Ratatouille-Steamed Salmon with Jasmine Rice and Spinach

I'm a firm fan of the frozen salmon that comes in the individual or duo cryo pack.  It's delicious, less expensive than fresh, and sometimes fresher than the fish in the seafood case.  I've been buying packages all summer long at a price of about $4 and change per approximately 6 oz. serving.

Shrimp-Quinoa Salad with Feta and Tomatoes

Hot nights:  if you skip the quinoa and buy cooked shrimp, this is a no-cook dinner.  Another option is microwave rice.

Coming back from Colorado (where we spent most of the summer with Dave working on our old house and me writing the soup book), we took mostly back roads. You can go all the way from Colorado Springs to St. Paul almost without super-highways.   Perhaps it's possible to go all of the way, but we opted for a bit of interstate here and there.  (Once you get near the Twin Cities, it's a bit tougher to accomplish since someone changed the routes from roads to vrrrooomms years ago now.) What we saw, almost all the way, was dead corn.  Miles and miles of it.  Dried out, brown, or with sprigs and shadows of green here and there.  In some cases the farmers were just cutting it down unharvested.  The photos and stories of the drought when seen on tv are one thing; feasting your eyes on hundreds of miles of it is another.  Sad.  I occasionally tried to get a photo, but nothing really came out from the car window.  My mind kept going to increased fuel prices, food prices, and hunger.

Tomatoes Stuffed with Chicken Salad

Serve with saltines.  What else?

This is an old-fashioned lunch counter meal.  You know the kind of place I mean; they still exist in some places.  If you're lucky enough to have a drugstore nearby with a counter (as am I), you might still order this blue plate special once in a while.   Living in Colorado this summer, I've missed my Minnesota haunts.  (State Fair starts Thursday; you can finally get your cheese curds on a stick fix.)

Would You Make Breakfast? Fried Bread with Egg Skillet

 For years when I had to cook just for myself (before and after the house full of kids), I just made scrambled eggs and toast.  It wasn't that I didn't know how to cook, but rather that eggs were fast, cheap, filling, and used one pan and one plate.  Ok, you could even eat them out of the pan.   I had spent so much time cooking for other people that when there was just me, I wanted to spend my time in other ways, i.e. breathing. 

This is one of the first sorts of things I cooked just for myself.  A fish salad.  Walleye Salad if you're in Minnesota.  Make a nice salad while a piece of fish cooks in a pan.  Gee.  Real rough?  But it was a watershed moment.  You know how often you hear someone say, "Too hard to cook for just me."  I changed that for myself.  I set the table, lit the candles, turned on the music, and lived.

Would You Make Breakfast? Egg & Egg White Omelet Filled with Cottage Cheese on Whole Wheat Toast

 Tired of the same old, same old breakfast?  This little omelet (I cut it so you could see the filling...) sitting on a piece of whole wheat toast is so fast and so luscious.  Not only is it quick and nutritious (made with one egg and one egg white), it'll hold you until early afternoon.  No elevenses (tea and cookies in the UK) needed.   Serve it up with a few slices of great August tomatoes for breakfast, lunch, or dinner!   Try this:

Would You Bring a Side? Green Beans, Mushrooms, and Jasmine Rice with Tarragon and Mustard Vinaigrette

When it's green bean time, I often make a green bean salad with mustard vinaigrette.  Sometimes it has tomatoes and sometimes mushrooms or potatoes.  I'm fond of one-dish sides and am always looking for dishes easily served alongside a chop or a piece of grilled chicken or fish. 

Would You Bring Sangria? Malbec Sangria with Port and Blueberries

Whenever I want to make Sangria, I have to think a few times about what's in it.  I know I love it, but someone else usually seems to make it.  Or I pay $8 for a small, watery glass at the local Mexican joint and am very unhappy with the way I've spent my money.    Most times, embarrassingly, I just forget to make it.  I offer wine (or beer if I'm thinking hard) and, if I'm in St. Paul in July, the quintessential Twin Cities summer drink:  Gin and Tonic with Lime.

