Father's Day Deliciousness

I love having an excuse to come up with a gourmet meal and Father's Day was a perfect one. We had salmon with veggie slaw and followed it up with this yummy and amazing dessert. I can't claim the recipe because I pretty much followed it exactly, but if you enjoy chocolate and espresso, you will love this! I did substitute Sucanat for white sugar in the ice cream and I think it gave it a more caramely flavor which was delicious, but not necessary if you only have white sugar on hand. You can find the recipe here. The only recommendation I have is to use smaller ramekins and make more cakes. These were extremely rich and neither of us were able to finish ours.

Thick and Creamy Yogurt

I can't remember exactly when I first started making yogurt. I remember getting tired of paying more than $2 for a quart of yogurt that lasted us less than a week. I looked into yogurt makers, but really didn't want yet another kitchen appliance taking up space in my already full cabinets. So, I did a little research and discovered that yogurt making is ridiculously easy. I confess that since our move, I had not gotten back into making it, but last week, I finally got sick of paying so much and made my own. This time I decided to try straining it though, to make it a bit more like that yummy creamy Greek yogurt that my frugal self will not even consider buying. Since I've only sampled Greek yogurt at the store and can't bring myself to buy it, I don't have anything to compare this to, but we really like it. Especially with a swirl of vanilla extract and a sprinkling of a new nutty granola I've been making.

Thick and Creamy Yogurt

1 - 2 quarts milk
2 T plain yogurt with no added fruit or sweeteners
a large double boiler, or two pans that will give you the same effect
a digital read food thermometer
a cooler large enough to hold 1-2 quarts of yogurt surrounded by water
a sink full of ice water
wide mouth canning jars
cheesecloth or other similar material (I use an old super thin pillow case that I cut in half and it works great)
strainer

Begin by placing your milk in a double boiler and bringing the temperature to 180 degrees. Remove the pan that's holding your milk and place it in the sink full of ice water until the temperature falls to 115 degrees. Remove from the ice water and whisk in 2 T yogurt until thoroughly mixed in. Pour into wide mouth canning jars and place the lids on. Fill your cooler with enough hot water to come up to the edge of the glass part of your jar. Water temperature should start off around 118-120 degrees, but absolutely no hotter or it will kill your yogurt culture. Place your jars into the water and put the lid on the cooler. Set your timer for 5-6 hours depending on how sour you want your yogurt. After 5-6 hours, you can remove your jars and refrigerate. That's it! SO easy.

But, if you want your yogurt to be thick and creamy, after it has been allowed to culture for 5-6 hours, pour it into a cheesecloth lined strainer. Make sure you keep the strainer over a bowl because what's straining out is the whey and it can be used to make some super yummy biscuits. (recipe to come) Allow the yogurt to strain about 45 minutes, stirring once to allow the whey to strain well. Scrape the yogurt out of the cheesecloth and back into your jar, stir it up, and refrigerate. Enjoy with your favorite toppings!

Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

Last year when we were experimenting with gluten free foods for Ben, I bought a can of amaranth to try. It seemed more nutritious than so many of the gluten free flours found in the recipes I had, so I ground some up and used it in his breads. But, the days of gluten free are over for us, so now I'm left with quite a bit of amaranth. And seriously, who's even heard of it, let alone created recipes for it? Yay Google!!! I did some searching and came across this recipe. As is typical for me, I couldn't just leave the recipe alone, so here's my version:

This was supposed to be a cookie recipe, but due to the changes I made, mine came out with more of a sweet bread consistency that reminded me of my favorite part of a muffin. Thus the name.

Popped Amaranth Muffin Tops

1/2 c pure maple syrup
1/4 c softened butter
1 mashed banana
1 egg
1 T vanilla
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 c popped amaranth
1/4 c finely chopped walnuts

First, heat a heavy bottomed pan until hot. Then drop in just enough amaranth to make a single layer on the bottom of the pan. (amount varies by the size of the pan). Place the lid on and shake the pan over the heat until the popping has almost stopped. Remove from heat and keep shaking until all the popping stops. Pour popped amaranth into a bowl and repeat until you have about 1 1/2 cups popped (about 6 tablespoons unpopped amaranth) It's better to have a little unpopped amaranth in with the popped then to scorch it, so be careful. :)

Next, cream butter, maple syrup, banana, egg, and vanilla together until well blended. Add in the baking powder and soda and mix again. Mix in the flour and continue beating on low. Finally, add in the popped amaranth and the chopped walnuts and beat until well combined. Use a large cookie scoop or ice cream scoop to scoop dough out onto greased cookie sheets. Dough will be fairly wet, but will hold together without flattening. Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 8 large muffin tops.

We had kind of a mixture of breakfast and lunch at lunch time today and had eggs with tons of veggies, salads, and these cookies. My husband and son both agreed that they needed to be made again in the near future.

