Lemon Butter Black Cod

Fish makes such a great meal and so good for you.  Black cod is high in Omega 3's.   Here is what we had for dinner.

Black Cod with Lemon Butter
Preheat the oven to 275 degrees Fahrenheit.   Place a piece of foil onto a baking sheet (this will make clean up easier) and create an edge so that the lemon butter mixture you pour over the fish won't run off.  Place about 4 tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pan on the stove, add the juice of 1 lemon, stir while melting butter.   Add some fresh ground pepper and some salt to the butter mixture, stir and remove from heat.  Pour over fish.  Place fish in oven and bake for about 20 to 30 minutes until fish flakes with fork.  About half-way through baking baste the fish.

Asparagus
Place a pot of water onto stove and bring to a boil.  Snap asparagus (hold a piece of asparagus in both hands and bend the asparagus, the asparagus will break at the tender spot of the asparagus).  Don't throw away the tough end (the part you don't want to eat), save those (stick them in the freezer) to make vegetable broth with at a later date.  Add asparagus to the boiling water, reduce heat and cook for about 5 minutes.  I cooked these longer than what I would normally do because the stalks of the asparagus were much larger.  Remove from pan when done, place on a platter.  I drizzled these with a little bit of a lemon pepper oil.  (It is an oil that I picked up somewhere and is excellent over fresh cooked vegetables). A helpful tip for your summer garden is to save the water your vegetables are cooked with, let water cool and use that to water your garden.  Not only will you be saving water but your plants will benefit from the nutrients left over in the water.  

Sliced Mango and Strawberries
A long time ago you couldn't get fresh fruits like mango's in the grocery store but now you can and to have these fruits fresh are so much better.  If you have never had fresh mango I recommend that you try one, they are so sweet and delicious.  Mango's are rich in pre-biotic fiber, vitamins, minerals, poly-phenolic flavonoid (helps to fight against certain types of cancers) antioxidant compounds plus a great source of vitamin A just to name a few.  Here is a video that will help you to learn to cut a mango, it is really easy.

Side Salad with Italian Dressing
A side salad was a nice accompaniment with this meal.  It consisted of romaine lettuce, tomato and a little bit of grated Parmesan cheese.  Here is the recipe for the homemade Italian dressing:
Place all ingredients into a jar.
1/2 cup white wine vinegar or balsamic vinegar (I used balsamic this time)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
2 pressed garlic cloves
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup olive oil
Shake until mixed.  Pour over salad.

Cooking on the Grill

This is the first use of the grill for this season.  It is nice to have it all cleaned and ready to use (making sure no one built a nest in it over the winter - thankfully no one did).  Tonight all the food was cooked on the grill except for the salad.  We like to make little foil packets to put the vegetables in to be cooked on the grill, less mess and super easy.

Here is what we had for dinner tonight:
New Potatoes
Wash potatoes thoroughly and slice to about 1/4 of an inch.  The skins can stay on these because the skin isn't thick and is thin and very edible.   Take 2 - 12 inch pieces of foil.  Lay one piece of the foil onto the counter and lay the sliced potatoes onto it, add a few slices of butter and some fresh ground pepper.  Take the second piece of foil and lay over top of the potatoes.  You will now want to seal the edges (from one piece to another) together.  Do this by folding the edges up until you have a seal.  Place the foil packet on a preheated to 400 degree Fahrenheit grill over direct heat and let cook for 5 minutes, turn over and cook for 5 more minutes.  Remove from direct heat and lay on top rack of grill to continue to cook.  *Here is a fun fact for you about potatoes: Did you know that the annual diet of an average global citizen in the first decade of the 21st century included about 73 pounds of potatoes.

Asparagus
Snap asparagus (hold a piece of asparagus in both hands and bend the asparagus, the asparagus will break at the tender spot of the asparagus).  Don't throw away the tough end (the part you don't want to eat), save those (stick them in the freezer) to make vegetable broth with.  Place the asparagus on foil just like you did with the potatoes.  Add a little bit of olive oil over asparagus.  Place the asparagus on the grill, direct heat and cook for 5 minutes and then move to warming rack.  *Fun fact - The stem thickness indicates the age of the plant, with the thicker stem coming from a much older plant.

