V-Day Dinner

I love to use our Japanese dinnerware on occasions like this.  Valentine’s Day was great, and since my husband and I have been together for quite a while we just decided to cook a great dinner together and spend some quality time.  Here’s what resulted:
Baked salmon in a basil and lemon marinade, israeli style cous cous, and roasted asparagus.  It was perfect!

I marinated the salmon in the following:
~3 T olive oil
1 t dried basil
1 t dill
1/2 t salt
1/4-1/2 t pepper
pinch of dried parsley
lemon juice (about 2 wedges)
I marinated two fillets for about 45 minutes and then wrapped them in foil and baked it in the oven at 375 degrees for about 35 minutes.  Turned out great!

The couscous was actually the star of this meal and even though it looks a little boring on the plate, it was packed with flavor.  Here’s how I did it:
You need 3-4 T butter
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 cup onion, chopped
2 cups Israeli style cous cous
2 bay leaves
1 t Balti seasoning (wow, so good!)
pinch or two of cinnamon (maybe about 1/4 t, it depends how you like it)
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/4 cups vegetable stock (or chicken, or whatever you prefer)
Add the butter to a pot on the stove set at about medium heat.  Let that melt, then add the garlic, and the onion (peppers are good too if you have them).  Let the onion cook a couple of minutes and then add the couscous and stir.  Allow the couscous to toast, stirring occasionally for a few minutes.  Add spices.  Add vegetable stock and bring to a boil.  Once boiling reduce heat and let it simmer until liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes.
This was so good, and the Balti seasoning was genius.  Once I added it, the two of us could not stop smelling the dish and we couldn’t wait to eat it!
For dessert:
Vanilla pound cake with homemade strawberry sauce and vanilla ice cream.
To make the strawberry sauce you need:
1 pint fresh strawberries rinsed and sliced
1/3 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
Put 2/3 of the strawberries, the sugar and the vanilla into a pot on medium heat.  Stir with a whisk crushing the strawberries as they soften to form a saucy texture.  Then add the rest of the strawberries and serve!  MMM….I will definitely be making this for waffles and pancakes.
I want to know what you did for Valentine’s Day!! Did you go out to dinner? Where? or What did you make at home?  Let me know

Go-To Recipe—Cajun Catfish…or any fish

This Cajun catfish recipe is great and I have used it several times since I came across it.  It is very versatile as well.  I’ve used it with a couple different kinds of fish and it always tastes delicious.  The first time I made this dish I followed the recipe closely, but I doubled it because I wanted a lot of flavor. 
The Cajun coating for the fish consists of…
2T canola oil
1-2 cloves minced garlic
2t thyme
2t paprika
1/2t cayenne
1/2t hot sauce (add more or less to taste)
1/4t black pepper

Spread this on whatever kind of fish you like and bake it in the oven for its normal baking time.  So much flavor!! You will love it! I used this recipe for 2 catfish fillets.

The couscous is Israeli couscous, and one of the reasons this is a go-to dish for me is because I usually have some fish fillets in the the freezer and almost always have couscous in the pantry.  You could use regular couscous as well, but I enjoy the texture of the Israeli type. 

To make the couscous add some butter to a medium sized pot and add whatever vegetables you think you would like.  I really like peppers and garlic in this, but onions or zucchini would also be good.  You can also add any spices or herbs you’d like at this point.

Let the veggies cook a little and then add the couscous.  Let it brown for a minute or two in the pan and soak up the butter.  Then add stock of your choice.  I chose veggie stock and the ratio should be about 2:1 stock:couscous.  Allow it to simmer until the stock has been absorbed and the couscous is soft. 
Voila!  Delicious dinner!

Now, I have used this recipe to make breaded fillets as well.  Make the Cajun sauce as above, but add an egg.  Dip the fish into that mixture and then into some panko bread crumbs.  Then put in the oven and bake.  You may want to season your bread crumbs though, I used a little salt, paprika, and cayenne in mine and it was great!  Give it a try and let me know how you liked it!

Today’s Lunch

In an attempt to lead a more vegetarian lifestyle, today for lunch I had oatmeal that I cooked using soy milk.  I added some ground flax seed and put fresh blueberries (that were frozen in my freezer – so maybe they’re technically frozen blueberries) and a little bit of brown sugar on top.

I used Silk soy milk, the vanilla kind.  What I realized is the vanilla flavor is pretty sweet so I didn’t have to add much brown sugar, if any.  It was very delicious and it felt awesome to eat something using no animal products!

I’m on the hunt for tasty vegetarian/vegan recipes, so if you have some, please post them below so I can try them out.  I’m very excited to take this step away from meat.  I can’t wait to be healthy, full of energy, and feeling good.

Breakfast Tradition

Whenever these are made or talked about in our family, the reaction of outsiders is usually, "Ewwww" or "Wait, what did you say?"  These -- my friends -- are Cottage Cheese Pancakes and boy are they delicious!

Ingredients

4 eggs

1/2 cup of flour ( I used whole wheat flour)

1/4 stick melted butter

1 cup cottage cheese

pinch of salt

 

Easy huh?  Combine all the ingredients and there's your batter!  There's debate in the family of what toppings are the best.  My favorite is the traditional maple syrup.

Other Toppings that are just as delicious:

Powdered Sugar

Cinnamon Sugar

Any mix of the three

Take a chance on these.  They might sound gross at first, but I promise, everyone who was skeptical has ended up loving them.

Enjoy!

Mobile

Just downloaded the blogger app for my phone, this should be interesting. 

So, as my mobile test I'll let you guys see what we made for dinner tonight after venturing out to Woodman's in the crazy weather .

Ribeye, with red potatoes and salad.

The ribeye was simply pan fried with some garlic, salt, pepper and tiger sauce.  Potatoes were boiled, drained, and seasoned with garlic, butter, salt, pepper, and rosemary.  Salad is simple. Romaine, tomatoes, parmesan cheese, oil, and balsamic vinegar.  Yummy!

The hubby loves to dip his steak in sour cream so I added a little of the tiger sauce (which is a really spicy hot sauce) to it and it turned out pretty good...kinda sweet tasting with a kick.

We love cooking steak and trying new things with it.  If you know any good marinades let us know, I'll try them out and let you know what I think.