For Irene - Rima's Baked Salmon Fillets

Rima's Salmon Fillets

For Irene

Ingredients

4 salmon fillets or other firm fish, like halibut or orange roughy

1/3 cup mayonnaise – Light or extra-light works just fine

2 tbsp grainy mustard or Dijon or other sharp mustard

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp chili powder or paprika

Pinch of ground white pepper or cayenne – optional

For sauce:

Juice of ½ small lemon (more or less, depending on taste)

No need for extra salt because of mustard

Preparation

Preheat oven at 425ºF

Place fillets on foil-lined baking sheet.

Whisk together mayonnaise, mustard, honey, water, and spices

(I always forget this step, so it’s in bold here)

Remove 1/4 cup for sauce and stir in lemon juice; set aside.

Brush or spoon remaining mixture over salmon.

Bake in preheated oven 10-15 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with fork (check after 10).

Serve with reserved sauce. Tastes great with rice and a salad.

Rima's Ratatouille

Perfect Chunky Ratatouille

4 Tbsp. olive oil (or more if you’re not afraid)

1 large onion (Vidalia or Spanish, or any other sweet onion), coarsely chopped

1 yellow or red bell pepper, coarsely chopped

4-6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

1 eggplant, cut into large cubes (peeled if you prefer)

3 or 4 zucchini or vegetable marrow, cut into large cubes

1 can tomatoes (diced or whole, chopped)

2 Tbsp. tomato paste

Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1 tsp. dried thyme or oregano or mix both (fresh is better for the herbs, about 1 tbsp leaves)

Optional: 1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped (I don’t use it, but you can add it for garnish if you like)

Directions:

In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat.

Cook onions, stirring occasionally, until soft and golden, about 5-7 minutes.

Add garlic and bell pepper; cook about 1 minute but be careful not to brown the garlic.

Add eggplant and zucchini; salt and pepper. Cook about 5 more minutes until vegetables start to soften.

Add can of diced tomatoes with juice, tomato paste and herbs.

Bring to a boil then reduce heat to low.

Cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.

Uncover and continue cooking for another 5 minutes to reduce the liquid.

Remove from heat.

If using basil, stir in now (If freezing, leave out basil.)

Serve at room temperature – tastes even better the next day.

Serve with Toasted Pocket Bread Points for dipping:

Preheat oven to 350˚F.

Cut pocket or pita or Arabic bread in triangular shapes, with about 2 inch sides, like large tortilla chips for dipping.

Arrange in single layer on baking sheet and drizzle with good olive oil. Season with any seasoned salt you like, like garlic salt, seasoned salt, celery salt – or something like Mrs. Dash to reduce sodium.

Bake until crisp and brown (takes just a few minutes).

Make Ahead and Freeze Breakfast Burritos

Make Ahead and Freeze Breakfast Burritos

Equipment:

1 Large Crock Pot, I use a 4.5 Quart one.

2 Large Cookie Sheets coated with Olive Oil or enough sheets for 24 burritos widely spaced.

1 Large Plastic folding cutting board. Nice to have, but can use counter/table surface instead.

1 Plastic Straw

Sausage/Egg Mixture:

24 Flour Tortillas or Wraps, Burrito Size

2 Lb Pork Sausage, frozen or fresh

1 Lb Ground Turkey, frozen or fresh

2 Large Onions, chopped small. Spanish are best, but may use any kind.

1 ½ Cups Green Chiles, chopped small. May be fresh, frozen or canned.

18 Large Chicken Eggs or 36 Guinea Eggs or combination

Salt and Pepper To Taste

Assembling Needs:

1 Recipe of Egg/Sausage Mixture

1 ½ Cups Grated Irish Potatoes, frozen or freshly grated

3 Cups Cheese, Grated. May be Longhorn, Cheddar, Mexican Blend, Colby etc.

Oiled Cookie Sheets

Cook sausage, ground turkey,onions and in crock pot until well done. Add add eggs and chopped chili and cook until eggs are done. Add salt and pepper to taste. Assemble burritos: Warm tortillas if they are likely to break, otherwise use as is. Lay a tortilla on a clean surface, I use my fold up cutting board. Add 2-3 tablespoons of sausage/egg mixture, 2 tablespoons potatoes, 2 tablespoons grated cheese. This is pretty subjective depending upon the size of your tortilla and how well you can roll them once filled. Roll into the traditional burrito shape, first folding in the ends, then roll and place on but not touching each other on the oiled cookie sheet.

When a complete sheet is full place in freezer overnight. The next day you can take the burritos out of the freezer and place in gallon sized bags and *remove as much air as as possible to prevent frost from forming on the burritos. We find that our 1200 watt microwave will cook these nutritious breakfasts on high for 2 minutes, then turn over and cook another 20 seconds.

