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sloppy joes with sun dried tomatoes
Is that an oxymoron? Well, maybe it is.
Now don’t get me wrong. But just because sloppy joes are . . . sloppy, that’s not a reason to hate them. Once, when I was a teenager, and staying with my sister who lived in Provo, Utah, the youth group at church went on a rafting trip, and I got to go along, too.
After a long day of rafting on the Green River, we were all sunburned, with chapped lips and sore muscles. The youth leaders had made a huge pot of sloppy joe mix, and let me tell you, I remember thinking that sandwich was the best thing I had eaten in my entire life.
Hopefully, this recipe will taste good whether you’re exhausted with heat stroke or not.
And if you’d like to serve it with that cucumber ribbon salad in the picture, you can find that recipe here.
pan-seared salmon with lime and dill
Okay, so technically it isn’t Friday anymore, but I had a long day. Besides, it’s still Friday in California.
This is just a quick post—I’m sure most of you know how to cook a salmon fillet, but this is my favorite way to eat it, and I thought maybe you’d like to know.
But first I’ll plug the salmon. Salmon—wild caught is best—is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, carotenoids, B vitamins, and vitamin D, among other nutrients. It’s widely available across the country, and the best part: every kid in my family loves it. Even my daughter.
heart beets salad with fried goat cheese
I had a few minutes before the end of the night to add in one last Valentine’s post.
This is what I had for lunch. I roasted the beets a couple of days ago, actually, and was going to put this up on Friday for a “power food friday” post. But, you know me. I got busy. I wasn’t kidding when I said my kitchen was a mess.
Anyway, these cute little beet hearts have been waiting ever so patiently in my fridge, and I wanted to add something special to them. I remembered how well goat cheese goes with beets, so I thought I’d try a little idea I saw on the Food Network, which was goat cheese balls, coated in panko, and fried.
It was a great combination. The beets were sweet and earthy, and the goat cheese was warm and tangy. Perfect.
slow cooker black bean dip
The big game. I am writing this post specifically for Weight Watchers, so I don’t know all the laws about saying words like super and bowl in the same sentence. But you know what I mean.
My mother-in-law always made a big slow cooker full of this fantastic bean dip. I thought there would be no better thing to make with Weight Watchers Natural Four Cheese Mexican blend, especially for the big game. As healthy as the beans are, the recipe’s major downfall is the large amount of cheese you are supposed to add. So I have lightened it up, and used the Weight Watcher’s cheese for the perfect compromise.
power food friday: whole grain macaroni and cheese
Hmm, perhaps power food and macaroni and cheese don’t exactly go together. And maybe they don’t.
But let’s face it, the worst part about dieting is letting go of some of the warm comfort foods that we crave during the winter months. It’s kind of cruel when you think about it—that everyone should feel the need to diet in January—amongst raging blizzards and ice storms—and then feel guilty if they eat anything richer than a bowl of quinoa.
So I am here with a recipe to warm your soul and make you feel pretty good about your diet at the same time. The people at Weight Watchers sent me some of their cheese, and asked me to make up several recipes with it. Each week for the next few weeks, I’ll be posting a new recipe with the cheese, so stay tuned.
Though I was skeptical to use a reduced calorie cheese, I tried their Natural Mexican Four Cheese Blend (worth 2 points per serving), and found it to be much better than I thought.
I first tested it for taste. I found the cheese to be mild, and spot on for flavor compared to other full fat cheeses of the same variety.
Secondly, I tested it for meltiness. Twelve seconds in the microwave showed it melted just as nicely as regular cheese, lacking only in the grease film on the top. I’d say that’s a plus.
Once it checked out on those two points, I knew I could cook with it, so I put it right to work and made this whole grain macaroni and cheese.
pear pizza with caramelized onion and bleu cheese
I was in New York last weekend. That doesn’t have anything to do with this pizza, though. I just thought you might want to know. While I was there, we (we, meaning me and the gals who blog for the Family Kitchen on Babble) went out to dinner in SoHo, where I was introduced to my new favorite cheese. Apparently I have spent thirty four years in absolute darknss, not knowing the glory that is burrata mozzarella. Everyone, please start asking your stores to carry it. Let’s change the world.
The next day, Brooke from Cheeky Kitchen, Shaina from Food for My Family, and I kicked it around Manhattan. We saw Central Park and the Upper West Side, got cookies at Levain Bakery, hot dogs from Gray’s Papaya (didn’t go to Zabar’s though), and afterward saw West Side Story on Broadway. We wished we had gone to see the Adam’s Family instead, though.
We had a blast, and I left thinking how at home I had felt there.
Anyway, after all that great food, I came home wanting something really good. Something not boring, something seasonal and fresh. This pizza is what I came up with.
mushroom bruschetta
The other night, as my kids and I were driving home, we saw a huge golden moon peaking out between two mountains just north of where we live. It was a hint of the promise of fall.
I love when the weather finally lets go of the shackling heat and and lets in wind and rain and changing leaves. I made this savory bruschetta as a little celebration of my favorite season.
Oh, and just a quick announcement, random.org chose one of my favorite people from high school to win the food mill and baby cookbook. So a toast to Molly, too, and to her two little boys! (Did you see that? I used to, two, and too, all in the same sentence! My second grader would be impressed.)
ziti with zucchini and sausage
It’s been awhile since I have posted anything in the well-fed section. I have been blogging with Babble.com so much that I feel like I’ve gained ten pounds, so Plus, my last several entries here have been a long list shameless desserts.
Anyway, I thought it was high time I posted something we ate for dinner around here. This pasta dish was something I came up with from stuff I had in the fridge, and I must say I was a bit unimpressed with it at first, but the more I sampled, the more I loved it. I used some zucchini someone gave me from their garden and some chicken and apple sausage I had in the freezer. I thought these flavors seemed very fall-ish and wonderful, so to them I added some fresh sage. However, since it’s still hot here, and I’m not quite ready to curl up by a fire, I thought I’d add a dash of lemon to keep the dish bright.
One thing I want to mention: tomorrow I will be on AmberLee’s The Giver’s Log blog for a bit. So stay tuned, and I’ll give you the link when it’s up!
chicken tikka masala in a slow cooker
I’ve been working on this recipe for awhile, and though I still haven’t gotten it exactly the way I want it, it’s pretty good. The thing with Indian food is it’s tricky to get a perfect recipe because everyone has their own. I have put this together based on what the nice people down at my local Indian restaurant have told me, the ingredients list on the back of a Tandoor Chef box, America’s Test Kitchen’s The Best International Recipe, and bits and pieces from the Food Network. I imagine I will make improvements to this as I make it through the years.
not sure what to call these . . . brazilian fajitas, maybe?
When I say “dinner party” here, I mean the dinner itself is the party. By no means am I suggesting you invite guests to eat these with you. That would mean you’d have to share.
A nice old man was giving away samples of this Brazilian sausage on Saturday. It was so good, and it reminded me of Paella. The next thing I knew, I was hunting around for some shrimp to go with it. But honestly, after a month of cooking like a crazy woman for my other blog, the last thing I wanted to do was get out a humongous pan and throw everything under the sun into it. For starters, I’d be the only one eating it, and secondly, there’s only one of me, and that would be a lot of food. Two of my kids are occasionally brave, but all three tend to avoid dishes where everything is sort of thrown together.
