Cranberry Thanksgiving Sandwich

Eight days in a row at work really wears me out! I have taken a few more hours at work to save money and I am definitely paying for it in coffee and sleep. That is why it has taken me a while to find a good time to post. I also wanted something that wouldn't take too long and wouldn't cost a lot. This weekend I am going to visit my soldier (YAY!) so I didn't want to have any left overs that would just go bad while I'm away.

I was craving a hot panini and I found this beauty when looking for recipes. It may not be the pressed sandwich I had in mind, but this really hit the spot. With a little bit of cranberry sauce and deli turkey you can have a small taste of thanksgiving whenever you want!

Of course, after you have eaten your delicious meal you can save the cranberries and a bit of carved turkey to make this sandwich for a great Thanksgiving leftover! If you want to get a head start, deli turkey helps curb your Turkey day cravings. :)

Thanksgiving Sandwich (Printer Friendly version)

Food Network Magazine October 2010 Issue (50 Panini pull out cookbook)

Ingredients:

Sandwich sliced turkey

Cheese (deli cheese or spreadable cheese both work)

Cranberry Sauce

Potato Roll (I couldn't find a potato roll at the store, but an onion kaiser roll worked well)

Directions:

1. Sandwich the turkey, cranberry sauce, and cheese between slices of potato bread. (As you can see I added a bit of baby arugula, I wanted a small crunch and just a little bit of veggies.)
2. Cook in a skillet with butter until golden brown. (Do not press)

Makes 1 sandwich

Nutrition: (per sandwich) Calories 310, Fat 6g, Carbs 45mg, Protein 19g, Fiber 2g, Sodium 795g

Citrus-Roasted Salmon

This week I was offered the best deal ever. A coworker of mine has a son who loves to fish. He loves to fish, but hates salmon. Yes, he hates salmon. So, to relieve him of the burden of all that salmon I paid him $10 for a 1 pound filet of King salmon, and a whole 4 pound Silver. My dilemma with the last recipe was that salmon was too expensive...well the seafood gods decided to give me a break. 

The silver salmon still has bones so I put it in my freezer and will get a lesson in a few days on how to debone. The king salmon was deboned and precut so I went ahead with that cut for this recipe. Here is something I didn't know: skinning a salmon is tough. I even went online and watched a few videos on how to remove the skin, and I thought, "Wow, that looks really easy." I was very wrong. It took me forever, but I finally got the skin off. I'm sure it would have been okay if I left the skin on during cooking, but I wanted to follow the recipe as close as possible since it was my first time with salmon. In the end it all worked out. The salmon flaked beautifully, and was sweet yet tangy. There are definitely things I want to perfect for the next time I cook with salmon, but for my first dish I am very pleased! :)

The crushed red pepper should actually be ground red pepper. You will see why at the end. 

Another of my favorite cookbooks.

I paired this dish with grilled asparagus sprinkled with garlic and red pepper. Worked together perfectly!

Citrus-Roasted Salmon (printer friendly version)

Cooking Light Complete Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 teaspoon grated lemon peel

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 tablespoons honey

4 teaspoons chili powder

1teaspoon cumin

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground coriander seeds

1/4 ground red pepper

1 (6 oz) can thawed orange juice concentrate

4 (6 oz) salmon fillets, skinned (1 inch thick)

Cooking spray

Orange wedges (optional)

Parsley sprigs (optional)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400'.
2. Combine the first 9 ingredients in a bowl, brush both sides of fish with orange mixture. Reserve remaining orange mixture. Place fish on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 400' for 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. 
3. Place remaining orange mixture in a small saucepan; bring to a boil, and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup (about 2 minutes). Serve with fish, and garnish with orange wedges and parsley, if desired. 

Makes 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and 2 tablespoons orange sauce)

Nutrition: Calories 366; Fat 13.5g; Protein 33.5g; Carb 27g; Sodium 399mg

*As I was copying down the recipe I realized that I read an ingredient wrong. I apparently read "crushed red pepper" and not "ground red pepper" (which is normally cayenne). Well, as least I know that it will taste good, just a bit different, the next time I make this. :) 

Spicy Tilapia

I have never cooked seafood before. Nor have I ever had Tilapia. This was an adventure and a challenge to myself. For this recipe I asked a certain someone what I should cook, and he instantly said seafood. I was a little skeptical at first because I had no idea how to cook fish. We went back and forth on salmon and tilapia before I finally settled on this recipe. I was leaning a little more toward salmon at first, because I know I like salmon, but the store I walked to had tilapia for a little cheaper. So price made the decision for me. :)

Now, once again, I ventured away from my magazines and cookbooks. I was given this recipe first and really liked it, but I really wanted to go through my cookbooks before cooking since the last recipe was from the internet as well. I looked through all of my books and magazines, but found no tilapia recipe like the one I had in my hand. This recipe was smart for me to try since I don't like the fishy taste of seafood, so the spicy was good to cover it up (If there would have been...there was no fishy taste at all). Not one recipe in my books. Not one. So I promise that the next recipe will be from my own collection.

Now my repertoire of dishes expands even further, and I am proud of myself for trying something new just like that. I can't wait to cook this for dinner when my soldier gets home! The fish came out perfectly. It was juicy, and pulled apart nicely. I would almost call it blackened tilapia, but this title definitely lives up to it's name. Not too spicy, but enough to get the taste buds moving!