Tenderloin Steak
Instead of using a marinade on the steak like we usually do, we instead used a Montreal steak seasoning made by McCormick.  This is the same seasoning we use in making bloody mary drinks (recipe to come at another time).  Remove steak from refrigerator, sprinkle with seasoning on each side and rub in.  Let steak stand at room temperature for about 1 hour.  Place steak onto a 500 degree Fahrenheit direct heat grill for 5 minutes, flip steak and cook for 3 minutes and then move to warming rack and turn grill off and let sit for 4 minutes.  The steak temperature will be medium rare.   We eat grass fed beef which is much more filling to eat than regular store bought beef.  We have learned over the years of eating grass fed meats that since you don't eat as much, don't cook as much, so therefore we cooked only 1 - 8 ounce steak for the two of us.

Along with the above we had a small tossed salad, which consisted of green leaf lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, green peppers and homemade french dressing.

The meal was accompanied by a 2006 Rioja (Crianza) from El Coto Winery in Spain.

This post was shared on the Healthy Home Economist Monday Mania 3/26/2012

My Version of Rice and Beans

This dinner was chosen out of necessity.  My husband decided to pull Andouille sausage from the freezer for dinner without giving any thought as to what to do with it for dinner, this is where I come in.  We are still trying to catch up somewhat from being on vacation and really haven't gotten back into a normal routine.  I am still missing some key items that I normally keep on hand all the time.  I really need to plan meals for the week and go grocery shopping.

Here is what I decided to do for dinner tonight with the Andouille sausage.  I decided to make my own version of beans and rice.  I know that this isn't even close to the real thing and I apologize to those who are fans of the real thing ahead of time.  I cooked 2 servings of brown rice (just cooked it according to the package).  I cooked the Andouille Sausage in a skillet until nicely browned.  We get our sausage from a local farm.  All of their products are produced from grassfed cows.  Place the rice in a large bowl, slice the sausage and add to rice, dice a tomato and add to mixture and mixture. The meal was served with a small salad.

Pasta with Sausage Meatballs

I don't know what the deal is but the last couple of days I have not felt like cooking at all.  We have been eating dishes that we had frozen.  Tonight was still like that, earlier in the day the normal question was asked, "what do you want for dinner?" I had no ideas at all and couldn't even begin to think about food early in the day or what I wanted to have for dinner.  So my husband suggested spaghetti.  So we pulled some pork sausage from the freezer to that out.  I figured at that point I would just make a simple meat sauce.  I got into the kitchen and decided to make meatballs and to use a shaped pasta instead of spaghetti.

I took 1 pound of pork sausage, add 2 eggs and some bread crumbs and some dried oregano; mix.  Just add enough bread crumbs to make the sausage and eggs stick together (you don't want them to be dry).  I used a small scoop to scoop my sausage mixture out with.  I wanted the meatballs small so that they wouldn't take long to cook. I dropped the meatballs into a hot skillet that I added extra virgin olive oil (about 2 tablespoons).  Cook the meatballs, turning often, until done in the middle and browned on the outside.

The sauce was actual a pre-made sauce in a jar.  I heated it and then added it to the cooked pasta.  Add the meatballs and then a couple of slices of sun dried tomatoes.  Add some fresh grated Parmesan cheese.

The meal was served with garlic bread and a side salad.

Veggie Pizza

I wanted to make this pizza yesterday but that didn't happen.  So I decided to make it today.

Here is what I did:

Pizza Crust
1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
2/3 cup warm water (105 to 115 degree Fahrenheit)
1-2/3 cup flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

In a 2 cup liquid measure, dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water.  Let stand until foamy, about 3 to 5 minutes.  I used my Cuisinart to mix the dough.  Using the metal blade add flour and salt to work bowl.  Mix. With machine running slowly add the yeast while pouring it through the feed tube.  Process until the dough forms a ball and no longer sticks to the sides.  In a large bowl, add olive oil.  Add dough to the bowl and move the dough ball around so that all sides of the dough are coated with oil.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in a warm location for about 45 minutes.  The dough will rise to about double its size.  Turn dough out onto a floured surface and punch down.  Roll into desired crust size.  Place dough onto a pizza peel slightly covered with corn meal (this will prevent the dough from sticking to the board as you place it into the oven).  Let dough rest for about 10 minutes while you prepare the ingredients for the toppings.

