Browned Butter and Caper Tilapia

I ate at Paris Club a few months ago and I ordered the skate wing with lemon, capers, and brown butter.  I didn’t even really know what skate wing was, but it was on the seafood menu and I was feeling adventurous so I just ordered it.  And oh my goodness was it delicious!  Sadly I didn’t take any pictures that night, but I knew I would have to recreate the flavors later on from home.

Trader Joe’s carries a good selection of frozen, individually packaged fish-perfect for cooking for one!  This became one of my go-to recipes for cooking tilapia over the summer.  Just add some veggies and it is a quick, delicious meal!

Browned Butter Tilapia

Brown a few tablespoons of butter.  Pour over tilapia fillet in small ramekins or foil pouch.  Add a tablespoon or so of capers and squeeze lemon on top.  Bake at 350 for 15 minutes until flaky, or a little longer if the fish is frozen.  Enjoy!

Pumpkin Pie

I absolutely love pumpkin pie!  Actually pretty much anything with pumpkin. In the fall I made it my mission to make a pumpkin pie completely from scratch, which I had never done before.  This was only my second time making homemade pie crust so it was a good challenge.

The crust tasted good but I didn’t roll it out enough so it was too thick.  Eventually I will make a perfect pie crust!!  But it didn’t matter that the crust wasn’t the best because the inside of this pie was heavenly!  Seriously the best pumpkin pie I have ever had.  And I have eaten a lot of them.  I think roasting my own pumpkin made a huge difference in flavor compared to the canned stuff.  I may never go back!

I looked up a lot of recipes but none of them seemed quite right to me, so I just combined them all and the result was amazing!

Pumpkin Pie

2 cups roasted pumpkin
2 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 cups half and half
1 teaspoon fresh ground ginger
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

Make or buy pie crust.  I suck at it so can’t give any good directions.  Combine ingredients.  Don’t worry if it is super watery compared to pie from canned puree.  Bake for 50 minutes at 375.  Enjoy!

Coconut Flour Waffles

I have had a griddle with changeable plates for almost 2 years now and finally used the waffle plates for the first time.  I figured I would never end up using it, since I don’t generally eat grains anymore, but then Joy the Baker posted these and I knew I had to make them immediately!

And I promise you they were every bit as delicious as they look!  The maple cream was delicious, so do not skip that part!  Also I recommend the bacon to go with it as bacon goes with everything, especially breakfast.

So just because you have given up grains does not mean that you have to give up delicious waffles!!

Avocado Ranch

It has been waaay too long since I have posted!!  But second year of medical school, boards, and post-boards vacay are now done and I am settling into my family medicine rotation!  I really can’t even explain how exciting it is to have free time again!!

I actually made this a few weeks ago as a quick snack, but didn’t have time to post it.  It is super easy and delicious!  There is no reason to settle for all the crap in the bottled version from the supermarket when making it yourself only takes 5 minutes.  I based it on this recipe, but didn’t have all the ingredients so made a few changes.

Avocado Ranch
2 avocados
1 cup Greek yogurt (I used 1 package Fage Total Greek Yogurt)
Juice from half a lemon
1 TBSP parsley
2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
veggies for dipping

Mash avocados and mix in yogurt and seasoning.  Enjoy!

Bacon, Avocado, and Tomato Salad

I have been craving guacamole something fierce lately, so I picked up an avocado on my last trip to the grocery store.  I’m too lazy to actually make real guac for one though (I know, I know…), so I just threw this together because it all sounded good.  And it was!  A good quick and easy meal with minimal prep time involved!

Bacon, Avocado, and Tomato Salad:

• 2 slices bacon
• 1 avocado
• Handful of grape/cherry tomatoes
• 1 egg
• S+P

Fry up your bacon.  While you’re doing that, chop the avocado into bite-sized pieces.  I sliced the tomatoes into halves/quarters as well, but you could leave them whole too.  Once the bacon is done, chop it and throw it into a bowl with the tomato and avocado, then season with salt and pepper.  Fry up the egg in the bacon grease and put on top of the mix.  Eat.  Love!

I actually didn’t take any pictures of this because I was too hungry to think about it, but I promise it’s pretty and colorful and delicious!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup

Soup round two for me this week!  Other than being sick, I love making soup because it is easy and makes enough to last a few days.  I’m super busy with school right now so this is definitely needed!  I somewhat based it this on this recipe from The Nourishing Cook.  It turned out really well!

Thai Coconut Chicken Soup
1 can coconut milk
2 C chicken broth
3 C cooked chicken (I used most of a whole chicken I had cooked in the crockpot)
1 bag spinach
1 tsp red chili flakes
salt & pepper
1/2 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 T coconut oil

Saute the onions and garlic in the coconut oil until onions are slightly translucent and mostly cooked.  Toss into a large pot with all other ingredients and let simmer on low for about an hour.  Enjoy!

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

I was making dinner the other night when I found some zucchini in my fridge that I had completely forgotten about.  I was already making soup so wanted something cold to go with it and had just read Smitten Kitchen’s Ribboned Asparagus Salad with Lemon post so felt inspired.

It really wasn’t hard to do something similar with zucchini and it turned out delicious!  Perfect for summer because it doesn’t involve turning the oven on and is fairly easy!

