Orange Brocollini

I have this great little magazine from February 2006. It's called Food Everyday, put out by Martha Stewart Living. It's chock full of great recipes. I tried this one tonight and it is KILLER. So tasty and so low-cal.

1 bunch of brocollini (feeds about 3 ppl)

1 large shallot, sliced in thin strips

1/2 cup orange juice

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. boil brocollini until tender, about 8 minutes.
2. In non-stick skillet, cook shallot with a tiny bit of olive oil.
3. Add oj and vinegar and cook until reduced in half.
4. Add brocollini, mix. Serve.

Salmon in a Couscous Crust

*adapted from a foodtv.com recipe.

handful fresh parsley or cilantro

1/4 cup sliced almonds

juice of 1 lemon

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 cup couscous

1 1/3 cup water

fresh salmon (1/2 lb is perfect amount for 2 ppl)

1. Roast almonds on cookie sheet until lightly browned. Put in large bowl and crumble.
2. Add parsley, lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper and couscous. Stir until couscous is wet.
3. Put salmon in greased baking dish, just slightly bigger than fish.
4. Salt and pepper fish. Pour a little more olive oil over fish.
5. Spread couscous mixture over and around fish. Pour water over dish.
6. Bake for about 35 minutes or until salmon becomes opaque and flaky.

Fish Rub-a-dub dub

Ok, so dating has its advantages and disadvantages. Advantage: warm feet in bed, shared meals, friday night dates. Disadvantage: not having complete and total agreement on styles and tastes. What am I blabbering about? The big C word: Compromise.
Q: How are you compromising by dating Nathan, Jessica?
A: I am eating more fish.
For some unknown reason, I stopped liking most fish years ago. I'll never say no to a fresh tuna steak, but white fish was repulsive and very unappetizing. But the new improved Jessica has been upping her fish intake in the last coupla months. Since partner is an omnivore, cooking him all meatless entrees is very upsetting to him. He's almost on the verge of being a strictly carnivore, but he can be spotted eating the occasional veggie now and again (ok, so I'm alluding to the dreaded French Fry). So, when I cook for us (weekly or bi-weekly), it usually involves fish. Here's a great rub for my new favorite white fish, Tilapia. Funny thing, tilapia is. It's got a great name and a great price. Tilapia costs about $7/lb at both Stop & Shop and Whole Foods. It bakes up great in the oven. It's got a great blurb over at Wiki if you're interested in reading about it (long story short: It's an african fish that just started being farm raised. Long version: HERE. So far I've turned baked tilapia into a delish maincourse, as well as the prime ingredient in some killer Fish Tostadas. Here's a spicy rub I concocted for my boy, who craves for his tongue to be burning from hot peppers. To increase the heat, just obviously increase the jalepenos.

Spicy Fish Rub

3 cloves garlic

handful of fresh cilantro

couple tbsps of olive oil

juice from 1 lime

salt and pepper to taste

2 tsp raw sugar

heaping tbsp jalepeno slices

1. Measurements, as you can tell, are estimates.
2. Just throw everything into the food processor and blend until chunky.
3. Spread all over fish and bake.
4. Eat!
5. Yum :-)

Granola Bars

a slight variation of Alton Brown's recipe on foodtv.com

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup sliced or chopped almonds

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 oz. butter

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocunut

1/2 cup dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, blueberries, etc)


1. preheat to 350 degrees.
2. spread oats, almonds, wheat germ on cookie sheet. toast for 15 minutes in oven.
3. combine honey, sugar, butter, extract, salt in saucepan. cook until sugar dissolves.
4. once toasting is done, reduce heat to 300.
5. add oat mixture to sugar mixture. add fruit and coconut, stir to combine.
6. turn out mixture into greased baking dish. press down flat.
7. bake for 25 minutes. let cool completely. slice into bars.

as an extra, before baking i put chocolate chips along the 2 long edges. once the baking was done, i smoothed them out for a nice sweet surprise at the top of each bar.

Breakfast foods

This posting is for Sara. She wanted a healthy baked good for her company breakfast. And I'm also providing a not so healthy but OH SO YUMMY recipe that my mom makes all the time. It never fails, I could eat the entire plate of these scones. DO NOT skip the soaked raisins, it's totally what makes these ridiculously delicious.


Spiced Pear Muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup whole wheat flour (feel free to add more WW and less WF)

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp ginger or 1 tsp fresh grated ginger

2 tbsp oil

2 tsp vanilla

8 oz. soy yogurt (or regular yogurt. but soy works great!)

1 large egg

1.5 cups pear, peeled and finely diced

3 tbsp raw sugar

1. preheat to 400 degrees.
2. combine flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt in medium bowl. stir well with whisk.
3. stir in chopped walnuts.
4. make a well in center of mixture.
5. combine brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, oil, vanilla, yogurt and egg in small bowl. add to flour mixture, stirring until moist.
6. fold in diced pear.
7. spoon batter into 15 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. sprinkle batter with raw sugar.
8. bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes or until muffins spring back when touched lightly in center.



