Eggplant and Feta Dip

Ok, honestly, this is easily one of my new favorite dips...well second to Megan's buffalo wing dip. Ok, this is my new "on the healthier side" dip. haha. I modified the recipe from delish.com...I tend to always not add as much olive oil as the recipe asks...I mean, I hate to say it but olive oil really doesn't have that much flavor to me; by adding less, I feel like there's more flavor in the dish. ALSO, who knew eggplants were soo mushy! I went to the store to buy one and thought they were all rotten because they were so squishy! Anyway, I'll stop ranting.

Ingredients:
1 medium eggplant
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
2 tablespoons diced up shallots
1 jalapeno seeded and diced
1 tablespoon parsley
1 tablespoon cilantro
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper
1 pinch of cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to broil.
2. Cut eggplant in half and place face down on a cookie sheet. (Pam or butter the cookie sheet or else the eggplant will stick)
3. Put in broiler for about 10 minutes.
4. Take out and let cool.
5. Spoon the insides out of the eggplant into a bowl.
6. Add lemon juice to prevent discoloring.
7. Add oil, feta, shallots, jalapeno, parsley, cilantro, salt, pepper, and cayenne.
8. Blend. (or else dip will be stringy)
9. Serve with chips!

I actually think I might make more of this tonight just because I'm so addicted to it! Here are the nutrition facts...so I'm not sure how to make it more visible without making blurry, but I figured out you can press on the picture and get it in full size. I did one serving size, even though this is easily 3 or 4.
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Curried Chickpeas

Curried chickpeas....yummm. This has all my favorite things right now!...There is ginger, curry powder, and garlic...all it needs is some SOUR CREAM! haha, the funny thing is that it would actually probably go well with sour cream because it is so spicy, but for the sake of my health, I decided to leave it out. I modified this recipe from epicurious.com by substituting tumeric with curry powder. One of these days, I will buy that spice...;) ANywhere, here is what I did.

Ingredients:
1 can of chickpeas
1 teaspoon curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 inch cube of ginger minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (this can be adjusted depending on how spicy you want)

Instructions:

1. Drain chickpeas and rinse.


2. In a little olive oil, cook chickpeas in a saucepan.


3. Add curry powder, cumin, garlic, ginger and cayenne pepper.


4. Mix until chickpeas are hot.


5. Serve!!

Super hard huh? Now, I've gotten requests to start putting nutritional values to my dishes and while it's a work in progress, here is what I have got for this one. I just plug the ingredients into a calorie counter website and out comes the results. Now, I am still trying to figure out how I am going to post it...I'd like to eventually make it look all pretty, but you will have to just make do with what I give now. Now, I just put it as 1 serving size because I'm not really sure how to allocate serving sizes and this dish is really more of a side dish so you figure it out!!

Hot Wings!!

Umm, can I please say that these wings are better than Wingstop's? Ok jk, no wings are better than wingstops, but nate says it's a close second! I got this recipe from Siao who actually got it from the Frank's bottle with some alterations. Frank's is awesome...I mean tangy hot sauce, who can ask for more? Here is what I did.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/3 cup frank's hot sauce

1/3 cup melted butter

2 lbs of chicken wings

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Bake wings for about an hour.
3. Take wings out, let cool.
4. Combine Frank's hot sauce, butter, lemon juice, paprika, and chili powder.
5. Coat wings in sauce.
6. Serve!

So, I LOVE hot wings...and I know this is stupid, but my fingers started kind of cramping from holding the wings, getting the meat off, and that whole ordeal. I am totally down with just taking the meat off of wings, coating them in the sauce and eating them with a fork. Is that so wrong? Would I be considered blasphemous from the hot wing community? Anyway, curried chickpeas next!!

