Salmon!

So.

Its been awhile.  Life is topsy turvey and i'm finally back in my own place.  Now i need a stove/oven and a fridge, and THEN i'll be back in business making food and posting more often.  However, I went home and made salmon at mom's house tonight, and photographed most of it....

 

Get your cast of characters out - salmon, lemons, oil, pepper, salt, rosemary, wine, lemon juice, and capers, if you have them.  I didn't have capers, plus i don't care for olives, so I didn't substitute them in.

 Open up your salmon, place on foil, brush both sides with olive oil, and salt and pepper them.  Add rosemary.

Place lemon slices on top of your fish.  Forget to rotate photos as well ;)

Splash some lemon juice and white wine around the fish in the foil.

 

 Wrap the foil around the fish, seal (better than i did please!) and grill.  Put the grill on medium high heat and grill for about 10 minutes.  My father did the grilling hence the lack of photos of said event.

The salmon was really good, rather lemony, but i put out lemon slices for others to squeeze on to the fish if they wanted more lemon.

Very good recipe, the main part of the meal was prep.

8 (6-ounce) salmon fillets
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons minced fresh rosemary leaves
8 lemon slices (about 2 lemons)
1/4 cup lemon juice (about 1 lemon)
1/2 cup Marsala wine (or white wine)
8 pieces of aluminum foil

Brush both sides of salmon fillets with olive oil and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Place each piece of seasoned salmon on a piece of foil large enough to fold over and seal. Top each piece of salmon with 2 lemon slices, 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice, and 1 tablespoon of wine. Wrap up salmon tightly in the foil packets.

Preheat a gas or charcoal grill to medium-high. Place the foil packets on the hot grill and cook for 10 minutes for a 1-inch thick piece of salmon. Serve in the foil packets.

cookie winner!

WINNER OF THE GREAT (annual) COOKIE GIVEAWAY:

MICHELLE aka ROOMMATE!

Using Random.org's random number generator, I put in 1 and 4 and it gave me number 4!!!!

roommate, email me (kelly dot vanderwell at gmail dot com) your address and if you can eat peanut butter and nutella (i don't remember :() and I will make the cookies saturday, probably ship them monday, as I have work on saturday as well. 

CONGRATS again! :D

Panko-crusted lime Arizona Dream Chicken and Forward! Hashbrowns

Long title.  I know.  But bear with me.

I got new spices for christmas.  Awesome ones.  From a store called Penzey's in Grand Rapids that does only spices.  I haven't been in there yet because I know I will spend way too much money on spices.  I seem to collect spices, I have a lot of them.  I added more to my collection, I should update the "my kitchen" page.  I received the "Kind Heart" Gift box of four different spices.

I decided I would try out the flavors on some food.  I didn't add enough of the flavors to actually *taste* them, so I cannot comment on how they taste.  I can tell you tho, that they smell really good :D

I used the "Arizona dream" on the chicken and the "Forward!" on the hashbrowns, in recommendation from the papers that came with the spices.  A few days later I could taste the spices, as they had time to meld in the fridge and it was really good.  I totally recommend it :)

Start by chopping 4 idaho potatoes into smallish chunks and soaking in a bowl of water. Let sit in water till ready to go in the pan.

Chop up the rest of your veggies.  I used 2 zucchini, 1 yellow squash thing, and 1 red pepper.

Add potatoes and some olive oil (mine is garlic infused) to a frying pan and start roasting.  It will take a while.

When the potatoes are starting to get some color, add the Zucchini and lament about the size of your pan being too small.

When the zucchini starts getting roasted add some Forward! seasoning to it, or whatever seasonings you may have on hand.

Add your butternut squash and red pepper and lament some more about the size of your pan.  Wish you had bought a larger one with your christmas money from your siblings.

ADD THE BACON.  this is the best part of the hash browns...BACON.  Bacon makes everything better.  I will prove that later this year with some interesting recipes.  Hang around and find out :D

Keep roasting your veggies and mixing them around every so often so they don't burn.  Also, keep lamenting the fact that your pan is too small, the lighting isn't good enough, and that there's no daylight because its 7pm.

Defrost your chicken, I did mine in the microwave due to sharing a kitchen with two other people.

Cut a lime.  DO NOT lick your hands you'll make a funny face.  Ask me how I know.  My housemate laughed at me.  How nice of him, right?!

Juice the lime (1/4 of it) over the bottom of the pan.

Zest some of the lime into a bowl that has panko and parmesan cheese in it as well.  It will smell REALLY GOOD.  don't eat it.  I doubt it would taste good.  blech.

Insert picture of beaten eggs here (yes, i didn't get one)

Beat two eggs in a bowl.

Dunk the chicken in the egg, rolling to coat it completely.

Roll it in the panko/parm cheese/zest mix, making sure its completely covered.

Place it in the pan.

