Month: June 2021

Sole Asparagus with Pesto Sauce

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Sole Asparagus with Pesto Sauce

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Sole is a fish that most people like. It isn’t strong in taste. It is quick to prepare. Low calorie to boot. Here is a quick recipe that can dress up a plate like no other.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb of sole thinly sliced
  • Salt and pepper to season
  • 24 spears of aspargus
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 4 tbsp of lemon juice
  • 1 cup of white sauce (see link)
  • 1 tbsp of pesto paste or you can make a quick pesto with 1/2 cup of chopped basil, 4 minced garlic cloves and 1 tbsp of oil
  • 1 lemon cut into 8 slices

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees
  2. Season sole to taste.
  3. Place lemon slices at bottom of baking sheet
  4. Divide sole into four
  5. Wrap 2 spears of asparagus into one serving of sole.
  6. Sprinkle with olive oil.
  7. Place remaining spears onto the pan.
  8. Put 1 tbsp of lemon juice over fish, per serving.
  9. Place in preheated oven for 15-17 minutes.
  10. In the meantime, prepare white sauce.
  11. Once the sauce has reached ideal thickness, add pesto paste. (if adding fresh ingredients like chopped basil and garlic and oil, add at start of preparing sauce)
  12. Once fish is cooked, plate and put 1/4 of the sauce over each serving. Adding extra asparagus to the sides.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 293
  • Fat 11.7 g
  • Sugar 7.8 g
  • Carbohydrates 13.6 g
  • Protein 29.5 g
  • Fibre 1.8 g

This is easy, quick and makes a nice plate. As you see I didn’t have enough asparagus spears so I prepared edamame beans. With the asparagus you have your veggie content and the fish your protein content, serve it with rice and or bread and you have your starch and a balanced meal. You can do this with any fish that you could wrap around the asparagus. A thinner fish like mahi mahi, or tilapia work great. If you want it spicy just add crushed chili peppers when preparing your white sauce. You can cut the recipe in half so you don’t have a bunch of extra sauce left over. Remember the most important thing, have fun and make it your own.

Honey Garlic Pork Chops

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Honey Garlic Pork Chops

  • Servings: 4
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Pork, the other white meat. It is easy to get in a rut with certain meats. Pork chops are one of them. I don’t know why but I usually end up doing the same way over and over again. This time I thought I needed to do something different. I was looking around the kitchen and started seeing this come together. It was quick, easy and ended up working out quite well.

Ingredients

  • 4 pork chops approx. 4 ounces (thickness will make your cook time vary)
  • salt and pepper to season
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 2 tbsp of olive oil
  • 1 tbsp unsalted butter
  • 6 minced garlic cloves
  • 1/4 c of honey
  • 1/4 c of water or chicken broth
  • 2 tbsp of rice wine vinegar (if you don’t have any you can use white vinegar)

Directions

  1. Season pork chops with salt and pepper and garlic powder.
  2. Heat oil in an oven proof pan or skillet (I use a cast iron pan) on medium high heat. Sear chops on both sides until golden and cooked through (about 4-5 minutes per side) Transfer to plate and set aside.
  3. Reduce heat to medium. Melt butter and scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Saute garlic until fragrant (about 30 seconds).
  4. Preheat oven to broil with rack on top shelf.
  5. Add honey and water and vinegar. Increase heat to medium high and continue to cook until the sauce reduces down and thickens slightly (about 5 minutes) while stirring occasionally.
  6. Add chops back into the pan and baste generously with the sauce.
  7. Place pan in oven for 2-3 minutes or until edges are slightly charred and serve.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 332
  • Fat 12 g
  • Sugar 14 g
  • Carbohydrates 15 g
  • Protein 29 g
  • Fibre 0 g

The honey and garlic give this a nice change of pace. If you want a little kick to it, you can add cayenne pepper to taste. Add a little something green like parsley or cilantro or even curled cucumber. Just makes it pretty. Serve it with rice, vegetables, pasta, delicious  homemade multigrain bread (see recipe) and/or a salad. Be creative. Have fun and remember to make it your own.

Banana Prune Muffins

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Banana Prune Muffins

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Not everyone likes prunes. I’m not the biggest fan, but it was suggested I have some. So I buy a bag, and realized I needed to find recipes or I would waste a lot of them. Came across this recipe, did a few modifications (made it my own) and voila, another muffin recipe and to my own surprise, quite good.