Soy Ginger Salmon

Mmmmmmmm, soy ginger salmon. I wish the salmon didn't break apart like in the picture. It could have looked so much prettier. Oh well ~ So I have grown a great appreciation for ginger since this dish. A little really goes a long way...and on this dish you really don't see much on the salmon, but oh you can taste it. ;) So I got this recipe from epicurious.com - it's a pretty good website for recipes and there's even an iphone app for it.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons pepper
1 tbsp lemon
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 inch ginger minced
1/3 cup orange juice
4 salmon fillets

Instructions:

1. Rub salmon with 1 tbsp brown sugar and lightly sprinkle the lemon and garlic powder.
2. In a saucepan, pour soy sauce, olive oil, gigner, remaining brown sugar, and pepper. Bring to a simmer until sugar is dissolved.
3. Remove from heat, then add the orange juice.
4. Place the fish in the marinade and refrigerate overnight.
5. Preheat broiler and place fish in a baking pan.
6. Broil fish for about 6-8 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and let sit for 5 minutes.

Gosh I have completely blanked on what I served this with now...anyway, my next dish is more of a side dish. It's chickpeas in this spice blend...with ginger. ;) Wait for it.

Zucchini Fritters

Zucchini Fritters!!! So, my health kick is gone, if you can't tell. Man, and those chicken recipes failed me...I had high hopes, but they are not worthy for this blog. ;) Anyway, this zucchini fritter recipe makes about 10 fritters ~ let me correct, 10 DELICIOUS fritters. I think they would go really well with a squeeze of lemon too...I dipped them in hot sauce. haha ~ well, enjoy!!

Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium zucchini
2 garlic cloves (minced)
1/3 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup milk

Instructions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in skillet, add zucchini and garlic until zucchini is brown.
2. In a mixing bowl, stir flour, baking powder, oregano, salt, and pepper.
3. Add milk and whisk until smooth.
4. Stir in zucchini mixture.
5. Heat rest of olive oil, drop 1 tbsp at a time until golden brown (4 minutes per side).
6. Serve!

So the next dish is salmon. Basically it is salmon cooked in sugar...I've started this unhealthy kick now, so you'll enjoy the next recipes coming.

Mac and Cheese

Photo is courtesy if Jason Joseph. I'm having a really hard time getting my pictures to show light in them, but Jason gave me a tip to point the camera upward? ;) Anywayyy, MAC AND CHEESE! Yummm, so we had kind of a potluck type dinner; Jason, Faye, Jake and I worked on the mac and cheese. Nate graciously grated all the cheese. Faye and Jason worked on the appetizer, then Megan and Jake made the delicious dessert. However, this post is just for the mac and cheese. I got the recipe from Josh because last time he made it, it was divineee. =) BUT, I made a crucial mistake...I forgot to add the parmesan cheese!! Well, it was still good; we live and we learn. I'll post the CORRECT recipe though.

Ingredients:
1/2 teaspoon Salt
16-ounce package macaronia
1/4 pound bacon (about 3 large slices)
1 medium onion diced
6 tablespoons flour
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1/2 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf (we didn't use this)
1 1/2 cups grated fontina
1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese
3/4 cup grated gruyere
3/4 cup grated white cheddar (australian)
3/4 cup grated parmesan
3 tablespoons chopped Italian parsley
1/4 cup break crumbs

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees
2. Butter the 9 by 13 inch glass baking dish
3. Cook macaroni in a large pot.
4. In another pot, saute diced bacon until crisp.
5. Remove bacon, leave the bacon drippings.
6. Saute onion in drippings until soft.
7. Add the 5 tablespoons of butter until it melts.
8. While mixing, add the flour until well mixed, making a roux.
9. Mix in the mustard.
10. Gradually add the milk and cream while mixing constantly.
11. Add thyme, bay leaf, and salt.
12. Let come to a simmer and stir frequently for about 15 minutes.
13. Strain the hot milk mixture and discard solids (or use them in a different dish as Jason will be doing).
14. Working quickly, mix in 1 cup fontina cheese, blue cheese, 1/2 cup gruyere, 1/2 cup white cheddar, 1/2 cup parmesan, the reserved bacon, and parsley.
15. Stir until all cheese is melted.
16. Add cooked noodles to the cheese mixture to coat.
17. Add the noodle mixture to baking dish.
18. Mix the remaining cheese and bread crumps together and sprinkle on top of the noodles.
19. Bake for about 15-20 minutes until bubbling and golden brown.
20. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
21. Serve!

