Maple-Glazed Salmon

You may have heard that salmon is super healthy.  It's incredibly high in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to our health but hard to come by in food.  I am generally not a huge fish/seafood person (people who know me have heard me claim that I don't eat anything that lives under water!), but after learning about the health benefits, I was convinced to give salmon a try.  I tried to maximize my chances of liking it - my first piece of salmon was at Atlantic Grill, one of the best seafood restaurants in Manhattan.  Then I made it myself using this recipe from Epicurious, which has the most delicious marinade.  Both tries were successful, but Atlantic Grill is really expensive and the marinade recipe requires a lot of ingredients that aren't easy to always have on hand. 

Then I found this maple-glazed salmon recipe from Real Simple magazine, and I was blown away.  I mean seriously, maple syrup?  How can you go wrong with that?  And the glaze has just 2 ingredients which I ALWAYS have in my fridge!  The original recipe suggests making it with pineapple, which I have done, but it really isn't necessary - you can serve the glazed salmon with whatever sides you want (my favorites are generally brown rice, sweet potatoes, and/or broccoli, but in the photo below we had cheddar-broccoli sticks, salad, and whole wheat rolls).  I've gotten to the point where I actually enjoy salmon simply with some lemon juice, salt, and pepper, but this is my go-to recipe when I feel like adding a little more flavor.

Maple-Glazed Salmon
adapted from Real Simple

1/4 cup pure maple syrup
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
2 6-8 ounce wild Alaskan salmon fillets*
Pineapple and crushed red pepper (optional)

Preheat broiler on high, and cover a small baking sheet with foil.

Whisk together maple syrup and mustard in a very small saucepan (it helps to have a butter warmer for this).  Bring to a boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes, until somewhat thickened.  Turn off heat.

Place salmon skin side down on prepared baking sheet, pat dry with a paper towel, and season with salt and pepper.  Spoon glaze over salmon, creating a thin coat and reserving remaining glaze. 

If you are using pineapple, cut into 1/2 inch thick triangles, place on baking sheet around the salmon, and sprinkle with a few flakes of crushed red pepper.

Broil until salmon is cooked through and flakes easily, approximately 8 minutes.  Remove skin from salmon and drizzle salmon and pineapple, if using, with remaining glaze.  

Serves 2

*In my opinion, using wild Alaskan salmon is essential.  Without going into too much detail, farmed salmon is not as healthy for us, not as tasty, and bad for the environment.  It is worth the money to get the wild, sustainable variety.  If you're looking for a bargain, my Trader Joe's sells frozen wild Alaskan salmon filets for $7/lb, which is amazing.  You can also buy canned wild Alaskan salmon for very reasonable prices, which I think is still better than buying farmed salmon - check out my recipe for salmon cakes for one idea of how to use it!

Vegetable Risotto

Some of you may be under the impression that risotto is unhealthy and way too hard to make at home.  Well, I'm here to dispel both of those myths.  Ellie Krieger came up with this recipe for vegetable risotto that is both healthy AND easy to make at home.  I won't lie, risotto is a bit labor intensive - it's not the type of dish that you put on the stove and come back later to find ready to serve.  But if you're going to be in the kitchen making something else anyway, it's just a matter of regular stirring to make creamy, delicious risotto.  There is absolutely nothing complicated or difficult.  But what's so amazing about this recipe is that it turns out that despite what restaurants may have you believe, you really don't need tons of cream, butter, or cheese to make risotto seem incredibly indulgent!  This recipe has a drop of olive oil and less than a tablespoon of cheese per serving, and is packed full of veggies.  And if that's not enough, it is impressive enough to serve to company - I just made it for New Year's Eve dinner and got rave reviews!

Here is the recipe with my modifications - let me know what you think!

Vegetable Risotto
adapted from Food Network

6 cups low-sodium, low fat chicken broth
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 1/2 cups Arborio rice*
1/2 cup dry white wine
3/4 teaspoon salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 pound package frozen asparagus cuts
3 lightly packed cups baby spinach leaves
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan or Romano

Bring the broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan.  Once it starts to simmer you can cover and turn off heat.

Heat the oil in larger saucepan over medium heat and cook the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft, 5-10 minutes.  Add the rice and cook, stirring constantly, 1 minute until it starts to look translucent. Add the wine and simmer, stirring regularly, until absorbed, about 1 minute.  Add 3/4 cup of the hot broth, the salt and a few grinds of fresh pepper and simmer, stirring regularly, until broth is absorbed.  Continue simmering and adding hot broth about 3/4 cup at a time.  Stir well each time you add more broth, and regularly after that until it is absorbed.  I found that sometimes it helps to actually let it sit and bubble for a minute in between stirring to let the broth cook into the rice.  You're ready to add more broth when the rice still looks runny and creamy, but not much bubbling occurs when you let it sit for a minute.  Once you've added about 2/3 of the broth, start tasting the rice for done-ness.  It should be al dente - not crunchy, but with a little bite.