* To remove the air from the bags after filling: Fill a soup pot with water, deep enough to immerse the bag. Zip up the bag except for the corner where the straw has been inserted, then immerse into the water filled pot, keeping the corner out of the water. The air will magically whoosh out the straw then you can use the straw to suck out any remaining air pockets. Then in one swift motion, remove straw and quickly zip the bag shut.

Three Bean Salad

Prepare vegetables:

• 3 cans of three different varieties of beans, rinsed and drained (I used white, kidney, and black)
  
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped small
  
• 1/2 onion, chopped small
  
• 1 bell pepper, chopped small
• 1 bunch purslane if you can get it, tear leaves off stem
  
• 1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
  
• 1 large cucumber, chopped small

Make vinaigrette and pour over vegetables:

• 1/4 cup vinegar, I prefer white wine or rice but any kind you have will do
  
• 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
  
• 2 limes or lemons, juiced
• 1/2 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon garlic salt, I use Lawrey's California Style
  
• black pepper to taste

I started making this recipe when I lived in Lebanon. The abundance of fresh vegetables inspired me to try it and over the years I've refined it. Just this year I switched from parsley to cilantro and it makes it even better. You can keep it in the fridge for several days, so you can make a big batch and serve it at several meals. You can adjust the proportion of oil to vinegar to suit your taste. My family loves it and I hope yours does too!

Rima's Chicken Waldorf Salad

Chicken Waldorf Salad

(or what to do with leftover chicken)

Ingredients:

Dressing:

1 Tbsp cider vinegar (or other mild vinegar like plain rice vinegar)
2 Tbsp low-fat mayonnaise
½ tsp curry powder OR ¼ tsp curry paste
1 pinch each salt and cracked black pepper

Salad:

1 Granny Smith apple, cut into small chunks (I like it better peeled)
¼ cup toasted walnuts or pecan pieces
¼ cup golden raisins
1 small celery stalk, thinly sliced
1/2 sweet onion, diced (such as vidalia or spanish)
1 cup (more or less) cooked chicken (leftover roast chicken is best)

How to:

Mix the dressing ingredients in large salad bowl.

Add remaining ingredients.

Serve with crackers or toasted bread.

Rima's Snack Mix

Rima's Snack Mix

aka Nuts & Bolts, Méli-Mélo or Little Bites

(This is a good snack because you can control the fat and the salt)

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil (or non-hydrogenated margarine)

1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce (no store brands!)

½ tsp garlic powder (NOT garlic salt)

½ tsp onion powder*

½ tsp paprika*

¼ tsp salt*

2 cups wheat square cereal (a.k.a. Shreddies or Chex)

2 cups toasted oat cereal (a.k.a. Cheerios)

2 cups pretzels (I use whole grain)

1 cup Goldfish & 1 cup unsalted peanuts or unsalted soy nuts

OR 2 cups Goldfish, mini-crackers, etc…

*** I use 1 tsp. seasoned salt instead of these 3

(You can also substitute other favourites, as long as you have roughly 6-7 cups of munchies)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 250 °F (120 °C).

In a small bowl, whisk together olive oil, Worcestershire sauce and all seasoning.

In a large roasting pan, combine dry ingredients.

Drizzle with oil mixture and mix well.

Bake for 1 hour, turning contents every 15 minutes to prevent heavy

browning।

If there’s any left, store in airtight container, it keeps well.

Rima's Chicken with Peanut Sauce

Rima's Chicken with Peanut Sauce

(edited from Canadian Living Magazine)

Serve with rice or pasta

Prep and cooking time:

30 minutes

Ingredients

2 boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced or cubed

1 Tbsp canola oil

1 onion, sliced

1 carrot, sliced

3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1 Tbsp minced gingerroot or ½ tsp ground ginger

1 Tbsp mild Indian or Thai curry paste (much better than powder)

1 ½ cups cauliflower florets (optional)

1 cup chopped green beans (can be frozen green beans)

½ sweet red pepper, sliced

Sauce:

1 cup chicken stock

2 Tbsp smooth peanut butter (can be low-fat peanut butter)

¼ tsp salt (optional)

Preparation

In large skillet, heat oil over high heat; stir-fry chicken until no longer pink inside, about 3 minutes. Remove to plate.

Add onion, carrot, garlic and ginger to pan; cook over medium-high heat, stirring, for 2 minutes.

Add curry paste; cook, stirring, for 30 seconds.

Add cauliflower, beans and red pepper; cook for 2 minutes.

Return chicken to pan. Stir in stock, peanut butter and salt; cover and cook until cauliflower and beans are tender-crisp, about 5 minutes.

Lemons

For juicing you want to pick lemons that are thin-skinned and shiny. These are the best for squeezing. To get more juice, heat in the microwave for about 20 seconds, then roll on the counter to soften up. Careful when heating and rolling because they get hot and may explode!

