Squash Gratin

I don't think this is really a gratin. I think gratins have more cheese and maybe cream added, so I'm not sure what this is really, but it good!
-Amanda

Squash Gratin

1 large potato
1 yellow squash
1 zuchini
hanful of grape tomatoes
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese
plenty of salt and pepper
herbs if you like: rosemary, thyme, oregano whatever your favorite!

In a nice baking dish or pie plate, pour a bit of oil and rub it all around. Peel and slice your potato in very thin rounds. Make a layer of potato around the bottom. Sort of like a crust. Slice squash and zuchini in equal size rounds. Carefully place them artfully around your dish. Top with sliced tomatoes, the rest of the olive oil, the parmesan and seasonings. Bake at 425 for 25 minutes until top is nice golden brown and potatoes are cooked through.

Pecan Sweet Potato Casserole

On the Thanksgiving Table, I'm not sure if you should put this sweet potato recipe with the savories or the sweets. If you are being honest, it really is a dessert. And it is oh so good. And to think, growing up, I hated sweet potato casserole. Truth is I thought it looked funny because it was orange, I don't think I actually tasted it. Hopefully my sweet potato casserole will have a nut topping on it by tomorrow. The nuts are so good, I keep pinching a few here and there. Definitely double the nut part of the recipe if you want any left over for your sweet potatoes!
-Amanda

Sweet Potato Casserole

3lbs of sweet potatoes - I happened to have grown my own, but I'm sure the supermarket variety would be just fine!
4 tbsp oil
4 tbsp butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 beaten egg
about half a bag of marshmallows

Peel and chop sweet potatoes in big chunks. Toss in oil. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees for about 30 minutes or until they are very fork tender. Place sweet potatoes in a baking dish. Add melted butter, brown sugar and vanilla. With a big fork, or a wire potato masher, mash potatoes in big chunks, keeping texture. Beat egg and stir it in to the potatoes, tempering the egg if the potatoes are still hot. Top with one layer of marshmallows. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes or until marshmallows start to brown. Sprinkle candied nuts on top and push into the marshmallows.

Chili-Candied Nut Topping

2 cups of pecans
1/4 cup honey
4 tpsp butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp cinnamon

Melt butter in a skillet. Add honey, brown sugar, chili powder and cinnamon. Stir until mixed. Add pecans and stir to coat. Cook on medium heat for about 10 minutes, but be careful not to burn the sugar. Pour out in a single layer on a silpat or parchment paper to cool completely. If making a day ahead once cool store in a zip bag or air tight container.

Originally posted on  11/26/09

Pea Salad

This is a recipe from my childhood. I do not know if it is a southern dish or a northern dish that traveled south. My memories of this dish are from when my Grandma Bettie made it. And, it was the ONLY way I would eat peas as a kid. No kidding. I normally would use a red apple for contrast but I was out of apples and my neighbor, being an awesome neighbor, lent me an apple and it was green, and so that was a perfect apple. Thank you Andrea! Oh, and I made this from a childhood memory so I don't know if it is the "right" way to make pea salad, but I'm pretty sure this was a popular dish in the 1970's. It should make a come back. It's good. Plus, it might get your kid to eat peas.
-Amanda

Pea Salad

1.5 cups frozen peas
1/2 tbsp butter
salt & pepper
1 apple
2-3 oz cheddar cheese, cubed
3 tbsp mayo (I make mine homemade)

In a small skillet, bring peas to a boil and cook for a few minutes. Drain, return to pot. Add butter, salt and pepper and allow peas to cool completely. Chop one apple, leaving the skin on. I try to cut it as close to pea size as possible. Do the same with the cheese. Mix the cooled peas, the apple and the cheese in a bowl with the mayo. Refrigerate and serve cold.

