Salmon, grapefruit, avocado, and warm kale salad

You guys. YOU GUYS! This salad I conjured up last night while trying to avoid cooking in front of Hubs (who is doing the master cleanse lemon/maple syrup/cayenne drink thing for 3 days) was spectacular. And so easy.

Ingredients (feeds 2):

• 1 large grapefruit 
• 1 large just ripe avocado
• 1 can of sockeye salmon
• 2 large handfuls of baby kale
• Regular olive oil for cooking the kale
• Meyer lemon olive oil for dressing
• Fig balsamic vinegar for dressing
• Half a lemon
• Salt and pepper

Peel and segment the grapefruit. Put in large bowl. In a separate bowl, squeeze the juice of the inside of the grapefruit for the dressing.

In a hot pan, add the cooking olive oil and once shimmering, cook the kale until crispy and warmed through.

In the large bowl, cut the avocado into half inch chunks. Open the can of salmon (you can use fresh but this was intended to be quick), and after draining the juices, put it into the bowl. Once the kale is cooked through, add that to the large bowl. 

In the dressing bowl, add to the grapefruit juice a tablespoon of the Meyer lemon olive oil, two teaspoons of the fig balsamic, and salt and pepper to taste. Squeeze in half a lemon, as well. Whisk thoroughly. And toss the dressing with the salad. Voila! 

Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai (Sort Of) with Chicken Satay

We are trying to get ourselves back on track after a VERY naughty holiday season…I’m talking Thanksgiving THROUGH the New Year. NAUGHTY!

So this week I’ve been a cooking machine. On Monday, teriyaki shrimp with grilled pineapple, red peppers and broccoli over cauliflower rice. On Tuesday, zucchini noodles and sauteed chard with turkey meatballs and kale pesto. And then last night. Oh, last night! It was DELICIOUS! I made a variation of this recipe that was sort of pad thai, sort of chicken satay salad. I didn’t have tamarind and wasn’t sure I would have the time to make or buy the ingredients…so that is when I veered away from pad thai…and went more towards the Thai peanut sauce I had in the fridge. I also upped the veggie content. Mama needs some green in her din-din. Also, our new nanny is vegetarian so it is challenging me to not only make more strictly vegetarian meals, but meals that can be eaten both vegetarian and high in meat proteins. Always up for a challenge.

  

Ingredients (for four people):

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• 2 large carrots
• four scallions or green onions
• 1 bag of bean sprouts
• extra large handful of spinach
• 1 medium yellow onion
• 3 large eggs, whisked
• about 6-8 chicken tenders
•  1 package of extra firm tofu
• Thai Peanut Sauce
• peanut oil
• corn starch
• chopped peanuts
• cilantro
• lime wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Prepare all of the ingredients mis en plas prior to cooking as once you start cooking, it will go quickly.

While the oven heats, cut the spaghetti squash lengthwise (stem to stern), scoop out the seeds and innards, cover both sides with olive oil, and sprinkle the insides of the squash with salt and pepper. If you have a dish large enough, you can put them side-by-side, face down in a pan. I don’t, so I put them in two pans. Then add about a 1/4 inch of water to the pan. Depending on your oven, it could take about 30-40 minutes. You’ll know when they are done when you poke at the top and the side collapses a bit. Be wary of the steam when opening the oven. The water makes that first burst of steam VERY hot. [Side note: I used a convection oven so it cut down the time to about 20 minutes.]  [Side note(2): You can do this the night before to save time…spaghetti squash does well in the refrigerator for a few days.]

During the time the spaghetti squash is cooking, prep everything else. Cut your tofu into cubes and sprinkle with about two tablespoons of corn starch. Mix these together and let sit. Skewer the chicken and sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper. Make ribbons of the carrots using a veggie peeler. Roughly chop the spinach. Thinly slice your yellow onion (I used a sprializer to make the process fast and easy). Whisk your eggs. Prepare your green onions by cutting off the white ends and chopping them on the bias…about quarter to half inch pieces. Have everything ready in bowls next to your stove.

This is also a good time to sear the chicken skewers. If you have a grill pan, use it. If not, a shallow pan works best (maybe something you use for pancakes).  Spray the pan with oil and sear both sides of the skewers until both sides are golden brown where it touches the pan and the interior is beginning to turn white. You will put them in the oven to cook through when the spaghetti squash is out.

