First Timer

I realized yesterday that I have been withholding all of my culinary creations from you this week! What am I thinking!?!?!  I know you’ve just been on the edge of your seat…

 

Let’s look back to Tuesday. I give you Honey Ginger Chicken with Pineapple Salsa. This was inspired by an Ellie Krieger recipe for jerk chicken (Hey, who you callin’ a jerk?) with some modifications to keep the spiciness at a minimum. I’m also keeping the onion and garlic at a minimum these days so that everyone in the house has happy tummy’s…anyway. I digress.

 

The pineapple salsa was just a mixture of fresh cut pineapple (diced pretty small), finely diced cucumber, fresh mint from the backyard, topped with a drizzle of honey and the juice of a lime.

It went with some Honey Ginger Chicken…I browned the chicken in a hot pan, then poured on a sauce; a blend of tamari, rice wine vinegar, ginger, honey…and I think that’s it?

When the chicken was done I moved it to a plate and let the sauce reduce…

 

Then poured it on…

Mmmm….saucey.

 

We are trying to keep the protein levels up these days, especially for K, the new mama, but in an effort to keep it balanced and not be eating chicken or shrimp and whatnot every night, I took Wednesday as a chance to play around with a new vegetarian protein…tempeh.  Tempeh is soy that has been fermented, which makes it much easier to digest (and is actually the way soy is meant to be eaten if you are going to eat it!) and is also loaded with protein and fiber.

I have to be honest…tempeh scares me a bit. It’s appearance (ahem, and smell) is a bit intimidating but after my experience Wednesday I’m a bit more comfortable with it. I used this recipe by Heidi Swanson for Orange Pan Glazed Tempeh and followed it like it was the law since I had no idea what I was doing with the main ingredient. Here’s the process in photos…

 

First you brown the tempeh.

Then you pour on the sauce.

Then you let it thicken.   

And then it’s done.

I served it up with some wild rice and green peas for a little carb and veggie action. I tried a little triangle and it was actually quite delicious! I highly recommend trying this recipe.

 

Thursday was the flavah of Summer and was inspired by my trip to NGI this past weekend. I combined 1 yellow squash, 1 zucchini, and some gorgeous pink radishes with fresh lemon  juice and zest, olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil to make a light summer salad.

 

I sent along some endive leaves too so it could be served up like so…

Green onion would be great in this salad too. They had this with some camera shy salmon that I prepped in a baking dish so that when they were ready, they could just pop it in the oven and eat it. Mmmm.

 

Friday was another kitchen first. Stephen requested “quinoa cakes,” something I have never seen or eaten. Yep, a challenge. But no worries, I love a challenge. I read a few recipes online and went to town.

 

I made a “batter with cooked quinoa, white beans, carrot, salt, pepper, cumin…and I think that’s it. Then seared them in a pan with some EVOO and voila…

I sent along some tzatziki too to go on top; a blend of greek yogurt, finely chopped cucumber, green onion, and fresh lemon juice.

I’m not sure how I feel about how they turned out, but I decided it wasn’t too shabby for a first attempt.

 

And that’s that! As you can see I have been cooking quite a bit this week, which I find ironic since I don’t remember the last time I had a home cooked meal for dinner! Just lots of snacks…and wine. Oops! What can I say…I’ve been thirsty this week!

 

I’m off to take a LONG walk on Bayshore this morning. Here’s some views of the glorious water along Bayshore and Davis Island from sailing (ANOTHER first!)  the other night. Despite the fact that I have lived in Tampa my whole life, I had actually never been sailing. Motor boats, yes. We did a LOT of water skiing and wakeboarding growing up…but sailing? Not so much. It was really fun and I still can’t get over how gorgeous it was!

     

Gorgeous, huh?

 

Have a great Saturday!

Tagged as: chicken, fruit, recipes, Salad, tempeh