Week #14 was a blast as I traveled to American Fork, Utah to visit friends and relax a bit.  My hosts, Tambee and Russ graciously let me film a family favorite backyard BBQ.  Russ cooks to my liking, simple and no recipe.  And very tasty too!  Below is my attempt at his recipe, for the first time put down on paper….errrr…internet.  It’s easy and will be a regular for me this summer.

Ingredients

• Chicken breasts
• Red and Green Peppers
• Couscous
• Bacon
• Fresh Herbs
• Olive Oil, lots of it
• Salt and Pepper

Direction

1. Heat up grill on high
2. Coat chicken breasts with olive oil.  Then salt and pepper both sides.
3. Next use fresh herbs to taste.  In this case we used rosemary, chives and thyme.
4. Place on grill for just a bit on high.  Turn heat to medium.
5. Cut up peppers into halves and coat with olive oil and salt/pepper.
6. Bring water to boil in pot for couscous (or cook to instructions)
7. Flip over chicken before it gets burnt.
8. After water boils, shut off and add in couscous and cover. It’ll be ready in a bit.
9. Add peppers to grill.
10. Flip peppers.
11. Add bacon, chives and any other likings to couscous.  It’s done.
12. Remove Chicken and Peppers from grill before they burn.

I know, it sounds too easy and the video will go into more instruction.  It’s easy and tastes wonderful!  Video coming soon.

Dawn really went all out on this week’s recipe Free For All!   I have yet to attempt to create it but it looks very yummy!  I will be cooking it up soon and THANK YOU Dawn for another great recipe!

Sauteed Herb Shrimp over Fettuccine with Snow Peas & Toasted Almonds along with Fresh Strawberries

The 6 main ingredients for dinner are:
Shrimp (on sale at Payless this week)
Snow peas
Fettuccine pasta
Strawberries
Almonds
Parmesan Cheese (optional)

Peter, here are the additional items needed –some on your lists and some I’m suggesting be added to a kitchen cooking “STAPLES” list – ingredients you probably have on hand on a regular basis in your kitchen or that you may want to consider adding.

For this dinner recipe:

Olive Oil
Wine
Lemon juice or lemonade
Another spice – Tarragon (it’s great in spring/summer dishes)

And more staples to consider for your kitchen –
Flour
Sugar
Nutmeg
Butter/margarine

SAUTEED SHRIMP with HERBS

1 LB large shrimp, peeled & deveined
1/3 c. olive oil
2-3 garlic cloves, blanched in boiling water 2 minutes, drained & finely minced
3/4 c dry white wine
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp chopped parsley
1 tbsp snipped fresh chives (or 1-2 tsp dried)
1 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon or (1-2 tsp dried)
Salt

Pat shrimp dry. Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat.
Add shrimp and sauté until just opaque, about 3 minutes. Remove and drain on paper towels.
Remove all but about 1 tablespoon oil from skillet. Place over medium low heat, add garlic and stir 30 seconds. Pour in wine, increase heat and reduce mixture by 1/3. Add lemon juice and return to boil. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley, chives and tarragon and additional tablespoon or two of olive oil. Taste and season with salt and additional herbs & lemon juice if desired. Arrange shrimp over cooked pasta. Spoon herb sauce over top and serve.

FETTUCINE NOODLES

Cook pasta according to package. Add olive oil and salt to lightly coat. Set aside to use as base for shrimp and “shrimp sauce”.

SNOW PEAS with toasted almonds

2-3 cups fresh snow peas
¼ cup sliced almonds
Olive oil
1 tsp lemon juice

Heat 1-2 TBSP olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Add about ¼ cup sliced almonds and cook until golden brown and fragrant stirring frequently – about 1-2 minutes. Add snow peas and minced garlic and sauté until snow peas are crisp but tender – another 1 ½ – 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add lemon juice. Season to taste with salt/pepper as desired and serve alongside shrimp pasta.

Slice fresh STRAWBERRIES.