Put a wok or large pan on the stove on high heat. Set two large bowls to the side of the stove for the cooked food. We’ll do this in steps. When the wok is hot, add a few teaspoons of peanut oil and coat the pan. Add the tofu and cook until all sides are golden brown. Put into the bowl when finished. Keeping the pan hot, add a bit more peanut oil and cook the onions until slightly browned and softened. Add these to the bowl with the tofu when cooked. Add a bit more oil, then pour in the eggs, rolling it around the pan making a thin omelette. My experience had me letting the center “set” a bit instead of continually moving it around the pan. Once it begins to set, cut it with your tongs into small pieces and it will finish cooking quickly. Add this to the bowl on top of the tofu and onions. Turn off the heat for the pan and check the spaghetti squash.

At this point it should be softening. If so, remove the pans from the oven and let them cool while you begin cooking the other veggies. Don’t cook the veggies until the spaghetti squash is ready because you’ll want the veggies warm and don’t want to overcook them. When the spaghetti squash has slightly cooled, drain the water from the pan(s) and turn them over using either a fork or a oven mitt. Using a fork, shred the inside into “noodles.”

Put the seared chicken skewers in the (now dry) pan the spaghetti squash was in and into the hot oven (still at 400 degrees) with the skewer part covered in tinfoil. These will be ready by the time everything else cooks. Use a meat thermometer to double check, though.

Turn the heat back up on the wok and add a splash of peanut oil. Add the carrots, bean sprouts, and green onions to the pan. After a minute or two, turning the veggies often, add the spinach, mixing the spinach in with the rest of the veggies. Add those veggies to the second bowl and set aside. In the hot wok add just a splash more peanut oil, coat the pant, and put the spaghetti squash noodles into the pan in a even layer around the pan. Let them sit for a bit to get some crunch. Stir again and let sit.

While that sits, add three or four tablespoons of the peanut sauce to a bowl and add a splash of hot water to thin out the sauce. Pour some of this sauce around the edge of the pan and mix it into the spaghetti squash. Once well mixed, add all of the other ingredients and stir in the remaining sauce. Check the chicken. Remove when finished

Plate the dish and finish with chopped peanuts, chopped cilantro, and two lime wedges. Drizzle the peanut sauce (not thinned) over the whole plate. Ta da! Enjoy!

 

Ham and cheese quinoa “pizza” bites

I’ve heard about these so called quinoa pizza bites here and there and I knew I wanted to make them but didn’t know when. Until we had another couple and their son over to watch the Oscars last night and I knew I wanted to have food that was somewhat “handy” but also hearty (as I didn’t want to have a lot of dishes downstairs with a 3 year old, a 2 year old and an almost 2 year old running around).

I also don’t have a mini-cupcake pan as they recommend. Probably would have helped, but they turned out pretty great anyway, if I do say so myself.

As is my wont, I looked at the recipes/directions I had seen elsewhere, looked at my fridge, and came up with my own version.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 cups quinoa
• 3 cups chicken stock (or 2 cups chicken stock and 1 cup water)
• half of a vidalia onion, finely chopped
• 1 cup of chopped mushrooms
• two leaves of kale, chopped
• 1 cup of spinach leaves, chopped
• 1/4 cup of fresh basil, chopped
• 2 large eggs (I used three smallish eggs)
• 1.5 cups shredded cheddar
• 4 slices of ham, chopped
• 1 tablespoon dry oregano (plus a 1/4 tablespoon in the quinoa)
• salt/pepper
• a pinch of red pepper flakes
• paprika
• grated parmesan for the top (while cooking)
• pasta sauce (to dip)

Preheat oven to 375.

On the stovetop, cook the quinoa by putting quinoa and stock into pot, salting and adding a few dashes of the oregano and bringing to a boil. Once boiling, lower heat to simmer, cover and let sit for 15 minutes.

In a saute pan, cook the onion with a bit of olive oil until translucent, add the mushrooms and cook until softening, add the kale and a bit of salt and pepper and stir until all are cooking through and soft. (This time is when I chopped the remaining ingredients)

Add all ingredients into a bowl and mix thoroughly. Spray the cupcake sheet with Pam or the like (I use smart start). Divvy out the quinoa mixture into the cups until just over the edge (next time I may make them a bit more shallow so that they come together more quickly). Put in the oven for 30 minutes. At that time, put a bit of the parmesan on top, turn the oven up to 400 and cook for another 15 or so minutes. Test by running a knife around the sides and seeing if the “muffin” is crusty on the sides. Once they are finished, let them sit for about 10 minutes. This will help them set.

Serve with pasta sauce. Easy peasy!

Avocado tartare

Didn’t take any pictures (ate it too quickly) but I highly recommend you make this ASAP. It is ridiculously good.

