Pistachio ice cream (wasabi) salmon

Pistachio ice cream (wasabi) salmon

This week’s blog was intended to be a recap of our Sunday afternoon football-watching feast in order to get everyone psyched up for the Supberbowl (go Pats!). Unfortunately, my “football feast” consisted of 500 calories-worth of Saltines and a liter of gingerale because I found myself at the mercy of a stomach bug. And for those of you playing along at home – 500 calories worth of Saltines roughly equals one sleeve. Am I the
only one who thinks 500 calories is a lot for a sleeve of Saltines? I realize that is a lot of crackers, but for something that weighs nearly next to nothing…sigh. Apparently my "portion control issues" are in effect even when I can barely eat anything.

Anyway, lucky for me and all of the people visiting Hannaford that day, Brett offered to go grocery shopping. I’m pretty bad about writing out what I need at the grocery store, I usually just know what I need and get it. Additionally, I couldn’t wrap my head around meal planning that day so I wasn’t sure what our dinner situation would be this week, and more importantly what my blog would be this week. Thankfully, Brett came home with salmon and even more thankfully I got rid of that nasty bug and was able to eat it!
So I knew that I had to diversify from my standard salmon, because one, I’ve already posted it and two, this was my one blog shot for the week. SO I decided to incorporate wasabi and change up the topping a bit. NOTE: If you’re not getting the “pistachio ice cream” title, watch this:

What this scene doesn't show if afterwards when mater freaks out and starts yelling "the pistachio ice cream has turned.” Thinking about this scene still makes me giggle. If you’re like Mater and have never had wasabi, please know that it will completely clean out your sinuses. In fact both mine and my “helper’s” eyes started watering when we were mixing it up.

Personally I can’t get enough wasabi, and if I were to make this just for myself, I’d add more wasabi powder. The amount listed below may seem like a lot, but I would call it perfect for a “standard eater.” If you’re super sensitive, maybe cut back a little. Brett and I both gave this the thumbs up. Even though the ingredients are pretty similar to my standard salmon, it tasted completely different (thank you pistachio ice cream!).

The recipe2 portions salmon fillet (Brett bought two pieces. If you are ordering a fillet, I usually order ¾ lb for the two of us).
2 tbsp. wasabi powder
Sprinkling of water
2 tbsp grain dijon mustard
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp olive oil
½ cup whole wheat bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400. Add drops of water to wasabi powder to make a thick paste (does not take much).

Stir in mustard, lemon juice, olive oil and breadcrumbs. Mixture should be a pasty-consistency.

Spread over the top of the salmon in a thin layer and bake for 20 minutes or until cooked through (may be more or less depending on the thickness of your salmon).

I served the salmon with roasted broccoli and wild rice.

Are you there blog? It's me, Jen...with a burrito bowl

Back to blogging with a burrito bowl

If anyone’s interested, I’m resolved to writing my blog again…if you’re not interested, well that’s OK too. For the record, I didn’t stop writing because I stopped cooking, or because I hate blogging – I had more than I could handle on my plate, and when it came down to it, the blog got cut.

You know how something like that starts, right? You stop doing something for a week or two which turns into a month and the next thing you know Christmas is over and you’re surrounded by candy wrappers and empty bottles of Baileys. (No?? is that just me?) Just kidding…that didn’t actually happen, but I didn’t intend to stop blogging for good either.

SO I’m back..and I’m cooking and my kids are continuing to NOT eat what I make. Seriously, dinner has turned into a ridiculous three-ring circus at my house. I feel like a big Italian mama from a movie who’s constantly saying “EAT”! One dinner I can kinda/sorta get them to eat…burito bowl. The bonus? You can have dinner completely on the table in less than 20 minutes. Literally…this has become a new weekly staple at our house. It’s certainly not a creative stroke of genius, but because it’s healthy, fast and I can get my kids to eat it – I obviously wanted to share!

The recipe:1 lb thin sliced chicken breasts
1 carton chicken broth (4 cups) (you can use water too)
Bay leaf
1 package Uncle Ben's 90 second whole grain rice
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 avocado
½ lime
2 scallions, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
1 tsp chili powder
Salsa
Shredded cheese
Tabasco (if desired)

Pour chicken stock in a large skillet on high and add garlic, black pepper, salt and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Once it's boiling, add chicken breasts, re-cover and cook for 10 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken and let cool for 5 minutes.

Once it’s cooled, shred with two forks (I cooked an extra chicken breast to throw into a couple of salads this week.).

Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions, remove from the microwave and let stand.

Mix black beans with garlic, chili powder, salt and pepper and heat in the microwave for 1 minute.

Add rice and check for seasoning Dice avocado, and top with lime juice. In your dinner bowls, divide the rice bean mixture and top with chicken, corn, shredded cheese, scallions and salsa. I like to pop mine in the microwave for one minute to heat up the salsa. Top with avocado and serve.

I serve my kids the rice bean mixture (pre-chili powder), and separate out chicken, corn, avocado. I add some fruit, chunks of cheese and grape tomatoes to their plates (and these days ranch dressing…I can get them to eat the chicken if they’re dipping).

This recipe makes enough for two adult and two kid servings…well my kids anyway. If I had teenagers I would definitely up the ante!