Tuesday, May 24, 2016

Sal, man.

In weekend goings-on, this guy has learned how to smile. I think. Could still just be the mondo amounts of gas he's got going on.


Don't tell this guy that kiddie pools come in bigger sizes.


We grilled salmon on Saturday night. As much as I like fish in general, I'm not usually one for salmon. IT'S TOO FISHY is an obnoxious complaint, but it's truuuuuue. However, this recipe for grilled salmon turned out delicious and truly not fishy tasting. Tryyyyyy it. It even involves wine. Done deal.

Grilled Glazed Salmon
2 cedar grilling planks (got ours at Home Depot- $3 for a 4 pack)
1/2 bottle white wine
1/2 cup Dijon mustard
1/4 cup honey
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp orange juice
2 tsp minced fresh thyme
2 tbsp olive oil
4 5-7 oz fresh salmon fillets (we had one large piece that we just cut ourselves)- I should add that we bought ours at Wal Mart. Not fancy at all, and seriously it still turned out great.
Salt and pepper to taste

At least one hour ahead of grill time, soak planks in wine. This will prevent the planks from becoming tinder and burning up. The wine flavors will infuse into the salmon.

Whisk together mustard, hone, vinegar, orange juice, and thyme. Place the planks on a hot grill (~400 degrees). Preheat planks for about 3 minutes. Flip the planks, brush with olive oil, and place 2 fillets on each plank. Season with salt and pepper and brush with the honey mustard glaze. Cook for 12-15 minutes, or until internal temp reaches 145 degrees.

Remove from heat and serve. I made a side dish zucchini noodles sauteed in a bit of olive oil, with added goat cheese and toasted walnuts. So good!






Have at it- a lighter way of grilling. And I swear it's not too fishy.


Thursday, May 19, 2016

I don't quite need a conservator...yet...


Yesterday afternoon both boys napped at the same time.

For two solid hours. 

That is winning the mom lottery. 

Instead of use that time to nap myself, or drink wine, or uh, exercise, I decided to tackle the back landscaping. Now I've griped about it before- it's just toooooo much space for me to maintain. Also, I don't really give a hoot about plants unless I can eat the , so there's that. Tired of weeding amongst the you'll-lose-a-layer-of-your-epidermis thorny rose bushes, I took to them like Britney Spears in 2007. Hacked away! Gone with ya! I need a fresh start!


Sooooooo...now what? On our neighborhood walk tonight I noticed a wall of ombré lilac bushes.




More realistically I'll go with raspberry bushes and stick with my preference of edible. It's always something with me.

On the plus side, i made up a new dinner. I've been craving Asian food but didn't want anything heavy. I decided tofu and bok choy fit the bill.

Sticky Ginger Tofu
2 teaspoons sesame or vegetable oil
1 lb extra firm tofu
1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger
2 tbsp light soy sauce
1 teaspoon mirin (no biggie if you don't have this)
Tiny Splash of fish sauce (again, no biggie)
1/4 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons cornstarch

Combine ginger through remaining ingredients and whisk well.

Heat oil in a shallow pan over medium heat. Squeeze excess moisture from tofu. I use paper towels for this. Cut into half inch cubes and toss in pan. Stir occasionally until tofu cubes are golden brown. Remove from heat and pour in sauce. Stir quickly to evenly coat- you don't want the sauce to burn.

For the bok choy I just chopped it up and microwaved it- covered- about two minutes to "steam" it.

I don't know why this is suddenly only let me type centered- and I'm exhausted 'cause I should've chosen "nap" instead of landscaping. Let's roll with it, mmk?





Mmmmmmm. Now how about some raspberries for dessert?


Monday, May 9, 2016

Zip-a-dee-zoodles

Yay for me for going out and doing something fun and social on a Friday night! It was the first time since Freddie's arrival that I'd done something with friends, so I was overdue. We went to a free event at Aveda- massages, mini hairstyles, mini makeovers, etc. FREE. Yes please. Even wore new heels for the occasion.





