Herb Roasted Salmon

Oh.my.word. Second dinner in a row that was SO tasty...and I quote Daniel, "The salmon is wonderful".

WHAT?

Huh, were YOU talking to ME?

I am still in shock. The boy doesn't like much and usually asks, "how many bites do I have to take"? HE ATE IT ALL! SALMON!!!!!!!!

The TSG Citrus Dill seasoning is awesome PLUS I added a smidge of my new favorite food "Newman's Own Low-Fat Sesame Ginger Salad Dressing". Insane, it is so good I could drink it!

So I made some notes on the recipe for next time so we can duplicate this one!

Beef Burgundy-No Crockpot!

Well shiver me timbers, I can still taste this DELICIOUS meal just looking at the pictures! The turkey bacon is insanely delicious and flavored the pan right away. I added a little olive oil and garlic and tossed in the meat, then the can of tomatoes and let it simmer then tossed fresh carrots and frozen peas on top...WOW, this turned out SO GOOD without the crockpot! I didn't have mushrooms but who cares because the flavor was outstanding! The TSG seasoning that goes in here is incredible! We all enjoyed the tender meat!

This TSG recipe was prepared in June (read about it here) and it wasn't anything like this because I cooked it in the crockpot (aka-boiled meat). I used BEEF bouillon instead of chicken tonight...wonder if that made a difference, too?

Lean & GREEN!

Since I started a diet, I've been food focused and inspired to post. This has become of our favorite recipes. This is "Dijon Chicken & Broccoli" from Stacey Hawkin's Time Savor Gourmet cookbook. I LOVE how GREEN it is! Cook up the broccoli in her garlic oil with her special seasoning. Put aside. Then cook the chicken with garlic and sauce of soy sauce and dijon mustard. Let all simmer together, yummy! Sometimes I thicken the juice with a little cornstarch for a "gravy" feel. Super yum!

UPDATE: We didn't like the spinach in it...it is best with just the broccoli and chicken...next time!

Clean Kitchen!

Wow. What a delight to cook tonight! It's so funny, every time I put Chicken Puttenesca on the meal plan, somehow that night gets hijacked and we never actually eat it! I've never even made it before and it's been scheduled at least five times! So even though I didn't marinate overnight and slice the chicken breasts and bake it, we DID eat Chicken Puttenesca tonight, sorta.

I've been blogging about becoming free from being messy at my other blog http://tidy-house.blogspot.com/ and the kitchen "after" pictures are here. Viva Italiano!

Chicken Puttenesca & Go Green Medley

TSG's Chicken Puttenesca is delicious! I can't believe how many vegetables we're eating! I had a few frozen green beans, some frozen peas and frozen soybeans so I tossed them in the microwave and called it "Go Green Medley". I served brown rice with the non-dieter's plates and John is doing so well on his diet that his pants are starting to fall off!

Costco Frozen Marinated Salmon & Roasted Asparagus & Christi's FRESH Homemade Bread & Pasta Wheels With Parmesan

Costco offers a fantastic marinated frozen wild salmon that is super easy to fix. A bit of olive oil in the fry pan and the flavor is out of this world! We are probably nearing the end of the asparagus, but while it's here, we'll keep eating! Love the roasted asparagus with olive oil, kosher salt and balsamic vinegar! This salad is just salad greens with spinach from Costco and ready made fat-free italian dressing. John's dinner (photo 2) is lean & green. He's lost FORTY pounds! Way to go honey! The rest of us enjoyed a slice of Christi's Fresh Homemade Bread-SUPER YUMMY, awesome flavor and texture! Also made some pasta wheels with parmesan cheese for the kids (and me)!

Turkey Cabbage Comfort

Another TSG recipe. More later. Served John the main dish and salad. We had brown rice with ours. The flavor wasn't what I was expecting. I would slice the cabbage in strips for smaller pieces next time since John doesn't care for cabbage all that much.

Asian Pot Roast

This TSG Asian Pot Roast is outstanding! Sarah loved it and ate it all, asking for seconds. She rated it a 7. John rated it much higher. I used the TSG Lemon Flavored Oil to fry the frozen stir-fry vegetables and tossed in some tomatoes and orange bell pepper I had in the frig. This would have been great with asparagus, too. John ate the roast, stir fry veggies and a salad with Drew's Sesame Orange dressing that was surprisingly tasty for being so healthy. I want to use it as a marinade for chicken someday soon.

I made Uncle Ben's rice (which I hate but it was fast) and molded it in a little bowl. It really helped me eat less rice! Later while putting the dishes in the dishwasher-(I run a load of dishes every night before I go to bed no matter how full or empty-this has helped me as I've been learning to cook)-I noticed a new bag of brown rice tucked under some other stuff by the toaster! Oh well!

Turkey Taco Salad

This is a TSG recipe and I was supposed to serve it over lettuce but we didn't have any. Not sure how that happened. So it is ground turkey and spices and John LOVED it! I simply served it over a huge portion of the Costco frozen green beans. I think I made macaroni and cheese that night for the kids. John asked for me to make this again he liked it so much. Super easy and healthy!

UPDATE: 10/07/11-We now call this "Turkey Fry Up" and have it quite often!

Dijon Chicken & Broccoli

Presenting dinner: TSG's Dijon Chicken & Broccoli. Top pic is what me and the kids ate and the second photo is what John ate (no pasta). This was ok...about a 6 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Beef Burgundy and Green Salad

TSG's Beef Burgundy recipe was great (I added carrots)! John liked it enough to have it again but the kids didn't care for the flavors. I reserved the sauce from yesterday's asparagus for salad dressing plus cold roasted asparagus for the salad. I made baked potatoes for the rest of the family.

One of the challenges of making new meals is deciding how to actually serve them...what plates to put them on...we've gone through a lot dishes because of this issue!

Chicken Green Salad & Roasted Asparagus

Costco has ready to go salad greens-half baby spinach & half green lettuces. Tossed chicken in hot olive oil seasoned with Mrs. Dash, Montreal Steak Grill Spice with salt and pepper. Roasted asparagus as usual-click here for recipe. Used store bought salad dressings, mixed italian and caesar low-fat. Kids ate leftover macaroni & cheese. I can't believe we're eating food that is GREEN!

Salmon & Green Beans-Enter LEAN & GREEN

John has lost more than 20 pounds! He's doing Take Shape for Life and doing great!

So I've had a major change in the way I plan meals. Recently, I actually got my entire month planned! This was a huge milestone and I was very excited to not have to be planning all the time. But the reality is that the kids don't really eat my meals. Enter the BRAINWAVE-if they don't eat my meals anyway, why not cook for JOHN!? I can plan Lean & Green meals for his eating plan and they can not eat that!

So my new focus is to create a new meal plan for one month and just use it again and again. I'm guessing it will improve as we replace what we really like with the less desirable meals. John got the meat and beans and the kids ate a half of a baked potato and some leftover couscous. They didn't eat much, but DANIEL LIKED THE SALMON! Whooohooo!

These salmon patties were pretty good. Wild salmon patties from Trader Joes. I marinated in teriyaki sauce and pan fried them in some olive oil over medium heat for less than 10 minutes (about 4 minutes per side). Frozen green beans from Costco. Really easy meal!

I used the marinade from the PRISM cookbook (bottom of page). In 2004 I lost 40 pounds doing PRISM. I didn't cook in 2004 but I did try two recipes and they are really, really tasty!