I've been fairly regularly making a weekly menu and preparing my grocery list for the week from it. I've been finding this has helped me with my frustration, as I don't have to come up with a plan for meals every day.. it's work once a week, and then the stress is taken care of, and, the meals are so tasty. I don't repeat my menu, and rarely repeat my meals. Rather, I like to peruse recipe magazines and make what sounds good to me at the time.
So, tonights dinner - while late getting started due to a late grocery shopping day - was
Broiled Salmon with Roasted Tomato Sauce
Zesty Three-Bean and Roasted Corn Salad
Roasted Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing
All three recipes come from Cooking Light - July 2006 Broiled Salmon with Roasted Tomato Sauce
This recipe is all about the sauce!
Roast under the grill, 4 or 5 whole roma tomatoes, 1 quartered onion, and 2 whole garlic cloves (peeled), having sprayed them with a little olive oil. Let them get good and brown on the edges, nice and roasty. Then, blenderize these roasted items with a can of tomato paste. Pour into a sauce pan and add 1 cup of vegetable broth and let this come to a boil, keep stirring it, and be careful, it spits terribly and the hot tomato sauce hurts when it lands on your skin. After 10 minutes, if you've got solids, strain out the solids (it said with a sieve, but I didn't like it, so I just dumped all my solids back in, ther were no chunks in mine) and add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch mixed with 2 tablespoons of cold water to thicken up the sauce a little.
Grill your salmon fillets just before the rest of your meal is ready to serve, spray them with a touch of olive oil and a little salt. - don't overcool, salmon is so nice when just barely done. Drizzle sauce over your salmon and garnish with some Fresh Basil.
Zesty Zesty Three-Bean and Roasted Corn Salad
This is a new take on the old standby recipe.
In a hot sauteing pan, saute some fresh green beans and fresh corn kernels (I used frozen) (it give the amounts, but you decided based on your family size how much you need), when it's got some nice brown saute marks all over, pour out into a bowl. Add diced red peppers, diced red onions, chopped fresh cilantro, a can of black beans and a can of white beans to the bowl. Give it a quick toss.
Now we're ready for the sauce. Juice a lime, add about the same amount of red wine vinegar and olive oil. Add a minced a garlic or two. 2 teaspoons of cumin, a dash of chilly paste (or ground chilli) and sauce. Mix well, and pour over the bean salad and toss that salad again.
One last step. Dice up avocados and tomatoes and gently mix them into your salad, careful not to mush them too much. Serve cold.
Roasted Potato Salad with Mustard Dressing
Another wake up call to the sleepy old standby potato salad. Again, make this recipe to suit your family's appetite.
Cut potatoes into cubes, or better yet, use those little new potatoes sliced in half and spray them with olive oil and a bit of salt and some pepper. Roast them in the oven at 400 until the potatoes are tender. Now the recipe calls for bacon, but as you all know, bacon is not kosher, so i left this out.. but if you like bacon, make ya'll some bacon and break it into little bits. I kept reading!
I cut up part of a Vidalia onion into little diced pieces, minced a garlic and mixe it in with 3 tablespoons of Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise, 1 1/2 tablespoons of honey, 1 1/2 tablespoons of sherry vinegar (which I didn't have, so I sub'ed a mix of red cooking wine and white wine vinegar). Mix together, and then mix with your potatoes (and bacon) and serve cold.
Header Banner photo - My ornamental crab apple tree in fresh bloom, in the middle of my circular driveway.~~~~
I am Sombra, and these are the stories from our house. We're a Messianic family where academics often take a back seat to the work and adventure of life.