Mexican Dirty Rice

I didn't know this would turn out to be such a tasty dish, else I would have taken pictures of it. It was a little invention I made yesterday that Antigone dubbed a "keeper":

1 cup dry brown rice, prepared as per package instructions
13 oz. ground beef (I divide a 5 lb package into 6 rather 5, that's why the funny oz)
1/2 onion, diced
1/2 zucchini, diced
1/2 yellow squash, diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 garlic cloves crushed with salt (I do this in my mortar and pestle)
cumin

Brown ground beef and onion, using a fork to make the ground beef into small pieces. When beef is completely cooked, I cleared a little well in the center to dump the vegetables and garlic. When the vegetables are soft but still a little crispy, add cooked rice and cumin to taste. Stir all ingredients together. It will look a little like Cajun Dirty Rice.

I served with chopped cilantro, diced tomatoes, a sprinkling of cheddar cheese, and extra cumin (and garlic salt for Antigone) on the table. A squeeze of lime might be nice, too.

Enchilada Consume' with Fideo

1/4 to 1/2 cup Red Enchilada sauce, I prefer "Hatch" brand
1 can chicken broth
1 oz Fideo pasta, optional

Bring sauce and broth to boil. If using pasta, add and cook according to directions on package.

Very Low calorie!

Lemon Chicken & Rice with Basil

1 cup dry Instant brown rice
1 can chicken broth
Lemon
1 lb Chicken breast
sprigs of fresh basil

Brown chicken in non-stick pan. Remove.

Cook rice, broth (add enough water to broth to make 2 cups), and amount of lemon zest to your liking. I used a lot. Cook covered for the amount of time required by the box on instant rice.

Add chicken back in and squeeze half of juice from one lemon. Cook until chicken is done.

Turn heat off, add rest of lemon juice and sprigs of fresh basil. Enjoy!

This was so easy and tasted really good. It was supposed to be something else but I didn't have all the ingredients so I just made it up as I went along.

Chunky Tomato Soup

Grannie's Chunky Tomato Soup

1-15 oz can of chunky tomatoes

1-15 0z can of tomato sauce

1-12 oz can of evaporated milk

1 tablespoon honey (or sugar, brown preferred)

Salt

Pepper (optional)

Butter (optional)

Slowly heat all ingredients except butter over low heat. Don't get too hot or milk will curdle. Serve with a chunk of butter in the middle. That's all there is too it!

Step-By-Step Tortillas, Gringita Method

This is the recipe as taught to me by my friend Elvira about fifteen years ago. She learned it from her mother, who most probably learned it from her mother before her. Elvira's tortillas are much bigger than mine. Dut due to the size of my comal -- and due to my general inability to make round tortillas if they get too large -- I make smaller 8 inch ones. This recipes makes 16 tortillas. However, it is very easily divided into half to make a batch of 8 tortillas, which is just right for two people for a few days. The tortillas last only three or four days before getting too hard and dry.

You'll need some basic things:

4 cups of flour
2 t baking soda
2 t salt
4 T shortening
up to 2 cups of warm water

Put the dry ingredients in a bowl, then add the shortening. I usually just sift the flour with my fingers until the shortening is blended into pea-size pieces. But you could also use a pastry blender like I have pictured here:

Then add the warm water, starting with a cup a half cup, then adding more as needed. It's better to be too dry and then have to add water, than to be too wet and have to add flour. Wait until you are sure it is not picking up any more of the dry flour before adding more water, and then do it a tablespoon at a time.

How much water? Well, the flour should be completely absorbed into the dough ball, but the dough shouldn't stick to the sides.

I then knead it a bit on the counter until it feels a little elastic-y. Then make a round ball.

And divide that ball into equal pieces by dividing in half, then each half into half again, etc. until you have 16 pieces.

This part is almost impossible to describe, but it's not entirely necessary so don't worry. You shape each piece into a round ball. Then with two hands, holding it like a little steering wheel, you go around the dough, pressing under with your fingers so it becomes concave, like a mushroom cap (or a birth control diaphram).

This is the underside. Elvira taught me this. I don't know for sure what it does, except it may make the dough roll out more evenly. If you don't know what I mean here, then just roll the dough into little round balls. Do them all at once.

Then you are ready to roll out the dough, FIFO-style, first in, first out. Rolling the first ones you shaped into a ball. I roll one direction, then turn the tortilla a quarter turn, and roll and turn again.

When you've rolled the dough until it is just a little larger than your hand, it's just right.

Lay on a pre-heated comal. When the tortilla starts to bubble (about the time it takes to roll the next tortilla, but your mileage may vary), it's ready to flip over. The second side is done in about half the time as the first one (again, ymmv). Even though you are rolling more tortillas, keep an eye on the one cooking because they will burn and when they do, they are inedible and leave black residue on your hot comal which is picked up by the next tortilla.

You can use a spatula to turn the tortillas, but I usually just turn them quickly with the tips of my fingers.

Here they are, stored in the plastic tortilla basket that has a lid. I put the lid on in between adding each tortilla, this keeps them steamed and soft. Every two tortillas, I flip the whole batch over in the basket. This keeps the bottom one from getting soggy with steam.