Sunday, April 24, 2011

Salmon & Vegetable Skewers over Brown Rice

SOURCE/ADAPTED FROM: Clean Eating magazine, March/April 2010, Volume 3, Issue 2

ACTIVE TIME: 30 min TOTAL TIME: 30 min

INGREDIENTS:
2 Cups Brown Rice - I love the Minute Ready to Serve Brown Rice – 60 seconds, one serving done!
4 4oz Wild Caught Salmon Fillets (1 lb total), cubed – used 2 4oz fillets
1 White Onion, cut into square pieces, about ½ inch in diameter – used half
1 Zucchini, sliced into ¼ inch pieces
8 oz whole White Mushrooms
Olive Oil cooking spray
Juice 1 Lemon
2 tsp Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley, minced
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste

EQUIPMENT:

Metal or wooden skewers 6 – 8 inches in length (if using wooden skewers soak them in water for 20 minutes prior to use).

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook rice according to package directions. Set aside.

Preheat broiler to high. Thread salmon and vegetable onto separate skewers, filling 4 skewers of each (1 fillet of salmon per fish skewer and about ½ cup vegetables per veggie skewer). Mist salmon and vegetables with cooking spray, then brush with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper and parsley.

Broil skewers at least 2 – 4 inches from heat source for 3 minutes. Flip skewers over and broil for another 3 minutes or until just tender. To serve, place 1 salmon skewer and 1 vegetable skewer over ½ cup rice.

SERVES / NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Serves 4
Original recipe Per serving: Calories 540; Fat 10 g (Saturated 1.5 g); Cholesterol 60 mg; Sodium 135 mg; Carbohydrate 79 g; Fiber 7 g; Protein 32 g

RATING/DIFFICULTY:


Taste Rating: Three Fat Running Chefs

Difficulty Rating: Easy Peasy

SERVED WITH:
Brown Rice

FINAL NOTES:
Really nothing special about this but very versatile. You can play with the herbs, just about anything would work. You can also play with the the vegetables – use bell peppers, potatoes, asparagus, etc.

Tuna Nicoise Stovetop Casserole

PRE-STORY: This is an easy after work full of “good for you” ingredients. It wasn’t on my original list of things to make from this magazine but I don’t know how I missed it.

SOURCE/ADAPTED FROM: Clean Eating magazine, March/April 2010, Volume 3, Issue 2

ACTIVE TIME: 30 min TOTAL TIME: 30 min

INGREDIENTS: 2 Cups couscous
8 small Red Potatoes cut in half
2 6oz pouches or cans unsalted water-packed tuna
½ lb Frozen Green Beans, thawed
½ Cup pitted Kalamata Olives, sliced – buy these pre-pitted from the salad bar
Juice and zest 1 Lemon – used the juice but I don’t have a zester so I used orange zest
1 Tbs Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp White Onion, finely diced - you can buy these from the salad bar as well
1 Clove Garlic, minced
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
2 tsp EVOO
2 tsp Fresh Flat-leaf Parsley, minced
Sea Salt and Fresh Ground Black Pepper, to taste
Olive Oil cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:
Cook couscous according to package directions.

Over medium-high heat, bring a medium size pan filled with water to boil. Cook potatoes for 10 minutes; drain. In a large bowl, mix together tuna, green beans, olives, and potatoes. Once couscous is cooked, mix it into tuna-vegetable mixture.

In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and zest, Dijon, onion, garlic, vinegar, oil, parsley, salt and pepper. Pour dressing over tuna-couscous mixture.

Heat large nonstick or cast-iron skillet over high heat for 1 minute. Reduce heat to medium-high, mist pan with cooking spray and sauté tuna-couscous mixture for about 5 minutes or until thoroughly warmed. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

SERVES / NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Serves 8
Original recipe Per serving: Calories 430; Fat 6 g (Saturated 1 g); Cholesterol 15 mg; Sodium 350 mg; Carbohydrate 70 g; Fiber 11 g; Protein 25 g

RATING/DIFFICULTY:


Taste Rating: Four Fat Running Chefs

Difficulty Rating: Easy Peasy

SERVED WITH:
Didn’t need to add anything – it was all in there!

FINAL NOTES: Another rarity – I barely changed the recipe and enjoyed it. The only change I made was adding a little chicken broth to the sauce because it was a little too vinegary/dijony for my taste. Heating it is not necessary – it would be good if served immediately.

Saturday, April 23, 2011

Broiled Tofu (Salmon) with Rosemary and Mushrooms

PRE-STORY: Finally catching up with my March cooking…it is the end of April and all. This recipe is for broiled tofu but getting Dude to eat tofu would be like me trying jiu-jitsu! Not gonna happen! So I made it with Grouper – my notes are at the end.

DISH: Seafood

SOURCE/ADAPTED FROM: Clean Eating magazine, March/April 2010, Volume 3, Issue 2

ACTIVE TIME: 20 min TOTAL TIME: 30 min

INGREDIENTS:
¼ Cup Low Sodium Chicken or Vegetable Broth - Used Chicken
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 Tbsp Dijon Mustard
4 tsp Rosemary Leaves, chopped
2 Cloves Garlic, minced
¼ tsp Fine Sea Salt
¼ tsp Ground Black Pepper
1 lb Mushrooms (white, cremini, shiitake, or a combination), halved (stems removed from shiitakes) – I used white, shiitake, and portabello)
1 ½ pkg extra-firm tofu (14-16 oz per pkg), drained – used Grouper
Olive oil cooking spray

INSTRUCTIONS:
Preheat broiler. Arrange 1 rack 4 inches below heating element and another rack in bottom third of oven.

In a small bowl, whisk together broth, vinegar, Dijon, rosemary, garlic, salt and pepper. Set aside 3 Tbsp sauce. In a large bowl, toss mushrooms with remaining sauce. Arrange mushrooms on a large rimmed baking sheet and set aside.

Cut tofu lengthwise into 6 slices and pat dry with paper towels. Cut each slice in half diagonally making 12 triangles. Coat a rimmed baking sheet and brush top of tofu with 1 ½ Tbsp reserved sauce.

Place mushrooms on bottom oven rack and tofu on top oven rack. Cook for 6 minutes. Remove tofu (leaving mushrooms in oven), turn pieces over and brush with remaining 1 ½ Tbsp reserved sauce. Return tofu to top rack and continue to cook until tofu is dry and browned and mushrooms are tender, about 6 more minutes.

Divide tofu amonth plates and top with mushrooms. Drizzle with juices from baking sheet and serve.

SERVES / NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Serves 4
Original recipe Per serving: Calories 180; Fat 7 g (Saturated 1 g); Cholesterol 0 mg; Sodium 230 mg; Carbohydrate 11 g; Fiber 3 g; Protein 4 g

RATING/DIFFICULTY:
Taste Rating: Four Fat Running Chefs


Difficulty Rating: Easy Peasy

SERVED WITH:
Near East Couscous with Olive Oil

FINAL NOTES:
I followed the recipe except I used Grouper. I should have cut the cooking time to 4 minutes per side. I would also cook the fish in the same pan as the mushrooms for extra moisture and cook it in the middle of the oven. I also found it a little too vinegary and added some extra chicken broth to tone it down.