Soba and Kale

I'm all about the quick weekday meal and this soba & kale dish is just that. Kale is one of the healthiest green vegetables you can eat, so any recipe that involes huge bunches of it is a winner in my book!

Ingredients:
Soba noodles
4 bunches of kale
Garlic
Hoison sauce

Method:
Cook your soba noodles
Sautee the kale with 4 cloves of garlic and 4 tablespoons of hoison sauce
Mix together!

 

^^only 1 bunch of kale pictured, I used around 4 bunches in the recipe :)

Pomegranate Peach Smoothie

Good morning! Here's another one of my favorite smoothie combinations (first smoothie post here). Have you ever had the orange-peach-mango orange juice? This peach and pomegranate smoothie kind of reminds me of that.

Recently, I've been substituting smoothies for coffee in the morning, and I have to say I don't miss the caffine. I really feel just as energized from all the fruit! I like to blend my smoothie the night before so that I just have to give it a few extra whirls in the morning before I walk out the door.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup pomegranate juice
1 cup frozen sliced peaches
1/2 banana
1/2 cup ice
Optional: a few tablespoons of chia seeds :)

Have a great day!

Sky

Quinoa Salad: Almond, Blueberry, Lemon, and Arugula

Here's one of my favorite variations of quinoa salad. It's zesty, nutty, and fresh all at the same time. It's also another great recipe that will last you all week- pack it for lunch or eat it as a side dish at dinner!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup sliced almonds, toasted (10 minutes at 350 degrees, flip at the 5 minute mark)
Arugula
1/4 cup dried blueberries
2 cups cooked red quinoa (simmer 4 cups of water with 2 cups of quinoa until all the water is absorbed)

Dressing:
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
2 tablespoons olive oil
4 tablespoons lemon juice

Enjoy!

Sky

Teriakyi Salmon Burgers

Happy Monday! Today I'm featuring a new salmon burger recipe: teriyaki. As I mentioned in my last salmon burger recipe, goat cheese and cranberry salmon burger, Whole Foods has so many salmon burger flavors it has inspired me to make my own at home!

Ingredients
2 lbs of Salmon (12 medium burgers)
Whole wheat bread crumbs
2 Eggs
3 chive stalks
Teriyaki sauce
3 cloves garlic
Olive oil

Method:
Partially cook your salmon, mix with 2 eggs, and 1/3 cup breadcrumbs (this is the burger base, see my first salmon burger post here for more details)

Add 3 chive stalks, chopped

Add 3 garlic cloves, sliced

Add 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
*optional:  for a stronger flavor, let the mixture sit in the fridge for 30 minutes and marinate

Form the salmon burgers! This time around I cooked the salmon burger on a wood plank on the grill. This gives your burger an extra smoky grill flavor. Be sure to soak your wood plank for 2 hours before you place it on the grill- I made the mistake of soaking for less than that and the wood plank caught on fire! Thankfully, it did not hurt the burgers :)

 

Have a great day!

Sky

Cheese of the Month: Roquefort

Happy Friday! Since I mentioned Roquefort Cheese in my last cheese of the month post, I thought it would only be appropriate to feature Roquefort next.  So here it is!

 

A little background on Roquefort (probably more than you want to know, but hey! I wrote a paper on this once!) Roquefort is a strong blue and my all time favorite cheese.  

 

Roquefort is one of the greatest and oldest cheeses of France. Locals of the Roquefort-sur-Soulzon region (a villiage in the South of France) tell a romanticized legend of how Roquefort was first created.  Like many legends it begins with a boy and a girl, but unlike most it  ends with moldy cheese.  The legend is as follows.  Once upon a time in the hills of Roquefort, there was a young sheperd tending to his sheep.  Off in the distance he saw a beautiful girl and began his pursuit.  Not wanting to leave his sheep alone, he left his dog to guard his sheep and placed his lunch of bread and ewe's milk curds in the cool caves nearby.  For days the young boy searched fruitlessly for his maiden.  Unfortunately, he returned to his sheep unsucessful, heart broken, and hungry.  He went back to the cave to retrieve his meal but to his dismay found it consumed by a green mold.  The fungus penicillium Roqueforti, of the microscopic fungi family widespread in nature (various strands of which are in the soil of local caves), had transformed his milk curds.  Too hungry to care, the shepherd took a bite.  To his surprise, he did not find a foul tasting bacteria but a silky smooth creamy texture with a slight tang that melted in his mouth and was delicious.  Thus, Roquefort was conceived.

 

 

Have a great weekend!

