Some Recent Eats

We've had some travelling, houseguests, and sicknesses around the Discovery household, so the cooking took a bit of a sidebar, but here are some recent eats. :-)

Spicy Chipotle Meatballs, Real Simple Magazine

Buffalo Chicken Salad, Clean Eating Magazine, March 2011

 Ingredients:
-1 lb. boneless, skinless chicken breasts
-Olive oil cooking spray
-1 tsp smoked paprika
-1 tsp chile powder
-1/8 tsp salt
-1/2 sweet onion
-1/2 cup nonfat plain Greek-style yogurt
-5 tbsp low-fat buttermilk
-1 to 1 1/2 tbsp all-natural hot sauce
-1 head romaine lettuce, thick spines removed
-1 head red leaf lettuce, thick spines removed
-1 yellow bell pepper, thinly sliced
-1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
-1 cup peeled and shredded carrots
-2 oz blue cheese, crumbled (I omitted)

Directions:
1. Preheat broiler to high. Place chicken on a baking sheet coated with cookign spray. Lightly mist chicken with cooking spray and sprinkle both sides with paprika, chile powder, and salt. Broil 6-8 inches from heat until center is no longer pink, about 6 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to a cutting board and let rest for 3-5 minutes before cutting into bite sized chunks.
2. In a blender, puree onion, yogurt, buttermilk, and 1 tbsp hot sauce. Taste and add remaining hot sauce if you want more heat. Divide romaine and red leaf lettuce among four plates and top with bell pepper, tomatoes, carrots, and chicken, dividing each evenly. Serve yogurt mixture on the side or drizzle evenly over each plate. Sprinkle with blue cheese and serve immediately.

The Verdict: Very tasty. Will make again.

Orange Salmon with Asparagus, Clean Eating Magazine, June 2011

Ingredients:
-Zest one orange
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed OJ
-1/4 cup low-sodium soy sauce
-2 tsp grated ginger
-4 6oz boneless, skinless salmon fillets
- 16 asparagus spears, trimmed

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a small bowl, combine first four ingredients and set aside.
2. Cut 4 large pieces of parchment paper and place 1 salmon fillet onto each piece. Divide asparagus spears among pieces of parchment, topping the fillets. Pour orange juice mixture over each fillet, and, working with one piece of parchment at a time, wrap fillets in parchment packets.
3. Place parchment packets onto a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, or until salmon is solid and firm and asparagus is cooked through but al dente. Serve with quinoa, whole-wheat couscous, or wild rice, if desired.

The Verdict: Very tasty. I've never de-boned a fish, so that was an adventure! :-) Next time, I might marinade the salmon in the juice for a little while. I don't feel like the flavour permeated the fish enough. I will definitely make again!

Have a great day! I start running again tomorrow after a month's hiatus! Gotta get in shape for that half!

FOOD!

I know you've all been waiting for a FOOD update! Well, here we go!

Wednesday night I made Asian Burgers. I foolishly did not photograph them, but I do have an artist's representation of their deliciosity.

Hahaha. Gotta love Paint!

I'll try to break it down. Unfortunately, when I make up a recipe, I don't really measure things. Haha.

1 lb leanest ground beef

1 tsp EVOO

1ish tbsp low sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

1/2 tsp powdered ginger

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp Sucanat (needed some sweetness!)

Mix the aforementioned ingredients thoroughly and form into 4 evenly distributed patties.

While grilling burgers, saute some mushrooms with low sodium soy sauce and red wine vinegar. When burgers are almost done, top with mushrooms and a slice of cheese (I used pepper jack because it's what we had). Let the cheese melt a bit. Yum.

Place assembled burgers on Arnold's Sandwich Thins (stole this idea from Whitney) and enjoy with your fave preperation of oven fries! I choose these lovelies (no picture, just recipe). I <3 me some parmesan oven fries!

Last night we had... what to call this dish... well, maybe you can leave me a name for it as a comment... I'm drawing a blank. I will warn you that there is a lot of multitasking in this recipe!

8 oz (when dry) cooked whole wheat penne pasta

1 package Jennie-O's hot italian sausage

Grape Tomatoes (3/4-1 cup)

Spinach (maybe 2 cups? I think I did 2-3 handfulls)

2 tbsp butter (or marg)

2 tbsp whole wheat flour

1.5 cups skim milk

2 cloves garlic

Dried herbs of choice

1 tbsp EVOO

Remove casing from sausage and cut into bite sized pieces. Cook in cast iron skillet until browned on both sides.

Heat EVOO and one clove sliced garlic in another skillet. Remove garlic and add tomatoes. Break town tomatoes, smashing them as they get hot. add to cooked sausage. Turn heat off sausage pan and add the spinach, letting it wilt when mixed into sausage/tomato mixture.

Meanwhile, make a white sauce by melting butter in a small sauce pan. Add flour and whisk to make a roux, then add the milk, whisking to combine. Add finely chopped garlic and a couple of pinches of dried herbs. I used Italian Herbs. When the sauce has thickened, combine the pasta, sausage mixture, and sauce in a large serving bowl. I added all the sauce, which was not necessary, but at the end, I drained the extra sauce out to use in a recipe later this week. You can also just add as much as you'd like (about half the recipe is enough) and save the rest if you want it to be more versatile for a later recipe.

It was.... DELICIOUS. SO SO SO good. I have leftovers that I am about to consume. I know that my "recipe writing skills" for these recipes kind of stink, but oh well. The food is good, so if you want to make it, you'll have to put up with it! :-)

If you wish to name the recipe, the key ingredients would be: Penne, a white garlic herb sauce, hot turkey sausage, tomatoes and spinach. Maybe I'll think of something!

Mexican Pasta Bake

I didn't grocery shop for recipes this week... I challenged myself to come up with recipes to fit what I had. This is what happened tonight:

Mexican Pasta Bake

1.44 lbs 93% lean ground beef (It would take a small army to keep me away from red meat)
1 box whole wheat rotini
1/2 cup onion chopped
1/2 cup red onion chopped
1/2 cup green onion chopped
1 can white sweet corn
1 can green enchilada sauce
1 1/2 cups salsa
1 1/2 cups shredded part skim mozzarella cheese (I would have used mexican blend as I thought I had that in my fridge... but yeah... I didn't)
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp paprika
Black pepper to taste

Directions: Brown the meat with the spices. Meanwhile, boil water for pasta and cook pasta. Add the peppers and onion. Cook for 2 minutes, add corn. cook 2 minutes, add enchilada sauce and salsa. Let simmer for a few minutes.
Combine pasta and meat mixture in a greased 13x9 pan. Add half the cheese and combine well.
Bake covered for 15 minutes at 350*, uncover, spread the remaining cheese on top and bake for an additional 10 minutes, uncovered. Enjoy!!!