Pineapple glazed Salmon

This dish is inspired by Erin Clark recipe for a Pineapple Glazed Salmon with a avocado pineapple salsa.  When making this dish though I did make some adjustments to fit my need.  In this recipe I used a fresh pineapple to really get a fresh whole flavor.  Overall though this is deli-shes, and my family ate it all up when served for dinner.  I even thought this was  super tasty and I'm not a huge fan of fish.  The fish was sweet without being overly sugary, and had a tropically taste from the pineapple, and the creaminess from the avocado pulled together this amazing dish. 


Pineapple Marinade Ingredients:

• 1lb salmon cut into 2 fillets
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed pineapple juice
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 2 tbsp low sodium soy sauce
• 2 minced garlic cloves
• 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
• dash of salt  + pepper

 Pineapple Avocado Salsa:

• 1.5-2 cups fresh pineapple cubed
• 1 avocado pitted and diced
• 1 jalapeno pepper seeded + diced
• 1/2 small red onion diced
•  1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 2 tbsp fresh squeezed lime juice

Directions:
1) In a small bowl mix together the pineapple juice, orange juice, soy sauce, garlic, cayenne pepper, salt, and pepper to form the marinade.  Taking the salmon fillets place them into a shallow bowl and pour the marinade over top to coat.  Let the salmon marinade for 2 hours or longer.
2) While your salmon marinades mix together the cubed pineapple, avocado, jalapeno pepper, red onion, cilantro, and kosher salt into a bowl, top with the lime juice and mix together.  Take the prepared salsa and refrigerate till ready for use.
3)When ready to bake the salmon you need to pr-heat the oven to 400°F.  Well heating line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat with non-stick spray.  Then take the salmon shaking off excess marinade and place them flat-side down.
4) Taking the extra marinade put it into a medium-sauce pan and simmer on medium heat stiring often.  Wait until the marinade is reduced to a thick glazed consistency then brush onto the salmon.
5) To bake the salmon place in the heated oven for 5min, then brush more of the pineapple glaze on top.  Put it back into the oven for 10 min adding  some more glaze then bake 5 more minutes or until the fish flaked with a fork.  Serve over a bed of rice and top with the salsa.

-Megan

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Macaroons

These delicious "sandwich's" are an amazing treat.  They have a crunchy outside but once take a bite, a spongy and sweet inside fills your mouth and makes you want to have more. These are super yummy and will definitely be enjoyed by everyone.  I know that my family, and my school friend absolutely loved them, and I have to admit that I think I've formed a slight sweet tooth for these little sandwich's.  So without any more waiting lets get into how to make this amazing treat.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup of almond flour
• 3 egg whites
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 tsp cream of tarter
• 7 tbsp of butter at room temperature
• 2 egg yolks
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 3 1/2 tbsp milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. To make the base sift together the powdered sugar and the flour.
2. Then in a separate bowl whisk the egg whites until they are fluffy and stiff.  While whisking add in the cream of tarter and the sugar.
3.  Once the whites are stiff and fluffy, fold in the flour mixture into the whites.  Taking this mixture put it into a piping bag, and put onto a non-stick baking sheet in little circles (try to make the circles the same size as they make up the cookies).  Once you have the circles tap the pan on the counter top to remove air bubbles then let sit for 30 minutes.
4.  Once you have waited 30minutes put the cookies into the oven at 300°F for 18-20 minutes.
5. To make the frosting mash the butter in a bowl.  
6. Over a stove top whisk together the egg yolks, then add the sugar and milk. Stir together this mixture and heat until it begins to thicken into a pudding consistency. Once it has thicken take off of the stove and let cool.
7.  Once cool mix together the egg, butter and vanilla.  If it needs to let it sit so it has a thick consistency of pudding.
8.  Now for our final step we will pipe the frosting onto one of the cookies, then put another cookie on top for your patty.  Do this with all of the following cookies until you have all of your macaroons to eat.

