Salmon anyone?

Okay so I have a super easy salmon dinner..so good, simplest thing I make.
You just take a salmon fillet, about a pound, and put it in a foil lined bread pan. (since I don't make bread in my bread pan, this is a good alternative.) Have enough foil that you can wrap it up and over the salmon to cook.
Once you've placed the fish in the pan, shake as much as you want of your favorite cajun seasoning on it. (found in a spice jar looking jar. sometimes right by the fish/meats counter, other times with the other spices. our usuals are cajun choice, or northwest cajun. I'm not usually into "cajun" either, but this is good!) Obviously, the more you shake on, the spicier your fish will be. I usually put about a Tablespoon on..just enough to cover the whole fish, but not drown it. Next, just add a few slices of unsalted butter (again, as much or as little as you want.)
Then wrap the foil up and around, folding the ends together at the top (for easy opening later on), and put it in a 350 degree oven for 35-40 minutes. For about the last 5, open up the foil, so it can get a little toasted on the top. Serve with rice (hooray for rice cookers, learned that in hawaii) and steamed veggies. yums! And the best part is, when you're done with the fish, you can throw away the foil, and your bread pan is still clean! woo hoo!

Mrs. Fields Chocolate Chip Cookies

They might as well be called Meggan's Chocolate Chip Cookies.

My sister should really be the one posting this, but I will for her. She made them and they were SO yums. If you need a dependable chocolate chip cookie - this is the one. I made them last night. They didn't seem as good as Megg's, but oh well.

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 cups firmly packedbrown sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 Cup all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
18 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla.
In another bowl, mix together the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients. Stir in chocolate chips.
With your fingers, place golf ball-sized dough portions 2-inches apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 9-10 minutes or just until edges are light brown. Leave on cookie sheet for a couple minutes and then transfer to cooling rack.

Enjoy!
(with soy milk, regular milk or chocolate milk)

Tuna Russian Roll

This calls for pie crusts, but I don't like pie crust. I modified it by making pizza dough in my breadmaker and rolling it out and putting the filling in there with pinching the edges before baking. Very good. It's a different meal that the usual Italian or meat and potatoes.

1 (9 inch) pie crust dough (OR pizza dough)
1 pkg. chicken flavored rice mix
2 cans (6 oz) tuna
1 can cream of mushroom soup (you can use cream of celery too)
1/2 Cup sour cream (I actually didn't have sour cream a couple night ago and poured some milk in until the mixture was just creamy enough and it turned out just fine!

Prepare rice mix as directed. Cool slightly. Break tuna into large chunks and add to rice. Stir in 1/3 cup of the soup. Roll out the pie crust to a rectangle. Spoon tuna mixture down the center of the pastry. Bring the sides up and over and pinch shut. Place on cookie sheet with seam side down. Bake at 400 for about 30 minutes or until golden on the outside.

Bring the remaining souop to a boil in a saucepan and serve as sauce over tuna roll.

Enjoy with a salad or other fresh vegetable.

Welcome Michelle!

We have a new contributor to our blog. Her name is Michelle Ross and she resides up in Idaho. What part Michelle? She is a friend of my friend Lillie and even grows her own vegetables in the summertime. We will look forward to some new recipes from her and eagerly anticipate her snowfall to dissipate so we can get some fresh veggie recipe tests from her later this year.

Black Bean and Rice Soup

2 cans black beans, undrained, divided (15 oz. each)
3 cups of water
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 packet of Good Seasons Italian Salad Dressing Mix
1 1/2 cups Minute Brown Rice, uncooked

Place 1 1/2 cans of beans with liquid in blender and blend until smooth. Pour into sauce pan. Stir in remaining beans, water, onion and dressing mix. Bring to a boil. Stir in rice. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 5 minutes.

Garnish with sour cream, cilantro and chopped red pepper.

