Leftover Salmon again?

A little while back, I posted about a Cedar Plank Salmon that I had cooked on the grill ( see post here ). Since there are only 2 of us at home these days on a permanent basis, just me and the hub, once again, I was faced with leftover salmon. I've had salmon leftover before (salmon spread ) and we always enjoy it. However, I wasn't sure how the cedar plank salmon would be as a spread, since the glaze on it was fairly strong. So, I made some wraps for lunch a few days later. My husband loved them -- the smoky flavor was fairly pronounced,which added a lot of interest and unusual layers. They were vaguely Asian in flavor, but I used high fiber soft flour tortillas to wrap them in, so lets call them Asian Fusion Wraps!

Asian Fusion Wraps

2 cups Hoisin glazed salmon, leftover from Grilled Cedar Plank Salmon
2 cups broccoli slaw mixture (or any slaw mixture your family likes)
1 T. lime juice
1 T. apple cider vinegar
1 T. soy sauce
1 tsp. sugar
a pinch of salt
2 T. hoisin sauce
2 soft flour tortillas
In a small bowl mix the dressing for the slaw, using the lime juice, vinegar, soy, sugar and salt. Add the slaw mixture and combine with the dressing. 

 Let the slaw sit for about 30 minutes so that the flavors combine. Start building your wraps, by smearing a little Hoisin sauce on each tortilla and adding the salmon. 

Top each one with some of the slaw. 

Roll those babies up and enjoy your treat! Leftover salmon is the BEST!!!

It's Grilled Cheese Day!

In honor of National Grilled Cheese Day, check out my blog post from last year and enjoy a great sandwich!
Ntional Grilled Cheese Month

Something special to begin your tailgating!

Tailgatin' Mufalletta

It's football season! Let the fun begin!

Here is a recipe for a fantastic sandwich that travels well, keeps well and feeds the multitudes. It is my variation on a "Muffaletta", a classic from N'Awlins that my family loves. Let me give props to some research I did on the the Food Network website, which I combined with a sandwich I grew up with that we called a "Zep", short for zeppelin, that my parents discovered when we were stationed near Valley Forge, PA.

Tailgate Muffaletta

First make the dressing:

1/3 c. red wine vinegar

2 garlic cloves, peeled, smashed and minced

1/3 c. olive oil

2 T. jalapeno olive spread (from a jar, I used Mezetta's)

10 pitted, chopped black olives

6 green olives, with pimentos, chopped

1/4 c. roasted red pepper, chopped

a little fresh ground black pepper

1 tsp. dried oregano

Whisk together the vinegar, dried oregano and garlic. Drizzle in the olive oil while whisking. Add in the rest of your ingredients

Now, for constructing your sandwich:

1 round crusty, loaf ("boule") of bread, about 1 lb., 7" diameter and 3" high

6-8 slices thinly sliced, smoked ham, such as Sahlens Smokehouse Ham

8-10 slices hard salami

6-8 slices provolone cheese

1/2 onion, thinly sliced and soaked in some cold water**

1 c. shredded lettuce (iceberg or romaine)

1 dill Kosher spear pickle, minced

Cut the top inch off the bread and set aside. Hollow out almost all of the interior of the round bottom, leaving a sturdy shell intact. Spread several T. of your dressing mixture over the bottom of the shell, and up the sides. Layer in the meats and cheeses. Top them with the onions, lettuce and pickle. Spread a little more of the dressing on top. Carefully cover with the reserved top of the loaf.

Wrap this tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate at least 30 min. and up to 24 hours.

Use the bread you pulled out of the middle of the boule' to soak up the rest of the dressing mixture as a yummy appetizer!

**Cooks note: Soaking the onions takes some of the bite out of them and makes them more palatable. Simply slice them very thinly, and put them into a bowl with some cold water. Let them soak about 10 minutes, and drain off the water before using.

When you are ready to serve, cut the sandwich into pie shaped slices. They can be as thin or as thick as you need them to be, depending on how many people you need to serve. This will AMPLY serve 6 and could serve as many as 12.

And Let Me Just Say, GO HOKIES!!

Cold Cucumber Soup

Another one of the joys of summer, fresh, crispy cucumbers, and all the fabulous dishes you can create with them. I have loved cold cucumber soup for years now, and it really helps me stick to my healthy eating plan. I realize that cold soup is not everyone's idea of good eating, but as far as I am concerned, when the weather turns hot and humid, there is absolutely nothing better than gazpacho or cold cucumber soup!

Cold Cucumber Soup

3 medium cucumbers, peeled and seeded

24 oz. fat free, low sodium chicken broth

1 rib celery, cleaned and roughly chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, smashed

1/2 c. water or dry white wine

16 oz. fat free, plain yogurt

1/3 c. light sour cream

1 tsp. salt

fresh dill or snipped chives for garnish

In a heavy sauce pan, combine broth, celery, onion, garlic and wine or water. Bring it to a boil, turn down the heat, cover and let simmer about 30 minutes until the veg. are very tender. Remove from heat and let cool about 30 min.

