I’ve been enjoying salmon as a healthy, baby-safe seafood option during my pregnancy. It’s lower in mercury than many other fish, and it’s rich in healthy fats and protein. Buying fish at the market can be a little intimidating - fresh or previously frozen? Farm raised or wild? Atlantic or Pacific? So I did a little research into the different varieties of salmon. Most sources of information I found agree that wild Alaskan or Pacific Salmon, and US farm-raised salmon are comparable nutritionally and safe for kids and pregnant women to eat. I’ve also had equal success purchasing both fresh and previously frozen salmon, and I haven’t found any extreme taste or texture differences between the two when cooking at home.
Salmon is a very easy fish to work with, and it doesn’t take a great deal of marinade or prep time. It has a strong but pleasant taste, so it stands up well to a variety of flavors. For this recipe, I decided to marinade the salmon in a mixture of red miso, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and rice wine vinegar. Red miso is a little stronger than white miso, so if you’re working with the latter, you may want to add a bit more. My salmon marinaded for about 2 hours, but you could leave it in for as little as 30 minutes and still have plenty of flavor. We enjoyed our salmon with stir fried brown rice with plenty of vegetables. I also added some grilled pineapple and baby bokchoy to the plate since they are such a simple, easy and delicious accompaniment to the fish. If you’re in a hurry, the salmon would also be delicious served over a simple green salad or with a side of steamed veggies.
Miso Glazed Salmon with Fried Brown Rice, Grilled Pineapple & Baby Bok Choy
4 cups cooked and cooled brown rice (leftover cold rice works great!)
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 cup shelled edamame
3 stalks green onion, diced
3 egg whites
2 tbs soy sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
8-1/2″ thick slices fresh pineapple
4 baby bok choy, halved lengthwise
Toasted sesame seeds for garnish (optional)
Instructions
With a sharp knife, gently remove the skin from the salmon filets. Mix the remaining ingredients for the salmon together in a shallow dish, and add the salmon. Let marinade for 30 minutes to 4 hours, turning once to coat both sides evenly. When ready to cook, preheat the broiler at 500 degrees F, and line a broiling pan with nonstick aluminum foil. Broil the salmon in the pan about 6 inches away from the heating element for 8 to 12 minutes, or until the fish is flaky and is nicely browned on top. If the fish browns too quickly, just move it further away from the heating element for the remaining time.
For the rice, heat the olive and sesame oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the carrots, red bell pepper, and edamame and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the egg whites and continue stirring until they just begin to scramble/set before adding te rice. Continue stirring until the rice is crispy and the veggies and eggs are mixed in thoroughly. Add the green onion and stir for an additional minute before removing from the pan from the heat. Add soy sauce and salt and pepper, to taste.
Grill the pineapple and baby bok choy on a grill pan brushed with olive oil over medium high heat or on a prepared outdoor grill for just 1 minute or two per side, or until grill marks begin to form. Salt and pepper the bok choy to taste.
Serve the salmon with the rice, pineapple, and bok choy.
It’s easy as a stay-at-home/work-at-home mama to take for granted all of the precious, wonderful moments I spend with my baby girl. Especially when we’re in the throes of the terrible 2′s, and sometimes those wonderful moments seem so fleeting when buried between toddler tantrums and the testing of boundaries. As part of my job, I spend hours watching families interact and parents struggle to get babies and kids into perfectly pressed outfits with every single hair in place while trying to keep a smile (or at least a grimace) on everyone’s face. It’s a challenge I understand all too well, and one that I was just reminded of while having our own family portraits taken a few weeks ago. At one point during our family portrait session, our photographer’s assistant turned to me after watching Audrey run and play, and sweetly said “I bet you take so many photos of her at home, she is so adorable!”
I’m embarassed to admit that no, I really don’t take enough photos of my sweet, spirited and mischievous little toddler. Because while I find her incredibly beautiful and terribly amusing, I get caught up in the tiny details - the parts of our daily life that today seem flawed, but that I must realize will one day be worth remembering because they are what make our life so perfectly real. Her socks don’t match, her hair hasn’t been brushed, her bathing suit is faded, there’s chocolate on her nose, there are toys scattered across the room. These are the perfectly imperfect moments that are truly worth photographing. Worth remembering.