Gosh, mac and cheese not from the box is a lot of work! But WELL worth it. Now, I have four recipes lined up to make this week! We'll see how many I actually do. But there's rosemary chicken, peanut chicken, soy ginger salmon, and hot wings! Wait for it. ;)

Cod over sauteed Cabbage and rice

My last post on cod and I made it a good one! I don't know what's going on with this camera..If I use flash, it's wayyy too bright and if I don't use flash, it's too dark. Hmmmm, anyway, I think this dish is making it's way to the top of my list. It's so simple, but has a lot of flavor. It's basically white rice, some sauteed cabbage with this soy sauce mixture, and pan-fried cod! The cod was super easy. I just sprinkled it with salt and pepper, then put it on the pan with some oil for 3 minutes per side.

Ingredients:

2 cups sliced cabbage

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons sugar

2 cloves of garlic

cooked cod

cooked rice

Instructions:

1. Put cut up garlic in a pan with some oil.
2. Add cabbage, let saute.
3. In a separate little bowl, put soy sauce and sugar together. If sugar does not dissolve, you may need to heat it up a little bit.
4. Add half of the soy sauce mixture into the cabbage.
5. After cabbage is cooked, put on top of rice.
6. Add fish, then add the rest of the sauce.
7. Serve!

What's next?!?

Jalapeno Cilantro Sauce on Chicken and Tofu

I apologize for the pictures. It really does look more appetizing in person. OOh well, so, I first became in love with this sauce from El Pollo Loco; I know, weird. And when Kristin sent me the recipe, I knew I HAD to make it. She got the recipe from the LAtimes and I changed it up a little bit. The original recipe called for half a jalapeno without the seeds, and I put a full jalapeno with the seeds. The recipe also called for 4 cups of cream and I used 2 and a half cups of cream (because that's all I had!) plus, there was more concentrated flavor. AND, the recipe called for mahi mahi, but I didn't have any so I used chicken. And Val and Jeremy were coming over so I bought some tofu too (Val is a vegetarian) to see if that worked well with the sauce. Over dinner, we discussed how the sauce would probably go well on salads, seafood, and pasta! Anyway, I'll stop rambling and here it is.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 garlic clove
1/2 cup white wine
2 1/2 cups cream
1 1/2 cups packed cilantro
1/2 cup diced onions
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Heat olive oil on a saucepan.
   
2. Add onions, garlic, and jalapeno until brown.


3. Stir in white wine.
   
4. Let the wine reduce in half.


5. Stir in heavy cream.


6. Let reduce in half.


7. Blend!


8. Serve!
   

Even with the full jalapeno, it really isn't that spicy. In fact, you could add tobasco to spice it up a bit. Anyway, I started my health kick yesterday so you will probably be seeing a lot healthier recipes from here on out. I've already made some more quinoa, mexican inspired...but it's not that interesting so I probably won't blog about it. I want to try something with cabbage. I used to cook with it so much when I was a poor college student, and haven't since. Soo, wait for it! ;)

GREEEEEEN PIZZA

So I got this recipe from delish.com and am a HUGE fan! I was a little skeptical at first because it was wheat dough, spinach, broccoli, and low-fat mozzarella cheese, but it really isn't as bad as it sounds. The wheat dough actually tastes pretty good and you don't even notice the lowfat cheese. However, I think the star of this dish is the pesto. The recipe called for store-bought pesto, but I made it myself! Warning, making your own pesto can be quite pricey. Basil: $2.99; Parmesan cheese: $5.49; Garlic: $0.50; Pine nuts: $3.99. But this one is excellent, so if you have some of the ingredients already, it might be worth it. So, the ingredients for the pizza is pretty simple; buy store bought wheat dough, roll it out with some flour, then put pesto, mozzarella cheese, cooked spinach, and cooked broccoli, then put it in the oven for the time it says on the package of the dough.

Here is the recipe for the pesto though:

Ingredients:
2 cups packed basil
1/3 cup pine nuts
6 cloves of garlic
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup olive oil

Instructions:

1. BLEND!

Pretty difficult eh? This serving was enough to cover the pizza AND to make a bunch of pesto pasta the next day. Now, beware, if you taste the pesto right after you blend it, it's probably going to taste pretty spicy because of the garlic. But once you heat it up and cook it, it tastes much better because the garlic cooks a little bit. Next? cilantro jalapeno sauce for either chicken or fish, I haven't decided. yumm!!