Sky

Sources: Société des Caves. (2004). Pour Que Vive la Legende. Retrieved from http://www.roquefort-societe.com/anglais/index.html, and Roquefort Office of Tourism (2003). Roquefort. Retrieved from http://www.roquefort.fr.
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Chocolate, Peanut Butter, & Chia Frozen Bananas

Here's my new favorite sweet&salty dessert.  I've always loved these Justin's Peanut Butter Cups, but I recently discovered how good they are melted, mixed, and frozen. Add that to a frozen banana with a crunch of chia, and you have the perfect weekday dessert! 

 

Recipe:

Melt 2 peanut butter cups and mix well

Slice 1 banana into medium-sized pieces

Spoon the melted chocolate peanut butter on top of the banana pieces

Sprinkle with Chia Seeds

Freeze for 20 minutes



 

Have a great day!

Sky

 

^^pre-frozen

 

Asian Coleslaw

It's no secret I love asian food. I'm always testing out mixing soy sauce and rice vinegar with some sort of dish (as seen in my asian quinoa).  Here's my rendition on asian coleslaw; it's crunchy, sweet&spicy, and has a hint of heat. It's a quick side dish that will last you all week or feed all of your friends at at bbq!

Recipe:

 

1 cabbage, chopped (or Whole Foods sells pre-chopped cabbage)

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon chili garlic sauce

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

4 tablespoons tamari soy sauce

4 tablespoons seasame seed oil

1 bunch of green onions, chopped

 

Empty your cabbage into a large bowl

Chop your green onions and mix in with the cabbage

Mix the sauce ingredients together in a separate bowl

Mix in the sauce with the cabbage&green onions

*it may initially look like the sauce isn't enough to cover all the cabbage, but it will, just keep mixing!

 



P.s. here's another cabbage recipe!



 

 

Have a great day!

Sky

Almond Butter and Berry Smoothie

Good morning! I recently bought a blender (that crushes ice like no one’s business) and have been experimenting with different smoothie combinations. Here’s the one I currently love: almond butter and berry. It’s delicious and a great way to get the day going. Test it out!  

Ingredients:
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 cup berry blend (strawberries, blueberries, rasberries, and blackberries)
2 tablespoons maple almond butter
1 bannana
1/2 cup ice

Thanks for following along!

Sky

DC Restaurant: Fiola Mare

Happy Monday! Over the weekend I went to happy hour at Fiola Mare, a relatively new restaurant on the Georgetown Waterfront. It has beautiful views of the Potomac, reminding me of the ocean-side restaurants of my home Boston.  It's an expensive restaurant, but the happy hour is reasonable! We went on Friday afternoon just as a spring rainstorm was rolling in, and it was so cool to see the dark clouds move across the Potomac through the big glass windows at the restaurant.

Fresh Quinoa Salad

Happy Friday! Here's one of my favorite go-to quinoa salads. It's a simple and light, but oh so flavorful! It's especially great to make on a Friday with all your leftover quinoa from the week :).

Ingredients:
Cooked (cold) quinoa
Mixed greens
Parmesean
Balsamic
Olive oil
Pepper

Have a great weekend! More fun posts to come next week!

Sky

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

These spicy sweet potato fries are great addition to any weekday meal; they're so delicous and take hardly any prep time. Put them in the oven right when you get home and by the time you've changed out of your work clothes, they'll be done!

Method:
Preheat oven (or toaster oven) to 400 degress
Slice your sweet potato into fries
Drizzle olive oil, salt, and cayenne pepper
Bake 20 minutes (rotate fries at the 10 minute mark)

 

Have a great day!

Sky

Clam Pizza

To continue on the seafood theme, here is a recipe for the most delicious clam pizza! I love this clam pizza especially because it’s not cream based, so nothing is overpowering the seafood taste. The key to this recipe is the smoked mussels. They are a must!

Ingredients:
Pizza dough
Parsley
1 Shallot bulb
6 cloves garlic
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 lb clams
Smoked mussels
Parmesean cheese
Olive oil

Method
Form pizza and brush with olive oil
Bake the pizza (no toppings) in oven at 350 for 5-7 minutes (until the pizza crust starts to form)
Sautee garlic and shallots in a pan with olive oil
Add 1/2 cup white wine and 1/2 lb clams
Simmer for 3 minutes
Spoon mixture onto pizza crust
Add smoked mussels (and drizzle on the smoked mussel oil from the container)
Add parmesean cheese
Put the pizza back in the oven for 8 minutes (or until the cheese is melted)
Sprinkle chopped parsely on top

 

Thanks for following along!