Zucchini Ribbon Salad

2 zucchini
Sea Salt
Olive Oil
Basil
Pepper
1/2 lemon

Cut the zucchini in half and use a potato peeler to shred it into ribbons.  Put ribbons into colander.  I have this awesome one from Ikea and I love it!  Generously salt and let sit for 30 minutes.

Gently squeeze any excess moisture out and add to a large bowl.  Add enough olive oil to coat, probably about 2 tablespoons but I didn’t measure.  Squeeze in the juice from the lemon and season with basil and pepper.  Enjoy!

Paleo Banana-Walnut-Maple Muffins

AKA, The Best Muffins Yet!

My google reader is PACKED with primal/paleo cooking blogs.  Most recipes are relatively appealing and I’ll star the ones that I want to try, but the majority of them stay just there – in my archives, waiting their turn.

However, when these showed up in Holly’s blog yesterday, I knew I absolutely had to make them – I had over-ripe bananas and a handful of crushed walnuts leftover from another baking adventure, so it was the perfect fit!  I modified her recipe a bit because I wanted to use up the rest of my maple syrup, but HOLY COW.  These knocked my socks off!  They smelled amazing while they were baking and rose to look big and fluffy like normal (aka non-paleo) muffins do.  This is one of those things you make when someone doesn’t believe you that paleo/primal eating is still delicious!

Paleo Banana-Walnut-Maple Muffins:
adapted from Holly Would If She Could

• 1/2 c coconut flour
• 6 eggs
• 1/2 c dark maple syrup
• 1/3 c olive oil
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 2/3 c chopped walnuts
• 2 very ripe bananas, diced

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk the eggs and add in the coconut flour.  Once mixed, add the maple syrup, olive oil, vanilla and baking soda and stir to combine.  Mix in the walnuts, and then the bananas.  Mine were a little bit mashed/mixed up by the time I was done, and they still came out great – don’t worry too much about maintaining the banana pieces!

Divide evenly between 12 lined/greased muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.  It’s torture, but try and wait a few minutes for them to cool before digging in!

Spicy Sweet Potato Beef Soup

I had other meal plans when I bought these ingredients, but then I got sick and decided I needed soup.  I was seriously annoyed that I managed to stay healthy all winter, but then got sick at the very end of April!  But I’m overworked, overtired and surrounded by people who don’t take very good care of themselves (med students).  A lot of sleep and this soup and I felt much better!

Spicy Sweet Potato Beef Soup

1 lb. ground beef
1/2 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. paprika
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped
1 green pepper, seeded and chopped
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
2 C. chicken broth
Avocado

Cook ground beef with onion and garlic for a few minutes until partially cooked.  Add seasoning and peppers and cook until beef is done.

Add beef mixture, sweet potatoes, and broth in a large pot.  Simmer on low about an hour.

Serve with avocado on top.

Aloo Gobi, or Mashed Cauliflower and Sweet Potato

Dear Indian Food,

I love you.  Adore you, even.  You are rich and flavorful and full of whole, healthy ingredients that are so easy to manipulate.  Thanks for being awesome.

Love,
Danae

In all seriousness, this dish rocks!  I was browsing foodbuzz a few days back and saw this gorgeous picture of aloo gobi by Spicie Foodie.  It was simple and easy to paleo-fy, so I gave it a go!  I also used her recipe for garam masala and modified it slightly based on the ingredients I had available – it made more than enough so I definitely plan on trying more of her recipes!  Also, you can cut down on cook time by making the garam masala while the cauliflower and sweet potatoes are cooking if you don’t have some made already.

Garam Masala: adapted from Spicie Foodie

• 1 T coriander seeds
• 2 T cumin seeds
• 1 t cardamom seeds
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 T black pepper
• 1/2 T ground cinnamon
• 1/4 t ground nutmeg

In a small skillet, roast the coriander, cumin, cardamom and bay leaf for a few minutes until the seeds are fragrant and hot – don’t let them burn!  Once they’re toasted a bit, turn off the heat and let them cool a bit, then grind them up in a spice or coffee grinder.  Transfer the ground spices to a small jar with an airtight lid.  Add the remaining spices and shake to combine.  You can also add 1/2 t of both cloves and fennel seeds (roast them with the other seeds!), but I didn’t have either of those ingredients and just left them out – it was still delicious!  This made about 5-ish tablespoons, so you’ll have plenty leftover for future use!

Roasting the spices

Aloo Gobi: adapted from Spicie Foodie

• 1 head cauliflower, chopped (don’t worry about making them perfect florets!)
• 1 medium-large sweet potato, peeled and cubed
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 T garam masala
• 1 t ground ginger
• 1 t ground turmeric
• 1/4-1/2 t red pepper (depending on how spicy you like your food!)

Start by boiling your cauliflower and sweet potatoes – I just threw them in together and they came out just fine.  Cook till fork-tender, drain and set aside (I just left mine in the colander).  While the water boiled and the veggies cooked, I made the garam masala and chopped my onion.  Hooray for multitasking!

Once the veggies are cooked, add a few tablespoons of olive oil to the same big pan and heat it up.  Add the onion and cook till translucent, then throw in the garlic and let it cook for another minute or two.  Add the veggies back in and mix in the garam masala, ginger, turmeric, and red pepper.  Stir to combine and mash with a potato masher, and that’s IT!

Easy, fast, delicious, AND healthy – I’m hooked!  I’m also looking forward to mixing this in with my eggs tomorrow morning, Indian food is SO GOOD cooked up with scrambled eggs for a savory breakfast.