Only made a few slight modifications including doubling the lemon juice, replacing the red onion with sautéed vidalia, and using a few squirts of sriracha instead of jalapeño. Oh, and I left out the capers as I didn’t have any on hand. It was devoured. And crazy easy.

From Food & Wine:

Tuna, chickpea, persian cucumber, lemon salad (with leftover cauliflower puree)

Hubs said nay to my idea of coffee yogurt with chia seeds for lunch. He wanted something more hearty and I had just seen this recipe on theKitchn which sounded delicious.

But I was being pulled towards tuna and didn’t have red onion. SO! I made it up with that Kitchn salad as my inspiration. The original was surprisingly persian in influence so I had a lot of those ingredients on hand.

Ingredients:

• One can of chickpeas
• One can of tuna
• Two tablespoons of leftover cauliflower puree
• Four persian cucumbers
• Half of a lemon
• Half of sweet white onion, thinly sliced
• Balsamic
• One tablespoon of sumac
• Half teaspoon of chili powder
• One tablespoon of pomegranate syrup

In a bowl, put the drained and rinsed chickpeas, the drained tuna, the leftover cauliflower puree, the cut-into-discs cucumber and some salt and pepper.

Put the thinly sliced onion in a saute pan with half a teaspoon of olive oil and cook on medium low until soft. When soft, add a splash of balsamic and turn the heat down to let them caramelize.

Once the onions are ready, add in the ingredients that were already mixed and then put in the lemon juice, the sumac, the chili powder and the pomegranate syrup. Mix thoroughly and warm over medium heat to taste. This was REALLY good. Thumbs up from the hubs. Easy to make and healthy!

 

 

 

 

Pea, Avocado and Mint Dressing Used Two Ways

I’ve seen a few versions of this recipe floating around but I knew it wouldn’t be hearty enough on its own for a meal for my family (I kept on seeing it on toast or as a dip for chips). So tonight, as usual, I am going to MacGuyver that recipe and make it something the Suhlizis would eat.

As our au pair isn’t the biggest fan of chicken, I made two versions: veggie and chicken.

Ingredients (leave the chicken out if cooking the veg version):

• Two large boneless, skinless chicken breasts
• One bag of frozen peas
• One avocado (peeled and seeded)
• One cup of mint leaves
• Jalapeno, finely diced, to taste
• Half of a red onion, roughly chopped
• One can of chickpeas (more will go into the veg version than the chicken version)
• A few handfuls of fresh spinach
• A few stalks of raw dinosaur kale
• Cherry tomatoes
• Limes (both zest and juice)
• Sriracha sauce to taste
• Half a cup of toasted pine nuts

Chop the boneless, skinless breasts into one inch chunks. Add salt and pepper and marinate in yogurt, sriracha and lime juice, covered and in the fridge, for a few hours.

Cook the peas as directed on the package. As mentioned previously, I like the steam in the bag kind. Cooks for five minutes and little to no mess. While that steams, in a dry sauté pan, toast the pine nuts and set aside.  The picture here shows the before and after. A lot of times I toast them up a bit darker as hubs REALLY likes that, um, burnt flavor. Not my thing. I went a bit less toasty tonight.

In a food processor or using a stick blender (whichever is handy…I made the mistake of being TOO handy and using my vitamix. NOT the best tool suited for the job), puree the cooked peas, the avocado and mint and a few pine nuts until smooth. Tasting it along the way, I also pureed in some jalapeno, lime juice, some lime zest and salt and pepper.

Put two tablespoons of olive oil and a pat of butter into the pan over medium high heat. When the oil is glistening, add the half of the red onion and then, a minute or so later, the chicken. Turn the chicken once the panside is slightly browned. If the yogurt becomes too liquid-y in while you are cooking, drain it out and put it back on the stove. The more liquid, the less browned. Continue to turn and cook through (using a instaread thermometer if needed) and remove to a separate plate. Dollup on a few spoonfuls of the pea/mint/avocado mixture to the chicken.

Add a bit of olive oil to the pan and add the rest of the red onion and the chiffonaded, stemmed kale, cut into small pieces. If you have any handy, pour in a 1/4 cup of wine (any color) when the kale starts to turn color. It really adds a depth of flavor and cuts the sharpness of the kale. Add the cherry tomatoes whole and chickpeas to the pan to warm. Cook the kale until tender but not wilted.

