Yogurt-Dill Salmon

Posted by CK in budget, dill, easy, healthy, parsley, recipe, salmon, vegetarian, yogurt

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Wowzers has it been a long time since we posted anything! We would like to apologize for this long delay. Amanda and I have both been very busy in the last few months and finally got around to cooking again! We both got great new kitchen appliances that we are just dying to try out! :)

As we are supposed to be eating fish twice a week, I try to make a conscious effort to include it in my diet. I usually end up eating a can of sardines (I know, probably not the best...) or salmon to bake. Salmon is probably my favourite fish and it's great for my cholesterol!

In light of this, I decided to thaw my salmon in the fridge yesterday while I was at work. I knew I only had about a half hour to prepare supper since I had an evening appointment and salmon recipes are usually quite quick to make.

Thanks to the wonderful Martha Stewart, I was able to adapt her simple, delicious and quick roasted salmon recipe with ingredients in my pantry.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup 2% natural yogurt
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dry parsley
• 1 teaspoon dry dill
• Salmon filet

Prepare:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F
2. Mix the yogurt, mustard, parsley and dill in a bowl
3. Place your salmon filet, skin down, on a lined cookie sheet
4. Spread your yogurt mixture on top of your salmon
5. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked (it will be flaky)

That's it! I served it with boiled potatoes which take approximately the same time. Perfect and healthy dinner! :)

Enjoy!

-CK

Dill Broccoli Salad

Posted by amanda in broccoli, budget, dill, easy, feta, quick, recipe, salad, vegetarian

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C and I have just come back from a helluva long weekend at an amazing cottage on Leslie Lake. While we were there we revisited some favorite recipes from last year's cottage adventures, and mixed up some new ones. Because it was gonna be hot as heck, I focused on salads this year, making one coleslaw, and one pasta salad. M and I had prepared pretty awesomely for the cottage, but came back to empty pantries at home, so tonight I mixed together some leftover ingredients from the first two, and came up with something pretty tasty for a hot summer's night.

You're gonna need:
1 bag (roughly 5 cups) of broccoli, julienned (I had a bag of PC broccoli slaw in the fridge)
Half an onion, chopped
1/4 of a cucumber, sliced in cookies and quartered
1/4 fresh dill, chopped
PC Artichoke and asiago salad dressing (or anything creamy and cool)
a small handful of feta cheese, crumbled
tons of freshly cracked black pepper

Mix it all together and eat your heart out! Delicious with cheese pizza.

Cottage Component 1: Picnic-Perfect Summer Salad

Posted by amanda in budget, celery, cucumber, dill, dressing, easy, feta, healthy, onion, pasta, pasta salad, pepper, quick, recipe, salad, spinach, tomato, vegetarian, yellow pepper

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It's summer tiiiimmmme and the cooking is eeeeaasy here at Stute-kitchen :) Team Stute has returned from a fantastic weekend away at a cottage with good friends, gorgeous weather, and GREAT food. Combining our forces we came up with a delicious cottage-time lunch: pasta salad and barbecued skewers. Fresh ingredients and a new spin on these old classics takes traditional summer food to a new level of goodness.

You're gonna need:

• Roughly 2 generous cups of uncooked shell (conchiglie) pasta
• One yellow pepper, seeded and cut into slim chunks (or however you like your pepper in a salad), if you go really chunky, use 2 peppers
• Half a cucumber, sliced into half circles
• 2-3 stalks of celery, diced roughly
• 1 pint (usually a container) of cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 of a sweet onion (though any kind would likely do, this salad gets more onion-y the longer it exists, so choose wisely), finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fresh dill, chopped
• 3-5 generous handfuls of baby spinach (mixed greens will do in a pinch, but they don't keep as long once the dressing is mixed in).

Dressing: Whisk together...

1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup lemon juice
2 heaping  tbsps Red Wine Vinegar
1 clove of garlic, minced
Ground Black Pepper to taste

Topper:

Roughly 1.5 cups of light feta cheese -though really, add as much or a little as you like - , rinsed, dried, and crumbled (my new technique is to rinse the block from the brine, and then squeeze the liquid out in my fist, over the sink - this dries and crumbles simultaneously, then you can just brush your hands off in the salad)

To assemble:

1. Cook the pasta (roughly 8-10 minutes to get it al dente), rinse in cold water, and set aside.

2. Combine all your veggies, except the spinach, in a large bowl, using your hands to mix gently, being
sure to distribute the dill.

3. Add pasta to veggies, again, stirring with hands.

4. Add spinach by handful, assessing how much or how little you will want personally. Mix with hands (this avoids breaking the pasta shells)

5. Pour dressing over pasta and veggies (if you don't like getting oily, use a utensil here, but I swear, hands is the way to go)

6. Chill.
7. Crumble feta into salad before serving. Mix.

This makes roughly 10 servings, depending on the appetites in the room. Be sure to wait 20 minutes or so before hitting the lake!!!
-A

Summer-Friendly Light Veggie Dip and an easy fresh lunch

Posted by amanda in budget, cottage cheese, dill, dip, easy, healthy, quick, recipe, vegetarian, yogurt

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With local temperatures closing in on 40 after the humidex, the only appliance I want to use in my kitchen is the food processor. Likewise, this deep heat has me opting for effortless and cooling snacks like veggies and dip. Unfortunately, most store bought dips are full of lots of strange chemical compounds which, though delicious, probably shouldn't hang out in our bellies in too-large quantities. Luckily however, making your own veggie dip is easy, faster than going to the store, and ultimately probably even cheaper than the 4$ you'll shell out on something containing words you can't pronounce.

This dip is best if given time to sit in the fridge overnight. It's great on potatoes, (AND, I hear, steak) and probably on lots of other things. Right now I'm eating a bowl of baby spinach with a dollop of it: maybe it's the heat, but it's pretty delicious on just about everything.

In a food processor combine:
equal parts low-fat cottage cheese and plain yogurt (fat content of your choice - I'm on a full-fat low-sugar yogurt kick and am loving it)
as much washed and chopped fresh dill as you like (for a total of 1.5 cups of cc and yogurt, I used 3 tbsp)
a few dashes of onion powder or garlic powder or both, or none, to taste
crack some pepper in there and whip it up until combined!

Chill overnight.


Another great use for this dip is in a super quick satisfying cold veggie snack:

mix one generous dollop of dip into about half a cup of veggie ground round (meatless ground beef)
pour mixture on bed of fresh baby spinach, combine
EAT!