Do the same with the rest of the pieces of chicken.  I only did 3, but there was enough egg and zest mix for at least 5 more pieces of chicken.  Sprinkle Arizona Dream on top of each piece of chicken.  Also put some lime juice on top of each piece.  How much you like lime and how many pieces you have determines how much lime needed.

Put in the oven for 30-45 minutes at 350*f.  Take out when juice runs clear and the meat thermometer says the proper time for poultry.

DINNER!!!!!

Exclaim to your friends how good dinner is and don't they want to eat with you, but offer the 2nd piece of chicken to your housemate, along with some hash browns :D  Thankfully, he accepted :D

Hash browns:
4 idaho potatoes, scrubbed, cubed
2 zucchini
1 yellow squash thing
1 red pepper (or any color, really)
bacon bits
olive oil
spices (I used Forward! from Penzey's, see link at beginning of post).

Start by chopping all your veggies.  Put the potatoes and oil into the pan, start roasting.  Add spices, stir. Add zucchini, roast.  Add squash, roast.  Add red pepper, roast.  Add bacon bits, roast for a small bit. 

Makes 5 servings.

Lime chicken:

3 chicken breasts, defrosted
1 lime
panko
parm cheese
lime zest (from the lime)
2 eggs
spices (I used Arizona Dream from Penzey's, see link at beginning of post).

Defrost chicken.

Add panko, parm cheese, and lime zest into bowl.

Add beaten eggs to another bowl.

Dip the chicken in the eggs, then into the panko mix and then place in pan.

Bake at 350* for 30-45 minutes or until done.


Makes 3 servings.

Serve with hash browns. 




***Don't forget to enter the give away!***

Family Vacation

My family.  This is where I get it.

Been spending lots of time with my family these past few days.

Part of my family on the way to the dunes

Christmas day my relatives in California flew in to Michigan.  On Wednesday we all went on vacation together.  We leave on Monday. 

Crossing the river on a log.  Good exercise in trust/fear :)

We've been hanging out, sledding down sand dunes, taking family photos, and talking.  I haven't seen some of the family in 4-5 years.  Its been good to hang out with them, catch up, etc.

climbing a dune

I've been busy eating and taking pictures.  Lots and lots of pictures. 

Sand Sledding

You'll see some in this post.  :)

 

 

Looking south along the lakeshore

 

Sand dunes

Waves on the shore of Lake Michigan

Cool looking branch

Cousin Jake with a sled by the waters edge

Water droplet on a branch in the woods

logs and branches we crossed the first time

The last hill Jake slid down; it dropped off right into the creek.

Had a wonderful week/end.  We leave Weds morning.  I have more photos.  But my camera is dead and I need the battery charger.

It did snow.  Jake is excited about that.  We might go sledding tomorrow before we leave, but we'll see.  Otherwise we'll go after we get back to Grand Rapids.





*** Don't forget to comment and like and enter to win cookies!!!! ****

Almost the 1 year blogaversary!

So, the 18th of January, 2012 is my 1 year blogaversary.  I will be doing a COOKIE give away.

I will give 2 dozen cookies (peanut butter nutella swirl and chocolate chip, 1 doz each) to a random number chosen from the coments.

To enter, post a comment about the best food i've made so far and/or what I should make next year and mention if you like my facebook page and what your name there is, so I know its you :)

I will use a random number generator to pick the winner and you'll have to email me your address and if you can't have peanut butter or nutella, we'll figure out a different kind of cookie for you to have :D

Giveaway ends on Jan 18th.

Thanks!

Kelly

Bacon Cheddar Bread

So I decided that bacon is wonderful in *anything*, even bread, right?  I found this recipe on TastyKitchen.  It was wonderful.  I couldn't stop snitching it before dinner, so I should have probably made two of them.  Next time!

Melt 1/2 cup butter in the microwave. 

Put bacon, cheese, parsley, and chives into the bowl with butter.

Mix together.

Snip 2 cans of refrigerated biscuits into quarters.

Spray a metal pie/cake pan with non-stick spray.

Add the bacon mixture into the biscuits.  Mix well.

Spread it out in the pan.  It looks soooooooo good.  Sprinkle more cheese on top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350*F or until cheese is melted and the biscuits are turning brown.  I had to bake it a little longer or until the biscuits were done.

.5 cup melted butter

1.5 cups shredded cheese
1 cup Bacon
2 tablespoons chives, parsley, or a combination of both
1.5 cans of refrigerated biscuit dough


Preheat oven to 350°F.

Generously spray 9 inch pie/cake plate.
In a small mixing bowl, stir together the butter, 1 cup of the cheese, bacon, and chives or parsley. Set aside.
Cut the biscuit dough into quarters.
Pour the butter mixture over the bread and toss gently to distribute evenly and coat all the dough well.
Use your hands to arrange the dough evenly over the bottom of the greased pan. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top of the dough.
Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the cheese on top is fully melted and crisped and the bread is golden brown. 



Enjoy!