Asian Sesame Salmon

 What an easy and delicious recipe!  If you have all these spices in your cabinet, this is a must try.  If you don't, go to the grocery store and buy them.  This recipe is too good to pass up!

2 lbs. Salmon Fillets
1/3 Cup Honey
2 Tablespoons Soy Sauce
2 Teaspoons Toasted Sesame Seed
1 Teaspoon Minced Garlic
1 Teaspoon Minced Onions
3/4 Teaspoon Ground Ginger
1 Teaspoon Crushed Red Pepper (optional)


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a small bowl mix honey, soy sauce, and all of the spices except the Red Pepper together until well blended.

Stir in Crushed Red Pepper.  Paul and I added a bit more than the one teaspoon is called for.

Place salmon on a 13x9 baking sheet.  If you can, line the sheet with aluminum foil...this recipe tends to end up a bit messy.

Spoon honey mixture evenly over salmon.

Bake Salmon in the oven for 20 minutes, basting occasionally with honey mixture.

Since we were having asparagus with our salmon tonight, I decided to put some of the honey mixture on the salmon too.  I recommend doing this, and then baking the asparagus for about 8 minutes.

If you have any honey mixture left when you take the salmon out of the oven, feel free to add a bit more on top. 

ENJOY!!

This recipe was adapted from McCormick.com

Asparagus with Caramelized Balsamic Onions

I can't tell you enough how much Paul and I love asparagus. I am actually surprised this is our first post for an asparagus recipe. The caramelized onions provide so much flavor, that this would make for an excellent side dish for dinner any night of the week.


Bundle of Asparagus
1 Tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 Onion
Pepper
3 Tablespoons Balsamic Vinegar
2 Teaspoons Mustard
Parsley, fresh or dried


You can choose to steam or bake your asparagus. We chose to bake.  So start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.

Slice the onion thinly and place in a pan over medium heat with the olive oil.

Go ahead and put the asparagus in the oven.  By the time the onions are caramelized, the asparagus should be ready (about 10 minutes).  

Once the onions start to brown and start to get a bit translucent, take off the stove top.

Mix the vinegar, mustard, and pepper in a small bowl.  The originally recipe called for salt, but we decided to leave it out. 

Stir in the mixture with the onions, and put it back on the burner.  You can not put the mixture in with the onions still on the stove or it will splatter. Let the vinegar reduce until it forms into a thick sauce coating the onions, about 5 minutes.

Place the caramelized balsamic onions over the asparagus and top with parsley.

ENJOY!

This recipe was adapted from joyfulabode.com

Spicy Chicken Rub

Ayo. Lucy is stepping down for one blog post to let me test my feet in the water. Whenever Lucy and I cook meat, I'm put in charge. Everything I know about cooking meat, I learned from my dad. We don't have a grill, which is sad when it comes to cooking meat, but we make do. Lucy showed me this recipe and told me what to do, and 12 minutes later we had what might have been the best chicken I have ever eaten.


The recipe called to flatten a chicken breast to about 1/2" thick, but I'm lazy so I cut the breast in half. And our hammer has a bunch of metal shards on it from hammering nails, not chicken.


In a bowl, melt a tablespoon of butter. In a separate bowl, combine the following:

1 teaspoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

Coat each of the cut chicken breasts in the butter, and cover in the seasonings. Throw in salt if you feel necessary, but honestly you probably won't need it. This rub has a real kick to it.

Once both sides of the chicken breasts are coated in the rub, put each breast in a pan heated on medium with a bit of oil on the oven. 

Cook for about 5-6 minutes on each side, until each side is golden brown. Call your mother and apologize since she thinks she made the best chicken you have ever eaten. Awkward.

Enjoy. Damnit, enjoy!














This recipe was adapted from joyfulabode.com

Balsamic Oven-Roasted Carrots

My new goal is to try to get Paul to like carrots.  So my first attempt was to bake them in the oven.  They turned out really good, and I honestly think Paul might be coming around...


1 lb Carrots, trimmed and peeled
1/2 Teaspoon of Nutmeg
2 Tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
2 Tablespoons of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Coarse Sea Salt and Fresh Black Pepper


Preheat oven to 425 degrees.


Cut carrots into bite-size chunks and place on a baking sheet. 


Then top the carrots with the nutmeg first, followed by the balsamic vinegar, sea salt, black pepper and olive oil (the amounts are just a guide, feel free to use more making sure the carrots are well coated). 


Toss everything together with your hands, then spread the carrots in a single layer on the baking sheet.


Bake in the oven for approximately 25 minutes, until they are cooked through on the inside.

ENJOY!

This recipe was originally posted on theperfectpantry.com