Savory Salmon

One of my favorite fish is salmon. I have prepared it in the following ways: 

• Pretzel crusted
• En papillote
• Pesto
• Mustard and beer

Most recently, I prepared it simply but it was delicious. I seasoned the filet with paprika, dry mustard, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, pink Himalayan salt, and pepper. I baked it for 25 minutes and served. 

Easy, fast and delicious. That is all there is to it. 

Garlic Shrimp Spaghetti Squash

Need I say more? 

I found this delicious recipe on Pinterest and have made it a few times in the last few months. 

It's a flavorful pasta dish without the carbs, gluten, and guilt of pasta. Spaghetti squash for the win. 

I added fresh basil and tomatoes to the mix at the end. I felt that it needed a kick of freshness. 

Texas Taters

Years ago I went to a Tex-Mex restaurant that served something called a Texas Tater. It was a hollowed out potato that had a cheesy chicken mix. 

Even though we don't eat chicken, I thought beans would be a good protein source for this dish. 

I got out baking potatoes and microwaved them for 10 minutes. Cut them and hollowed out the potato filling. I set the oven to 375°.

Next, I heated up a can of black beans and added chopped onion, garlic and the potato filling. 

Once the mixture was hot, I filled the potato skins with the filling. I added shredded cheese and baked them. 

I served the potato topped with sour cream, diced tomatoes, and chives. 

This was a hearty meal perfect for a Fall day!

New England Clam Chowder

I love this chowder! 

I order it out when possible and have made it in the past. After reflecting on when in the past, I realized it had been years. 

I looked up a few recipes and most of them called for bacon. While bacon is delicious, my husband is not a meat eater so it is a deal breaker. 

I finally found a recipe I could use and got to work.

Delicious was the result.

How I have missed you, New England Clam Chowder. 

Adirondack Pop

While enjoying a game night at a friend's house, I was offered various beverages including Adirondack pop. 

Our friend is also a native New Yorker where Adirondack is found. I had not seen this pop in years!

Comforts from home!

Homemade vs. Home Fresh: Cheesy Chorizo Orzo

After our first trial of Home Fresh's Cheesy Chorizo Orzo, we decided it was so good we wanted to try it ourselves. 

The recipes provided by Home Fresh are simple to follow and easily repeatable. 

We went shopping for all the ingredients and got in the kitchen. 

It was just as delicious as the first time! 

Taco Bake Dinner

I posted a lot about purchasing Old El Paso products. They are frequently on sale, have coupons, and have rebates. I keep them stocked in our kitchen for easy dinners. 

Since I"m a frequent flyer of these products, I was surprised to find boxes of Old El Paso Taco Bake. This sounds like a good idea! 

The box comes with tortillas, sauce, and cheese. The recipe on the box calls for ground beef. I boiled black eyed peas for the protein of choice. Layer the ingredients in a pan and bake in the oven. 

I chopped up some green onion, tomato, and cilantro. I had some Old El Paso green chiles and sour cream. 

 Once the taco bake is is done, top with the veggies and serve!

Next time these products are on sale with coupons and / or rebates, I'm stocking up on these taco bakes!

Hello Fresh: Oven Roasted Mediterranean Cauliflower

The last edition of the Hello Fresh vegetable box is the Oven Roasted Mediterranean Cauliflower. 

An amazing blend of roasted cauliflower, tzaziki sauce, bulgar and veggies all in the bag delivered and ready to go.  

Simultaneously cook the bulgar, roast the cauliflower, and tzaziki sauce. 

Combine all the mixtures on a plate and enjoy!

Random Dinner

There are days when I don't have any direction for dinner. 

One night recently, I put together a random group of food and called it dinner. 

Garden salad, avocado, steamed edemame, fried tofu, boiled egg. 

Simple and tasty (and random)!

Hello Fresh: Caramelized Shallot Risotto

The latest edition of the Vegetarian Hello Fresh box is the Caramelized Shallot Risotto. 

The ingredients are shallots, garlic, vegetable stock, zucchini, lemon, balsamic vinegar, parmesan cheese, and arborio rice. 

Dice the garlic and peel the zucchini. Sauté the garlic and zucchini core in olive oil. 

Slice the shallots and toss in balsamic vinegar and place in the oven to caramelize. 

Bring water and vegetable stock to a boil. 

Add vegetable stock to the rice and allow it to soak up the stock. 

Sauté the zucchini peels with olive oil. 

Toss it all together with shallots, parmesan cheese and a squeeze of lemon. 

Serve and enjoy! 

Hello Fresh: Charred Avocado Oriecchiette

After the first delivery of Hello Fresh meals, I opted to try a vegetarian box. 

The first meal we decided to try is the Charred Avocado Oriecchiette. 

The ingredients are simple and fresh: garlic, chives, scallions, tomatoes, pasta, feta, and avocado. 

Chop, slice, and dice the produce. 

Sauté the tomatoes, scallions and garlic in olive oil. Char the avocado in olive oil as well. 

Boil water for the pasta. Toss the sautéed vegetables with the pasta. Slice the avocados and place on top of the pasta dish along with the chives. 

Who knew avocado would be so tasty with pasta? 

Avocado Lime Dressing

Cooking has 2 modes for me: routine and experimental. I was in an experimental mood recently and dreamed up a sauce to use on many items. 

I sliced 1 Florida avocado and added 3 cloves of garlic, chopped cilantro and lime juice. I mixed it with the immersible blender. 

The result? Avocado lime dressing!

I pan seared some flounder using pan searing flour after seasoning the fish with nutmeg, turmeric, cayenne pepper, paprika, salt, and pepper. 

Next, sautéed plantains with garlic in olive oil. 

The finished product: pan seared flounder with avocado lime dressing served with plantains and sliced avocado. 

