It's official...

I don't like fish. I can't help it, I just don't.

Last night I made salmon, with tomatoes and garlic - two of my favorite things to help ease me into it. It smelled delicious! It looked great! It tasted like crap to me!

This is the recipe I used from RealSimple.com. I had to make some alterations, since I don't think Josh likes beans much and I didn't have any tarragon. (I need to stock up on spices...)

1 1/2 pounds salmon steaks, about 3/4 inch thick

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Freshly ground black pepper

1 14 1/2-ounce cans diced tomatoes

2 garlic cloves, minced

Dredge the fish in the flour. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until it shimmers. Add the fish and brown about 3 minutes on each side. Carefully lift the fish out of the skillet and set it aside on a platter; sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Add the tomatoes and garlic to the skillet and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, return the fish to the pan. Cover and cook 5 minutes or until the fish flakes when tested with a fork or the tip of a knife.

Thank God Josh liked it and I didn't feel like I wasted a perfectly good piece of salmon. But I did have to make something else for me (popcorn for dinner, yay!). I think that having to skin the fish may have taken some of the enjoyment away for me. Josh will just have to stick to ordering fish when we go out!

Chicken Pockets

I can't even try to remember where this recipe came from, just that we have made it in my family for years! It was also the first meal I made for Josh's dad and step-mom, and has become a favorite of Josh's, second only to chicken pot pie.

2 chicken breasts (1 per pocket)

2 potatoes (1 per pocket), peeled and thinly sliced

handful baby carrots, thinly sliced

1 slice of onion per pocket

1 Tbsp butter per pocket

1 can of cream of chicken soup per 2 pockets

salt and pepper to taste

mushrooms (optional)

Place each chicken breast on a separate piece of foil. Add potatoes, onion, carrots, butter, soup, salt and pepper (mushrooms too if you want them).

Fold foil around ingredients and place on a baking sheet. Cook for 35 minutes at 425 degrees, check for doneness.

These can also be done on the grill, which makes them even better. It takes slightly longer, about 45 minutes.

It's not pretty, but it is delicious!

Chicken Dip

Apparently this was the week for me to cook for all of my co-workers. Saturday at my part-time job, we did a pot luck, and I made this chicken dip that Josh's step-mother made for Easter. It was way easier to make than I thought it would be, but it still didn't turn out quite like hers!

Two chicken breasts, boiled, cooled and shredded

1 8 oz block of cream cheese

1 packet Hidden Valley Ranch dip mix

Hot sauce to taste

1 cup Cheddar cheese

Mix the cream cheese and Ranch dip. Spread in the bottom of a small baking dish.

Add hot sauce to chicken, just enough to coat the chicken, or as much as you would like.

Evenly apply chicken over the cream cheese spread. Top with Cheddar cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes, or until warm.
Serve with flour tortilla chips or anything salty that can handle a lot of dip!

It was a big hit with my co-workers, and disappeared quickly! They have already requested that I bring it in again.

P.S. I just realized that this recipe is a variation on what the What's Cooking board on the Nest likes to call "crack dip." I think it lives up to it's name, but I'm not sure that I'd like it all mixed together as much as I like it layered.

The Breakfast Club

At my office, we have a "breakfast club" where two people are assigned to bring breakfast once a month in to the office for all 17 of us. We eat a lot of bagels. So my partner and I decided we would do something a little different, and made breakfast casseroles. She did a meatless version, but mine had sausage. It was a good chance to use sausage that my parents had given me the last time they butchered a pig. I don't even like sausage, but I ate it!

Recipe is as follows:
8 eggs beaten with 1 cup milk, salt and pepper
1 lb sausage, browned
6 pieces white bread cut up into cubes, no crust
1 cup grated Cheddar cheese

Spray a 13 x 9 pan with non-stick spray, and place bread cubes on the bottom of the pan. Put sausage evenly over the bread. Pour milk and egg mixture over sausage and bread, sprinkle with cheese.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

It was a big hit, and I think I'll be making it again, because Josh didn't get any.

Shrimp Scampi

As I slowly venture into the world of seafood, I thought that shrimp scampi would be a good dish to try.

In a pan with 3 tbsp melted butter and several glugs of olive oil, I sauteed 3 chopped cloves of garlic, then added a 1/2 pound of peeled and de-veined shrimp, and sauteed them as well. I added the garlic and shrimp to more angel hair pasta than the two of us really needed, and added some Parmesan cheese and oregano. It was missing a little something and I think next time I'll be adding some Cayenne pepper and a little lemon juice.

I'll admit - I cheated on the garlic bread. But it was still really good.

Just cheese...

Josh's dad and step-mom came over for dinner last night. I made a pot roast in the crock pot, and it was perfect. There are lots of leftovers and I can't wait to have some maybe when I get home tonight! But I didn't take pictures of the pot roast because honestly, it didn't look pretty.

My cheese plate, however, did. I figured it would be nice to serve a little something before the main meal. Creating one of these also made me realize that I need to branch out and try some more cheeses.

The red one in the center is a Mini Babybel, with Laughing Cow wedges (garlic & herb and the light kinds) and mild cheddar slices. I also added some pepperoni because I thought Josh would want it, haha.

I was also very excited to use my Longaberger basket for the crackers. I need more big ones that I can use for serving, so if anyone is looking for a gift for me in the $60-$80 range - there you go!

Jerk Chicken

I know that it's almost summer when we start craving jerk chicken. There's a cute restaurant near the bay that has really yummy jerk chicken strips. So last night I took a stab at it on my own. Of course, I never plan far enough in advance (I really am trying to get better at that) and only had a few minutes (if that) to marinate the chicken. Hopefully the leftovers will be a little better.


I tweaked this recipe from Sara's Secrets on the Food Network.

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 lime, halved
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil
6 tablespoons jerk marinade
2 tablespoons regular rum



Rub the chicken with lime and pat dry. Sprinkle with salt.
In a suitable bowl, mix the rest of the ingredients and add the chicken. Rub mixture in thoroughly.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Roast the chicken slowly until very tender, for about 30 minutes.

It turned out pretty well, and I served it with wedge salads and crescent rolls since Josh didn't want cornbread like I had planned.

Corn on the Cob already?

This weekend I was shocked to find corn on the cob in the grocery store already. But loving it as much as I do, I decided to get a couple of ears and see if it was any good. Last night was the perfect night to try it since it was 70° outside, and almost like summer. So I made chicken on the grill (the George Foreman since I wasn't about to get the real grill up and running yet), and roasted ranch potatoes. And I must say, it was a great, summery meal that has me wanting more!

For early corn it was actually pretty good. So good in fact, that I forgot to take a photo, so here's some stock photography to make mouths water...