Valentine's Day Dinner & a Recipe!

Can't believe it's been almost 3 weeks since my last post! But between phone crashes & upgrades and computer crashes & fixes (phew!) I haven't really had the chance to blog lately.. I will FINALLY get the ball rolling here with a post!

I should be heading to bed but I can't without posting the loveliness that I came home to after a long day of work.. We don't usually make a big fuss out of Valentine's Day (Steve is always romantic every other day of the year, lol) except to use it as an excuse to make "gourmet" meals and just spend the time together. Here's what my love made for me tonight...

We had roasted Alaskan salmon & Chilean sea bass (I had salmon, he had sea bass) that was marinated with soy sauce, lime, ginger, scallions and garlic (and possibly more ingredients?) with white rice and roasted asparagus. Yummy!

I knew what the menu was going to be beforehand (I even bought the ingredients, lol) but I didn't realize it'd be as fancy as this!  He sliced the lemons into very thin rounds and even made the scallions into these tiny, pretty pieces as garnish!

Mmmmm it was awesome. And he made everything! I loved it! Iloveyou, Stephen :o)

And of course, I took care of dessert and made us homemade chocolate peanut-butter cups, one of Steve's favorite chocolates (and he's not usually a fan of sweets). Wow those were so a-maaa-zing! Wish I could take credit for the recipe! I couldn't believe how easy they were to make and we had all the ingredients already. So that is the recipe I'm going to post here.  (If I can find out from Steve what he marinated the fish in, I'll post that another time.)

Hope everyone else had a lovely day with their loves... <3

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Cups
Adapted from Design*Sponge
Yields 12 cups





Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups chocolate, any kind - I used organic semi-sweet chips
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/8 cup graham crackers, crushed into crumbs
1/2 tsp sea salt


** One main difference between this recipe & mine - my recipe is half of what the original recipe called for but I still had enough for 12 mini-cups!  Use the original recipe if you're using regular muffin tins (and making gigantic cups) or making 24 mini-cups. 


Directions:

1. Line a muffin pan with 12 paper liners. Set aside.

2. Melt 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate in a double boiler. Alternately, you could do this using a microwave, melting the chocolate in short bursts. Remove the bowl of melted chocolate from the stove and turn off the heat.

3. Using the back of a spoon or a pastry brush, paint a layer of melted chocolate onto the bottoms and sides of the paper liners. Don’t skimp on chocolate here; coat the liners generously. Set the bowl aside with any remaining melted chocolate left in it. (I saved enough to coat the tops of the cups).

4. Put the muffin pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes while you make the peanut-butter filling.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine the peanut butter, crushed graham crackers, powdered sugar and salt. Stir with a spoon until well combined.

** I skipped this step because I had enough chocolate leftover: 6. Return the bowl used to melt the chocolate to the top of the double boiler. Turn the heat to medium-high. Add more chocolate if desired

7. Meanwhile, divide peanut-butter mixture into 12 even amounts. (I used a cutting board while doing this to have a surface to rest the mounds on.)

8. Remove the muffin pan from the refrigerator. Put one mound into each paper liner. Tap down each mound with your fingertips to “nest” it into the chocolate bottom.

9. By now, the chocolate added to the double boiler should all be melted. Using a spoon, dollop the top of each peanut butter mixture mound with a generous portion of chocolate.

10. Use the back of a teaspoon to smooth out the tops (alternately, use the spoon to make a swirl atop each cup).

11. Place the muffin pan in the refrigerator. Within one hour, your cups should be set, depending how cold your fridge runs.

ENJOY!

Acorn Squash, 2 ways

So a few weeks ago, I bought a ginormous acorn squash at the store because I wanted to try a squash recipe that I learned from the Healthy Eating class I took a few weeks ago. (more on that on another post..)


I had a bunch of different ingredients and used what I had on hand:

Organic barley, organic shiitake mushrooms, acorn squash and organic kale

Kale!

Here's recipe # 1 (a variation on my Healthy Eating teacher's recipe)


Stuffed Acorn Squash
(Serves 2-4)


Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 a large onion, chopped
• 1 lb of ground turkey
• I package of organic mushrooms, chopped (you can use Shiitake, Baby Bella, Button)
• 1 cup organic barley
• 1 bunch of organic kale, stems removed, chopped
• 2 small acorn squashes (or in my case, 1 large one)
• 1 can of corn
• 2 tbsp Pecorino Romano cheese (or any grated cheese)
• Olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.


