Family Chow Hall

My daughter has decided she wants to go to culinary school in France. Don’t you love the high hopes of youth? This is the dinner she made for us tonight — Lemon Basil Salmon. I served it with a lightly-seasoned linguine in olive oil and lemon. (check back tomorrow for the linguine recipe)

When we eat salmon, which is rare, I buy the Wild-Caught Alaskan Salmon. At best, it is usually $8.99 per pound at the Seafood Counter of HEB. I’ve read too much about fish farms to get excited about farm-raised salmon.

So, Sarah begs me to buy salmon and fresh basil and I have to indulge my chef-to-be. She got the idea on a cooking show but failed to write down the exact recipe. She improvised and this is what she made for us:

Lemon Basil Salmon
serves 6-8

1 1/2 lb. salmon filet - skin off
several leaves of fresh, chopped basil
2 t. lemon juice
dash of salt and pepper
1/3 c. lemon juice plus the same amount of water

Cut the salmon into 3 pieces, and place each piece on a square of foil large enough to wrap it up in. Combine the lemon juice and basil and drizzle over each piece of salmon. Next, sprinkle with salt and pepper and wrap it up tightly.

Place the packets in a baking pan and pour the lemon juice and water into the bottom of the pan. Place this into a 450 degree oven. We tried baking this for 10 minutes and it was only done in the center — we ended up baking it for a total of 18 minutes. Try not to overcook - our thickest piece was about 1 inch thick, adjust your cooking time accordingly.

Enjoy!

As part of our continuing fruits-and-vegetables experiment, I made some pinto beans for supper last night.

I often throw beans, meat, and tomatoes together, add spice and call it supper. Usually I serve it over cornbread or with grilled sandwiches. If it’s thick enough, we put it into taco shells or burrito wrappers. Part of the joy that I get from throwing things together haphazardly is the slight differences that occur each time. Part of it is simply leaving the cookbook on the shelf and using my own imagination and creativity.

For dinner last night, sticking to the no-meat, no-oil, no-dairy, no-grains plan, we had a crock pot full of beans and put some lettuce, avocado, and cilantro on the side. This was really delicious and probably the best thing I’ve had so far on this diet. Here’s the recipe:

Jazzed-up Pinto Beans

1 can pinto beans
1 can white hominy
1/2 c. frozen corn
2 cans diced tomatoes
1 packet taco seasoning mix
8 oz. chicken or vegetable broth
3 oz. Soyrizo (soy substitute for chorizo)
1/2 medium sweet onion, chopped
1/2 poblano pepper, chopped

Basically, there are no cooking directions other than dump everything into the crockpot and let it cook for several hours. I’ll add a few notes of explanation:

Chorizo is a Mexican spicy sausage that is very tasty. If you read the label, you may not want to eat it. This is what goes into authentic refried beans. If you’re not too sure about the Chorizo but want some meat in this soup, add a bit of browned burger or sausage. If you use any meat, it has to be browned first. The Soyrizo I used is like tofu and doesn’t need to be cooked. The package told me to quick fry it in a hot skillet, but I think this wasn’t necessary.

If you want your soup extra spicy, consider using a jalapeno or two instead of or in addition to the poblano. If you want it less spicy, use a green or red bell pepper. Or, use all three.

So the kids (who are not subject to the current diet) would have something to go with this, I fried some cheese-tortilla foldovers to go with their soup.

Enjoy!

For a week or so, DH and I are trying an experimental (to us) diet of basically just fruits and vegetables. (No sugar, no oil, no meat, no dairy, no grains.) My first thought was AAAAGGGHHH! However, it is anti-inflammatory, anti-cholesterol, anti-high blood pressure, and anti-heart disease. Like I say, it is an experiment and don’t panic — we will be eating Christmas cookies in another week or so. For now, we’re going to see how we feel after a week of wholesome, natural, good-for-you stuff.

So far, so great. I won’t say I didn’t feel like I was starving for the first couple of days, but I’m having fewer headaches and am sleeping better than usual. DH is feeling pretty good, too.

My problem is that I was raised on a meat-starch-vegetable diet. At every meal, there was meat, bread or potatoes, and a vegetable. Most of this was cooked in or topped with margarine or oil. As an adult, I have basically cooked this same way. From looking at my old posts, any of you can see that most of my dinners include these three basic foods.

So it’s a bit of a challenge for me to come up with a full day’s menu using nothing but fruits and vegetables. For the next few days, I will be giving you some of my successes. I’ll keep the failures to myself.

Saturday I made a vegetable soup and served it with baked potatoes. DH LOVED it, so it gets the honor of being put on my blog:

Vegetable Soup and Baked Potatoes

1 can vegetable broth
1 can diced tomatoes
1 c. shredded cabbage
1/2 c. frozen corn
1/2 c. frozen peas
1/2 c. chopped onion
seasonings to taste — salt, pepper, celery salt
optional - other vegetables such as carrots, leeks, garlic, navy beans

2 large baking potatoes

To bake the potatoes, wrap in foil and prick (very important, don’t forget to prick!) Place them in the oven at about 400 degrees and forget about them for an hour.

For the soup, start with just a little of the broth and cook the cabbage and onions. When they are soft, you can dump everything else in.

When it’s time to eat, split the potatoes into quarters and top with the soup instead of the usual cheese / sour cream / chives / bacon combination.

Like I say, DH really loved this, and although I’m not a big veggie / potato fan, I found it beyond edible.