Yougurt Parfait

This is a fast, easy, delicious breakfast you can do any morning on the week! I usually hit up the store Saturday and buy my fruit for the week. It can be whatever you like. I use:

-strawberries (or any other berries)

-cantaloupe

-honey dew

-kiwi

Then I cut them all up in to bite-sized pieces and put them into bowls to go in the fridge. I'm a huge fan of cold fruit!! The only thing I ever leave out on my counter is bananas which might be why I don't snack on fruit more often...hum.

Along with the fruit I grab a low-fat flavored yogurt. Nate and I love strawberry but I think blueberry or whatever else is out that would be delish too! Granola is a little trickier if you really want this be super healthy. Most granola cereals have a ton of sugar so the alternative to buying a brand like 100% Natural would be making your own. If you do, good on ya plus you can put stuff in or take stuff out that you want! I just buy the cereal.

In the morning when I get in from teaching seminary I usually only have about 15 minutes before I need to be out that door again and off to work. Since everything is pre-cut I pour a portion into a bowl, couple of spoon fulls of yogurt and crumble some granola over top and I'm good to go!

Delish!!

Hope you enjoy!

Banana Cake Loaf

I forgot to take pictures of this one so sorry about that. The recipe is pretty straight forward though. The trickiest part for me was the sour milk cause I had no idea what that was but it's wicked easy.

-3 cups of flour
-1 2/3 cups sugar
-2 1/4 tsp baking powder
-1 1/4 tsp baking soda
-1 tsp salt
-2/3 cup oil
-2/3 cups sour milk (add 1 tsp of vinegar to the 2/3 cup of milk)
-3 eggs
-4 mashed bananas
-1/2 cup sour cream

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease and flour two loaf pans or one 9x13 baking dish (I use the 9x13 dish).
3. Measure and mix all ingredients. I start with the dry one's first and mix them all up so it's mixed pretty equally. Then I add all the wet ingredients on top one by one and mix together once I've got them all in the bowl.
4. Blend 1/2 minute on slow speed then 3 minutes on high.
5. Pour evenly into pans and bake for approx. 45-50 minutes of until center is done.

For the Topping:
(For cake top once it's done being baked. Maybe let it cool for 10-15 minutes before putting the top on)

This isn't your traditional icing top so it's not going to be a frosting you smooth over the top like the picture (sorry that was kind of misleading). Instead you will mix all the ingredients together to make a crumbly kind of texture and then crumble it over the top. Don't worry too much about how it looks, I just try to get it evenly so most of the cake top is covered. The cool thing is when it's done cooking it kind of spreads out in tiny star shapes.

Double recipe--

-3/4 cup brown sugar
-2 Tbsp. butter (30 ml)
-1 cup coconut
-2 Tbsp. milk

Spread over top and toast under low broil just until the butter and sugar start to get brown. Make sure to watch under your broiler, don't want it to burn! Doesn't taste near as good! Enjoy! :)

Couscous Salad with Sauteed Shrimp Scampi

I think this recipe comes from Rachel Ray but I got it from one of my friends, Julie, when Nate and I spent the summer in Dayton, Ohio. It's been one of our favorites ever since! I have changed a few things in it to work for me better. The recipe originally had the shrimp being grilled which I've only done once because we don't have a grill. I found that the sauteed shrimp is just as easy and might be more tasty then on the grill. Anything I change will be in purple along with the original instructions. (Sorry for any blurry pics, I'm a sub-par photographer)

Ingredients:

2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp. plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb. large shrimp, peeled & deveined
salt and fresh ground pepper
One 10-ounce box couscous (1 1/2 cups)
1 1/2 cups chx broth & water
Juice and grated zest of one lemon
1/4 cup flat or Italian parsley, chopped
1 seedless cucumber, peeled & chopped

1. In a medium bowl, toss half of the garlic with 2 Tbsp. olive oil and shrimp. Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and add the garlic shrimp combo spreading them out so they cook evenly, about 2 minutes on each side. Season with salt and pepper. Or for grill, preheat grill to med-high. Skewer shp, season with s&p and put of grill, about two minutes on each side.

2. In a microwave dish, stir couscous with 3/4 cup chx broth and 3/4 cup of water. Flavor with pepper to taste and microwave on high for 4 minutes. Fluff with fork. At this point I put into whatever dish I'm planning on serving it in.

3. In a small bowl, stir together the lemon juice and lemon zest, remaining garlic and the parsley. Whisk in the remaining 1/4 cup of olive oil and toss with cucumber. The recipe says to peel the cucumber but I never have. I think I never noticed that it said that. I think the green rind gives it some extra color and texture.


4. Spoon cucumber mixture over couscous and top with shrimp. Give it a little stir to mix everything together and enjoy.

We always just eat this as a main course but you could also serve it along side another main course. Hope you like it! It's yummy! Enjoy!

Montreal Salmon

So it's been a while...but here is the promised Montreal Salmon. This is one of mine and Nate's favorite dinners. Plus it's super fast to put together and cook. It's the easiest and probably one of the tastiest salmon recipes you'll ever find!


