Bay Scallops and Couscous

I was going through the ads at the local supermarket stores and Bay Scallops were on sale for super cheap!! I have been dying to make scallops for Justin since his only experience with scallops can be summed up as "rubbery, grimy, sandy". I really wanted to change his mind on scallops because I am in LOVE with scallops. They have such a delicious texture and taste - and they really only need a couple fresh ingredients to allow the scallops to shine! 

My total list of ingredients: mushrooms, carrots, bay scallops, shallots, garlic, couscous, broth, basil.

PREP: Preparing your scallops correctly is THE most important thing!
After purchasing fresh scallops, it is recommended that you cook them that day. You can however, keep them in the fridge up to 3 days. Your first step in prepping should be to rinse your scallops and pick through them (just to make sure they all look good, they should be clear white). Put your scallops on a paper towel and pat dry lightly. With a pairing knife or your nail, peel the muscle band off your scallops. This band will be an irregular square on the side of your scallop. Not all scallops have these muscle bands, but many do and keeping the band is often the reason for the taste that turns people off (or so I've heard). The muscle will be very easy to remove - just make sure you have a knife handy if you start pulling on the flesh of the scallop!

If you are wondering, here is a little biology into your food! Scallops are classified as bivalves because of their digestive properties. They grow in a shell to protect from predators, and the rings on the shells tell the age of the scallop (much like tree rings). Scallops are attached to the shell by a muscle, which is often kept with the scallop when they are shucked.

Make sure your scallops are patted dry well after removing the muscle band. Season with salt - and you are ready to cook! Because these scallops are little and were stored in water, I did not add flour to aid in the drying process. Sea scallops are often rolled in flour to soak excess water but bay scallops stored in water will often release water when they are cooking, causing the flour to wet as well!

COOKING: I started the couscous first because it needed a longer time to cook then the small bay scallops. Take a pot and drizzle about 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and shallots and cook until translucent. Then add the carrots and mushrooms and cook, covered, for about 3 minutes. After the carrots are done, add 1 cup of couscous for every 1 1/4 cups of broth (1 cup is plenty for two people!).
While the couscous is cooking, put 2 tablespoons of olive oil, heat the pan to atleast medium heat. Put the bay scallops in and cook for about 30 seconds - 1 minute (depending on size) then flip ONLY once!
Serve together and top with sweet basil to emphasize the sweetness in the bay scallops :)

BTW - this made Justin into a scallop lover! If you follow the prep, you can turn anyone into a scallop lover after this meal! :)

Angel Food Cake and Cranberry Compote

I was feeling like having a dessert after the Orange Chicken, so I sent Justin to the store to find an angel food cake and I would make a cranberry and orange compote with leftover frozen cranberries (see the Cranberry Orange Muffins). Unfortunately, the store didn't have any angel food cake left, so we picked up a box mix. I don't usually do box mixes, unless I'm short on time - or if it is for a friend and they don't have dietary restrictions so the milk will already be included. Tonight I was low on time and didn't really feel like experimenting! All and all - the box mix actually turned out pretty good and the oven caramelized the tops! :)
For the compote:

1/2 bag of cranberries (probably around 1 1/2 cups)

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

Freshly squeezed orange juice, or orange zest (based on preference)

First make a syrup with the water and the sugar over heat. Add the cranberries and bring the syrup to a low rolling boil for at least 10 minutes. During the 10 minutes, the cranberries will slowly crack open and thicken the sauce naturally.

Orange Chicken

I had originally planned on making Orange Beef, but unfortunately with my final for school and everything I forgot to check on my meat and it expired! :( Thankfully I stock up on chicken breast from Costco so I was able to just use similar ingredients to make Orange Chicken. Since the chicken is a leaner meat, I dipped the chicken in freshly squeezed orange juice and then rolled it generously in whole wheat flour. I did not season my flour because I was making a glaze that had soy sauce which is plenty salty already.
In my large nonstick pan, I added about 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil and pan-fried my floured chicken. I let the chicken brown on one side and then flipped once and let the chicken finish. While the chicken was cooking, I started on the glaze. My original recipe for the Orange Beef had me cook my vegetables in the sauce (bell pepper, onion, ginger, and a home grown spicy pepper) so I did the same for the chicken. I added the vegetables to:

1 1/2 cups water

Freshly squeezed orange juice (to taste)

1/3 cup rice vinegar

2 1/2 tablespoons soy sauce

Grated orange zest

1/2 cup sugar (recommended brown but I only had white, also the recipe called for 1 cup of sugar which I thought was majorly excessive and 1/2 cup turned out perfect! But I suggest adding in increments and tasting!)

Green onion to taste

After the vegetables finished cooking, I removed them from the sauce and added them to the pan with chicken, letting the sauce simmer. The sauce is still very much a liquid at this point so I added 1 tablespoon of cornstarch (with cold water) and after a minute, removed the now glaze. 