Sweet Potato & Beet Hash

I was needing some inspiration because I've been stuck on the "what's for dinner" question. I've even been making menus but if you aren't excited about your menu, then cooking it isn't thrilling either. Luckily this morning I was watching Food Network and caught 10 Dollar Dinners. I like that show for Real Food, because most of the time, Melissa D'Arabian uses Real Food ingredients, and when she doesn't they are usually easy to sub out. To save money she is a bit carb heavy, but a lot of her dishes I either make less of the carb or just go without it and it is still great. Today she made this Sweet Potato and Beet Hash that looked intriguing to me. I've been trying to eat more beets because they are so good for you. So, sure the sweet potatoes have carbs, but they still have lots of good vitamins so, in moderation not a bad thing. Hubby and I really liked this side dish. One of my twins ate almost all of hers and my other girl ate a few bites without any complaints (but she filled up on steak, because she is my MEAT eater!) As for the recipe, I linked to her recipe, but when I made it, I just went off my memory of what she did. Here is my version.
-Amanda

Sweet Potato & Beet Hash

1 sweet potato
1 beet
1.5 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
3 pieces of nitrate free bacon
1/4 yellow or white onion
2-3 cloves garlic

Peel the sweet potato and the beet. Cut into 1/2 inch cubes. Toss in the olive oil, salt and pepper and place in one layer on a cookie sheet. Bake at 425 for about 25 minutes, flipping halfway through.

In a skillet, cook bacon that has been cut into small pieces. As the bacon is cooking add very small diced onion. Saute on medium high heat until onion is carmelized and bacon is crispy. Add minced garlic and cook for a minute or two more. Add the sweet potatoes and beets to the bacon and onions and stir.

Rood Vegetable Slaw with Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Dressing

I wish I was creative enough to have come up with this side dish, but since I've hardly ever eaten most of the root vegetables in it, I needed a recipe to follow. I found a recipe on a Raw food site that sounded really good. Her version was a bit different (she cut the vegetables differently and served it on lettuce) But it gave me a jumping off place to start. She also had some different vegetable choices. Use what you can find and go with it! I served this with fried haddock and butter. I had a bit of batter left at the end so I tossed in a few zucchinis too.
-Amanda

Root Vegetable Slaw with Maple Syrup Dressing

2 carrots
1 beet
about half a cup worth of rutabega
about half a cup worth of daikon radish
handful of dried cranberries

Cinnamon and Maple Syrup Dressing:

1/2 cup oil of choice (I used olive and coconut)
2-3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup grade B maple syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tbsp dijon mustard (I got to use my homemade!)
1/4 tsp salt
water, if needed

I used a food processor to grate all of my root vegetables after washing and peeling each one of them. You could also use a mandolin to slice them if you want bigger pieces, use a hand grater or cut by hand if you really feel like your knife skills need that much work. I did wear gloves when handling the beet because I did not want red hands. Put all the vegetables in a large bowl along with the dried cranberries and toss well.

In a small bowl mix all the ingredients for the dressing. Taste and adjust as needed. I did not think mine needed the extra water that the original recipe called for, but I might have done less vegetables than she did. Pour over the vegetables and stir everything together. Let sit for a couple of hours in the refridgerator to let the flavors develop. This is really good!

Lacto-Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa

I'm not an expert at fermentation yet, but so far, I really love almost everything that I've fermented. It's also amazing to be able to preserve fresh food so easily and know that you are adding in probiotics while doing it. My plans for this salsa are to put on top of a pan seared tilapia or other such fish. I just mixed it together tonight so I need to let it sit for 3-4 days to ferment. By the way, I got the idea for this salsa at a blog called How Sweet it Is.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Strawberry Mango Salsa

• 2 ripe mangos
• 1 pint of strawberries
• 6-8 basil leaves
• 1/4 cup of finely diced red onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1/4 cup of whey*
• 1-2 tbsp of chopped fermented jalapeno or 1 jalapeno finely chopped

Dice up the mangos and strawberries and place them in a medium size bowl. Finely chop the red onion and add it in. Add the jalapenos, salt and pepper. With your hands, gently mash the fruit to bring out some of the juices (this helps with the fermentation.) Add 1/4 cup of whey and the basil leaves. Stir until everything is well mixed. Place inside a quart mason jar. If there doesn't seem to be enough liquid to cover the salsa, add just enough filtered water to cover. Cover the jar and let sit until you start to see small bubbles form (3-4 days usually.)

*One easy way to get whey is by draining plain whole milk yogurt. I put a coffee filter in a fine mesh strainer and put the yogurt in the strainer. I then let it sit over a bowl until the whey collects in the bottom of the bowl. Return yogurt to the container and you have extra thick yogurt to use in another dish. If you collect more than 1/4 cup of whey, save the extra whey in your refridgerator. It'll keep for months.

