Melt in your Mouth Poke

I apologize in advance, because if you actually make this poke, you will never eat any other poke.   So if you enjoy Safeway’s poke, your neighbor’s poke, or just the ability to eat poke at all those backyard luaus that you attend, just ignore this post.  But if you want amazing, melt-in-your-mouth poke that even self-admitting ‘non-fish’ eaters enjoy, go ahead and give this a try.  As in all recipes, feel free to adjust the ratios to taste.

Melt-in-your-Mouth Ahi Poke Recipe

Ingredients/Ratios

• 5 parts sesame oil
• 2 parts chili oil
• 3 parts brown sugar
• 7 parts soy sauce
• Sashimi grade ahi (yellow-fin tuna) or aku, cut into bit sized chunks (approximately equal parts fish to sauce ratio, ex- 1 cup of fish to 1 cup sauce…)
• Garnishes- sesame seeds, chopped avocado, furikake, chopped onions, green onions

Directions

Mix the oils together.  Add sugar and mix. Add soy sauce and mix.  Chill for 20 minutes.  Add fish and mix.  Serve immediate or marinate an hour or as desired, garnishing before serving.   Grab your own helping and then quickly back away from the bowl. Its like feeding sharks.

Yellow-fin Tuna / Ahi – a yummy little guy!

Melt-in-your-Mouth Ahi Poke- this bowl full of fish disappeared quick- had to make sure I got the picture quickly.

Baked Apple Chips

There are two kinds of apples at Costco.  Tasty ones, and terrible ones.  These were not the best batch.  I think they were Gala’s.   So I put my trusty mandolin to work and started baking (again).  I read that you should use parchment or the apples will stick to the baking sheet, even sprayed, but I used tin foil in absence of parchment and spray and it seemed fine.  I baked the first batch, and after cooking for two hours, then watching them all disappear in a matter of minutes, I knew I had to try something more creative to cook more chips at a time- where the wire cooling rack comes in handy. This is less of a recipe and more of a discussion, so I’ll tell you what I did.

1. Thinly slice the apples– I used the thinest selection on the mandolin.
2. add a layer to each baking sheet- – they shrink up a little so you can overlap them a bit to get more in there…
3. sprinkle on cinnamon sugar
4. top the baking sheet with a wire cooling rack 
5. add more slices and sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar (i used up four apples this way)
6. Bake at 275 for two hours, flipping each slice after an hour.  
7. when the apples on the wire racks are done to your liking (chewy or crispy!), remove, then continue baking the ones on the sheets.

   

   the slices have such a pretty sand dollar pattern when you slice them so thin!

   
   

   

   Use a wire cooling rack to cook more slices at a time

   
   

   

   Sprinkle on the cinnamon sugar with a fine sieve

   
   

   

   To remove the seeds, use a straw

   
   

Baked Tofu- Two Way

I’ve been on a baking kick.  For a while I was roasting everything I could get my hands on, but now I’m trying everything baked.

My mother-in-law made baked tofu, which was delicious, so the next time I was at Costco I picked up a three-pack and did a little research.  There are probably a million different ways to bake tofu, but here is what I did.

1. Drain, rinse and press the tofu.  To press- put it on a plate or baking sheet, top with another plate, or anything, then add a big can of tomatoes or cast iron pan, heavy cutting board, you get the drill.  The idea is that if you press out all the water, it will better absorb the marinade.  I’m not sure of the optimal time, I just do it for a half hour or so.
2. Marinate the tofu.  Cut it to whatever size you want- strips, bites, etc. You can use soy sauce, barbeque sauce, teriyaki sauce… i used Hawaiian BBQ sauce from Costco, since the two-gallon (exagerating, slightly) container was taking up most of my fridge.
   

   Hawaiian Barbeque Sauce

3. Add a crust if you like- again, could probably coat with anything, but after marinating for 30 min, i dipped in a mixture of half cornmeal, half nutritional yeast.
4. Bake- put on a baking sheet covered with tin foil.  Bake at 350 for an hour or so, flipping after 30 minutes, then checking every 15 minutes afterwards.  Its much less messy if you add a crust, the marinade i used was really sweet and burned and made a nice burned crust, but use the cornmeal for a nice crunchy texture.