Chicken Cacciatore

So, I've always heard of Chicken Cacciatore, but never really knew what it was. I also didn't realize that it was actually a healthy dish. There's so much you could do with this dish; you could make it super spicy, you could add curry powder to make it earthy, you could add some white wine to make it lighter. But, I just stuck with the normal chicken cacciatore with a tad bit of cayenne to give it a little kick.

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 chicken breasts
3 tablespoons flour
1 medium onion finely chopped
4 cloves garlic
8 ounces mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes (I used fire-roasted tomatoes)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/8 cayenne pepper

Instructions:

1. Cut chicken into pieces and coat in flour


2. Add to a hot pan with oil. Cook chicken until golden brown.


3. Transfer to a bowl.


4. Use the same pan and add onion and garlic.


5. Saute until tender, then add mushrooms until tender.


6. Add tomatoes, salt, oregano, and cayenne pepper. Stir.


7. Add chicken and let cook on the pan until chicken is cooked all the way through.


8. Serve!

For some reason, I have a feeling that real chicken cacciatore requires more steps and more ingredients, but I feel like this is perfectly satisfactory. I served this with leftover quinoa and some corn. OMG, fresh corn is so much better than canned corn. I know that sounds obvious, but I think I just always thought they were pretty similar. I WAS WRONG. I don't know if I could ever go back to canned corn again. God, I sound like I've never had fresh corn before, but I think I'm just starting to appreciate good food more. Actually, now that I am thinking about this, I want to get corn from the farmer's market and see if there's a difference. I also need to get brusselsprouts from the farmer's market, because I think it will make a big difference (mostly because the restaurant I went to in SF had THE BEST brusselsprouts and they just tasted so fresh, well minus the bacon). Anyway, that's it for me tonight. I have more coming though! I made a GREEEEN pizza. You'll see. ;) Wait for it.

Baked Cod with tomatoes and beans

Gosh, what a horrible title I've given this. Totally doesn't do the dish justice, but I didn't know what else to call it. Anyway, I really liked this dish, mostly because it's super healthy for you, but still has a ton of flavor. I served it with quinoa, which I have recently discovered. Quinoa is amazing! It has tons of fiber and really absorbs any flavor you put with it. I just mixed up quinoa with a bunch of vegetables and a little bit of balsamic vinegar.

Back to the star of the dish, you could probably make this dish with any other light flaky fish, but I particularly like cod so I used cod. Here are the instructions.

Ingredients:
1 teaspoon thyme
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes
3/4 can of Northern beans
2 fillets of cod
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
water

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


2. Put some oil in the pan.


3. Cut cherry tomatoes in half and put them in the saucepan with oil.


4. Add a little water (about a tablespoon.


5. Let tomatoes break down.


6. Add beans and stir until beans are hot.


7. Prepare fish with salt and pepper.


8. Put in casserole dish with tomato mixture on top.


9. Bake for 15-20 minutes until fish is cooked through.


10. Serve!

And that's it! Easy Peasy.

Creme Brulee

Mann, I have so many updates I need to post, but I've been lagging because I GOT A NEW CAMERA! I have a bunch of pictures, but have yet to put it on my computer. But don't worry, I will get them on their tonight! In the meantime, I will have to tell you about the creme brulee Faye made for all of us. I was lucky enough to get the recipe from her and I would like to note that I want a torch!! ;)

Now, I am totally not exaggerating when I say that this creme brulee was better than the creme brulee that I had at this fancy restaurant in San Francisco (pictures of this will be coming as well). I just remember the sugar on the creme brulee being too thick at the restaurant. Anyway, here it is:

Ingredients:
4 cups heavy cream
10 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tablespooon brown sugar

Instructions:

1. Cook 2 cups of heavy cream on medium heat.


2. Let sit covered for 15 minutes.


3. Stir in the other 2 cups of heavy cream.


4. Whip it together with the egg yolks.


5. Add vanilla.


6. Strain.


7. Put in ramekins.


8. Bake in a water bath at 300 degrees for 35 minutes. (water should fill up to the 2/3 mark of the ramekins)


9. Chill for a few hours.


10. Add a little brown sugar, then torch!


11. Serve.

Breakfast Burrito

So this breakfast burrito kind of came by mistake. I saw Kristin make this yummy ground turkey potato hash type of thing and asked for the recipe. She said it was spanish inspired (even though the original recipe is with ground beef and french fries) haha. So, as I started to make it, I just thought it would be so good as a breakfast item. I didn't take exact measurements, but I can kind of make an educated guess. I had it for breakfast this morning and it was good! Here's what I did.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1 wheat tortilla
half a potato
1/8 lb ground turkey
ketchup
pepper
Shredded cheese

Instructions:

1. Steam the potato.
2. Then, cut up the potato in pieces.
3. Fry half of it on a frying pan with oil. Set aside.
4. Cook the egg. Set aside.
5. Cook the ground turkey.
6. Add egg and potato to the ground turkey.
7. Mix in ketchup and pepper (your desired amount of each).
8. Put in the tortilla with cheese.
9. Toast in the toaster oven to make crispy.
10. Serve!

I'll have to add a picture of the actual mixture when I get a chance. Now, I will have to warn you that I probably will not be posting for a while, unless I can invent some dish with what I have. I've vowed to myself that I'm not spending any money from Monday (yesterday) through Thursday. Then Friday, I leave to visit Jess up at Stanford. But I WILL try to get some inspiration for food up there...I know it'll be tough, but hang in there. I'll be back! ;)

Spicy yogurt Chicken and Tofu

So this recipe was just ok. I can tell why others might like it a lot, but it's not at the top of my list. I just think the Frank's hot sauce was a little overpowering and you know me with my low tolerance for spicy...I just couldn't taste the spices that I put in the marinade, especially cumin which I was super excited for. However, if you're looking for that buffalo wing type sauce, this is definitely where to look. I made broccoli with this dish as well and I didn't realize how much I missed it! Cooked broccoli is soo yummy; I must find a good recipe to use it in, where broccoli is the star. I'll quit rambling and tell you how this was made.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of yogurt (The recipe called for 1 cup but I added half a cup because I'm a wuss)
1 cup of Frank's hot sauce
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 large chicken breast (cut in 1 inch cubes)
1 package of medium firm tofu

Instructions:

1. Mix yogurt, hot sauce, cumin, coriander, chili powder, oregano, and black pepper together.
2. Pour over the cut up chicken and tofu as a marinade. (I used separate bowls just in case the raw chicken got to the tofu)
3. Let marinade overnight.
4. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 450 degrees.

So, I want to make so many more recipes; particularly one with broccoli in it and another with eggplant but I can't seem to find good recipes so I will keep looking! Next? I have a breakfast burrito that I made, even though it was supposed to be something completely different. ;)

White wine pasta with Clams

Want something light and tasty? Try MY ORIGINAL recipe! haha, so I was supposed to go to the store last night to get groceries but I got lazy because it was raining and I didn't want to leave Cooper in the car, then I remembered I had clams and figured I'd try to make white wine pasta with clams. I looked up a few recipes and decided that I was going to try to invent something on my own and it actually turned out pretty good! Although, I must say that I kind of cheated because I used the frozen food called Steamers, which comes with 1 pound of clams in this garlic butter parsley sauce and I added that juice from the clams into the sauce that I made. Kristin says it's still considered made from scratch, but I know better. ;)

I wanted to post this last night but I drank two glass of the white wine I was using and passed out at around 9:00pm. haha, but here is the recipe.