So first here's a little bit about the salmon I use. I love the awesome salmon fillets I find at the local Costco called Kirkland Signature Atlantic Salmon. The coolest thing about this salmon product is that each bag comes with 7-8 indivdually wrapped salmon fillets. Personally I think that this keeps each fillet tasting fresh and not fishy. Each fillet is about 3 lbs. Nate and I usually cook two fillets and only eat one. We save the rest for lunch the next day which actually makes a delicious leftover. Price depends on where you are. In the US the bags were running around $12-14 and in Canada anywhere from $14-20. Its a great buy though and so much easier then dealing with a huge salmon!



1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.



2. Use an oven safe baking dish such as Corning Ware. Coat the bottom of the dish with a generous amount of extra-virgin olive oil. Place the fillets in the dish coating the bottom of the fillet with the oil, then flip it coating the opposite side. Sprinkle the fillet with Montreal Steak Seasoning and then flip it and season the other side. *Note: Try to sprinkle it evenly over the fillet. Anywhere you have a pile of seasoning it's going to taste potent (tested and tried)! Plus, your seasoning both sides so don't worry about not getting enough.



3. Don't cover. Just stick it into the over and bake for 15-20 minutes. In the last five minutes check periodically to see when the middle goes from a fleshy pink color to a peachy cooked color. You don't want to over cook because then the salmon tastes dry and tough. It might take a couple of times to get it right depending on your oven temperature.




I usually serve it with rice of some sort, white, brown, bismati, wild, all work and all are delicious! There are so many different kinds of veggies that work with salmon, but I usually do broccoli because it's my favorite. I always spruce up the broccoli with shredded sharp chedder! Enjoy! ~K

A Spice That ROCKS My World!!

So, this is Montreal Steak seasoning and it is delicious! Not only that, it is so versatile! You can use it on so many other things besides just steak, although it makes a steak amazing espcially if you add a little beef tenderizer to it first! Yum! Try it on burgers, chicken, veggies, potatoes and even salmon.

The trick with this spice is quantity, especially if you are gonna put it on something other than beef. Try a little at first before you nose dive into it. Just a light brushing is usually the best. There are other Montreal spices available for chx, etc. but I found the steak spice to be a must have in any kitchen, well mine more specifically! :) Plus, spices are super expensive so if you find one with multiple uses, jump on it! You can find this in any grocery store and I acutally found it in bulk at the Costco in Canada. Not sure about the US but check for it anyway, it's worth the $$! Stay tuned for my Montreal Salmon! Happy cooking! ~K

Chx & Mushroom Pesto over Wheat Linguine - Serves 4-6

Shopping List:

• Fresh Basil leaves (about 2 cups chopped and packed)
• Fresh Garlic
• 15-30 Mushrooms (I like Cremini or Shiitake, optional)
• 1/4 cup pine nuts
• Parmesan Chz
• Olive Oil (a cooking must have!)
• Chx Broth
• Heavy Cream
• Box of Wheat Linguine
  

1 . In a large skillet at 2 tbsp. of olive oil, the mushrooms sliced, and a clove of garlic minced all over medium heat. Sautee the mushrooms until soft. While those are cooking, start a pan of hot water to boil for pasta. Now I cube and cook the chx in a separate pan with some olive oil and add later but you can start cooking chx first then add a little more oil and then sautee the mushrooms and garlic all together. Whatever you perfer.

2. PESTO SAUCE:

2-3 Cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups, packed, coarsely chopped basil leaves
Pinch of course salt
1/4-1/2 cup pine nuts
5 tbsp Parmesan Chz
1/3 - 1/2 cup olive oil
Combine everything into a food processor except the oil and mix to a paste. Gradually blend in the olive oil and adjust seasoning to your liking. I would suggest ajusting the amount of pine nuts or garlic to what you like. Recipe should make app. 1 1/2 cups maybe 1 3/4.

3. Once the mushrooms are soft add 1 cup of chx broth and let that reduce, about 10 minutes. Then add 1 cup of heavy cream and let that reduce as well. As that reduces cook your pasta. I'm not good at how much pasta to cook, I always cook too much. Usually I grab a big handfull and start there. I don't mind cooking too much because Nate and I take leftovers for lunch.

4. Once that's reduced (it should have thickened a bit and look very rich) remove from heat and add the your pesto sauce to it. Blend well. The thickness of the sauce will depend on how long you've let it reduce and how long you let it sit before serving. Feel free to mix the pasta into the sauce if you'd like. Nate and I just do it self serve so we can choose the amount of sauce we both personally like. Delizioso!!

This is just a recipe that I've thrown together so feel free to adjust it to how you would like it! I love garlic so I always add a lot of it! This is probably a longer recipe to prepare but totally worth your time and once you try it, it gets easier and easier. Plus it's great to do for company! Show off your cooking skills! It's not exactly like Noodles and Co. but just as delicious if you ask me! :) Happy cooking! ~K