Toddler Approved: Honey Soy Salmon

Posted on by aurorameyer

Honey-Soy Salmon with Zucchini

This was a surprise win for our family. Even before Miss A’s arrival, we made it a point to eat more fish. Salmon is hard one because done well, it’s amazing. Done poorly, it’s terrible.

On a whim, I tried this Honey-Soy Salmon dish from Parents magazine. It was so easy and even better, Miss A kept asking for more! She wasn’t really a fan of the zucchini, but she also hadn’t had it with the skin still on before.

Toddler Approved: Honey Soy Salmon

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Ingredients
  

  • 4-6 salmon fillets (we get the frozen ones that still have the skin on the number of fillets depends on the number of people eating)
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce we used regular
  • Nonstick cooking spray or just some of your favorite oil
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil or olive
  • 2 medium zucchini sliced into 1/4-inch thick half-moons
  • 1 onion diced
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions
 

  • Add honey and soy into a zip top bag, squish to mix.
  • Add the fish and seal the zip top.
  • Turn to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes or up to 2 hours (we marinated for about an hour).
  • Drain and discard marinade.
  • Preheat broiler. If you have the option of low or high, choose high.
  • Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil and coat foil with cooking spray or lightly drizzle oil.
  • Place fish on foil. Broil 5 to 7 minutes per 1/2-inch thickness of fish, or until fish flakes easily with a fork.
  • We broiled for about 7 minutes total.
  • While the fish is broiling, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add zucchini and onions. Cook about 3 minutes or until just tender; season with salt.
  • Serve the fish fillets with the zucchini.

Notes

Note: if using frozen fillets, be sure to allow to defrost before you marinate. It makes a difference.
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My opinion:
The addition of lightly caramelized onions made the salmon even tastier. We will absolutely be making this dish again. Plus it was so easy, we could make it even on the busiest weeknight!

Toddler Approved: Honey-Soy Salmon with Zucchini
Yum

Mom’s banana bread

Posted on by aurorameyer

My mom didn’t make banana bread very often because she doesn’t really like bananas, but my dad, sister and I did, so when she made it, it was a great day. I was pretty surprised at how easy this is to make. It’s perfect for a cold late winter day.

Mom's banana bread

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Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups and 1/2flour
  • 1/2 cup sugar –
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar (if it's lumpy it's ok)
  • 3 teaspoons and 1/2baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla you can add a bit more if you want!
  • 1 egg
  • 3 very ripe bananas you can use two if you prefer less banana flavor

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a loaf pan with butter or Crisco. No need to flour the greased pan. Mix the wet ingredients into a bowl, adding the milk last.
  • Mix the dry ingredients. If your brown sugar is a little lumpy, that's ok! It will add pockets of caramel notes.
  • Mix the dry ingredients and wet ingredients together.
  • Bake in a 350-degree oven for about 55 to 60 minutes until the top is brown and a toothpick comes out clean and the sides start to pull away from the greased pan.
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My opinion: This makes your whole house smell amazing. It’s delicious and one of my most favorite breakfast foods. If you’re feeling adventurous, you can add chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, peanut butter (if you add peanut butter reduce the oil by one tablespoon). The options are endless!

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

Posted on by aurorameyer

Or homemade chile rellenos. A new grocery store opened in our town and it is amazing. I’ve described it as if Trader Joes and Whole Foods had a baby. The produce is fantastic. When I stopped by opening day, the poblanos were some of the best I’ve seen since leaving Texas. So I roasted them and we had them for dinner.

Homemade Stuffed Poblanos

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Ingredients
  

  • 1 in can whole tomatoespuree; or if you prefer fresh 5-7 large Roma tomatoes, 28 ounces
  • 1 jalapeno chile; (ribs and seeds removed for less heat) minced
  • 1 large or 2 small yellow or white onions; chopped
  • 3 tablespoons minced garlic
  • coarse salt and ground pepper to taste
  • 1 pound can black beans; rinsed and drained or about 1ground beef 19 ounces, we used 80/20 ground beef because it was also on sale at the new grocery store
  • 4 ounces shredded pepper Jack cheese
  • 1/4 block of Velveeta Queso Blanco cheese cubed (we had some left over from making Mag Mud at home)
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 4 large poblano chiles; halved lengthwise ribs and seeds removed, stems left intact
  • 1-2 tablespoons oil (vegetable olive, whatever you have on hand)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 425.
  • In a blender or food processor, combine tomatoes in puree, jalapeno, half the onions, and 2 whole garlic cloves; puree.
  • Season with salt to taste.
  • Pour sauce into a 9-by-13-inch baking dish; set aside.
  • Add a little oil to the skillet and sauté the onions, garlic and cumin.
  • If using ground beef, brown the beef in the same skillet with the garlic and onions, if you want, add some of the salsa.  
  • Add half the poblano in the salsa covered baking dish. 
  • Dividing evenly, spoon the onions and beef into the poblano half.
  • Sprinkle poblanos with the shredded pepper jack cheese.
  • If room add, the other poblano half with the inside in the salsa (so the skin side is up). (Since there wasn't room in our dish, I just added them where there was room.)
  • Bake uncovered for about 20 minutes.
  • Remove from oven.
  • Add the Velveeta cubes and cover with the other poblano half. Note: you'll want to use a fork or other utensil, the poblano tops will be hot.
  • Return to the 425 degree oven for 20 more minutes or until the salsa is slightly thickened and the poblano half on top is starting to brown. 
  • Let cool 10 minutes.
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My Opinion:
The poblanos that were on top of the salsa roasted up quite nicely adding a sweet char to the pepper. Next time, I’ll roast the entire poblano before adding the filling. Other than that, the only other addition is to smother the entire stuffed poblano in Mag Mud for extra creaminess.

