Tag Archives: cooking light

Post-Thanksgiving Feast, No Turkey in Sight!

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When a friend calls and invites you down to her husband’s commercial fishing boat, the answer should be a resounding YES!  Grab an insulated bag and your camera and head down to the dock.  Gig Harbor‘s roots are in fishing and a fleet of commercial fishing boats are based in our Harbor.  Our Annual Maritime weekend includes a blessing of the fleet.

gig harbor blessing of the fleet

Commercial fishing boats lined up in Gig Harbor for the annual blessing of the fleet.

This was my first invitation to one of the fishing boats and I was not going to miss it!

How much of a fish did I want?  I don’t even know how much fish an entire fish entails.  How about enough for six people for the day after Thanksgiving dinner?  I think that came to about a third or maybe half of the fish.  All I knew is that the steaks looked beautiful and I couldn’t wait ’til the day after Thanksgiving to enjoy them.

fresh salmon

Cut from freshly-caught fish.

With a houseful of people and a fridge full of leftover side dishes, an easy grilled salmon and a serve-yourself buffet of reheated sides was the perfect meal after a long, rainy day at the Children’s Museum.

grilled salmon steaks

Grilled wild salmon steaks with a miso glaze.

Super-easy, here’s the recipe.  You’ll have to find your own fishing boat connection though.

Miso-Glazed Salmon with Wilted Spinach, courtesy of Cooking Light

ingredients

  • Fish:
  • 1 tablespoon white miso paste
  • 2 teaspoons mirin (sweet rice wine)
  • 2 teaspoons rice vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
  • 2 (6-ounce) skinless salmon fillets
  • 1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds
  • Spinach:
  • 2 teaspoons dark sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon bottled minced garlic
  • 1 (10-ounce) package fresh spinach
  • 2 teaspoons low-sodium soy sauce

Preparation

  1. Preheat broiler.
  2. To prepare fish, combine the first 6 ingredients in a small bowl, and brush evenly over fish. Arrange fish on a foil-lined baking sheet; broil for 8 minutes or until desired degree of doneness. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
  3. To prepare spinach, while fish broils, heat sesame oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add garlic and spinach to skillet; cook 30 seconds or until spinach just begins to wilt, tossing mixture constantly. Stir in 2 teaspoons soy sauce.

I cooked mine on the grill, it turned out fine.

 

Tex Mex Lasagna for Meatless Monday

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I firmly believe in child labor- especially in the kitchen.  The kid that helps to make dinner is  far more inclined to actually eat it too.  This lasagna dish goes together quickly with ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry and freezer.  I’ll often make two at a time and drop one off to a friend in need of a break from making dinner.

From Cooking Light (again, I know, I love their recipes) comes Tex Mex Lasagna.  Very few tweaks on my end- I use the frozen roasted corn (and don’t bother thawing it) and the no-boil noodles from Trader Joe’s.  Some of the recipe reviews call for using corn tortillas instead.  Maybe one day I’ll try that too.

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup bottled salsa
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 (14.5-ounce) can no salt-added diced tomatoes
  • 1 (8-ounce) can no salt-added tomato sauce
  • Cooking spray
  • 6 precooked lasagna noodles
  • 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed
  • 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
  • 2 cups (8 ounces) pre-shredded reduced-fat 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese
  • 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 450°.

    prep

    Lots of tasks for little hands.

  2. Combine first 4 ingredients; spread 2/3 cup sauce in bottom of an 8-inch square baking dish coated with cooking spray. Arrange 2 noodles over sauce; top with 1/2 cup corn and half of beans. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cheese; top with 2/3 cup sauce. Repeat layers once; top with remaining 2 noodles. Spread remaining sauce over noodles. Sprinkle with remaining 1 cup cheese.
    spreading sauce

    Luke Skywalker here enjoyed wielding a spatula in place of the usual light saber.

    layering lasagna

    Layering the lasagna correctly involves reading AND paying attention to the directions- good practice for a Jedi.

    no-boil noodles

    No-boil noodles are key to putting this together quickly.

  3. Cover and bake at 450° for 30 minutes or until noodles are tender and sauce is bubbly. Let stand 15 minutes. Sprinkle with onions.
    tex mex lasagna

    Dinner in under an hour. You can also assemble it a day or so ahead and pop it in the oven to bake while you make a salad.

    tex mex lasagna

    Served with cornbread, Spanish rice and tortilla chips & guacamole. Leftovers are rare.

 

 

Mini Pizzas for Everyone!

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In full accordance with the “Meanest Mom Ever” title I hold proudly, I do not make a separate meal for the kid who suddenly doesn’t like what we’re having for dinner.  I do try though to make meals that are modular so the kid that doesn’t like red sauce can have pesto and the kid that likes pineapple doesn’t impose it on the one that claims not to like it (though I suspect he’s never actually tried it).  Mini pizzas are a great way to satisfy everyone, especially when hosting other kids for a sleepover.  Plus, kids are much more inclined to eat something they made (shhhhh don’t tell them!)

