Fresh fish!

Oh nooooo! We thought we had all the fresh-caught swordfish all to ourselves tonight, but the kids actually texted me at work to find out what time dinner would be ready. They wanted to be home in time to taste some of that fresh fish! Darn!
We upgraded to the large box this week, but we didn't increase the fish order. Hmmmm...might have to remedy that one! We are loving our bi-weekly fish nights. Tonight's fish was prepared "Veracruz-style", meaning smothered in salsa. I had just the right cooking vessels, individual ceramic boats that hold one portion of fish perfectly. A little olive oil and lemon juice topped with lemon pepper seasoned the fish, then dolllops of salsa went on top of that. Into a 350 degree oven for 30 minutes,and the fish flaked easily with a fork. I sprinkled a little Mexican shredded cheese on each dish and set the boats on our dinner plates and accompanied it with Spanish brown rice and some quickly-steamed broccoli and carrots out of tonight's SLO Veg box.

Lee helped me out tonight by finishing the Spanish rice as I prepared the salad, steamed vegies and fish. I started 2 cups of brown rice in the rice cooker first off after walking in the door tonight. I poured in an 8 oz can of tomato sauce, a Mexican seasoning blend of chili powder, garlic and salt, and 4 cups of water. Lee brown up some bacon and the sauteed about a quarter cup each of onion and green bell pepper. That went into the rice steamer and cooked into the rice during the last 10 minutes.
I peeled and chopped two bright orange carrots into one-inch chunks and put them in the steamer basket. Two heads of trimmed up broccoli went on top, then the steamer went into the microwave oven for 5 minutes.

The red-leaf lettuce came out of the box and had a quick bath and spin-dry in my salad spinner, then I tore it into bite-sized pieces for our individual bowls. Not wanting to fuss over it too much, I sprinkled on a bit of the luscious microgreens and a pinch of salad sprouts, and drizzled on some Balsamic avocado dressing. A few pimento-stuffed green olives completed the Latin-style salads, which we ate while the fish and rice finished cooking. One thing I overlooked was the fresh cilantro! I could have added some to the rice or to the fish, but I guess it will be there for another day.
In all, I used broccoli, carrots, onion, fish, red lettuce, avocado, microgreens and salad sprouts from the SLO Veg tote in tonight's meal. It took me until 8:00, but dinner was served just in time to sit down and watch American Idol again. Not bad for fresh, homecooked food, I'd say.

No boxed oatmeal here...

Healthy breakfast: Organic rolled oats with raisins and cinnamon and brown sugar, paired with a glazed grapefruit. Trouble is, I am not a fan of grapefruit. I know if you sprinkle it with salt, it brings out the sweetness. But I saw a recipe where you drizzle on something sweet and broil it, so I tried it--twice. Earlier in the week I used agave syrup. I ended up adding coarse sea salt and eating it. Today I used pure honey. But alas! It tasted bitter and sour to me and Lee. So I sprinkled on my salt and ate most of it. Not that it was bad, I just don't picture myself craving grapefruit. If I get any more, they will have to become part of a salad. The only thing in grapefruit I ever really liked was a Sobee drink I found in the vending machine at work, cranberry-grapefruit, I think. Might try one on our road trip today.

Pizza box

Philly Cheesesteak Pizza from Dominos...they deliver, too!

Gnocci: Something new in a casserole

So I tried out a new casserole for "fish night".The reason it is fish night  is because every other Thursday when we get our box of vegies from SLO Veg, we also signed up for a pound  fresh caught fish, which we cook right away because we just can' t wait! Fish is something we need more of in our diet, so I just want to make sure we have it for dinner at least once a week.

I found this recipe in my latest Better Homes and Gardens magazine. I've never had gnocchi before, so I just wanted to try it out. This recipe was supposed to be things you have on hand, so it called for canned tuna and shelf-stable gnocchi. Of course I used fresh mushrooms, onion, garlic and basil. I cooked the gnocchi and made the sauce this morning before work. I enlisted the Hub again to pop it into the oven and he did a fine job of that. I got to come home and  pour a glass of wine and have some cheese before dinner. We would have had spinach dip, too, but somebody already ate it! Missing out on the spinach, I found the kale. Just after taking the casserole out of the oven, I sliced up the rest of the kale and sauteed it in butter and avocado oil. I added a clove of minced garlic, some coarse salt and fresh ground pepper, and a pinch of nutmeg.

