Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foodie. Show all posts

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Butternut Squash Risotto and Pesto Salmon

        Sorry guys, I realized today that it has been almost six weeks since the last blog was put up. What better way to avoid doing homework, than finding and creating new recipes. Maybe I was a little overzealous this semester to take nine credit hours. The end is in sight, will be finishing my certificate in Pharmacy Technician and applying for nursing school in February.

       With the leaves changing, temperature getting cooler, and everything is coming up pumpkin.  Mentioning homework, II did a twist on a pumpkin sage risotto. I made mine with butternut squash and dried sage.  The risotto paired well with my silver salmon that I caught two weekends ago. Going to get a little off topic for a minute, but I am very proud of the salmon. It was caught out in the ocean when my husband and I went out for our halibut charter with Saltwater Safari in Seward, Alaska.  The pesto for the salmon is made in my food processor.

        The risotto would be great paired with chicken, fish or pork as a side dish. I made the serving size about 2/3cup, yielding about 6 servings.  In the recipe, you will need 1 cup of butternut squash puree. There are two ways that you could cook you squash for the risotto. A person can boil the chunks of cut up squash in water until tender or toss the pieces with a little olive oil, salt, pepper, and sage (baking at 450 for 20 minutes).  Once the squash is done put a little more that a cup of cooked squash in blender or food processor with a little bit of chicken stock until a thick puree.


yummo


Butternut Squash Risotto
4 cups Chicken stock
1 cup butternut squash puree
2 tsp olive oil
3 cloves of garlic (I run the cloves over a micro plane or chopped
1/2 sweet onion
1 cup arborio rice
1 tbsp of dried sage (more or less depending on taste)
onions and garlic saute in pan 
Salt and Pepper to taste
1/4 cup parmesan  cheese (use the real stuff, not the stuff you put on pizza)

In a large saucepan heat the broth and squash until hot.

In another large pan over medium heat, heat the oil. Add onions, garlic, and rice until the rice is coated with the oil. Takes about 3 to 5 minute. Place a ladle of stock in the pan, constantly stirring until all the liquid is absorbed.  Add the sage to the mixture. Then continue adding ladles of stock and stirring the risotto until the stock is absorbed. Do this until all the stock is gone, and the rice is tender to the tooth. The process will take about 30 minutes from start to finish.  At the end just before service, stir in the parm cheese.

On to the salmon
Pesto Baked Salmon
1/4 cup of pesto (I used my recipe)
2 salmon filets
2 tbsp olive oil
Tin Foil

Preheat the oven to 425. On the tinfoil put the olive oil and salmon down, then cover it with the pesto mix. Seal the foil, place in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

Pour yourself a glass of wine and enjoy


Sunday, September 7, 2014

Walnut Pesto


Final product

I LOVE pesto!! But, cannot stand the stuff that is in the jars at the grocery story. I have a ton of basil growing in a pot in my kitchen right now and put it to good use.  With this recipe, you will need a blender or food processor with a powerful motor. Interesting fact, you do not need to have basil for pesto. A person can use spinach or arugula.

Homemade pesto
1 1/2 cup packed basil leaves
1/2 cup packed spinach
1/3 cup walnuts
2 cloves garlic
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/3 cup light olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
lots of pepper

Yumminess, in progress 
Put the basil, spinach, walnuts, garlic, salt, pepper, and parmesan cheese in your food processor pulsing until coarsely chopped. While the processor is going, slowly add the olive oil from the top until it is the consistency you want. I leave me a course chop, but you could make it as smooth as you like.  Pour into jar, covering with a thin layer of olive oil. This will last in the fridge for about a week.

Smoother it on everything and enjoy!

Friday, January 3, 2014

Happy New Years!!

Happy New Years to all the people in blog land.  I have decided to start the year off right and get a new tattoo! It all began when my little brother entered college; I told him that when he finished college that I would go get new ink done with him. Well, college didn't work out for him, and he entered Job Corp for Welding. The deal changed at that point to he needed to complete the program and had a full-time job for six months before I would get one with him. He did it, when my mom and little brother came up for the Christmas Holiday from North Dakota we went to Eagle River Tattoo. Turns out getting a tattoo is on my mom's bucket list, so she got one too.
Mom's New Lady Bugs courtesy of
Matt @ Eagle River Tattoo






My tattoo in memory of my dad. Courtesy of Matt @Eagle River Tattoo 



My ink is AMAZING!!! The signature in my heart is my dad's name that was found on my kindergarten graduation card that I got in 1991. That card was 22 years old; I am lucky that my mom kept things like that. I walked in with an idea and no drawings. Described what I would like, and it came out a million times better than expected.

After the ink, it was finally time to eat our New Years dinner.  Before we had left for the tattoos, I had put the ribs I had bought from Costco in the roaster to cook on low. I wish I had taken a picture of them before they were devoured by the three of us, they were fall off the bone good! We also had Alaska King Crab and potatoes.

The sad point in the night came when I would have to say goodbye to my mom and little brother. I had gotten used to them being around, and house being noisier than when it is just me and the cats while the fiancee is on the slope working.  But, the countdown has already begun again because they will both be up here before the 7th of June for our wedding!!

Sunday, May 26, 2013

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day to all. Thank you to those who have served in the Armed Services.

In exciting news I traded in my 2008 Chevy Cobalt for an amazing new vehicle for me. I got a 2011 GMC Terrain AWD it rides like a dream and has a lot more room.
Watch out world it has warmed up a lot here in the last couple days. It has been in the 70's, I had forgotten what that felt like after 232 days. I have been busy planting flowers and grilling everything possible on the grill. I also created a new recipe with inspiration from two salads. One was a Grilled Corn Orzo Salad with Chili Lime Vinaigrette and Mediterranean Orzo Salad



Now for the long anticipated Salad. I am having a hard time coming up with a cool and funky name for it...
1/4 cup feta cheese crumbles
1/4 cup pitted kalamata olives, sliced
1 cup orzo, uncooked
2 ears sweet corn
1 avocado, chopped
¼ small red onion, minced
2 Tablespoons chopped basil

Dressing
½ cup olive oil
honey (can use however much you want) I think I used 2tbsp
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 teaspoon chili powder (Next time I will use a little bit more)
Salt & pepper

Cook orzo in a large pot of salted, boiling water until al dente. Drain and rinse under cold water. Set aside.

Shuck corn then grill for 5-6 minutes, rotating every minute or so to evenly char on all sides. Let cool slightly, then cut kernels off the cob.

Combine cooked orzo and corn kernels avocado, red onion, olives, feta and basil in a large bowl and stir to combine.

For the dressing: Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk to combine or you can put it in blender. Pour over salad and toss to coat. Serve chilled, or at room temperature