Saturday, November 17, 2012

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Grilled Portobello Mushrooms

Ingredients:

  • 3 Portobello mushrooms
  • 1/8-1/4 C canola or olive oil (I use olive)
  • 3 T finely chopped onion
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 T balsamic vinegar


Directions:
1. Clean mushrooms and remove stems. Place caps on a plate with the gills up.
2. In a small bowl, combine the oil, onion, garlic and vinegar. Pour mixture evenly over the mushroom caps and let stand for 1 hour.
3. Grill over hot grill for 10 minutes. Serve immediately. (I usually use our little George Foreman Grill, but I'm sure you could also broil).


Notes:
We make this for special occasions as well, as these mushrooms are amazing but pricey. I've made them for Valentine's Day and an Anniversary before. It is on our menu for Thanksgiving this year! 

Picture and recipe adapted slightly from: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/grilled-portobello-mushrooms/detail.aspx

Baked Breaded Veggies

Baked Breaded Veggies

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 C seasoned fine dry bread crumbs (can also make your own from whole wheat bread)
  • 1/4 C freshly grated parmesan cheese
  • 1/4 t black pepper
  • 1 T milk
  • 1 egg
  • 4 cups veggies (per your preference): cauliflower florets, broccoli florets, whole fresh button mushrooms, and/or small baby carrots (halved if thick)
  • 1 T butter or margarine, melted


Directions:
1. Lightly grease a 15x10x1 inch baking pan (cookie sheet); set aside. In a plastic bag, combine bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, and pepper. In a small bowl, combine egg and milk.

2. Add veggies to large bowl and first toss in egg and milk mixture. Then add crumb mixture and toss. (Alternately, can do in 1 cup at a time in a large ziplock bag). 

3. Spread out veggies into single layer onto baking sheet and drizzle with melted butter (or spray with olive oil PAM). Bake at 400F for about 20 minutes or until golden brown, stirring twice. 

Notes:
We like to use this recipe to dress veggies up for a special occasion, like holidays. It is simple, fast, and yummy. My favorite is the mushrooms and sometimes I just do those on their own! We will be making these for Thanksgiving this year.

Recipe adapted from Better Home and Gardens Cook Book

Saturday, November 10, 2012

Grilled Salmon

Grilled Salmon


Ingredients:

  • 4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
  • 
1/8 cup peanut oil (if you must, can substitute olive oil)
  • 
2 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 
2 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons brown sugar
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 3/4 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
  • 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt


Directions: 

Whisk together peanut oil, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, green onions, garlic, brown sugar, ginger, red chile flakes, sesame oil, and salt. Place fish in a glass dish, and pour marinade over all. Cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 4 to 6 hours.
Preheat barbecue or gas grill.
Oil the grill rack, and adjust height to 5 inches from coals. Remove salmon from marinade, and place on grill. Grill for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until fish just flakes when tested with a fork. Turn halfway through cooking.

Alternatively, use broiler on high on broil for 8-10 minutes, depending on thickness of fish. (As I don't currently have a grill, this is the way I cook it the most. I love how fast fish cooks!).

Notes:
This is my favorite way to eat salmon. We try to eat fish about once a week and this is my favorite way to eat it! I serve this with brown rice and a side of broccoli or asparagus. I have also used this marinade for veggies or chicken on the grill, a nice "asian" flavor. (Although Anny, I know you can teach me more about that!). 

Baked Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce and Sweet Potato Fries

Baked Fish Sticks with Tartar Sauce and Sweet Potato Fries


Ingredients: 

Fish Sticks:


  • 1 lb white fish such as cod, halibut, or tilapia (I used halibut)
  • 1 Tbs canola oil
  • 1-2 eggs
  • 6 Tbs flour
  • 1 tsp seasoned salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp paprika
  • 1/2 C panko bread crumbs
  • 1/2 C unseasoned breadcrumbs
Tartar Sauce:
  • 1/2 C mayonaise
  • 2 Tbs sour cream
  • 1/4 tsp dried dill
  • 1/2 tsp dried parsley
  • 1/2 Tbs finely minced onion
  • 1 T minced dill pickle
  • 1 pinch seasoned salt
  • 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
Directions:
Tartar Sauce: Mix all tartar sauce ingredients and stir well to combine. Chill for at least one hour before serving. (The longer the better, make ahead if you can!)
Fish Sticks: Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Brush canola oil on a rimmed baking sheet and set aside.
Crack egg(s) into a shallow dish and beat lightly (start with one egg and crack another if you run out). In a separate shallow dish combine flour, seasoned salt, pepper, and paprika. In one more shallow dish combine panko and bread crumbs.
Cut fish into sticks about 3-4 inches long and 1/2-1 inch tall.
Working with a few pieces of fish at at time, dredge first in flour and then shake off excess. Then dip each piece in the beaten egg, and finally the bread crumb mixture. Make sure all sides are well coated with bread crumbs and then place fish on the baking sheet.
When all pieces are on baking sheet, place in oven and cook for about 10 minutes. Cool for a few minutes and then serve with tartar sauce for dipping.
Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

  • 1 lb peeled sweet potatoes cut into 1/4″ match-sticks
  • 2 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 t cumin
  • 1/2 t oregano
  • 1/2 t coriander
  • 1 t kosher salt
  • 1 t parsley
  • 1/8 tsp black pepper
*you want 1lb sweet potatoes after they are peeled, sliced, etc. If you weigh them at the store make sure you have a little more than a pound to allow for the peeling, and tossing of small pieces.