Buttered Leeks

The first time I heard about leeks as a side dish, I thought how could that possibly be good? Leeks are part of the onion family after all. But the leeks come bundled together in bunches of three and the Potato Leek soup I made the other day only need half a leek. I didn't want the rest to go to waste. I decided to try out this easy side dish and discovered I really, really like it! Then again it uses a lot of butter so what isn't to like! But don't worry, Butter is actually good for you, despite the reputation it has gotten  in the past couple of decades. Real butter from grass fed cows is high in vitamins A, D and E. And despite what our culture tells us, you don't get fat off fat. Well, real fat that is. People gain weight from margarine, canola oil and other industrial oils. Real fat is used as energy and doesn't get stored in your body as fat. Gotta hand it to those marketers at Crisco for misleading the public about Real Fat! So make this yummy dish, and use a high quality real butter and enjoy every delicious bite. By the way the darker yellow your butter the healthier it is. By the way... Land O'Lakes may make "real" butter, but it isn't a grass fed butter.
-Amanda

Buttered Leeks

1-2 leeks (I used 1 and the half one I had left over)
6 tbsp of butter
1/2 tsp thyme
sea salt and pepper

Cut your leeks up, I cut mine in half lengthwise and then cut them in half again. We decided that the pieces were too big, so cutting them smaller would probably be better. However you cut them, after cutting you need to put them in a big bowl or sink of water and swish them around. Leeks grow up through dirt and dirt gets trapped in their tight leaves. Shake, pat or salad spin them dry.

Melt butter in a large skillet. Place leeks in and stir until they start to get wilty on medium heat. Add thyme, salt and pepper and cover. Cook on low for about 10 minutes until they are soft. Serve!

Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce

Ever since learning about Lacto-Fermented foods and the nutritional benefits that fermented foods provide, I've been so excited to learn new recipes. Creating lacto-fermented foods is so incredibly easy, the hardest part is to get over the fact that most of us were raised to fear bacteria. For some reason we all know that yogurt is good for us because it has "live-active cultures." Well, I'm learning how to put those "live-active cultures" in ketchup, hot sauce, mayonnaise, pickles, pickled vegetables and more. Those live-active cultures are also known as probiotics and they help keep the flora in our guts in balance. They aide in digestion and they help fight off common colds.

I got this recipe from The Nourished Kitchen, where she made her sauce with scotch bonnets. Her hot sauce is just that HOT! I used jalepenos so mine should be called more of a "mild" sauce. I also passed my sauce through a very fine sieve so it is more liquidy than hers. All of this is to your preferences and it is fun to experiment. You are left over with chili paste, that would be great to use in marinades, stir-frys and such. Remember heating anything that you lacto-ferment over 110 degrees kills the good bacterias and enzymes, but sometimes lacto-fermenting is just used as a way of preservation. The chili paste, once fermented will last months in your fridge.
-Amanda

Lacto-Fermented Hot Sauce

3 lbs of chilis (I think I only used two, but these types of recipes are very forgiving!)
3-6 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of sugar
2 tsp of sea salt
1/4 cup of whey

Cut off the stems of your chilis and place them in a food processor. Throw in your garlic cloves and pulse until you get a pasty texture. Add the salt, sugar and whey and process a few more times to mix. Transfer to a glass jar and let sit on the counter for 4-5 days until you see some bubble action. Strain using a mesh strainer and you have hot sauce and chili paste!

Potato Pancakes

Tonight for dinner I made a wonderful braised pork dish and when I was thinking of side dishes these potato pancakes came to mind. They are crispy on the outside and soft on the inside. And while these don't exactly fit into my low-carb diet right now, my family enjoyed them. And they are fried in (non-homogenized) lard, which contrary to popular belief is actually good for you!

-Amanda

Potato Pancakes

1 Idaho potato, peeled
1 small sweet potato, peeled
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
2 eggs
2 tbsp flour or arrowroot
1/2 cup lard for frying

Cube Idaho potato and place it in a small pot. Just barely cover with water and bring to a boil. When it is very fork tender, drain all the water away.Meanwhile, grate sweet potato in a large bowl. Sprinkle apple cider vinegar over top to prevent browning. When Idaho potato is done, either use a ricer, a food mill or a mesh colander to push the potato through for a very fine mashed potato. Add it to the sweet potato and mix thoroughly. Crack two eggs in the bowl and sprinkle with flour or arrowroot powder. Mix everything together. Bring lard up to a frying temperature and form small 3 inch pancakes in a skillet. Drain on a paper towel.