My basic pizza dough recipe is adapted from Cooking Light’s All-Purpose Pizza Dough recipe (which is fine on it’s own, but of course I have tweaked it!)

Ingredients

  • 1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water (100° to 110°)
  • 3 cups (360 grams) flour* (plus additional for dusting the rolling surface)
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 TBSP honey
  • 2 TBSP olive oil
  • Cooking spray

* the recipe calls for all-purpose.  I use white-wheat or half AP and half whole wheat.

Preparation

  1. Dissolve yeast and honey in warm water in a large bowl, and let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife (or weigh). Add 1 cup flour, salt and olive oil to yeast mixture, and stir well. Stir in 2 cups flour, 1 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes), and add enough flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent the dough from sticking to hands (dough will feel tacky).  (DISCLOSURE: Once the yeast has proofed, I dump everything into my stand mixer, turn in on, walk away, check facebook and when I come back it’s pizza dough.  You can also skip this step entirely and buy pre-made dough at Trader Joe’s for 99 cents.  I will not judge you).
  2. Place the dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. (Press two fingers into dough. If an indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.) Punch dough down; cover and let rest 5 minutes.
  3. Heat oven to 450 degrees (if you have a baking or pizza stone, put it into the oven to heat up).

Now for the fun part!

dividing the dough

One recipe above makes enough dough to make four adult-sized-servings. Sometimes I get obsessive and weigh them to make sure they’re equal (and will cook at the same rate). With kids, I make smaller portions.

topping bar

Lots of different topping allow for the pickiest of eaters to be happy.

 

topping their pizzas

Kids really like to roll out and shape their own dough.

par-baked

I like to top mine with parm cheese and brush with olive oil (a few lonely roasted red peppers I found in a jar in the fridge also made their way onto the crust).

 

topped with salad

Once the crust is baked, I top it with arugula tossed with olive oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle on pine nuts (and pomegranate seeds if I have them).

mini pizzas

Your possibilities are endless.

4.  I roll out and shape the pizzas on parchment paper (which CostCo now carries!).  Once topped, use a pizza peel if you have one to slide onto the heated baking stone (keep pizzas on paper).  If you don’t, bake on a cookie sheet on parchment paper or covered with foil and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Check the bottom of the crust to make sure it’s not burning.

5.  Bake at 450 for about 8 minutes.  Cooking time will vary based on your own oven, size of pizza and cookie sheet vs baking stone.

homemade lunchable

Extra dough? Bake up a few plain crusts and use to make your own version of Pizza Lunchables.

 

Soup’s On

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You know it’s fall in the Pacific NorthWest when I haul out my bright-orange dutch oven and start making soup. Albóndigas (Mexican meatball) soup has been in my regular rotation since discovering it in a Cooking Light cookbook years ago.  You could speed up the prep time significantly by tossing in a bag of Trader Joe’s turkey meatballs or even make a vegetarian version with their tofurky meatballs from the freezer section. Add a loaf of Beer-Cheese bread and you have a dinner to warm even the dampest PNW evening, plus your house will smell amazing.

Low-Fat Albóndigas Soup

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup cooked long-grain rice
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 8 ounces ground turkey
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1 large egg white*
  • 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup chopped onion**
  • 1 cup chopped seeded peeled tomato***
  • 1 cup water
  • 2 (15.75-ounce) cans fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth or 1 32oz box
  • 2 cups sliced celery**
  • 2 cups sliced carrot**
  • 1 cup frozen whole-kernel corn, thawed and drained****
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
  • 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • Chopped avocado for garnish

* I use the whole egg.  I am far too lazy to separate it.

** I use the food processor and chop the onion, celery and carrots small enough that that kids can’t pick them out.

*** Does this really say to peel the tomato?  I have never done that and I am not about to start.  I do seed it though unless I use cherry tomatoes.

**** I use the roasted corn from Trader Joe’s and have never thawed/drained it.

Preparation

  1. Combine the first 8 ingredients in a bowl, and shape the mixture into 24 (3/4-inch) meatballs.
    making meatballs

    Yes, I am wearing gloves and don’t care if you mock me. I am not touching raw egg AND raw meat at the same time!

    meatball size

    Don’t make them too big. They need to cook all the way through.

    ready for the pot

    All ready for the soup pot.

  2. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 4 minutes or until tender. Stir in tomato, water, and broth; bring to a boil. Add celery, carrot, corn, and cumin, if desired.

    mise en place

    Mise en place.

  3. Return to a boil; drop meatballs into pot. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 30 minutes or until vegetables are tender and meatballs are cooked. Stir in 3 tablespoons cilantro and garnish with avocado if desired.
albondigas soup

Albondigas soup.