Put your prepared cucumbers into a food processor fitted with the all purpose blending blade. (You may do this in a heavy duty blender.) Add about half of your broth and process until smooth. Remove half of that mixture to a large bowl and blend in half of your yogurt and sour cream. You must make this by doing it in "batches" as I have never found a processor or blender big enough to do it all at once. Pour the broth/yogurt mixture into your large bowl, and then pour half back into the processor and blend again with the the rest of the yogurt, sour cream and salt. Do this several times, until everything is fairly smooth and blended together. Don't overfill your processor or blender, just take a few extra minutes to pour back and forth till completed. Chill soup thoroughly. Serve garnished with a slice of cucumber, a dollop of sour cream and a sprinkling of dill or chives.

Lunching out with the Ladies Who Lunch

If you are heading out to lunch anytime soon, and are near Midlothian, VA check out Sushi-O on Alverser Dr. (across Huguenot Rd. from Chesterfield Towne Ctr.). This is a lovely little restaurant, and the lunch I had there was delish! The Businessman's Box Lunch special is a ton of food, with lots of different options to try. Let me say first, that the presentation of the "box" was absolutely beautiful. I played it safe and ordered the sesame chicken choice. It was great -- crispy, sesame-coated chunks of chicken, sauteed in a dark, rich, soy inused sauce. The special comes with miso soup, which was wonderful, house salad with ginger dressing (very good), mixed tempura w/veg. and one shrimp, house fried rice and SUSHI. Man, oh man, how I'll eat dinner I don't know, but it was worth every calorie! And all that was only $9.50. Don't miss this place! Looking at the beautiful food is almost worth the price alone, but the eating of it seals the deal!

Turkey Burgers

My husband really likes to cook burgers on the grill. The only thing is, I find them to be a little bland. While I can fully appreciate the ol' American favorite, cheeseburger with all the fixin's, I sometimes want something a little different. I watch a pretty fair amount of Foodnetwork TV, and if you do to, than you all know who I am talking about when I say that's she's the one who calls herself "queen of sammies", "queen of burgers", "queen of" .... how can you be "queen of" everything? Anyway, some of her recipes are good, but I must say, rarely do they really take only 30 minutes to prepare, unless you like your meat really, really rare! I took one of her weeknight burger suggestions and changed it up, not only to make it more healthy, but also to suit my own taste. Southwestern Turkey Burgers 1 pkg. ground turkey breast (most of them are about 1 1/3 lbs.) 1 handful cilantro 1/3 c. roasted red pepper 1/4 of a medium onion, yellow or red, whatever you have 2 garlic cloves 1 heaping T. grill seasoning (I used the mesquite flavor kind) 1 med. jalapeno pepper, seeded No one in my family will even try a burger with big pieces of anything in it, so I put everything but the meat into my mini food processor, and process until fairly smooth. Then, I add it into the ground turkey and mix it in with my hands (it's the only way to get everything distributed evenly). Form this into 5 patties. Get your grill hot. Grill these ( I used a grill pan on my stove ala the queen of everything) for about 3 - 4 minutes on each side. They will get a nice little crust on each side. Split 5 sturdy rolls (kaiser or sandwhich) and remove a little of the bread from the inside of the roll, making a little well to fit your burger and toppings. When you take burgers out of the pan, grill the rolls a minute or 2, cut side down first, then a quick flip, to toast them up a little. Or put them under the broiler for a minute, but I am terrible at that and always burn them Maybe I am queen of burning rolls... Toppings: your favorite salsa leafy lettuce pickled jalapenos monteray jack pepper cheese red pepper jelly cajun mayo* Use any combo of the previous to top your burgers. I choose a little salsa, a thin slice of pepper jack cheese and some leafy lettuce, chopped up. I've done the cajun mayo on one side with the red pepper jelly on the other and lots of lettuce and that's yummy too, but probably more calories than I wanted on a Tuesday night! Play around with it to suit your taste. The mayo keeps several days in the frig, and is good to jazz up a plain turkey sandwich! *To make cajun mayo, combine 3 T. light mayo w/1 tsp. chili powder, 2 - 3 drops tabasco sauce, 1 tsp. LF sour cream and a sprinkle of the grill seasoning (again, I used the mesquite kind). Stir well and let sit to combine flavors.

Lunch on the run, and on a budget, too!

Even though I don't work full time -- and barely even work part time right now-- sometimes lunch is a little something of a time crunch for me. I want to try and stay on track, eating something healthy, but tasty too. Several years ago, I discovered "Amy's Organic" spinach pockets. They are sort of like spanikopita (greek style spinach) in a hot pocket that you heat in a microwave. They are inexpensive -- under $3 in most grocery stores, and, as the name says, they are all natural and organic. The company makes lots of other frozen goodies, and the ones I have tried have been good. The spinach feta pocket fits my lunch time requirements -- only 260 calories, 9 grams of fat and 3 grams of fiber -- and I really like it. Heat a little soup to go along with it, and you have a tasty, satisfying and healthy lunch. And, it's a lot cheaper than eating out or even grabbing take-out fast food! Don't like spinach? Try the pizza flavored pockets, but watch out if you buy the pizzas. They are very good, but they are made for several servings, so make sure you've got a friend! I learned that the hard way, by not reading the label carefully until after I had polished off most of one! Label reading, another essential skill for healthy living!

