Pesto Bruschetta Salmon

Who DOESN'T love pesto?  The basil, the olive oil, the garlic...omnomnom.  And Pesto goes so well on so many different things...like salmon!  I mixed diced tomato, onion, and oregano into my pesto to make a bruschetta style sauce with a big of crunch and extra kick to pair with the mild salmon flavors.  

The Meat

- 2-3 fillets of sock eye salmon

- salt, pepper, dill to taste

The Veggies

- 2 yellow potatoes, sliced

- 1 cup green beans, tips trimmed

- 1 cup spinach, raw

- 1 cup water

- 1 tablespoon bacon grease

- salt, pepper to taste

The Sauce

 - 1 (packed) cup of basil

- 3 cloves garlic

- 1 tablespoon toasted pine nuts

- 1/4 cup olive oil

- 1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese

- lemon juice to taste

- 1 small slicing tomato, diced

- 1/2 onion, diced

To prepare the veggies, I boiled them all together with the water and bacon grease, seasoning lightly.  I cooked everything on high heat in a medium sized pan for around 15-20 minutes until most of the water had boiled away and the potatoes were soft.  

I cooked the salmon fillets on high heat with my griddle pan, flipping every 4 minutes or so until the salmon was opaque and flaky, around 8-12 minutes depending on the size of your fillets.  I seasoned them lightly, and when time to serve smothered the fish with my sauce. 

In a blender or food processor, I blended together my basil, garlic, pine nuts, olive oil, lemon juice, and parmesan cheese, pulsing and scraping down large chunks to make sure everything was smooth and consistent.  I tossed in the tomato and onion with a spoon.  

*If you don't want to go about the business of making you own pesto, I won't judge you if you buy pre-made pesto from the store.  

This meal is easy to make, slightly less easy to clean up (due to the blender), and all over delicious.

Butterfish with Baked Crab

Another wowing meal to serve when friends come over!

The Meat

- 4 fillets butterfish

- salt, pepper to taste

- 1 tablespoon butter for frying

- 6 ounces of crab meat (although fresh is best!)

- 1 tablespoon Greek yogurt

- 8-10 pieces of Port Salut cheese

- 1 stalk celery, diced

- 1/2 a scallion, minced

- 1/2 teaspoon of horseradish

- salt, pepper, savory, marjoram, paprika to taste

The Veggies

- 3 sweet potatoes, chopped in large pieces

- 1 cup green beans, ends trimmed

- 1/2 cup water

- 1 tablespoon olive oil

- salt, savory to taste

- 1 pound spinach

- 1/2 cup water

- 8-10 cloves of garlic, chopped

- 2 tablespoons butter

- lemon juice, salt, pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 380 degrees.

To begin this meal, peel the sweet potatoes and trim the green beans.  Place the veggies in a glass baking dish and sprinkle them with the salt and savory spice.  Brush everything with the olive oil and pour the water into the pan to keep the veggies from drying out.  Put the baking dish into the oven and let them cook for 40 minutes.

Next, make the crab melt.  Drain the crab and place it in a mixing bowl.  Add the diced celery, minced scallion, horseradish, and spices.  Mix in the Greek yogurt and toss in the Port Salut cheese.  Blend everything together with a fork and set aside - I warmed this in a pan until the cheese got all gooey and melted the whole mixture together into a delicious melt-style lump.

Warm the griddle pan and melt the tablespoon of butter for the butterfish.  Season both sides of your fish fillets and let them cook on medium heat, flipping every 2-3 minutes until the fish is white, opaque, and flaky.  

In another small pan, melt the rest of the butter and saute the chopped garlic, stirring occasionally, for around 5 minutes.  Set it aside to toss with the spinach - which you can put in a large pan with the water, lemon juice, pepper, and salt, and wilt on low heat.  When the spinach is wilted and dark green (don't let it go brown), drain it and toss it with the butter and garlic.  

While your spinach is wilting, you should use your fourth burner to heat up the crab mixture with some medium-low heat and turn it into a crab melt.  Use a spatula to flip the gooey awesomeness after 3-4 minutes, and after 8 minutes or so it should be ready to layer on top of the fish.  Plate everything and serve with some white wine!