Add the frozen asparagus and peas and stir to combine.  Then add in the baby spinach and cook, stirring regularly, until the spinach is wilted and the frozen veggies are hot.  Stir in the cheese.  Add more broth as needed if the risotto gets too thick.  Serve with additional cheese on top if desired.

Serves 6 as a main course, and 8-10 as a side dish

*Note - Risotto is traditionally made with arborio rice, which is a white rice.  After touting the healthfulness of this recipe, the one caveat is that refined grain is still not the best choice for every day!  After doing some digging, I found some recommendations for substituting pearl barley in risotto recipes (e.g., here).  Check here for my reviews on this healthier alternative!

Lentil Soup

Something that makes me very happy is having a freezer stocked with home cooked, ready to go meals.  I actually have a dream about having a walk-in freezer one day that's full of things I've made!  Well, maybe not a walk-in, but a freezer bigger than the apartment-sized one I have now :).  Some foods lend themselves particularly well to freezing and reheating, like muffins (as I've already talked about many times), and soup.  I like soup a lot and it has the potential to be really healthy, but prepared soups can be incredibly high in sodium and scary ingredients (hydrogenated fats, preservatives, flavor enhancers, etc).  So recently I decided to see if I could make my own soup at home so that I could control the ingredients and add it to my freezer stockpile.

My first stop was lentil soup.  It is delicious, and so full of fiber, protein, and veggies, making it a perfect lunch or light dinner with a big chunk of bread.  Plus, I've been looking for ways to eat more legumes.  I have a bit of a hard time with beans in general, but am starting to find some ways to work them into my diet.  First stop was chili, and lentil soup is also something I really enjoy - maybe it's the small size of the lentils or the fact that they break down so much in the soup?

I found the original recipe on Epicurious and made some changes based on the reviews to make it more flavorful.  The end result is delicious, easy to make, freezes well, and has gotten good reviews from everyone I've served it to - doesn't get any better than that! 

Lentil Soup
adapted from Epicurious

1/4 cup extra–virgin olive oil
2 medium-large onions (approx 4 cups)
2 cups celery
2 cups carrots
4 garlic cloves
8 cups low sodium, fat free chicken or vegetable broth (read ingredient lists on broth - some of them have the scary ingredients we're trying to avoid by making soup from scratch!)
1 16 oz bag red lentils (approx 2 1/2 cups), rinsed and drained (I have also used green lentils - the color isn't as pretty and the cooking time is about double, but the end result was just as delicious)
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
2 teaspoons cumin
Balsamic vinegar*
Parmesan or romano cheese

Heat oil in a large pot over medium–high heat.  Chop onions, celery, carrots, and garlic in a food processor and add to the pot.  (As a side note here, on one occasion I added broccoli and cauliflower to the veggie mix because I had it around and was looking to use them up, and the soup still came out great, so feel free to add whatever veggies you like!  You just may need to add some extra broth if it gets too thick.)  Sauté until vegetables soften, about 15 minutes.  Add broth, lentils, tomatoes with juice, and cumin and bring to boil.  Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 25 minutes (or about 45 for green lentils).

At this point you can either call the soup finished, or if you prefer a thicker consistency, use an immersion blender to puree the soup in the pot to your liking (recently I've been pureeing entirely; hubby prefers it chunkier).  Alternatively, you could transfer some of the veggies to a blender, puree, and add back to the soup.  Lightly season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve the soup with a splash of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of parmesan or romano cheese.

Makes approx 12 bowls of soup

*In my opinion, the balsamic vinegar really makes the soup.  But if you choose not to use the vinegar, you may want to season with a little extra salt and pepper to make it stand on its own.

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins

Before you even say it, yes, I'm posting another muffin recipe.  And there will likely be several more - I am on such a muffin kick these days!  I absolutely love having homemade muffins in my freezer at all times, but I need some variety so that we don't get bored.  Which is why even though I have some winners already (see bran muffins and granola muffins), I'm still trying out different recipes.