And so I pledge to stop waiting for that perfect moment on that perfect day when my house is immaculate and my Mini is impeccably dressed. To stop making excuses for not getting in front of the camera every now and then, no matter how my hair looks or how many Oreos I “accidentally” ate last week. To not hesitate to press the shutter button because I didn’t have time to perfectly compose a shot in a perfectly lit room. I pledge to live a life full of love and laughter and perfectly imperfect moments that are worth remembering - a life worth photographing.
Zucchini is one of my favorite summer vegetables, and I went a little crazy at the farmer’s market this week when I saw how delicious they looked now that they are in season. We usually enjoy it sauteed with just a little olive oil and garlic or baked in whole wheat quick bread, but I wanted to do something a little different. While I originally intended to stuff chicken breasts with this sundried tomato feta cream sauce, I instead decided to use it as a filling for the zucchini. I spread a thin layer of the sauce inside each zucchini boat, followed by a fluffy quinoa and black bean stuffing. After tasting these amazing stuffed zucchini, I knew I had made the right choice. The sundried tomato feta cream turns this tasty but otherwise fairly ordinary side dish into something really special. We enjoyed these as a side dish for dinner, and I happily made a meal out of the leftovers for lunch the next day. The complex carbs, protein, and fiber in this dish make it an awesome healthy side dish or main course option for vegetarians.
Black Bean & Quinoa Stuffed Zucchini with Sundried Tomato Feta Cream
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons plain, nonfat Greek yogurt
8 fresh basil leaves, finely sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ cup sundried tomatoes in olive oil, drained and patted dry
the juice of half a lemon
3 large zucchini
1 tbs olive oil
1 yellow bell pepper; stemmed, seeded and diced
¼ cup diced yellow onion
½ cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup cooked quinoa
2 tbs fat free chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt and pepper, to taste
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
In a food processor, combine the feta cheese, ¼ cup of the Greek yogurt, 4 basil leaves, 1 clove of garlic, half of the sundried tomatoes, and the juice of half a lemon. Process until smooth. It should be a thick but spreadable consistency at this point.
Wash and pat the zucchini dry. Slice them in half lengthwise and horizontally. You should have 12 pieces of zucchini. Use a spoon to scrape the seeds and some of the meat out of each zucchini quarter, leaving a little zucchini “boat” that you can stuff with filling and cheese. Spread about half a tablespoon of the feta cheese in each zucchini boat. Combine the remaining two tablespoons of yogurt with any remaining feta mixture and process until smooth - this will be used as a sauce to drizzle over the stuffed zucchini after they bake.
In a large skillet, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Finely dice the remaining sundried tomatoes. Add the diced yellow onion bell pepper and and saute until the onion is translucent, about 5 to 7 minutes. Add the remaining clove of minced garlic and diced sundried tomatoes and saute an additional minute or two, just until fragrant. Stir in the black beans, quinoa, oregano and chicken broth. Salt and pepper to taste and mix well to combine the ingredients.
Divide the quinoa mixture evenly among the zucchini boats and pack firmly. Place the stuffed zucchini boats in a shallow baking dish. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender but still crisp. Remove from the oven and let cool for 5 to 10 minutes in the pan before serving with the feta yogurt sauce.
I recently started making my own homemade seasoning mixes for salad dressings and dips, soups, and chili. Maybe the control freak in my is taking over, but I like having a say in what goes into my family’s meals. While prepackaged seasoning blends are convenient, it’s incredibly easy and even more delicious to make your own. I use this simple spice blend to season meat for chili and tacos. I keep the amount of cayenne pepper to a minimum to keep it kid friendly since it’s so easy to spice up individual portions or just add an extra dash of pepper when I want to make a spicier batch of chili. When making chili, I add about a tablespoon of flour per pound of meat to thicken the consistency. I’ve included my super quick, four-ingredient chili recipe in the notes - it’s perfect for busy weeknights!
Combine ingredients in an airtight container and mix well. Keep sealed in a cool, dry place for up to 6 months. Makes approximately 1⅓ cups of seasoning mix, or enough for about 15 pounds of ground meat.