Roasted and Stuffed Chicken

This meal is doubly good.  Make sure to get boneless chicken breasts that still have the skin so you can create this meal properly.  Instead of stuffing the meat, which would require slitting the chicken breasts, this time around I stuffed all the goodies in between the skin and the chicken.  As it all roasted in the oven the juices from the cheese, tomatoes, and bacon ran down and soaked through the meat, making it completely moist and flavorful.  My husband loves crispy roasted chicken skin, so cutting open his meal and finding all the fun, baconful surprises inside was an extra win for him. :)

The Meat

- 2 boneless, skin-on chicken breasts

- 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

- 2 slices of bacon, cooked and crumbled

- 2 tablespoons of olive oil

- parmesan cheese, dill, basil, garlic salt, pepper, marjoram to taste

The Veggies

- 1 large zucchini squash, cut into large pieces

- 1 cup green beans, trimmed and cut

- 1 cup broccoli

- 1 cup water

- 1 tablespoon of olive oil

- salt, pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 385 degrees.

Fry up your bacon in a griddle pan using high heat, and turn them once after 2-3 minutes.  While the bacon cooks and then cools, chop your veggies and set them aside to cook later.  Once the bacon is cool enough to touch, crumble it into bits.  Take the bacon, parmesan cheese, and the sliced cherry tomatoes over to your chicken, and make little piles of each.  Setting up your station like this will make it easier to contain your mess, and keep you from spreading too many germs from touching the raw chicken.

Gently separate the chicken skin from the center of the chicken breast with your fingers.  You wan to have a little flap so you can stick stuff in it.  Put in equal amounts of the tomatoes, bacon, and cheese.  I did the cheese first, laying it flat against the meat, and then mixed in the bacon and tomatoes.  Take the extra cherry tomatoes and sprinkle them all around the chicken in your baking dish.  Drizzle the olive oil over everything and season liberally.   Pop the dish into the oven and bake it for 40 minutes or until the juices run clear when you cut into the meat.  

When the chicken is around halfway cooked, dump the veggies in the water and olive oil in a medium sized pan and cook them with high heat, around 20 minutes.  When they are done, season them with some salt and pepper.

Put the veggies on the plate first, and then layer the chicken on top.  Drizzle any pan drippings and the baked tomatoes over the top of everything.  Enjoy. 

Buttery Marsala Cream Chicken

This dinner was sooo good!  While it took some time to cook, it was easy to prepare and we gorged on the creamy Masala wine sauce.  I chose to make this sauce because I had some leftover cream from this weekend when I made cupcakes.  The figs made the sauce naturally sweet and tapioca starch thickened it up yet kept the meal gluten free.  

The Meat

- 2 chicken legs and thighs, meat removed in chunks

- thyme, rosemary, bay, coriander seed, salt, pepper, dill, crushed red pepper to taste

The Sauce

- 1 cup heavy cream

- 3 tablespoons butter

- 1/2 cup Masala wine

- 4-6 fresh figs, chopped into pieces

- 2 tablespoons tapioca starch (to thicken the sauce)

The Veggies

- 1 turnip, cubed

- 1 cup green beans, tips trimmed and beans cut

- 1/2 small eggplant, sliced into quarters

- salt, pepper to taste

- bacon grease for frying

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

Debone the chicken and layer it in the bottom of you baking pan.  Add the chopped figs and season everything well.  Mix together the other sauce ingredients and pour it all over the chicken.  Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  

In a 3" deep pot, cover and boil the turnips and snipped green beans for around 25 minutes.  While they are cooking, grease your saute pan and cook the eggplant slices until they are soft on each side.  Use a wooden spoon to keep the eggplant moving in the pan, and re-grease as necessary to keep the eggplant from burning or drying out.  When the turnip and green beans are done, I tossed them together with the eggplant and seasoned all of them together. 

I layered the veggies on the bottom of the plates and poured the chicken and sauce all over the top.  Serve this dish with a spoon - you'll want to savor every last drop of the delicious, creamy sauce!

Pork Cutlets With Milk Gravy

Pork cutlets taste good.  You can make them with almost any kind of sauce and they will still taste good.  Despite being thin, they are juicy and flavorful if you don't overcook them.  I seared them on my griddle pan then simmered them in milk with bouillon and mushrooms.  I paired the pork with a great vegetable medley.

