April 26, 2024

Baked Salmon with Pesto Sauce

September 4, 2015 by

 

Baked Salmon with Pesto Sauce

Salmon is my favorite fish to make at  home.  It seems more substantial than fish like sole or trout, and its strong, meaty texture and flavor give it a lot of flexibility.  Make this Baked Salmon with Pesto Sauce and find out for yourself!

You can of course use store-bought pesto, but if you have basil growing in your garden, the rest is easy to rustle up at home.  This is how I like pesto – you can alter this to suit your tastes.  If you have any leftover pesto, try it on scrambled eggs, roasted vegetables, chicken, and of course over pasta!  (Or, want a different spin on pesto?  Try Coleen’s version!)

Baked Salmon with Pesto Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1 large salmon filet, about 1/2 pound or more
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 cup basil leaves
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 3 tablespoons – 1/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

  1. Preheat your oven to 375*F.  Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
  2. Place the salmon skin-side down on the baking sheet, and drizzle with one tablespoon of olive oil.  Season the salmon with salt and pepper.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until firm in the thickest part of the filet.
  3. While the salmon is in the oven, put the basil and garlic cloves in the bowl of a small food processor.  Pulse to combine.
  4. Add the lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, and pine nuts, and blend again.  Add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and blend.  Taste for seasoning – more lemon?  More Parmesan?  More garlic?  You can add more olive oil for a thinner texture – as much as half a cup if you like your pesto really thin.
  5. Serve the salmon hot from the oven with a healthy pour of pesto over the top.  Refrigerate leftovers.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet

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Plum and Basil Upside-Down Cake

July 24, 2015 by

Plum Basil Upside Down Cake

I  hadn’t really planned on baking a cake today.  But every Friday, I need to have a post up for you fine ladies, and sometimes…{sigh}.  The kids are acting crazy, work is busy, the husband has to work late—you know how it is.  So, you make all the family favorites for dinner because it’s easy and you don’t have to think about it.

This week, however, I was really stumped.  I looked in my fridge:  I had a LOT of plums to deal with that were edging toward soft.  I also have a basil plant in my front yard that I’m in love with!   I am plucking off leaves daily and trying to find new uses for it.  Well, I did a Google search for “plums and basil”…and guess what came up?  This Plum and Basil Upside-Down Cake!

It was easy to make and, while not instantaneous to whip up, I could still do it in steps—in between washing dishes, or folding some laundry.   You don’t need the basil in this recipe, but it adds a lovely complexity to the flavor and elevates it from being just another sweet cake.  If you don’t have plums, use nectarines or peaches – both taste great with basil.

Plum and Basil Upside-Down Cake

(click here for the original recipe)

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup plus 2 teaspoons butter, divided use
  • 1 pound large plums – any kind, or peaches or nectarines – pitted and quartered (about 6 plums)
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar, divided use
  • 1/2 cup packed fresh basil leaves, roughly chopped
  • 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour (or use regular flour)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk (I used plain yogurt instead)

Directions:

  1. Melt 2 teaspoons butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add plums, and cook for 3 minutes.  Add 1/2 cup sugar, basil, and a pinch of salt.  Cook for 10 minutes or until plums are tender, stirring frequently.  Remove plums from pan using a slotted spoon.  Bring cooking liquid to a boil.  Cook 5 minutes or until liquid is very thick, like jam.  Strain liquid through a sieve to remove basil.
  2. While the liquid reduces, arrange plums in the bottom of a 9-inch cake pan (I used square, but the author recommends round) coated with cooking spray.  Pour the liquid over the plums.  Let cool.  (I actually reserved about 3 tablespoons of the liquid for another use – read on!)
  3. Preheat oven to 350F*.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt.  In a separate bowl, beat the remaining 1/4 cup butter and remaining 3/4 cup sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy.  Add one egg at a time, beating well. Add flour and buttermilk (or yogurt) alternately to sugar blend, beginning and ending with flour.  Pour batter over plums, spreading evenly.
  4. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for 10 minutes.  Run a knife around the edge of the cake.  Invert onto a plate.  Cool and serve plain, or with whipped cream, or even vanilla ice cream!

I saved a bit of the plum syrup.  My husband got a promotion today (Praise the Lord!), and I’m going to surprise him with a glass of sparkling wine with a teaspoon of the plum syrup stirred in for a champagne cocktail!  If you don’t like champagne, I bet this plum syrup would be delicious stirred into sparkling water or iced tea too.

