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Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

March 5, 2012 By 1 Comment

That’s what my son said after his first bite of this.  Truth be told, cod is not my favorite fish, but my husband loves it and apparently so does my son.  I’m really proud of the way we’ve been able to incorporate so much fish into our diets.  But when it’s this fresh and the ingredients are so yummy, it’s really not that hard. Here’s what I did.

  • 1 enormous onion, sliced
  • 8 cubanelle peppers, chopped
  • 5 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 small jar of capers
  • 1/4 c. red wine vinegar
  • 1 large tomato, chopped
  • salt
  • pepper
  • 2 lbs. cod
  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Heat a large non stick pan on med/high heat. Add one tablespoon olive oil, swirl and add the onions. Let them cook, not stirring too often, until they get a bit of brown on them.

oh my cod 6 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

I find that if I slice my onion first.  I can chop the other veggies while the onions are cooking.  They do take a bit of time when you let them cook low and slow, which is the best way to get them brown and super sweet.

oh my cod 5 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

When the onions are slightly browned, add the peppers and let them cook until they’re softened, add the garlic, let cook for an additional minute until it’s very fragrant, then add the tomato, vinegar, capers, a big pinch of salt and a couple of grinds of pepper. Allow to cook for another two to three minutes.

oh my cod 4 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

Transfer to a bowl and set aside.

with a paper towel, pat down your fish to remove excess moisture, add another tablespoon of oil to the pan and when it’s hot, add your fish.  Mine still had a ton of moisture.  I thought that I would brown the fish slightly, but there was so much moisture, that it really didn’t happen. Cook for about 3 minutes on one side then flip.

oh my cod 3 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

Add the vegetables back in and allow the fish to poach until it’s cooked through and flakes easily.

oh my cod 2 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)

Plate and serve.

The  combination of the ever so slightly spicy peppers, sweet onion, juicy tomato, the briny salt taste of the capers and the tart vinegar make for a wonderful combination of flavors. Just delicious.

oh my cod 1 Oh My Cod. (easy recipe!)



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Filed Under: All, Fish, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , ,

How to Help Your Kids Eat More Fruit and Vegetables

March 1, 2012 By 2 Comments

Today, I’m proud to bring you a guest post from my lovely new friend, Jeanette!

Jeanette Flaaterud is a Wild Woman, Green Goddess, attached mum and free soul, dedicated to helping women live a more natural life and reconnect with nature and themselves. Visit her blog at Unbinding the Wild Woman within.

jeanette 300x261 How to Help Your Kids Eat More Fruit and Vegetables

You’ve probably been there a number of times. You have all the best intentions, happily strolling along the fruit aisles in the grocery store, gathering all the red, orange and green wonders of nature, and you feel so proud of yourself when you get home. Then, you figure it will be best to place all this loveliness in a cool and dark place until you have time to cut and serve them – and by the time you remember, they are well on their way to growing a green fur. You have completely forgotten all about them. But if you had sliced and diced the fruit and vegetables right away, or just put them out in a few bowls here and there, the chances of you actually eating them would be a lot better.

And it’s the same thing with your kids. They want what they can see and what’s available to them – so why don’t you make sure you place some natural loveliness in the form of vegetables and fruits in strategic places around the house? Don’t worry about if it’s not completely conventional to place a fruit bowl in your daughter’s doll house. She’ll probably love it, and if she actually starts playing with her food, it’s a really good sign. As she tells her dolls that this is yummy and healthy, she’s actually teaching herself the same thing, making it a part of her nutritional knowledge – which is exactly what you want.

Playing with Your Food

This is something you should start doing, too, especially if we’re talking about fruit and vegetables. It makes it so much more fun for both you and the children! Bring them along and make all kinds of fun experiments – maybe you can find out why the apple gets brown if you slice it up? What happens if you rub lemon juice on it first, will it become just as brown then? Maybe you can compare? Scientific play makes your children aware of the fact that fruit and vegetables actually are living things, and not something that’s made in a factory and placed in the grocery shelves.

Another way of playing with your food is to bring the kids along when you cook. Be creative! Together you can make a tropical island of a half rutabaga, celery palms and broccoli bushes. Or how about a smiley face on a plate with a sliced tomato as eyes, a banana smile, strawberry nose or maybe even a curled parsley hairdo? The possibilities have no limit! Remember to take pictures and write down all your brilliant ideas and maybe you’ll end up with a completely unique family recipe book.

Attitude Check of Self

The most important thing of all is to make sure you have a great attitude yourself. It’s futile to pass on something you don’t have, so it may be a good idea to dive deep into your own beliefs and feelings about eating healthily before you even try telling your kids what’s good for them or not. They watch and they learn from you – and if you’re prone to carb addiction and consistently choose candy over carrots, you have a real problem on your hands. Eat fruits and vegetables in front of the children as often as you can, and make sure to express enjoyment in doing so.