The Meat

- 6 slices of thin cut pork cutlets

- 1 teaspoon bacon grease

- salt, pepper, marjoram, basil, thyme to taste

The Vegetables

- 1 yellow heirloom carrot, sliced

- 1 orange heirloom carrot, sliced

- 1/2 red onion, sliced

- 1/2 cup green beans, cut

- 2 golden beets, cubed

- 1 cup fresh spinach

- 1 cup water plus 1/4 cup water

- salt, pepper, to taste

The Sauce

- 3/4 cup of milk

- 2 teaspoons beef bouillon

- 3 mushrooms, sliced

- 1 tablespoon butter

- pan drippings

- salt, pepper, marjoram to taste

This is a pretty straightforward dinner.  First I boiled the beets, green beans, and carrots for 20 minutes on high heat, then lowered the heat and added the extra water, red onion, and spinach. 

I sauteed up the mushrooms with the butter for a quick minute then added the milk and bouillon, stirring regularly to ensure everything mixed together thoroughly.  I added the seasonings and simmered for 15 minutes, then tossed in the drippings after the meat was cooked.  

I cooked the meat on my griddle pan for a few minutes on each side and then let them simmer in the gravy for a minute or two each before serving them.  I tossed the rest of the gravy through the veggies for some extra flavorings and served everything together. 

Honey Pecan Roasted Chicken Delight!

Oh my goodness, this chicken is delicious.  It is gooey, sweet, crunchy, and the chicken is moist and tender.  You could alternatively use chicken breasts if you didn't want to deal with the bones in the legs and thighs.

The Meat

- 2 bone-in chicken legs & thighs

- 2 1/2 tablespoons butter

- 1/4 cup honey

- 1/3 cup pecans, chopped

- sea salt to taste

The Veggies

- 1 cup fresh green beans, ends cut

- 1 cup water

- salt to taste

- 1 zucchini squash

- 1/4 cup red onion, largely sliced

- 3 mushrooms, sliced

- 1 teaspoon butter, softened

- 1 teaspoon bacon grease, softened

Preheat your oven to 420 degrees.

Place your chicken on a baking pan and sprinkle it generously with sea salt.  Split the butter into four parts.  Dot one part of butter on each piece of chicken and cook it for 25 minutes.  After 25 minutes, take the chicken out briefly and cover it with the honey, the rest of the butter, and the chopped pecans.  Pop the chicken back into the oven for 5 more minutes so the pecans are all toasty and amazing.  Omnomnomnom.

I boiled the green beans in the water for 20 minutes.  I threw in a pinch of salt and left them plain since the chicken is so good.  I drained the pot and that was it.

I brushed the veggies with some softened butter and bacon grease, then grilled the squash, onion, and mushrooms on my griddler.  I grilled them on medium for around 10 minutes, and then they were soft and wonderful.

I truly enjoyed making this meal and also eating it.  I hope you do, too.

Happiness Is Roasted Chicken

My husband LOVES roasted chicken.  And I love to make it for him.  I usually just buy the bone-in legs and thighs because we both prefer dark meat, and there is just something primally satisfying about eating meat off the bone.  

The Meat

- 2 bone-in chicken legs with thighs

- 2 tablespoons of lemon juice

- 2 teaspoons bacon grease

- 1 tablespoon butter

- rosemary, thyme, savory, dill, salt, pepper to taste

The Veggies

- 2 yellow summer squash, sliced

- 1/2 cup of green beans, ends cut off

- 1 green gypsy pepper, sliced

- 2 red heirloom carrots, diced

- 1 medium sized turnip, cubed

- 1 cup water

- 1 tablespoon butter

- 1/2 cup red wine

- dill, salt, pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

I prepped my chicken on my baking pan by lightly coating them with lemon juice and seasoning them liberally.  Then I broke up the butter into small dollops and dotted the top of the chicken with it.  I repeated the process with the bacon grease (I keep my supply of grease refrigerated so it is in a more solid state, easier to manipulate for meals like this) and dot the spaces in between the butter with the bacon grease.  The chicken goes into the oven for around 40 minutes - make sure you get your chicken up to 165 degrees internally and that the juices run clear when you cut into it, so you don't get sick from undercooked meat.  At minutes 15 and 30, open up your oven, and re-spoon the grease/butter that has dripped off the chicken back onto the skin.  This ensures you have an intensely delicious crispy outer skin. 

After dicing, slicing, and cubing all of my veggies, I throw them in a pan and add the water, butter, and wine.  I cooked my veggies on medium-low heat for around 25 minutes, until most of the water had boiled down and the green beans and turnips were soft. 

This is a relatively simple yet absolutely wonderful meal.  The chicken is cripsy on the outside and juicy within, and the wine in the veggie "broth" gives the turnips and the beans a memorable flavor.  The squash melts away in your mouth.  Yum.