Lisaopolis.comLisa’s Adventures in the Kitchen

Lately I have been trying to incorporate more sea food into my diet. In the last 6 months or so I have likely eaten more sea food then I have eaten in the rest of my 25 years.

A few days ago I decided to make some cod fish for dinner. I had never made cod before, so this was a new experience for me. I searched for a recipe online, and found one at allrecipes that I thought sounded easy and delicious. The recipe was for Baked Cod with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. I changed the quite a bit to suit my tastes and the ingredients on hand.

My cod turned out very well. The horseradish flavor was fairly strong, but the red pepper gave the sauce the perfect amount of sweetness that balanced out the strong horseradish flavor. The cracker crumbs absorbed some of the sauce and gave the fish a nice slightly breaded texture. Inside the cod was soft, moist and very flavorful. I think seasoning the fish and letting it absorb for some time before cooking is key in getting the fish flavorful from top to bottom.

I served my fish with baked potato, butter corn, and maple garlic carrots.

Here is my adapted recipe

Baked Cod with Horseradish Sauce

3-4 medium to large fillets cod (frozen)
1 large red pepper
8 dashes Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp olive oil ¼-½ cup water
About 1 cup crushed crackers
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
You will also need aluminum, foil

Defrost cod for about an hour. Cut into desired number of pieces. Place on a foil lined cookie sheet. Season with salt, black pepper, and garlic powder. Set aside. Let the spices absorb for about 30 minutes (min). Cut the red pepper into pieces. Place the red pepper in a blender. Add the olive oil and enough water to create a thick sauce (you might need to add it gradually with blending). Blend until a thick sauce is formed (I had a few small chunks of red pepper in my sauce but I used it anyways because I thought it would just add to the flavor of the sauce). Spread the sauce evenly over the fish. Sprinkle the cracker crumbs over the sauce. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Bake for about 50 minutes. Serve immediately.

A couple days ago I wanted to make something warm for breakfast. I decided to make some carrot muffins.

I used one of my own muffin recipes morphing to suit my carrot muffins. I added some coconut to them to make things more interesting. The result was a very hearty tasting, moist muffin. The carrot and coconut complemented each other well. My muffins were a house hold hit, and gone within less then a day.

Here is my recipe

Carrot Coconut Muffins

1 ½ cup all purpose flour
1 ½ cup whole wheat flour
1 cup not packed brown sugar
2 tsp baking powder
¼ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/3 olive oil
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract
½- ¾  cup skim milk
2 tbsp white vinegar (to make sour milk)
½ cup unsweetened medium shredded coconut
1 tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp nutmeg
3-4 medium to large carrots chopped into pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl add all the dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut) and mix well. In a blender add the carrot pieces, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, rum extract, olive oil, ½ cup skim milk, and vinegar. Blend until smooth. Add the carrot liquid mixture to the dry mixture and stir to create a smooth batter. If needed add more milk if the dough is too thick. Spoon batter into muffin tins. Bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.

I have been reading my Reader’s Digest Low Calorie Cookbook for quite some time now. I had been eyeing a recipe for Mixed Salad Leaves with flowers and blueberries for a long time, and I finally decided to give it a go a couple days ago.

I knew I wouldn’t be able to make the salad just like the recipe states. Many ingredients such as flowers are just not available in the grocery stores (we do grow nasturtiums in the garden but they won’t be blooming for quite a few more months).

I compromised on many ingredients and basically created my own salad recipe that was inspired by the salad in my Reader’s Digest Cook book.

I used mixed salad greens that included arugula (which was in the recipe) that I was unable to find by itself in any grocery store here. I also used strawberries instead of blueberries because I couldn’t justify paying the same price for a tiny container of blueberries when the strawberry container was huge. I used garlic sprouts instead of the alfalfa sprouts that the recipe called for. I think the garlic sprouts where a great substitution because they gave the salad a nice “zing” that I don’t think alfalfa sprouts could have achieved.

My strawberry and sprout salad turned out really well. I was a bit nervous about how the strawberries would taste in it since blueberries are a lot more sour then strawberries,  but the salad was amazing! It’s sweet, and tangy, and oh so refreshing. I felt like I was eating lunch and dessert all at the same time since the strawberries were nice and sweet. It was a great salad which I will be making again today for lunch

Here is the recipe.

Strawberry and Sprout Salad

Mixed salad greens
Garlic sprouts
Several fresh strawberries cut into small pieces

Honey mustard dressing
2-3 tbsp Olive oil
3-4 tbsp Lemon juice
About 1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
A few shakes salt
A few shakes black pepper

Add all the greens, sprouts, and cut up strawberries into a salad bowl and mix well. In a separate bowl add the olive oil, and mustard. Stir to combine. Add the lemon juice and stir well. Pour over salad. Season with salt and pepper. Serve immediately.

Yesterday morning I was up early, so I decided to whip up some muffins for breakfast. I decided to make some cranberry muffins since we have some cranberries that have been in the freezer for a long time. I had never made cranberry muffins before, so this was a new experience for me.