Ingredients:

Pasta (I used farfalle)

5 sundried tomatoes

1 Steamers from the frozen food section

1 cup white wine

2 teaspoons flour

2 tablespoons butter

1 tablespoon chicken stock

1 tablespoon milk or cream

1/2 cup chopped onion

1 cup chopped mushroom

1 teaspoon pepper


Instructions:

1. Melt the butter in a skillet, then add the white wine.
2. Let that reduce a little bit while putting the Steamers in the microwave (only takes 5 minutes!)
3. Add chicken stock, milk, and flour to the skillet and let that all mix in together for a few minutes.
4. Then, add the juice from the Steamers to the skillet; let reduce.
5. Add Onions,mushrooms, and pepper to the pan.
6. Cook the pasta. (I made enough for about 4 servings)
7. Once pasta is done, the sauce should be done..mix together!
8. Add sundried tomatoes and clams, then mix again.
9. Serve!

So now that I am an acclaimed chef (haha jk...), but really...the only reason I think it turned out ok was because I took a tip from the show "Worst Cooks of America" which was to continue to taste the sauce as I was adding stuff to make sure that it was going in the right direction. I'll have to try to do this more often. =) Next? I want to make this spicy yogurt chicken recipe I got from hecookshecookswecook.com...except I am going to try a batch with tofu!

Spiced chicken with fried rice

Hey! The picture turned out pretty good this time. This chicken was DELISH as was the fried rice. I honestly just did the fried rice because I have a ton of vegetables that are going to go bad soon....haha that is my secret; when vegetables are going bad, make fried rice! ;) Anyway, I got the chicken recipe from Jake, who got it from allrecipe.com. It is super flavorful and has a great kick to it. I'm pretty sure Cooper liked the smell of it too; he kept jumping up on me as the food was cooking. I will definitely be making it again...

Ingredients:

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/8 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1/4 teaspoon thyme

1/4 teaspoon dried parsley

2 chicken breasts


Instructions:

1. In a small bowl, mix salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, thyme, and dried parsley.
2. Cut up chicken in small chunks.
3. Sprinkle spice mixture onto raw chicken.
4. Put some oil and butter in the pan and saute chicken until golden brown. (I learned on food network that using oil and butter somehow balances each other out temperature-wise...Ok I don't exactly remember the details, but it probably doesn't make that big of a difference)
5. Serve!

I won't give the instructions for the fried rice because I didn't measure anything. I basically threw cut up vegetables with rice and egg and added soy sauce. haha. But as I look back on my blog, I'm really glad I did it. I'm trying so many new recipes and actually get excited about writing in my blog. I hope I can keep this up. ;)

P.S. I know the periods up top look retarded (before Ingredients and Instructions) but blogspot will not let me put enters in between them and that was the only way to do it. Sorry readers! 1/22/10 - FYI, I totally fixed this problem by playing around with the "edit html" formatting. You can call me a programmer now.

Cod crusted in breadcrumbs, garlic, and lemon zest

So this picture really doesn't do the dish justice...I would have liked the cod to turn out more golden brown, but I must have went wrong somewhere, but it still tasted good! I probably should have either put more oil in the pan or baked the fish, but I wasn't sure how long to bake it so I pan-fried it instead. Anyway, the crispy outside and the flaky inside made it quite enjoyable, but I have a feeling there are better fish recipes out there, not to bash on this dish or anything. ;) Here is what I did...

Ingredients:
2 cod fillets
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/8 cup chopped garlic
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 egg


Instructions:

1. Mix bread crumbs, garlic, and lemon zest together.
2. Brush the cod in egg wash.
3. Coat the fish in the bread crumb mixture.
4. Put oil in the pan and fry the fish for about 3 minutes on each side.
5. Serve!

So, tomorrow night I'm going to be making this spice-rubbed chicken that's supposed to be pretty spicy. We'll see how I do since I can't handle spicy!!

French Toast

What a perfect way to start the day!! So I got this recipe from Jess Yang and it was soo delicious to have for breakfast. I cut the recipe in half because I was only making it for me and Nate but if you're making it for more people, adjust accordingly. I used whole grain bread to give the bread a little texture and whole wheat flavor and it was yummy! And ok, I know I probably should have known this, but I had NO idea that hard bread could be so soft after you soak it in some stuff. I always throw away my french bread after it's hard but now I know to just make french toast! Gosh, you learn something new everyday!

On the other hand, I think I messed up on a few things. I put cinnamon in the batter itself thinking that was what I was supposed to do...then when I re-read the recipe, I realized I think I was supposed to put the cinnamon on top of the french toast itself...oh well! I'll know better for next time. So here's the recipe...

