The Yummy Side of Life…

We have decided recently to start taking measures to make our lives healthier. I’m trying some new recipes this week (without meat!) that we could start incorporating as healthier substitutes to what we usually eat. The menu is shorter this week because on Friday, we are taking off to Texas so Katie can meet our family!

#1: Chile Cornmeal Crusted Catfish, Coleslaw (are there enough Cs in this meal?)

#2: Chicken Breast, Green Beans

#3: Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes, Basil, Feta, and Kalamata Olives, Green Salad

#4: Omelets with Sundried Tomatoes, Spinach, Red Bell Pepper, and Parmesan

#5: Chinese Takeout!

I’ve been looking for a way to cook salmon that wouldn’t be too hard to throw together. Fortunately, the Kraft Foods website provided me with a recipe for which I had everything on hand, except the fish! This was super easy and not surprisingly, delicious! The flavor of the mustard really compliments the stronger salmon flavor.

Easy Crusted Salmon (from KraftFoods.com) My notes in red!!

• 2 tablespoons Grey Poupon Country Dijon Mustard Oops! I accidentally used 2 teaspoons, and my mixture came out rather unspreadable.
• 8 RITZ Crackers, crushed
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme leaves
• 2 salmon fillets (1/2 lb.) I used skinless salmon, and it came out beautifully!

1. Heat oven to 400°F. Mix mustard, cracker crumbs, and thyme.
2. Place fish, skin side down, on foil-covered baking sheet; spread with mustard mixture.
3. Bake 10 min. or until fish flakes easily with fork. 10 minutes was not nearly enough time for my fillets. I used the rule to cook the fillets 15 minutes for every inch of thickness (mine were roughly 1″ thick) and this worked nicely.

Hey everyone! I want to try something new with the blog that would allow you to print a recipe or menu (and maybe even grocery lists on down the road) with ease. I’ve uploaded my Parmesan Risotto recipe to Scribd and linked to it into this post. I would love to embed it; however, it clutters up the blog, so until Apture is compatible with WordPress.com, I will have to just link for now. I would love your feedback so I can see if this is something that people would use.

Printable Version of Parmesan Risotto for Two

From time to time, I get bored with blogging… Plus, I haven’t had my camera for the past few weeks, so I would not have been able to post pics of food.

Someone on my RSS feed or message board (sorry! I can’t remember who you are!) decided she would do a cookbook challenge this month. I think it’s a great idea so I’m copycatting her! She (me too!) has been using the internet a lot lately to find recipes–whether it be from a website or different blogs she reads. So here’s the plan. Get back to cookbooks! I have to work today, but I’m thinking it’s going to be slow… So I’m bringing a few of my books with me to flip through while I wait for customers to show their lovely faces.

Here are my cookbooks for this week:

• Better Homes and Gardens New Cookbook
• The Sneaky Chef (picked this up yesterday at BAM!)
• Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade Slow Cooker Recipes
• Los Barrios Family Cookbook (by a family that owns a restaurant in San Antonio…)

If you read this and currently are using the internet for recipes–I say “Get back to the books!”

by Amy to list 7 things you may or may not know about me. So here goes…

1. I love Post-It notes. I mean… LOVE them. I make lists on them, and write down random things on them. I finally bought a post-it holder that came with a cube, so I wouldn’t run out anytime soon.

2. I really want to visit France, Spain, Germany/Austria, and Italy because of the music backgrounds in those countries.

3. I love teaching piano. I have a studio of 17 students, and I’m not sure that I want to teach in a school right now.

4. My china hutch needs to be stripped and restained very badly. It does not match any of our other furniture whatsoever.

5. I make weekly menus for dinner every week. I usually try to do this on Wednesday, but it didn’t work out last night because of Harry Potter 🙂

6. I need to take all my personal things off of my desktop computer so that I can donate it. I would really love the extra desk space!

7. I need to start eating more fruit.