the makings of something delicious

Get ready for some Julia Child deliciousness a la Meli.

a bit fishy

I was on my way home from work tonight (after getting off early) and trying to decide what to make for dinner (because I got off work early) when I realized that I really wanted some fish. I have been craving asparagus lately too, so I decided to stop at the grocery and get some asparagus so I could throw this all together.

Preheat oven to 350*. Start by making a nice white wine sauce for the fish. Melt about 3 Tbsp. of butter in a saucepan and add some fresh chopped garlic as well as some basil leaves, a good pour of white wine, some fresh ground pepper and a dash of cinnamon.


Put the fish fillets in an ovenproof pan then pour the sauce over them. Drizzle with some olive oil and pour in another good splash of white wine.


Place asparagus and some diced tomatoes in the pan with the fish. Place in the oven and bake for 20 ish minutes.


While that is baking, cut up some fresh pineapple and melt about 2 Tbsp. of butter in a skillet. Pour in a dash of rum (I used guava rum because I had some on hand. And I recommend it if you can because the flavor was fantastic!). Sprinkle it with cinnamon and drizzle in some honey. Then add in the pineapple. Allow to cook for just a bit, but not so long that the pineapple gets mushy.


To plate up this delicious meal add some diced, uncooked tomato to the top of the fish and asparagus with some fresh grated Parmesan cheese. Make sure you get a little of the sauce from the fish spooned over it and spoon on some of the sauce from the pineapple over it as well. I was sad that the grocery didn't have green asparagus because it would have made the plate so much prettier, but alas they did not have any.

honey-dijon glazed grilled chicken

I saw this recipe when I was looking through my family cookbook to make meatloaf and thought it sounded so good. So I decide to try it with my own little spin on it.

Honey-Dijon Grilled Chicken
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2-4 Tbsp. butter
2-4 Tbsp. dijon mustard
about 1/4 cup honey
1/2 tsp. salt
2 ish tsp. curry powder
sprinkle chili powder, cinnamon and turmeric

Before you start on the chicken, you should start by placing a sweet potato or two in a pot of water and setting it to boil. This is a delicious accompaniment to the chicken, but takes much longer to cook than the chicken does. If you don't like sweet potatoes, you can skip this, but you will be missing out let me tell you.

Start by melting the butter.


Then add in the rest of the ingredients except for the chicken and allow to cook for a minute to combine the flavors and make a nice sauce. Now this is important. Stick your finger in the sauce and then lick it. To make sure the seasonings are correct. Repeat as many times as necessary to make sure that the sauce is perfect. Confession: I could take a bath in this sauce it is that delicious. Please, please love this bit of deliciousness.


Then pour the sauce over the chicken breasts. Allow this to marinate for a little while. If you want to make this ahead of time and allow it to marinate overnight or for several hours that would be okay as well.


Grill the chicken breasts basting with the glaze every time you turn the chicken over. Don't overcook the chicken as it can easily dry out if you cook it for too long. Then check on your sweet potato which should be done about now.


So delicious! Also if you are not starving as I was at this point you could make some green beans to go with this meal and it would be perfectly complete.

meatloaf

The other day it was a bit of a dreary day and my roommate was having a sort of bad day, so I decided to make some comfort food. I'd been wanting to try making meatloaf for a while because it is usually made with eggs, and I wanted to try making it without eggs for my roommate.

I adapted this from the recipe that my grandma usually makes out of our family cookbook. I know, you wish you had a family cookbook too. I just threw in whatever spices I felt like. Feel free to mix it up however you want.

Meatloaf
1 lb. ground beef
1 lb. ground elk
2 slices bread, crumbled up
ketchup
splash red wine
dash cinnamon, nutmeg, pepper, chili powder

Crumble the two slices of bread in a bowl. I was able to find bread that wasn't made with eggs, so I went with that.

Then season with the spices you choose to use.


Add the ketchup.


Then add in the beef and elk as well as the red wine. Mix it all up together. I used my hands because that's just how I roll but I supposed you could mix it with a spoon.

Place in a loaf pan and pour some more red wine over it. Then top with some tomato sauce and bake at 350* for 45 minutes to an hour depending on your oven. I think mine was about 45 minutes because my oven runs hot.

I'm not a big meatloaf person. I didn't really grow up eating it, but this turned out well. I actually think it was better the next day because it had time for the flavors to combine and sit together and be all happy. It might actually be good to let it sit for a bit and marinate before topping with the tomato sauce and baking it.

oatmeal

I love oatmeal. There was about 3 months of my life that I ate oatmeal every single morning for breakfast, and while I don't have that kind of devotion to it any more, I still love a good bowl of oatmeal. This is how I make mine.