Cooking Light
JANUARY 2001

Savory Beer-Cheese Bread

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ethel's beer bread recipe card

My Great-Aunt Lora’s beer bread recipe written in my grandmother’s hand.

One of the first breads I learned to bake was my Aunt Lora’s beer bread.  It goes together quickly and is impossible to screw up. It had been my standby quick bread for years but there was always a slight off taste to it which I suspect was the self-rising flour. (I can hear my grandmother’s voice in my head wondering Why would anybody would want to see an old recipe card on their computer????  Damn, I wish she was still around, for a lot of reasons, but the top two related to cooking would be to bake bread with her and to show her all the pictures I’ve taken of food and watch her shake her head in disbelief.  Who would be interested in what you had for dinner????  You’d be surprised, Grandma.)

Over the years my last-minute quick bread has been the cornbread mix from Trader Joe’s.  Throw in a handful of cheese and possibly a can of green chilies, bake in a cast-iron skillet and it’s as good as cornbread from scratch.

skillet cornbread

Yes, it’s Grandma’s cast-iron skillet too.

The beer bread I made today is my current favorite, a basic Beer & Cheese bread from Cooking Light.  The sauteed onions and garlic add a savory touch and makes your kitchen smell heavenly. I substitute white-wheat flour in place of the all-purpose.  In place of the Monterey Jack cheese I used a shredded blend from Trader Joe’s- it’s what was in the fridge.

Ingredients

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped yellow onion
  • 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 13.5 ounces white-wheat or all-purpose flour (about 3 cups)
  • 3 tablespoons sugar
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup (4 ounces) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
  • 1 (12-ounce) bottle lager-style beer (such as Budweiser)
  • Cooking spray
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter, divided

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 375°.
  2. Heat oil in a small skillet over medium-low heat. Add onion to pan; cook 10 minutes or until browned, stirring occasionally. Stir in pepper and garlic; cook 1 minute.

    weighing flour

    Get into the habit of weighing your flour. It is so much faster.

  3. Weigh or lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl, stirring with a whisk; make a well in center of mixture. Add onion mixture, cheese, and beer to flour mixture, stirring just until moist.
    cheese/onions/dry ingredients

    Make a well and place the cheese and onions into the well.

    add beer

    Slowly pour in the beer.

    all ingredients

    Stir until ingredients are combined but do not overmix.

  4. 4. Spoon batter into a 9 x 5–inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Drizzle 1 tablespoon butter over batter. Bake at 375° for 35 minutes.

    ready for the oven

    Ready for the oven.

  5. Drizzle remaining 1 tablespoon butter over batter.

    par-baked

    Halfway done, time for the rest of the butter.

  6.  Bake an additional 25 minutes or until deep golden brown and a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 minutes on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

    finished bread

    The recipe specifies 16 slices, I get about 8 but I like it thick to dip into soup.

OTHER OPTIONS:  Apple-Cheddar Beer Bread: Substitute 1/2 cup minced shallots for onion. Place 1/2 cup shredded peeled Gala apple in paper towels; squeeze until barely moist. Cook shallots and apple in oil over medium heat for 7 minutes. Substitute 1 cup shredded extrasharp white cheddar cheese for Monterey Jack. Substitute 1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider for lager. Yield: 16 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Focaccia for Beginners

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Focaccia is one of my favorite breads to bake, mainly because it is both very forgiving AND can be ready at dinner time when you realize at 3pm that you do want fresh bread with dinner after all.  An excellent starting point for beginning bakers, it can be as easy or as complicated as you want it to be.  And like me, some days I’m easy and some days I’m more complicated.

I use a lot of the Cooking Light recipes for bread.  They’re written for the home cook with some skill but not a degree from the CIA.  I have their baking book but I’m intimidated by most of the recipes in it.  Here are two of my most-used focaccia recipes.

Herbed Focaccia from Cooking Light

Ingredients

  • All-purpose Pizza Dough (I add about a TBSP of honey and 2TBSP olive oil to dough, click link for recipe).
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 teaspoon dried rubbed sage
  • 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon dried thyme
  • Cooking spray
  • 1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

  1. Roll prepared dough into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle on a floured surface. Sprinkle the parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme over the dough. Fold the dough into thirds. Knead lightly 1 minute or until the herbs are blended into the dough. Cover and let stand for 10 minutes. Roll dough into a 14 x 12-inch rectangle. Place dough on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray and sprinkled with cornmeal. Cover and let rise in a warm place 35 minutes or until doubled in size.
  2. Preheat oven to 450°.
  3. Uncover the dough. Make indentations in top of dough using the handle of a wooden spoon or your fingertips. Gently brush the dough with olive oil. Sprinkle with kosher salt. Bake dough at 450° for 15 minutes or until browned.