Be extra aware of how you portrait candy and soda to them. Do you make it sound like they are better than fruit, vegetables and water? If you do, you will undermine everything you’ve worked for. What does your face look like, and what do you sound like, when you take those first potato chips bites or drink that first glass of Coke? Make sure you do the exact same thing when you eat healthy foods – nothing can give you away like your own body language can!

It’s also a great idea to serve some fruit and vegetables alongside the candy and the potato chips if it’s a family night or a party and you can’t ditch the junk completely. By and by, this will convince your children that fruit and vegetables are something that belongs in the realm of celebrations as well, to truly be enjoyed.

 



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Filed Under: Healthy, Recipes Tagged With: ,

More Red Snapper with Sweated Onions and Bok Choy

February 28, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Remember the Mustard Roasted Snapper?  Well, I got more of that beautiful fish and try as I might to make something different, that gorgeous mustard sauce with the little crunch of shallot was just screaming my name. I had some baby bok choy and some beautiful farm fresh spring onions so I thought I’d combine them. During cooking, everything that can go wrong, did go wrong, but in the end it was still delicious.

Follow the recipe for the mustard sauce, cover and set aside.

Slice 4 large onions thinly into rounds.  Heat a large dutch oven on med. heat – add 1 tablespoon olive oil and 1/2 tablespoon butter in the pan and when it’s hot, add the onions and a big pinch of salt and begin to sweat.  My idea was to caramelize the onions, but there was so much moisture in them, that they were just never going to get brown. I decided that we love soft onions and moved on.

onion bok choy 3 More Red Snapper with Sweated Onions and Bok Choy

While the onion was cooking, I cleaned and chopped the bok choy.  Preheat the oven to 425 and prepare the snapper.  The last time I made this, my husband felt that there was too much sauce and it didn’t let the fish flavor shine through.  I disagreed completely, but decided to try it his way.  I brushed the fish lightly with the sauce, careful not to cross contaminate, and set the rest aside for spooning over the meal.

I put the fish in the oven and this wound up cooking for almost 25 minutes until it was cooked through.  I usually only cook snapper for 10-12 minutes, so make sure to check yours.  When it’s white and flakey it’s done.

When you put the snapper in the oven, add the bok choy to the onion.  Toss and cook for a minute or two and then shut off the flame.

onion bok choy 2 More Red Snapper with Sweated Onions and Bok Choy

If the fish takes longer than expected, you can always cover the veggies to keep them hot.

onion bok choy 1 More Red Snapper with Sweated Onions and Bok Choy

Pile your plate with onion and bok choy, lay a piece of fish on top and serve.  I love this mustard sauce and contend that I like it better smothered, but my husband prefers it this way.

Let me know what you think. Which way do you prefer it?



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Fish, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , ,

Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

February 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Call it Mockaroni and Cheese, or Macaphony and Cheese, but whatever you call it, this stuff was awe.some.

I had a terrible craving for some sort of pasta and cheesy sauce, or alfredo sauce, or something with a bite and some cream.  However, I’m doing the low carb thing and I’m starting to realize just how carb intolerant I actually am. So, what’s a girl to do? Come up with something that will satisfy all those cravings!  And while I wouldn’t call this “health food”, it is low carb and there are lots of great nutrients in a bunch of the ingredients.

I made a couple of mistakes while making this, but I’m going to list the ingredients and steps the way they should have been done, so if my photos don’t seem to match exactly what I’m talking about, please forgive me and know that in the end it will be fantastic! Just as a head’s up, I forgot to add the tomatoes, so they’re what’s missing in the pictures. I remedied that in the end and you’ll see that in the last pictures. Here’s what I did:

  • Three heads of cauliflower cut into florets
  • 1 med onion, chopped
  • 7 cloves of garlic, chopped, divided
  • 1 lb. spinach
  • 5 med. tomatoes
  • 1 lb. ground pork (I’m thrilled to have access to local, chemical free pork and it’s amazing!)
  • 3 cups of heavy cream (I think next time I’d only use two, maybe two and a half)
  • 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar
  • about 4 tablespoons whole grain mustard
  • about 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • salt
  • half tablespoon each of cayenne pepper, chili powder and cumin
  • olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Lay the cauliflower florets out on a sheet pan, drizzle with olive oil, a big pinch of salt and toss to coat.  Cook for 30 minutes, or until golden. Remove and set aside.

macaphony and cheese 5 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

meanwhile, chop your onion and garlic (take a moment to admire this gorgeous, chemical free onion… Isn’t it sexy?)

macaphony and cheese 9a Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

heat a large saute pan on med/high heat, add about a tablespoon of olive oil and when it ribbons, add the onion, half of the garlic, cayenne, chili powder and cumin and saute until the onion is translucent.

macaphony and cheese 8 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

Admire my gorgeous, local bred, local fed, chemical free pork… freshly ground, just a couple of days ago.

macaphony and cheese 9 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

Add the pork to the onion and garlic and brown

macaphony and cheese 7 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

When it’s cooked through, transfer to a heat safe bowl (I love my Pyrex bowls), cover with foil and set aside.