Bannocks--Tasty Gluten-free Bread/Cracker and A Tribute to Marion Cunningham

A little apricot preserves...

 I never knew Marion Cunningham personally, but after my Mom, she pretty much taught me to cook and, perhaps more truly, to bake.  She died this last week (July 11, 2012--Read the LA Times obituary here) at the age of 90 after a lifetime of cooking, writing, and testing recipes for her cookbooks (Fanny Farmer, Fanny Farmer Baking Book, The Breakfast Book, etc.) and for her long-lived column in The San Francisco Chronicle.  She encouraged several generations of home cooks to... well, to just go on and cook.  Set the table and eat at home, please and thank you.

Would You Bring a Salad? Cilantro Coleslaw that Keeps

Crunch, Crunch--Here's today's slaw.  It keeps in the frig several days.  Munch, munch.

I have to admit that I adore coleslaw.  I choose it over fries at the Groveland Tap (our corner bar) in St. Paul.

Would You Bring an Appetizer? Goat Cheese Spread with Dill and Red Onion

Just spread on sliced baguette.

Bring an appetizer.  Sounds easy, right?  But what to bring?  Chips?  Veggies and dip?  Usual suspects like sliced salami, olives, and marinated mushrooms off the bar at the grocery?  This little appetizer is good any time of the year, but is perfect in the summer with a crisp and ice cold bottle of Sauvignon Blanc or my favorite version,  Sancerre.

Blue Cheese-Chicken Chopped Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

I have an awful habit of chopping up all kinds of salad come summer, but never writing them down.  I did write this one up and am actually going to make it again.  It's so simple and can be made with a variety of vegetables and leftover chicken, shrimp, or even sliced beef from the deli.  This time of the year, it's sometimes almost too hot to stand and cut up anything.  But I think you'll be happy if you try this:

Salmon on Greens and Berries with Maple-Balsamic Vinaigrette

So good to be home and cooking again...

This so-fast dinner is a riff on "Simon's Favorite New England Salad with Berries and Goat Cheese" from Linda and Martha Greenlaw's now out-of-print Recipes from a Very Small Island (2005:  Hyperion.)   There are a few copies available through amazon.com, but I was more impressed with this:

 Linda Greenlaw, America's only female swordfish boat captain, was featured in the book and film The Perfect Storm. She has written three New York Times bestselling nonfiction books about life as a commercial fisherman as well as a cookbook and two mysteries. 

The Blog is on Vacation, but Cook this 10-minute Salmon Supper with Green Beans Vinaigrette

I'm not here now, but I took this.

I write two really fun cooking blogs.  On the rare occasion, I share something between the two.  This is one of those times:

Really Quick Supper:  Grilled Salmon with a Balsamic-Honey Sauce and Green Beans Vinaigrette  2-3 servings

Cranberry-Blueberry Orange Muffins

Tender is the word.  Gentle is the method.  Don't over-mix or over bake.  Butter?  Yes.

 There really isn't anything homier or more welcoming than a basket full of fresh muffins. (Especially if you're having a friend for breakfast.)  And they're a bit more versatile than at first they appear.  I like them for breakfast, lunch, snacks, coffee, or dinner.  Much like quiche or omelets, they go anywhere, anytime.  They do travel well and keep for a few days on the counter or for a few weeks well-wrapped in the freezer.  Time?  5 minutes to stir up and 15 - 20 to bake?  They round up and out what might have appeared a paltry meal (think leftover salad or a jar of tomato soup or just yogurt and fruit) and  make you and the meal feel special.  Should I bring up butter?

Fried Potato and Egg Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

No matter how hard you try to be healthy, sometimes you have  a yen for fried potatoes.  Maybe fried eggs.  Ok.  Let's do that.  But we'll add a few veggies to the mix for this wilted salad.  And it won't seem so bad.  So unhealthy.  Oh, geez.  At least there's no bacon in it.  Though you could add it. This is kind of a picture recipe....