Grilled Cilantro Lime Shrimp with Yuca

I had some Avocado Lime Dressing left over from a previous dinner. Good thing we liked it!

This time, I thought I'd try to incorporate yuca with the dressing. 

I searched online for a recipe and found this one. 

I started the recipe by boiling the yuca and sautéing the onion and pepper. After that, I strayed a bit. I mixed old bay seasoning with adobo seasoning and tossed the shrimp in it. I added this same seasoning to the onion mix. 

Once the yuca was simmering with the onion mix, I grilled the shrimp. 

Tossed it together and added avocado lime dressing on top. 

Served with fried plantains. 

Spring Rolls

My parents are great cooks. 

My mom is a comfort food kind of cook. My father likes to experiment with dishes from around the world. It is part of what inspired me to explore the globe.

A dish that we would make as a family was spring rolls. It was everyone's responsibility to assemble the spring rolls. 

I still make them! This time I chopped cabbage, carrots, green onions, bean sprouts, soybeans, garlic, ginger, and tofu. 

I mixed olive oil, natural peanut butter, salt and pepper for flavor. Toss it all in a bowl with the veggies and give it a good stir. 

I buy these spring roll pastry packages at our local market which caters to mostly Caribbean customers but has a lot of Asian products as well. I paid $2.29 for this package of 25 wraps. 

Scoop a spoonful of the veggie mix onto a wrap. Tuck the sides in an overlapping pattern. Roll the rest from bottom to top. 

Place all the rolls onto a baking sheet. To make the rolls crispy, use egg white or olive oil. 

Bake the rolls for 25 minutes at 375°.  Serve with wasabi, soy sauce, horseradish, salsa, or any other tasty dipping sauce. 

Birthday Freebies: Bonefish Grill

Bonefish Grill is one of the tastiest birthday freebies of the bunch. 

Free Bang Bang shrimp or a dessert is the offering for those subscribed to the emails. 

We chose the Bang Bang shrimp and ordered 2 salmon entrées.

I was given a gift card for this great restaurant chain. That defrayed the cost along with the free appetizer. 

Date night with my hubby who has a birthday a few days after mine.

Birthday Freebies: Medieval Times

Medieval Times is truly a unique experience fit for a king. It takes an evening out to a whole new level. How often does one go out to dine and watch jousting? 

This birthday freebie is not only a large value of saving but a large value of fun! The birthday bargain is a buy one get one free (BOGO)! 

My husband and I both have birthdays in July. Many of the freebies we've enjoyed together. This is no exception. We purchased 1 ticket and got the other one free. 

The dinner choices are limited to a standard chicken dinner and a vegetarian dinner. We got 1 of each. the chicken dinner is shown below. The vegetarian option was a bowl of rice, beans, corn seasoned like chili; hummus with veggies to dip; then the same corn, potato, tomato soup, and garlic bread listed on the menu. 

Really a great evening! Dinner was delicious and the show was entertaining. 

Hello Fresh: Potato Pan Rösti

For the final edition of the Hello Fresh delivery service trial (see previous posts here), I tried the Potato Pan Rösti. 

This Swiss dish is a hashbrown base topped with tomato, prosciutto, sour cream and a squeeze of lemon. The recipe also involved an arugula salad.  

Grate the potatoes and chop the scallion, onion and tomato. Sauté the onion and white part of the scallion in butter. Save the green part of the scallion for later. 

Toss the sautéed onion with the grated potato. Spread evenly into a heated skillet coated in olive oil and butter. Cook until brown on the bottom. Flip the potato onto a platter or cookie sheet. Slide the uncooked side back into the pan until brown. 

While the potato is cooking, toss the arugula salad. I added chayote, avocado, and green onion with olive oil and lemon juice. 

Slice the potato cake and top with prosciutto, sour cream, and a squeeze of lemon. Serve with the arugula salad on the side. 

These meals have proved to be delicious, easy, and quick to prepare. All of them have been delicious, easy, and quick to eat, too!

Birthday Freebies: TGI Fridays

TGI Fridays is one of those chains I never really frequented. It wasn't until my singles group from church in Detroit started going on regular intervals that I kept it on my radar. 

Now, I love Fridays!

Since we are rewards members, we also get a basket of chips and salsa at each visit. Reward points rack up pretty quickly with their program. 

We had enough for a free entrée in addition to chips and salsa. Having a birthday coupon for a free dessert is all the more incentive to go to Fridays. No one was going to leave hungry this time around!

We ordered the Grilled Salmon and the Cajun Chicken and Shrimp Pasta for dinner (one of them is free). For dessert, we ordered the Vanilla Bean Cheesecake. 

Somehow the dessert isn't featured on our receipt. Either way, we paid under $18 for an appetizer, 2 seafood entrées, and a dessert! 

Hello Fresh: Cheesy Chorizo Orzo

For the latest edition of the Hello Fresh meal service trial, we have the cheesy chorizo orzo dish.

This dish has chorizo (pork sausage) along with orzo pasta and roasted tomatoes seasoned with garlic and thyme. 

The refrigerated ingredients came packaged in a labeled brown bag. The sausage was in a chilled section of the box. 

Unwrapping the contents of the brown bag revealed all the ingredients necessary in the portion needed for the recipe. 

The only exception is the can of tomato paste. Luckily, we use tomato paste as a base to many stews so I had the few spoonfuls needed already. 

Since my husband is not a meat eater and I am on occasion, I separated the chorizo sausage from the rest. Following the directions to a point, I then separated the pot of orzo goodness into another pot that had the cooked sausage. 

My husband likes everything hot and spicy which is customary in Africa. I cooked my portion with the sausage. I cooked his portion with a Scotch bonnet pepper. 

The finished product was delicious! Fairly easy to prepare. Exceptionally easy to eat!