Banana Pecan French Toast!!

Ooof, this was good. French toast is pretty basic as far as execution goes but there are a few tricks to make it perfect. Start with fresh bakery bread. Something soft. I used multi-grain for this because it was soft but had some texture still. Make sure you really let the bread absorb the egg goop. Add some extras like fruit, nuts, whip cream, bacon. Sliced cooked bananas and chopped pecans did the job today.

• For about 4-5 slices whisk 3 eggs, 1/3 cup (soy) milk,a few big shakes cinnamon and nutmeg. Whisk till blended.
• Soak bread in egg mix till bread almost falls apart.
• Heat about 1 tsp butter (substitute) in a non stick skillet on med heat.
• Add bread and cook till browned on each side.
• Heat about 1 tsp butter (sub) in another non stick skillet, add thick sliced bananas and cook on med heat till slightly browned.
• Top with chopped pecans and maple syrup.

Exceptional Turkey Rolls

This is something I made when I didn’t know what to make.. but it turned out very yummy!  A balsamic reduction was the perfect component to bring these treats from basic to remarkable. Definitely a great BBQ or party munchy with a major comfort food vibe.

Ingredients

• Pastry dough, 1 sheet
• 1/4 purple onion, sliced
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 tsp capers
• Few slices turkey breast
• Few slices provolone
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1/4 cup or so of balsamic reduction (1/2 cup balsamic heated on low heat till thickened)

Tools

• Baking sheet
• Frying pan, for onion
• Flour, for dough

1. Prep pastry dough as per box instructions. (Thaw, handle with flour, preheat oven, 400*.) Lay out dough.
2. Melt butter in frying pan, add onion and cook in med hi till browned. Add capers when onion is nearly finished cooking.
3. In a small bowl whisk egg and mustard, brush over dough’s “up” side.
4. Thinly layer turkey, cheese, onions. Roll dough carefully, starting at side closest to you. Try to seal roll as best as possible.  Cut in 1/2 inch slices. Arrange on greased baking sheet.
5. Brush each with egg mixture.
6. Cook for about 15-17 mins, until golden brown.
7. Drizzle with balsamic reduction before serving.

Crispy Salmon with Artichoke Hearts, Sautéed Spinach and a Lemon Caper Sauce

My favorite thing about this is how little time it took. From prep to finish I spent about 20 minutes on this beautiful meal.

There are quite a few tastes going on in this dish. To maintain the distinctive flavors I cooked everything separately, and to keep the flavors working together I used the same pan for all the veggies and then made a sauce out of what was left in the pan.

Salmon is such a heavy, almost buttery fish. It’s full of natural oils and holds up well when cooking. This made it perfect for achieve a light crisp, adding texture to the meal. (Serves 2)

Ingredients

Fish

• Salmon fillets, 1 per person
• Salt and pepper
• Splash of olive oil

Veggies

• Fresh spinach, about 2 handfuls per person
• 1 glove garlic, chopped
• Good balsamic vinegar, few splashes
• 1 can artichoke hearts, cut in half
• ½ can stewed tomatoes
• Dijon mustard, about ¼ tsp
• Chicken stock, roughly 1 cup will be used
• Lemon juice, roughly ¼ cup
• Capers, about 2 tbp
• Flat leaf Italian parsley, roughly chopped, about 1 tbsp

Side of couscous (optional). As per box directions.

Tools

• Non stick frying pan for fish
• Frying pan or wok for veggies
• Pot for couscous (optional)

Start by prepping your veggies. Wash and chop parsley. Strain, rinse and (if needed) cut artichoke heart in half. Set aside.

Season fish with salt and pepper on skinless side.

Heat frying pan on med hi, adding a little olive oil to the pan.  When oil starts to smoke add fish, seasoned side down. Judging by the sides of the fish, you’ll be able to see when salmon is cooked halfway through. Flip once. Roughly 7 mins each side.

