Make a Meal: Soy-Mustard Glazed Salmon with Bok Choy Fried Rice

This dish happened in one of my favorite ways: by accident. I had fully intended to do a different salmon dish based off a recent menu sampling for wedding food. I had sent our chef some of our recipes for the dinner portion but we were having a hard time narrowing down the passed appetizer options that both matched our dinner "theme" and were easy enough to eat. One of the choices he served was a jumbo bacon-wrapped shrimp with a dipping sauce. It was like a barbecue/poblano chutney; there was a sweet tang to it and a subtle smokey heat. We nixed it for an app because it was too high maintenance to consume, not a good finger food, but we just loved the sauce. He told me that since I shared my recipes with him, he would return the favor. He came back with a printed copy of his recipe and I was ready to use it!

I was all set for that until I left my wedding binder (with recipe tucked in the pocket) at work. Arriving home and realizing that, meant I had to come up with another plan.

Enter the Soy-Mustard Glaze Salmon. First of all, I don't really like anything that has mustard in the title. I can do mustard when it is a simple ingredient, an undertone of a recipe, but not as a prominent feature. However, I found this in America's Test Kitchen Light and Healthy 2012 when I was making the Miso-Orange Glazed Fish. I remember this second glaze recipe and decided to try that, since I had all the ingredients on-hand already.

Now let's discuss the bok choy fried rice. My friend Greer had recently asked me how to make bok choy so I had it on my mind. I got brown rice, some chopped carrots for another meal in the week and the bok choy. Max Man was ready to help so I asked him to chop the bok choy to fit the saute pan. I meant in half but didn't articulate that, and sweet man chopped it like lettuce for a salad. As I prepared it, I started to think through how I would pull this off, because it was shrinking like spinach. I looked at the finished brown rice and decided to dump that in the skillet with the bok choy and add the carrots along with other tasty ingredients. Yes, I liked where this was heading.

Nutritional facts for the salmon are located here; 6 WW points per 4 oz. salmon filet. Nutritional facts for the stir-fry are located here; 2 points for 1/2 cup serving of the rice.

Grocery List:
For Salmon - Recipe yields two servings

• 2 salmon fillets (4-6 oz. each)
• 2 tbsp. light brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. tamari (organic, low-sodium soy sauce)
• 2 tbsp. mirin
• 1 tbsp. sherry vinegar
• 1 tbsp. whole-grain mustard
• 1 tbsp. water
• 1 tsp. cornstarch
• 1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes

For Bok Choy Stir Fry - Recipe yields 4 servings

• 1 cup brown rice 
• 2 cups bok choy, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. sesame oil
• 1 cup carrots, diced 
• 2 tbsp. low sodium stir-fry sauce 

To begin, let your grilling surface start warming up (if you decide to grill) or heat your oven at 350 degrees. Next, cook the rice according to the package. As the rice cooks, begin your salmon glaze by placing the brown sugar, tamari, mirin, sherry vinegar, mustard, water, corn starch and red pepper flakes into a shallow sauce pan. Let simmer on medium heat and thicken for 5-7 minutes, whisking well.

As your glaze perfects, pan sear the salmon. When you flip the salmon skin down, you are allowing the omegas to permeate down through the rest of the fish, fully getting those vitamins. Thank you Central Market man for enlightening me on that little brain nugget.

 

Once salmon fillets are seared on both sides, prep your cooking method. I use a grill basket and cover with aluminum foil, then place the salmon down. Lather the glaze on the tops of the fish and set on the grill for 15 minutes. 

Oh hey, chopped bok choy!

In a large skillet or chef's pan, let your bok choy begin to wilt with just a splash of oil and garlic. When wilted, add the rice and carrots. Add stir-fry sauce and mix well on medium heat for 5 minutes.

Once the salmon flakes at touch and is a light pink, dish out the stir-fry and top with the fish. Enjoy this taste foodie friends. I'm actually about to make this salmon again. For the fourth time this month but new side dish! 

Tastefully yours, 

Make a Meal: Grilled Chicken Kabobs with Sweet and Spicy Cucumber Salad

 

While I was on the same grocery trip that inspired the Apple Banana Muffins, I also grabbed a recipe card for grilled chicken with cucumber relish while at the meat counter. It sounded light and refreshing for a summer evening so it made it home with me. Like kismet, the next day I stumbled upon another cucumber recipe on pinterest and decided to grab inspiration from each, adapting and combining the two for this dish. The chicken kabobs were easy, the cucumbers were easy, what more can you want in a week night meal? Health and nutrition? You are in luck, because this dish has that too.