Scones

2 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 stick butter, sliced into 1/4" chunks.

1/4 tsp soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 raisins

1/2 cup amaretto

1 egg

1/2 cup cream

1. stir flour, sugar, baking powder, soda and salt together in bowl.
2. rub in butter with hands.
3. soak 1/2 cup raisins with 1/2 cup amaretto.
4. add raisins and amaretto to dry ingredients.
5. mix egg with cream. add to mixture. stir with fork only until blended.
6. spoon onto greased cookie sheet. brush with cream.
7. bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
8. sprinkle with powdered sugar.

easy sammich

i go through phases where i eat the same meals on repeat. i made up this sandwich to eat along with my mango chutney. so far i've had it for dinner this week and lunch last week. it's quick, easy, uses up tiny bits of veggies in the produce drawer, and is pretty darn healthy and tasty. tonight i ate it with a mug of the last bit of homemade tomatoe soup.

supplies:

whole wheat tortilla

spinach (if this is your main veggie, use about 3 good handfuls)

onion, sliced into thin strips. about 1/4 of a medium onion

whatever else-- zucchini, summer squash, mushrooms are all good choices.

handful of cheese (any kind!)

1. carmelize the chopped onions by heating up a bit of olive oil in a non stick pan. cook them until they turn nice and brown.
2. if you're cooking squash, add it 1/2 way thru the onion cooking.
3. add the spinach and mushrooms and cook until spinach wilts.
4. slide all the sauteed veggies out of the pan onto half of the tortilla.
5. sprinkle with cheese. add salt and pepper.
6. add a bit more olive oil to pan. slide tortilla into pan.
7. fold tortilla in half. cook one side until brown. flip. repeat.
8. eat.

day 15

i've been bad about eating healthy this weekend. i drank my body weight (or close to) in beer, and didnt eat all day sunday because i puked all morning long (ok, i exaggerate. i puked for maybe 4 minutes straight). saturday morning my nana cooked me a breakfast of scrambled eggs (cooked in butter) and homemade muffins, and it seriously wrecked havoc on my gastrointestinal tract. my stomach was back to normal on sunday night, after a good 48 hours of gurgling and gas and general feelings of disgust. before that, i hadn't eaten eggs in over a week.

today i'm back on track. i had hot oatmeal for breakfast. i skipped the vitamin cause it's been making me sick to my stomach. maybe i'll take one now to see how it reacts later in the day, after i've had a couple meals. for lunch, i had homemade tomato soup and homemade eggplant calzone. for dinner, i'm snacking on a three bean salad (with red onion and celery, olive oil and balsamic vinegar) and some raw veggies dipped in honey mustard dressing. i'm going to the movies tonight, and seriously craving some salty movie popcorn.

oh, a tamarind chutney is boiling on the stove. updates on that later.

Vegetable Pakora

Ingredients:
1 cup Chickpea Flour (Besan)
2 tbsp Oil
1 teaspoon Ground Cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon Salt
1-2 each Chopped Green Chillies (Jalapeno)
1/2 cupWater
1 Potato
1 small Cauliflower
2 Cabbage
5 sliced Spinach
1 1/2 cup Sliced Onion

Method:
Boil the potato until just tender, peel and chop finely.
Finely chop cauliflower and onion. Shred the cabbage and spinach.
Mix first set of ingredients well. Beat in a blender for 4-5 minutes to incorporate air (this will make the batter fluffier).
Let batter rest 1/2 hour in a warm place.
Add the vegetables and mix in evenly.
Deep fry in oil that is heated to 375°.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately.
Serve with cilantro or mint chutney or tomato ketchup

Onion Chutney

1 cup red onions (finely chopped)

½ cup tomato paste

1 teaspoon paprika

½ teaspoon cumin powder

½ teaspoon oil

¼ teaspoon sugar

salt to taste (~ ½ teaspoon)


1. Heat the oil for few seconds.
2. Put everything except onion in oil. Simmer sauce for few minutes and let it cool.
3. Mix sauce with onion (and garnish with cilantro). Serve chilled.

Mango Chutney

jessica <3's indian, and wants to eat that sweet and spicy red chutney at home. i looked through dozens of recipes, and this was the one i liked the most. to make this spicy, i put two of these tiny thai peppers in, but they were ridiculously hot so i took them out after about 10 minutes. i think they may have been a big mistake. eating this with papadums sort of equals out the hotness.

1 ripe mango, cut into 1" chunks.

juice from 1 orange

juice from 1 lime

1/8 cup cider vinegar

1/8 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1 garlic clove, minced

1" piece ginger, minced

1. bring all ingredients to boil.
2. turn down to simmer, for about 35 minutes.
3. put in food processor. grind until desired chunkiness.
4. cool in bowl, then refridgerate.

makes about 1 cup of chutney, perfect for one night of papadum eating. to make more, use 3 mangoes, and multiply the other ingredients by 2.