Salmon Croquettes or what the hell was I thinking?

Tonight's happy hour was cancelled and Manatee was going to be home at a reasonable hour so I thought- great! I'll make a nice dinner for us. It will be relaxing. Get some wine to wine down from the first day back to work.
I didn't have anything planned and also didn't have many groceries in the house so I did a little googling at lunch time and found two recipes for Salmon Croquettes (via Cooking Light, my favorite cooking publication). I have been on a crab cake kick so it seemed like a good idea.

I haven't actually tried them yet as they are still chilling in the refrigerator. Lesson learned here: READ the ENTIRE recipe. I skimmed through two recipes and chose this one because it seemed to be more of my tastes in terms of ingredients. What I did not pay attention to: the amount of chopped vegetables and the amount of chilling.

Now for a normal work day where I had the ingredients at home, this would not be a bad recipe. But considering that I worked later than usual THEN went to Target THEN had a totally new checkout girl who was totally flummoxed by all of my produce (key codes, what are those?) and THEN had to deal with a tediously long recipe. Well, it's been a long night. I'm about ready to gnaw on my hand and am tipsy from the wine I drank as I prepared the meal.

I'll report on the salmon croquettes post-tasting, but my message to all of you loyal readers (all three of you): read a new recipe in its entirety. Watch out for 'chilling times' and the amount of chopped vegetables/spices required. This equals time and when you have had a long day and you're really hungry, time is of the essence.

Marinades and a Summer Salad

So to follow up the vacation meal: the marinade was alright. The chicken was very juicy and it had a very nice taste. My parents loved it but they may have just been 'being kind' and/or they like bland foods. I think marinading may have to be a challenge for me to conquer this summer. My goal will be a marinade that packs a punch using only whole food ingredients.

The star of the evening was a salad we threw together. I think everyone has a similar version of their own, but here's mine:

2 cucumbers, diced
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can of corn, rinsed and drained
1 pint of grape tomatoes, sliced
1/2 onion, diced
2 Tbsp olive oil
juice from 3-4 limes
2 avocados, diced

Mix everything together except the avocados and let the flavors meld for 3-4 hours. Before serving, add avocado.

Manatee and I are back in frozen tundra. I still owe you a recipe with roasted red peppers (I haven't forgotten) and I will be back on The Plan shortly.

Cooking on Vacation

So the lack of posts have been due to a lovely vacation. I have missed cooking and I am still on vacation. We are visiting my parents in Texas and somewhat stupidly, I volunteered to cook and then proceeded to tell my parents to also invite my aunt and uncle. Then my mother told me, 'oh by the way, don't buy anything we don't already have.'
Sigh.
And then, "we're going grocery shopping today and leaving in 15 minutes."
Double sigh.
I knew I wanted to grill chicken breasts and I knew I wanted to marinade. Have I ever marinaded anything in my life? No. And now I also couldn't venture too far from my parents' scarce pantry. I had already told her I wanted balsamic vinegar for a caprese salad which took 20 minutes of persuasion and my father thinks ketchup is spicy.
I went back to the hotel room and started googling marinades. None of which had ingredients that my parents would allow. What I came up with:
juice from 2 oranges, 4 limes and 3 lemons
2 Tbsp of honey
2 Tbsp of olive oil
Chopped garlic (2 cloves) *
4 large chicken breasts

*it would have been minced but all of my parents' knives are the equivalent of butter knives

It is currently marinading. I am also going to make a caprese salad, some kind of corn/black bean/cucumber/avocado/lime juice salad and some kind of flat Mexican bread.

I will let you know how it goes!

Easy Salad and Warm Meal for the Winter

As anyone in the Midwest knows, we have had a heck of a snowstorm the last two days! Here is the meal I made Monday night in preparation of the big storm. As an appetizer, I made a caprese salad. This is an easy salad that is sure to impress.