Homemade Beef Pho

Posted on by aurorameyer

Homemade Beef Pho by Dispatches from the Castle

The more J and I cook at home, the more we find amazing recipes of meals we once thought were super complicated and therefore only available in a restaurant. Pho is one of those dishes. With the complexly deep flavors and food coma-inducing warmth, we were sure we couldn’t make it in our own kitchen. We were so wrong. J found this recipe from Sarcastic Cooking (love!) and it was dead on. We adjusted a few things to our taste and suggest you do too.

East at Home Beef Pho Ingrdients

My opinion:
This makes a lot. Enough for three of us to have two large bowls each and quite a bit leftover. It’s in the freezer waiting for one of those cold, rainy late fall days when soup sounds best. I love this dish. I couldn’t eat it fast enough.

Homemade Beef Pho

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Ingredients
  

  • 2 Tablespoons Canola Oil we used vegetable
  • 2 Yellow Onions halved (we ended up quartering them)
  • 1, 3- inch Piece of Fresh Ginger halved (we left this whole but kind of crushed to infuse more flavor)
  • 2 Cloves Garlic we used minced
  • 4 Quarts Low-Sodium Beef Stock
  • In a tea ball we put: 1 Cinnamon Stick, 3 Star Anise Pieces, 3 Whole Cloves, broken If you do not want to invest in cinnamon sticks star anise, and cloves, some stores sell pho seasoning packs. But it's worth it to have your own, plus, with a tea ball removing it is simple!
  • ⅓ cup Fish Sauce
  • 3 Tablespoons Packed Light Brown Sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
  • cup Button mushrooms we used sliced
  • Ingredients for the Pho:
  • 1 12-ounce Ounce Package of Bahn Pho or Udon Noodles These ended up being hard to find so we just used glass noodles . Flat Rice Noodles, thin rice noodles
  • 1 Pound Flank Steak or charcoal steak
  • 2 Thai Chiles stems removed and thinly sliced (we left these out)
  • 2 Handfuls Bean Sprouts fresh is crunchier and we loved it!
  • 1 Bunch Fresh Cilantro
  • 1 Bunch Fresh Mint
  • ½ White Onion sliced paper-thin
  • Sriracha or Chili Garlic Sauce for Serving
  • Lime Wedges for Serving
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Carnegie Deli Matzo Ball Soup (and chicken stock!) Recipe

Posted on by aurorameyer
Easy Matzo Ball Soup Recipe by Aurora Meyer on aurorameyer.com

Matzo Ball Soup Recipe

My mom makes the best matzo ball soup. Ever. Part of the reason it’s probably the best is because she only makes it once a year at Passover. I think the recipe is a combination of one from Cooking Light and several family recipes from friends. It’s amazing. Since the first Passover J attended, he’s tried to recreate my mom’s recipe. We use the same ingredients and follow her directions, but it never turns out the same. After our trip to New York this summer, J decided to find the Carnegie Deli recipe. He finally succeeded with a few modifications of this recipe.

Stock Ingredients:
1 pound chicken necks, backs, and wings (we just used wings since that’s what we had in the freezer)
1/2 ounce chicken base, such as Better Than Bouillon
1 celery stalk, roughly chopped
1 small white onion, quartered
Salt and pepper, to taste

For matzo balls :
8 large eggs
1 cup liquid shortening or olive oil plus more for rolling matzo balls ( I think my mom uses vegetable oil)
about 1 cup water
4 cups matzo meal
1/4 teaspoon Maggi Seasoning
3/4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper

Optional: top with fresh dill.

Directions:
Make stock : Combine first four ingredients with 6 cups water. Add Maggi seasoning (we found it in the Asian isle, it’s made by Nestle) and salt and pepper. Bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for at least an 1 hour.

In a large bowl, mix the eggs, oil, water, matzo meal, Maggi, salt, and pepper until just incorporated. Oil hands, then, working as gently as possible, form round balls about the size of a golf ball (but try to keep them loose or the middles won’t cook). Boil matzo balls in stock until cooked through and soft, at least 45 minutes. Divide matzo balls evenly between four bowls, allotting two matzo balls and two cups stock per serving. Sprinkle with fresh dill and enjoy.

My opinion:
It’s really close. The only part that wasn’t was J rolled the matzo balls too tight, so the middles didn’t cook quite through.