Snow Daze

How is everyone out there coping with being cooped up? My hub takes the big beast truck and heads out to work every day, and I am left here with our pitiful little oldsmobile. My subdivision roads are a mess, and I can not find my snow boots. It's been so long since there was any measurable snow in the Richmond area, they have simply disappeared! A friend of mine always looks in my pantry and comments about how long she thinks we could live out of it. That would be an interesting experiment, but I bet we'd get tired of pasta with tomato type sauces, and rice/soup combos before we ever ran out of food! I cooked pretty heavy all weekend, barbequed chicken and a London Broil, so I decided to cook light last night. It turned out well, and it was really lite and easy, so I thought I'd share. This is a super easy to prepare, quick meal. Easy on the pocketbook too. I always watch the ads and check the sale bin, especially at Kroger, for chicken tenders. Chicken Caesar Wraps 1 lb. chicken breast 1 tsp. olive oil 1 T. fat free Italian dressing 1/4 c. fresh grated Parmesan cheese 12 grape tomatoes, halved 8 sliced mushrooms 2 -3 sliced green onions low fat (Lite) Caesar dressing (we like Ken's) Several cups of chopped romaine lettuce Flat Out Italian Herb flatbread I had chicken tenders in my freezer, so that's what I used, but any kind of chicken breast would work. I simply sauteed them in the olive oil and Italian dressing, pulling them apart as they cooked to make bite sized pieces. Be careful not to overcook your chicken, or it will be chewy. Mine took only about 6 minutes to be cooked through. (You could cut it into bite sized pieces before you saute it, but I am lazy and that would dirty another cutting board!) To assemble the wraps, let the chicken cool a little. Lay out a wrap, and spread 2 tsp. of the dressing on it (a thin layer, not gloppy). Starting with the short side nearest you, begin to layer your ingredients. Add a handful of lettuce, keeping everything close to you, and a section at the other end of the flatbread "clear" except for a little dressing. Add on your selection of the veggies and about 6 pieces of the chicken. Sprinkle on a little Parmesan. I always use good Parmesan for this, since you use such a little bit, it's nice to get a lot of flavor. Then top with a little more of the dressing (about 1/2 tsp.) Roll your wrap up, starting with the short side, tucking the filling as you roll. Press down slightly as you do this, and it will kind of stick together from the dressing you put on the bottom. Cut it in half, it's easier to eat. Now, the nice thing about this meal for a family, is that you can lay the ingredients out on the counter and let everyone customize their own meal. The wraps have a good amount of fiber in them, and the chicken is very low fat, so the foundation of the meal is very healthy. (If it seems like I've given a lot of instructions for an easy to prepare meal, keep in mind that I try to write so that everyone can easily make this dish, even those who don't cook often.) Be careful not to overstuff the wraps, or they won't roll! We made 3 big, grown up sized wraps last night and I've got enough chicken and fixings left for at least 2 more big ones. So, I would say this will feed at least 4 grownups, or 2 adults and 3 kids. Serve it with a can of tomato soup, or some home fries if you've got a hungry group.

What's cooking? Broccoli Cheese Soup

I am compelled to cook. I've just gotta' do it! But, what's a healthy eater wanna' be to do? Cook healthy, obviously! Here is my attempt to do that today: Warm, comforting broccoli cheese soup, based on an old recipe I got years ago at a weight watchers meeting. This recipe is ONLY 3 Smart Points per serving if you are following Weight Watchers.


Broccoli Cheese Soup 
serves 4

3 cups fat free, low sodium chicken broth or stock (from a box) or vegetable stock 
10 oz. frozen broccoli florets 
1 garlic clove, minced 
1/4 small onion (about 2 T.) minced 

6 oz. lite velveeta cheese 
1/4 c. 1% lowfat milk 
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the stock in a soup pot and add the broccoli, garlic and onion. Bring it to a boil, turn it down and let cook at least 15 minutes on a simmer until the broccoli is completely cooked. Take your potato masher and mash the broccoli up to thicken the broth. Add the velveeta cheese and milk and let the cheese melt slowly over low heat. Taste and add salt and pepper to taste. (you don't need much salt, as the cheese has some in it) 

For a spicy tex-mex flavor, add one can of Rotel Original Tomatoes w/green chilies. More flavor no extra calories! NOTE: You must use processed cheese for this recipe, as it is made for cooking and melts more evenly. Look for the kind made with 2% LF milk, which has 1/2 the fat.