Add a few drops of olive oil to veggie pan and cook artichoke hearts on med heat until lightly browned. Remove and set aside.

Add a little olive oil to veggie pan. Heat on med hi and add garlic. When garlic begins to cook add spinach and stir. Add a splash of balsamic vinegar, salt, pepper; stirring. When spinach has just wilted, remove and add to plate. (Also plate fish.)

In veggie pan, simmer tomatoes with roughly half a cup chicken broth, about 1 tbsp lemon juice, Dijon mustard, and a splash of balsamic. Stir thoroughly and add artichokes.

Allow liquid to cook out of pan, then plate veggies.

Add about 1/2 cup of chicken stock, 1 tsp lemon juice, and capers to veggie pan. Bring to boil; whisking vigorously. Be sure to scrap all the bits of flavor stuck on the pan.  Pour over fish. Top with fresh parsley. Yum!

Filet Mignon with Stuffed Green Olives

Filet mignon is the easiest to cook.  When you’re buying it you want to look for a pinkish red, not a dark color.  It’s also good when you can see fat marbled through the meat, making it prime.  It’s on the more expensive side but not out of control.  I spent about 20 bucks at the grocery store for this meal for two. $10 for the meat and the rest on olives and salad stuff.

Ingredients

Filets

• Filets, 1 per person
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper

Dressing

• 2-3 large olives, or 4-5 small guys
• 2 tbsp cup olive oil
• 1 1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp brine from olive jar
• 1/4 tsp dijon mustard
• pepper

Also

• Stuffed specialty olives, with garlic, pimento, almonds, whatever you like
• Salad, of your choice. I used mixed greens, orange pepper, cucumber and tomatoes

Tools

• Skillet
• Blender

Preheat your oven to 375.  Season filets with salt, pepper, and a few drops olive oil. Add olive oil to pan and heat on hi. Once olive starts steaming, add filets.

Sear filets; roughly 2 or 3 mins each side.

Turn off stove and place skillet with filets into oven. Cook for 5-6 min for rare, 8-10 for med, and over 10 for well done.  All ovens can be different so be sure to cut center of steak and check out if the coloring suits you.

While those are cooking, make your salad.

In blender add dressing ingredients…

.. and blend.

Once meat is cooked let sit for a few minutes. Then plate salad, olives, and filets.  **I pour a little of the dressing on to the steak. This goes really well with a bloody maria.

Ceviche Style Fish with Whipped Avocados, and Salad

I love this salad. It’s really light and fresh, but still manages to fill you up.  The three parts of this salad work very well together, but you can use them separately in other recipes. This recipes serves 2 as a meal, or 4 as a side.

Ingredients 

Salad

• Mixed greens
• 1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
• 1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
• Few handfuls of grape tomatoes, cut in half 

Ceviche Style Fish

• Tilapia fillets, 1 large or 2 small per person
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• 2 limes
• 1 bunch cilantro, finely chopped
• ½ small red onion finely chopped 

Whipped Avocados

• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar, white would be best to keep coloring in avacados
• Salt and pepper
• 1 ½ avocados
• ¼ cup water

Tools

• Bowl
• Large ziplock
• Mixing bowl
• Large skillet
• Blender

Prep fish by combining olive oil, 1/2 lime, salt, pepper and fish, in bowl, and coat. Store in fridge till ready to use.

Add chopped cilantro, onion, and juice of 1 and 1/2 limes to large mixing bowl. Put in fridge till ready to use.

Peel and chop cucumbers, halve tomatoes, slice pepper. Add veggies and mixed greens to ziplock, and store in fridge.

Add fish and liquid to large frying pan, and cook on med/hi heat. Cook fish for about 5 minutes on each side, then chop fish using the edge of your spatula. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. **Traditional ceviche uses acid from the citrus to cook the fish.  I do this because it’s much faster and still tastes really good.

Combine cooked fish and ceviche mix.