(This is when I add the wine…when it looks like this)

Because two plates of the three will be non-veg, put this together on/in the plates/bowls you will be using. Chop the spinach into one inch pieces and then put the fresh spinach on the bottom of the bowl. Top with a bit of the pea/mint/avocado mixture. If you are adding the chicken, add it now. Then top with the veg mixture. More chickpeas for the veggie dish. Then add some more of the pea/mint/avocado mixture and top with a boat load of toasted pine nuts and more sriracha.

This was INCREDIBLY filling. I could have had half a bowl and been satisfied. But it was so GD healthy, that I stuffed it back guilt free. This would be fantastic for a group of people (luncheon, shower, etc.) and could probably be improved by grilling the chicken instead of sauteeing it. I might also consider thinning out the pea/mint/avocado mix by making it more of a dressing…maybe some vinegar/olive oil? More like a salad dressing. It was so thick, it was a bit difficult to mix.

Ranch Salad

One of my favorite meals and one of the easiest things I make is what I call “Ranch Salad.” It reminds me of Ranch dressing…though I don’t use that dressing on the salad. Maybe it is the crisp, chopped veggies? Anyway, it is super yummy and crazy easy.

• Rotisserie chicken
• 3 Persian cucumbers
• handful of cherry tomatoes
• 3 carrots
• 1/4 red onion
• 1/2 cup of frozen roasted corn
• half of an avocado
• bag of fresh spinach leaves
• French vinaigrette dressing

Clean and chop the cucumbers, carrots, onion, avocado, tomatoes and spinach. Put in a bowl with a splash of the dressing.

In a sauté pan, heat the frozen corn until warmed through. Add to bowl.

Cut the chicken off the carcass and chop into 1 inch pieces. In the now empty sauté pan over medium high heat, toss a teaspoon of butter, the chopped chicken and a few teaspoons of the vinaigrette and heat until warm.

To serve, spoon the veggies into bowls and top with the chicken and some more dressing. I had a few teaspoons of pine nuts left over from last night so I tossed them in and, trying a new product, we finished it with a bit of Onion Crunch. This stuff added the perfect crunch to the salad.

Quick and Easy Broccoli Soup

I’m not feeling so hot today and, despite the heat, I really wanted something warm and packed with good stuff for lunch. The soups I had on hand were just not doing it for me…and all I could think about was broccoli soup. Considering I wasn’t going out and was hungry NOW, I decided to make up a quick and easy broccoli soup recipe.

• 1 12 oz. bag of frozen, steam in the bag broccoli florets (I like Birds Eye)
• half of a yellow onion loosely chopped
• 1 cup of chicken stock (I used one Pacific Natural Foods 8 oz carton)
• Salt/pepper
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 1 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 tablespoon ground flax
• shredded mozzarella cheese to taste
• dash of paprika to finish

This takes about 10 minutes total, maybe less. This recipe serves two.

Put broccoli in microwave for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, chop onion and add to a teaspoon of hot olive oil in heavy bottomed pot. Salt and pepper the onion while it cooks until soft. Once soft, add the stock, yogurt, chia seeds, flax and stir. The broccoli will finish right about then. Tear open the bag and add it to the pot, liquids and all. Turn off the heat. With a hand blender, turning the pot at an angle, puree the mixture until blended to your desired consistency. I don’t mind a little bit of chunk so this went very quickly for me. Dish it into bowls and then top with the mozzarella and paprika. Very satisfying, healthy and it took about as much time as it would take to make a sandwich.

Kitchen Sink Quinoa

 

One of the first meals I made for M to transition us out of carb heavy meals to those that were more wholesome and healthy was this Kitchen Sink Quinoa.

Ingredients:

• Avocado
• Edamame
• Pomegranate
• Pre-cooked beets (canned or fresh)
• Feta
• Shallot
• Quinoa
• Balsamic vinagrette

I had all of the ingredients on hand so this came together quickly. It is great for lunch or leftovers, too. 

Cook the quinoa as directed on the package but substitute chicken (or vegetable) stock for water. Meanwhile, cut the beets into 1/2″ pieces, pop the perils out of the pomegranate, cut the avocado into cubes and, if necessary, pop the edamame beans out of their shell. Cut the shallot into thin slices and lightly saute until translucent. Add the beets to heat through.

Once the quinoa is cooked through, add avocado, edamame, pomegranate, chopped beets, shallot, feta and quinoa into a large bowl. Personally, I don’t dress the salad as that is something that is a deeply personal decision (one on which M and I disagree) and let each person add the amount of dressing they wish. This also helps the dish keep for leftovers. It is delicious.

Variations: This is a great place for leftover veggies and/or chicken/fish from the night before. Chop all leftovers into small chunks and the lunch salad becomes dinner.