Explore, experiment, enjoy! — Dana

To view even more of Dana’s unique recipe, you can visit her at Frugal Girlmet

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Caprese-style Stuffed Mushroom Caps

May 27, 2015 by

How about you and your loved ones…do you have a meatless meal in your menu plan regularly?  Some folks term it ‘Meatless Monday’ and enjoy a meal typically on Monday 😉 that has a different source of protein.  We eat at least one supper each week that does not include meat…and this past week it was these healthy but oh-so-yummy stuffed portobello caps.  These included two proteins— quinoa and a few ounces of fresh mozzarella.

This recipe is very versatile, too.  You can switch out the fresh mozz for a different cheese (goat cheese or feta would be easy and simple); a different herb could be used (mint or parsley or sage come to mind); even different veggies could be chopped small and substituted for the tomatoes.  Or perhaps you could choose a different ‘container’ for the stuffing…maybe zucchini or small peppers?  If you do choose to add this, or a variation, to your menu plan…I would love to hear about it!

Caprese-style Stuffed Mushroom Caps

2015-05-22 20.38.33

 

ingredients:
4-5 medium portobella mushroom caps
olive oil
balsamic vinegar
sea salt and ground pepper
1/8 to 1/4 cup of cooked quinoa per mushroom cap
1/2 red onion, sliced thin
big handful of yellow and red grape tomatoes, halved or quartered depending upon size
1 heaping tablespoon minced garlic
4 tablespoons pine nuts
4 ounces fresh mozzarella
fresh basil, sliced very thinly

directions:

  • cook quinoa according to package directions; set aside to cool slightly
  • preheat oven to 400
  • lightly oil the bottom of a baking pan
  • clean the dome of the mushroom caps with a damp paper towel
  • gently break off the stems (discard) and, using a sharp teaspoon, carefully scrape out the gills
  • place the mushrooms (rounded side down) in the baking dish
  • drizzle with a tiny amount of olive oil and a touch of balsamic vinegar; and season with a little sprinkle of sea salt and freshly ground pepper
  • pre-bake the mushrooms for about 15 minutes just to soften up a bit
  • remove from oven and set aside on the pan (there may be some liquid in the caps; carefully drain it off)
  • meanwhile, in a medium skillet, heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil over medium low heat; add red onion and tomatoes
    saute gently for 10 minutes or so ‘til the tomatoes have softened
  • add in the garlic and stir constantly for just a minute; remove from heat
  • add in the cooked quinoa and pine nuts; season to taste with salt and pepper
  • (if necessary, moisten with a bit more olive oil)
  • stir in the cut-up cheese and the basil
  • stuff each mushroom cap dividing the mixture evenly between them (either use an ice cream scoop or simply scoop up into a firm ball using moistened hands
  • bake in the oven for 15 minutes ‘til the mushroom cap is tender; remove from oven
  • if desired, run under broiler for 2 minutes
  • these can also be assembled ahead of time, refrigerated; and then baked for 30 minutes or so

♥   ♥   ♥   ♥   ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Please don’t ever forget that!)

♥  coleen

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Basil Pesto

September 2, 2013 by

Here on our At Home with GCH blog, Monday’s are always focused on healthy but oh-so-yummy! recipes. We are continuing our series of summer recipes featuring in-season produce. Our featured ingredient this week is basil!  We can all identify the pungent aroma of basil…mmmm!  Basil has all kinds of health benefits <who knew?!>; check out some info here.  While basil is definitely ‘in-season’ here at the height of the summer growing season, it actually is easily grown as a houseplant.  Consider purchasing a small pot of basil (even in the grocery store) and keeping it in a cute little pot right on your sunniest windowsill.  Easily you could be pinching off a handful of leaves to make into pesto, or scatter some into a Caprese Salad, or slicing them up to finish off your best pot of spaghetti sauce all winter long!  Enjoy!

2013-08-29 22.52.06

Pesto

Ingredients:
2 cups basil2013-08-28 17.06.40
2 cups baby spinach leaves
3 tablespoons (or more!) chopped garlic (I use jarred)
2/3 cup pine nuts
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 lemon, juiced
2/3 cup olive oil

Directions:

  • Place the  pine nuts and garlic in the bowl of a food processor and blend for 15 seconds.
  • Add the basil, spinach, salt, and pepper.
  • With the food processor running, slowly pour the olive oil and the lemon juice into the bowl through the feed tube.
  • Process until the pesto is thoroughly pureed.
  • Add the Parmesan and puree ‘til thoroughly incorporated (30-40 seconds).
  • Use immediately. *See below for hints on storing the extra pesto.  Enjoy!