Ingredients:

1/2 cup milk

1/4 cup sugar (the recipe calls for super fine sugar, but I didn't have any and sugar seemed to work pretty well)

1 egg

1/2 stick butter

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 loaf of one to two day old whole grain bread (I got mine from Trader Joe's; when prepared, it should be pretty hard)

Instructions:

1. Whisk the milk, sugar, egg and vanilla (and cinnamon if you like to mess up like me) together.


2. Soak slices of bread in the mixture.


3. Put about a tablespoon of butter in the pan for each batch and let it melt before adding the bread.


4. Fry the bread on both sides until it is golden brown


5. Serve with either sprinkled cinnamon or powdered sugar.

I used strawberries and bananas to accompany the french toast and it was completely sweet enough to eat so I did not need maple syrup. However, Nate put maple syrup on the french toast and liked it that way, so it's up to you! Oh, this post reminds me that I want a griddle! Adding that to my very long kitchen wish list. ;)

Butternut Squash Soup

Yummy!!! So here is an AWESOME recipe for butternut squash soup. I combined two recipes; one from Jason and another from Ina Garten (Barefoot Contessa). This soup was good because it was sweet, spicy, and very hearty. Here's what I did...

Ingredients:

Butternut squash (About 12 ounces)

1 apple (I chose a Gala apple)

1/2 tablespoon of curry powder

1 teaspoon of thyme

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of pepper

chicken stock

1 medium onion

butter

Instructions:

1. I put some butter in a pot and added the butternut squash, apple, and onions. (I bought a 12 ounce bag of butternut squash from Trader Joe's already cut up for only $1.99!)


2. Saute these up for a little bit, then add the salt, pepper, thyme, and curry powder.


3. Let the vegetables and apple soften a bit, then add chicken stock until it is barely covering all of the vegetables (+apple).


4. After you can basically break up the butternut squash (only took me about 15 minutes), puree all of it together.


5. Serve!

I used my handy dandy Magic Bullet to puree the soup and the consistency was perfect! I gotta say, I LOVE kitchen gadgets. ;)

Anyway, in the picture, you'll see a little bit of avocado as garnish, but it really didn't add or take away from the dish much so you probably don't need it. Gosh, I wish I had a better camera so that you could see how pretty the soup was, but I guess this will have to do for now. I'm making Jessica's french toast tomorrow morning!! Wait for the update.

Honey-Orange Chicken with green beans and rice

Now, I don't think I can eat chili again for at least a couple months since I ate it literally 5 or 6 meals in a row...and that doesn't even count the 10 total times I probably had it this week. It doesn't mean that it wasn't delicious though!. However, my next venture was a...

GREAT SUCCESS! So, I modified a recipe from delish.com and really wasn't expecting much. I just wanted something that didn't require a bunch of ingredients and was fairly quick. Well, it actually turned out to be quite tasty!! I would still make a few changes if I am to make it again, but not bad for the first try! Here goes...

Ingredients:
3/4 cup orange juice

1/3 cup clover honey

1 teaspoon of grated ginger

2 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon of orange zest

1 teaspoon of salt

1/8 teaspoon of black pepper

4 skinless chicken thighs

1 teaspoon of vegetable oil

Instructions:

1. Combine juice, honey, ginger, garlic, zest, salt and pepper in a bowl. (What I did was take the zest of the orange, juice the orange, then fill up the remaining 3/4 cup amount with orange juice)
2. Add chicken and stir to coat. The recipe actually called for chicken breast, but I prefer chicken thighs since they are juicier!
3. Refrigerate the chicken in the marinade for 30 minutes.
4. Heat a large skillet over medium heat with vegetable oil. Take the chicken out of the marinade, but let the excess drip back into the bowl. Put chicken into skillet.
5. Cook over medium heat 3 minutes per side, or until golden brown.
6. Add reserve marinade into skillet with chicken until it is reduced by half. Add a little flour to thicken the sauce (a handy trick I learned from Ms. Rachel Ray).
7. Serve!