The recipe I used was from Company’s Coming Mostly Muffins by Jean Pare for Cranberry Sparkle Muffins. I morphed the recipe as usual to suit the ingredients on hand and my tastes.  The original recipe calls for white sanding (dusting) sugar, but I just used regular white sugar. I also reduced the overall amount of sugar. I also used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose white flour instead of just white flour like the original recipe states.

My muffins turned out fabulous! There are fairly tart when they first come out of the oven, but the sweetness of the sugar sprinkled on top makes for a sharp contrast in tastes (tart and sweet). Once cool the muffins are just yummy, and the tartness is hardly noticeable. All of my 12 muffins were gone in just a few hours!

Here is my adapted recipe.

Cranberry Muffins (adapted from: Company’s Coming Mostly Muffins)
(makes 12 medium muffins)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
¼ cup margarine
½ cup white sugar
1 cup no fat vanilla yogurt
1 cup fresh or frozen cranberries
(topping)
1- 1.5 tbsp white sugar
¼ tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl add the flours, salt, baking powder and ½ cup white sugar, and mix until well combined. Cut or crumble in the margarine. Add the eggs and yogurt and stir until a soft dough forms. Add the cranberries. Stir or knead the dough to combine. Spoon into muffin tins. In a small bowl combine the 1-1.5 tbsp white sugar and the cinnamon. Mix well. Sprinkle evenly on each muffin. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the muffins are lightly golden and a tooth pick inserted comes out clean. Serve warm or cool.

Do you have a favorite recipe for cranberry muffins?

A few days ago I want a waffle breakfast. Instead of the waffles I usually make, I wanted to try something different. I thought to myself I make pumpkin muffins, so why not make pumpkin waffles? There really was no reason not to so I did.

The recipe I used was for my basic waffles, and I just altered it to suit my pumpkin ones. I used frozen pumpkin, and drained some of the excess liquid from it before I started to make my waffles.

My waffles turned out to be super yummy! They had that great pumpkin flavor that I love, with subtle hints of cinnamon and nutmeg. They were everything I could have hoped for or expected in a pumpkin waffle. I will defiantly be making these again.

Here is the recipe

Pumpkin Waffles

1 ½  cups chopped pumpkin
2 ¾  cups all purpose flour
5 ½ tbsp white sugar
4 ½ tsp baking powder
¾ tsp salt
3 large eggs
2 cups skim milk
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tsp rum extract
1 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg

Place the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large mixing bowl and stir until well combined. Add the nutmeg and cinnamon and mix well. In a blender add the pumpkin, eggs, oil, rum and vanilla extract, and blend until smooth. Add the pureed mixture to the flour mixture and stir until well combined. Spoon onto on a hot waffle iron, and good each waffle until desired level of golden color on top is reached. Serve immediately.

A couple of days ago I was up early in the morning (yet again), and I decided to wanted a warm breakfast. I decided to make some muffins. I chose to make banana muffins. I have made many varieties of banana muffins over the years, but I had never tried to duplicate a muffin I use to buy often from Tim Hortens.

The banana nut muffin from Tim Hortens is likely my most purchased item ever from this particular fast food place. Back in my college and university days I spent a lot of time eating and studying at Tim Hortens or getting Tim Hortens to go, and studying elsewhere. Eating a lot of Tim Hortens food is likely one of the many factors that contributed my  weight gain in university that I am now trying to loose.

I set out to make a much more healthy version of the Tim Hortens banana nut muffin. Something I remember about the muffin from this fast food place is that after it sat in the take out muffin paper bag for a short time you could see the grease from the muffin on the bag. I wanted my muffin to not be like that.

I used one of my own muffin recipes, and changed it up a bit. I used coconut, pecans, and walnuts to get the nutteyness I was after. The result was a nutty banana muffin that actually tasted a lot like the Tim Hortens ones I use to enjoy! It was also not even slightly greasy, so it was much more healthy.

Here is my recipe.

Banana Nut Muffins
(makes 12 medium size muffins)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp white vinegar
½ cup skim milk (or slightly more of the dough is too thick)
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp rum extract
¼ cup olive oil
1 cup white sugar
3 medium bananas
½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
½ cup pecan pieces
¼ cup walnut pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl add the flours, sugar, salt, baking powder, baking soda and stir until well combined. Add all the nuts and stir well. In a blender add the bananas, rum, and vanilla extracts, olive oil, vinegar, and skim milk. Blend until smooth. Add the banana mixture to the flour mixture and stir until smooth. Spoon into muffin tin(s). Bake for 30-35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until a tooth pick comes out clean when poked in a muffin. Enjoy.

A few days ago I was contemplating what to make for supper. I had been thinking about making cabbage rolls for quite some time, but I told my self many times that they were too time consuming to make. I finally decided to make them a couple days ago. I started preparing them early, and I was pleasantly surprised that they weren’t that much work, nor were that that time consuming to make.

