Friday, August 3, 2012

August 3, 2012

I'm back!!!  Between vacationing, studying for class, painting furniture, and in general enjoying the summer with the kids, I took July off.  But, here it is August 3, and I have a few new recipes to share!

But, before we get to the recipes....Happy Birthday, dear Hannah!  Hard to believe that she is old enough to enter middle school this fall, but somehow it is true.  She is an amazing, thoughtful, caring daughter/sister/friend, and we are so lucky to have her in our family!  Once again, happy birthday my sweet girl!

So, back to the recipes...what did we cook this week?  We tried a few new recipes, and had three that were voted keepers.  Chocolate Mint Oreo Ice Cream, Thai Barbecue Salmon, and Egg Muffins.

Chocolate Mint Oreo ice cream - how can you go wrong?  Of course, if you don't like mint Oreos, then I suppose you won't like this, but if you do love those, then this ice cream is fantastic!  You can use the chocolate ice cream alone, or some other add-ins.  I am thinking of making Rocky Road for Ryan - his favorite!

We tend to have salmon on the weekly meal plan every week, so I love to try new marinades, seasonings, and ways to serve it.  The boys love salmon, and Hannah tolerates it, so I definitely serve it frequently in our kitchen.  The Thai Barbecue salmon is admittedly spicy - so likely not kid friendly.  We only made some salmon with the barbecue sauce, and the rest with a rub we like and use quite often.  But, it is an easy sauce with only 3 ingredients, so I would suggest you give it a try if you like heat!  I served it with our favorite side dish vegetable combo - cauliflower "rice".  The salmon and cauliflower in the same bite toned down the heat quite a bit for me.  It was wonderful together.  And I smile all dinner long when we have cauliflower rice - all the kids ask for a few helpings!  Amazing!!!

And finally, Egg Muffins.  On vacation my sister introduced me to "primal" eating, and these egg muffins fit in with her eating habits.  And talk about easy, delicious and they reheat beautifully - so no matter how you eat (primal, paleo, or none of the above) you probably will love these!

Yes, the blog is back, and our test kitchen is reopen and working hard again. See you next week!

New Recipes

Chocolate Mint Oreo Ice Cream
Thai Barbecue Salmon
Egg Muffins

Chocolate Mint Oreo Ice Cream


Ingredients
* 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate (I used Ghiradelli)
* 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used Hershey's Special Dark)
* 1 1/2 cups milk (I used 2%)
* 2 large eggs
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 cup heavy cream, or whipping cream
* 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
* 1 cup Mint Oreos, roughly chopped
 
Directions
1. Melt the unsweetened chocolate in the top of a double boiler over hot, not boiling, water. Gradually whisk in the milk and heat, stirring constantly, until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder, a little at a time, and heat until blended. Remove from the heat and let cool.
2. Whisk the eggs in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy, 1 to 2 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, a little at a time, then continue whisking until completely blended, about 1 minute more. Pour in the cream and vanilla, and whisk to blend.
3. Pour the chocolate mixture into the cream mixture and blend. Cover and refrigerate until cold, about 2 to 3 hours, or even overnight.
4. Transfer the mixture to an ice cream maker and freeze following the manufacturer's directions. During the last 1-2 minutes of churning, add the chopped Oreos to mix into the ice cream. Remove from the ice cream maker and store in a freezer safe container. Freeze overnight to meld flavors and serve. 
 
Notes
I first saw this recipe on Pinterest, and then found the original site to be joelens.blogspot.com.  She has some good looking recipes over there, so you might want to check it out!  
 
This chocolate ice cream recipe is a great base to work with  - Ryan loves traditional rocky road (almonds, mini marshmallows), so I think I will try to make that for him since I still have more cream and 2% milk in the fridge!

Egg Muffins


Ingredients
* 6 eggs
* 1/4 cup shredded cheese
* veggies of your choosing (1/2- 3/4 cup, approx)
* ham or sausage, optional
* salt and pepper to taste

Directions
1. Beat the eggs.  Add in the cheese, veggies, and optional meat. 
2. Pour into sprayed muffin tins, or cupcake liners
3. Cook at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes (use a knife to test for "done-ness" - if the knife comes out clean, they are ready!)

Notes
Not much of a recipe here, but what an easy and fabulous grab and go recipe!  This recipe makes 8 muffins for me, and they re-heat in the microwave well!  Mine was about 30 seconds to reheat one muffin.  I used some ham lunch meat that was in the fridge, some green and red peppers, and a few cherry tomatoes from the garden.  You just add the veggies and meat to the eggs until you think it looks "right".  Thick enough to have some body, but not too thick that it won't pour.

I made these twice this week  - once in sprayed muffin tins, and once in cupcake liners in the muffin tin.  I definitely preferred it in the sprayed muffin tin without the cupcake liner.  Just be sure to sray (or coat with butter) well so that the egg muffins will pop out!

Thai Barbecue Salmon


Ingredients
* 1/2 cup barbecue sauce (I used Sweet Baby Ray's)
* 2- 3 tbsp Thai chili sauce
* 1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
* 3 to 4 four to six ounce salmon portions

Directions
1. Combine the barbecue sauce, chili sauce and cilantro.  Let the flavors meld for about 30 minutes before using.
2. Spread the sauce on the salmon, and grill or bake the salmon.  If oven baking, place salmon on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Cook for 12-17 minutes, depending on the thickness of your salmon pieces.

Notes
This is a spicy sauce, though you can tone it down by using less of the chili sauce.