Sky

Salmon Burger: Goat Cheese & Cranberry

Anyone who knows me knows how much I love salmon burgers. Usually, I buy salmon burgers from the seafood counter at Whole Foods. WF has a great selection of flavors: teriyaki, spinach&feta, lemon&thyme, and goat cheese&cranberry, among others. So I decided it was finally time to re-create my favorite salmon burgers for cheaper at home! Up first is my take on the goat cheese&cranberry.

Ingredients
1.5lbs of Salmon (this recipe makes 12 burgers)
Whole wheat bread crumbs
2 Eggs
Old Bay seasoning
4oz Goat Cheese
1/3 cup dried cranberries
Olive oil

Method:
Rinse your salmon and pat dry
Drizzle on olive oil and old bay spice
Bake in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes
(this partially cooks the salmon, we'll cook the salmon the rest of the way as burgers)
Let your salmon cool

Flake the salmon into a mixing bowl (make sure to take out bones)
Add 2 eggs, 1/3 cup bread crumbs, and mix
Add 1/3 cup roughly chopped dried cranberries and mix
Form small goat cheese balls
Fold goat cheese balls into the mixture
Form the salmon burgers! 

Cook
In a pan with olive oil or
On a wood plank on the grill
Remember: the salmon burger is partially cooked! It should only take 5 or so minutes to cook the rest of the way
Freeze the extra burgers for later! 

 

 

 

Enjoy!

Sky

Garlic Tomatoes

The cherry blossoms are out and DC is in full spring mode! After a long winter, it was so nice to finally have a beautiful warm weekend. To kick off the week, here’s a light and easy recipe that pairs well with quinoa. (these are not my tomatoes from my garden box, apparently tomatoes take up to 60 days to grow!)

Ingredients:
2 cups Cherry tomatoes
4 cloves Garlic
1 cup Basil
*these are rough measurements; the recipe tastes just as good with more or less of each ingredient!

Method:
Chop the garlic and sautee in olive oil
Add cherry tomatoes, salt, and pepper, and sautee for 3 minutes, rotating the tomatoes
Add small amount of water and put top on pan to simmer for 8 minutes
Add basil and simmer for 2 minutes

Done!

Enjoy!

Sky

Maple Almond Butter toast

Happy Friday! I recently discovered an amazing product: Maple Almond Butter. It's the most declicious nut butter I've ever tasted.

I love to toast a whole wheat english muffin (or Whole Foods' pecan and rasin bread), add maple almond butter, and sprinkle chia seeds on top. It's almost like french toast with maple syrup. Except more nutritious!

 

 

 

Have a great weekend!

Sky

Photo Album

I'm sure like me, many of you love to take photos and have them saved everywhere.  It can be overwhelming; so many beautiful photos lost somewhere between your computer and phone.

So when I came across this elegant blue album, I knew it was finally time to start printing! It can definitely be time consuming, but putting together a photo album can also be very rewarding.  Plus if you think of it as side project and take your time (a few photos printed this weekend, a few the next) it can be a very relaxing hobby!

^^Photos work horizontally and vertically!

Thanks for following along!

Sky

Cheese of the Month: Gouda 5 year

On the weekends, I love treating myself to a wine and cheese hour.  It's decadent way to get the weekend going. I also love trying out different types of cheeses, so I thought it would be fun to highlight a particular cheese each month. (fun fact, I wrote a final essay on Roquefort cheese when I studied abroad!)

So without further ado, I present to you the cheese of this month: Uniekaas Vintage Gouda 5 year. Not to be confused with the 1 year version (too mild, in my opinion)! This is one of my all time favorites. It's a semi-hard cheese with a strong flavor. The texture is a little bit grainy when you bite into it- like little bursts of gouda goodness.  I like to add a small amount of fig on top to really get that sweet and salty sharp flavor.

Thanks for following along!

Sky

Cooked Cabbage

Happy Tuesday! Today I'm bringing to you a simple, delicious recipe that will keep you eating cabbage all spring and summer long.  It's filling and light- just the kind of recipe I like as the warm weather starts to hit. Plus, cabbage many nutritional benefits (vitamin C, potassium).

Prep your Cabbage:
Take the outer leaves off your cabbage and discard
Rinse your cabbage
Cut into 4 quarters
Cut out the hard inner center

Cook your Cabbage:
Place your cabbage in a large pot
Fill the pot with skim milk so that the skim milk covers the cabbage halfway
Add salt, pepper, and olive oil
Simmer for 20 minutes (or until tender)

This cabbage recipe is great hot or cold, as a side dish or as a snack!

^^ See that on the left side of the cabbage? Cut that hard part out!

^^Yum! I like to load on the pepper :)

Have a great day!

Sky