Add cooked/coated shrimp over fettuccine and pour with extra sauce, sprinkle with parmesan cheese (optional) and serve with the snow peas and toasted almonds. Add strawberries to plate for extra color – or wait and eat afterwards as a light dessert.

This is the first week I’ve been faced with not one, but TWO great, easy recipes to choose from!  After a couple of weeks of no entries, it was nice to have a couple entries.  In the end I went with Dawn’s suggestion as Patty and Erik had already done a great job of cooking theirs and photographing the results!  Their recipe can be found at their Family Diners blog.  Take a moment to check them out, they have some other great recipes on there as well.

Dawn’s recipe got a thumbs up from Sabrina although we edited it a little.  We didn’t add the pepper to the salmon (Sabrina’s not a fan) and we substituted lemonade for lemon juice (a chef’s gotta do, what a chef’s gotta do).  Eeek! I just realized we left out the cheese topping too.  That would have been good.  At any rate, the video will be ‘coming soon’.  Until then, here’s the recipe as Dawn wrote it.

Penne Pasta with Asparagus & Salmon

Prep Time: not much, 10 minutes?

Cook time: maybe 20 minutes depending on fish

Post Cooking Prep Time: 10 minutes if the fish is boney

Ingredients:

• Pear (slice & serve with pasta dish)
• Penne pasta (rice based in this case)
• Asparagus
• Wild salmon
• Garlic
• Parsley
• salt & pepper
• Old Bay seasoning
• Olive oil
• 1- 2 tsp Lemon Juice (fresh squeezed if possible)
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Put the asparagus in a baking pan (or cookie sheet with sides) and pour a little olive oil over it. Crush a clove of garlic on top and add few grinds of pepper and a little salt. Roll the asparagus around in the pan so that everything gets well coated.

Place the de-boned salmon in another baking pan (with skin side down if it still has some on it). Crush a clove of garlic on top, a little salt & pepper, Old Bay and a splash of olive oil. Coat & rub it all in a little. Bake both asparagus & salmon at 425 degrees until the asparagus is tender and the salmon is just cooked through. (The asparagus will take about 15-20 minutes to get tender; the salmon should take about 10-15.) Meanwhile, cook the pasta.

When the asparagus is done, cut it into one to two inch pieces. Break the salmon up into bite size pieces with fork.
Once the pasta is cooked & drained add olive oil until well coated, then add the lemon juice, parsley (and any extra garlic) to make a light sauce. Combine the pasta and asparagus in a large bowl and toss well. Then add the salmon and toss gently so that the hunks of salmon stay relatively intact; finish off with sprinkling of parmesan cheese. Serve with sliced pears and enjoy!

At long last, the video for week #6 is edited!  Thanks again to Liz and Jesse for putting me up for two nights and all the fun that was cooking and filming this episode!  Enjoy!

Last week’s challenge was another, errr…challenge.  I was left to my own devices and trying to come up with something Sabrina would like at the last minute.  But we got it done!  Sabrina once again filmed while I cooked frantically and made some substitutions.  In the end, we made a simple but yummy Ground Lamb and Rice dish originally taken from Cooks.com site.  I didn’t have any tomatoes or squash, so I swapped in some other items.  Here’s the recipe we ended up with and as you’ll see in the up coming video, Sabrina even liked the onions!!  Sorry there are no photos, we were hungry!

Ground Lamb and Rice – Careystlye

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cooking Time: 25 minutes, tops

Eating Time: We were hungry, it went fast

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. ground lamb
• 1/2 lg. onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 1/4 cup pasta sauce (your choice)
• 1 Portobella Mushroom
• Olive Oil (yum!)
• Rice cooked for 4

How To Cook It:

1. In a small fry pan, heat olive oil on medium and then saute the sliced mushroom.  I like to slice it in long strips and then cut those in half for this recipe. About 3 minutes should do it.  Set aside
2. Oh yeah, start your rice and cook as you like or as the package tells you to.
3. In a medium fry pan, heat olive oil and brown the ground lamb.
4. Add in onions and cook another couple minutes until they are getting soft
5. Add cinnamon (yes, cinnamon….I thought it was odd but it turns out great!), wine and pasta sauce
6. Mix all that up for a minute or two then throw on the mushroom, stirring for another 1 minute
7. Heat up the backed beans.  I know, they don’t really fit, so leave them out if you don’t want them.
8. Serve lamb mixture over rice with beans on the side!

