Thanks Dad!

My dad has discovered a new love of all that is cooking. If he was Internet savvy I would lead him to the blog-o-sphere that is all food related. He watched a lot of Food Network & has a special place in his heart for Paula Deen. But he is always concocting something at my parents house and its usually something that has to cook for hours upon end.

Last year some time, he made this spaghetti sauce but with pulled pork. It was so good! I mean, its not genius or anything, but I had never put those 2 things together. Usually when I have a pork tenderloin I roast it in the oven with some spices and call it good. So when I pulled out the tenderloin from the freezer & starting thinking of what to do with this, I went to spaghetti side.

I mentioned before I make my own marinara sauce. Its very easy to do and I have more control over the taste. Since I seasoned the pork with garlic, salt & pepper, I didn't add any to the sauce, but I did add some rosemary this time around & it added that pop of flavor that I really like.

Basically, you brown your pork tenderloin in a large pot/dutch oven. Pour the marinara sauce over the pork-it needs to be completely covered. Cook this on a simmer for at least one hour. You could easily do this in a crock pot, but I forgot about this method until 6pm. When the pork is completely cooked, pull it out of the sauce and shred it. Add it back to the sauce for about 30 more minutes. Serve over noodles. We used the Ronzoni Whole Wheat penne.

Salmon

Apparently I have been picture hoarding or something. I have been cooking, but I have gotten a little lazy at taking pictures & posting. See I take the pictures, then they sit on the camera for a few days, then I load them onto my laptop, then they sit there for a few days until eventually I get around to posting them. So, sorry for the unflux of updates today, I finally had some time & energy to post.

Sun-Dried Tomato Salmon
This was a quick evening meal. I have made sun-dried tomato salmon many a times. Its really quite easy.
1. Take a bottle of Kraft Sun-Dried Tomato dressing
2. marinate your salmon for about 30 mins,
3. roast in the oven at 400 until the fish flakes easily with a fork

Now here is the twist on this one, we had a sun-dried tomato aioli from Viansa so I just topped the roasted salmon with that. I highly doubt it was diet friendly. I mean aioli is like mayo. But it tasted great with this salmon!

Round out the meal with a baked potato & some green beans.

Fish with Pine Nuts, Olives, Basil...

Ok so this recipe has a long name, but I swear its easy to make! Sometimes the Williams-Sonoma recipes look long, lengthy& difficult. They aren't, but they do take a little but tweaking to make it work for the everyday chef.
Our diet, or whatever you want to call it, has us eat a lot of fish. I like to find ways to make the fish more interesting. This recipe looked like a winner. I pulled out some tilapia and we were off.

Fish with Pine Nuts, Olives, Basil & Wine
Williams-Sonoma

Ingredients:
1/4 cup pine nuts
4 firm white fish fillets, such as snapper,
rock cod, flounder, sea bass, halibut,
swordfish or tilapia, each 6 to 7 oz.
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup dry white wine
1 1/2 Tbs. finely minced garlic
5 Tbs. fresh basil leaves, shredded
1/2 cup Mediterranean-style green and/or black
olives, pitted if desired
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 350°F.

Spread the pine nuts on a baking sheet and toast in the oven until they take on color and are fragrant, 5 to 8 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Increase the oven temperature to 400°F.

Season the fish fillets with salt and pepper. Place in a baking dish in which they fit in a single layer. In a small bowl, stir together 3 Tbs. of the olive oil and the wine. Pour over the fish fillets. Top with half of the garlic and half of the basil, and then distribute the olives around the fillets. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake until the fish is opaque throughout when pierced with a knife, 10 to 15 minutes. The timing will depend upon the thickness of the fillets. Using a slotted spatula, transfer the fillets to warmed individual plates.

Pour the pan juices, olives and reserved pine nuts into a small sauté pan and set over medium heat. Swirl in the remaining 1 Tbs. olive oil and the remaining garlic and basil. When warm and fragrant, spoon over the fish. Serve immediately. Serves 4.


**My Tweaking**
I halved this. There are only two of us and I hate reheated fish.
I toasted the pine nuts in a skillet on the stovetop.
Having baked the tilapia at 400F for 10 minutes (it was super thin) and it still be raw, I up'd it to 425 for 15 minutes and it was perfect.
I served this with some whole wheat pasta, but a lemon risotto would be superb with it. I just didnt think about the risotto until the fish was in oven, the fish would have been done long before the risotto.
Oh this totally looks like something you would get at a restaurant!

Blackened Cajun Chicken

Last week we had a cajun style tilapia. It had great flavor and hubs really liked it, only it wasn't very filling. Then again, tilapia isn't a very filling fish. So he asked that I make the same blackened spices but on chicken. Easy enough.

I don't measure so sorry about that, but here is what I used:
Cumin
Smoked paprika
Cajun Seasoning from McCormicks

I just sprinkled this on the chicken, sprayed a grill pan with Misto and got it somewhat "smoking" then added the chicken and cooked until it was done. I had really thick chicken breasts so I butterflied them to keep the moist.

Served with a little Far East CousCous and some broccoli with cheese (2% cheddar) and "Voila!" you have a meal in about 25 minutes.

Speaking of "Voila". My nephews spent the night this weekend. They are 6 & 3 and very inquisitive. I happened to say "Voila!" at some point and my nephew asked "what does "wah-lah" mean?" Try explaining that to a 6 year old. Basically we said it meant "I am done" or "here I am." Which proceeded to have him saying "Wah-lah" after everything. "Hey Aunt Julie, I got my seatbelt buckled. Oh Wahlah!"

