Honey and Soy Broiled Wild Alaskan Salmon

The scallions are burnt because I broiled them with the salmon on accident...

Ingredients*:
1 scallion, minced
2 tbls. soy sauce
1 tbls. rice vinegar
1 tbls. honey
1 tsp. minced ginger
4 6 oz. portions of salmon
1 tsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions:
Pre-heat to broil
Whisk scallion, soy sauce, vinegar, honey and ginger in a medium bowl until the honey is dissolved.
Place salmon in a sealable plastic bag, add 3 tablespoons of the sauce and refrigerate; let marinate for 15 minutes.
Line baking pan with foil.  Place salmon on pan, skin side down.

Broil for about 7 minutes.
Drizzle remaining sauce on top, garnish with sesame seeds.

*Recipe from Copper River Seafoods

Chicken Athena

Recipe from some random slow cooker cookbook at Sam's Club... I think it might have been Taste of Home or something like that.  Seriously, the easiest recipe ever (but what slow cooker recipe isn't?)

Ingredients:
6 boneless chicken breast halves
2 medium onions chopped
1/3 c. sun-dried tomatoes (not packed in oil) chopped
1/3 c. pitted Greek olives
2 tbls. lemon juice
1 tbls. balsemic vinegar
3 garlic cloves minced
1/2 tsp. salt

Directions:
Place chicken in a 3 quart slow cooker.  Add the remaining ingredients.  Cover and cook on low for 4 hours.

I realize the picture doesn't really make this look appetizing... but it was good, at least I thought it was because I finished it all in two days.  I sprinkled feta on top as well.... mmmm delicious!

Coconut Lime Cupcakes

Ingredients:
1 c. flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. salt
1 c. sour cream
1 tsp. lime peel
1 tsp. lime juice
1 egg
3/4 c. sugar
6 tblsp. butter
1/4 c. coconut flakes

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 F.
Beat butter, beat in egg, lime peel and lime juice.
Stir dry ingredients in separate bowl.
Add dry to wet, mixing periodically.
Place in lined muffin pan.
Bake for about 25 minutes.

Lime Frosting:
1/2 c. whipping cream
1/8 c. powdered sugar
1/2 tsp. lime juice (can add more if desired)
1/2 tsp. lime peel
Directions:
Whip cream for about 3 minutes, fold in sugar, whip some more, fold in lime juice and peel


I don't remember where I got this recipe from... I'm pretty sure it's a mixture of two to three recipes but this one works really well.  It turned out really fluffy and moist and delicious!  Also, I ran out of all purpose flour so I had to use whole wheat flour.  I just added a little more sugar and lime to adjust to the taste of whole wheat flour.

Turkey Sandwhich with Fresh Greens, Home Fries, and Cucumber soaked in white vinegar with black pepper

No recipe really for this... just a turkey sandwich with Sourdough bread, fresh greens, tomatoes, black pepper, salt, mayo and Sriracha sauce.  The cucumbers were soaked in white vinegar and black pepper.  Home fries were made from one small potato, deep fried and mixed with salt, black pepper and red pepper.

Green Tea Ice Cream Cake with Green Tea Icing

Lots of green tea in this recipe... but green tea in dessert is delicious!  I actually messed up this recipe a lot.  I think I tried to do too much at once (try a new recipe, make an ice-cream cake, and attempt decorating a cake).  I also still have not gotten the hang of taking awesome pictures of the food I make since either a) I'm in a rush or b) I'm too hungry to care about taking a picture.  But mostly it's me being an amateur.  Anywho, please do not judge too harshly.  I plan on making this cake again... except without the ice-cream.  Ice-cream cakes are a pain to decorate without the ice-cream melting on you.  If I were to do this again, it would be in the winter with a type of ice-cream that doesn't melt so quickly...

Ingredients (for cake):
2 c. flour
1 1/2 tsp. b soda
1/2 tsp. salt
8 tsp. green tea powder (can be grounded from dried leaves)
1 1/4 c. sugar
1 c. vegetable oil
3 eggs
1 c. plain yoghurt
1 1/2 tsp. v. extract
Green Tea Ice Cream
Makes one cake

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 F.
Mix dry ingredients.
Whip eggs, add oil... mix rest of wet ingredients.
Sift dry into wet, blend well. Place into greased 9 in. pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes or until toothpick in center comes out clean.
Let cool, then refrigerate to chill.
Place ice cream in between layers.
Place in freezer.

Ingredients (for icing):
8oz cream cheese
1 tbl. matcha powder (can be found at Whole Foods)
3/4 c. butter, whipped
2 1/2 c. confectioner's sugar

Directions:
Whip it all together!

For this cake, I also used butter cream for the decorations and chocolate to make the chocolate decorations.  I don't really have a good butter cream recipe so I won't post the one I used up.  I had a hard time using the butter cream because it kept melting in my hands while I tried to make the flowers (on top of the cake melting continuously).  Maybe I'm just really slow at decorating.  This is the first time I've attempted to make flower decorations.  The chocolate decorations were done by making a drawing on wax paper and using melted chocolate.   I then placed the wax paper in the refrigerator so the design would harden.  You can just peel it off and use the decoration however you wish.

