Christmas Treats

I've been making lots of toffee around here to give out for office gifts, teacher gifts, family gatherings, etc. I even ordered the special almonds from California.

A parent of one of my sixth graders made this years ago, and I requested the recipe. She told me she had to teach me, so I went over and learned her secrets. It is sinfully good.


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Oven-Fried Catfish

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This is an old favorite from when I frist started WW. We love the flavors and how the fillets come out of the oven so crispy. I don't use quite as much of each spice in the cornmeal mixture as the recipe calls for b/c it's a little strong to me, and don't forget to give each breaded fillet a quick dose of non-stick spray before baking. We love these!

Cornmeal-Battered Oven-Fried Catfish

1/2 cup uncooked yellow cornmeal
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp table salt
1/2 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/2 cup FF skim milk
1 pound catfish fillets
1 medium lemon, quartered

1. Preheat oven to 425.

2. Mix cornmeal, paprika, thyme, salt, celery seeds, onion powder, garlic powder and pepper together in a shallow soup bowl. Pour milk into another shallow soup bowl.

3. Coat a large nonstick baking sheet with cooking spray. Dredge fillets first in milk, then in cornmeal mixture, coating both sides and pressing cornemal mixture gently to adhere. Place coated fillets on baking sheet and lightly spray each with cooking spray.

4. Bake until cooked through, about 15 minutes. Let stand at room temp 2 minutes before serving. Serve with lemon wedge.

4 Servings; 5 Points
From WW Online

Turkish Chicken Thighs

I love recipes like this! I marinated these Turkish Chicken Thighs overnight, and then just pulled them out and broiled them for dinner the next night! They were a hit. I think I would add more red pepper next time - I don't have the Hot Paprika. Need to make that field trip to Penzey's. They broil for 15 minutes and then bake for 15, and we really liked that little bit of char-broiled flavor they had.

I served with "Clean Out The Pantry Pasta."


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Lasagna Rolls

I made Lasagna Rolls from Eating Well on Monday night. The recipe says they are "easy," but I would give them more of a "medium" level of work rating.

I used frozen spinach instead of fresh b/c WM didn't have any fresh bunches and I wasn't going to pay for the prewashed.

The new, neat-o thing that I learned from this recipe is that tofu makes a great ricotta cheese substitute! I used the Calco Pressed Tofu from Asia World Market, and I just chopped it super fine in the food processor. I googled around afterward and found some recipes for flavoring it up using parsley, garlic, etc. Very cool!

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The spinach/tofu filling...it also had kalamata olives, a little marinara, garlic, etc.

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Making the rolls. I think this would be easier as a regular lasagna or in the big shells.

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They were supposed to cook in a skillet, but I baked instead. These also held up great for leftovers.

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What's on the Menu? 12/17-12/20

Monday: Lasagna Rolls
Green Salad

Tuesday: Turkish Chicken Thighs
Some sort of pasta side
Green Salad

Wednesday: Lentil Burgers
Cole Slaw
Green Beans

Thursday: Oven fried catfish
Mashed Potatoes
Steamed Broccoli

Favorite pizza to date

This is our favorite pizza to date. It has pesto w/chili-garlic sauce dots as a base, and then I mixed the following in a bowl for the toppings:
frozen spinach (thawed)
chopped artichoke hearts
feta
minced onion (I was out of red, so I used yellow. It was fine.)
green olives
chopped kalamata olives
chopped Trappey's jalapenos


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Vegetarian Reubens

We did another Eating Well recipe on Wednesday night Vegetarian Reubens. Another easy one!

This had a homemade sauce that was just mayo, ketchup, capers, and dill relish - it was very flavorful. It just took a minute to saute the portabellas, onions, and spinach. Then we grilled the bread and melted the cheese - and it was done! This got high marks from Todd. You have to eat it as soon as you make it, or the bread starts to get soggy from the spinach. It's messy, but yummy.


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Polenta and Vegetable Bake

Tuesday night, we tried Polenta and Vegetable Bake from Eating Well magazine. It was really easy - I made the polenta at lunch...sliced it into 8 sections...sauteed the veggies and added jarred marinara. Then it was polenta, cheese (mozzarella and parm-regg), vegetables, and more cheese. It was very good! I think the polenta would have been crispier if I had taken it out and pan fried it and then put it back in the casserole dish, but I thought that was too much work. It had eggplant, which I didn't peel - next time I would. The flavors were delicious!

