Pecan Crusted Catfish and Sweet Potato Wedges

Lent has inspired me to venture into the seafood world. I usually make fish on the grill because it's easy: marinate, grill, and serve. Although the weather has been telling us it's grilling season, we have not fired up the grill just yet. The other night I made a "breaded" catfish and served it with sweet potato wedges. You could use the same recipe for a different white fish like cod or use it for chicken breasts. Of course it is no fish n' chips or fried fish basket, but it still taste good!


Need for Fish

1 1/2 c. pecans
1 t. dried thyme
1 t. dried oregano
1 t. garlic salt
1 t. pepper
2 pinches cayenne pepper
4 small catfish filets
2 eggs beaten
Olive Oil

Need for Sweet Potatoes

3 sweet potatoes (to serve 4 people)
1 t. chili powder
1 t. sea salt
1 t. black pepper
olive oil
pinch of cinnamon

Prepare

Preheat oven to 425.

Potatoes

Wash and cut the sweet potatoes. Transfer the sweet potatoes to a foiled cookie sheet. Drizzle a decent amount of olive oil on the potatoes. Using your hands make sure each potato has some. Sprinkle on the chili powder, sea salt, pepper, and cinnamon. Bake for 40 minutes. Flip the potatoes once after 20 minutes.










You can cut the potatoes however you want. I cut them into wedges, which required a longer cooking time. If your potatoes are smaller, reduce cooking time. For a crispier potato arrange the potatoes facing up on the skins. This method does not require flipping.

Catfish

1. Using a food processor finely grind up the pecans and transfer to a shallow dish.
2. Add the seasonings ( thyme, oregano, garlic salt, pepper, cayenne) to the dish and mix.
3. In a large frying pan or flat top pan heat 3 tablespoons of olive oil on medium high heat.
4. Create an assembly line to bread the fish. The pecan mixture, two beaten eggs, and catfish.
5. When the oil is hot, bread the filets. Dip one filet at a time in the egg mixture then coat with pecan mixture in the shallow dish. Transfer the filet to the hot oiled pan.















6. Cook on medium-high heat for about 4-5 minutes a side. My catfish filets were extremely large, so they took about 6 minutes a side. I flipped them over when I could see the sides of the filets turning white. You may want to add more olive oil to the pan as the filets cook.

Serve the catfish with sweet potato wedges and your favorite vegetable!

Stuffed Peppers

These peppers are great because you can sneak in extra vegetables and non-veggie eaters will not mind. Ben did not notice that I subbed shredded cauliflower for long grain rice and I added in a cup of fresh spinach. When making these yourself feel free to add your own favorite vegetables and meats. These stuffed peppers live up to their name and will leave you satisfied. Because of all the veggies and meat, you will not be hungry for hours!

Need for Peppers

5-6 large green peppers
1lb. grass fed ground beef
1/2 lb. chorizo
1 large shallot diced
1 jalapeno pepper seeded and diced
1 c. shredded cauliflower rice.
1 cup fresh spinach chopped
1 T. tomato paste
1 T. cumin
1 T. chili powder
1/4 t. garlic powder
1 C. chicken stock
Salt & Pepper

Need for Tomato Sauce

1 can organic tomato sauce
1 t. cumin power
1 t. chili powder
dash of hot sauce
pinch of cinnamon
Salt & Pepper

Prepare

Preheat oven to 350.

1. Cook the ground beef and chorizo on medium heat until most the meat is brown.2. In the same pan add the jalapeno pepper and shallot. Salt and Pepper
3. After about 4 minutes mix in the cumin, chili powder, and garlic powder.
4. Fold in the fresh spinach and cauliflower. (I shredded the cauliflower in the food processor before I started cooking.)
5. Add in 1/2 c. chicken broth and the tablespoon of tomato paste. Cook the mixture until the spinach if full cooked down and wilted.
6.. While the meat filling cooks, hollow out the green peppers. I find it is easy to cut a square at the top of each pepper. You can lift the top out by the stem and it usually takes the inside flesh and seeds with it.
7. Stuff each pepper with the mixture and place in a oven safe baking dish.















