Crabbies!

My friend (we'll call him "The Marine") came to visit from Maryland this week. He drove here so he picked up few crabs on his way....

"The Marine" and his dad steamed the crabs in a roaster and then cracked them all (like..80 crabs!)

Bacon-wrapped Cod with Brown Rice and Seasonal Veggies

The cod is a Jamie Oliver Recipe. Basically, season the cod with salt/pepper. Wrap it with bacon, sprinkle rosemary on top. Grill or bake. Next time we will broil the fish/bacon, because we like crispy bacon and the fish started to dry out because we were trying to crisp the bacon.

The Chef seasoned the brown rice with Herbs de Province. He also stir fried the veggies- carrots, grape tomatoes, zucchini and summer squash with some salt/pepper, olive oil, garlic and oregano.

The Chef's cousin G was also present for this delish meal. He brought this French white wine along.

Barton and Guestier Vouvray. <3

Who knew leftovers could be this great?!

We had leftover shrimp so The Chef sauteed them in garlic and butter with a hint of lemon. The brown basmati rice was leftover from Emeril's epic fail. The carrots, which my daughter ate (literally I think I ate 3), were from the night we had cod. The green beens were fresh from my parent's garden and we added garlic (duh... it's great on pretty much anything) and almonds. Because we have a ton of almonds and why not, right?

Cod, Sweet Potato Bake, Green Beans and Carrots

Sunday was pretty warm so my husband grilled some cod for us. It was seasoned with a lemon-pepper/herb seasoning. Turned out pretty decent- could have used a little more lemon which we could have remedied by squeezing a lemon on it.

I also paired the fish with my homemade tartar sauce.

To make it:

Use Mayo (I used light Hellman's)

Dill pickle relish

lemon juice

Frank's Red Hot Sauce

Salt

Sugar

I don't measure so I can't tell you exactly how much of each there is...so we'll say "to taste." :)

For the sweet potatoes- We baked them in the oven until they were soft. Then we threw them in the food processor with some cinnamon, sugar, cloves and nutmeg. We spread them in an 11x7 baking dish and topped with walnuts and raw sugar. We broiled it for a few to carmelize the sugar and toast the walnuts.

The green beans were picked fresh from my parent's garden the day before:) Nothing like fresh green beans! We steamed them and then sauteed with minced garlic, butter and sliced almonds.

My husband made his famous "candied baby carrots."

Lots of veggies, lots of delish-ness!

Shrimpies and Cream Sauce with Chedda bisquits

Last night, we had my sister-in-law and her fiancee over for dinner. Keeping with the theme of the week, we had farfalle with shrimp, peas, and a cream sauce (that I made!) and the Chef made cheddar/garlic biscuits. No recipe involved on the pasta, but here's how I made it:

Boil some pasta- I used farfalle bc it's one of my faves:) SAVE THE PASTA WATER AFTER THE NOODLES ARE DONE!

While the noodles are cooking: melt some butter in a skillet, add flour to make a roux. I added about 1/2 a pint of heavy cream that was left over from the creme brulee and then more 2% milk to thin it out. I also added garlic, salt and oregano. Then you let it come to a boil to thicken. After that, I added about 1/2 a container of parmesean/romano shredded cheese. Note: If it is still too thick, you can either add more milk, OR some of the pasta water you've saved:) Then add the peas. Then the shrimpies. Garnish with some fresh parsley:) I also heated the shrimp in the reserved pasta water. They were pre-cooked shrimp, peeled and de-veined. The Chef was nice enough to pull the tails off for me:) You will also want to be sure that you RINSE them before cooking so that there aren't any tail pieces hanging out in your pasta.

"Yum!" as my 17 month old said!

Salmon Baked in a Foil Parcel with Green Beans and Pesto

So for the next two weeks, Mike and I decided that we will NOT be eating beef, pork, or chicken. Instead, we will find other forms of protein to use... such as fish, shellfish, quinoa, and tofu for example. This decision was made because we are definitely tired of chicken, and are making a serious attempt to overhaul our diets as we have not been the healthiest eaters as of late. I also think this could aid in my shedding of baby weight!:)

To tonight we made a recipe from Jamie Oliver's "Food Revolution" cookbook. I purchased this book for Mike as part of his first wedding anniv gift (Fun fact: paper is the traditional gift for a first wedding anniv). Jamie rocks! He is trying to transform American's diets and asks that you share his recipes with 2 people. So here goes...

Ingredients: (serves 2)

2 handfuls of green beans
2 lemons
2- 7 ounce chunky salmon fillets, skin on, scaled and bones removed (ours were about the size of our hands)
(Andrea's note: PLEASE use wild-caught salmon... google farm raised fish.... you will understand after reading about how nasty farm raised fish can be)
2 heaped tablespoons of green pesto (We used Mike's homemade pesto)
olive oil

sea salt and black pepper

Basically, you make 2 foil pouches , put the green beans down in a row (we also added onions), put the fish on top of them, top with pesto, lemon and oil, and then wrap the pouches so they don't leak. Bake em for 15 at 400 and you have yourself a super easy, delish dinner! It's also great because there is hardly any mess to clean up afterward! 

So how does it taste? Excellent! I'd never had pesto with salmon, but it's not a bad combo. I wil say that it does kind of overpower the overall salmon flavor. I actually scraped some of it to the side. The beans in the bottom were delish and resting in a lemony sauce that was great for dipping the salmon in as well!

Sidenote: I purchased the lysol automatic soap dispensor today...I heart it. I'm a huge germophobe and it totally makes me want to wash my hands. Frequently:)