Baked Pesto Salmon with Tomatoes Over Arugula

Another borrowed recipe...normally I wouldn't make something that called for sliced tomatoes as a prominent ingredient this time of year. The tomatoes taste awful in the winter. However, my grocery store had an enticing mix of cherry/grape tomatoes that I couldn't pass up. Don't they look yummy????

This is another super easy and delicious recipe, courtesy of Kayln of Kayln's Kitchen. Basically three ingredients: Salmon, pesto, tomatoes. Quick to put together and not a lot of clean up. Thanks, Kayln for the wonderful recipe!

I think it would be great in the summer to do on the grill. I had my very first experience with making pest tonight as well. My store had no pesto. WTF??? What grocery store has no pesto in stock??? I think it turned out well for my first try.

So this is what I did...I took a giant piece of foil, and folded it in half and sprayed the entire thing liberally with cooking spray. I place 2 wild salmon filets in the middle, topped each with a healthy tablespoon of my homemade pesto, and topped that with the colorful cherry tomatoes that I quartered. I folded the foil up into a nice, neat tightly sealed package and baked at 450 for 15 minutes. Let rest for a few minutes, then open up the package and serve.

We had this over salads with goat cheese. I made a meyer lemon vinaigrette for myself (juice of 1 lemon, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, 1 clove of garlic, chives, salt and pepper) and Norm had a bottled balsamic dressing. He isn't a fan of citrus, which I just cannot fathom = )

Grilled Chicken with Truffled Wild Mushrooms Over Whipped Cannellini Beans

Whew! That title is a mouthful....but damn if this dinner wasn't totally delicious. For real.

Perhaps I should preface this post with the fact that the next couple of recipes were lifted off of other people's blogs. Not necessarily out of laziness or lack of creativity lately, but I have so many scrumptious recipes bookmarked, I figured I had better start making some of them before my Google Reader explodes. This recipe, taken from the aptly titled blog Other People's Food. I had it starred in the reader forever, wondering when the right time would be to spring whipped white beans on the hubby. But since he's such a fan of the mashed cauliflower, I figured now would be good.

One of the best things about this meal is the whipped beans. I am already dreaming up variations with different spices and herbs to keep this in our regular rotation of side dishes. Also, it could easily turn into a vegetarian dinner - without the chicken of course. Speaking of chicken, it was prepared very simply. I seasoned chicken tenders with salt, pepper, and garlic powder and grilled on my grill pan while the beans were simmering.

Truffled Wild Mushrooms Over Whipped White Beans

(Source: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/document/575)

2 tsp. olive oil, divided

1 medium leek, white and pale green parts chopped (about 1/2 cup)

2 15-oz. cans cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1/2 cup low-sodium vegetable broth

2 cloves garlic, minced (about 2 tsp.)

2 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

1 lb. wild mushrooms, halved

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2 tsp. truffle oil

Heat 1 tsp. oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add leek and sauté 2 minutes. Stir in beans, broth, garlic and thyme. Cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer 8 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Transfer bean mixture to food processor and blend until creamy and smooth. Return to skillet, cover and keep warm.

Heat remaining 1 tsp. oil in medium skillet over high heat. Add mushrooms and sauté 8 minutes, or until soft and brown. Season with salt and pepper, and stir in parsley.

Spoon whipped bean mixture into shallow bowls. Top with equal portions of mushrooms. Drizzle each serving with 1/2 tsp. truffle oil, and serve.

PER SERVING: 299 CAL; 15G PROT; 7G TOTAL FAT (1G SAT. FAT); 46G CARB; 0MG CHOL; 691MG SOD; 17G FIBER; 2G SUGARS

Spicy Broiled Eggplant

This recipe is courtesy of my father-in-law who makes some fantastic meals! These can be really spicy - depending on the amount of cayenne you put into the spice rub. But they are quick and easy...not to mention delicious and fat-free.

The spice rub is simple: cumin, coriander, garlic salt, cayenne

Pre-heat the broiller. Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Slice the eggplant into rounds (typically i make mine around 1/4" thick). Rub spice rub onto both side of the eggplant slices. Broil until dark golden brown, flip and broil the other side. Easy as pie!

We had these with brown basmati rice with spicy shrimp. Yum!

Whole Wheat Pasta with Prosciutto, Arugula. Mozzarella & Cabernet Marinara

One of our favorite restaurants in Pgh has this absolutely mouth-watering pizza - thin crust, with marinara, fresh mozzarella, and prosciutto...topped with arugula and shaved parmesan when it comes out of the oven.

To die for. Since we've been on "the diet" we haven't been there or had the pizza in forever. Sooooo for a Valentine's weekend surprise, I bought all of the makings for the pizza with the intent to make a whole wheat crust and make my own. Plans went astray, and the dough never got made so I decided to use the ingredients and incorporate them into a pasta dish that was South Beach friendly.

Whole Wheat Pasta with Prosciutto, Arugula, Mozzerella & Cabernet Marinara
(Source: me!)