I loved the sweetness and kick of heat to the cucumber salad. It was a tasty contrast and something that would work great on its own at a BBQ, a shower or like this for dinner.

Click here for the nutritional facts calculated at SparkRecipes.com and 6 WW points for one serving.

Grocery List:
Recipe yields 4 servings

For Chicken

• 1 lb chicken, cubed
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

For Cucumber Salad

• 1 cucumber, peeled and quartered
• Salt
• 1/4 cup Mirin (rice wine vinegar)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 
• 1 tsp. sugar
• 2 tbsp. red onion, minced
• 3 tbsp. feta cheese, crumbled
• Baby spinach (optional for salad greens)

To begin, heat your grilling surface and brush with oil to help prevent the kabobs from sticking. Next, take your cucumbers and set in a colander. This next step I learned from the original recipe, it's very important to season with salt to help dry out the fruit. Otherwise, they will water down the final product. Salt and let sit for about 15 minutes, then pat dry with paper towels.

 

In a mixing bowl, combine the cubed chicken with the minced garlic and Worcestershire sauce. Let marinate for about 10 minutes and then thread bamboo or metal kabobs with about 5-6 pieces of chicken, resulting in about 4 oz. on each kabob.

 

While the chicken is marinating and the cucumbers are "salting," you multitask and move on to the cucumber salad sauce. In a small sauce pan, heat the mirin, water, sugar and red pepper flakes over medium high. Whisk together and let reduce to about 1/3 cup, about 10 minutes.

 

Once reduced, set to the side, add the red onion and let cool to room temperature.

 

Toss with cucumbers and add feta cheese, then place in fridge to serve chilled.

   

Grill the chicken kabobs, about 6 minutes on each side.

 

Once done, bring inside and assemble your plate. We used a bed of spinach leaves to enhance the green factor and add nutrients to the dinner. Spoon the cucumber salad atop the spinach and grab a kabob, dinner is served my friends!

 

Tastefully yours,

Grilled Teriyaki Salmon and Veggie Stir Fry

 

This is an easy two part meal that is both delicious and nutritious! I had started to make a Teriyaki sauce from one of my first posts but right before I placed the salmon into the marinade, I remembered I hadn't tasted it yet. I'm glad I did because something in the ingredients was not good. There was a rancid taste to it so I threw out some things that may have been past their shelf life, oops! Lesson to why you always taste test in the cooking process...and clean out your pantries every few months.

I had used the last of my soy sauce with the bad batch, and threw out my rice wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar. I paced between my pantry and fridge to come up with an alternative and decided to combine ponzu, honey and hoisin, add some sriracha and call it a marinade. Stuck my finger in that bowl, that was a good taste, we can move forward with this goodness.

Nutritional facts can be found here, calculated at SparkRecipes.com; one serving of this whole meal is 10 WW points.

Grocery List:
Recipe yields two servings

• Two 4-6 oz. salmon fillets
• 2 tbsp. low sodium Ponzu sauce (a citrus soy sauce)
• 1 tbsp. Hoisin
• 2 tsp. Sriracha
• 1 tbsp. Honey
• 1 tsp. Ginger
• 1 tsp. Olive oil
• 1 cup mixed vegetables, julienned or chopped (squash, zucchini, bell pepper, carrot)

Start by whisking together the ponzu, hoisin, sriracha, honey and ginger. Make sure that it tastes to your liking and you don't want to add anything!

 

Reserve about 3 tbsp. of it and then use the remaining to marinate your salmon, skin up, in a bowl at room temperature. Let this soak for about 20 minutes.

 

In the meantime, heat your grilling surface. We decided to use the grill, but if you are looking for less complicated cooking methods, you can pan sear or griddle the fillets as well. For the E-Grill, we used a grill pan, covered with foil and coated with non-stick spray. Place your fish on the heat and cook covered for 15-18 minutes.

 

For the veggies, I grabbed a pre-chopped box labeled as an Asian stir-fry in the produce section at Whole Foods. With strips of red onion, yellow squash, zucchini, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper and carrot, it was perfect for this dish. The veggies were fresh and helped me cut down on at least 15 minutes of chopping. When the fish goes on the grill, it is veggie time. Heat the oil in a skillet over medium and add your veggies. Take the reserved teriyaki sauce and cook into the veggies for about 8-10 minutes on medium heat, until softened.

 

When salmon flakes to the touch and a nice light pink color, it is ready.

 

Pile your stir fry veggies on a plate, top with the salmon and dinner is served!

