Easter Dinner

Since it was Easter Sunday and my parents were over at my house and they helped me plant my tree, I offered to cook them dinner.  Out of the choices I gave them of the stuff that was in my fridge, they opted for salmon.  I had the salmon in my freezer for a while and it needs to be eaten at some point, and this was perfect.  Since I bought the fish from Costco, it was HUGE.  I thought I would cook it all anyway and eat the left overs for the next week.  Easier then trying to cook in the middle of the week, especially the busy one I had in front of me this week.

I cooked the salmon in foil from a recipe that I got from allrecipes.com.  I had done it once before and not only made the cooking of the fish easy, but clean up easy too.  I threw some different spices, including my new fresh basil, squash, zucchini, and grape tomatoes.  Then I squeezed fresh lemon on it all and wrapped it in foil.

Cooked Salmon

Squash, Zucchini, and Tomatoes that were cooked with the Salmon.

    

While the fish cooked, I chopped and boiled some kale to make braised greens.  Once that started cooking, I put some corn on the cob in my brand new steamer.  Then I started on the hot cross buns, thinking that they could cook in the oven while we ate.  Boy I was wrong on that.  While the total time said 45 minutes, it didn't account for the hour it had to rise.  I didn't read the directions in detail earlier that day when I was pacing things out.  So no hot cross buns for the folks.

I put the cooked kale in a pan of oil and onions.  Then added vinegar as the last touch.  Surprisingly, everything finished almost at the same time, minus the corn, which I should have waited to put in, but since I'm not that skilled at cooking a meal for everyone that gets served at the same time, I'm still working on that.  Usually, I throw things together and eat what is done when it's done while I'm cooking other things.  But it's good to practice serving a meal at the same time.

Braised Greens

 

Corn on the Cob

I had also cut some fruit up, as I had tons, so there was a huge variety of food around.  Everyone seemed to like what was done, including me.  After they had left, the hot cross buns were just about ready to put in the oven.  Now, I'm not sure if the buns were suppose to be sweet or taste more like a role, but they tasted more like a role, when I expected sweet.  But they were good, especially with the dried cranberries in them.  I didn't bother to make the icing, as it was just me to enjoy them.

Yummy Fruit

Hot Cross Buns - minus the icing

    

I now have tons of food to last me through the week.

Trying New Things in the Kitchen...

For almost a year, I have been learning how to eat healthier.  This not only has me buying more fresh food, but also has me trying out new (or any) recipes.  This past week I have come up with a few firsts.  Last week, I bought my first cantaloupe.  While most won't find this a big deal, that fruit (well really all melons) have really intimidated me.  I love the fruit, when someone else has picked it out and cut it up, but trying to pick out a good melon and cutting it really wasn't something that I felt I was ready to do on my own, till last week.  I picked up a great cantaloupe and easily chopped it all up.  I was so confident with this, that I bought a three pack from Costco this week.  Yay me.

A few weeks ago, I was able to successfully cook a fish that didn't taste horrible.  I love fish, but this has always been something I failed at.  When I cooked it, I did it in the oven wrapped in foil.  I think that is the key for me when cooking a fish, wrap it up in foil.  I've tried it a couple times with success both times.

The big thing for me is that I cooked my first whole chicken.  While I had been getting pretty good at cooking chicken breasts in my slow cooker, I had never tried a full chicken.  This I boiled as I'm still a little too shaky to try to bake a chicken.  But the chicken was moist and really good.  I'm still eating the left overs now, which I think is my favorite part.  Though I really wasn't a fan of de-boning it.

This weekend my parents are coming over to help me plant a tree, so I offered to cook them dinner.  The menu includes salmon cooked with squash/zucchini/tomatoes (in foil!), corn on the cob and/or braised greens, and cut fruit.  For desert I thought I would try to make some hot cross buns, as it is Easter.  I feel very confident that it will turn out great!

Granola Bar Triumph!

So, I was inspired by Julie's post about the baking she did the other day.  I really was in the mood to make some granola, which I have never done before.  I'm not much in the kitchen, but I have been trying a lot more in the last year.  I have always been really good at chili and nacho type things, where you just throw a bunch of things together.  Never followed any type of recipes for those types of things.  But now I'm trying to eat healthier and with that comes trying to prepare fresh things from scratch.  I took a couple days looking at different recipes, especially on Allrecipes.  I found what looked like a real easy recipe and read some reviews that helped me make it just a little more healthy.  So I took this recipe and modified it just a twinge.

I lowered the brown sugar to 1/2 cup.
I upped the cinnamon to 1 teaspoon.
Used whole wheat flour instead of all purpose.
Instead of the raisins, I used 1 cup dried cranberries and 1 cup walnuts.
Instead of honey, I used 1/2 cup Splenda.
Instead of oil, I used 1 cup applesauce.

I could only find my 9" circle pan instead of the 9"x13" pan, so even though others recommended a shorter cooking time, 30 minutes was perfect.  It came out crispy on the outside and soft on the inside.  With the changes it came to 125 calories for 24 pieces. 

These were so good that when I realized that I was gobbling them down, I would have to hide them and bring them into work to share so I didn't eat all of them.  Next time I cook/bake, I'll have to take a picture to share.