Clearly, I'm still not good at writing with icing.  Also, I baked the cake in a loaf pan because I wanted a rectangular cake instead of a circular one...  So anyway, with this cake, the problem was that I only put baking powder and forgot the baking soda so I ended up with a VERY dense cake.  Don't make the same mistake! You want it to be moist and fluffy!  The icing was good though.

Dark Chocolate-Raspberry Cake with Chocolate Ganache

I combined a few recipes for this and I made this a few months ago so hopefully I'm providing the correct recipe since I didn't write it down... :/

Ingredients (for cake):
2 c. sugar
1 3/4 c. flour
1 c. cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. vegetable oil
1 c. hot coffee
2 tsp. v. extract
1 c. milk

Directions:
Preheat oven 350F.
Mix dry ingredients
Whip eggs, add oil, mix together... then add rest of wet ingredients
Combine wet and dry, sifting dry ingredients into wet.
Bake for about 35 min. in 9in pan or until toothpick inserted in middle comes out dry.
Makes 1 cake

Ingredients (for raspberry filling):
1 4oz. package of frozen raspberries, thawed
8 oz. raspberry jam

Directions:
Mix thawed raspberries and jam together

Ingredients (for chocolate ganache):
1 c. Heavy whipping cream
3/4 c. chocolate chips

Directions:
On medium low heat, warm up cream.  Do not let boil!
Slowly add chocolate chips.
Keep stirring until melted
Let cool, place in fridge to harden slightly if desired.

Let cake(s) cool before placing raspberry filling in between and ganache on top.

This cake was a hit so I'm definitely planning on making this again!

Vegetarian Stuffed Shells

Ingredients:
1 container (I think 16 to 20 oz) ricotta cheese
pasta sauce/marinara sauce
1 c. green pepper chopped
1 c. onion chopped
1 c. mushroom
1/2 c. tomatoes (optional)
2 c. spinach cooked
1 c. tofu crumbled (optional)
oregano, basil, salt, black pepper, red pepper to taste
mozzarella, cheddar and Parmesan cheeses
pasta shells
olive oil

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 F.
2. Boil shells in salted water until al dente.
While boiling, cook vegetables and tofu in olive oil, placing spinach in last, mix in herbs, salt and pepper
Add in cheddar and Parmesan cheese if desired
3. Cover bottom of 9x13 baking pan with pasta sauce (any flavor you choose)
4. Stuff shells with filling
5. Place in pan, cover shells with mozzarella cheese
6.  Bake for about 40 minutes

Thai Coconut Curry

Ingredients (sorry, didn't really pay attention to the exact amounts, but for the most part it doesn't matter because you'll want to change it according to your own tastes):
sesame oil
3 tsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. minced garlic
two handfuls of julienned red, yellow and orange bell peppers
1 bunch green onion
1 tbls. curry powder
2 tbls. soy sauce
2 tsp. brown sugar
salt for taste
2 13.5 oz cans of coconut milk
cilantro chopped for garnish
protein source (tofu, chicken, fish, etc.)
powdered red pepper
1 onion julienned
1/2 lemon, juiced
2 tsp. cumin
2 roma tomatoes julienned
handful sliced shitake mushrooms

Directions:
1. Heat oil in pan on medium low (2 min)
2. Add ginger and garlic (3 min)
3. Add peppers, onion and mushrooms (increase heat to medium)
4. Add protein
5. Add curry, cumin, red pepper powder
6. Add soy sauce, sugar, salt, coconut milk
7. Add tomatoes

Spanakopita

Ingredients:
6 oz. feta
2 c. chopped spinach
olive oil
1/2 c. diced onion
salt and pepper to taste
dill, parsley and Parmesan cheese for taste (optional)
phyllo dough

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil
2. Sautee onions until translucent, then add spinach.
3. Sautee for about ~2 minutes
4. Drain excess liquid.
5. Mix in feta, salt, pepper, dill, parsley and Parmesan cheese

Follow phyllo dough directions from box.

Can you tell how lazy I'm getting about writing up my recipes?  But seriously, I think all phyllo dough boxes have directions on how to correctly use phyllo dough.  Once you know how to use it, just place the filling, wrap the dough, brush olive oil over the tops and bake at 350 F for about 20 minutes.

Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:
1 cup corn
1 cup black beans (from a can)
1 cup tomatoes diced
3/4 cup onion diced
1 tbls. jalapeno diced (de-seed if you don't want it to be spicy)
cumin, lemon juice, taco seasoning and cilantro for taste
green onions for garnish
2 chicken breasts.

Directions:
Microwave corn and beans for about 45 seconds.
Sautee onion and jalapeno for about 2 minutes.
Use the same pan to cook chicken.
Mix all ingredients together except for chicken.
Place "salsa" over chicken.


This recipe is soooo ridiculously easy.  I read some recipes that required more effort which I didn't really want to put in so I just made something up.  Enjoy!