Menu for 3/29:
- Corn and Basil Rice
- Minted Peas
- Sweet-Glazed Salmon with Corn Salsa
Corn and Basil Rice:
Trader Joe's® Thai Jasmine Rice, Butter, Roasted Corn, Organic Basil Leaves, Salt& Pepper.
So we might just corn ourselves out on this one. Corn in the rice and on the salmon. Whatever, it'll be good at the very least, if not downright delicious.
Minted Peas:
Boom goes the dynamite, that's all she wrote.
Minted peas from the bag that I bought them in. I plan on following the directions on the back of the bag. I'll let you know how it goes.
Sweet-Glazed Salmon with Corn Salsa:
Fresh or thawed salmon fillets, organic blue agave sweetener, fresh minced ginger, crushed garlic, rice vinegar, Trader Joe's® Corn and Chile Tomato-less Salsa.
How does that sound for a Nom factor? Pretty darned delicious if you ask me, and since I am the one writing this blog, I did ask me and I said that the Nom Factor seems really high for this dish. All of these recipes come from the 'I ♥ Trader Joe's®' cookbook that I found at the local Urban Outfitters. I knew that store was good for something that wasn't ironic hipster clothes. Anyway, this is a WHOLE BOOK of recipes that are just from the ingredients found at Trader Joe's® stores. I have a feeling that you may find a lot of the upcoming weeks to involve this book. It is just that awesome. I am slightly jealous of the writers though. They clearly live in a part of the country that liquor is allowed to be sold in grocery stores. Here in Massachusetts that type of tomfoolery is frowned upon and you can only find grocery store booze in few and far between places. Even then it is normally only wine and beer, none of the really good stuff. But I digress, I am blessed with a plethora of Trader Joe's-es.
I am sorry everyone. The Monday holiday completely threw off my schedule and I didn't notice until about 8pm last night that I had not made my usual Tuesday post. Bad me! Well to try and redeem myself I am posting now.
I am planning on making soup tonight. There is no set recipe because I am flying by the seat of my pants on this one. I bought mirepoix and some chicken breasts and that is about as far as I have gone with it. I think I may try a white chili but I honestly have no clue. Fascinating reading, I know. Things that I know will be in the chili: Mirepoix, potatoes, roasted corn, peas, and chicken for the boy. I do have some rosemary and thyme; I am thinking to roast the chicken breasts with the herbs and chop them up and add them to his at the end. Ooh! I just forgot that I have also bought tortillas and I am planning to cut them up and toast them and add them at the end AND I have rice. So there.
You know that cooking show where the trained chef is a creeper in the supermarket and follows a woman home to make a gourmet meal with stuff she already has in her pantry? (it exists I swear) That would be helpful if it happened to me today. Cross you fingers and wait for pictures tomorrow!
Menu for January 5th:
- Salad with homemade vinaigrette
- Homemade rice pilaf
- Roasted salmon with green herbs
Salad:
Mesclun mix, shredded carrots, thinly sliced red onions, Trader Joe's® "stuffing mix".
This is a pretty standard salad in my eyes, but I am keeping in mind the fact that my darling is (in this way at least) a rather stereotypical male and dislikes at least 90% of all veggies and is turned of by "frou-frou" stuff in his salads. I personally love veggies and nuts and fruits and especially cheese and the inclusion of all in a salad would only better said salad in my opinion. The boy is picky however so I have to keep it safe. The Trader Joe's® stuffing mix contains celery, onions, fennel, rosemary, parsley, and a few other herbs all chopped up and mixed together.
Vinaigrette:
Olive oil, honey, lime juice, apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper to taste.
This is a recipe that I pulled out of my head. Vinaigrette's have to be one of the easiest things to make and I was supremely lucky to have a legitimate chef as a roommate in my early twenties who taught me how to make them. Once you learn the technique you can implement nearly any ingredients that you can think of. He once made one with tequila and avocados that was amazing; now that I am thinking of it I may have to replicate it later on in this experiment.
Rice Pilaf:
Medium grain white rice, orzo, vegetable stock, fresh chopped green onions, fresh minced curly parsley, minced garlic, salt and pepper to taste.
The recipe that I am going to use on for this pilaf is a variation of one used by the boy's mom. Pilaf is one of his favorite side dishes so when we were out in the mid-west for the holidays she showed me how to make it. I have kept the bones of her recipe but I am going to add a little bit of me into it to make it mine. This will be the first time that I am trying this recipe so I hope all goes well.
Roasted Salmon with Green Herbs:
Salmon fillet, olive oil, lemon juice, minced scallions (both green and white parts), fresh minced dill, fresh minced curly parsley, dry white wine.
This dish is found in the Barefoot Contessa "How easy is that?" cookbook, copyright 2010, published by Clarkson Potter/Publishers, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House Inc., New York. There, I do not want to get in any copyright infringement issues. I love Ina Garten, I want to be her when I grow up. My darling knows this and bought me one of her cookbooks for Christmas. This will be the first time that I am trying one of her recipes from a book and I think that I will have to fudge it a little considering the fact that it calls for a skinless salmon fillet and I could only obtain a skin on fillet.
I have decided to not post the recipes unless they are asked for. Alright here I go!