Enjoy 
            -Megan

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Smores Rice Krispie Treats

These tasty bars are a twist on two of the classics of Rice Krispie Treats, and Smores. They are simply delicious as they have the ooze goodness of the marshmallows, with the sweetness from the chocolate, and a delicious crunch form the graham cracker.  Along with the taste it is super convenient as their is no baking required.  This is a huge convince especially when you cant go outside to make smores, or need a quick dish for a party.  Another great perk of this is its easy to transport and it makes much less of a mess than the typical smore.

We made these tasty treats in science class, and when we shared them at lunch everyone really enjoyed them and took seconds and thirds.  Some tips for this recipe would be to make sure and butter your pan so it doesn't stick.  You can also use a baking dish if you want to make them more of a bar shaped but we used a practice bowl because we were at school and didn't want to break a glass dish.  Anyways make sure to give these tasty treat a try as you'll definitely be left wanting more.

Ingredients:

• 16 oz bag of mini marshmallows
• 1/4 cup butter
• 5 cups rice 
• 2 cups chocolate chips (you can add more or less based on preference)
• 6 graham crackers crushed to 1/4 in pieces

Directions:
1.  Take your butter and marshmallows and place into a microwave safe bowl.  Put into the microwave for 2 min and 30 seconds, stir together so everything is mixed.

2. In a mixing bow mix together the marshmallow fluff, crushed graham crackers, and the rice krispie's.  Stir everything together so its mixed.

 3. Once mixed fold in the chocolate chips the press everything into the 9*13 buttered baking dish. Let the bars sit for 1hr at room temperature or 30 min in the fridge.  Once cooled and hardened cut into bars and enjoy!!!

-Megan and Jessie

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Sweet and Simple Cheesecake

Hi guys! Today i will be showing you how to make the easiest, but yet delicious cheesecake. This simple cheesecake takes about 15 minutes to make and a couple hours to cool, while only using about 3 ingredients. I made it for my moms birthday, and in my opinion, it tasted better then a store-bought cake. Just make sure you let the cream cheese soften before mixing it in. I hope you enjoy!

Unfortunately, my crust was very crumbly, so when making your cake make sure to press it in the pan effectively. But besides that, it tasted very good.

    Ingredients:

* 8oz package of cream cheese

*1/3 cup of sugar

*8 oz tub of cool whip

*6 tablespoons of melted butter (for crust)

*1 1/2 cups of crushed graham crackers (for crust)

* 1/4 cup of sugar (for crust)

Directions for filing:

1. Mix softened cheese and sugar in mixer, until well blended.

2. Gently stir in whipped topping and spoon into crust.

3. Refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight.

Directions for crust:

1. Mix together butter, sugar, and graham crackers in a medium sized bowl, feel free to blend with your hands.

2. Press mixture into a pie plate or any other pan.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-12 minutes.

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Tortilla Soup

This recipe is a delicious tortilla soup that I made with the help of one of my mom's co-workers from Mexico.  Through his help, and a Spanish video, I made my own version of a Mexican tortilla soup.  This is definitely more liquid than the typical American styled tortilla soup though so don't expect to have a souper thick soup. .  Along with my own twists and take away from the video, I also substituted many of the typical Mexican spices and ingredients for those you have more access to in your grocery store. I hope you enjoy this yummy soup, along with making your own homemade tortilla chips.  Although if you want feel free to use store bought tortilla chips.  Along with the soup you can also adjust the chili or pepper you use based on your preference of heat, as well as using chicken broth if you would like.  When serving this soup you can top with cheese, sour cream,  extra chili's, avocado, or anything else you prefer.

In this recipe you can also feel free to add in more vegetables you like such as corn, or beans.  Or you can put meat in such as shredded chicken which is what I did, or some pork.  I personally put shredded chicken in mine, and I'll share what I did, but you can adjust when needed.