Spicy Cajun Fish

When I got married, I never imagined that fish would ever be a regular part of our eating. I was pretty sure I hated all types of seafood except shrimp and I think we were well over a year into our marriage before I even attempted fish. I don't actually remember if this was my first fish recipe or not, but it was definitely the one that made me begin loving fish. I clipped it from a mailing we received, and, since I can't ever seem to just follow a recipe the way it's written, I made a couple of changes and it's been a regular menu item for us ever since. It's very light and perfect for these hotter days.

Spicy Cajun Fish
1/2 c each chopped red onion, green pepper, and celery
1 heaping tsp minced garlic
1 T olive oil
1 1/4 c chicken broth
1 t sea salt
1 t basil
1 t oregano
1 t thyme
1/4 t fresh ground black pepper
1/4 t cayenne pepper
1 cup petite diced tomatoes, well drained
1 lb mild fish of choice. I've used tilapia and perch with great results
hot cooked brown rice

In a large skillet, saute the onion, pepper, celery and garlic in oil until onions are clear. Add broth, salt, tomatoes, and spices. Bring to a boil and reduce the heat. Let simmer until liquid is reduced by about one third. Place fish in a 9x13 baking dish and pour vegetable mixture over top. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes with a fork. Serve over brown rice.

Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon

I debated whether or not to even post a picture of this here because my pictures turned out horrible and honestly that picture doesn't make me want to try this recipe. But I always like recipes that have pictures, so I'm going with it. You will just have to take my word on it that it was delish!!

Last night I had salmon on the menu, but decided at the last minute that I was tired of cooking it the usual way, which is to put a little olive oil in the pan, generously coat the salmon in cajun seasoning, sprinkle on a little salt, and cook it in the pan until done. We love it this way, but I wanted something new. Not sure why, but sweet chili glaze came to mind. I've never made anything like this and didn't even know what would be in such a thing, but I did a search and came up with several recipes. Unfortunately all of them called for sweet chili sauce. Not helpful for the last minute girl who wants to do something different 30 minutes before dinner needs to be ready. So, I decided to get creative and use what I had on hand. The result was fantastic and definitely something we will repeat. It does have quite a bit of sweetener in it, so it doesn't make it into my list of healthy meals, but for a treat, this is a keeper.

Sweet Chili Glazed Salmon

2 T water
1 T Olive Oil
1 1/2 T Sucanat (or brown sugar if you don't have sucanat)
1 T honey
juice from 3/4 of a lime
1/2 t minced garlic
1/4 t salt
1/2 t cajun seasoning
1/8 t cayenne pepper
1/8 t red pepper flakes
1/2 t ginger

3 4oz salmon filets

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and whisk together until well blended and the sugar has dissolved. Place salmon in a broiler safe dish lined with aluminum foil (for easy clean up) and spoon about half the sauce over the salmon. Place in the oven on broil for 3 minutes. Turn filets and spoon remaining sauce over them before returning them to the broiler. Broil another 4 minutes or until the salmon flakes with a fork. Spoon the sauce over the salmon again before serving. We had this with wild rice and roasted brussel sprouts. Mmmm.

Fudgey Brownie Pecan Treats

I love finding new ideas for healthy recipes. It's so satisfying to know exactly what's in my food and to know that it's all good for me. But coming up with healthy and sugar free dessert recipes that taste good can be a challenge for me. I recently got a book from the library on raw snacks. I love the idea of raw food, although I think it would totally break our budget. But in reading through it, I saw several recipes that included soaked raisins. I was intrigued. I didn't have ingredients for making any of the snacks in the book, so I decided to experiment on my own. Sweets are my weakness and I wanted something that tasted chocolaty and fudgey, but was healthy too. The result of my experimentation was a cross between a brownie and a piece of fudge. Kind of like an underdone brownie. Mmmmm. Deliciousness!

Fudgey Brownie Pecan Treats
1/2 c raisins
1/2 c walnuts
1/2 c + 2-3 T nut butter of choice. I've used both almond and peanut butter with good results
1/4 c cocoa powder
1/4 c carob powder (you could do all cocoa or all carob if desired. I just wanted to cut back the caffeine but still wanted that chocolate flavor)
2 T virgin coconut oil
1/4 c chopped pecans
1/4 - 1/3 c shredded unsweetened coconut

Place raisins in a bowl and cover with water. Soak 3-4 hours. Drain. Place soaked raisins in a food processor and process until roughly chopped. Add walnuts and process until combined. Add nut butter and coconut oil and process again. Mixture should begin to stick together and be a little bit wet. Finally add cocoa and carob powders and process until well combined. Press mixture into wax paper lined 8x8 pan and top with pecans and coconut if desired. Freeze about an hour before cutting into 1 inch squares. These are a bit crumbly, but the flavor makes up for it. Yield: about 24 squares. Best if stored in the fridge or freezer.

Beginning a Food Blog

I've been debating this for quite some time and have finally decided that despite the fact that my food pictures don't come out looking amazing and that my creative food ideas are not always prolific, I do have some yummy things I've tried or created that sometimes I just want to put out there for others (if anyone reads this) to try too. So, here goes...