Baked Salmon and Shredded Brussels Sprouts

I saw the Brussels sprout recipe one day when I was flipping channels and decided that I had to make them.

Baked Salmon
We had 4 ounce salmon filets and decided to cook three filets for the two of use.
Place filets onto a cookie sheet, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper.  I used a sea salt that was infused with garlic. Place into a 275 degree Fahrenheit oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Shredded Brussels Sprouts 
This is a Jamie Deen Recipe that I got off the Food Network
1 strip of bacon, sliced into thin strips
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
6 ounces Brussels sprouts (2 big handfuls)
Pinch brown sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
Cook the bacon until crisp in a large skillet.  Remove with a slotted spoon to a plate.  While the bacon is cooking, cut off the ends of the Brussels sprouts.  Then chop the Brussels sprouts in half.  Lay them cut-side-down and finely chop until they are all shredded.  Add the garlic and shallots to the skillet and saute until fragrant and the shallots are soft, 1 to 2 minutes.  Stir in the Brussels sprouts and saute until tender crisp, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add a pinch of brown sugar.  Season with salt and pepper and add lemon juice.  Saute for 1 minute more.  Toss with the chopped parsley and bacon.  Serve hot or at room temperature.

Pot Roast with Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Asparagus

Finally remembered to pull a roast from the freezer to thaw.  I have wanted a roast for a while but kept forgetting to take it from the freezer.  Decided to make a recipe from the Grassfed Gourmet Cookbook.

California Pot Roast
1 - 4 to 5 pound rump roast (can use chuck or round roast)
1 tablespoon salt
2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 cup water
2 cups tomato sauce, fresh or canned (I used fresh)
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup ketchup
1 tablespoon Worcestershire Sauce
Rub roast with salt and pepper.  Heat olive oil over medium high heat, brown roast for about 3 minutes per side.  Place the meat in a slow cooker with the water, tomato sauce, onion and garlic.  Cook on low heat all day, for about 5 or 6 hours.
About 1-1/4 hours before you are ready to eat, combine brown sugar, dry mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, ketchup and Worcestershire sauce.  Pour over meat, and continue cooking for another hour until fork tender.
Remove meat, slice, and place on a warm platter.  Meanwhile, let the sauce thicken by simmering on the stove for a few minutes; pour over sliced roast and serve.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
olive oil
clove of garlic, peeled
Place cut sweet potatoes and garlic into a ziploc bag, add just enough olive oil to coat the potatoes.  Pour potatoes and garlic onto a cookie sheet.  Spread sweet potatoes out so that they have enough room and are not over lapped.  Cook in a preheated 450 degree Fahrenheit oven for about 30 minutes.  The time will depend on the size of the chunks of potatoes.  You want them slightly browned and tender.

Cooked Asparagus with Citrus and Caper Aioli
I got this recipe out of a magazine at a doctors office or somewhere there was a waiting room.  I find when I am looking at magazines in a waiting room I find all kinds of wonderful sounded recipes.  I use my cell phone to photograph the recipe.  Sometimes you have to photograph it in parts but as long as you have it you are good to go.  I wish I knew what magazine this came out of so that I could give it credit (if anyone knows please comment and tell me).
For less heat, omit the Calabrian chiles and add a pinch of dried crushed red pepper.
2 large eggs
1 large garlic clove, pressed
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
2-1/4 cups olive oil (I used extra virgin olive oil)
1 Calabrian or other hot chile pepper, stem removed (I used crushed red pepper since I didn't have the others)
1 teaspoon capers
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Combine first 3 ingredients in a food processor or blender, and process until well blended.  With processor on, slowly pour in oil; process until smooth.  Add chile and next 3 ingredients, pulsing until well mixed.  If aioli is too thick, stir in water until it reached the desired consistency.  Makes 3 cups.
The recipe uses this over grilled asparagus.  Since we were not grilling out I decided to use this over cooked asparagus.  Place wash and snapped asparagus into a pot of salted boiling water and cook for 5 minutes.  The time make change depending on the diameter of the asparagus.  Drizzle aioli over cooked asparagus.
One note about this aioli:  I used extra virgin olive oil which has a strong taste so you may want to adjust your seasonings to your liking.  Also this aioli would be great for sandwiches.

Chef Salad

I want to apologize for not posting for a while.  Last week we lost our home Internet for about 4 days and our mobile devices couldn't get a good enough signal to post anything.  It was very frustrating.  I was also away at a GFWC VA Conference over the weekend.  I didn't cook much of anything in the kitchen during that time, so you didn't miss anything.

The other night my husband roasted a ham in the oven so tonight I decided to use that ham in a large chef salad.  Here were the ingredients:

Lettuce
Spinach
Ham (nitrate free)
Carrot
Yellow bell pepper
Tomato
Cheddar Cheese
Swiss Cheese
Avocado
Ground pepper
French Dressing

Homemade French Dressing
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup olive oil
Place all ingredients into a jar and shake until mixed.

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Summer Relish and Cataloupe Feta Salad

Last night we had a pot luck supper at a local farm.  It is where like minded people can get together, have good quality food to eat, share ideas, sell vegetables, jams, jellies etc.  The food is always great at these gatherings and last night was no exception.  I like to take things that can be easily transported and what I chose for dinner was just that.