My most recent experiment came from my list of Weelicious recipes to try - banana muffins.  She promised this recipe was as good as traditional buttery, sugary banana bread, but it's incredibly healthy.  And you know what?  They're actually super tasty!  I happen to be surrounded by banana bread at the moment, so it's easy to compare, and the biggest difference is that these muffins are very light - they do not have the same moist density of traditional banana bread.  That being said, they are really sweet without having a lot of sugar, and they have the added benefit of wheat germ!  Wheat germ is packed with nutrients and fiber, so I'm always excited to find a new way to use it.

This recipe also uses agave syrup instead of regular sugar, as do many Weelicious recipes.  I've posted a few recipes with agave so far, so this is probably a good time to share my opinion that nutritionally, I think it's impossible to say that one is better than the other.  Some people argue that agave has a lower glycemic index so therefore it's better for us, and others argue that it's higher in fructose which makes it worse.  I think basically we don't know, and it really depends on what you're eating it with and in what quantities.  That being said, I think there are a couple of advantages to agave:  first, it's less refined which may make it better for the environment and add some nutritional value.  But more importantly, while it has the same calories per teaspoon as sugar (approx 16), it's much more sweet, so you can include less of it to achieve the same level of sweetness.

So overall, I highly recommend this recipe.  Not sure I'd use it for bread because I think you'd miss the dense texture, but it makes a really great, light, sweet muffin.

Banana Wheat Germ Muffins
adapted from Weelicious

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1 Cup Wheat Germ
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Salt
3 Medium Very Ripe Bananas
1/2 Cup Agave
3 Tbsp Vegetable Oil
1 Tbsp Vanilla
1 Large Egg

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray muffin tin with non-stick spray or line with cups. 

In a small bowl, whisk together flour, wheat germ, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

In a large bowl, mash the 3 bananas with a fork.  Add agave, oil, vanilla, and egg and beat using a hand mixer (or standing mixer) until well combined and fairly smooth (small bits of banana are fine).  Add dry ingredients in 3 stages and gently mix on low until just combined.  Do not over-mix.

Fill prepared muffin cups 3/4 full with batter.  Bake 15 minutes for mini muffins or 20 minutes for regular muffins, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Makes 24 mini or 12 standard muffins

Lemon Oregano Chicken and Vinaigrette

Chicken breasts are one of those foods that are healthy and convenient, but often boring and repetitive.  So one night when we were going to have chicken salads for dinner, I looked for a new way to add flavor that wouldn't be too difficult.  My first stops for dinner recipes are generally Epicurious and the Food Network, and it was on the Food Network website that I found the most simple lemon chicken recipe with the most amazing reviews.  The marinade and salad dressing combined have only 5 ingredients, all of which are easy to have around at all times.  Is it the most delicious thing I've ever tasted?  No, but when you factor in the healthfulness and convenience, this recipe is a total winner!

The original recipe by Dave Lieberman is for a Greek salad, but I just used the marinade and dressing recipes to create a salad using whatever I happened to have around - usually some nuts, avocado, and a few kinds of veggies.  I've also tossed the leftover chicken with pasta, olive oil, and romano cheese for a very enjoyable lunch.  And I think the chicken could even stand on it's own as a main course with a yummy side dish (garden risotto?  more on that another time!) - so versatile!

Lemon Oregano Chicken and Vinaigrette
adapted from Food Network

For the chicken:

1 lemon, juiced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
A couple good pinches salt
10 grinds black pepper
1 whole boneless skinless chicken breast (approx 1.5-2 lbs)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk all ingredients except the chicken in a non-reactive baking dish (e.g., glass or corningware).  Add chicken breast, cut into whatever kind of pieces you'd like (halves, tenders, etc.) and turn to coat.  Cover and let marinate in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  It does not really need longer than that, and the outside of the chicken will begin to "cook" a little bit from the lemon even in that short time, but the original recipe says you can marinate up to 4 hours if you want.

Bake chicken until cooked through, about 25 minutes for a split whole chicken breast.  Time will vary depending on the size of your chicken pieces.  Let sit for 5 minutes before slicing.

Note that the original recipe calls for cooking the chicken in a skillet or grill pan, but I have learned over the years that I am very prone to drying chicken out this way, so I prefer baking.  Another advantage is you can marinate and cook in the same dish - easy clean-up!


For the dressing:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 tablespoon honey
3 pinches salt
10 to 15 grinds black pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a resealable container and shake vigorously, or wisk in a measuring cup. Refrigerate until ready to serve, and then bring to room temperature before tossing salad.

Carrot-Zucchini Pancakes

My little munchkin is a picky eater.  I know some people insist that children are capable of eating all sorts of foods if you just expose them to variety and don't cater to picky tendencies, but I am fairly confident that these people either do not have children or have children who are good eaters.  I am hoping that over time and with enough patience on my part the munchkin will be a better eater than I was as a child, but in the mean time her diet is very limited, and the only vegetables she'll really eat are sweet potatoes and white potatoes.  Not very impressive!