Creamed Peas

When I was a kid, I hated peas. Seriously despised them! Then one day I decided to just "get over it!" I slowly taught my taste buds to accept peas in such dishes as Tuna Noodle Casserole and Shepard's Pie. Never did I think I'd eat an entire bowl of peas! But sure enough, one day I tried a bunch of peas mixed with mashed potatoes and ever since I have not had a problem with the little green balls. Now that Weight Watchers is a thing of the past and I'm learning all about good fats like cream, butter, lard, coconut oil and bacon grease an entire new world has opened up to me. Bring on the CREAMED vegetables! I mean, no wonder kids don't eat their vegetables, a steamed pile of bland soggy vegetables is nothing compared to ones cooked lovingly in butter and cream. And to think I'm feeding my brain with the healthy fat, getting in doses of vitamin A& D that you can't find in the plant world and losing weight to boot. To find out more about this nutrient dense diet I'm following, read Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon, soon you too will be putting butter on your plate.
-Amanda

Creamed Peas

2 cups of frozen peas
1 tbsp butter
1 tsp arrowroot
 1/2 cup heavy cream (raw is best, low pasteurized next best!)
1/4 cup parmesan
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste

Steam peas until soft. Remove from pan. Melt butter in pan. Add arrowroot and stir. Add cream and cheese. Boil until the sauce thickens. Season to taste. Add peas back in and stir gently. Enjoy!

ps. This basically tastes like Alfredo sauce on peas. Yeah, it's good.

The best Mustard Greens I've ever had

Well tonight I made a roast chicken that came out pretty tasty (I'll post it later) but the star of tonight's dinner for me, was the mustard greens. I forgot to take a photo, I ate them too fast! This recipe would be exchangeable for Collard Greens, Spinach and perhaps Kale.
-Amanda

Best Ever Mustard Greens

1 bunch of mustard greens
3 cloves of garlic
2 pieces of bacon
1 tbsp of olive oil
pinch of hot pepper flakes
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp real maple syrup
salt & pepper to taste

Prep mustard greens by either cutting off the stem, or ripping it out from the leafy part. Chop the greens into bit size pieces. In a good cast iron skillet fry up two pieces of bacon that has been cut into small pieces. When bacon is almost cooked, add olive oil, chopped garlic and hot pepper flakes. Stir that around for about half a minute and then add mustard greens. Use tongs to flip the greens over trying to get them all to wilt. When they are mostly wilted (only takes a minute or two) add apple cider vinegar and maple syrup. Season to taste. Let simmer on low for about 10 minutes to continue to cook out the bitterness from the greens. The sweet and salty combo of this side dish is so good you won't think you are eating something healthy!

From Scratch - Traditional Green Bean Casserole

I was asked to bring the green bean casserole to Thanksgiving Dinner this year, which I was more than happy to do since I love, love, love it. The only thing is, I'm no longer cooking from cans for the most part. There was a moment when I thought to myself that I could make an exception since Thanksgiving is all about traditional dishes and the traditional way to make green bean casserole as far as my memory goes is with the cans. Two cans of green beans, 2 cans of mushroom soup, 1 cup of milk and a can of Frenches Onions. But then I thought about it, and wondered if perhaps the dish could be made with real ingredients and still taste like my memories of the dish. I found a recipe on Kelley the Kitchen Kop's blog that I mostly used, putting my own spin on a bit of it.The biggest problem is I didn't really measure anything so this is more of a method than a recipe. Sorry about that! And this was a HUGE hit at Thanksgiving, I guess it lived up to expectations because there was none to take home!
-Amanda

From Scratch- Green Bean Casserole

Green Beans:
A bunch of green beans- about 7 cups
left over bacon grease
garlic clove
1 bay leaf
sea salt
pepper

Mushroom Sauce:
a lot of mushrooms- 5 cups or so
1/2 large onion finely diced
1 container of heavy cream preferably not pasteurized, but I haven't been able to get any of that yet.
1/4 cup flour - I used whole wheat
3 tbsp butter