Toppings:
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Ricotta Cheese
Mozzarella Cheese, thinly sliced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
Dried Oregano
Dried Basil
Fresh Grated Parmesan Cheese
Orange Bell Pepper, sliced thin
Can of Artichoke hearts, quartered and drained (you can buy them in the can already quartered)
Black olives, cut into quarters
Tomato, cut into thin slices
Sliced Banana Peppers
Here is what I did to start off.  Brush olive oil onto the crust.  Add ricotta cheese (add the amount that works) by spreading it around the crust.  The the other ingredients in whatever order you would like.  I layered the cheese in between the toppings.

Slide pizza onto a baking stone that has been preheated in a 450 degree Fahrenheit oven.  Bake pizza for about 30 minutes.

Along with the pizza we had side salads, which consisted of green leaf lettuce, tomato, carrots, some leftover artichokes, pepper, banana peppers and black olives.  The salad was served with homemade french dressing.

I want to hear from you.  What are your favorite toppings on a pizza?  Leave a comment below.  Thanks!

Spaghetti

Tonight I didn't have a plan until very late in the day.  I decided on spaghetti with a meat sauce.  I don't normally use a store bought pre-made sauce but I happened to have some in my pantry (have no idea why).

I had some beef sausage.  The sausage comes from Mountain Run Farm.  The sausage has the same flavor as a pork Italian sausage, but is beef.  The pasta sauce I used is made by Newman's Own and was a Vodka Sauce.  I cooked some cappelini pasta and added it to the cooked beef sausage sauce mix.

Also had a salad with tomatoes, blue cheese and a balsamic vinegar, olive oil dressing.

 

Paired dinner with a 2005 Familia Cara Chianti Classico Riserva.  Bottle by C. Camp. Gello, PI, Italy.

Chicken Salad

Really wanted something simple and easy for dinner tonight so I decided to make a salad.

I sprinkled chicken breasts with some fresh ground pepper and a little bit of a chicken seasoning rub.
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried oregano

Sauteed the chicken until it was done.  Sliced it and added it to a bed of green leaf lettuce, tomatoes, salad beans (combination of kidney beans and garbanzo beans), carrots, blue cheese crumbles and half of an avocado.

Served with a mixture of olive oil and red wine vinegar.

Tuna Salad with Asian Dressing

Made a salad tonight with fresh sushi grade tuna.  I took the tuna and marinated it in a teriyaki style sauce with sesame seeds in it.

Cooked the tuna in the oven at 525 degrees Fahrenheit for about 15 minutes.  It cooked it to medium rare.

The salad consisted of mixed greens, carrots and tomato.  Topped the cut tuna on the top followed by a grating of Parmesan cheese.

Added some Asian Style Dressing.

Here is my recipe:

1/3 cup rice vinegar
1/8 cup soy sauce (I used tamari)
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 garlic clove, chopped
2 teaspoons sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Salad with Leftover Chicken

Wanted to keep dinner simple tonight and use the leftovers from yesterday.

I had leftover chicken piccata from last night.  I just added it to make a salad.

Green Leaf Lettuce
Leftover Chicken
Heirloom Tomato
A couple of Strawberries
Some Sprouts
A little romano cheese grated over top and then used the french dressing that I made to go with the dinner last night.

Tuna Salad

I wanted to keep dinner simple so I sauteed a piece of tuna for a salad.  I put fresh ground salt and pepper over the tuna and then a little olive oil.  I cooked the tuna until it was a medium rare.

Added it to a salad that consisted of lettuce, tomato, cucumber a little Parmesan cheese and croutons.  We used the dijon dressing that I made the other night.  Click here for the recipe.

Homemade Pot Roast

I don't know about you but when the weather starts to change I think of hearty comfort foods.   With that in mind I thought of pot roast with root vegetables.

