Saturday, January 15, 2011

Week 3

I have a very good friend from high school coming to visit me this week! I am so excited to spend some time with her and show her around the Denver area. I am planning two slow cooker meals for the days I'm working, and a couple meals for while my friend is here, but I am not sure if we will end up eating out some, so we may not get to all these meals this week. The great thing is that I can buy frozen veggies and either buy my meat frozen or freeze it myself and if we don't end up making one of the meals this week, we can have it next week.

The other thing I am planning on doing is getting a dedicated freezer for the garage so we can purchase a side of 100% grass-fed beef. This is something I've been wanting to do for a while, and it's just finding a source that is taking so long! Really, there should be boundless sources out here in the west since I see cattle grazing all over. It's just figuring out how to get some and get it processed for a reasonable fee.

Okay, on to the recipes :)


Ginger-glazed Mahi Mahi (from Allrecipes.com) Serve with veggie(s) of choice and brown rice or quinoa
  • 3 tablespoons honey
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger root
  • 1 clove garlic, crushed or to taste
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • 4 (6 ounce) mahi mahi fillets
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  1. In a shallow glass dish, stir together the honey, soy sauce, balsamic vinegar, ginger, garlic and olive oil. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper, and place them into the dish. If the fillets have skin on them, place them skin side down. Cover, and refrigerate for 20 minutes to marinate.
  2. Heat vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Remove fish from the dish, and reserve marinade. Fry fish for 4 to 6 minutes on each side, turning only once, until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fillets to a serving platter and keep warm.
  3. Pour reserved marinade into the skillet, and heat over medium heat until the mixture reduces to a glaze consistently. Spoon glaze over fish, and serve immediately.

Slow Cooker Chicken and Dumplings 
This is another recipe I'm going to try from A Year of Slow Cooking. Read through the ingredients and directions. I am ashamed to say that I have two cans of "cream of something" soup in my pantry, that have been there a very long time (ever since I've decided to cook w/less processed ingredients.) I just don't have it in me to throw them out, so I will use them for this recipe and then happily never buy them again! I love how Steph put a recipe to make your own "cream of something" right on her blog, so I can just do it that way next time :) I checked out Pamela's Baking Mix like she mentioned for the dumplings, but I ended up buying Bob's Red Mill Wheat-Free Biscuit and Baking Mix and will use the instructions for dumplings on their website.


Slow Cooker Burgundy Stew (from Betty Crocker's Slow Cooker Cookbook), 8 servings

2 lbs boneless beef bottom or top round, cut into 1" pieces (or you can do what I did and get pre-cut stew meat from 100% grass-fed cows)
4 med carrots, cut into 1/4" slices (or 2 cups baby-cut carrots)
2 stalks celery, sliced
2 med onions, sliced
1 can (14 oz) diced tomatoes, undrained
8 oz sliced mushrooms (the recipe calls for canned, but you can use fresh, and I like to quarter them)
3/4 cup dry red wine
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 tsp ground mustard (dry)
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup water
3 Tbs flour (the recipe calls for all-purpose, but I'm going to use whole wheat)

Mix all ingredients except water and flour in a large slow cooker. Cover and cook on low 8-10 hrs or until veggies and beef are tender. Mix water and flour together and gradually stir into slow cooker, turn to high and cook about 10-15 mins or until slightly thickened.


Pasta with Swiss Chard and Cannelini Beans (vegetarian)

1 bunch swiss chard, washed thoroughly, leaves cut into 1" strips and stalks chopped
EVOO for sauteeing
garlic cloves, finely chopped, to taste (for me, about 4 cloves)
crushed red pepper flakes, again to taste
S & P to taste
1 can cannelini beans, drained (or you can cook up some dried ones)
Cooked pasta of choice

This is super easy. Heat the EVOO in a skillet, add the chard stalks, garlic and red pepper flakes. Saute until soft. Add the chard leaves and add a bit of the pasta cooking liquid, add beans, cover and cook about 1 min. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve over pasta.


Indian Food Night (vegetarian)
I love Indian food. This meal will consist of two vegetarian Indian recipes, and you can serve with basmati rice or naan flatbread. I think I'm going to try this naan recipe and make it with whole wheat flour. It looks authentic at least :)

Curried Cauliflower with Potatoes and Peas Recipe
1 Tbs grapeseed or olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 large potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" pieces
1 Tbs minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 med head cauliflower, cut into small florets
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

In large skillet, heat oil and saute onions about 5 mins. Add potatoes, ginger, garlic, curry, and cumin. Saute about 2 mins until fragrant. Add water and salt. Heat to boiling, reduce heat to med, cover and cook 10 mins. Stir in cauliflower, cover and cook until tender, about 10 mins longer. Stir in frozen peas and cook uncovered until most of liquid has evaporated. Stir in cilantro and serve.

Lentil Dahl Recipe
Saute one sliced onion in about 4 Tbs butter. Add 1 Tbs curry powder and 1 1/2 tsp mustard seeds. Saute until seeds start popping. Mix with cooked lentils (you can alternatively do this with canned garbanzo beans). Stir in a fresh chopped tomato. Add some lemon juice, fresh chopped cilantro and salt to taste.

2 comments:

  1. Dude, I want to come over on Indian food night...

    Have a great time with your friend!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think I read/heard that there is one big slaughter a year for us common folk, usually in September. That is when we are planning on getting our beef supply and stand alone freezer.

    ReplyDelete