Ingredients for Broth:

• 6 Roma tomatoes
• 1/2 white onion cut into 2
• 1 garlic glove
• 1 liter and 1 cup of water
• 1 bouillon chicken cube
• 1 jalapeno pepper
• oregano
• oil
• 2 tortillas
  

Directions:

1.  On the stove top begin by placing the tomatoes with the stem top down on some medium to high heat.  Keep cooking until they begin to blacken and brown  on the bottom. When the bottoms are cooked flip them on their sides, and let that brown + blacken so the full tomatoes is toasted and smokey.  Along with the tomatoes you also need to take the two onion slices and place them in the pan as well and make sure both sides toast until they begin to have a touch of black. when their cooking remember that the onions will be done first so just keep them on a plate.

2.Well the tomatoes and onion are toasting slice up your pepper into small rounds, and remove the seeds.  Then take the pepper and place onto a small skillet with some oil, when they are cooked place onto a paper towel.  Using the same skillet and oil place the tortillas in one at a time into the hot oil coat and fry them in the oil.

3.Now that you have all your components put the cooked tomatoes, onion, pepper, tortillas, garlic clove, the bouillon cube, and the 1 cup of water and about an 8th of the liter into the blender.  Mix up the ingredients until they form a smooth broth.

4.Taking a big soup pan put some oil in the bottom and heat up, then turn off the heat for 5 minutes so it can flavor the pot.  After the 5 min put in the tomato broth and use the rest of the water to rinse out the extra broth in the blender and put that into the pan as well. Turn the heat back on low to medium add some cracked pepper then cover the pot till bubbling. 

5. When the soup is bubbling taste to see if it needs any more chicken flavor and add if necessary.  You also will put in a fresh oregano stem and leaf for flavor, then turn the burner on low and let it simmer and heat all the way through until ready to eat.

6. When ready to eat remove the oregano then put the soup in a bowl and top with tortilla strips, cheese, avocado, extra pepper, sour cream, or other toppings you please. 

 

Shredded Chicken:                                                                                                                        1. Taking about a 1 lb of chicken breasts season with salt and pepper then place into a heated pan with olive oil and cook for 5 min.  When 5 min pass flip the chicken add 3/4 cup of water cover and simmer on medium heat for 7-10 min or until cooked all the way through.

2. When the chicken is cooked  put in a bowl let cool, and then shred.  When shredded place into the broth after it has bubbled and is simmering with the oregano.  Let the chicken sit in the soup so it can enhance in flavor and soften even more.

Homemade Tortilla Strips:                                                                                                           To make the fresh tortilla strips cut a pack of fresh tortillas into thin strips.  Then coat a pan in oil and turn onto high heat.  To know if the oil is hot enough put one strip into the oil and wait till it begins to bubble around it. Taking  the rest of the chopped tortillas place into the heated oil.  Coat in the oil all the way and wait until they begin to harden and crunch.  When their ready place unto a paper towel to cool, and use when eating your soup.

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4 St. Patricks Day Recipes

Today were here to share with you an assortment of St. Patrick inspired meals.  Varying from authentic Irish dishes all the way to drinks, or fun simple and quick treats.  Hope you enjoy and try one of these for St. Patties day!!

Irish Meat Pies
Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 head green cabbage or more
• 1/2 lb red potatoes
• 1lb ground beef
• 3 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• salt+ pepper
• flour
• 2 pie crusts 

Directions:
1. Heat oil on medium heat in a large saucepan. Slice the cabbage into strips, and cut the potatoes in half and put into the pan.  Cook for 7-9min or until it begins to soften and brown.
2.  Take the beef and put into the pan, and break up with a spoon.  Cook the meat until it is fully cooked and their is no pink.
3. Once cooked stir in the tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and 1 cup of water.  Stir everything together then cover and cook on low-medium for 15min or until the potatoes are tender.
4. Once tender mash up the potatoes with a fork and season with salt + pepper to taste. (Based on preference you can mash your potatoes more, or you can keep them more cubed if you don't like mashed potatoes.) Once broken let the mixture cool completely.
5. Taking the pie crust cut each into 4 so you can have 8 pieces.  Taking the dough cut it into a circle or make into a square.  Once you have the flattened and shaped dough scoop about 1/2cup of the cooled filling and place on the dough.  Then take the dough and fold over so have a rectangle, or half of a circle.  Using a fork crimp together the edges so everything stays together then cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.
6.  For these pies you can freeze them for later or use bake them right away.  For freezing you need to take your pies and place onto a baking sheet and freeze for about an hour.  From there you can then wrap each individually in tinfoil, or saran wrap.  Taking each individual pie you can then put them all in a gallon freezer bag and you have an easy weeknight meal.
7. For baking your oven will be at 400°. Taking your pies place onto a foil lined baking sheet, and coat with a water wash (this is necessary as it helps the crust to crisp-en up). Taking the pies place into the oven for 30min if frozen or for 10-12 if not, rotating the sheet half way through.  Once dough is cooked and begins to brown take out and enjoy!