Crunchy Onion Topping:
2 onions - I used a sweet yellow onion
1/2 cup arrowroot powder
Cajun seasoning
3 tbsp butter + more if needed

Cut the tips off your greenbeans and then cut them in halves or thirds. Put them in a large skillet and cover with water. Add plenty of sea salt, pepper, bay leaf, smashed garlic clove and bacon grease. Bring to a boil, reduce, cover and let simmer for 45 minutes taste and re-season as necessary. WHAT! Yes, you heard me. I'm not making a "Fresh" greenbean dish here... I'm mimicking greenbeans from a can and greenbeans from a can are much softer than beans that have been blanched for 5 minutes. No, they aren't vivid and pretty green but they are GOOD! Plus, this is how my Mema makes greenbeans and she's been doing it that way for years. Drain the greenbeans and set them aside.

To make the mushroom sauce, chop onion very small and place it in a large skillet with melted butter. Chop mushrooms as small as you like. Since I was again, mimicking the canned sauce, I chopped them fine since the canned stuff almost doesn't even hint at mushroom.... strange, right? Add the mushrooms to the softened, translucent onions and cook until they have cooked down quite a bit. Add more butter if the skillet is dry. Sprinkle flour across mushrooms and stir until there is no dry flour left. Pour in cream and bring to a boil to thicken.

Butter a baking dish, I used an oval one so I'm not sure what size. Pour the cooked green beans in it and top with the sauce. Stir them together. You could also mix them in the skillet and then pour in the baking dish, whatever is easiest. Set aside. Be sure to scrape the skillet and lick the spoon.... oh yeah, it's that good.

To make the topping, pre-heat oven to 475. Slice 2 onions (they cook down A LOT) into thin slices and place in a ziplock bag. Add arrowroot and seasoning. Toss until coated very well. Add melted butter and mix again. On a large cookie sheet that has been greased, lay out onions in a very thin layer. Use two sheets if needed. (I should have used two!) Place in the hot oven and stir every 8 or so minutes for about 30 minutes until they start to crisp up and turn brown. Top casserole and serve. If you are doing it the night before, do not top the onions or they will get soggy. If you can save the onions to the next day, do that. If not, store them in a bag with a paper towel and recrisp them in the oven for a little bit before topping the casserole. Enjoy!!!

The only way to eat Brussel Sprouts

In my opinion, there is only way to eat brussel sprouts. I could be wrong, but in the few ways that I've tried them, this is the only way that they are good. And surprisingly they are more than just "good" when prepared this way. Excitingly, this recipe falls right in place with Nourishing Traditions and Weston A. Price. Isn't it great when a food that you thought was "fattening" really is healthy for you? By the way, this is my Mom's recipe that she usually pulls out at Thanksgiving, now it can be a year round dish!
-Amanda

Roasted Brussel Sprouts in BACON!

12-15 small brussel sprouts
1/8 cup of olive oil
1 garlic clove smashed
sea salt
pepper
2-3 strips of bacon

Cut all of the brussel sprouts in half and place in a bowl or zip lock bag. Add the olive oil, salt and pepper. Smash garlic into small bits and add to the brussel sprouts. Cut the bacon into little bits. Add to brussel sprouts. Toss everything to coat well. Place on a baking sheet and cook in a 450 degree oven for 25 minutes or until brussel sprouts are brown and bacon is crisp.

Mango Bar-B-Q Pulled Pork with Apple-Lime Coleslaw

I've mentioned before that I love watching Food Network shows. Rarely do I actually do one of the recipes I've seen on tv, using the shows more as inspiration instead. Recently a lady named Aarti Sequeira won the Next FoodNetwork Star. Her show, Aarti Party has an Indian flare to all the recipes. So far most of her dishes have really inspired me. When I saw her making this the other day, I just knew I had to try it though! It was supposed to be pulled pork sandwiches on brioche bread, but I had these homemade wheat tortillas left over from the other night so I figured turning the sandwiches into wraps/tacos would be a terrific idea. I added cheese on the girls portions and called them pork quesadillas, a dish they love. The apple-lime slaw that went with these pulled pork wraps was perfect. By the way, this would make a great crockpot meal.
-Amanda

Mango Bar-B-Q Pulled Pork
(Original recipe here)

1 boneless pork shoulder (Boston butt) about 3 lbs, excess fat removed

Rub:

• 2 tbsp dark brown sugar
• 1 tbsp paprika (I didn't have any, so I used chili powder)
• 2 tsp kosher salt

BBQ Sauce

• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
• 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
• 1 onion finely minced (I used a yellow sweet onion)
• 2 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 serrano pepper (I ended up using chili flakes since my serrano pepper didn't make it home from the grocery store!)
• kosher salt to taste
• 2 cups of mango puree (I bought frozen mango, thawed it and pureed in my blender)
• 1/2 cup fresh lime juice
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

Brioche rolls or wheat tortillas

Rub: Combine the rub ingredients, in a small bowl and massage it into the pork shoulder until well coated. Set aside while you make BBQ sauce. You could do this a day ahead and keep refrigerated until ready to use.
BBQ sauce: In a large saucepan, warm the oil, over low heat, until hot and shimmering. Add the cumin and fennel; they should splutter upon contact - be careful! Once the spluttering subsides, add the onions, ginger and serrano and a little salt, to taste. Saute until they soften but don't let them get any color. Add the rest of the sauce ingredients. Simmer about 5 minutes. Taste and season.
Add the pork shoulder to the saucepan, coating it with the sauce. Cover, and gently simmer until the pork falls apart easily, stirring and turning often, about 3 hours.
Remove the pork from the saucepan and shred it using 2 forks. Return it to the sauce and stir to coat with the sauce. Put a generous spoonful of the pork inside a brioche bun, top with a few slices of pickle and serve.

 Apple-Lime-Slaw
 (Original recipe here)

The orignal recipe makes 4-6 servings, I reduced it down to make just enough for our wraps this evening, and I didn't add the peanuts since I wasn't using it as a side, but as a topping.

drizzle of honey
1/2 lime, juiced
smidge of ground cumin
smidge of curry powder
1/2 tsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 cup shredded cabbage
1 small apple sliced into thin matchsticks

Whisk the honey, lime juice and spices together in a small bowl. Slowly whisk in enough extra-virgin olive oil to emulsify the dressing. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Combine the cabbage and apples a bowl. Add the dressing and toss well. Serve.

I made Maddie and Izzie's into quesadilla's so it was easier for them to hold.

Fish Tacos

We had fish tacos for dinner tonight. They turned out great! Normally I think I'd use a corn tortilla for fish tacos but I already had some of these homemade wheat flour tortillas in the freezer so we went with what we had. I served up some homemade oven fries and some fresh cantaloupe on the side. The crisp coleslaw with a homemade yogurt dressing was a perfect accompaniment to the fish.-Amanda

Fish Tacos:
4, 6-8 inch flour tortillas (recipe HERE)
4 pieces of cod (or other firm fish)
marinade for fish:
    juice of one lemon
    1 tbsp olive oil
    pinch of red pepper flakes
     1/8 tsp ground cumin
     1 smashed garlic clove
     1/8 tsp oregano
     1/2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
     salt

Coleslaw:  
1/8 of a head of cabbage
1 grated carrot
Sauce for coleslaw:
    1/4 cup greek style yogurt (or homemade yogurt that has been drained in a cheesecloth overnight to thicken)
    1 tbsp honey
    1 tsp mustard
    salt & pepper
    1/2 tbsp olive oil

Whisk all the ingredients for the fish marinade together and set fish in it to marinade for about 1 hour. Drain marinade away from fish. Cook in a very hot skillet until fish can be easily flaked with a fork.

To make coleslaw, mix the yogurt, honey, mustard, olive oil and salt & pepper. Cut the cabbage into very small pieces and add the grated carrot. Pour sauce on top and let sit for an hour.

Built taco with tortilla, coleslaw and fish. I also added a bit of diced raw red onion on top. I served with oven fries and cantaloupe on the side.

