halibut for the hellavit

B and I have a tradition of having burgers and fries on Friday nights and renting a movie. I have been wanting to get more fish in our diets. B is not a big fan of fish. So I told him that Wednesday nights would be fish night. He said that he thought maybe he could stand to have it once a week so it is my job to make it tasty. I joked that if he didn't want the fish that he could have Peter Pan on bread. (This is in reference to a big argument we had the night before regarding the brand of peanut butter that I bought. I won't pursue this train of thought any further.) So anyway I think I am losing track of time because it was actually Tuesday night that we had fish. Last night (Wednesday) we had lamb.

So anyhoo we started with this beet salad. B loves beets. My mom makes a beet salad that I have copied. Chopped beets, celery, walnuts, diced Swiss cheese with a vinegar and oil dressing. We love it. This salad was similar. Arugula greens mix, sliced beets, feta, chopped chives, chopped pecans and a honey-lemon vinaigrette.



Our main course was a study in yellow and green. Halibut baked with a dash of butter and capers, potato gnocchi with sour cream and dill, and sliced zucchini and summer squash cooked in a bit of chicken broth and capers.

havarti-stuffed chicken breasts

Cut a 2-inch pocket in the thickest part of chicken breast. Stuff the pocket with dill Havarti cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Heat a T olive oil and a T of butter in in a large skillet over med-high heat. I dusted my chicken with a little Wegman's pan searing flour. Cook the chicken til golden brown on both sides and then turn heat to low and let cook longer for maximum tenderness.

I served this with a mesclun salad containing dried cherries and chickpeas along with a homemade Dijon Vinaigrette.

I had this piece of cauliflower that was a bit past it's prime so I cut off any dark spots, cooked in microwave until soft and then pureed it along with a roasted red pepper, salt, pepper, a dab of butter, a dab of sour cream and a dash of milk. Very pretty and tasty veggie side dish and I didn't have to toss that cauliflower in the garbage.

steak w/ hot checkerboard potato salad

I decided this week to put some of my many cookbooks to use. I selected a Real Simple Dinner Tonight: Done cookbook for inspiration. I rarely make recipes exactly as written. So I selected Steak with Potato Salad and Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. But then I didn't make the Potato Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette. Instead I substituted my own recipe....Hot Checkerboard Potato Salad as the starch dish. I did make the Romaine Salad with Tomatoes and Bacon from the cookbook though.

For two people

half a bag of romaine salad
2 slices of cooked bacon (I made this easy with Wegman's precooked bacon that you heat in the microwave)
as many half cherry tomatoes as you see fit
two or three chopped chives or scallions

Dressing:
1/8 c olive oil
1/8 c grated Parm
1 T sour cream
1 T rice vinegar
salt and pepper



Pan cooked Tenderloin steak medium rare and here is the p salad

Two red potatoes peeled and cubed
2 purple potatoes peeled and cubed
Microwave in a covered dish with a T water until cooked but still firm. Add chopped raw onion and chopped raw celery, a splash of rice vinegar and a splash of olive oil, sea salt and ground black pepper to taste. Cover and let sit a minute or two to warm the raw veggies.



Dessert from the same cookbook

Chocolate-Ricotta Icebox Cake

Spray a loaf pan with cooking spray. Line the pan with 2 crisscrossed pieces of parchment paper, spraying between layers and leaving an overhang on both sides.
In food processor, puree the 2 15-ounce containers of ricotta( I used part-skim) with 12 ounces semisweet chocolate ( melted and slightly cooled)until very smooth.
Layer with crushed chocolate wafer cookies, layer of ricotta, layer of cookies, layer of ricotta, layer of cookies, layer of ricotta. Refrigerate at least an hour.

I halved this recipe and use a small loaf pan. I also used a few too many cookies causing it to fall apart. I also suggest freezing instead of refrigerating. If you freeze let it sit out a few minutes to soften for cutting.

defeat vs triumph

I bought these pale pink tulips last weekend. I have been enjoying looking at them but suddenly noticed yesterday that they were bent over and drooping. I failed to provide more water for them during the week. They needed sustenance. I thought it was probably too late to revive them but I provided the sustenance anyway.



Later in the day I saw that they had triumphed. Don't forget to provide the ones you love with sustenance and watch them triumph.

my crushes

I can't let this week go by without a word about Davy Jones, my first serious crush. Or maybe Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits was my first. I think I was a little more in love with Davy though. I love to shop and I would skip shopping trips to Lincoln in order to stay home and watch The Monkees.

David Callum from The Man from Uncle was another crush although I look back now and think he had a melon head.

Then there was this actor in a short-lived TV show with something Blue in the name. I think his name was Frank something that started with a C. He may have ridden a motorcycle. I can't remember. He had curly blond hair and he was another crush. And there was the actor that played the part of Blue in High Chapperal.

Of course, there were a couple boys in my high school class I had big crushes on. I'm not naming names but these crushes lasted well into my adult years.

An unlikely crush was Klaus Maria Brandauer who was in White Fang with Ethan Hawke and also played a villian in Never Say Never Again. I wouldn't say he had classic good looks but he intrigued me.

Tom Cruise, Brad Pitt and Heath Ledger's cute little lines around his mouth. All of these guys I find truly good-looking. Richard Gere. Daniel Craig, Hayden Christensen, especially in the Star Wars movies. And I can't forget Bruce Willis. I didn't care for him in his early years but ever since The Die Hard Movies and The Fifth Element, I've been kind of crazy about him.

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oscar dinner

And the winner is ......my dinner




I wanted to plan a dinner for Academy Awards night that included a food that represented each of the movies up for an Oscar. That proved a bit much. I couldn't fit in hot dogs and peanuts from Moneyball. So I limited my movies and put together this menu. My main course was Hawaiian Huli Huli chicken so I chose to set the table in a sort of Hawaiian theme.

Appetizers honored The Artist. We had champagne and Rosemary Cheddar Cheese crackers....Old Hollywood style.

First course was Silken Potato & Turnip Soup to honor War Horse. This soup was amazingly good and low-fat. I've had it for lunch almost every day this week.



Second course not too exciting....salad that was left over from the night before but with homemade Dijon Vinaigrette served on fish plates.

Main course - Huli Huli Chicken, brown rice with pea pods and pineapple to honor The Descendants and French Style green beans with crushed Marcona almonds to honor Hugo.

And naturally for dessert, Minny's Chocolate Pie to honor The Help. I don't know what Wegman's puts in it to make it taste so good. Maybe some of that good Mexican vanilla.