8. To prepare the sauce, combine all the sauce ingredients and cook on medium to low heat.
9. Pour a few spoonfuls of sauce over each pepper. Reserve half of the sauce for serving.
10. When all the peppers are ready, add 1/2 cup of chicken stock to the baking dish. Cover with foil.
11. Bake in the oven at 350 for about 1 hour. I like my peppers to be extremely soft. If you prefer your peppers to be stiff, take the peppers out of the oven sooner.



12. Serve with a spoonful of sauce on the top and go crazy by adding a spoonful of sour cream.

Pork Chops

I heard that allowing meat to marinate in a brine hours before cooking makes the meat juicier when cooked. Why? I really do not know. You'll have to ask Alton Brown or these people. I used this website as a guide for my first experience with brining meat. I cooked pork chops the other day and they were juicy and flavorful. I created a glaze to brush on top for an extra punch. I'm going to investigate more about brining, until then try it out!

Need for Brine

4-6 1 inch thick boneless pork chops
2 bay leaves
2 cups chicken stock
2 cups ice
3 T. brown sugar
1/4 c. sea salt
2 cap fulls of apple cider vinegar
1 t. Peppercorns
Olive Oil

Need for Glaze

Juice of one orange
1/4 c. maple syrup
Pepper
Dash of Worcestershire sauce

Prepare

1. On medium heat combine the chicken stock, brown sugar, salt, peppercorns, bay leaves, and vinegar in a large stock pot.
2. Once everything is dissolved, remove from heat and add the 2 cups of ice.
3. When the mixture is cool (which should be quickly) add the pork chops.
4. Refrigerate from 2-24 hours. I was short on time, so I had the pork chops in the mixture for 4 hours.


5. When you're ready to cook, heat a small amount of olive oil in a stove top pan.
6. Remove the pork chops from the stock pot and pat them dry with a paper towel.
7. When the oil is hot, transfer the pork chops to the pan.
8. To make the glaze, simply combine all the glaze ingredients in a small dish. Add a dash of pepper.
9. Brush the top layer of the pork with the glaze. Continue to brush the glaze on the pork chops often as they cook.


10. Cook the pork chops on medium to medium high heat for approximately 7 minutes each side.
11. Brush the pork chops with the glaze one last time before serving.

I served my pork chops with roasted asparagus and broccoli.

Banana Apple Muffins

This recipe is very similar to the pumpkin muffins. I like making these muffins because it dirties one bowl, one spatula, and takes about 15 minutes to make. This week I had a muffin, berries, and a cup of coffee every day for breakfast. I'd say that is the breakfast of champions!

Need

2 c. almond flour
2 ripen bananas mashed
1 medium apple, cored, peeled, and finely diced (reserve 2 T. for garnish)
2 eggs
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. apple pie spice
1 T. melted coconut oil
1/3 c. maple syrup
Chopped pistachios for garnish
Ghee to coat the muffin tin cups

Prepare

1. Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the almond flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium size bowl.
2. Add in the mashed ripen bananas, eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup to the same bowl. Mix in the pumpkin pie spice. Lastly fold in the chopped apples. The batter will be very thick.
3. Using some type of oil, coat the muffin cups. I used a small amount of ghee.
4. Divide the batter evenly in the muffin pan filling about 3/4 the way full.
5. Top each muffin with the chopped pistachios and left over chopped apples.

Bake at 350 for approximately 20 minutes. The muffins should be golden brown.