Side Note: When working with cornstarch, add 1 tablespoon of cornstarch to 2 cups of liquid. However, be careful not to overstir, stir vigorously, or overheat the  liquid (anything above medium heat for a prolonged period of time after adding the cornstarch). 

Add the glaze to the chicken/vegetables and serve immediately over a bed of rice!

Taco Night

This is one of my favorite meals to make because its a life-saver when I'm beyond busy (finals week!) and tacos are comfort food for my s/o and I :) I love throwing some extra veggies in, making my own guacamole, and occasionally making my own salsa! I cooked ground turkey in my own mix of taco seasoning (pre-packaged seasonings often contain milk derivatives) - although seasoning the meat with thick salsa is also a great option! :) 

For the guacamole, I added minced onion and garlic, cilantro, salsa, jalapenos, and salt - these are my staples when I'm making guacamole but I love that it's adjustable based on how I'm feeling :)

Nothing fancy tonight - just some good comfort food! :)

Italian Sausage and Orecchiette

I'm quite careful with sausages because I'm sensitive to the preservatives but I found these nice hot Italian sausages from a local Trader Joe's! I made this great easy meal with a very minimal amount of ingredients!

1/3 cup Olive Oil

Italian sausage (hot or sweet)

Spinach or Broccoli Rabe

Orecchiette

4 cloves Garlic

Red Pepper Flakes

As a recipe suggested, I boiled a pot of water and cooked the spinach first, which I removed into a separate bowl. I then cooked the pasta in the water. While the pasta was cooking, I removed the sausage from the casing and let my pan and 1/3 cup of oil, garlic, and red pepper flakes heat. I added the sausage, until brown, then added the spinach to cook. This meal takes less than thirty minutes to prepare! I also added a bit of crushed homemade croutons, leftover from last week's soup, to create a bit of a different texture. And of course - cheese! I used a skim mozzarella but parmesan-reggiano would add a wonderful nutty flavor as well!

I found the original recipe in a Williams-Sonoma International Cookbook at Borders' going out of business sale! My passion is international food and I cannot wait to cook more of these recipes! I especially have my eye on curried cauliflower from India! :D

Thai Peanut Satay

This is one of my favorite "30 minutes or less" weekday meals! Finals for summer session classes are coming up and after taking a long study break this morning I needed something super quick and easy! The only basics you need are:

Your favorite Peanut Satay Sauce

Onion

Meat (I always use chicken)

Mince half of a yellow onion (I like it to be about the same size as the rice grains) and add to a heated pan. Saute the onion until partially translucent, then add your meat (I recommend bite-size pieces so it cooks quicker!). Once the meat is halfway done, add a generous amount of satay sauce. Store bought sauces are incredibly variable in the thickness of the sauce and the  taste. I recommend House of Tsang for a sweeter, more mild taste or San-J Thai Peanut Sauce for a spicier, bolder flavor. I cook my peanut satay off the skewer just because my s/o doesn't care for the taste of baked chicken.

If you have the time when cooking this meal, get creative with different vegetables and presentation (use skewers and grill or bake!). I've been dying to try the peanut satay with thai eggplant and some other fresh vegetables! :)

Spicy BLT Soup

As I'm posting, I'm currently eating the soup and it is so good!
I took 2 lbs of tomatoes and roughly chopped them, sprinkled with sea salt and left for about 10 minutes. While I was waiting for the tomatoes, I chopped 1/2 of a large cucumber, 1/2 of a small yellow onion, and 1 Thai Dragon Pepper (from our garden!). In a food processor (the recipe recommends a blender but I am without!), I combined the tomatoes, cucumber, onion, and pepper with:

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1 slice bread without crust

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1 smashed garlic clove

2 teaspoons of white-wine vinegar

Blend ingredients until smooth. Pour the soup through a fine sieve, discard solids. Cover soup and refrigerate until cold, up to 3 days. 

I topped the soup with crispy bacon, drizzled a bit of vinaigrette, and basil. I know its BLT, and I'm missing the lettuce but I didn't feel it was worth purchasing a head of lettuce for a couple bowls of soup!

This soup really allows the taste of the fresh vegetables (and fruits - tomatoes) to shine! What a great meal on a hot day :)

Leftovers!