Dinner was served in bowls with the kale piled up on top. The gnocchi and mushrooms and tuna made a rich, creamy bite of comforting warmth. American Idol provided more entertainment for us as we devoured dinner and chilled out from our hectic work day.

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I used Baby Bella mushrooms and found the gnocchi at Cost Plus World Market. I substitued regular milk for the half-and-half. Here is the recipe I referred to from Better Homes and Gardens:

Gnocchi with Mushrooms and Tuna

Makes: 4 servings
Serving size: 1 1/4cup Yield: 5 cups

Prep 15 mins Bake 425° 12 mins to 15 mins Stand 5 mins

Ingredients

• 1 16 ounce package shelf-stable potato gnocchi
• 4 cups assorted small and/or sliced fresh mushrooms, such as shiitake or cremini
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup half-and-half
• 2 5 ounce cans solid light tuna packed in oil, drained and broken into chunks
• 2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved
• Fresh basil leaves (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Lightly grease a 1-1/2-quart au gratin baking dish; set aside. In a large pot cook gnocchi in lightly salted water according to package directions; drain.

2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet cook mushrooms and garlic in hot oil over medium heat until tender. Stir in half-and-half. Simmer, uncovered, for 5 to 7 minutes or until liquid begins to thicken. Fold in gnocchi and tuna. Transfer to the prepared dish.

3. Bake, uncovered, for 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly browned. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Let stand for 5 minutes. Top with basil leaves, if desired, and crushed red pepper.

From the Test Kitchen Make Ahead: 

Prepare casserole through Step 3. Cover and chill for up to 48 hours. Bake, covered, for 25 minutes. Uncover; bake for 10 to 12 minutes more or until lightly browned and heated through.

http://www.bhg.com/recipe/gnocchi-with-mushrooms-and-tuna/.

Pate Chinois

http://www.food.com/recipe/shepherds-pie-pate-chinois-78668

So tonight was a lazy night. I put this casserole together yesterday so I could come home tonight after work and relax while dinner heated up. I ran a quick errand after work so I asked the hub to turn the oven on and put the pie in to heat. He's good that way.

I got the idea for this spin on Sheperds Pie when my nephew posted up a picture of his Pate Chinois that he made for his daughter's birthday, at her request. The Canadian variation over a more traditional Sheperd's Pie is that the beef is seasoned with soy sauce, and corn is the primary vegetable. I had to sneak in some carrots, though, mostly because I have a lot of them to use up! I browned the meat and then added about a quarter cup of diced onion and two diced carrots. I boiled about six small potatoes and mashed them up for the topping. A little cheese sprinkled on top in the last few minutes of baking sealed the deal.

I decided I really needed something green, so I steamed some of the broccoli that came in the SLO Veg box for about 5 minutes in the microwave. I had also seen a recipe for a carmelized grapefruit, so while the oven was hot, I sliced one of my gigantic grapefruits in half, sliced around the rind, and spread some agave syrup on top. They went into the broiler after the casserole came out, and broiled for 5 minutes. It was just enough to melt the syrup into the fruit, and dessert was done!  

http://simplysugarandglutenfree.com/broiled-grapefruit-recipe/

We watched the crazy auditioners on American Idol and scarfed down our comforting meal. If the kids don't eat the leftovers when they get home later tonight, we might have something good for lunch tomorrow. 

Chicken and rice, out of the Box!