In a saucepan combine the appropriate amounts of old fashioned oats and water or milk as well as a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg, a handful of chopped pecans and some honey. Allow this to cook over medium heat until it thickens.


Then stir in about 1 chopped banana and allow to cook for just a minute before enjoying a delicious and nutritious breakfast of champions.

This is just one of the many variations of oatmeal that I have made. One of the things I love about oatmeal is that like shortbread it is a very basic thing and so it is easy to make many variations of the same thing and each one has a bit of a different flavor and taste to it.

coconut milk ice cream

I've been craving coconut milk ice cream for a while now. My mum generously gave me her freeze and make ice cream maker. You freeze the inner portion and then turn the hand crank to make the ice cream. So I was finally able to make coconut milk ice cream. I was inspired by this lovely post, but went the non-chocolate route. I didn't really measure anything. I used 1 can of coconut milk, a sprinkle of cinnamon, some toasted coconut and some agave. The only thing that I would have changed is the amount of agave that I put in. It was super delicious!!


Whisk together all the ingredients and then make the ice cream according to the directions of your ice cream maker. For me that meant pour into the frozen part and turn the crank.


Then enjoy with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. If you made it so it wasn't quite sweet enough add a drizzle of honey on top.

coconut cupcakes

You may remember that I made a coconut cake for my sister's bridal shower back in April. I realized that this recipe would also make great coconut cupcakes. So that's what I did. It helped a lot with the dryness of the cake to make them in cupcake form instead. I also didn't bake them as long. I was also making these so that my roommate could enjoy them as well, so I adjusted the recipe somewhat from my coconut cake recipe. I also cut the recipe in half as I didn't need as much batter for the cupcakes as I needed for a three layer cake.

Coconut Cupcakes
1/2 cup butter
1 cup coconut sugar
1 2/3 cups flour (I used unbleached all-purpose, and this was approximate)
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 tsp. vanilla
6 Tbsp. applesauce
2 Tbsp. tapioca flour
dash cinnamon
sprinkle nutmeg
toasted coconut

Cream together the butter and sugar. Add the vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.


Add the tapioca flour and applesauce.


Combine the remaining ingredients and mix well. Fill cupcake wrappers and bake at 350* for about 15 minutes. I iced these cupcakes with the remaining frosting that I had from the coconut cake and sprinkled them with toasted coconut. Delicious.

peanut butter + dark chocolate = heaven

I discovered heaven yesterday on my sweet friend's blog. Please, please, please, if you try no other recipes on here, please, try this one. You will not regret it, I promise. Unless you don't like peanut butter or dark chocolate, in which case I don't promise. But you should try it anyway because you might change your mind. Deliciousness has a way of making that happen.

I have a dear friend in Scotland right now who is a kindred baking spirit, and she posted a recipe for giant peanut butter chocolate chip cookies, and I just knew I had to try them. You should just go look at her blog anyway because she's funny and sweet and lives in Scotland and she's my friend. . .'nough said. I tweaked her recipe just a bit to accommodate for my roommate because I wanted her to try them too because everyone should try these cookies. The End. Okay, so here's my altered recipe.

Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
sprinkle freshly grated nutmeg
sprinkle cinnamon
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 cup peanut butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup coconut sugar
6ish Tbsp. applesauce
1 pkg. dark chocolate chips

Using a stand mixer, cream the butter until smooth. Then add the peanut butter and beat again. Then add the sugars and beat again.

Add the applesauce and beat again.


In a separate bowl combine the dry ingredients and whisk together. Then add to the butter and sugar mixture and beat until just combined.


By hand stir in the dark chocolate chips. Then take a good handful of dough and roll it between your palms and place about 2 inches apart on a baking sheet.


Bake at 350* for 12 minutes turning the pans halfway through.


Then enjoy the deliciousness that awaits you. May I just say you know the mark of a good cookie when it falls apart when you are taking them off the baking sheet, these definitely did. Yum! Thanks Anna for making my day with these delightful cookies!!

it's grilling season

I love to grill, so I get very happy when the weather gets to the point where it is fun to grill. I love that you can cook an entire meal on the grill which is exactly what I did the other day. My mom sent me home with some lovely porkchops, so I put those in a little marinade of olive oil, pineapple juice, basil, curry powder, turmeric, garlic salt, pepper, and chili powder. It would have been better if they could have sat in the marinade for a while or overnight, but they were good anyway.

I also just cut up a pineapple and an eggplant and grilled them as well. I had never cooked with eggplant before, and I'm interested to try cooking with it again, as it was little different by itself. I do love learning how to cook with new foods, though, so it should be fun.



A delicious, nutritious meal fresh off the grill. Hello summer!