

Frankly the hardest part of preparation was pealing that damn squash!! Perhaps this would be the point that I should mention this is the second time in my life I have dealt with this particular gourd in its original form (I usually cheat and buy the pre-peeled and cubed they sell in the produce section). I spent Saturday at our local Farmer’s Market with my family and some friends and picked up just-from-the-farm butternut squash and promptly struggled to peel it and seed it. If only I had seen this first: How to Peel and Cut a Butternut Squash.

RECIPE: Creamy Light Macaroni and Cheese:

I varied a little from the instructions, choosing to use my stick blender rather than attempt to pour hot squash and chicken broth from my pot...and it still came out wonderfully creamy:

The sauce was in fact absolutely delicious! I was so impressed that it didn't taste like squash at all. The high quality cheese is certainly a little pricey but it makes all the difference. Once it's added to the pasta it already looks delicious, and I used whole wheat penne:

The topping was super easy and it takes only a few minutes to brown the panko which when combined with the Parmigiano-Reggiano surprisingly made enough to sprinkled over the top as indicated.

The moment of truth was the taste test after it's 25 minutes in the oven. It was more than a success as hubby almost went for thirds! The 4 year-old ate it too and it made a ton so we had plenty to freeze for another time. Definitely a keeper!!

Steal of the Week + Meatless Monday: Apple and Blueberry Crumble

My dear friend Zack recently took a trip to the Shenandoah Valley and asked if I would be interested in having some apples from his adventure in apple picking. Actually, I am not sure if I allowed him to finish asking the question, instead interrupting enthusiastically to shout "Apples! I love apples, yes, please!". Once the apples arrived I immediately cut and ate one and quickly remembered why store bought apples are lame (well, okay to be fair store bought apples are fine but compared ot picked off the tree to table...not even close!)

The next question was, now with a bounty of apples, what to make with them? My favorite dessert next to pecan pie is apple pie but anyone who regularly follows this blog knows I am a novice (see also "not good experiences") at baking and while I am working on getting better at it, not sure if I am ready for a scratch pie. However, baking or no baking, I am pretty good using mixes to make practically anything so when BettyCrocker.com coincidentally sent me an e-mail with recommended recipes for apples, I found the recipe for Southern Apple Crumble. Of course, as is always the case I made my own substitutions and instead of oatmeal cookie mix I used sugar cookie mix and I decided to add a cup of blueberries that I had on hand.

The recipe was very easy...I rough chopped 3 of the largest apples I had and mixed those with the sugars, butter and cinnamon right in the dish I used and sprayed with cooking spray.

The next step is adding the cookie mix which was mixed with the stick of melted butter (I used unsalted reduced fat butter).

After 40 minutes at 300 degrees, you had the chopped pecans and then I baked it for another 15 minutes:

Admittedly I cut into it too soon after taking it out of the oven so it was a little liquidy at first but it smelled so fantastic and I was so excited to top it with ice cream:

DELICIOUS! My co-workers were the beneficiaries the next day since I don't like keeping something like this around the house for just me and the little boy (Hubby not a big cobbler fan) and it lasted about 45 minutes in our break room. I love oatmeal cookies and I can totally see how that was good in the original recipe but something about the sugar cookie topping just made it for me! Happy #MeatlessMonday !

Back from Vegas...and boy am I inspired!

Sadly I ended up with no computer access in Las Vegas but I had an incredible time (ha ha...not sure what made me think I would have the time or ability to blog from Vegas but I was hopeful!)! Mostly it was incredible because I spent time with my husband and some wonderful friends AND saw two of my wonderful friends get married but it was also amazing because I ate extremely well and met my goal of hitting as many Top Chef Masters restaurants as possible!! So this week I will be sharing my photos and experiences from those restaurants. For now, however, I am going to attempt to recover from a full day of work after a 12:30am arrival time!

PS. I know it's also Meatless Monday...check out these corn, black bean and pepper jack burritos!

Meatless Monday - More Roasted Tomatoes!

This year I discovered roasting my own tomatoes….who knew grape tomatoes that were still good but not quite fresh enough for a salad work just as well?! According to Claire Robinson of Food Network you can!

and according to my husband I am becoming obsessed with roasting!  I think I may even try my hand at canning these guys (I'll let you know if I get brave!)

This particular batch I was saving  to make my own savory pasta dish when hubby was on EMT duty since he's not a huge tomato lover, but I think I have an even tastier idea in mind that will be something we will both enjoy....stay tuned!

Steal of the Week: Mexican Coleslaw for Meatless Monday-Update

Remember that Mexican coleslaw recipe? I decided to Cook Crook the recipe up a bit and amp the flavor. I decided to use my Chipotle infused extra virgin olive oil from Savor the Olive!

And for a recipe like this if you don't already have an angled measuring cup like this one, you should get one! So much easier to measure!

The flavor was fantastic using the spicier oil! I think it would be super easy to add a little spice on your own too! It holds up well in outdoor situations and it's light flavor doesn't overpower other dishes.

Pretty isn't it? Oh and P.S. I cheated....I used the bagged coleslaw mix!! This will be a potluck and picnic staple for years to come.

Steal of the Week: Mexican Coleslaw for Meatless Monday

Labor Day weekend is coming up and you may be thinking about a side you can bring to your upcoming cookout. Try this recipe from Jillian Michaels that was made for me by a friend one of my last pot-luck parties. It is a delicious low-fat and low-calorie coleslaw that beats the old mayo version in terms of freshness and taste! I'll be making it this weekend for my church's Labor Day cook-out!

Mexican Coleslaw

Recipe by Jillian Michaels

Ingredients

• 6 cups cabbage very thinly sliced
  
• 1 1/2 cups carrots peeled and grated
  
• 1/3 cup cilantro chopped
  
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
  
• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
  

Cooking Directions

1. Rinse cabbage and carrots thoroughly with cold water in colander and let drain 5 minutes (or use a salad spinner like I do!). 
2. Whisk cilantro, vinegar, oil and salt in a large bowl. 
3. Add cabbage and carrots. 
4. Toss well to coat. 
5. Once prepared, serve immediately or cover and refrigerate for up to 1 day. Toss again to refresh just before serving.

Happy Meatless Monday!

Meatless Monday: Recipes Around the Web

I am making it a mission in the next meal planning month to include a few meat free dishes for the family. Eggs have always been a huge staple of mine when cooking without meat but with hubby's cholesterol I have needed to check out other options. I am a veggie lover as is my husband but our palates differ when it comes to the types and combinations of vegetables. He is a no mushroom and sometimes tomatoes kind if guy where as I love both...and don't get me started on his on again off again like of beans! Therefore I am on the hunt for more meatless options the whole family will love and hope to share the results on the day many food blogs have termed "Meatless Monday".

For now, enjoy these links to today's meatless recipes from some of my favorite sites and the one that started the movement:

Meatless Monday

Foodista: Red Quinoa and Lentil Burger

#MeatlessMonday Recipe of the Day: Zucchini Patties 

Eating Well : Healthy Vegetarian Recipes You Must Try

Feel free to share your favorite Meatless recipes! Share recipes and photos and I will choose some to feature on a future Meatless Monday post.