When you’re ready to attempt one that’s a bit more time consuming, here’s another one I like (tweaked of course). It calls for creating a sponge first which is a lot less complicated than it sounds.  I adapted this recipe from Cooking Light’s Rosemary Focaccia, which is also very good, especially in the winter when good tomatoes are hard to find. Thinly sliced potatoes are another winter topping option.

Tomato Basil Focaccia

Ingredients

  • Sponge:
  • 1 teaspoon honey
  • 1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water (100° to 110°)
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (180 grams)
  • 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
  • Dough:
  • 1 cup all-purpose flour (120 grams)
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour (60 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
  • Cooking spray
  • Topping:
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup basil, cut in a chiffonade
  • 1 cup very thinly sliced tomatoes
  • 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preparation

  1. To prepare sponge, dissolve honey and yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand 5 minutes. Lightly spoon 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife or weigh flour. Add 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour and 2 tablespoons oil to yeast mixture, stirring until well combined. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 hour.
    focaccia sponge

    The sponge covered with plastic wrap to keep the humidity in. I place a towel under and one over the bowl too.

    sponge + 1 hour

    After an hour.

  2. To prepare dough, lightly spoon 1 cup all-purpose flour and whole wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife or weigh. Stir 1 cup all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, 1 teaspoon salt, and chopped basil into yeast mixture; beat with a mixer at medium speed 6 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic (dough will be sticky). Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 1 1/2 hours or until doubled in size (dough will be wet).
    dough in mixer

    Dough is sticky, scrape into a bowl or dough doubler to rise or cover mixer bowl and leave to rise.

    dough doubler

    I use a tightly sealed container to rise dough.

    finished rising

    Dough was ready in about an hour, deflate then scrape out onto pan.

  3. Preheat oven to 400°.  Use an oven thermometer to make sure your oven is really hot.
  4. Scrape dough into a 15 x 10-inch jelly roll pan coated with cooking spray.

    scraped dough

    Resist the urge to touch it with your fingers. It’s still really sticky.

  5. Gently press dough into a 12 x 8-inch rectangle.

    push into pan

    Use a rubber spatula to scrape dough and push into shape.

  6. Brush dough with 1 tablespoon oil; sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt.

    brush dough with oil

    Brush dough with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise again for about 30 minutes.

  7. Cover; let rest 30 minutes.
  8. Slice tomatoes thinly.  Chiffonadebasil.
    mandolin

    I used a mandolin to slice the tomatoes.

    basil and tomatoes

    About a cup of each.

  9. Par-bake bread for 15 minutes if you are using a wet topping.
    par-baked bread

    Bake the bread for 15 minutes, then pull out of oven to add the toppings.

    focaccia toppings

    Quickly add toppings then finish in the oven.

  10. Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown. Cool 5 minutes.  Slice with a pizza cutter.
tomato basil focaccia

The finished product- YUM!

 

 

 

 

 

Best-Ever Banana Muffins

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Another confession…..I am a total tweaker.  I’ll make something the way it’s written once and before I’m even finished the recipe has already evolved and changed in my mind.  This one is a great example.  Cooking Light has a fabulous banana bread recipe that I have been making for years.  The structure hasn’t changed much (eggs, yogurt and butter provide the fat and the binding ingredients) but I’ve added flax seed for crunch (and avoids the nut-allergy issues), swapped the all-purpose flour for a combo of AP and whole wheat or all white-wheat flour for added fiber and protein and cut the sugar in half.  If I’m feeling especially generous I’ll toss in half a cup of mini chocolate chips. The purchase of my latest favorite kitchen gadget, the one-tablespoon cookie scoop along with a few mini-muffin pans ensures that I can make these quickly, and do so at least once a week.  They’re eaten as fast as I can make them and are a great during or after-school snack.

Ingredients

  • 2 cups flour (240 grams)  white-wheat OR 1 cup all-purpose and 1 cup whole wheat
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/4 cup butter, softened
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
  • 1/3 cup vanilla low-fat yogurt
  • 1/8 cup flax seed
  • Cooking spray

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 350°.
  2. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife or measure by weight. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk.
  3. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add the eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Add banana, yogurt, and vanilla; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist.  Add flax seed and mix briefly.

    banana muffin batter

    I use my stand mixer and toss the bananas in whole.

  4. Scoop batter into mini-muffin tins coated with cooking spray.

    muffin tray in oven

    Fill using one-tablespoon cookie dough scoop. Do not overfill.

  5.  Bake at 350° for 18 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.  (Can also bake as a loaf.  Coat an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan with cooking spray and bake for 1 hour).

    finished muffins

    Cool in the tray for a few minutes then finish cooling on a wire rack.

Cooking Light
SEPTEMBER 2003