Caprese Salad

Tomatoes

Fresh Mozzarella

Fresh Basil

Balsamic Vinegar

Toasted Bread Crumbs

1. Place your breadcrumbs in a toaster over or in an oven set to 350. Keep an eye on them!
2. Slice your tomatoes and place on a plate.
3. Slice your mozzarella and place over tomatoes.
4. Tear up basil and place on tomatoes and mozzarella.
5. Take your toasted breadcrumbs and sprinkle over other ingredients. 
6. Drizzle balsamic vinegar over the lot of it and enjoy!

Notes: Though I have to admit the tomatoes are better in the summer, this was a welcome break from a green salad. The breadcrumbs do a great job of soaking in that balsamic vinegar. Fresh is always best: I was lucky enough to have some leftover from another dish. To make your own breadcrumbs: add bread, splash of olive oil, italian parsley and parmesan cheese in the food processor and pulse. Or just bread and olive oil to keep it easier. ;)

For a main meal, Manatee and I resorted to one of our go-to meals. Spaghetti squash and whole wheat spaghetti with a robust marinara sauce. 

Now I can give you the ingredients that we used for this particular time, but to be terribly honest, it changes slightly every time we make it. Manatee and I both love eggplant, mushrooms and zucchini so those are always included but customize it to what you like.

Robust Marinara Sauce


1 really big can of diced tomatoes (or two 15 oz. cans)
2 small eggplants
1 16 oz pkg of mushrooms
1 onion
2 small zucchini 
2 small yellow squash
1 green pepper


2-3 organic chicken sausages
2 or 3 garlic cloves, minced
Splash of red wine
Couple sprays of olive oil spray
Italian seasoning to taste


Spaghetti Squash
Whole Wheat Spaghetti

1. Cut up vegetables in large slices/dices.
2. Spray large frying pan with olive oil spray and add all veggies and garlic. Splash on some red wine. Cover and let simmer until veggies start to get soft. This is when I start to boil the water.
3. Add tomatoes and chicken sausages. Cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes. This when I usually put the noodles in the water and put the spaghetti squash in the microwave. 
4. Add spices to taste. Serve over spaghetti and spaghetti squash. 

More information about cooking spaghetti squash coming soon...

How to Roast Red Peppers

There are many of you out there who may already know how to do this. This is a new thing for me and I wish I would have known how to do this years ago. It would have saved me money and calories as I would not have had to rely on roasted red peppers soaked in oil.

How to Roast Red Peppers

1. Arrange your oven rack so that it is 5-6 inches from the broiler element.
2. Turn your broiler on high.
3. Place your peppers on a heavy lidded baking pan and put them in the oven.
4. Every five minutes or once the side has been charred black, turn the pepper. It should take 15-20 minutes.
5. When the peppers are soft and charred on each side, remove the peppers and place them in a large bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. 
6. Once the peppers have cooled, remove the skin, the seeds and the stem.
7. Chop up and enjoy. 

Stay tuned for a recipe using roasted red peppers....

Mmmmmmmm....Whole Foods

This pizza was part of our efforts to eat whole foods and no chemicals. I know, we really sacrifice a lot, don't we?

The crust is homemade and whole wheat. This was part of my goal to take on yeast. I was incredibly nervous about it, and fretted that I had 'killed' the yeast and was overwhelmed with flashbacks of the unleavened bread disaster from this summer. I checked on it so much that it took a little longer to rise, but rise it did. The great thing about the recipe (which I will include below) is that it makes two crust. I made one pizza on Sunday and then saved the rest of the dough to use last night. 

In a perfect world, I would have made my own marinara sauce but this was a weeknight. I chose Amy's Marinara Sauce for two reasons. 1: All the ingredients were actual foods, no chemicals. 2- Sugar was not an ingredient. This is tricky because many marinara sauces add sugar. So even though this had more fat than Newman's Own Marinara (a favorite of ours), it had half the sugar.