Hum, what a letdown

So I was super excited for the dinner I had planned for Friday night. Smoked Salmon Pasta-yum!! I love pasta, I miss pasta. But we pretty much only eat it one night a week. I found this recipe and had some smoked salmon at home. I thought this would be a delicious healthy, yet scrumptious dinner. Not so much. It was missing something. Hubs said it had too many peas, but then again he doesn't like peas. I didnt have any tomatoes, as the recipe said to add on diced tomato, but I dont think that would have helped. It lacked the "umph" I was going for. It was bad, I just expected it to be better.


Pappardelle with Smoked Salmon
Courtesy of Cooking Light
Ingredients
1/2 pound uncooked pappardelle (wide ribbon pasta) or fettuccine --> I had to get whole wheat and the only option was spaghetti1 teaspoon butter
2 cups chopped Oso or other sweet onion
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup (4 ounces) 1/3-less-fat cream cheese, cubed
1/2 cup chopped plum tomato --> omitted
1 (10-ounce) package frozen petite green peas, thawed
1 (4-ounce) smoked salmon fillet, skinned and cut into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon dried dill
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper


Preparation
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain. Keep warm.
Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Add broth and cheese; cook 4 minutes or until cheese melts, stirring frequently. Add tomato, peas, and salmon; cook 3 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Stir in dill, salt, and pepper.

Combine pasta and salmon mixture in a large bowl; toss gently.

Like I said, not bad, but not what I was expecting.

Turkey Soup

So to be honest with you, I printed out this recipe b/c I thought I could use some of my leftover turkey from the turkey breast I roasted. Um, yeah, not so much. This called for ground turkey. But this worked for me b/c I had about a pound of ground turkey leftover from something I made earlier in the week but forgot to take pictures of. (Sorry!)

Every few weeks I realize how much money I have spent at the grocery store and how much food has gone bad in our house, or will be going bad and I sit down and go through what recipes I have made, what I have left & what I am going to do with it so that I don't go to the store. I plan every meal: breakfast, snack, lunch, snack & dinner. I don't take into account that we may not be home, that we may go out to eat, that we may skip a snack, that maybe we just don't want fish for dinner. So there is at least 3 meals that I haven't made by the time the week is over.

Last night I said to the hubs, is it ok if I just make soup & salad for dinner? I really need to use this stuff up! He said ok, after I bribed him with a delicious dinner that I have planned for this evening.
Onto the food...

Turkey Soup Provencal
Cooking Light
Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey breast
1/2 teaspoon dried herbes de Provence, crushed
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans or other white beans, drained
1 (14.5-ounce) can fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 (14.5-ounce) can diced tomatoes with garlic and onion, undrained
4 cups chopped fresh spinach

Preparation
Cook turkey in a large saucepan over medium-high heat until browned, stirring to crumble.
Add herbes de Provence, beans, broth, and tomatoes to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes. Stir in spinach; simmer 5 minutes.

**My notes: Talk about easy peasy. I didn't have herbs de Provence, so I put in some rosemary, sage, savory, marjoram & basil. I also only had plain canned tomatoes, so when I cooked the turkey I added some chopped red onion & a few minced garlic closves. And I added a can of tomato sauce, it looked awfully thick even before I added the spinach. I let it simmer for at least a half hour before I added the spinach. And this was really really good. DH even said it was good and he is not a fan of soup.

Grilled Sesame Salmon

I am a total PW today! I have been super busy & haven't had time to update my blog in awhile. I pulled down all my pics from my camera so I figured I should spend some time today posting. See I didn't stop cooking or anything, I just stopped blogging. BAD!

Since my last SB recipe was so great (see the chicken capri) I actually started reading their emails! Crazy thing when you do that you get more recipes! They had one for a grilled sesame salmon I thought I would try out. Talk about wow! The combination of the flavors was amazing. It was Asian meets Thai. From the picture on the website you wouldn't think it had a sauce, but it did.

Grilled Sesame Salmon
Ingredients:
2 medium cucumbers, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon salt, plus additional to taste
4 tablespoons rice vinegar, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice, divided
2 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce
2 tablespoons tahini or smooth, natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil, divided
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon chopped fresh ginger
4 salmon fillets (about 5 ounces each)
1/2 small red onion, very thinly sliced
6 cups baby arugula or salad greens
Directions:
Place cucumbers in strainer set in sink; toss with 1 tablespoon salt. Press kitchen towel on cucumbers; drain at least 1 hour or up to 3.
To make sauce, combine 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon lime juice, soy sauce, tahini, 1 tablespoon oil, garlic, ginger, and 1 tablespoon water in blender; puree until combined.
Preheat grill to medium-high. Season both sides of salmon with salt. Place skin side down on grill; cook 3 minutes, or until skin shrinks and separates from flesh. Flip; cook 4 minutes, until done.
Toss cucumbers with remaining 2 tablespoons vinegar, 1 tablespoon lime juice, 1 teaspoon oil, and sliced onions. Refrigerate until serving.
Divide arugula equally among four plates. Top each serving with salmon, then cucumbers. Drizzle sauce over servings.


**My Notes, bc I always have some don't I? I halved this recipe since I was only making 2 salmon. I also only let my salted cucumbers sit out while I prepped and cooked, so maybe a half hour. Hubs doesn't like arugula so I served this on a bed of Chinese vegetables. The next time I make it, I will serve it with arugula. I think the bitter of the arugula would have paired nicely with the smoothness of the PB sauce & the sour of the cucs. Also, hubs LOVED the cucumbers w/the salmon & the sauce. It was a surprisingly good combo.