Friday, October 28, 2011

Airplane food and Sour apples

I like apples cooked, soft, sweet, and aromatic.  Apples are of course also wonderful when they are fresh, crisp, juicy and sour.  Depends on your preferences and mood.
One time last year I tried cooking an apple, all by itself.  Not into a cake or pie or into muffins or oatmeal.  Just an apple, on a griddle.  Then I served it on a grilled cheese sandwich.  It was a big hit with my husband, who loves apples, almost more than any other food.

I've seen apple pie recipes with cheddar cheese over the top.  Kids eat apples and cheese together for snacks. So why not make a sandwich out of it?
Tonight I'll be on a airplane and I wanted to bring a snack that would travel well, wouldn't need heating or refrigeration and wouldn't be too smelly (like tuna). Also must be kid friendly.  So I'm making apple cheddar grilled sandwiches.  It's going to be so yummy!

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Eat a Rainbow!

They say we should eat a rainbow.  So last night I made a colorful dinner.
I put a frozen salmon filet into a baking dish, along with one yam, sliced up and some frozen sugar snap peas, left over from the summer harvest.  I sliced one whole lemon and drizzled the juice over everything and threw in the chunks.  I peeled and added 5 garlic cloves.  I drizzled olive oil over the vegetables and added some lemon pepper.  Baked the whole thing for 30 minutes at 375, covered with foil.
This was a risotto package from the store that I found on half price clearance.  I added a cup of cherry tomatoes from the garden, the last of the crop.  Cooked it on the stove for 30 minutes.

My 19 month old ate everything!  It was a yummy dinner, with no added salt, no wheat or gluten, no dairy.  I am trying to cook more whole foods, clean foods.  In addition, my son has been very sick and I'm attempting to use natural remedies to heal him, so this meal was fun of lemon and garlic, both of which are good for killing bacteria and boosting your immune system.  
The trick for cooking it altogether in one dish and getting it all done at the same time, was the fact that the fish was frozen and the yam was sliced thin.  Otherwise the fish would have been dry and the yam hard after 30 minutes.  
"They" also say we Americans are eating on too large of plates, so I'm beginning to serve meals on my salad plates, as you can see in this picture.  It was plenty of food and fit just fine on the plate.  

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Leftover Pickle Juice

My Turkey burgers always end up being so dry.

I had saved the empty pickle jar with a 1/2 cup of pickle juice still in the bottom.

It was almost dinner time.

I got out a frying pan last night and put 4 thawed turkey burger patties in it.  I poured the pickle juice over it all. I cooked it on medium for about 15 minutes on each side.  The burgers were juicy and flavorful without being too salty or tangy.  Some of the juice was still in the pan when they were done being cooked, but I just drained that down the sink.  I think I'll remember this recipe the next time I am making turkey burgers in the house on the stove top.  It was so easy, used up some spare things and solved the dry meat problem.