Directions:
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  In a small bowl combine cumin, oregano, coriander, salt, parsley, and pepper. 

Place sweet potatoes in a pile directly on baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Use hands to toss until all pieces are well coated.  Sprinkle seasoning mixture on top and toss again with hands to coat. 

Arrange sweet potatoes in a single layer so that pieces are not touching each other.  Place pan in oven and bake for 15 minutes.  Use a metal spatula to gently flip fries and then return pan to oven. Cook for an additional 15-20 minutes or until fries are starting to lightly brown and crisp.  Remove pan from oven and cool 5 minutes.  Serve immediately.

Notes:
We love ourbestbites at our house! I guess this should really be a summer post, but we inherited some free halibut from a friend's brother who lost electricity during hurricane Sandy and couldn't keep the fish he caught in Alaska frozen. I don't often make breaded items just because to make enough for our family it is kind of time intensive. However, because the cooking time is only 10 minutes, it makes up for some of the three-dipping prep work. We also LOVE sweet potato fries at our house, and this is one of the best recipes I have tried! I haven't tried the honey-lime dip (see link below) but I'm sure it's great, too. The tartar sauce was great, but I may adjust it to my tastes (like make with plain yogurt instead of mayo). These could've been two separate posts, but I like to put like things together. We make sweet potato fries as a side to all sorts of dishes though. The boys thought it was great that I gave them permission to use their fingers at this meal - they loved picking everything up and dipping it in a sauce! 

As you know, I like to do most of my prep work in the morning. So I cut up the fish into appropriate sizes, mixed the tartar sauce, and mixed up the flour and bread crumb mixtures. That allowed me just to bread the fish and pop it in the oven that night! 



Pumpkin Rolls

LIBBY'S® Pumpkin Roll

Ingredients:

  • 3/4 cup pumpkin
  • 3 T oil
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1 T lemon juice
Directions:
Beat eggs and sugar and add lemon juice and pumpkin.  Sift dry ingredients and add to the mixture. Bake at 375 for 13 minutes in a greased cookie sheet lined with wax or parchment paper.  Cool on a flour sack dish cloth covered with powdered sugar, spread filling on top and roll (from long side to long side). Refrigerate for at least an hour before cutting with a sharp knife. Recipe fills one cookie sheet.

Filling

Ingredients:
  • 8 oz cream cheese
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 2 T soft butter
Directions:
Mix together well.


Notes:
In the pumpkin mix recipe, I like to add two extra T of lemon extract, and also some lemon zest.  I also like to add about 1/2 tsp. of nutmeg, ground cloves, and ginger. If you don't have any wax paper, you can just butter your pan to death and sprinkle flour liberally on top to cover the whole pan, and then poor the pumpkin mix over that.  It comes out pretty easily when you flip it over on the cloth with powdered sugar.  


- Adapted from Sister Malan, picture from here

Black Bean Brownies

Black Bean Brownies (Gluten-free)



Ingredients:

  • 1 (15-ounce) can no-salt-added black beans, drained and rinsed (I only had a regular can on hand so I left out the salt)
  • 3 large eggs 
  • 1/3 cup melted butter 
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder 
  • 1/8 teaspoon salt (if using no-salt-added black beans)
  • 2 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract 
  • 1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar 
  • 1/2 cup gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used mini, added some to batter and sprinkled some on top).
  • optional: 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts (I omitted this)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. 

Butter or grease an 8-inch baking pan. Place the black beans, eggs, melted butter, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract and sugar in the bowl of a food processor or blender and blend until smooth. Remove the blade and gently stir in the chocolate chips and walnuts. Transfer mixture to the prepared pan. Bake the brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until just set in the center. Cool before cutting into squares. 
Notes:
I started making these when some of my young women in Orem had Celiac's and could not have flour. This has a different consistency than usual brownies (denser) but I think are quite tasty! Even though I can tolerate gluten just fine, I like the idea of having extra nutrients and protein from the black beans in there! Definitely a nice option for those who cannot tolerate gluten. 
Recipe from wholefoods.com

Lemon Muffins

Lemon Muffins


Ingredients:

First bowl, whisk together: 
  • 1 ¾ C all-purpose flour
  • ¾ C sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • I Tablespoon poppy seeds 
  • 2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel (I usually use the zest from an entire lemon) 

Second bowl: 
  • 1 beaten egg
  • 1 C milk
  • ¼ C cooking oil or melted butter
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

Topping:
  • 1/3 C sugar
  • juice from one lemon


Directions: 

Line/grease muffin pan (each of 12 individual tins). Preheat oven to 400F. 

Add the wet ingredients of the second bowl all at once to the dry ingredients of the first bowl. Stir just until moistened, batter may be lumpy.

Fill each muffin tin about ¾ full, dividing all the batter evenly.

Bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until slightly browned and toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Remove muffins from tins and cool on wire rack. 

After muffins have cooled for a few minutes, dip tops in lemon juice and then roll lightly in the sugar. Serve immediately. 

Notes:
I started making these in England while pregnant with Jeffrey (not sure where I got the recipe) and they became one of our favorite breakfasts. They are not super healthy or nutrient packed, but just a simple, light, and lemony breakfast treat. Mom Toone taught me the topping and it's the perfect combination of zestiness and sweetness!