Life is all about balance, right? So me making smores pie meant that we needed a meal of zoodles. You probably want to kick me in the face for using the word "zoodles"- but zoodle-dee-doo, whatever. I use my Vegetti but I know there are other types of spiralizers- use whatever you'd like. 

i'll admit that I had low expectations- I mean, I'd much rather shovel in nice hot carby pasta, but this meal rocked. So many flavored going on and you can eat a huuuuuge plate without mondo calories.

Zoodles with Roasted Veggies and Avocado Cream

3 zucchini, spiralized
1 bag baby sweet peppers, sliced (2 cups)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow sweet onion, diced
3 ears fresh corn, cut (2 cups)
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine peppers and 1 tablespoon of olive oil on a sheet pan and roast for 10 minutes. Roasting can be done at higher temps but I like longer roasting at lower temps (like 350) because it makes the veggies sweeter before they char. After 10 minutes, add onions. Roast 10 more minutes, add corn. Roast 10 more min, add beans and tomatoes. Roast- you got it, dude- about 10 more minutes. Note that you could sauté this up in a pan of you are more crunched for time.

Add zoodles to roasted veggies and stir to combine. I put the pan in the still-hot oven for a few minutes. You don't want to cook the zoodles but rather just heat them up.

Avocado cream
2 ripe avocados, peeled
1/3 cup nonfat plain Greek yogurt
Juice of 2 limes
1/3 cup loosely packed cilantro
1 tablespoon honey

Combine all ingredients in a food processor until smooth. Top zoodles and veggies with nice blob of cream.





Makes four heaping servings of zoodles and avocado cream. Per serving: 320 calories

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

Oh, hi.

It has seriously been over a month since I posted? Whaaaaa?

Turns out having a baby is really time consuming. I should have remembered that.

Frederik Peter was born April 6 and we have been doing nothing but snuggling on the couch since then.

My Netflix queue can prove that to be true.

I had made a ton of freezer meals in advance so I haven't been doing a ton in the way of cooking lately, but that's slowly changing. I do have some recipes to post in the upcoming months, er, weeks.

This past weekend was an exceptionally good weekend of eating. Not necessarily dietitian-y stuff, but whatever. There's no statute on losing baby weight, right?

First up was Saturday morning breakfast- pancakes with wildberry sauce. While cleaning our deep freezer for all the prepped meals, I came across a container of wild blackberries I'd picked last summer. I prefer fruit with pancakes instead of syrup, so I made a quick sauce.




Berry Sauce
-2 cups frozen or fresh berries
-2/3 cup orange juice
-2 tablespoons sugar (or less, depending on sweetness of your fruit)
-2 tablespoons corn starch + 1 tablespoon water

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine first three ingredients. Once the berries start to boil, stir in the paste-y cornstarch mixture and stir for another 2 minutes. Sauce will thicken. Remove from heat and cool. Sauce will continue to thicken as it cools. Optional- add vanilla or cinnamon.

A few weeks ago my husband bought a Big Green Egg grill and he's been obsessed ever since. He took a BGE cooking class at Kitchen Window and learned how to grill pizza. Game on. We made homemade dough, homemade sauce, and bought fresh (mozzarella and raclette) cheese for the occasion.

Homemade pizza sauce
-1 large can whole peeled San Marzano tomatoes (you can find these at Target even)
-1/2 can tomato paste
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/4 teaspoon pepper
-1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
-Pinch of red pepper flakes
-Pinch of brown sugar (I like Chef Prudhomme's pizza seasoning, which is essentially red pepper + sugar)

In a food processor, puree the whole tomatoes. Discard the remaining liquid from the can. In a small saucepan, combine pureed tomatoes, tomato paste, and seasonings over low heat. Makes enough sauce for four medium sized pizzas. Feel free to change the seasonings based on your own preference. San Marzano tomatoes really do make a huge difference in the taste, as does the freshly grated cheese.





We rounded out our weekend with family dinner at Victory 44 in north Minneapolis. I ordered squash farotto- farro made risotto style in a pureed butternut squash sauce. Other orders included fried chicken biscuit sandwich and a bacon burger with bacon fries. Not light fare, but really tasty.





Aunt Emily teaching Mac how to do a thumbs up, which perfectly sums up the weekend.


Nailed it.