Today is MY day off...no hub, my agenda. On this day it was sleep, because I do shift work and got called in last night for graveyard shift. When I woke up, I just wanted to read and browse recipes online...so relaxing! I also read up on Mark Sisson's 21-Day Total Body Transformation. That is the catalyst for all of this change...trying to make the shift toward a more Primal-style of eating and exercising. According to Mark's plan, "Primal foods include meat, fish, fowl, eggs, vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds, high quality fats, a moderate intake of high-fat dairy products and supplemental carbs and occasional sensible indulgences such as red wine and dark chocolate." The whole point is to create a leaner, stronger body that burns fuel (food) more efficiently and thereby increasing energy and health benefits overall.

It doesn't sound to difficult, until you realize there are no grains here, no beans or legumes either. I am having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. I am just not ready to give them up completely, although I think I can limit them. Like today, I wanted to make some chicken tenders for tonight's dinner, and pair it with a beets and greens salad. The perfect accompaniment? Rice! So I am making some Old World rice pilaf and even mixing in some of the salad sprouts from Mt. Olive into the pilaf for an extra nutritional kick.

I can have eggs every day for breakfast, eat vegies and salad and lean meat for lunch, have fruits and nuts for mid-meal snacks, but I still want my carbs for dinner. Speaking of dinner, I am planning on making some kind of a green salad using those beautiful golden beets from the box. Giada had a recipe that sounded pretty good: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/beet-and-goat-cheese-arugula-salad-recipe/index.html?ic1=obinsite
SLO Veg also has a similar recipe on their website.

I had already roasted the beets over the weekend, so I just peeled and diced them and put them in a little oil, vinegar and honey marinade for now. I have a lot of lettuce blends right now, so a bed of greens with the beets is an easy out. I added some purple and orange carrot curls, feta cheese and walnuts that I candied with my Pomegranate Blueberry Vinaigrette.

I never worry if I am following a recipe exactly. I learned early on from my mother that you can substitute things in a recipe according to your preferences and your supplies. One time she substituted Special K cereal for cornflakes in some cookies, and it became our favorite cookie ever! I haven' t made those cookies in years, and if we go completely primal, I won' t be making them anytime soon.

The chicken had marinated in a honey and Balsamic blend seasoned with red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper, onion powder and garlic powder. Chicken tenders then were browned in acocado oil and finished baking in the oven while we ate our salads. I almost added some steamed broccoli to the plate, but after eating the salad with several large chunks of beets, I figured we got enough vegetables for one meal.

Purple Carrots!

That' s right....purple carrots! Not a washed out, lilac- tinged purple, but a deep, chocolatey kind of purple. For some reason I expected these carrots to taste dark and bitter, but they are surprisingly sweet and, well-- carrotty.

Rachael from SLO Veg tells me,  "The Organic purple carrots from LeForte Organic Crops ~ Farmer Roberto Le-Forte are some of my favorites." He can be found a tree the SLO Farmers Markets on Thursdays and Saturdays. I remember seeing a recipe in one of my food magazines around Thanksgiving that featured multi- colored roasted carrots as a side dish. So I knew I could roast them with a little olive oil and coarse salt with good results. But today I have plans for the crock pot: I have all the ingredients on hand to make a Beef and Barley stew. 

So I chopped some onions, sliced a few purple and a few orange carrots for good measure, along with a couple of stalks of celery and two cloves of minced garlic and tossed it into the crock. Some beef chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper and coated in flour, browned in a skillet. I measured out 3/4 cups of pearl barley and put it in the crock, then added a couple of teaspoons of chicken boullion and a teaspoon of dried Thyme, along with some salt and some pepper. I poured all the meat on top of that and then added about a quart of water. The recipe also called for tomato paste, but I was out of that ingredient, so I added some ketchup. I also forgot to slice up some mushrooms, because they are still sitting there in the frig. But I did decide to stir in about half the little baggie of salad sprouts, figuring it would add taste and texture.   A quick pour of red wine and a can of diced tomatoes rounded out my ingredients and it was ready to cook for the next 8 hours or so. 

We left to run our errands in town and when our day was done, we sat down to a nice hot bowl of Beef and Barley stew. It was pretty good! We dressed it up with a loaf fresh French bread and the Balsamic-Herb flavored dipping oil from Mt. Olive, and Hearst Ranch Winery's Cabernet Franc.