Salmon Burgers

I don’t know why I haven’t made these before. They are so easy. Especially if you use leftover salmon. I made tandoori salmon and asked Andy to save a little. Turned out we had enough salmon for 4 burgers. I mixed the salmon with 2 eggs, cilantro and panko. I set it in the fridge for about an hour while the potatoes were baking (who doesn’t love baked potatoes!). Andy ran and grabbed some delicious buns from Grand Central Bakery. I formed the salmon mixture into patties and cooked them on the stove.

I topped the burgers with avocado, red onion and leaf lettuce. And they were delicious. Definitely making these again!

Baked Calamari Steaks

Last year I discovered how wonderful calamari steaks were. On Saturday I went to Fred Meyer and they had the steaks on sale again for $5.99 a pound. So I picked up almost a pound of them. This time I wanted to save calories and bake them. I searched the Internet for a good ten minutes looking for a good recipe to no avail. So I decided to just try it out.

I prepared the calamari steak the same way I did when I fried but I used one of my toaster oven broiler pans. I broiled each side of the steak for about 8 minutes. They were really thick. I broiled them until they were dark brown which may have been a bit too long. Better safe then sorry. I sauteed some asparagus and made up some greens (kale, spinach, onions, and mushrooms) and finished everything with a squeeze of lemon. Delicious!!

Recipe Adventure

I had so much fun baking this weekend. I forgot how much I really enjoy trying a new recipe even if it doesn’t turn out the way I think it should. I’m going to pick two new recipes each week: one baking related and one dinner. I’ll make them, photograph the results and do a post on them. Of course I will provide my snappy/witty banter for all to read! I haven’t picked them out yet. Stay tuned!

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Last night I tried this recipe from Poor Girl Eats Well. It didn’t come out all that well for me.

I sauteed onion, mushrooms, and garlic which were awesome. The addition of the frozen mixed veggies. Not so much. I think this recipe is really a matter of taste. Andy doesn’t like frozen veggies. And I could take them or leave them. I used rice instead of quinoa which was fine. I did top them with Parmesan cheese which is delicious!

I will try to make this recipe again but will stick with fresh vegetables and double or triple the amount of mushrooms I used as they were fantastic with the sweet flesh of the squash. It was fun to try something new even if it didn’t totally work out the way I wanted it to.

Hummus

I love hummus. Although I didn’t try it until I was about eighteen years old, I believe that I have made up for those hummus free years. I love it on a bagel with onions and tomato. I chop up vegetables and use hummus as a tasty dip. I eat it with bread and lick it off my fingers.

I have been buying it from Winco but they recently raised the price and I cannot justify spending $3.50 on it. So I asked Andy to make me some. He found a fantastic recipe from Epicurious.com.

Yum!

The toasted pinenuts are so good in this recipe. I honestly think the hummus Andy made was much better than the store brand and cost a fraction of what the store bought kind does.

Hashbrown Fail

This morning I woke up with the burning desire to have crispy hashbrowns. I’d made them before by baking them. Cause you see, I do not appreciate the soggy/mushy hashbrowns that most breakfast places offer. I will usually eat the crispy top and leave the yucky mushy remainder. I prefer my hashbrowns to be the stage prior to burning.

I Googled ‘hashbrowns’ and looked at a few suggestions. Feeling confident that I could do a better job than that of trained professionals, I set out to quench my morning desire. I squeezed the majority of the moisture out of the potatoes and placed them in the pan. Long story short – I failed. Miserably.

Hashbrown fail

The potatoes lumped together like they were trying to escape the pan. The outside was slightly crispy but the inside was almost gelatinous. Desperately I tried to squash the potatoes down into the pan but this didn’t help. Andy ate all of them while I pouted silently. Damn you hashbrowns. I might have failed this time but I’ll be back. Oh yes. I will be back!

Bruschetta and The Neighbors Cat

Andy and I went to go see Crystal Castles last night. Yep. That’s right. On a school night! We had a heavy late lunch and needed a quick bite before heading out to the show. So I made bruschetta.

What’s not to like here? Toasted bread, tomatoes and a bevy of other delicious things. Count me in and I’ll have two please. I went to the trusty Google search bar and looked for bruschetta recipes of which there are thousands. I found one I liked and quickly made the dish.

Interestingly enough bruschetta has been around since the 15th century. It’s a great way to use bread that is about to go stale. You can modify the recipe to suit your taste and what you have on hand.

Andy loves bruschetta

Our new place is situated in the middle of cat central. Everyone has an outdoor cat. Our neighbor has the sweetest little cat who has this funny little brown mustache. She wants to come into our apartment so bad. But our cats are indoor cats and haven’t had their shots. So she had to stay outside. But that doesn’t stop here from climbing up on the window sill and peering into our apartment.

Hi Folks!

Artichokes and Shrimp

The store had a great deal on artichokes and shrimp. Andy cleaned out the inside of the artichokes and grilled them. He sauteed some veggies and shrimp together. So we each ate 2 artichokes and a lot of shrimp and veggies. It was so fantastic I felt it needed its own blog post.

The chef at work!

Artichokes and Shrimp

Delicious.

Yum

Vegetarian Pot Pie

I love pot pies. Who doesn’t? But I’ve never had one that doesn’t have chicken. I wanted to make one that was flavorful and rich with a variety of vegetables. So using the power of Google, I looked up ‘vegetarian pot pie recipes’. I used a few I found as a guide to create my own awesome recipe. I purchased Pillsbury ready made pie crust as I wanted to focus on the filling and now the crust.

I diced onions and leeks and sauteed them in a small knob of butter. I let them cook down for about ten minutes. I added parsnips, potatoes, and carrots to the mix. I lowered the temperature and added two tablespoons of flour creating an Aleta roux. I added a can of cream of mushroom soup and a cup of milk to the mixture stirring thoroughly. Salt, pepper, and cayenne were added to taste. I let this mixture bubble away while I unrolled the pie crust. One thing about the pie crust. If freeze it, give it ample time to defrost. After the potatoes had bubbled away for 15 minutes, I put the mixture on the pie crust and unrolled the top crust.

Voila!

Pot pie in the making

I let it bake for 20 minutes and upon taking it out of the oven, let it cool down.

Yum!

First layer cake

Here is my first layer cake (for Andy’s birthday) through photos:

Prep Work

Cooling off

Creating layers

With icing

So pretty!

Ta da!!

Disaster!

Extra frosting

The Baker!

With icecream

close up

Moment of truth

He likes it!!