Black Bean and Ham Salad with Lemon-Lime Vinaigrette

I notice the loved ones in my life who live alone eat a lot of chicken.  As do folks on the South Beach Diet or any diet.  (I've been there.)  Maybe everyone who's not a vegetarian eats a lot of chicken.  Granted it's one of the most inexpensive and versatile proteins and is low in fat.   I'm on the bandwagon, too; I eat chicken often.  I roast a whole chicken probably twice a  month or more.   I occasionally buy a deli chicken on Tuesdays from Whole Foods.   I  like to make breasts on the bone for salads, casseroles (we call them hot dish in Minnesota and hot dish is singular or plural), sandwiches (though I don't eat a sandwich in two months unless it's a veggie burger on half a bun), or in omelets.

(Above:   Make my Greek Chicken Salad sometime.)

An Egg with a Few Greens for Supper

Egg Salad

This is a light lunch/supper or could be a first course for dinner-- done in 5-10 minutes.  Sweet and filling.  Crunchy and soft.  Make extra dressing and keep in the frig.

Note:  Dressing keeps longer without the shallots or onions.  And you can skip the dressing totally if you make the egg quite soft (runny) and use that as dressing.  Yes.

"Egg Salad #2"  serves 2

4 cups fresh baby spinach leaves
2 small tomatoes, sliced (Try the Mexican "brown" tomatoes--tasty and cheaper.)
2 carrots, sliced
1/4 c minced parsley
1/2 English cucumber, cut into thin half-moons
1t fresh lemon juice
2 poached eggs (slide raw eggs, each in a cup, into barely simmering water for 3-4 minutes til white is firm)

Dressing:  1 T balsamic vinegar, healthy pinch each kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, 1t minced shallot or garlic, optional, 1/2 t honey, 1/4 t dijon-style mustard, 2T extra-virgin olive oil--Whisk salt into vinegar.  Whisk in all else, though drizzle in 1T olive oil at a time, being sure it's incorporated well before adding the second,)

1. Divide greens and vegetables between two large shallow bowls.  Drizzle equally with lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
2. Top with well-drained egg and drizzle with dressing.
3. Serve with a piece of hot, buttered whole wheat toast. 

 Have fun cooking and taking care of yourself, 
Alyce

first posted on more time at the table

Killer Guac to Take to the Cookout

There's little to say except everyone loves guacamole.  It doesn't matter what the main dish is at the picnic or who's going to be there.  (We took this to a potluck Sunday night where it disappeared very quickly.)   You just dish up a nice big bowl of guac to go with the best tortilla chips you can find, a crunchy veggie tray, or even a plate of rolled up turkey and pepperjack slices for all of those on the South Beach diet.  If there are burgers, you're in luck, because many folks love burgers topped with guac.  Truth be told, there's such bad guac out there that you can buy it pre-made in the produce or frozen section.  Learn to make your own (no cooking except the bacon!) and be the hit of the party.    If you've got some vegetarian or vegan friends coming, leave out the bacon (or have it separate for an add in.)  Guac also makes a tasty salad...just add greens and a vinaigrette.  Try this:

alyce's killer guac  serves 4-6 as a appetizer with chips/doubles easily 

I like the food processor for making pico de gallo.

Walleye Salad

It's just a fact of life.  If you live in the upper midwest, you  probably love Walleye Pike.  (If you live elsewhere, you maybe don't know from Walleye.)  We travel to northern lakes to fish for them, we serve them at many, many restaurants, and we currently sell them fresh in the grocery store for $18 a pound or so. (Yikes.)  We cut them into "fingers" for starters, fry them up with mountains of fries served up with two cups of mayonnaise coleslaw for mains, nestle them into a bun for a Minnesota fish burger,  and occasionally place them somewhat uncomfortably on a bed of greens.

Meatball Frittata

Except for soup, pasta, or salad, there's nearly nothing you can cook that is as versatile as the not-so-humble frittata, which is nothing more than an open-faced omelet.   Just about whatever you've got leftover in your frig, including spaghetti you brought home from the Italian restaurant (and definitely the toppings from that box of cold pizza), can be worked into a frittata and turned into a meal that might feed you a couple times or more.  Will you be happy?  I think so.