Easy Orange Rolls

1 package frozen rolls (Rhodes)
1/4 cup melted butter
5 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons orange peel

Preheat oven to 350. Mix butter, sugar and orange peel in large bowl. Add FROZEN rolls, stir to coat. Spray bundt pan with nonstick spray. Pour rolls into bundt pan, making sure all of sugar mixture is on rolls. Cover with towel and let defrost/rise, about 4 hours. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, until golden brown. Turn out onto serving plate immediately and pour frosting over top.

Frosting:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1 Tablespoon orange juice
1 Tablespoon orange peel

Mix with mixer until smooth.

Craisan and Pignolia Salad

We eat salad's a lot. This recipe comes from my latest issue of Cooking Light (which a dear friend gave me the subscription for - love it).

1 Cup Craisins
1/2 Cup Pignolias (pine nuts)
Romaine and Red Leaf Lettuce
Bleu Cheese

Mix together and serve. Now, I've mixed it up a bit and had the above with strawberry vinagrette dressing. OR I omit the bleu cheese and eat it with Trader Joe's Bleu Cheese Dressing.

Enjoy.

Baked French Toast with Berries

I made this Christmas morning, it was to die for. Super easy.

One 8 oz loaf or 1/2 lb French bread or cinnamon bread
(I used this cinnamon swirl, absolutely delicious)
4 eggs, beaten
2 cups skim milk
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 Tbsp butter
2 cups fresh or frozen berries

Lightly grease a 3 quart rectangular baking dish. Arrange bread slices in the dish. In a large bowl, stir eggs, milk, granulated sugar and vanilla. Slowly pour over bread. Press lightly with the back of a large spoon to moisten bread. Cover and chill in refrigerator overnight. Combine flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. With forks, cut in butter until pieces are the size of small peas. Cover and chill up to 24 hours.

Before baking, sprinkle berries over bread; sprinkle flour mixture over berries. Bake, uncovered, in a 350 oven for 25-30 minutes until a knife inserted off-center comes out clean. Let stand 5 minutes. Cut into squares. Serve with syrup.

Tasty Snack

This is really good as a snack or pair with some fresh veggies and a smoothie for lunch!

1 Cup cottage cheese
1/2 avocado
salt and pepper

Mix in bowl and have a handful of these and you are set. So good.

Three Cheese Gourmet Macaroni

I stole this from my friend Kelli's recipe blog. But, I made it and it is SO good. We ate it with some fresh green beans, but it would probably be good with a steak or kabobs or something. My local Ralphs did not carry the cheeses, but Trader Joe's does.

1/2 lb. medium shell pasta
2 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground black pepper
1/8 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
2 1/4 cups (packed) grated white cheddar
3/4 cup (packed) grated Gruyere
1/2 cup (packed) grated Fontina
6 Tbl. panko (Japanese breadcrumbs)

Cook pasta in large saucepan of boiling salted water until just tender, but still firm to bit, stirring occaisionally. Meanwhile, bring milk to simmer in heavy medium saucepan over med-high heat. Remove from heat. Melt butter in heavy large saucepan over medium heat. When butter foams, add flour. Stir until pale golden, about one minute. Whisk in hot milk. Cook over medium heat until thick and bubbling, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in salt, pepper, nutmeg and cayenne. Add cheeses and stir until melted and smooth. Preheat broiler. Add pasta to cheese sauce and toss to coat. Place pasta mixture in baking dish and sprinkle with breadcrubs. Broil until crums are golden brown, about one minutes.

Enjoy!

White Chicken Chili

We had this for dinner last night. It's really tasty and very low fat.

2-3 chicken breasts
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
16 oz of chicken broth
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp red pepper sauce
2 cans white kidney beans
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
3 Tbs lime juice
chopped fresh cilantro
sour cream

1. Put chicken in the bottom of your crockpot. Combine onions, garlic, broth, cumin, oregano, salt and pepper sauce, pour over chicken. Pour in rinsed and drained beans.

2. Cook on low for 4-5 hours.

3. Shred or cut up chicken.

4. Return chicken to slow cooker, add frozen corn and lime juice. Cook for another 30-60 minutes, until everything is hot.

5. Garnish with cilantro and sour cream, if desired.

YUM!