Salmon with Pesto Sauce

PESTO SAUCE
(you can use store bought pesto sauce too... i have done both)
Ingredients:
Basil
Pine Nuts
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Garlic, cloves
Parmesan Cheese
Mayonaise

Directions:
Mix all ingredients in a food processor. Set Aside.

SALMON
Ingredients:
Salmon Fillets
1/4 cup olive oil
lemon juice
Italian Seasoning

1. Preheat Broiler. Rinse Salmon with Cold Water. Line baking sheet with aluminum foil. Set aside.
2. For marinade, in a large zip lock bag, combine olive oil, lemon jiuce, and Italian seasoning. Add Salmon. Massage bag to coat fish.
3. Broil Fish about 4 minutes on each side or until fish is flakey. (make sure the fish is about 5 inches away from heat... i started an oil/foil fire once! no joke.)
4. Serve salmon with pesto sauce.

REMIX!! Stef's Stuffed Tomato Salad

Here is Stef's Stuffed Tomato Salad!! It was a yummie summertime snack...and easy to make! ;)

Meatballs in Tomato Mint Sauce with Pine Nut CousCous

4 cups Bread Crumbs
1 cup Milk
1 Lb ground beef (or lamb or ground turkey)
1 egg
1/2 cup grated parmagiano-Reggiono
Salt
Black Pepper
1 pinches Ground All Spice
2 tsp Lemon Zest
4 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 small onion
3 tbls EVOO
1 28oz can crushed Italian Tomoatoes
2 cups chix stock
1/4 cup parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint springs
2 tbls butter
1 1/2 cups cous cous
3/4 cups pine nuts

1. In a mixing bowl, combine bread crumbs, meat, egg, cheese, salt, pepper, allspice, lemon zest, and 1 garlic clove. Grate 2 tbls onion onto the meat. Use your hands to combine the mixture. Then roll into balls the size of walnuts. You should have about 20 balls.

2. Heat EVOO in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the remaining garlic and grate remaining onion into EVOO. Saute Garlic and Onion for a few minutes, then stir in the tomatoes and 1/2 cup of chx stock. When the sauce bubbles, add the meatballs and simmer for 7-8 minutes. Stir in the Parsley and mint and season the sauce with salt and pepper.

3. While the meatballs cook, bring the remaining 1 1/2 cups of stock and butter to a simmer in a saucepan. Add the couscous, turn off the heat, and cover. Let the couscous stand for 5 minutes. Toast the pine nuts in a dry skillet over medium heat for three minutes or until light golden. Add the pine nuts to the couscous and fluff with a fork.

Serve the meatballs and sauce on a bed of couscous.

Bacon Wrapped Shrimp Re-MIX!

Re-Re-REMIX! Here are Amber's Bacon Wrapped Shrimp.

It was oh so deliciouso.

Hoisin Chicken & Pepper Skewers

When Marc and I lived with Kellie aka KDub and Jimmy for a couple of months, I really liked how she would take random foods she had in the fridge that were about to go bad and make something delish with it! Now, I have been trying to do the same thing :). Since, I bought some Hoisin sauce for the lettuce wraps, I decided it would also be a good marinade for some chicken and we had a few yellow peppers left. So, in honor of Labor Day yesterday, Marc and I decided to BBQ something. I seriously love when we can make something that both of us put our efforts into, it always makes the end result better tasting. Marc enjoys BBQin', it's his goal to make his food juicy and I must say he's getting it down pretty well! Here is what you'll need:

INGREDIENTS - (makes enough for 2)

2 Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts

2 tablespoons of Hoisin Sauce

1/2 of Lemon

3 to 5 yellow peppers - seeded and cubed (we had mini peppers, if using large I am sure 1 or 2 will do)

1 Tomato (make sure it's almost ripe, so it's more solid and doesn't fall apart on the skewer)

8 Skewers

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut chicken breasts into little cube cutlets or however you please. In a large mixing bowl combine the chicken and Hoisin Sauce, mix around until majority of the chicken cubes are covered. Squeeze lemon juice into bowl and stir.