This week’s challenge is a tough one! Things are a bit bare in the kitchen at the moment and while a shopping trip is on the horizon, I’m making due with what I have.  If you need help with how this challenge works, you can find it here.  It’s pretty simple, just take the four ingredients listed below and add in two of your own if you like.  Then post your recipe here or reference your own site.  I’ll then cook up, video tape it and share with the world my and my daughter’s thoughts.

This week’s ingredients are:

• Ground Lamb from Thundering Hooves (raised on organic feed with no hormones)
• Onion! (organic too)
• Rice (yup, also organic)
• Trader Joe’s Organic Baked Bean (which is organically organic)
• Two ingredients of your own choice (or just one, or none!)

Now I can see this one coming a mile away, at least with the beans.  Yes, you can use ingredients in side dishes as this isn’t meant to be a one pot wonder meal. 

So show me what you would do to make a scrumptious meal fit for a 7 year old and her Dad!

A quick recap.  Week #8’s challenge was to take the following ingredients and make a yummy recipe.

• Line and Hook Caught Wild Alaskan Salmon
• Ginger Root
• Brussels Sprouts
• Red Potatoes

The winning recipe was sent in from Kitchen Gadget Girl.  I’m still amazed at not only the support I’ve received for my crazy, wacky idea of a website, but the resources from those like Kitchen Gadget Girl’s website and tweets on Twitter. Thank You, Thank You!

I followed her plan almost to the letter.  I let salmon sit with some wheat-free soy sauce and fresh grated ginger.  I’d say go sparingly on the ginger as it was a bit much for my liking.   Her times in the oven were close enough for me.  I added about 15 minutes to the fish because of thickness and that ended up giving the sprouts a nice roasted flavor on top.  here’s what she sent in:

—————————————-

Ok, I am thinking some sort of ginger soy marinade for the salmon, then roasting all together in the oven.

I would start the potatoes first, cutting them into similarly sized pieces as the Brussels sprouts (definitely in half, but if the potatoes are larger, then cutting them into quarters). Toss in olive oil and salt, then roast for about 20 minutes at 375-400F.  [NOTE: I also added rosemary and dried cilantro]

Add in the Brussels sprouts and push the potatoes and veggies to the outside of the pan. Put the salmon in the middle and continue roasting the whole thing for 15-20 more minutes, until the fish is cooked through.

Timing and temperature are uncertain, depends on your ovens characteristics….

This week there is no winning recipe. Insert frowny face here.  But that’s ok, I whipped something up anyhow!  I didn’t have enough time to film and cook as I had a hungry 7 year old and she took precedent over the filming this week.  I’m still getting down this whole process and appreciate those who have subscribed to the blog and are hopefully learning along with me.

Now then, with the previously mentioned ingredients in mind, this is what I whipped up.

Ingredients

• 2 Free Range Chicken Breasts
• 2 Yukon Gold Potatoes
• Fettuccine Rice Pasta
• Carrots.  Well, actually, I skipped the carrots.  So ignore this!
• Olive Oil
• Pasta Sauce
• Rosemary
• Basil
• Olive Oil
• Garlic Powder
• Thyme
• Dijon Mustard