 

Tastefully yours,

Fiesta Shrimp Salad

Easy as can be on a summer evening! Mr. Max and I got home from yoga one night and whipped up this salad in less than 15 minutes for a not too light, yet not too heavy, refreshing dish. Similar to the mexi-texi layer salad but better suited for two. We've made this several times in the past two weeks! I decided to post this in case you are looking for a delicious and nutritious salad combination to add to your rotation. I know I'm always looking for new ideas!

The nutritional facts can be found here, calculated at SparkRecipes.com; one serving of this salad is 6 WW points. Does not include salad dressing, I used a great new bottle of dressing I came across, fat free without oil added, a spicy cilantro and citrus from Kozlowski Farms found at Central Market. This dressing was 20 calories, 180 mg sodium, 4g carbs, 4g sugars for one serving, equal to 2 tbsp.

Grocery List:
Recipe yields two servings

• 1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 3 cups romaine lettuce, chopped
• 1/2 cup red bell pepper, diced
• 1/4 cup baby corn
• 1/4 cup black beans
• Avocado,chopped

To prepare the shrimp, you can kabob them, or lay them in a grill safe basket. Cook for 10 minutes, flipping to cook evenly on each side. Remove from grill and chop into smaller bits. 

Are you ready for how simple this is? Now dump all the ingredients into a bowl, toss with your dressing of choice and voila! Serve it out and enjoy.

Tastefully yours,

Chipotle Salmon

Last spring I found a delicious alternative to naked chicken and salmon dishes: preservatives + chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. Something about the summer months, the want to grill (or fake grill on a griddle to stay out of the heat), and the fruity tastes mixed in is just perfect. I've done raspberry, peach, mango, and cherry jams/preserves with a dash of heat added to it and we just love it! In last night's post, I mentioned we had no meal planning prior to our grocery store run. As we looked for options for the rest of the week, we decided to grab 2 side potentials and some salmon for tonight, then see what we came up with.

For this recipe, I had a can of chipotle peppers in adobo and a plethora of preserves in my fridge.  I decided to go with cherry this time because we hadn't tried that flavor with salmon yet, only with chicken. This time, I decided to change it up a bit with other ingredients I had on hand. The result? Let's just say, it will be made again. And again, and again, and again.

But, let me fill you in on a little something that I learned. For as long as I can remember, I have asked the fish man behind the counter to please remove the skin off the fish for me. This past time when I asked, he turned to me and said "you know, you are losing nutritional value when you do that," - and I said "really, do tell?" - he proceeds to tell me that all the omegas and fish oils are found in the skin. I felt enlightened! The way to take full advantage of this is to cook with skin on, and when you flip it skin-side up, that is when the omega oils filter down into the "meat" of the fish. That created a new wrinkle in my brain, I wanted to pass along that little nugget of wisdom for anyone else that may not have know that either!

This dish was a simple 20 minute fix from prep time to fork finish. Nutritional facts can be found here, calculated at SparkRecipes.com; one 4 ounce salmon is 6 WW points.

Grocery List:
Sauce yields enough for 4 servings

• 2 salmon fillets, 4-6 oz. each
• 1/4 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup cherry preserves
• 2 tbsp. sauce from chili pepper in adobo
• 2 tbps. lime juice
• 1 tsp. garlic powder
• 1 tsp. cumin

Start by greasing and heating a grill or griddle pan on medium-high heat. In a food processor, add the ketchup, preserves, adobo sauce, lime juice, garlic powder and cumin. Pulse until well mixed.

 

Place the salmon skin side down on the surface. Brush a light layer of the chipotle sauce to top the salmon, then cover. Cook for about 8 minutes, or until the sides of the fish begin to look pink/white.

 

Flip the fish skin side up to allow those omegas to penetrate throughout the fish. Cook for another 3-5 minutes on medium-low heat.

 

To serve, brush another layer of the chipotle sauce over the top of the salmon and enjoy!

Served with rosemary-garlic roasted potatoes and grilled asparagus

Tastefully yours,

Grilled Shrimp Papillote with Mango-Avocado Salsa

I blinked and it was May... already halfway through May at that! It's been hard to find spare minutes lately but I finally convinced myself to sit down to create time that isn't solely dedicated to wedding planning. Mr. Max and I made this dish a week or so ago and it was such a refreshing dinner packed with super foods and a taste of summer! For this recipe, we've got spinach, quinoa, shrimp, cilantro, mango salsa, avocado.... all wrapped up in a foil packet, set on a grill and you've got dinner 15 minutes later!