But one thing she does love is pancakes, so I was intrigued by a recipe I saw on Weelicious.  I love reading this blog because she has great ideas for healthy recipes that are both kid AND adult friendly, and I'll even forgive her insistance that kids will eat anything you put in front of them because when the munchkin pushes things away, at least I'm left with something that I don't mind eating myself!  And after initial rejection by the munchkin, on try #2 she actually ate a couple of bites!  It's a really interesting recipe - it is the texture of a regular breakfast pancake but packed with zucchini and carrots.  We were expecting something more like a latke, but in my opinion this was a pleasant surprise, especially since no frying was needed.  And despite the lack of resemblance to the latke, they taste great with applesauce.  So far they reheat well from the fridge in the microwave, and I'm guessing they would freeze well, too. 

I made a couple of modifications to the original recipe - I doubled most of the quantities, and also used half whole wheat flour for some extra nutrition.  Let me know what you think!

Carrot-Zucchini Pancakes
adapted from Weelicious

2 carrots, grated
2 small zucchini, grated
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp salt
Canola oil spray

Grate the vegetables using a food processor (or by hand if you're up for it!) and set aside.  In a small bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, and salt.  In a large bowl, whisk together the milk and egg.  Add the grated veggies to the milk mixture and toss.  Then add the flour mixture and mix well.

Spray pan or griddle and heat on medium.  Once the pan is hot, add batter 2 tablespoons at a time and flatten into pancakes with the back of a spoon.  Flip once the edges look dry and the first side is golden brown.

Makes approximately 15 pancakes.

Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies - Try #2

So as promised, I finally found time to try Smitten Kitchen's oatmeal cookie recipe to see if they are as thick and chewy as promised.  I am a big fan of this blog (see broccoli slaw!), and had high hopes that this could be my perfect cookie.  Obviously I made some adjustments, as the original recipe is for oatmeal raisin, and I'm dreaming of the perfect oatmeal coconut chocolate chip cookie.  First of all, I eliminated the cinnamon.  I also subbed chocolate chips for the raisins, and replaced 1/2 cup of oats with coconut (as opposed to just adding coconut) so that the cookie wouldn't dry out too much.  And finally, I make my cookies pretty small (so that I can eat more!), so I dropped the cooking time. 

And the verdict?  Much improved over the first attempt - they were indeed thick and chewy, even after cooling.  But they are still not quite as dense and rich as the cookies in my head.  If anyone out there has any ideas, please let me know!  I'm trying to figure out how to make those cookies that almost taste like raw dough even after they are cooked.

One real benefit to this recipe was chilling the dough - it meant I could make the dough during the munchkin's oh so brief nap, and have it waiting to scoop and bake for fresh cookies after dinner when I was exhausted!  In fact, I kept it in a container in the fridge and had hot cookies on 3 separate occasions this week.  It was just as convenient as store-bought packaged dough, but without all of the scary ingredients!  I love the idea of scooping and freezing to be able to keep these around even longer, too.  According to Deb, frozen dough only takes an extra couple of minutes to bake.

So overall I'd definitely recommend these, but I haven't quite finished my search for my dream recipe!

Oatmeal Coconut Chocolate Chip Cookies
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1/2 cup (1 stick or 4 ounces) butter, softened
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 teaspoon salt (original recipe calls for 1/4; Deb uses up to 1/2 tsp, so I decided to split the difference)
1 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
3/4 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350°F.

In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt together. Stir this into the butter/sugar mixture. Stir in the oats, coconut, and chocolate chips.

Chill the dough for at least 1 hour.  I loaded the whole batch into a storage container and put it in the fridge, but Deb also suggests scooping the dough onto a sheet and chilling the whole thing.  I definitely do not have room in my fridge for that, but if you do it might be worth it - the dough is a bit hard to scoop when chilled.  If you are going to freeze the dough, you will definitely want to scoop first!  If you skip the chilling step, your cookies will not be as thick.

The cookies should be 1-2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet (the chilled cookies do not spread very much at all).  I used a 1 tbsp cookie scoop (approx 1 inch cookies), and my cookies needed to bake for 8-10 minutes.  Take them out when the edges and top are JUST starting to brown.  They may seem undercooked on top but will set up more out of the oven.  Let them sit for a few minutes before taking them off the baking sheet.  Theoretically they are supposed to finish cooling on a rack, but in my house this is the perfect time to start eating :)

Makes approximately 2.5-3 dozen small cookies