In a large pot with a lid, heat about a tablespoon of olive oil.  When it ribbons, add the rest of the garlic, and saute for a minute or so.  Add the spinach and  saute for a minute.  Add about 1/3 cup of water and cover to steam.

macaphony and cheese 6 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

When it’s wilted, transfer to the bowl with the pork, recover and set aside.

Add the cream to the pot that you cooked the spinach in, then add the cream cheese, mustard, and Worcestershire and whisk until everything is melted and combined.  Add the cheddar cheese a little at a time and whisk to combine.

macaphony and cheese 4 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

When the sauce is smooth, add the cauliflower, spinach and pork to the sauce and toss to coat everything.

macaphony and cheese 3 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

Pour the mixture into a large baking dish and cook for 20 minutes at 400 degrees, until everything is bubbly.

macaphony and cheese 2 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

Ok, so here’s where I made the mistake.  This was delicious, but I had always intended to add tomatoes to it. I completely forgot to do that and when this came out of the oven it was really good. However, I knew it would be better with tomato, so I chopped the tomatoes, added them to the mixture and put it back in the oven at 400 for another 20 minutes.

macaphony and cheese 1 Cauliflower, Spinach, Pork and Tomato in a Spicy, Cheesy Sauce

I think that using only 2-2.5 cups of cream and adding the tomatoes before the first  bake would be perfect.   In the end I was glad that I had used 3 cups of cream, because baking twice might have really dried it out.  This truly satiated my craving for pasta – I promise!  Let me know if you make this and how it worked for you.

Serves 6, possibly 8-10 if you serve a salad along side.



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Filed Under: All, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , , , ,

Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

February 15, 2012 By 2 Comments

Trying to eat low carb can really be a challenge when you’re a die hard pasta freak, but it helps to keep things interesting with fresh vegetables tossed with delightful sauces.  This one is super fast and easy and it tasted like you’re doing something bad.

  • six boneless skinless chicken breasts
  • three heads of broccoli, florets only
  • 6 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 large shallot minced
  • dijon mustard
  • whole grain mustard
  • 1/2 cup white balsamic vinegar
  • 1 tablespoon butter
  • Extra virgin olive oil
  • safflower oil

Preheat the oven to 400 – heat a saute pan on medium heat.  Add about a tablespoon of safflower oil and when it ribbons, add the chicken, breast side down.  Allow to cook for a few minutes, until you’ve got a golden brown crust of sorts. Flip and do the same on the other side.  Do this in batches if necessary, don’t overcrowd the pan.

roast chicken broccoli shallot sauce 4 Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

Meanwhile, on a sheetpan, place the broccoli florets, the chopped garlic a big pinch of salt and a big glub of olive oil onto the pan.  Using clean hands, toss the broccoli, garlic, salt and oil.  Set aside.

When the chicken has been browned on both sides, put the breasts on a foil lined baking sheet and put the chicken and the broccoli in the oven.  Set your time for 20 minutes.

When there’s about 5 minutes left, heat your saute pan back up.  When it’s hot, add the shallots and saute for a minute or two until softened.

roast chicken broccoli shallot sauce 2 Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

Add the white balsamic vinegar and cook and scrape the bits off the bottom of the pan.  When the vinegar reduces slightly, add a big spoonful of the dijon mustard, a big spoonful of the whole grain mustard and the butter

roast chicken broccoli shallot sauce 5 Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

Whisk until it combines, then take  the pan off the heat

Take the broccoli and the chicken out of the oven

roast chicken broccoli shallot sauce 3 Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

Plate a piece of chicken and a generous serving of broccoli and then spoon the sauce over everything.

roast chicken broccoli shallot sauce 1 Roasted Chicken Breast and Broccoli with a White Balsamic Mustard Sauce

Tangy and sweet with the earthy broccoli and the almost crusted chicken.  You can’t believe this is low carb and ready in less than 40 minutes, including prep time!

Serves six.

 



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Filed Under: All, Easy Dinner, Healthy, Lowcarb, Recipes Tagged With: , , , , , ,

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