Moroccan Couscous

I love couscous!Any way you give it to me, I just think it's super-duper! It's so easy to make and so versatile. This is dish is lovely and goes great with fish or chicken (surprise surprise ;)

Moroccan Couscous

Ingredients

1/3 cup cashews, roughly chopped
1 tsp curry powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp Olive oil
¾ cup chopped onion
1 tsp garlic
¼ cup dried cranberries
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 1/2 cup water or chicken broth
½ tsp salt
Cilantro (optional)

Directions

Toast the cashews ; set aside

Sauté the onions and garlic until tender Add in the curry powder, cinnamon, cranberries, and cashews and let hang out over low heat. Meanwhile bring the water or chicken broth to boil, I used a little of both because I had an open chicken broth can in my fridge. Then add bay leaf.
When it reaches a boil, remove from heat and stir in the couscous. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes. After the 5 minutes, remove bay leaf and add the couscous to the onion mixture. Stir to combine ingredients. Taste to make sure seasoning is to your liking. I like my food salty (which I am working on) so this is your chance to add more if it needs it!
Garnish with cilantro if you like! Now how easy was that?
Tasty tasty!!

Tortilla Soup

Mmmmmm, who doesn't love Tortilla soup? I finally have the real deal and it's so delicious!

Tortilla Soup

Stars of the soup!

1 cup carrot, diced
1 cup celery, diced
1 cup onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, diced or pressed
1 Serrano Chile, diced
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 cans chicken broth(low sodium)
2 cans diced tomatoes

1 packet taco seasoning (2 Tbls if you have bulk seasoning)
3 corn tortillas (broken or cut into small pieces)
12 ounces poached and diced chicken meat
1 cup low-fat or nonfat milk
Shredded jack cheese for serving
corn tortilla chips, broken, for serving
Cilantro for serving

Directions

I like to dice up all my veggies and put them in a bowl so that way I can just then the bowl into the pan, easist way I think.

Saute carrots, onions, celery in corn oil, garlic, Serrano, salt and pepper until tender, or while you unload the dishwasher and feed the cat. That’s what I do!

If Serrano chilies are not your thing, you can use a Jalapeno or no chili at all.
Add chicken broth and bring to boil. Use the low sodium chicken broth, that way you are in control of your soup’s seasoning.

Add tomatoes, taco seasoning, and chicken.

Cut Tortillas into small pieces and add to broth mixture.

Let boil for 20 minutes or until tortillas are thoroughly incorporated into soup stirring occasionally to keep from sticking.

If you would like you soup to be a thicker constancy you can add more tortillas
Add milk and simmer for additional 10 minutes.
Garnish with shredded cheese and broken tortilla chips and cilantro

Smoky Black Beans

I just love the BBQ black beans from El Pollo Loco but since we don't eat take out very often I wanted to see if I could re create them at home. After many tries and variations, I came up with a recipe that is pretty darn close in my opinion. These beans are so yummy on a tostada, in a burrito or in a bowl by themselves.

Smoky Black Beans

serves 2

Stars of the show

1 can black beans
2 cloves garlic, minced or pressed
½ onion, diced
¼ tsp liquid smoke
2 Tbls brown sugar
5 slices jalapenos (jarred)
¼ cup BBQ sauce
1 cup chicken broth (water will work as well)
1 Tbls olive oil

Directions

Drain and rinse the beans
Sauté the garlic and onion in the olive oil over medium heat until tender.

Add the beans, liquid smoke, sugar, jalapenos, Bbq sauce and chicken broth. Simmer 20-25 minutes stirring occasionally.

Apple Nut Torte

The house smelled sooo good while this easy treat was cooking!
Splenda can be used in place for some or all of the sugar in this recipe. I used Fuji apples but I imagine using a Granny smith for it's tartness would work really nicely too!

Apple Nut Tort

Ingredients

2 eggs, beaten lightly

1 1/2 cup sugar

2 cups peeled and sliced apples
2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon cinnamon

2 pinches salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Directions

Combine the beaten eggs with the sugar and apples.

Stir in the remaining ingredients and pour into a 9-inch greased pie tin.


Bake at 350 degrees for 50 minutes.

Now serve this with some frozen Yogurt or whipped cream and you will become a very popular person :)

Salsa Verde Tostadas

This recipe came from a Martha Stewart magazine I bought years ago. I've added and changed ingredients through the years and what came of it is a super fast and easy, healthy dinner. I plan ahead on this recipe because it calls for poached shredded chicken. I like to have that done so when it's go time it takes no time at all. If you like, Rotisserie chicken works well too!

Salsa Verde Tostadas

serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 whole wheat tortillas
3/4 cup shredded pepper Jack cheese
2 1/2 cups poached and shredded chicken
1 cup jarred salsa Verde, plus more for serving
1/4 cup chopped plus 2 Tablespoons cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup shredded iceberg or romaine lettuce
3 roma tomatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1/4 cup non-fat or low-fat sour cream

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Arrange tortillas on a rimmed baking sheet.
Bake until golden brown, 8 to 10 minutes. 2. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, toss together chicken, salsa, 1/4 cup cilantro, and cumin. Spoon mixture evenly over tortillas; bake until heated through, about 8 minutes.
3. Top with lettuce, tomato, onion, cheese and sour cream. Sprinkle with remaining cilantro. Serve immediately, with additional green salsa or another hot salsa that you love!

Salad Caprese

This salad is perfect for those Hot days and warm nights!

Instead of layering the tomato and mozzarella like the traditional way, I like to cut them up into bite size pieces and serve in a bowl. Before serving I chiffonade the basil and sprinkle on top.