**Now, the thing I probably will change for next time is not serve the sauce on top of the chicken. Since the chicken cooks in the skillet with the sauce for quite some time, there is already a ton of flavor in the chicken. Adding the sauce kind of makes the dish too sweet.

**Also, the original recipe called for sesame seeds on top of the served chicken and some sesame oil in the sauce. However, I do not like sesame so I discarded them. If you do, just add a teaspoon of sesame oil in the suace and a teaspoon of sesame seeds on top of the chicken.

I served the chicken with green beans (just cooked with butter, salt, and pepper) and rice. The thing about this dish that I like is that it's super easy and doesn't take very long.

Chili!!

So, here's a recipe for chili. You can totally make adjustments to how spicy you want it, or how much beans you want to put, but here is what I've got: courtesy of Nate's dad and Jake.

Ingredients:

2 pounds of ground beef
a little less than 1/2 a cup of chili powder

a tablespoon of cayenne pepper

half a large onion

a full bell pepper (red, yellow, or orange)

3 sticks of celery

1 jalapeno (with seeds)

1 large can of diced tomatoes

1 small can of tomato paste

3 cans of kidney beans

Instructions:

1. Brown the meat. Drain the fat afterwards so the fat doesn't settle at the top of the chili.

2. Dice all the vegetables.

3. In a large pot, mix in the meat, chili powder, cayenne pepper, onion, bell pepper, celery, jalapeno, canned tomatoes, and tomato paste.

4. Fill the small can of tomato paste with water about 3/4 of the way, then add to the pot.

5. Stir it all up and bring to a boil.

6. Reduce to a simmer and cover the lid.

7. Stir every 10-15 minutes for about an hour.

8. Mix in the beans with juice until they are hot.

9. Serve with cheese, crackers and/or sour cream

I made two huge pots of these and basically have food for the next few weeks so I'm not sure when my next update will be, but hopefully soon!!

Filet Mignon, Potatoes, and Mushrooms

On December 27, 2009, Nate and I cooked a fantastic steak dinner. The occasion? I guess it was a few things. Nate had gotten a nice bottle of 2002 Syrah from his boss who said that it went really well with a nice piece of steak and it was the first night Nate and I had after Christmas (since he was with his family and I was with mine) so we wanted to celebrate just the two of us...and Cooper of course.

This dinner was so easy and I felt like it tasted better than the steak we've had at Ruth's Chris (which is pretty amazing). Nate was in charge of the steak while I was in charge of the sides. We went to Whole Foods to get two 10 ounce pieces of filet mignon. They were having a sale so it came out to only about $30 for both pieces. Then my shopping list for the sides were red potatoes, parsley, butter, baby bella mushrooms, white wine, green onions, and garlic.

STEAK:

Now, I've never exactly cooked a steak, but every home-cooked steak I've had has been pretty well-done, when I like it medium-rare. And Nate looked online to find the best way to cook it. It turns out that the steak really has to be on the pan for about 5 minutes total. Crazy! So here goes:

1. Oil both sides of the steak.

2. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Get the pan hot and put a few tablespoons of butter as well as a little bit of oil.

4. Chop some parsley and add that in the pan as well.

5. Once the pan is sizzling, leave the steak on the pan for 3 minutes on one side.

6. Flip it over and leave on the other side for 2 minutes.

7. They're done!

MUSHROOMS:

Now, I've been trying to perfect the mushrooms for a while and I think I've got it. Unfortunately, I never really measure out exactly how much I put of each ingredient, but you can always add different ingredients if it does not taste right.

1. Chop up garlic and put in pan with some olive oil.

2. Add the mushrooms.

3. Put about 2 to 1 ratio of white wine to chicken broth. (I'd guess about 1 cup of white wine and half a cup of chicken broth)

4. Let mushrooms sit until all the liquid is gone.

5. Serve!

POTATOES:

1. Cut the potatoes into fours.

2. Boil them in hot water.

3. Drain.

4. Cook potatoes in pot with some butter.

5. Add salt and pepper.

6. Add green onions and serve.

Honestly, how easy does that sound? I think Nate and I are going to make this meal again for Valentine's day unless we find an even easier recipe that tastes just as good. ;).