Spiced Pork Tenderloin with Summer Relish
1/4 cup while wine vinegar
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups grape tomatoes, halved (Used Juliet tomatoes from our garden)
1 cup corn kernels (from about 2 ears)
1/2 cup red onion, finely chopped
2 tablespoons fresh minced parsley
1 tablespoon fresh chives
1 tablespoon thinly sliced fresh basil
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons brown sugar
1-1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon cayeene
2 pork tenderloins, trimmed (we had a over 3 pound tenderloin that was used for this recipe)
Preheat grill to medium
Combine vinegar and sugar for the relish in a large bowl, whisking until sugar is dissolved.  Add tomatoes, corn, onion and herbs to the vinegar mixture; season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat.  Cover and chill relish until ready to serve.
Combine brown sugar, salt and cayenne; rub mixture over tenderloins.  Lightly coat each with nonstick cooking spray.  Grill tenderloin about 20 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 145 degrees Fahrenheit, turning to brown all sides.  Let rest 5 minutes before slicing.  Serve with relish.

Cantaloupe Feta Salad
1 large cantaloupe, seeded, removed of outer peel and cut into bite sized pieces
4 to 6 ounces of feta cheese, crumbled
Juice from 1 lime
Fresh Mint, diced
1 tablespoon olive oil
Sea Salt and Pepper to taste
Combine all ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.  Add enough mint to add flavor but don't add too much.

Roast Chicken and Vegetables

The chicken finally thawed which allowed me to cook it tonight for dinner.  Here is everything I did.

Roast Chicken
Whole Chicken, rinsed off, patted dry (This chicken came from a local farm IdleWild Farm which I purchased at my local farmers market)
1 lemon, cut in half
2 heads of garlic, cut in half
a large bunch of fresh thyme
Sea Salt
Pepper
Olive oil
Bottle of Chardonnay
Arrowroot
1 cup chicken broth (I make my own so all I had to do was pull it out of the freezer)
Place chicken in a roasting pan.  Place the lemon inside the cavity along with half of the garlic, and half of the thyme.  Tuck wings under the bird (looks like you are bending them the wrong way but it will keep the tips from drying out).  Place the rest of the garlic and thyme along side the chicken. Drizzle olive oil over top of chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Place chicken in a preheated 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.  Cook for 1 hour.  Add some wine and the chicken broth to the chicken, return to oven to continue to cook.  It will depend how long to cook the chicken for based on its weight.  You want the internal temperature to reach 165 degrees Fahrenheit.  I used the whole bottle of wine while the chicken was cooking.  Once in a while baste the chicken so that it will stay nice and juicy.  At some point I put the lid on my roasting pan.  Once chicken is done, remove chicken to a platter and cover with foil.  Place the roaster over the heat on the stove top to heat up.  With a slotted spoon remove the garlic and thyme.  In a small bowl add about 1 tablespoon of arrowroot with about 1 tablespoon of water (you want to create a thick paste).  With a whisk, whisk in the arrowroot mixture to the broth wine mixture.  Continue to whisk and let the mixture come to a boil.  It should be thick like a gravy.  Add salt and pepper as needed. Serve over sliced chicken.

Roasted Vegetables
1 zucchini
2 small yellow squash
Fresh rosemary sprigs
Olive oil
Slice the zucchini and squash in half, in half again and then slice in to chunks.  Place both into a ziploc bag along with fresh rosemary, add some olive oil (enough to coat the vegetables).  Dump out the contents of the bag onto a cookie sheet.  Place cookie sheet into a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven and cook for about 30 minutes until vegetables are tender.  Flip and stir often to insure even cooking.

Side Salad
Lettuce
Carrots
Tomato
Bell pepper
Cucumber
Leftover bacon from last night's dinner (crumbled)
All served with homemade french dressing.

I got to thinking about this meal as we were sitting down to eat.  Everything about this meal with the exception of the lettuce, carrots and lemon came from local sources.  The cucumbers, tomatoes, thyme, and rosemary came from our garden.  All the other ingredients came from the local farmers market.  I should note that the wine is from Virginia.

I want to apologize for these picture, they are not the best.  I was in a hurry to sit down and eat and was having an issue with my camera. 

Eggs with Sweet Potato Hash

The chicken I have thawing wasn't ready yet so I had to come up with something else for dinner tonight.  Breakfast for dinner is always good.

Sweet Potato Hash

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped small

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 small red bell pepper, finely chopped (this is what I had on hand but a green bell pepper will work as well)

Salt and Pepper

In a large skillet heated over medium high heat add some oil, add onion and sweet potatoes.  Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often.  Add  bell pepper.  Place lid on skillet and cook for another 5 minutes or so.  You want the sweet potatoes to be soft.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve hash with fried eggs and bacon.

Spaghetti with Fresh Tomato Sauce

Right now we have tomatoes galore.  They are coming in from the garden faster than we know what to do with them.  Tonight my husband wanted me to make spaghetti.  I thought sure why not and why not do a fresh sauce to go along with it.

Fresh Tomato Sauce
This is a recipe from my Vitamix.  I am sure that you can do the same thing with a good blender.
6 roma tomatoes, quartered
1 small onion, peeled, halved
1 small carrot, halved
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 garlic clove, peeled
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
Place everything in the blender and blend until smooth.  Pour into a saucepan and simmer for 35-40 minutes.

I made regular spaghetti pasta, served it with a ground beef sausage (grassfed of course) and a side salad with French Dressing.

French Dressing
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/4 cup ketchup
3/4 cup olive oil
Put all contents into a jar and shake until mixed.