Dinner for 2

We aren't huge Valentines Day people, yet we do acknowledge the day. It is a great excuse for me to cook up a special meal for the hubs. I made a three course meal and paired it with two different Italian wines. I've been volunteering as a chef's assistant at the Cook's Warehouse, and I have been learning so much! I most recently assisted Gino Noci, an Italian chef who owns a restaurant in Florence, Italy. He made the most delicious Tuscan style meal with very simple ingredients. I recreated a similar meal for Ben. The sausage gravy and broccoli are compliments of Chef Gino, but the entire meal is inspired by him and his team. They were fantastic to work with and taught me a lot! Buon appetite!

Appetizer- Sweet Potatoes with Sausage Gravy

Need

1 Large sweet potato sliced
1 lb. mild Italian Sausage
1 rip celery finely chopped
1 carrot finely chopped
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
2 gloves garlic finely chopped
1/4 t. fennel seed
3/4 c. white wine
T. Fresh chopped parsley
Olive Oil
Salt & Pepper

Prepare

1. Heat about 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a sauce pot
2. Saute garlic, carrot, fennel seed, and celery until almost translucent. Salt and Pepper.


3. Add the sausage and cook until brown on medium heat.



4. While the sausage is cooking, saute the slice sweet potatoes in olive oil in a different pan. Salt and pepper and cook the sweet potatoes until soft. Mix in fresh parsley just before serving.

5. When the sausage is fully brown, add the white wine and cook the mixtures until the wine evaporates.
6. Serve the sausage gravy over the cooked sweet potatoes. Add fresh Parmesan if desired. Gino served his sausage gravy over homemade potato ravioli.



Vegetarians
Prepare the gravy just the same. Omit the sausage and substitute mushrooms instead.

Entree- Filet Mignon with Sauteed Broccoli

Need

1 large crown broccoli cleaned and chopped
1 large glove of garlic chopped
3/4 c. white wine
2 pinches red pepper flakes
2 small grass fed steak filets
Salt & Pepper

Prepare

1. Saute the garlic and red pepper flakes on medium heat in 3 tablespoons of olive oil.
2. Add the broccoli to the pan and coat with the olive oil. Salt and Pepper.
3. Turn heat to high and add the white wine.
4. Cook broccoli until soft, about 7-8 minutes. By this time, the wine should have evaporated.
5. Salt and peppered each side of the steak.
6. Using an indoor grill pan, cook each side of the steak roughly 7-8 minutes each. Because we had such a thick cut of meat, I covered the grill pan with foil for 4 minutes to better cook the inside. I served the steak at about 140 which is medium-rare. It was a great temperature to serve such a tender piece of meat.


Dessert- Chocolate Fondue

Dessert was a dark chocolate fondue sauce. I melted dark chocolate, a few pours of cream, and a dash of red wine over a double broiler. We dipped berries, clementines, biscotti, and other treats in the sauce. It was the perfect dessert to a delicious and simple meal. (Exact recipe and pictures to come later)

This meal is a lot of fun to eat and to make! Although it is not a perfectly healthy meal, it is also not too terribly unhealthy. Pair it with your favorite Italian wines and you'll have the perfect night in.

Pumpkin Muffins

I prefer cooking to baking, but occasionally I get the baking bug. Some days I just want to crank up the tunes and start baking. Tonight I made pumpkin muffins using almond flour. I think about making them every weekend when I make the almond flour pancakes. I figured making muffins couldn't be too different. They turned out surprisingly tasty! I'm going to play around with the recipe a few times again, but here is what I did today. My belly will be very happy tomorrow morning at breakfast.

Need

2 1/2 c. almond flour
1 ripe banana
3/4 c. canned pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1 t. baking soda
1 t. baking powder
1 t. apple pie spice
1 T. melted coconut oil
1/3 c. maple syrup
1/2 c. chopped toasted pecans
Ghee to coat the muffin tin cups

Prepare

Preheat the oven to 350. Combine the almond flour, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium size bowl.

Add in the mashed ripe banana, pumpkin puree, eggs, coconut oil, and maple syrup to the same bowl. Mix in the pumpkin pie spice. Lastly fold in the toasted pecans. The batter will be very thick.