Polenta:

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Veggies:

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Finished casserole:

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What's On the Menu? 12/10-12/13

Monday: Butternut Squash and Cashew Korma over Coconut Rice; Green Salad

Tuesday: Polenta and Vegetable Bake; Green Salad

Wednesday: Vegetarian Reubens with Russian Dressing; Baked Chips

Thursday: Tuna for the men; Mommy goes out to eat Ethiopian w/girlfriends

Friday: Veggie Enchiladas; Rice and Beans

Tex-Mex Pasta Salad

Tex-Mex Pasta Salad has a great flavor and makes a HUGE amount. The leftovers also hold up well. It's great for potlucks, or suppers where I want lots of leftovers. This week I made it for a potluck of 5 mommies - I took half and saved the rest for dinner. And we still had enough for Todd's lunch - it's good enough that we will eat it that many times. It's really the dressing that makes this yummy - I've tried lots of different combinations. I often leave out the turkey - or I sub fajita chicken chunks - we like to add corn, green olives, and chopped Trappey's jalapenos. I also like it because I can prepare it in stages if I need to take it to a gathering - I make the dressing the night before and let it sit in the fridge...make the pasta and put it in a ziploc. Lots of the ingredients are convenience products, so that makes for easy prep - packaged shredded cheese, canned beans, canned corn, etc. This one has lots of options.

Before I've mixed in the dressing:

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The finished product:

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Salmon with Mustard Cream

Seems like I'm doing more and more easy ones in this busy holiday season. This is another favorite - Salmon with Mustard Cream. It's out of an old WW cookbook that I love.

You can make the cream early in the day. I've used fresh dill and I've also used dried (half the amount), and they both taste great. I always use fresh minced garlic though. I also use a really good coarsely ground Dijon for the mustard - the coarse grind gives the cream a great texture.

You just broil the salmon (sprinkled with pepper) until it's done, and put one Tbsp of the Mustard Cream on it. It's yummy. Last week, I served it with steamed kale and a baked sweet potato.

Mustard Cream

1/2 cup red. fat sour cream
1.5 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tsp chopped fresh dill
1/4 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
1.5 tsp lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
1 garlic clove, minced


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Yellow Pea and Coconut Milk Soup with Spinach, Rice, and Spiced Yogurt

This is another one out of Deborah's Madison's Vegetable Soups.

I got the yellow split peas out of the bulk bins at Sprouts, and I also got a tiny bag of Cardamom there - that was a new spice for me.

I started by rinsing the peas.

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While the peas cooked, I sauteed onions and cilantro stems with turmeric, cardamom, cinnamon, and red pepper flakes.

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After the peas had cooked and the onion had sauteed, I combined them and added coconut milk, fresh lime juice, and chopped cilantro.

While that heated, I mixed plain yogurt with turmeric, paprika, cumin seeds and ground pepper.

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The soup was pureed before serving, and I also cooked rice and sauteed a bunch of fresh spinach.

This recipe was a lot more work than I thought when I looked over the recipe. I had had a very hard day, and it seemed like this recipe would never end! But it was WONDERFUL! The flavors worked together so well, and the spinach and cilantro really complimented the peas. I'll definitely make it again, and next time I'll know the routine better.

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Friday's Pizza

I decided to chop the toppings this week. Yummy! We loved it this way. We did homemade crust and sauce, chili garlic sauce, turkey pepperoni, green olives, kalamata olives, portabellas, and jalapenos.


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Red Lentil with Colorful Vegetables Soup

I came across an interesting book on one of the display shelves at the library - Vegetable Soups from Deborah Madison's Kitchen. I had never heard of this chef before, and it looks like she does lots of popular vegetarian cookbooks. I liked the variety in the recipes, and they didn't have too many weird things in them.

On Sunday night, I decided to try a Red Lentil soup. It looked pretty easy. I started by getting the veggies ready...

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My hot sous chef...

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The veggies. Celery, carrot, minced cilantro stems, and butternut squash. It also had onion and garlic.

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Rinsing the red lentils...

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It was delicious! It had turmeric, cumin, and fresh lime juice in it also - the flavors were wonderful. I added rice and some plain yogurt - I ran 12 miles that morning, so I needed calories!

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