This was my second time making cabbage rolls ever in my whole life. They turned out really well. I was inspired by a recipe I printed for cabbage rolls back in 2008 (the first time I made them) from this website. I served my cabbage rolls with cheesy garlic bread.

Here is my recipe (inspired by foodtv.ca)

Cabbage Rolls

1 vegetable bouillon cube (prepared according to package)
1 can tomato soup
2-3 tbsp vodka
desired amount of water (I used aprox 3 to 4 cups of water for a thin sauce)
olive oil
2 white onions
3 cloves garlic
0.4 kg extra lean ground beef
A few drizzles balsamic vinegar
2-3 cups cooked rice
2 eggs
Salt
Black pepper
Garlic powder
Paprika
1 medium sized head of cabbage

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Chop onions and garlic. In a large frying pan or skillet using medium heat brown the ground beef. Add the onions and garlic to the beef and brown. Season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika. Cook for several minutes. Now stir in the precooked rice. Add the 2 eggs and continue to stir the rice mixture until the eggs are cooked and evenly distributed in the rice. Remove from heat. In a large pot cook the head of cabbage. If possible remove as many full leaves of cabbage from the head first  before placing them in the pot to boil for 2-5 minutes (to soften them). Now drain the cabbage and remove remaining leaves from the head. Fill each intact leaf of cabbage with the rice mixture. Roll to seal (they may not be completely sealed but that is okay). Place in a large baking dish. Once all the cabbage rolls are in the baking dish add the tomato soup on top of the cabbage rolls. Now add the water, and the prepared vegetable bouillon cube. Sprinkle the vodka on top. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar evenly all over the cabbage rolls.  Bake in the preheated oven for about an hour. Serve right away with a crust bread.

A couple days ago I woke up at about 0530. I don’t usually get up that early unless I have to work. However I woke up naturally that early fairly well rested. Since I was up SO early I decided to take advantage of my early waking and whip some a yummy breakfast.

I decided to make my mom’s sweet milk biscuit recipe since these biscuits are one of my favorite light breakfasts. They are very soft, and delicious. They are sweet enough to be considered breakfast, but not sweet enough to be a dessert.  Straight out of the oven these biscuits are simply divine and it’s impossible to have just one:P

Here is the recipe (my mom’s recipe) adapted by me

Mom’s Sweet Milk Biscuits
(makes 9-12 medium to large biscuits)

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup ground almonds
4 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
¼ cup margarine (my mom uses olive oil in her recipe and they turn out fabulous too)
½ cup raisins
1 large egg (beaten)
2/3 cup skim milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl add the flours, sugar, and ground almonds stir to combine. Add the baking powder and salt and stir until well mixed. Crumble in the margarine and mix well. Add the beaten egg, and milk, and mix to form a soft dough ( I knead the dough once mostly mixed since it seems to combine best this way). Form desired amount of biscuits by rolling each one into a ball and flattening the top once on a cookie sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 11-14 minutes until a tooth pick comes out clean when poked. Serve warm or cool.

A couple days ago I was in the mood for some exotic pizza. Most of the time when I make home made pizza, even when I try to vary the toppings my pizza’s turn out more or less the same, with slight flavor or texture variations. They are extremely delicious though.

I was inspired to make some seafood pizza’s by reading a Panago Pizza Flyer that was advertising their Oceano Pizza’s.

I used my mom’s wonderful pizza crust recipe that is tried and true.  For the sauces, I used light bbq sauce on one pizza, and for the other pizza I used two different sauces. Since I had some left over home made onion dip in the fridge I decided to use that for one half of the pizza, and my usual pesto sauce for the other half of the pizza. Using the dip was a bit of an experiment but it paid off! The pieces of pizza that I had with the dip sauce ended up being my favorite.

For toppings, for the bbq sauce pizza I used: baby spinach, red bell pepper, shrimp (already cooked and tails removed), red onion, smoked salmon, and light mozzarella cheese.

bbq sauce pizza before baking

For my pesto and dip sauce pizza the toppings I used were: artichoke hearts (marinated canned), sun dried tomatoes (also marinated and canned), baby spinach, shrimp, and light mozzarella cheese.

pesto and dip sauce pizza before baking

The pizza’s were a huge hit in my house hold were there is at least one serious sea food lover. I will defiantly be making sea food pizza’s again!

pesto and dip sauce pizza after baking

bbq sauce and salmon shrimp pizza after baking

This afternoon I decided to make another unique salad. I wanted something that I had never had before. I came up with cabbage and carrot salad. To make things interesting I used salsa as my dressing (since my broccoli and salsa salad was such a hit). I added a very small amount of grated cheese and presto I created a magnificent salad. My taste bubs were very pleased.

Here is the recipe.

Cabbage and Carrot Salad
(makes one medium to large serving)

1 large carrot diced
Several white cabbage leaves chopped thinly
3-4 tbsp mild salsa
a small amount low fat grated marble cheese

Combine all ingredients in a salad bowl. Toss and serve immediately.