Pan-Roasted White Fish with Citrus & Avacado Oil

Ok, I admit...the avacado oil is much more expensive that I would have liked.  However, this dish proved well worth it.  Definitely going on the favorites list.

Hot & Sour Soup

This is one of the best Hot & Sour Soup recipes we've tried.

Turkey Lettuce Wraps

These were a special favorite...

Salads

I tried these recipes this week and they were VERY good.  Both were cold salads and made for a great lunch at work, right out of the fridge!

 

This one is supposed to be a pita, but I just made the filling part (even without the lettuce).  Then, I couldn't find the Garam Masala spice and I hate cilantro, so I left both of those out.  Even without the "Indian" stuff in the salad, it was still a great cold chicken salad!

Open-Faced Brie & Hot Peach Chutney Grilled Cheese

Ok, I'm not usually much of one for a challenge...unless it has to do with food.  So, when my uncle forwarded to me an email from the Virginia Chutney Company, stating they were having a grilled cheese competition...well, I had no choice but to experiment and find a chutney-specific winner.  ***STRONG DISCLAIMER*** Any of you entering the 3rd annual Looney-Sponsored Grilled-Cheese-Off later this month will be prosecuted to the highest letter of the law if any stealing of this recipe is suspected.  ***DISCLAIMER OVER***

I had several trial versions, which have been fed to my husband and my dog, and this is the winner...

Start with a slice of Potato Bread, toasted in a toaster oven

Place chunks of brie on the toast, enough to cover when melted

Heat in a 300-degree oven until cheese is creamy and able to be spread, spread to cover toast

Place slices of fresh (or canned) peaches on the toast

Top with Virginia Chutney Company Hot Peach Chutney

Plate on a small bed of baby spinach

Spicy Plum Chutney Venison Chops & Sweet Potato Fries

Last night's adventure in food...

I was home before Jamie, done with my chores, and looking for something to do.  Being close to dinner time, I went to the 'fridge for inspiration.  (Frequently our meals are the result of my rummaging through the various drawers and shelves in the refrigerator and pulling out anything I feel has been a resident for too long.)  Tonight it was the venison and sweet potatoes.  Jamie had a package of his recently processed venison loin chops thawed and waiting for their destiny in the refrigerator and I still had two sweet potatoes I'd picked up during last weekend's grocery run.


First, tenderize the chops.

 

Second - what to marinate them in...what to marinate them in...  I went to the pantry.  There, at eye-level was the still-unopened jar of The Virginia Chutney Co's Spicy Plum Chutney my sweet uncle sent us several months back.  (Some of you Facebookers may remember our Peach Chutney Vanilla Ice Cream dessert from last fall.)




So, I marinated.  Remember - one spoon for dipping in the jar and a second for spreading the chutney on the meat.

Now - let them soak.

Meanwhile, to work on the fries.  Ingredients: Chili Powder, Salt, Garlic Powder, Pepper, Ground Oregano, Ground Cumin, EVOO, and, of course,
Sweet Potatoes.

This all goes in the compost!

Mix to taste in a zip top bag, shake, shake, shake, and spread evenly on a foil-lined (or not if you really like to wash large baking sheets in the sink) baking sheet.

We decided to only cook two of the chops and let the rest continue in their bath of yumminess.  Unfortunately, the chops shrunk (much) more than we anticipated.  So, next time we know to cook twice as much as we think we'll eat.  But, ta-da!  (Oh yeah...and we're still working on knocking out the rutabagas...)

And, the chutney was too good to pass up a second use for the evening...dessert!  Just a little dab on top of slices of mozzarella cheese.  Wow.  That's all I can say about that...but, here's a couple of pictures.

And, since Homer was hanging out with his dad and not under foot for once, here's what was going on in the other room while I was cooking...

Weekend Food

Another of Jamie's favorite breakfasts...although, let's face it...rarely is anything not Jamie's favorite breakfast.  ;-)  Medium boiled eggs, avocados, EVOO, and a little salt and pepper.

