4/19- Grilled Salmon with Fresh Lime Cream

I can't believe I haven't posted this one before! This is one of our family's all-time summer favorites. It's light and refreshing, and good for you too! It's from a random little Betty Crocker magazine thing I grabbed in the check-out line one day, and I'm SO glad I did! There are a few in there that we just love! This one's really easy, too!

SALMON:
1 tsp grated lime peel
1/4 c lime juice
2 T honey
1 T chopped fresh or 1 tsp dried dill weed
2 tsp canola or soybean oil
1 1/2 lb salmon fillets, cut into 6 pieces
1/2 tsp salt

FRESH LIME CREAM:
1/3 c fat-free mayo
1 tsp grated lime peel
2 tsp lime juice

1. In small bowl, mix lime peel, lime juice, honey, dill weed, and oil.
2. In 8 inch square glass baking dish (I use a zip loc bag) arrange salmon skin side up in single layer. Pour marinade over salmon; turn in marinade to cover all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate 20-30 minutes.
3. Brush grill rack with oil. Heat coals or gas grill for direct heat. Remove salmon from marinade; discard marinade. Sprinkle salmon with salt. Place skin side down on grill. cover and grill over medium heat 10-15 minutes or until salmon flakes easily with fork. (Maybe I buy crapy salmon or something, but it never takes that long to cook!)
4. Meanwhile, in small bowl, mix all lime cream ingredients with wire whisk. Serve with salmon.

I am telling you, you will LOVE this recipe! The lime cream is really what makes it. I always add a little extra lime juice and zest to give it a touch more flavor. It doesn't taste like mayo at all, I promise! Oh man, now I'm hungry. I usually serve this with some grilled veggies like squash and zucchini, and Parmesan Cous Cous. Delicious!

4/15- Sausage and Pepper Calzone

I posted this one in February of last year (here's the link for the recipe: http://las8704.blogspot.com/2010/02/sausage-and-pepper-calzones.html) but I'm posting it again because I made an improvement on it. I happened to make these again on an absolutely gorgeous day, and I just plain didn't feel like having billions of pans to wash afterwards. So I looked down at the sausages I'd bought, and decided it would be faster to grill them. Then I looked at the peppers and onions, and decided I'd grill them too! WAY less clean up, right? So that's exactly what I did. I tossed them all on the grill, cooked them up beautifully, got squirted with grease from the sausages a few times, and then pulled them off and chopped them all up. I also didn't have much mozzerella, so I just used the whole tub of cottage cheese. It tasted AMAZING! The extra flavor from the grill was absolutely delicious. I will make these this way from now on! Fewer dishes to clean, and that unmistakable summery flavor from the grill just made these calzones a million times better! (In my humble opinion, of course. ;) )

As a side note, the very first time I ever made these, I didn't have peppers so I threw in zucchini and squash instead, and they worked really well too! I had planned to do that this time, but my co-op veggies didn't show up in time. Oh well, next time! Also, I always end up with WAY more filling than I need somehow. I discovered that the extra filling tastes great on Ciabatta rolls for sandwiches for lunch; my husband has also eaten it on top of rice on leftover night without complaint. :)

4/10/11- Penne with Pancetta, Spinach, and Buttery Crumb Topping

Well, that's what the recipe is called, anyway. I couldn't find pancetta at the store, so I used Prosciutto. I almost forgot to add the spinach, and I completely forgot I was out of bread crumbs, so there went the "buttery crumb topping." So I guess it was really more like "Penne with Prosciutto and Spinach" but it was still pretty good!

The original recipe is from Cooking Light again, but as usual, it's really easy to make it not-so-light. It's really not a complicated recipe, but when you have 2 little human creatures either "helping" you, or getting into anything an everything in the house while you cook, and 2 canine creatures stealing the human creatures' toys and/or standing right behind you in hopes that food hits the floor, even the simplest things become complicated. Some days I marvel at the fact that I manage to get something even remotely edible on the table in time for dinner. Anyway, this particular one wasn't one of my best, or calmest, efforts, but it worked!

http://www.myrecipes.com/recipe/penne-with-pancetta-spinach-buttery-crumb-topping-10000001591117/