Salmon w/ an Asian Fusion Salad w/ Sesame-Ginger Dressing

I finally made the plunge and purchased all those asian sauces that I have been avoiding buying because I didn't want to spend the money but I'm glad I finally did it!  I had to buy rice wine vinegar, sesame oil, and sriracha asian hot chili sauce.  This salad was actually really good and an easy way to get in some veggies.  I served it with salmon because we all need more salmon in our lives.  I found the recipe courtesy of the pioneer woman's tasty kitchen, here.

Bag of shredded coleslaw mix (Green, napa, and red cabbage and carrots)

10 to 15 baby carrots, grated

3 whole Green Onions (or more), Sliced

⅓ cups Cilantro (or More To Taste)

4 Tablespoons Rice Vinegar

2 Tablespoons Canola Oil

1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil

5 teaspoons Soy Sauce

4 teaspoons Sugar

2-½ teaspoons Fresh Ginger, Minced (I didn’t buy this and just used dry ginger)

2 teaspoons Sesame Seeds (optional)

½ teaspoons Black Pepper

½ teaspoons Asian Chile Sauce (optional)

½ cups Honey-roasted Peanuts (or To Taste)

In a large bowl, toss green and red cabbage, carrots, green onion, and cilantro. Set aside.

In a jar or lidded airtight container, make dressing by combining rice vinegar, canola and sesame oils, soy sauce, sugar, ginger, sesame seeds, pepper, and chile sauce. Cover with lid and shake well to combine.

Up to an hour before serving, toss just enough dressing with the salad mixture to coat. You’ll likely have leftover dressing. Sprinkle with peanuts just before serving.

Simple, Light Crab Cakes

Ah crab cakes.  I wanted to make these as soon as I saw this recipe on how sweet.  Simple and Light...sign me up!  Next I attempt making crab cakes I will wait until I can spend the money to get high quality crab meat.  I purchased some pre-packaged lump crab meat from the grocery store refrigeration section and don't get me wrong, these were good and very simple to make.  just didn't taste as fresh as they could have.

Easy Light Crab Cakes
serves 1-2
1 pound lump crabmeat
8 saltine crackers, crushed (wheat)
1 egg
1 tablespoon mustard
1 tablespoon mayo
pinch of cayenne pepper
salt & pepper to taste
1 tablespoons olive oil
Combine all ingredients in a bowl except oil and stir until thoroughly combined. Heat a skillet on medium heat and add olive oil. While it’s heating, form the crab mixture into small patties – you will get about 5 to 6 cakes. Place them in the skillet and cook until lightly golden brown, about 3-4 minutes on each side.

I made a little lemon aioli (mayo & lemon juice) to top it with and a wonderful salad we used to have at the sorority (hey alpha phi)!

Salad is just spinach, strawberries, walnuts, and poppy-seed dressing (I found a fat free one this time!)  So easy and so delicious.

French Bread Pizzas

I have a lot of recipes to post and get caught up on...but tonight is Friday night, and I have the perfect night to look forward to!  Time with my husband and pup, a glass of wine, french bread pizzas, and a movie.  Now this may sound like a normal friday in to most of you...but it is a big deal in this household to watch a movie.  If you know us very well, you know my husband is c.r.a.z.y and does not like movies.  He is the only person I know that doesn't like movies.  On rare occasion though, I find a movie he is actually interested in seeing and have to jump on the opportunity!  Tonight we are seeing the social network...I'll let you know what we think.

I've been wanting (or more Corey has been wanting me) to make french bread pizzas since a friend of ours mentioned it when we were vacationing together this summer.  If you have never made homemade pizzas of any sort, I highly suggest it!  It is so fun to raid your fridge for ingredients and come up with fun creations.  I have great memories of making these with my Dad and sister when I was younger.

I stopped by the grocery on the way home from work and found a great Roasted Garlic French Bread loaf and picked up a few other things.  We also had some chicken, red onion, tomato, some green and yellow peppers, feta cheese, and barbeque.  We cooked these at 350 for 10-12 minutes and then turned on the broiler to brown the cheese.

Greek Chicken Wraps

These were so easy and so tasty, oh and so healthy!  You need to make them for dinner...tomorrow.

So here is your starting point, you'll need some fresh veggies, chicken, a good wrap, feta cheese, and a Greek vinaigrette.  We used Spinach, Tomato, Kalamata olives, Cucumbers, Red onion, and a little green onion.

A good Greek vinaigrette:  3 parts Olive oil to 1 part Red Wine Vinegar and season with oregano, salt, and pepper.  I just cooked a couple chicken breasts on the stove quickly with some garlic and Italian seasonings on both sides then sliced thinly.  Wrap the veggies, chicken, feta, olives (none for me thank you), and a little drizzle of vinaigrette and you have a great dinner!  