For tacos, brown ground beef or poultry in a skillet over medium heat until no longer pink. Drain and stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of seasoning mix plus ¼ cup water per pound of ground meat to the pan. Cover and let simmer for 5 minutes before serving.
For chili, use 1 to 2 tablespoons of seasoning mix plus 1 tablespoon of flour per pound of ground meat. For quick, weeknight chili, brown 1 pound ground beef or poultry in a skillet over medium heat. Sprinkle in seasoning mix and flour and stir to combine. Add 1-14.5 oz can of diced tomatoes and 1-14.5 oz can of kidney or black beans (undrained). Cover and let simmer for 12 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Make 4 servings.
I hope everyone had an awesome Mother’s Day weekend! The Hubs and Mini were so very good to me this year, and I had a relaxing weekend with lots of beach and family time, delicious meals, and plenty of help around the house. After several weeks without a real day off or time to ourselves, we enjoyed having so much stress-free time together. The Hubs grilled an amazing Mother’s Day dinner for me last night, inspired by some of the recipes he’s found over at ThugKitchen.com. (Not a recipe blog for the easily offended - be warned that it contains some pretty strong language!) It was our first time grilling romaine hearts, which ended up being my favorite part of the meal. Who would’ve thought that lettuce would steal the show? I’ll have to post some of the recipes he used later this week after we recreate some of our favorites. In the meantime, this was my quick, 30-minute dinner I threw together Friday night while the Hubs had a late flight:
This simple, sesame noodle salad is so easy and delicious. It can be enjoyed warm when it’s first prepared, or you can let it chill overnight in the fridge and serve it cold. It’s great both ways, and it’s a nice change of pace from the usual pasta salads with mayo or vinaigrette dressings. The crunchy veggies, toasted sesame seeds, and spicy-sweet dressing give this dish so much flavor without a ton of fat and calories. I used whole wheat thin spaghetti noodles because they were all I had on hand, but you can use any long and thin noodles you prefer. You can also add some diced, cooked chicken breasts to the salad if you’re serving it as a main course. You may have to visit a specialty Asian grocery store for the sesame oil and seeds, but I’ve had good luck finding both where I usually shop - don’t leave them out because they both give the dish a unique rich and nutty flavor!
12 oz. package thin noodles (I used whole wheat thin spaghetti)
¼ cup low sodium soy sauce or tamarind sauce
1½ tbs raw honey
¼ cup sesame oil
2 tbs olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs minced grated, fresh ginger
2 tbs water
½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
2 tbs toasted sesame seeds
Instructions
Prepare the vegetables. Finely dice the green onion, peel and julienne the carrots, and clean and slice the red bell pepper into very thin strips. Remove the outer leaves of the bokchoy, trim off the tough end of the stem, and cut in half lengthwise. Finely slice one half of the cabbage into thin pieces, horizontally across the leaves. Add shredded veggies to a large mixing bowl.
Prepare the noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain and add to the veggie mixture.
While the noodles are boiling, prepare the sauce by whisking together the remaining ingredients in a small bowl until well combined. Add to the veggies and noodles and toss well to mix veggies and noodles together distribute the sauce evenly. Serve immediately or chill until ready to serve cold. Garnish with additional diced green onion and sesame seeds if desired.
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Zucchini is one of my favorite summer vegetables, and I went a little crazy at the farmer’s market this week when I saw how delicious they looked now that they are in season. We usually enjoy it sauteed with just a little olive oil and garlic or baked in whole wheat quick bread, but I wanted to do something a little different. While I originally intended to stuff chicken breasts with this sundried tomato feta cream sauce, I instead decided to use it as a filling for the zucchini. I spread a thin layer of the sauce inside each zucchini boat, followed by a fluffy quinoa and black bean stuffing. After tasting these amazing stuffed zucchini, I knew I had made the right choice. The sundried tomato feta cream turns this tasty but otherwise fairly ordinary side dish into something really special. We enjoyed these as a side dish for dinner, and I happily made a meal out of the leftovers for lunch the next day. The complex carbs, protein, and fiber in this dish make it an awesome healthy side dish or main course option for vegetarians..jpg)
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