I haven't played with foil packets since the very first post, the halibut en papillote. Here is your "I learned something new today" nugget of wisdom: en papillote is french for pouch, or in parchment. It's a great cooking method that uses the liquids from food to steam and cook in a package. The recipe I found for this creation used couscous, but in my adaptation, I replaced with quinoa instead.

This was a fun one, but don't be discouraged if you do not have a grill or simply don't want to take the effort to use it. If it weren't for the E-grill, I would feel the same way. I gave Mr. Max a Weber for Christmas a few years ago and we hardly ever use it. Sad. The foil packets cook in the oven too, so there is your solution! Whole Foods had a great little mango/pineapple salsa like relish in their fresh produce section that already included those obvious ingredients, red bell pepper, tomato, onion and jalepeno pepper so I saved time and money by grabbing that instead of each ingredient individually.

Nutritional facts can be found here, calculated at SparkRecipes.com; it is 9 points for Weight Watchers.

Grocery List:
Recipe Yields 2 servings
Adapted from Self Magazine

• Vegetable oil cooking spray
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup quinoa
• 3 tbsp. water
• 1/2 lb. shrimp, peeled, deveined 
• 1 tsp. lime juice
• 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
• Olive oil
• 1 cup of fresh chopped mango salsa (diced mango, pineapple, red onion, tomato, red bell pepper and jalepeno or poblano pepper)
• 1 small avocado, cubed

Start by pre-heating your grill to a medium-high heat. If you are going to do this in the oven, I guesstimate a temperature of 400 degrees in the oven. Take aluminum foil and tear out two pieces about 18-in long, then fold in half to create a line in the foil. Unfold and coat with non-stick cooking spray. On each piece of foil, arrange 1 cup of spinach.

In a small bowl, mix the water and the quinoa together in a bowl. By adding water, we are helping the quinoa to have something to absorb as it cooks on the grill. It will become magically fluffy in the end!

Now, add the quinoa on top of the spinach. The spinach naturally produces moisture as it cooks, this will allow the quinoa to cook even more. 

In another small bowl, mix the olive oil, lime juice and cilantro with the shrimp. 

Lay that next to the quinoa on the foil. 

Fold over that unused half from earlier and begin to crimp the edges, folding each in, to create and enclosed packet. 

 .... like-a-so.

I put our foil packets on a grill basket then set on the grill with the timer at 15 minutes. 

When the timer goes off, the packets will be slightly puffed. Cut them open carefully to reveal wilted, cooked spinach, fluffy quinoa and delicious shrimp! 

Take your mango salsa/relish concoction and scoop half over one packet, half over the other, and add diced avocado. Using a fork, gently mix the contents of the packet and dig in! 

Tastefully yours,

Balsamic BBQ Grilled Chicken

Aside from the mosquitoes and moths, this weekend provided some great patio weather! We enjoyed a lot of time outdoors with a Friday night fundraiser, birthday parties and a baby shower - to end the weekend like we spent it, we decided to grill out on the patio tonight. Browsing through the recipe binder, I came across notes I had scribbled from a Giada DeLaurentiis episode for a Balsamic BBQ glaze. We grabbed some already tenderized chicken cutlets from Whole Foods and fired up the grill to make this delicious dish.

Click here for the nutritional facts calculated from SparkRecipes.com. For Weight Watchers, this chicken dish is only 5 points!

Grocery List:
Sauce measurements makes up to 6 servings

• Desired number of chicken breasts, 4-6 oz. each (we grilled a total of 6 to have leftovers for the week)
• 3/4 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/3 cup brown sugar, not packed
• 1 tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp. Dijon mustard
• Salt and Pepper to taste

In a sauce pan, heat the balsamic, garlic, ketchup, brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce and Dijon mustard over medium-high and bring to a simmer.

 

Stir well and let bubble for about 10-15 minutes, to reduce by about 1/3 of the starting amount, having thickened like a syrup.

 

Pour into a bowl and reserve about 2 tbsp. worth for dipping.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper to taste, then lightly coat with the BBQ sauce then set on the grill. As the chicken cooks, brush with BBQ sauce every few minutes to enrich the flavor. Grill for about 5-6 minutes each, then remove.

 

Served with *lemon-grilled asparagus adding only 2 WW points for a 7 point meal.

*in a small prep bowl, mix 1 tbsp. olive oil with 1 tsp. lemon juice. Brush over the asparagus spears and top with a veggie seasoning or garlic powder. Set in a grill basket and cook for about 10 minutes, flipping the spears half way through. Remove from grill and keep warm until ready to serve.

Tastefully yours,