In blender combine ingredients for whipped avocados; blend. If mixture has difficulty blending add a little more water, stir, and blend.

Mix salad, and plate. Top with fish mixture and whipped avocados; eat!

French Toast with Ham, Mushrooms and Cheez, and a Side Salad with Hazelnut Raspberry Vinaigrette

This is a really easy recipe for a killer breakfast, brunch, or even dinner. When you’re choosing breakfast food it’s always hard to choose between sweet and salty; this combines the two very nicely. The dressing for this salad is really nice. I’m not a huge fan of fruity dressings but this is so light and refreshing.

Ingredients  

• Loaf of cinnamon raisin bread, thick slices, 1 per person
• 3 eggs
• ¼ cup soy milk, or milk
• Generous dashes of cinnamon
• Few shakes of nutmeg
• Thin sliced deli ham
• Good sliced cheese, mild Swiss, cheddar, or American
• Mushrooms, button/white or of your choice
• Maple syrup
• Mixed greens
• ¼ cup hazelnut oil
• 2 tbsp white balsamic vinegar, preferable raspberry flavoured, if not add splash of fruit juice
• Few shakes onion powder
• Few dashes dried parsley
• Few dashed dried basil
• Salt and pepper 

Tools 

• 1 large mixing bowl
• 2 large frying pans
• Blender
• Whisk or fork

Start by slicing your bread into thick pieces.

 

 

Add eggs, milk, cinnamon, and nutmeg to mixing bowl and whisk.

 

 

Add bread to bowl and allow to soak while you prepare the rest. Flip bread a couple of times while soaking.

Clean mushrooms and slice.

Add mushrooms to pan along with about a 1/4 cup of water and begin to cook on med/high heat. Adding water gets to mushrooms cooking and allows them to release their fluid easier. Season with salt and pepper and a few dashed onion powder. Mushrooms will shrink in size and darken, approx 7-10 minutes.

To make the dressing, add to blender: hazelnut oil, balsamic, few shakes onion powder, dried parsely, basil, and salt and pepper to taste. 

Blend. Taste. Adjust if necessary.

Add a little butter to your frying pan and begin cooking french toast. About 5-7 minutes each side on med/high heat or until golden brown.

Once your breach is crispy on one side- flip, and top cooked side with ham, mushrooms and cheez. Allow bread to finish cooking.

In a ziplock bag add mixed greens and about 1 and 1/2 tsp of dressing to bag (or to liking but in my opinion less is more) and shake. This is my favorite way to dress salad. **Some sliced fruit or berries would go great with this salad, but I didnt have any.

Pour a generously sized pool of maple syrup on plate and place french toast on top so it’s sitting in it. Top with few shakes dried parsely and course salt. Plate salad, and viola! A yummy savory and sweet dish!

Mini Burgers with Leeks, Goat Cheez, and Carrot Fries: with Photos

These little burgers really fill you up. Plus, they look cute.  The carrot fries are definitely winners. Tasty side without all the bad fat.

Ingredients

Burgers

• Ground beef or sirloin (per lb.)
• 1 tbsp worcestershire
• 1 tsp chopped garlic, fresh or jarred
• few shakes onion powder
• 1 small shake chili powder

Carrots

• Carrots, preferably organic
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tsp dried parsley
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• few shakes onion powder
• salt and pepper

Leeks

• 1 leek stalk
• 1 tsp butter
• 1 1/2 tbsp worcestershire

Rest

• Goat cheez
• Small rolls

Tools

• Frying pan
• Griddle, or another frying pan
• Baking dish
• med/lg bowl
• lg ziplock bag

Ok, first quarter your carrots length wise. **Be very careful. I’m right handed and the easiest way for me to do this is cut them in half, starting at the middle and pulling right, then flipping it around and finishing the remaining side. Same process for quarters.

Put carrots in ziplock bag and add ingredients.

Seal the bag, trying to keep a lot of air in it. Shake. Set aside.