Apple Clovers: Great as an easy a quick treat or snack

For this recipe you can feel free to make it as simple or complex as you would like. The basis for this is a green apple, which you cut into slices then using a cookie cutter you cut into a clover.  If you want you can have it as is as a fun festive snack, or you can take it a step further and place on a cookie or pie.  You can use our sugar cookie recipe or  the apple gallete recipe.  When using these recipes remember that the apples take about 10 min so you may need to begin baking the base before the apple goes on top.  Using our recipes or someone else you can dip the apples in lemon juice, brown sugar, and cinnamon so the apple doesn't dry out or another liquid.   If you want to make these with the apple gallete recipe  coat the apples in the lemon juice cinnamon and sprinkle with the sugar on top.  Overall though feel free to be as creative as you would like, and let the clover inspire your creativity.

Mint Chocolate Chip Milkshake
Ingredients (for one serving) :

• 2 scoops of vanilla ice-cream 
• 1/2 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon of mint extract
• 4 drops of green food coloring
• 1/4 cup of chocolate chips

Directions:

1. For this recipe simply combine all ingredients in blender and blend until reasonable. If you like your milkshakes thicker, add a couple ice cubes. I also found that smashing the chocolate chips before putting them in decreases the chance of big chunks.

Jumbo Shamrock Sugar Cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 1/2 stick of butter
• 1 cup of granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• green food coloring
• 1/2 cup of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Direction

1. Combine flour, baking soda, butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and egg in a large bowl until light brown and creamy. Then, add in a few drops of green food coloring and knead dough with your hands until all of the dough is a vibrant shade of green.

2. Roll out the dough evenly and cut out shamrock shapes. If you don't have a shamrock cutter, you can use a heart cutter. (A shamrock is just 3 or 4 hearts and a stem!) Then, lay the cookies on a greased pan.

3. Cook cookies at 400 degrees F for 8-12 minutes.

4. If you would like to add icing, combine powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla extract in a small bowl, then add whatever design you would like. Have fun with it! For a fun party idea, you can prepare plain cookies and have your friends decorate them!

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Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Last Friday my sister and I had a snow day, so we decided to make some lemon poppy seed muffins.  These muffins are one of my sister all time favorites, and it was super fun to make as well as to eat.  These muffins had an amazing smell, and I loved that we were able to say we could made them ourselves, instead of from a pr-made mix, or from the store.  Along with the delicious final result, it was also super fun to make them with my sister well making a slight mess in the process.  I hope you enjoy these fresh lemony muffins, and try to make them yourself.

Recipe yields: 12 muffins
Oven Temperature: 350°F
Cook Time: 20min
 Based on Martha Stewart's Recipe
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 3/4  tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large egg (at room temperature)
• 1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 1/4 cup milk (at room temperature)
• 1 stick of unsalted butter melted + cooled
• 3 tbsp poppy seeds 

Directions:
1. In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking powder,  baking soda, and salt.
2. In another bowl whisk together the sugar, eggs, lemon zest, lemon juice, milk, butter, and poppy seeds.
3. Taking the flour mixture slowly mix it into the sugar mixture, and stir till combined. When combined place into a buttered muffin pan, and place into the heated oven until cooked.  When done let cool and enjoy!

The mess we made when adding flour and accidentally, turning the speed on high...

-Megan

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