And, too good not to post - Sunday dinner with Scott and Lauren: Grilled chicken with chimichurri sauce, black beans, spinach salad, and my experimental rutabagas.  Thanks, guys - it was great!

The Chicken Juice Experiment

I'll start by saying I'm not really sure if this should go on my "Project List" page or this food page.  Maybe depending on how this goes, I may switch it up.

In putting together our Breakfast of Champions this weekend, it occurred to me that there may be additional uses for the juice that comes out of the chicken cans.  So, I drained the cans into a mason jar (aside from the two cans that Homer got and the one can the cats got) and stuck it in the fridge.  I'm thinking it may be a good chicken stock-like-thing...maybe to cook rice or substitute for regular stock.  I'll let you know how that turns out.

Stuffed Eggplant

I have Hungry Girl to thank for this recipe.  The original recipe has no meat, which is fine, but, since I was serving this as the main dish, I added a pound of extra lean ground turkey.  Super simple recipe that made plenty for left-overs.

Ingredients...plus the ground meat - which was thawing in the sink and, as a result, I forgot to include in the picture.

Hollow out the eggplant.

 I removed the stems from the mushrooms - they're a little woody in texture and easy enough to pop out.  Press in opposite directions with thumbs...

 The stem pops right out,

 And, there you have it - stemless mushrooms!

I first cooked the turkey in the skillet, then added the veggies (minus the tomatoes) to cook down.

After adding the rest of the ingredients.

"For me???  It LOOKS like dog food!"

Topped with Parmesan and chopped up string cheese, ready for the oven.  (Because I added the meat, and used larger veggie portions than the recipe called for, I ended up with more stuffing than would fit back in the eggplant shell.  So, that I just put in a ceramic bowl and it cooked just fine!)

 All done!  (Sorry, my under-cabinet flourescent lights seem to add a little extra yellow tint to the food...the dog's always yellow.)

 And, yes - it was very tasty!

HEB Green Sauce

This was an impulse purchase on my last grocery run - HEB brand "That Green Sauce."  There's actually a warning on the label that states, "Caution!  May be addictive!"  I'm game!  A couple of uses (which did prove quite tasty) this weekend were a new topping for my Eggs Benedict (this time made with smoked salmon instead of lunch meat) and a dressing for wraps Saturday afternoon (another weekend favorite of ours - check out Flatout Flatbread).

PawPaw's Dessert

Jamie's love of peanut butter has reminded me of (one of) my grandfather's favorite desserts.  I'm honestly not even sure what you'd call this.

Ingredients:

Directions - put it all in a bowl and mash it up!  Enjoy, Labradors included.

Oh, and just a random picture of another use for the home-made mustard vinaigrette.  :->

 

Breakfast of Champions

I'd love to take the credit for this one, but this is 100% Jamie - his standard work-morning breakfast.  Here are the ingredients:

 

Basically, what we do is spray EVOO cooking spray in each of the 10 containers (and on the lids) to make cleanup easier.  Then, dump in baby spinach, pico de gallio (in Jamie's, not in mine), 1 5oz. can of chunk chicken (packed in water), 1/4 avocado, and eggs in each container.  Stick those in the 'fridge and you've got breakfast for 2 for the whole week! 

We each like 3 eggs in the meal, but don't want all the cholesterol in 3 eggs.  So, we use 1 local egg and 2/3 cup egg whites (bought at the store).  (Check your egg substitute - some have lots of other stuff besides just egg whites.)

I like to precook my eggs so that I only have to heat it for 60 seconds when I'm ready to eat.  Jamie, however, LOVES his food to be molten when he eats it, so he leaves his eggs uncooked then heats it for 3ish minutes before eating.

I realized when making the last round that the meal is 100% waste-free.  The egg beater carton, plastic baby spinach box, and chicken can recycle, the egg crate gets reused, and the egg shells and avocado go into the compost!

Additionally, we've started making these in large batches on Sunday night.  That way, breakfast is ready to grab in the morning and stick in the microwave once we're at the office!


Homer's favorite part is the juice that gets drained out of the chicken can...