Cut leek into small slices.

Fill a bowl with cold water, add leeks and seperate. Dirt will fall to bottom of bowl; scoop leeks off top and place on a couple paper towels. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Add ground beef and ingredients to bowl, and mix with hands. Ewww. Form into little burgers and put in fridge.

Put carrots in baking dish and stick in oven. Cook for about 15-20 minutes.

Add leeks and ingredients to frying pan, and cook on med heat.

Cook these till mildly wilted and darkened. Turn off stove top.  **If these cool too much before serving, heating them on med/hi for less than a minute will do.

Turn griddle to med/hi and begin to cook burgers. About 5 minutes each side.

Once 2nd side has been cooking for 5 minutes, poke center with prong, or sharp knife. If the liquid that comes out is too pink, let cook a little longer.  Judge how cooked the meat is by this liquid.

Toast rolls and plate, adding goat cheez to top roll. Assemble burgers, carrots, yum..

Seared Tuna Steak, Mixed Greens, and Lemon Mint Dressing: with Photos

This is a really fresh, tasty and totally healthy salad.  Nice and summery, but great in any season.

My major tip for this meal would be to start talking to the people that work at the seafood counter. I ask them stuff all the time because a lot of the things they have look pretty intimidating.  If you don’t know how to cook scallops, or crab legs, or whatever, the fish monger will be able to help.

Also, I encourage you to tweak things.  The only times I actually measure is when baking.  Other than that I eye it out, guess, taste test, and adjust.

Ingredients

Dressing

• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/3 cup lemon juice
• about 10-15 mint leaves
• 1 tbsp small capers
• 5 shakes worcestershire
• 1 tbsp juice from olive jar
• 1 dash ginger
• 5 dashes chili powder
• pepper, to taste

Tuna Marinade

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• few shakes dried parsley
• 1 chopped garlic clove, or 1 tsp jarred
• few shakes lemon pepper

Rest

• Tuna steaks, ahi, sushi grade, 1/person
• Mixed greens, judge per person
• 1 tomato, diced
• 1 large, or 2 small, orange bell peppers, thinly sliced
• Palmful of olives, roughly chopped

Tools

• Griddle, or frying pan
• Blender

Mix together the ingredients for the marinade and coat tuna. Place in fridge while you make the rest of the meal.

 

Slice and chop your veggies.

 

An easy way to dice tomatoes is to chop off the top, and make slices straight down, not cutting all the way through.

Then do it in the other direction.

Then turn on side and chop.

Add all veggies, and mixed greens to a large ziplock bag and put in freezer to cool.

Add dressing ingredients to blender and blend.  Make sure you taste this and add more oil it it is too tart, or more lemon if too oily. If you think it can handle more mint add that too.  Make it yours. No matter how you tweak this the color of the dressing will be almost a lime to chartreuse green, and look great on the fish.

Turn your stove to med/hi, and heat griddle.  Begin to cook fish about 7 minutes each side.

Let fish rest until you are ready to flip.  Then transfer to plate or plastic cutting board.  Let sit a few minutes then slice fish.

Get out your bag of salad and pour a little of the dressing into bag. About 1/4 cup, depending on how many people you have.  Seal bag and shake about to distribute dressing and mix salad.

Plate salad, top with fish, and drizzle dressing over fish.

Yum!

Peanutbutter and Berry Smoodie: with Photos

This might sound a little weird but it really is an awesome smoothie. Breakfast. Snack. Post workout. Lots of protein and berry goodness. And like all pbjs, you can use whatever berries or fruit you want.

Ingredients

• Handful sliced strawberries
• Handful of blueberries
• 1/2 a banana
• 1 cup peanut butter, smooth
• 1 cup yogurt, strawberry or vanilla recommended
• 1 cup soy milk, or reg  milk
• and ice

Tools

• Blender

Fill up yer blender half way with ice.

Add other ingredients and top with milk.

Blend, and viola!