Tex-Mex Stuffed Bell Peppers and Fruit Salad

A few days ago I made Taco Mini Muffins. When I made the meal, I doubled the taco meat & veggie mixture for a meal later in the week. That was tonight. I turned the taco meat into Tex-Mex Stuffed Bell Peppers, and they were very delicious! I served them alongside a simple fruit salad with a yogurt dressing.
-Amanda

Tex-Mex Stuffed Bell Peppers

1 recipe of the taco meat & veggie mixture from my Taco Mini Muffins.
2/3 cup wheat couscous
3/4 cup of chicken or beef stock (or water.)
4 small bell peppers
2 oz of your favorite Mexican cheese, grated

In a small pot, bring stock to a boil. Add couscous and stir. Turn off heat, cover and let sit for 5 minutes. Add couscous to taco meat mixture and stir. Cut the tops off your bell peppers. If the bottoms are very crooked, you may want to cut of a very small amount to make them level so they will stand up. Stuff each bell pepper with 1/4 of the taco/couscous mixture. Place them on a cookie sheet and bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Top each bell pepper with some of the grated cheese and broil until cheese is melted. Serves 4.

Fruit Salad with Yogurt Dressing

1 banana
1 orange
8-10 strawberries
1 cup of grapes (I did green and red
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp vanilla
1 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp fresh grated giner

Peel and chop banana. Peel and segment one orange and cut each slice in half. Cut strawberries into fourths. Cut grapes in half. Place all fruit into a mixing bowl. In another small bowl, mix the yogurt, vanilla, honey, cinnamon and ginger. Pour over fruit. Serve chilled.

Quinoa

I tried quinoa (pronounced keen-wa) for the (second) time tonight. The first time was a disaster, I completely over cooked it and it was horrid. Tonight, I vote it was great, John did not like it and the girls ate about half of their serving. For those who have never heard of quinoa, it is a very healthy "grain." It's more like a seed and is actually related to beets and spinach. Which is why it is go good for you. It's very high in fiber and protein. For more information on it, read this wiki page.

I cooked 1 cup of quinoa in a smidge more than 1 cup of water for 10 minutes in the microwave. I was in a hurry tonight and had heard of this method. I'd like to try toasting it and cooking it on the stove top to develop more flavor, but this turned out really great. I then added a pat of butter and a few tablespoons of homemade vinaigrette. (3 tbps of olive oil & red wine vinegar, tsp of honey mustard, grated garlic clove, salt and pepper whisked well) Last I stirred in some sauted mushrooms (I like to add veggies wherever I can in a meal!)

I served the quinoa with a grilled steak and fresh greenbeans.
-Amanda

Sauteed Mushroom and Zucchini

I'm getting quite a backlog of recipes lately! This spring weather and now summer has kept me busy. Here's a tasty quick side dish.
-Amanda

Sauteed Mushroom and Zucchini

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp dried italian spice blend
salt and pepper
drizzle of honey
8 large chopped mushrooms
1 chopped zucchini

Mix the balsamic vinegar, olive oil, spices and honey in a bowl. Add vegetables and coat really well. Let marinade for up to an hour. Drain off marinade from vegetables and add them to a very hot skillet. Saute on high heat until edges start to crisp and brown.

Carrot & Zucchini Coleslaw

Here is a very simple side dish to take to your next picnic. I made a small amount for dinner, but you can easily make more. I didn't measure, so use your best judgment, depends on how big your vegetables are to how much yogurt you use.
-Amanda

Carrot & Zucchini Coleslaw
1 carrot
1 zucchini
1 tbsp plain yogurt
1 tbsp honey
2-3 tbsp raisins
salt

Grate carrot and zucchini in a small bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir.

Corn Relish

I'm not a huge fan of chicken legs. I'm one of the crazy people that prefers white meat over dark meat. But we've been eating a lot of chicken and I was getting tired of the same type of dishes. These chicken legs went on sale and so I thought I'd change it up a bit. I marinated them in a quick homemade bar-b-q sauce. I don't have the recipe for that because I kind of just kept adding and tweaking until I liked the flavor. I used: 1 can of diced tomatoes, some grated onion, a few tbsp homemade brown sugar, mustard seed, celery seed, dried pepper flakes, vinegar, salt & pepper. I added a squirt of my homemade ketchup, and then let it simmer until thickened. Then I pureed it and marinated the chicken in half of it. The rest I reserved to serve with it. Here is the recipe for the corn relish:

Corn Relish
2-3 ears of fresh corn
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1/4 red onion, diced small
1 garlic clove
1/2 tsp ground cumin
2 springs fresh oregano or 1/2 tsp dried
1/8 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Saute the onion, garlic and bell pepper in a skillet. When they start to get tender, add the corn. Add cumin, oregano and salt. Last remove from heat and stir in cilantro.