If you have these spices in your cupboard this dish can end up being very cheap!

There are so many things you can do for a side with this recipe. The spice is strong so I sprinkled chili powder and pepper on the corn to match flavors, but you can go with another kind of vegetable or rice. It's a blank canvas for you!

Spicy Tilapa (printer friendly version)

www.food.com

Ingredients:

3 tilapia fillets (about 1lb)

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 teaspoons chili powder

1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

3 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup lemon juice

Directions:

1. Place fish in a glass pan and preheat oven to 350'.
2. Combine and melt the butter and lemon juice in the microwave, then pour over the fillets.
3. Sprinkle the remaining ingredients (vary amounts of each to your liking).
4. Bake for 30 minutes.

Serves 2 (not including side)

Nutrition: (1.5 fillets) Calories 179.2; Fat 17.8g; Cholesterol 45.8mg; Sodium 731.1mg; Protein 0.8g; Carb 7.3g 

Carrot Zucchini Muffins

Just because you see carrot and zucchini in the same food title as muffin, don't think these are not sweet and delicious! I could eat the entire dozen in one sitting. I love these. At my work they have these muffins, but they are gigantic and probably around 300 calories. That's almost an entire meal. So, instead of spending my money and wasting calories, I decided to makes these little babies myself.

The recipe I found (online at sparkrecipes.com) did not include any dried fruit. At work they have raisins and walnuts. I love the raisins, but I don't really like the walnuts. Even though the recipe I used did not ask for dried fruit, I decided to throw in a little dried cranberries. They add this tiny little pop of sweetness that makes me want to eat all of them!

The dried cranberries are not pictured because they were a last minute addition.

That device is one of the best cooking tools I have. You can change the top and do different things, even separate eggs! Can you tell I love kitchenware. :) 

Action shot!

I used an ice cream scoop to make these as even as possible. I think I did a pretty good job :)

Carrot Zucchini Muffins (Printer friendly version)

sparkrecipes.com

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup Splenda granulated sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 large eggs (or equivalent in egg substitute)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup shredded carrot

1 cup shredded zucchini

Directions:

1. Shred your carrot and zucchini.
2. Preheat oven to 350'.
3. Line muffin tins with paper liners, or spray tin with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
5. In a small bowl beat together oil, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla. 
6. Stir into dry ingredients just until mixed (mixture will be thick). 
7. Fold in carrots and zucchini.
8. Spoon into prepared muffin tin.
9. Bake for 20-25 minutes.
10. Cool on wire racks.

Makes 12 muffins.

Nutrition: (per muffin) Calories ~155g; Fat ~10.5; Carbs ~17g; Protein ~3g

The aftermath! The only thing I don't like about being in the kitchen. :)

Apple Butter

Work, work, work...I have done nothing but work the last few weeks, and I'm exhausted. The only things that sound good are lying around reading a book, and cooking many many desserts. Whenever I am tired, or stressed, I want nothing but sweets, lots and lots of sweets. When I changed my eating habits, that was one of the things I really had to work on. It actually became easier after the first few months, but for some reason this summer I have had so many sweet cravings. I am sure my work contributes to this. So many cakes and cookies staring at me all day long, calling my name. Thankfully, my willpower is stronger than my cravings so I have been able to maintain my weight.

For the last recipe, I caved and finally made a dessert. I find that my cravings are only partially satisfied when the dessert is "healthier". Of course, when I go all out I may feel satisfied, but I also feel lethargic for the rest of the day. I think I would rather feel better about what I just ate, than feel crappy because what I ate was unhealthy. That is why the last few weeks I have been making lower calories meals. Trying to save myself from eating all this crappy food!

Of course I do allow myself a few indulgences. That is an important part of getting into a new healthy way of eating. If you just completely ignore your craving, you will drive yourself crazy. You also have to build up your will power to tell yourself no too. :)

This cookbook is very old, I remember it being around when we moved to Washington 14 years ago! I love this book. There is literally everything you want to make in here, and it's all healthy! For this recipe, I wanted to do something that was a little easy, and a recipe that I didn't have to buy tons of stuff for. 

I have had apple butter only once before, and I thought it was yummy. One of my favorite breakfast foods, is toast. Toast with jam, peanut butter, cinnamon. Toast. I love toast! When I found this recipe I was super excited to try it out. I know that if I continue to make this, I will get better and better at it. Remember, a lot of these recipes are first times for me. Learning is good!

This is all you need! Simple!

One Pot :) 

Very runny at first, but as it cooks it will thicken. I did as the recipe said (50 min), but I could have easily let it cook for a few more minutes.

I adore toast!

Apple Butter (Printer-Friendly Version)

Light Cooking

Ingredients:

1 jar (23oz/ 2.5 cups) unsweetened applesauce 

1/2 cup thawed frozen unsweetened apple juice concentrate

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/8 teaspoon all spice

Directions:

1. Combine all ingredients in medium heavy saucepan. Cook over medium heat 50 minutes or until very thick, stirring occasionally. 
2. Store in sealed container in refrigerator up to 3 weeks. Spread on toast or muffin. 

Makes 2 cups

Nutrition: (1 tablespoon spread) Calories 16g, Fat traces, Cholesterol 0mg, Sodium 36mg