Beef Brisket w/ a Sweet BBQ Sauce

I may need a little practice cooking my brisket (ok, a lot of practice), but this sauce made it all worth it!  Brisket is a cut of meat that needs to be cooks very slow on low heat.  I had been wanting to make this brisket on Sunday, but unfortunately was unable to get it in the oven until about 4.  The recipe called for cooking it 6 hours at 250, so I decided if I just kicked up the heat a bit to 325 I could cook it quicker...maybe in 3 hours.  While I was fully warned by Corey's mother (this was her recipe) that you needed to keep watching it because it can overcook very easily, I for some reason had it in my mind that it was going to take a while so I didn't start checking it until it was too late!!!  I think I cooked it for about 3 hours (a little over a 3 pound chunk of meat - and really half of that was probably fat that I trimmed off).  Long story short, next time I'll be using the crock pot and make this an all day affair.  I have made brisket one other time (in the crock pot) and it was much better!  Or just check it starting every hour if I do it in the oven - oh and follow the recipe and cook at 250!

I served ours with green beans and sour cream mashed red skin potatoes.

Ingredients
Brisket
Liquid Smoke
1 stick butter
1 onion
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup ketchup
1 cup BBQ
garlic powder
3/4 cup water
worchestershire
A-1

Directions
1.  Poke brisket all over with a fork and pour liquid smoke over it (totally forgot to buy this stuff at the store so I didn't get to do this step)  Cook at 450 for 20 min wrapped in a foil "package"
2.  Mix all other ingredients (to taste if I didn't specify above)  I didn't have A-1 so I randomly threw in some tobasco sauce!  Pour sauce over brisket and cook slow (Checking often!!!) at 250.

The sauce makes a good amount so I didn't pour it all over the top but its nice to have extra for dipping.  Or pouring all over the plate if you saw mine above!  Slice brisket against the grain to help with tenderness.

Caramelized Pear & Goat Cheese Quiche

When I saw this recipe on Closet Cooking I had to try it.  I told Corey about this recipe I wanted to try and he looked at me like I was crazy.  A pear quiche, for dinner?  Don't get me wrong, we have quiches every once in a while for dinner, they are so good!  But I think he was a little weirded out of the idea of a pear one!  It reminded me of this recipe for Pancetta Crisps w/ Goat Cheese and Pear so I knew the flavors would be good.  I'll be honest, this recipe was a lot of work for the results.  I think if you make the pie crust before hand (as in a day before) it would make things a lot easier.  And I honestly felt like I could have skipped the caramelizing of the pears part.  The pears I used were pretty ripe so I barely cooked them for that long or they would have become mushy.  Plus they didn't really all fit in one pan to reach the bottom and get caramelized.  But if you were using not too ripe of pears I think its a good idea.

Caramelized Pear and Goat Cheese Quiche

Ingredients:
1/4 cup pancetta (diced) (I actually used 3 slices and it just broke them up once they were crispy)
1 large shallot (diced)
1 tablespoon butter
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 pears (cored and sliced into bite sized pieces)
4 eggs (lightly beaten)
1 cup half and half
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1/2 cup goat cheese (or Gorgonzola the original recipe calls for)
1 pre-baked walnut butter pie crust (see below)

Directions:
1. Cook the pancetta and shallot in a pan.
2. Add the butter and let it melt.
3. Add the sugar and cook until bubbly, about 3 minutes.
4. Add the pear and saute until tender, about 3-5 minutes.
5. Mix the pears, eggs, half and half, thyme and goat cheese and pour it into the pre-baked pie crust.
6. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until golden brown on top and set in the center, about 25-45 minutes. (mine took more like 45) 

Walnut Butter Pie Crust

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup ground walnuts (toasted before ground)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
8 tablespoons (1/2 cup or 1 stick) unsalted butter (cold, cut into 1/2 inch cubes)
4-5 tablespoons water (cold)

Directions:
1. Pulse the flour, ground walnuts, salt and sugar in a food processor to mix.

2. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal, about 6-8 times.(if you remember my food processor is TINY so I had to do in batches, then mixed together with a hand mixer)
3. Add a tablespoon of water at a time pulsing in between until it starts to clump together.
4. Place the dough on a clean surface and shape it into a disc.
5. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour.
6. Roll the dough into a 12 inch circle about 1/8 of an inch thick on a lightly floured surface.
7. Place the dough into a 9 inch diameter spring form pan with the edges going up the side of the pan.
8. Place a piece of parchment paper in the pie and fill it with rice or beans to hold it down.
9. Bake in a preheated 350F oven for 15 minutes.
10. Remove the parchment paper and weight and poke the bottom of the crust with a fork a few times.
11. Bake until a light golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Parmesean Crusted Tilapia over whole wheat pasta

I never thought making Parmesan crusted anything would be so easy.  Now my way was very simple for a quick lunch last Saturday after the gym, but you could definitely punch it up by adding some other ingredients and spices.

1.  Brush tilapia lightly with an egg wash (egg white and a splash of water) and then press the filets into Parmesan in a low bowl to make the Parmesan coat the fish.  (I just used the Kraft Parmesan off the shelf in the grocery- nothing fancy).
2.  Heat olive oil in a pan and brown both sides of the tilapia.  Tilapia is a very thin fish that cooks very quickly so a few minutes on each side did it for me.  When you are just serving your self and your husband you can cut it open in the middle to make sure its flaky and done.
3.  Serve over a small sized portion of whole wheat angel hair pasta tossed with a little olive oil, Parmesan, and lemon juice.