Here is my pot roast recipe.

Pot Roast
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 boneless chuck roast (I used a rump roast because it was what I had in the freezer)
1/4 cup flour
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1/2 cup dry white wine (I used a Viognier, I already had a partial bottle open)
1-1/2 cups beef broth (I use an Organic Better Than Bouillon Beef Base - I haven't made my own homemade beef broth yet)
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 cups sliced onions
6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into 2-3 inch pieces
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 bay leaves

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat.  Sear roast on all sides for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a 4-6 quart slow cooker.  Stir flour into saute pan; cook 1 minute.  Add tomato paste and cook 1 minute more.  De-glaze saute pan with wine, cooking until liquid evaporates.  Stir in broth and Worcestershire sauce; bring mixture to a simmer, scraping up any brown bits.  Transfer broth mixture to the slow cooker and add onions, carrots, garlic, thyme, and bay leaves.  Cover and cook until meat is for tender, on high heat setting for 4-5 hours or on low heat setting for 8-9 hours.  Discard thyme
 and bay leaves before serving.  Serve with gravy.

I also made mashed potatoes to go with this meal.   I keep it very simple when making my potatoes.  Cook peeled and cut up potatoes until soft.  Drain from water add potatoes back into the pan and put on stove.  Add a couple of pats of butter.  Mash potatoes along with butter in pan.   In another pan have milk warming on stove to add to the potatoes.  Add enough warmed milk to make potatoes smooth (continue to mash).  Add salt and pepper to taste.

A side salad was added to the meal as well.  Lettuce, tomato, cucumbers, a couple of croutons and a little Parmesan cheese on top.  Served with a Dijon Vinaigrette dressing.

Dijon Vinaigrette Dressing
2-1/2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
Mix all ingredients together.

The dinner was pulled all together with a really wonderful wine.  We had a Virginia Wine called "3".  It got its name from 3 winemakers, 3 vineyards, 3 varietals, 1 wine.  The wine is 1/3 Merlot, 1/3 Petit Verdot, 1/3 Cabernet Franc.

Flat Iron Steak Salad

So I know I haven't posted in a while and I apologize.  The last thing I actually cooked in the kitchen was burgers and pasta salad.   It really wasn't that exciting so I decided not to post it.

Tonight however, we made a big salad.

On the steak I used a rub that came out of the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook.

Cumin Cinnamon Rub

1-1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1-1/2 tablespoons ground cumin (I grind my own cumin, I think it has a much stronger taste that way)
1 tablespoon ground coriander
1-1/2 tablespoons course salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1-1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper

We then grilled the steak to a medium rare temperature.

The salad consisted of green leaf lettuce, cucumbers, carrots, green pepper, tomato (that a friend gave us out of his garden - they are wonderful), some blueberries, a couple of strawberries, some fresh mozzarella cheese and the steak was sliced and put on top of the salad.

Herb Roasted Whole Chicken

I decided to do a whole chicken tonight in the oven.

The chicken is a pastured chicken which is what we only use.  Pastured chicken is so much better than store bought chicken.  There are no antibiotics, hormones, and can roam around in a field.  The feed these chickens are given to supplement their diet comes from a non-GMO grain that is specially grown for the farm.

I had some fresh thyme that a friend gave me (I love the herbs my friend gives me).

I also used a Chicken Herb Rub that came out of the cookbook "The Grassfed Gourmet".  The recipe is great on chicken, whether it is whole or just parts.

Here is the recipe:
1 tablespoon coarse salt
1 tablespoon freshly ground pepper
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 tablespoons dried oregano

All you need to do is rub it all over the chicken.  I also drizzled a little olive oil over the chicken.

The chicken all ready to go into the oven

Along with dinner I did a small salad, which had lettuce, tomato, cucumber, mushrooms and a little blue cheese with a homemade Italian dressing.

I also did fresh carrots that I steamed.  After they came out of the steamer I added a little butter and a little bit of honey.

Carrots in the steamer

I also cooked a brown basmati rice to go along with everything.

The cooked chicken

The finished plate