2013-08-28 18.05.05

This is how we enoyed the pesto: Mix 1/4 – 1/3 cup into a pound or so of shrimp sauteed with LOTS of garlic.  Bread on the side.  As you can see, we also enjoyed a delicious Caprese salad (click link above for recipe) as well as spaghetti squash sauteed along with some zucchini.  No complaints were heard!  🙂

Store extra pesto in the refrigerator for up to 1 week in a small container with a very thin film of olive oil on top (to seal out air).  Can also be frozen in an ice cube tray, or (my favorite) in mini-muffin cups.  To do this, wipe the muffin tin compartments with a paper towel dipped in olive oil.  Spoon in a heaping tablespoon of pesto into the compartments.  Place in freezer.  After a couple of hours, remove tin from freezer.  Set gently into a sink with just a little bit of hot water; this should loosen the individual portions of pesto.  Pop them all into a freezer container…you will be so glad you did!

♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Don’t ever forget that!)

♥  coleen

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Caprese Quiche with Hash Brown Crust

July 29, 2013 by

Here on our At Home with GCH blog, Monday’s are always focused on healthy but oh-so-yummy! recipes.  We continue our series of summer recipes featuring in-season ingredients.  Our featured ingredient this week is grape tomatoes!  Oh, I love tiny tomatoes…do you?  They are just so sweet!  Here’s a link  to some great info on the incredible benefits of these beautiful little orbs!

In today’s blog, I am sharing a recipe for a filling, nutritious, delicious quiche.  Included along with our feature ingredient is another in-season vegetable: fresh spinach.  (Baby spinach would be awesome here!)   Also, here is a link to a recipe posted previously on our At Home with GCH blog for Caprese Salad.  Both recipes meet our standard for healthy but oh-so-yummy!  Enjoy!

 

Caprese Quiche with Hash Brown Crust

IMG_0189

Crust:

Ingredients:
3 cups frozen hash browns, thawed
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Directions

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • Thaw hash brown potatoes, and blot between paper towels to remove excess moisture.
  • Combine in mixing bowl with melted butter, Parmesan cheese, and seasonings.
  • Lightly grease 9″  glass pie plate.
  • Pour potato mixture into pie plate and press firmly onto bottom and up sides of pie plate…go all the way up to the rim.
  • Bake for 15-20 minutes until lightly browned; do not let burn!
  • When done, remove from oven.  Place on a cooling rack and allow to cool slightly while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Reduce oven temp to 350.

Filling:

Ingredients:
1 medium sweet onion, diced
2 teaspoons olive oil
good-sized handful (12-14 grape tomatoes), chopped
1/2-3/4 cup fresh spinach leaves, sliced 1/4″ slices
1 heaping tablespoon chopped garlic (I use jarred)

Directions

  • Heat olive oil in medium-sized saute pan over medium heat.
  • Add diced onions and cook for 6-7 minutes until softened but just slightly browned.
  • While onions are cooking, chop tomatoes (drain away any excess juice).
  • To slice spinach, stack a number of leaves, and then just carefully slice down through them into 1/4″ slices; repeat until all spinach is sliced.
  • When onions are ready, add tomatoes, spinach, and garlic.  Saute for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly, until spinach has wilted.
  • Remove from stovetop and allow to cool.

Egg Custard:

Ingredients:
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup 2% milk
1/2 cup ricotta
dash of Kosher salt
1/2-1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup breadcrumbs (I used gluten free)

1 cup fresh mozzarella balls, rough chopped

Directions
To the lightly beaten eggs, add the milk, ricotta, seasonings, and breadcrumbs; whisk together until smooth.

To assemble: Once baked crust has cooled slightly, layer in filling ingredients.  To make this spill-proof, I then put the pieplate on the oven rack and then pour the custard on top.  Add chopped cheese and swirl with fork to evenly distribute ingredients over the crust. Bake until eggs are set and cheese is slightly browned, approximately 30 minutes or so.  Let stand for 10 minutes to set up and finish cooking.  Cut into four – six wedges.

Here are a few other great ways to do caprese:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/rachelysanders/delicious-ways-to-eat-caprese

 ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥  ♥

God loves you!  ♥  (Don’t ever forget that!)

♥ coleen

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If you would like to send a personal message to Coleen concerning this series, you may email her at: Coleen@girlfriendscoffeehour.com

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