The 3 Ingredient Week Continues...

Red Curry Glazed Salmon with

Bok Choy & Pineapple Slaw

(Once again... recipes from Real Simple. The Magazine)

I'm back again with yet another evening's worth of 3 ingredient food. This is from supper last night and features a couple of my personal faves... Salmon and fresh pineapple. Heavenly. 

Red Curry Glazed Salmon

• 1 T. Thai Red Curry Paste
•  1 tsp. brown sugar 
• 1 lb Salmon fillets

Mix together the curry paste, brown sugar, 1 T olive oil, 1/2 tsp salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. Spread on top of salmon fillets. Broil until opaque in the middle.

I think the best way to eat Salmon is medium to medium-rare. It tastes WAY better under cooked than over cooked. I broiled these fillets, which were about an inch thick, for 8 minute and they came out medium.

Serve on top of  Bok Choy & Pineapple Slaw

freshly washed bok choy

 This was the first time I've ever made anything with Bok Choy. I'm trying to remember whether I had ever actually even eaten Bok Choy before this, but am having a hard time recalling. I'm sure I had, but maybe didn't realize it. At any rate... I have come to 2 conclusions about Bok Choy

1.  I really like to say 'Bok Choy'. It feels good in my mouth... almost like chewing.
2.  I was pleasantly surprised by the combo of Bok choy, cilantro, and pineapple (the 3 ingredients of this salad). This slaw was light and fresh. Slightly salty and slightly sweet. 

Perfect for a hot summer day :) 

Here are the specs: finely slice a head of bok choy and a whole fresh pineapple. Toss with a bunch of chopped fresh cilantro (about 1 Cup), 3 T. olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp pepper. 

Let sit about 15 minutes before serving so that the flavors can combine and get all juicy and de-lish. 

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

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Kitchen Experiment #9

Paprika Walnut Shrimp

How can something so ugly taste so delicious? If you've ever peeled and/or deveined raw shrimp, you know exactly what I'm talking about. These particular little shrimpys I only had to peel, but when this task was finished I had a pile of what looked like Locust shells.... which totally used to freak me out when I was little. I recall not playing on my swing set for a good part of the summer one year simply because a Cicada had chosen it as a good place to shed it's skin. Ewww.

But, I digress. Regardless of a shrimp's apparent lack of beauty, they are SO good. And the fact that they go from gray and ugly, to pink and delicious in a matter of minutes never ceases to amaze me. I love cooking with seafood because it makes for such a fast and healthy meal. I could eat it everyday.

I got the recipe for this particular dish from my fave cookbook, Powerfoods. I have been cooking from it a lot and am never disappointed. 

Here is what I did to make these delectable little shrimpys:

I heated up 2 T. Safflower oil in a skillet over medium heat then added about an inch of peeled and grated fresh ginger along with 1 & 1/2 teaspoons of Smoked Spanish paprika...

...Which, by-the-way I have been looking for forever, but could never find in my grocery store. I ended up finding some at this cute little specialty food store in my town. If you live in Lincoln I highly recommend stopping in at the Saucy Cook. If you don't live in the area and can't find Smoked paprika, I know for certain you can order it through Penzy's. I have never ordered from them, but have a couple friends who do all the time. Regular paprika will work, but will have less of a deep and smokey flavor. I wasn't really sure if there would be that much of a difference in flavor between the smoked and regular paprika however, upon opening the jar for the first time, I could tell a huge difference just in the smell alone.

Okay, back to the recipe.... I promise, despite all my rambling,  this is super easy to make. 

•  Stir the ginger and paprika in the oil til fragrant (about 30 seconds) 
• add 3 T chopped walnuts and cook til lightly browned (about 3 minutes) 
• Throw in a pound of shrimp and cook until pink (about 4 minutes) 
• Stir in one chopped turnip, 1 T apple cider vinegar, 3 T. white cooking wine, and freshly ground S&P to taste.
• Cook for another few minutes. 
• Serve over noodles or rice... I used yakisoba noodles which I stirfried in little bit of safflower oil with 1 Cup of chopped Asparagus and 1 chopped portabella mushroom. These particular noodles came with it's own seasoning packet, so I just used that to flavor the noodles and they turned out great. 

I prepped every thing beforehand, so once i got to cooking this meal it took me a total of about 7 minutes to make. Super easy, super yummy, pretty darn healthy, AND it included a lot of "firsts" for me:
First use of Smoked Spanish Paprika ever. First time making Yakisoba noodles. First time eating and/or cooking with a turnip, In fact, I really had no idea what a turnip even was before this kitchen experiment.. In case you too are wondering what the heck a turnip is, it looks like this:

Apparently, they are high in fiber, potassium, calcium , and vitamin C. I enjoyed the taste of them. Sweets said he didn't prefer the texture (similar to that of an apple)

Final conclusion on this meal... I will most definitely be making this again. 

Peace & Love, 

Chandra Nicole

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Japamediterexican...aka Kitchen Experiment #3

So...I made this meal the other night that was quite de-lish in taste and had healthy elements, but in hindsight I suppose that fish marinated in a mayo based sauce and then fried is not really all that healthy... and which sort of eating establishment would you have to go to in order to get a meal of fish tacos with a side of hummus and edamame? A Japamediterexican restaurant?

I debated on whether or not to write about this absurd meal for fear of coming across a fool, but then remembered I AM often foolish, so it's really actually imperfectly perfect. We can't put together perfect meals all the time and being healthy doesn't need to be so serious. It's impossible to follow the "latest" in healthy eating anyways... one day coffee is sent from the heavens, the next it's the devil; on Monday carbs ruin your life but by humpday they make you a rock star. I think that instinctively we know what is good for our bodies and what is not, just like all creatures in the animal kingdom... seriously, you don't see polar bears munching cheese doodles, and when's the last time you saw an obese Tiger?

So, maybe we eat some fried stuff... or smash an entire row of Oreos for breakfast. It's really all about balance, enjoying life, and listening to our bodies... and let's face it, unhealthy stuff tastes good sometimes. So, as long as we are aiming to make healthy decisions most of the time... we shouldn't feel bad about the super-duper-snickerdoodle-frappuccino with whipped cream on top that we had for lunch.

(I thought that maybe if I typed this post in Rainbow, you might not grow weary of my long windedness)

That Being Said... I give you Fish Tacos with Spicy Lime Slaw

(This was adapted from a recipe I found while perusing magazines in a waiting room one day, and consequently ripped out... sorry eye doctor guy) 

 

 

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