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup of white sugar
  • 1/4 cup of vegetable oil
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup of mashed banana
  • 1 tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1-1/2 cups all purpose flour (I used unbleached)
  • 1 tsp of baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 cup of chopped pitted prunes

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Grease and flour muffin tin or use paper liners (I use reusable silicone muffin liners)
  3. In a large bowl, combine sugar, oil and egg and beat until smooth.
  4. Blend in banana and vanilla.
  5. Mix together in another bowl flour, baking powder, baking sodium, salt and cinnamon.
  6. Stir into egg mixture until just moistened.
  7. Mix in the prunes.
  8. Spoon into muffin cups.
  9. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 187
  • Fat 5.2 g
  • Sugar 30 g
  • Carbohydrates 33.6 g
  • Protein 2.7 g
  • Fibre 2.0 g

This muffin was surprisingly good. It was very moist, sweet and had a good texture. You could serve it plain, or heated with a dab of butter. Whatever you choose, have fun and make it your own.

Baked Cajun Garlic Butter Cod

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Baked Cajun Garlic Butter Cod

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I like cod. It’s easy to make. It’s juicy. Best of all it’s quick.

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lb of cod
  • 1/4 cup of melted butter
  • 3 minced garlic cloves
  • 1 orange or lemon sliced

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. In a 9 x 13 baking dish place slices of fruit and the 6-4
    3. ounce pieces of cod over them.
  3. In a separate bowl, whisk butter,garlic and cajun spices.
  4. Spread evenly over fish.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 123
  • Fat 4.5 g
  • Sugar 0 g

Cod is a nice fish to work with. It keeps it’s shape, is versatile and is quick. This is a meal I would serve to guests. If your cajun spice is very spicy, you might want to reduce the quantity and add a bit of paprika for color. If you want it spicier you can chop up a jalapeño to the butter mix.

I served this with a 1/2 cup of rice and some broccoli. Made for a colourful plate and well balanced. What you serve it up with is up to you. Remember to have fun and make it your own.

Taco Pasta

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Taco Pasta

  • Servings: 8
  • Difficulty: Easy
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I like tacos, I like pasta, I had no tortilla shells or wraps, so I thought, what the heck. How can I go wrong. Here is a quick meal, hearty meal, a fun meal.

Ingredients

  • 1 box of penne 454 g or 1 lb
  • 1 lb of lean ground beef
  • 1 large red onion
  • 1/2 red pepper
  • 1/2 yellow pepper
  • 1/2 green pepper
  • 2 branches of celery
  • 1 cup of packed spinach
  • 1 cup of packed torn kale
  • 1 can of diced chili tomatoes (you can use standard but add 1 tbsp of chili powder)
  • 1 envelope of taco mix
  • 1 tbsp of white sugar

Directions

  1. Brown ground beef.
  2. Remove ground beef from pan and set aside. Put in vegetables in fat from beef and cook the veggies until still a little crispy.
  3. Add tomatoes and taco mix and stir until well blended.
  4. Add back the meat. Simmer on low heat.
  5. In another pot, cook pasta as per instructions on the box.
  6. Drain pasta once cooked, put back in pot and add the beef and vegetable mixture. Stir to coat completely.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 338
  • Fat 7.2 g
  • Sugar 4.3 g
  • Carbohydrates 50.2 g
  • Protein 20 g
  • Fibre 3.5 g

This is a quick meal. It is colourful. Nutritious. And most of all fun. If there are other veggies you’d rather, put them in. You can add jalapeño if you want spicy. You can sprinkle cheese on it if you want more of the taco feel to it. Serve it with a salad and you have a complete meal for 8. Remember have fun and make it your own.

Stovetop Apple Pie Filling

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Stovetop Apple Pie Filling

  • Servings: 12
  • Difficulty: Easy
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Who hasn’t gone to the store and bought apples that looked so great and by the end of the week, oops, that was too many. I know I have, more than once. I hate wasting food. Too many people go hungry everyday for us to waste good food. I do my best to extend the life of food. Here is an easy recipe that is delicious, quick, and versatile.

Ingredients

  • 6-8 medium apples
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 3 tbsp of water
  • 2 tbsp of butter (salted)
  • 1-2 tsp of vanilla extract (to taste)
  • 2 tbsp of water and 1 tbsp of cornstarch
  • 1/2 tbsp of Cinnamon

Directions

  1. Peel, core and slice apples.
  2. Melt butter with cinnamon over medium heat.
  3. Add apples, sugar and water.
  4. Cover and cook stirring occasionally for 4-6 minutes, or until slightly softened. 
  5. In a small dish, combine cornstarch with 2 tbsp of water.
  6. Add to the pan and bring to boil and stir until thickened.
  7. Let bubble 1 minute.
  8. Let cool.

Nutrition Per Serving

  • Calories 88
  • Fat 1.9 g
  • Sugar 16.1 g
  • Carbohydrates 18.8 g
  • Protein 0 g
  • Fibre 2.6 g

This is the equivalent of 1 can of apple pie filling. This recipe is so versatile, you will buy extra apples just to make this. You can use it as a topper on oatmeal, yogourt, ice cream, add a bit of granola and it becomes a great snack, or heck you can use it in a pie crust too. So many possibilities for you to have fun and make it your own.