2. While the chicken is marinating, soak bamboo skewers in water for one hour so they will not burn on the grill.

3. Preheat the barbecue to a high heat.

4. Cut Yellow Peppers and Tomato into cubes, leave aside until ready to skewer food.

5. Thread chicken onto skewers, and in between two chicken cubes add a cube of bell pepper, then add two more chicken cubes and a cube or two of tomatoes. (You can be creative with your threading.)

6. Drizzle remaining sauce over finished skewers for extra flava!

7. Grill skewers, turning once, over heat for 4 to 6 minutes; or until just browned and cooked through.

The end result was tasty!! For the next run I will def. marinade the meat longer, but an hour still gave the chicken a lot of flavor.

Suggested Sides:
I cut up some Avocado for something fresh and cool, and made a Wild Grain Spanish Rice by Rice-a-Roni. Oh! and some bread is always nice too! :)

Ground Turkey Lettuce Wraps

I've been seriously craving lettuce wraps, to be specific The Yard House's lettuce wraps...I just haven't had the funds to support my craving taste buds. So, I always get inspired to cook when my soon-to-be-in-laws are out of town and Marc and I have the house to ourselves. Marc just started back a school, so I really had the house all to myself one night last week and decided it would be a good night to try to make lettuce wraps. I knew I had thawed ground turkey, so on my way home from Dance Lessons, I googled "ASIAN LETTUCE WRAPS" on my wonderful IPhone and made a quick stop at the grocery store to pick up some ingredients! I happened to google this great recipe site, that I will def. continue to reference - http://www.allrecipes.com/. The specific recipe called for pork, which I substituted for Ground Turkey and it also sets you up to make white rice, I did a Sandra Lee - Semi-Homemade and bought the Uncle Ben's 90 sec. Ready Rice packs, which are AMAZING! OK, so here is what you'll need:

INGREDIENTS
4 cups water
2 cups uncooked white rice (or 1-2 Uncle Ben's Ready Rice, I like Original Long Grain)
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 pound ground turkey
1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced
1/2 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (14 ounce) package firm tofu, drained and cubed
2 carrots, shredded
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce (I picked up Hoisin - Garlic sauce - YUMMY!)
2 tablespoons soy sauce (or GF alternative)
1 teaspoon sesame oil (I eliminated this ingredient)
1/4 teaspoon hot chile paste (I used Chile Sauce - worked just as good)
1 bunch of romaine lettuce leaves, separated (Cabbage would also work!)

HOW TO:1. In a saucepan (a wok works best) combine the water and rice. Bring to a boil, cover, and reduce heat to a simmer. Simmer for 20 minutes, until water is absorbed. Set aside and keep warm. (If you end up using the Ready Rice packs, I waited about a 1 minute before I was ready to serve the lettuce wraps).

2.Heat oil in a wok over medium-high heat. Cook the ground turkey, green onions, and garlic for 5 to 7 minutes, or until lightly brown. Add the tofu, carrot, Hoisin, and soy sauce, stirring frequently until heated through. Remove from heat, and stir in the sesame oil and chile paste.

3. To serve: spoon a small amount of rice into each lettuce leaf, top with the stir-fry mixture, and drizzle with additional soy sauce or hoisin, if desired. I don't like rice in my lettuce wraps, so it was a side for my dish...but I did spoon the stir-fry mixture into the lettuce leaf. Also on the side I had a soy sauce and hoisin dipping dish.

The end result was sooo delish!!

FOOT NOTES:

Optional additional stir fry ingredients-
These may be used in place of or in addition to the tofu: chopped peanuts, peppers, shrimp, rice noodles, diced chicken, scrambled egg or bean sprouts.

This was very helpful to me, since i had NO idea what Hoisin sauce was! :)
Hoisin sauce, also called Peking sauce, is a thick, reddish-brown sauce that is sweet and spicy, and widely used in Chinese cooking. It's a mixture of soybeans, garlic, chile peppers and various spices. It can be found in the Asian or ethnic section at your local grocery store.