Slice acorn squash in half or quarters depending on how big the squash is. Remove the seeds, rinse and pat dry. Coat generously with olive oil, salt & pepper. Roast squash face down on a foil-lined pan for 30-40 minutes.


Meanwhile, thoroughly rinse & cook barley according to package directions: Bring 2 1/2 cups of water to a boil, then add a bit of salt & the barley and bring to a simmer. Cook for 20-30 minutes or until barley is tender.


While the barley cooks, sauté the onion and garlic until onion is translucent. Season lightly with sea salt & pepper. Add the ground turkey and mix until mostly cooked. Then add the mushrooms. Cook until softened. Add the corn and the kale and cook until kale is slightly wilted (try not to overcook if possible to retain the nutrients). When barley is cooked, add to vegetable mixture and add grated cheese. Mix thoroughly.


Spoon the barley mixture into the hollowed out squash and serve.

This actually turned out quite good! My husband enjoyed it =)

And then, even though I had only 1 large squash between 2 of us, we couldn't finish it! So, I looked up some recipes online using squash and found this great recipe for Mac & Cheese with Butternut Squash from MarthaStewart.com

Macaroni & Cheese w/ Acorn Squash (adapted from Martha Stewart)
Serves 6


Ingredients:

• 1 - 1 1/2 cups of pureed squash 
• 1 cup homemade or low-sodium canned chicken stock, skimmed of fat
• 1 1/2 cups nonfat milk
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 pound shell pasta (I used whole wheat)
• 4 ounces extra-sharp cheddar cheese, finely grated (about 1 cup) - I used white & yellow cheddar
• 4 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, finely grated (1 ounce)
• 2 tablespoons fine breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Combine pureed squash, stock, and milk in a medium saucepan; bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mash contents of saucepan; stir in salt and black pepper. Stir to combine. (You can use uncooked squash and let simmer longer until squash is tender.)

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add noodles; cook until al dente according to package instructions, about 8 minutes. Drain, and transfer to a large bowl; stir in squash mixture, cheddar, ricotta, and 2 tablespoons Parmesan.

Lightly coat a 9-inch square baking dish (4 inches deep) with cooking spray. Transfer noodle mixture to dish. In a small bowl, combine breadcrumbs, remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan, and oil; sprinkle evenly over noodle mixture.

Cover with foil, and bake 20 minutes. Remove foil, and continue baking until lightly browned and crisp on top, 30 to 40 minutes more. Serve immediately.

Here's how mine turned out!

Mmmmm.. these were quite delicious and healthy too! More to come soon...

Inspiration of the day - a recipe!

So I bought a whole chicken at my last shopping trip, determined to make a rotisserie-style chicken. The other day I looked up recipes, and this sounded the tastiest (and easiest). I got it from allrecipes.com.

Here is the recipe, and below are photos of the results! I substituted the onion powder with garlic powder, and the celery with 1/2 an onion. My chicken was also nearly twice the size, so it took 2 hours to cook. 

JUICY ROASTED CHICKEN (ALLRECIPES.COM)

INGREDIENTS:

1 (3 pound) whole chicken, giblets removed salt and black pepper to taste

1 tablespoon onion powder, or to taste 1/2 cup margarine, divided 1 stalk celery, leaves removed

DIRECTIONS:

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
2.	Place chicken in a roasting pan, and season generously inside and out with salt and pepper. Sprinkle inside and out with onion powder. Place 3 tablespoons margarine in the chicken cavity. Arrange dollops of the remaining margarine around the chicken's exterior. Cut the celery into 3 or 4 pieces, and place in the chicken cavity.
3.	Bake uncovered 1 hour and 15 minutes in the preheated oven, to a minimum internal temperature of 180 degrees F (82 degrees C). Remove from heat, and baste with melted margarine and drippings. Cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest about 30 minutes before serving.

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And I think I did a fairly decent job =) Now let's see how it tastes... Guess I'll let the husband be the judge of that!