8 oz whole wheat pasta

1/2 C chopped onion

4 oz prosciutto, chopped

4 oz sliced mushrooms

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 T fresh basil

1 jar cabernet marinara (I used Muir Glen Organic)

3 cups arugula, chopped

Salt, pepper, italian seasoning

6 oz fresh mozzerella, sliced

Cook pasta according to directions on box. Saute onions, garlic, mushrooms until tender over med-high heat. Add prosciutto. Sautee a few minutes longer until fragrent. Stir in sauce and let simmer for 5 minutes. Season with salt, pepper, italian seasoning, etc to taste. Stir in arugula and let wilt. Spoon over pasta and top with cheese.

Cake Balls!

Ok so the name of these little tasty treasures makes me giggle like a school-girl. But they are fantastic! I knew I couldn't make them unless I had a reason to take them somewhere, or else I would sit on the couch popping these in my mouth one by one until they were all gone. **Sigh** No willpower.

This is also one of those recipes that is so easy, it's almost embarrassing to post. Seriously. Well...except for the dipping in chocolate part. I need to work on my dipping skills. There's endless possible varieties to try by using different cake mix/frosting/coating combos...this one is a strawberry cake with strawberry frosting dipped in dark chocolate.

Cake Balls
1 box of cake mix
1 container of frosting
Chocolate (I used Baker's dark chocolate)

Make cake according to the directions on the box. While it's still hot, crumble into tiny bits. Stir in frosting until incorporated. Form in 1" balls - I used a small pampered chef cookie scoop thingie - and place on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Refridgerate until completely cooled. Dip into chocolate and let harden.

Brown Basmati Rice with Mushrooms and Toasted Walnuts

Dammit my pictures suck. Must. Work. On. Photography. Skills.

Anyway...this was the side dish served with the apple and gorgonzola pork tenderloin. We also had some steamed green beans and a tasty tossed salad.

The original recipe was from allrecipes.com. I found it a couple of years ago, when we first started playing house together. It calls for orzo, but do you know how hard it is to find whole wheat orzo to make this a South Beach friendly dish??? Ugh. So I figured that I'd just make some brown basmati rice, cooked in chicken broth (canned, with herbs). And that I'd saute the 'shrooms, etc seperately and mix it all together at the end. Turned out pretty freakin' tasty. If I do say so myself.

So here's the original recipe...as written it makes a ton. I cut it in half for us, and we still had leftovers. I used a mushroom mix that had porcini, bella, oyster and maybe something else...and just used a little olive oil (like 1/2 T).

Orzo With Mushrooms and Walnuts
(Source: allrecipes.com)

1/3 cup chopped walnuts
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 pound fresh mushrooms, sliced
4 cups chicken broth
2 cups uncooked orzo pasta
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Place walnuts on a baking sheet. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes in the preheated oven, or until they release their aroma. Stir once or twice for even toasting.

Heat oil in a large heavy saucepan over medium-high heat. Saute onion and mushrooms until tender and golden brown.

Pour in broth, and bring to a boil. Stir in orzo, reduce heat to low, and cover. Simmer until orzo is tender and liquid is absorbed, about 15 minutes. If after 15 minutes there is still liquid, remove cover, and cook until liquid is gone. Remove from heat, and stir in walnuts. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Apple & Gorgonzola Pork Tenderloin

Ahhh another pork tenderloin recipe...

I fear that Norm's parents are beginning to think that all we can make is some sort of pork tenderloin. It seems like every time we have them over, there is always pork on the menu, only the sauce changes. Sometimes it's a gorgonzola sauce...or a dijon cream sauce...or even glazed with hoisin and say and grilled. **Sigh** oh well. There are rarely leftovers though, so I don't think serving pork in the future will be an issue = )

This recipe comes courtesy of Carrie's Kitchen Creations. Her pics made my mouth water, I had it starred in my Google reader for months, just waiting for a good time to make it. I love pork with fruit...my hubby, not so much. Or so he thought!!! We were trying to decide what to make and I mentioned that I had seen this amazing looking recipe on a food blog that had apples and gorgonzola. He turned up his nose, but failed to give me any other options, so he finally condeded. He was the first to say how delicious it was...so yeah!!! This opens up so many more culinary possibilities. I'll have to save this one for special occasions as it's way too much sugar (from the cider and the apple butter) for South Beach.

The pic at the beginning of the post is what it looked like before it went into the oven - pretty as a picture (but alas, my picture is not so pretty). The one below was after I pulled it out of the oven. After we sliced it, it lost some of it's prettiness.

Carrie's Kitchen Creations Fall Harvest Pork Tenderloin
Serves 4
1 (1 lb) pork tenderloin
2 apples, cut into 1/4 inch slices
3 tbs gorgonzola, crumbled (I used closed to 1/2 C of cheese, just because I love cheese!)
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/2 C apple butter
1/2 C apple cider
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp fresh ground pepper
1/8 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cut tenderloin lengthwise down the center (I made two slight cuts from the center cut to create little canals to place the apples in). Be careful to cut the tenderloin deep enough to open it up but not so deep you cut it in half.

Mix apple butter, apple cider, and ginger.

Coat bottom of 9x13 inch baking dish (mine is glass) with apple butter mixture. Lay tenderloin in dish so cut side is facing up. Place apple slices in canals previously created when cutting tenderloin. Sprinkle the crumbled gorgonzola down the center. Top with chopped garlic. Drizzle the rest of the apple butter mixture over the apples and gorgonzola. Sprinkle salt and fresh ground pepper over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Cover with foil and bake another 30-35 minutes. Remove foil and slice to eat.