Using some type of oil, coat the muffin cups. I used a small amount of ghee.
Divide the batter evenly in the muffin pan filling about 3/4 the way full. Top each muffin with a toasted pecan.

Bake at 350 for approximately 25 minutes. The muffins should be golden brown.

Warm in the microwave the next day to enjoy with your coffee!

Sweet Sauce and Spicy Sausage

Who doesn't like Italian food? Italian food is my favorite cuisine. Traditionally, it is also a cuisine that can sometimes leave me feeling bloated and sleepy. If you eat the warm buttery bread that is usually served before hand, that is pretty much your carb count for the day. I decided to omit the bread and exchange the pasta noodles for spaghetti squash. I also used tomatoes that had zero preservatives and no water or citric acid added. I made a basic tomato sauce and cooked spicy sausage and peppers to go over herb spaghetti squash. It sounds more challenging than it really is. It's a long post though, so grab the vino if you're still interested.

Need

Tomato Sauce
1 box Pomi Tomato Sauce
1 box Pomi Tomato
4 gloves chopped garlic
2 T. fresh chopped basil
1 T. fresh chopped parsley
1/4 t. bay leaves (or 1 whole bay leaf)
1/4 t. garlic powder
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper

Sausage and Peppers
1 lb hot Italian sausage
1 yellow bell pepper cut into strips
1 red bell pepper cut into strips
1 green bell pepper cut into strips
1/2 large onion cut into strips
1 large glove of garlic
Olive Oil
Red wine

Spaghetti Squash
1 small yellow spaghetti squash
1 T. fresh chopped basil
1 T. fresh chopped parsley
1 T. Olive Oil
Salt (about 1/4 t.)
Pepper (about 1/4 t.)

Prepare

Start the tomato sauce right away. In fact, you can make the sauce a few hours ahead if you want the sauce to simmer longer. Add a few tablespoons of olive oil to a sauce pan and heat on medium. About a minute later, saute your garlic in the sauce pot and cook for 2 minutes. Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes, garlic powder, and herbs. Salt and pepper to taste. (I added about 1/4 teaspoon of each.) Simmer the sauce on low. If the sauce seems watery, take the lid off and it will start to thicken.

Cook the Italian sausage on medium heat in a large pan to brown on each side. Browning take about 4 minutes a side. Next, put a lid on the pan to allow the sausage to cook on the inside. It took approximately another 5 minutes for the sausage to be fully cooked. The internal temperature should reach at least 165ºF and there should be no pink.






Once the sausage is fully cooked remove them from the pan. Set the heat of the pan to medium-high. Throw in the peppers and onions. Add a large pour of red wine. I had pinot noir on hand, so that it what I used. Turn up the heat and allow the peppers to cook on high for 3 minutes. Bring the heat back down to medium, throw in a large glove of garlic, and cook until the veggies are tender. Slice the sausage while the veggies are cooking. Toss the sausage back in the hot pan a few minutes before serving.










There are several ways to cook spaghetti squash. I have had the most success when cooking it in the microwave. First cut the spaghetti squash in half. Using a microwave safe dish, place one half of the squash face down. Fill the dish with water so there is enough water to cover the bottom of the dish. Microwave on high for 6 minutes. Refill the water if needed and microwave on high for another 6 minutes. Prick the squash with a fork to check tenderness. If the outside cannot be easily pricked with a fork, cook for another minute. The squash will be extremely hot! Make sure you use a oven mitt to handle it. Repeat same process for other half of squash.










Using a spoon, scoop out the seeds inside the squash. Once the seeds are discarded, use a fork to scrape out the squash into a medium size bowl. The squash "noodles" should peel up easily. Toss in the olive oil, herbs, salt and pepper.

Finally, top the herb squash with a layer of tomato sauce, then the sausage and pepper mixture. To make it extra special add some fresh Parmesan on top.

It seems complicated, but it is worth it!