Being both college students (my s/o and I), we unfortunately don't have the time or the fridge space to cook a new meal every night! Some nights, I plan to have leftovers and Justin decides he's super hungry and eats it all! Lol :)
Even though it is summer, Justin is working full-time and I'm taking summer classes (which is about 13 hours of classes/lab a week - pretty much a full schedule).
The stuffed shells made two dinners of leftovers, which worked out pretty well since Monday's are always rough with Justin working a full day, I have class and a late night internship.
Tomorrow, I'm super excited to prepare the Spicy BLT Soup :)

Stuffed Pasta Shells

Almost a year ago I started cooking dairy-free. After a couple months without pasta, I got a huge hankering for some ricotta stuffed pasta shells. Of course, I'd have to eat them by myself and I almost never cook just for myself - so instead of cheese - I stuffed the pasta shells with meat! I cooked ground turkey (beef works well also!) with my usual recipe that I use for meatballs:

Ketchup

Italian Spices

Garlic

Finely chopped onion

Red Crushed Pepper

Salt/Pepper

I cooked the meat about 3/4 of the way through while my shells soaked in some cold water. I took the meat of the stove and spooned a good tablespoon and a half into each shell. After all the shells were stuffed, I topped it off with pasta sauce - and putting my shells in a separate dish I added some light mozzarella cheese! The shells, sauce, and meat cooked for about another five minutes and then ready to eat!

This meal is great if you have some extra time on your hands one day but absolutely no time the next! I took about an hour and a half to prepare - with the TV on (lol) - but I have quite a few meals of leftovers!

Super excited about another meal this week - BLT soup! And it requires almost no cooking!

And sorry about the messy photo!

Cranberry Orange Muffins

Baking without any diary is quite challenging but not impossible! These muffins are a great snack or breakfast and modifications allow you to make them as healthy as you wish (or not!). 

Although I often don't measure so these are approximations, here's the recipe I followed:

2 cups flour (I used whole wheat flour)

1.5 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 Tablespoon orange zest

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

2/3 cup sugar

2 Tablespoons oil (I used flaxseed)

The below ingredients I adapted to make the recipe dairy free:

 1/2 cup unsalted butter  ------------------------>    1/2 cup orange juice (freshly squeezed) with 1/4 cup applesauce

  1/2 cup milk                ------------------------>     1/2 cup soymilk 

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

2) In a large bowl add the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3) Originally the recipe called for the butter and sugar to be creamed together with the orange zest. I, however, added the sugar into the orange juice and applesauce until well blended.

4) Add in the eggs, vanilla, and oil. Blend well.

5) Add the flour mixture, then some soymilk (or milk) alternating until complete.

6) Bake the muffins for 20 minutes.

Enjoy! These were delicious :)

Honey Apple Pork Chops

I made this meal last week but with classes did not find the time to post until now! Pork chops were on special at a local market and I picked up "Honey Apple Butter" from a local Trader Joes. This sauce is amazing on pretty much everything and worked very well as a marinade for the pork. Placed on a bed of green beans and applesauce on the side, this meal was hearty and filling and ready in less than 30 minutes!

Thai Spiced Tofu

Tonights dinner was Thai Spiced Tofu, with a side of curried green beans and crusty bread. The picture, honestly, does not do the food justice! But lighting was off tonight and I was hungry! I left the tofu as a whole for about five to ten minutes to loose some of the water before slicing into about 1/4" thick slices and in half (to make my man feel like he's getting more food lol!). I personally feel like its easier to cut when some of the water is drained but purchasing extra firm tofu also helps to keep it together!

I cooked the about 2/3 lb of green beans in 1/3 cup of broth, 1 Tbsp sesame oil, and a small teaspoon of green curry. The original recipe called for thai red curry but we prefer green or yellow. The green beans cooked on medium heat for about 6-7 minutes, and then were set aside. 

The tofu was dipped in a marinade of: 

1.5 tsp green curry 

1.5 Tbsp oyster or fish sauce

 2.5 Tbsp of sugar

 And a little water to make the sauce less thick

 Quickly cover the tofu, and put in a pan of a small amount of sesame oil. Let the tofu cook for about 3 minutes on each side or until a nice golden brown.

And a slice of crusty bread as a side to a sweet and spicy meal!

Asian Marinated Ahi Tuna

I made this for my s/o last night because it was the first meal his parents made for us and lean and hearty at the same time! :)
The Ahi Tuna was purchased at Trader Joe's for a pretty reasonable price and marinated in:

2 Tbsp Soy Sauce

2 Tbsp Sesame Oil

4 Slices of Fresh Ginger (1 cm thick)

A couple pieces of Lime Zest

Left the fish in the marinade in the fridge with three hours. I took the fish out for about 10 minutes to get it to room temperature. I cooked the fish in a minimal amount of sesame oil for about 1.5 minutes on each side. Layered on a 1/2 cup of brown rice and skinny asparagus with a little olive oil, sea salt, and pepper!

A great, light meal before taking a friend's dog out for a long walk :)

By the way - I could use some suggestions for meals! It takes me twice as long to come up with a meal plan for the week then it usually does in fall/winter/spring! I'm secretly wishing for it to be September soon so I can pull out my soups, stews, roasts, and curries!