Recipe

1. Boil up the pasta
2. Cube up the potatoes so they are the size of dice.  The six sided kind, not the Dungeons and Dragons 20 sided monsters.
3. Place the cubed potatoes in a 13×9 backing dish.
4. Douse potatoes with olive oil, rosemary, basil and garlic powder
5. Set in oven at 375F for about 25 minutes.  Or until your kid complains a lot.
6. Heat up the pasta sauce to your liking.  I actually just put the pasta in a Pyrex bowl on the burner I used to boil the noodles with it off.  It worked well and didn’t require nuking it.
7. In a medium fry pan, preheat some olive oil (have I mentioned I love olive oil?).  Then cut the chicken into bite sized pieces and place them in.
8. Sprinkle with thyme, basil and rosemary.
9. Goose about a tablespoon of dijon mustard over this yummy goodness.
10. Cook on a low-medium heat until just about done, stirring occasionally, or lots, whichever you like.
11. Then throw your fry pan in the oven with the potatoes.  I’d suggest something that can take the heat, like a nice All-Clad Stainless-Steel Fry Pan.  Put it in when the potatoes have about 15 minutes left to cook.
12. Remove everything from the stove and serve the chicken over the pasta and top with pasta sauce.  Add the potatoes on the side.

I know what you’re thinking.  Huh?  You’ve got two starches in there!  And mustard with pasta sauce?   But it worked!  And further, it worked for my daughter who loved it.  If you’d like, leave out the pasta sauce and maybe add some honey to the mustard chicken over the noodles.

Either way, don’t stop cooking!  Until next week, have fun in the kitchen!

  It was a good trip down to California for the filming of week #6’s recipe challenge.  My friends Liz and Jesse were gracious hosts and even helped with the filming! Jesse manning the camera while directing and Liz as my stylish co-host for episode #6.  The video will be ready in a day or so, but first I thought I’d list out the selected ingredients and recipe.

Liz was in charge of picking ingredients and we did it on the fly while visiting a local market in Oakland.  Her choices were:

• Chicken Sausage
• Red onion – chopped
• Garbanzo Beans – 1 can, drained
• Linguine

Liz also added fresh spinach and some kale we picked up for free at the meat market, as well as Romano cheese.  You will also need olive oil, salt, pepper, 1 cup chicken stock and 2-3 cloves of chopped garlic.

1. Boil Linguine until it is al dante, set aside
2. Pre-cook kale in salted water, set aside
3. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil on medium heat and cook onion for 1-2 minutes
4. Add chopped garlic and cook another minute
5. Throw in the sausage that has been sliced into 1/4" thick ‘coins’.  Stir and cook for another couple minutes.
6. Add drained garbanzo beans while stirring, cooking for 3 minutes
7. Mix in greens and stir until spinach is wilted while adding in 1/2 cup of chicken stock
8. Drop in pasta and add rest of chicken stock.  Stir for another minute to let pasta soak up taste.
9. Serve and top with grated Romano cheese.
10. Add salt & pepper to taste

The only entries for this week’s challenge didn’t quite fit the bill (didn’t use all ingredients and seemed, well, tough!) so I ended up winging the recipe this week.  Here’s my best bet at what I did, followed by the video.  And in the video, my seven year old daughter took over the camera action and added in her own commentary, at one point telling me what I was mixing looked like poop.  Wow.  I know I’m not artful, but poop?  Cummon!   She ended up loving what I made so it wasn’t THAT bad.

Ingredients:

• King Salmon Steaks
• Asparagus
• Brown Rice
• Red, Yellow and Green Peppers
• 1/3 Cup Olive Oil
• 1/2 Cup Apple Cider Vinegar
• Mustard Powder
• Old Bay Seasoning
• Dijon Mustard

Directions:

Cut Salmon into steaks and lay in 13×9 baking dish.  Mix together the olive oil, apple cider vinegar, mustard powder (to your liking) and Old Bay.  Sprinkle Old Bay Seasoning on the salmon cakes and the then coat with sauce.  Cover with cut peppers and sprinkle with more olive oil. 

Place asparagus on aluminum foil covered cookie sheet.  Drizzle with olive oil and Dijon mustard and mix to coat.

Cook rice per instructions.

Place salmon in 375F oven for 15 minutes.  When 15 minutes are up, place asparagus on top rack and switch to broil, but with door closed, for 10 minutes.  If you have  convection feature, turn it on now too.

After that 25 minutes, all should be done!  Place salmon, asparagus and peppers over bed of rice and serve!