Krazy Good Kale Chips

If you ever have tons of kale and just need to eat it, this will do the trick to get all that room back in your fridge, plus create a healthy snack!

Krazy Good Kale Chips Recipe

Ingredients-

• lots of kale, washed, rinsed, stems removed, and just into strips (size depends on what you like- if you make it too small, it will really just shrivel into nothing, some people prefer large strips)
• olive oil
• a little salt
• Bragg’s nutritional yeast

Directions-

preheat over to 350 F. put the kale on a baking sheet (or two, depending on how much kale you have). feel free to fill up the sheet, as in steaming, it will really wilt down, you won’t even know what happened when you open the oven… drizzle a little olive oil on the kale, stir it up with your hands until coated.  sprinkle a little salt (seriously, a little, i over did it last time- yuck! but i think i used sea salt and it didn’t really work)  and toss on the nutritional yeast.  its really a matter of personal taste how much you want, but a few tablespoons per sheet would probably do the trick.  if you’ve never used nutritional yeast, its a cheesy flavor, and i’m not sure what it does for you, but i bought it at a health food store, so it has to be good for you, right? i found it near the spices.

cook for 10-15 minutes until the edges are slightly browned and the kale is crispy.

Bragg's nutrintional yeast

Curry Lentil Veggie Stew

Here’s how I know a dish is a winner in my house-

1. Ali will eat it.

2. Matt will eat leftovers

If anything lingers in my house for longer than a couple days, I will probably never make it again.  This is why I make a lot of pizza.

This is a dish that is relatively easy to prepare, has many cooking options (stove or slow-cooker/add whatever veggies you have on hand), and has to be healthy for you.

Curry Lentil Veggie Stew Recipe

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 2 cups carrots, chopped
• 8 cups chicken stock
• 2 cans chopped tomatoes
• 2 cups dried lentils
• 2 cups kale or chard, chopped
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp curry
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• Add-ons- top with plain yogurt, parmesan, feta, or other cheese as desired!

Directions for Stove Cooking

1. In a large stock pot, heat oil over medium heat, and saute onions for 4 minutes
2. add garlic, cook for 1 min.
3. add carrots and cook for another couple minutes (you can also add chopped leeks, celery…)
4. Add remaining ingredients and cook over low to medium heat for 90 minutes, or until lentils are tender.
5. top with desired add-ons!

Time Saver/Do Ahead tips- chop onion and carrots (keep separate) in vitamix on medium speed, or in food processor.  Do this at nap time if convenient. Also, prepare all your spices in a small bowl at this time.

Directions for Slow-Cooker

1. Follow directions above, but using a saute pan, then add all the ingredients together in a slow cooker
2. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4.

Sorry no pictures- it’s lentil stew!  not the most photogenic of meals!

Fruity All Bran Muffins

We went to Krispy Kreme yesterday.  I ordered the Dark Chocolate Kreme Filled, because I believe if you are going to indulge, you should really just go for it.  It was yummy.  But, I figured to make up for it, I would make Bran Muffins the next day.  Which are without a doubt, way healthier (because I actually know what is in them…) and, in my opinion, also yummy.

I went online to find a recipe using Kellogg’s All Bran cereal, which of course I found, but couldn’t find one with exactly what I wanted.  So as usual I just doctored up the recipe a bit, then ate them all (ok, the family helped) just to make sure it worked.  Let’s just say- I made them yesterday and there may be ONE lonely muffin left, 24 hours later.

Fruity All Bran Muffin Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 cups Kellogg’s All Bran cereal
• 1 1/4 c milk (used low fat)
• 1 egg
• 1/8 c vegetable oil
• 1/8 c applesauce
• 1/8 c greek yogurt (0%)
• 1 c white flour
• 1/4 c wheat flour
• 1/2 c sugar
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 c raisins
• 1/4 craisins (chopped)
• 1/4 cup chopped apples
• turbinado sugar to sprinkle on top, as desired

Directions

1. Combine cereal and milk. let stand 1/2 hour
2. add egg and milk, beat well
3. add rest of ingredients (minus fruit), combine until just mixed
4. add fruit, combine
5. put into muffin tins sprayed with pam
6. top with turbinado sugar
7. bake at 400 F for 20 minutes, or until golden brown.