Season with garlic salt and drizzle a little olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the top! Delicious!!

Yumminess in a packet

This is my take on a recipe out of Self magazine. It’s healthy, easy and full of flavor. It’s a great recipe for a dinner party because you can make the topping ahead of time and stick it in the fridge until you are ready to start the fish. The other great thing about this recipe is that there is virtually no clean up!

Foil Wrapped Baked Tilapia

makes 4 servings

Stars in the topping

1-inch cube fresh ginger, finely chopped or grated
2 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped or grated
2 green onions (green part only), finely chopped
Fresh jalapeno or Serrano to taste
1 cup finely chopped cilantro
2 Tbs Olive oil
Dash of toasted sesame oil
Dash of soy sauce
Dash of fish sauce
4 tsp real maple syrup
Salt and pepper

Tilapia

4 fillets fresh tilapia

Salt and pepper

4 squares of foil

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F.

Combine all topping ingredients in a bowl. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Place a fillet on it’s own square of foil and divide topping evenly among them, spreading it over the top.

Fold the foil over the fish and pinch the edges tightly all around to form a packet.

Place on a baking sheet and bake 25 to 30 minutes.

ENJOY!!

Oven roasted tomatoes

You know those nights where do you don't really want to do much in the kitchen? Well this dish is great for a night like that. These go good with anything really, fish, chicken, beef or pasta. They are a cinch to do but, think ahead because these spend over an hour in the oven.

Oven Roasted Tomatoes

Stars of the show

4 Roma tomatoes
Garlic salt
Dried Oregano
Dried Thyme
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil
Parmesan cheese (optional )

Directions
Preheat oven to 400

Slice the tomatoes in half lengthwise and place in an oven safe baking dish.

Drizzle some olive oil over the tomatoes and then add the garlic salt, oregano, thyme and fresh pepper. These are your tomatoes use as much or as little spices as you want. Heck you could even add some crushed red pepper or use fresh herbs instead.

Place in oven on middle rack and cook for 1 hour. After the hour, sprinkle on some parmesan cheese and place back in the oven for another 15 minutes. If you don’t like cheese then just omit this step but continue to cook for another 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Garam Marsala Recipe

Ingredients:
4 tbsps coriander seeds
1 tbsp cumin seeds
1 tbsp black peppercorns
1 ½ tsps black cumin seeds (shahjeera)
1 ½ tsps dry ginger
¾ tsp black cardamom (3-4 large pods approx)
¾ tsp cloves
¾ tsp cinnamon (2 X 1” pieces)
¾ tsp crushed bay leaves


Directions:
Heat a heavy skillet on a medium flame and gently roast all ingredients (leave cardamom in its pods till later) except the dry ginger, till they turn a few shades darker. Stir occasionally. Do not be tempted to speed up the process by turning up the heat as the spices will burn on the outside and remain raw on the inside.
When the spices are roasted turn of the flame and allow them to cool.
Once cooled, remove the cardamom seeds from their skins and mix them back with all the other roasted spices.
Grind them all together, to a fine powder in a clean, dry coffee grinder.
Store in an air-tight container in a cool, dark place.



NOTE: Don't use your everyday coffee grinder for this, you will regret it. It is good to have an extra grinder for just spices!





Note: this recipe is By Petrina Verma Sarkar, at About.com

My newest go to...and it's so good!

For my most recent birthday, I recieved a cookbook from a friend. It's the "Williams Sonoma’s A Taste of the World" and its just gorgeous(Thanks Am) The pictures are beautiful and with each turn of the page I have found our next vacation spot.

The first recipe I made out of the book was the Tandoori fish. Not only did it look good, I knew I had all the ingredients in my pantry. This recipe is from India and although I haven’t been there yet, I am in love with all the flavors in the cuisine.
This recipe is my latest go-to because it really is that easy and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. We buy bags of the frozen salmon fillets at Costco so I always have fish in the freezer.
Garam Masala is a basic blend of ground spices used throughout India. You can pick it up at the grocery store, I like to get my spices from Henry’s because they sell in bulk and then I can buy as much or as little as I think I will need for the month. I will post the recipe for those of you brave enough to make your own. I know you can do it!

Tandoori Fish

makes 2 servings

Stars of the show

2 salmon fillets
1tsp fresh lemon juice
1tsp minced garlic
1tsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
½ tsp garam masala
½ tsp ajowan seeds or ½ tsp dried thyme *
¼ tsp cayenne pepper
Salt
1Tbl non-fat or low-fat sour cream

*Ajowan is the seeds of the thymol plant, a close relative cumin and caraway. If you can’t find it at your local grocery or Asian market, Thyme will work in its place

Directions
Lay the fish in a shallow nonreactive dish. In a cup or small bowl, combine the lemon juice, garlic, ginger, garam masala, ajowan (or thyme) cayenne, and ½ tsp salt. Rub the spice mixture all over the fish. Coat the fillets with the sour cream, cover, and let marinade for 30 minutes at room temp. Or for 3 hours in the refrigerator.
Prepare grill for direct grilling over medium-high heat or preheat a broiler. Place on the grill rack or a broiler pan and cook 5 inches from the heat source, turning once, until the fish is barely opaque, about 6 minutes total if using a grill or about 7 minutes if using a broiler. Transfer to a plate and serve at once.
Note: The last time I made this I started the fish on the grill and cooked it for about 5 minutes and then I transferred it onto a baking sheet and stuck in under the broiler for another minute or two. It turned out great and I feel like I kept more of the flavor on the fish then I did when I turned it on the grill. But either way tastes great!