You would think that it would be easy to find mozzarella cheese sans chemicals, but alas. All those packages of shredded cheese have chemicals to keep it looking fresh and to prevent it from clumping. This was a disappointment I have to admit. Shredded cheese would have made this an even easier dish, but to find cheese without any added chemicals or preservatives, I had to get a block of fresh mozzarella.

Usually, I cook with reduced fat mozzarella but went with the full fat version for this pizza. In addition to a definite boost of flavor and creaminess, the full fat cheese melts so much better! As you can see from the picture, the cheese is literally oozing off the crust. When I have made pizza with reduced fat cheese, I have always used a full package which is a pound and sometime it still seems skimpy. So when we made this one, I did the same. While it was good to have all that cheese, it was too much. Next time I will just use a 1/2 pound. So even though I am using a full fat cheese, I have learned I don't have to use as much.

Now, the chicken sausages we used are a processed food, but I did buy the Target Organic brand. Like the marinara sauce, all of the ingredients listed were actual foods as opposed to chemicals. 

The recipe for the dough is from the Cooking Light Complete Cookbook.

Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

1 package of dry yeast

1/4 tsp of sugar

1 1/2 cup of warm water

2 1/2 cups of all purpose flour

1 cup of whole wheat flour

1 Tbsp of olive oil

1 1/2 tsp of salt

Cooking Spray

1-2 Tbsp of yellow cornmeal

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water, let stand for 5 minutes. 

2. Add 2 1/2 cups of of all purpose flour, whole wheat flour, oil and salt to yeast mixture. Stir until well blended.

3. Turn dough onto floured surface. Kneed until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes). Add enough flour to keep dough from sticking to hands. It should still feel tacky.

4. Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray and, turn the dough so the top is also coated.

5. Cover and let rise for 45 minutes in a warm place (85 degrees) and no drafts. You will know it's properly risen when you can gently press your fingers into the dough and the indention remains.

SIDE NOTE: This is where I freaked out a bit. I had read about turning your oven on its lowest setting for ten minutes and then turning it off and putting the dough in. But then I worried that I didn't wait long enough between when I turned it off and put the dough in, so then I opened the oven door. Then I took it out. Then I got impatient and put it back in the oven. Then I opened the oven door. Then it got hot in the kitchen. Then I cheered because the dough was still rising. Then I shut the oven door. Then...well, you get the picture. It wasn't the most efficient process. I will keep you posted as I continue to learn how to raise the bread.

6. Punch the dough down and let it rest for 5 minutes. 

7. Divide dough in half. (Here is where I stuck one half of the dough into a ziplock bag to be used later)

8. Roll out on a floured surface and place on a 12 inch pizza pan (greased unless you are using a pizza stone) and dust with cornmeal.

9. Proceed with pizza directions.

TIP: Before putting on toppings, bake crust for 5 minutes. The first time I did not do this and the center was a little soggy. When I pre-baked it, the crust was crispy throughout.

Enjoy! 

A Quick Lunch

I really tried to be lazy. I tried twice to order Thai delivery but I was rejected both times. Then I began to think about the book I was reading last week, Real Food Has Curves, and how when it went comes down to it, it's a matter of people not wanting to put forth the effort to each healthier, whole foods rather than processed foods. And I realized I was a hypocrite. I had been telling people about this book and how cool I thought it was and how I was trying to cut out processed foods, yet here I was trying to avoid the kitchen and order delivery.

So I scavenged our cupboards and came up with a delicious and easy Thai inspired dish.

I cooked a chicken breast, steamed some frozen veggies and prepared some whole wheat spaghetti noodles. What made the dish was the following peanut sauce.


Peanut Sauce
3 Tbsp of reduced sodium soy sauce
1 Tbsp of minced fresh ginger (FRESH ginger is key here)
1 1/2 Tbsp of natural crunchy peanut butter
2 Tbsp of white vinegar
1 1/2 tsp of sugar
Few shakes of hot sauce


Whisk ingredients together and then pour over noodles, chicken and veggies. Finish by squeezing a half of lime over the dish and enjoy!