Kale, Shrimp, and Chickpea Pitas

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So I'm officially in Detox Mode 3000.

Actually make that 6000.

Actually let's amend that to 2000 (I forgot that I drank a bottle of wine last night).

First a trip to San Francisco to visit an old gal pal for 4 nights (so fun!  why doesn't she live closer!  damn geography!  all we did was eat and drink and repeat!)

The Hubby was whooping it up in Phoenix with a friend at the same time.

Then with less than 10 days turnaround, we took a trip with my parents to New Orleans for 5 nights (so fun!  why is my next vacation so far away!  all we did was eat very deep fried food, and drink, and repeat!).

It was our fourth time in New Orleans in the past 4.5 years, so I guess you could say that we are basically Southerners now.  Because Southerners usually like to spend an entire afternoon in New Orleans watching two Canadian hockey teams play against each other in an Irish bar with the afternoon's climax being when the entire bar sings the Canadian National Anthem in unison.  True story.  It was a great day.

Anyways, I'm basically 700 pounds heavier than I was a month ago (well, remove two zeros, but STILL), and I want my pants to fit again!  The Hubby must feel the same way because the lunches he has taken to work this week have consisted of the following:  raw broccoli, raw cauliflower, ranch dip, banana.  Exciting!  We also have a new evening ritual three times a week when Big Brother Canada is on, where we go into his Man-Cave in the basement and he rides the stationary bike and I walk or run on the treadmill beside him.  It's quite quaint.  Couples who play together stay together?  Ha!

I thought these healthy Kale, Shrimp, and Chickpea Pitas would also help us on our quest to remove the unwanted poundage.  The Hubby freaked out a little bit at the idea of eating kale, but in the end even he was gobbling these pitas down.  I used prawns, but the original recipe from Food Network called for shrimp.  The filling has grape tomatoes and some finely chopped red onion, but you could really mix it up however you wanted, and it would be great.  The lemony-garlicky dressing really makes these pita pockets delish!  Everything tastes very fresh and healthy and nom nom nom!  Oh, and I think they took me about 11 minutes to make, which makes Megan and happy girl on a weeknight when the hangry-ness tends to settle in quickly.

I'm going to keep the detox train going with a healthy Tuscan Vegetable Soup coming up on the blog later this week.  Choo choo!



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One Year Ago:  Curry Coconut Chicken Vegetable Soup
Two Years Ago:  Cookies and Cream Cheesecake Bars
Three Years Ago: Classic Creamy Hummus

Kale, Prawn, and Chickpea Pitas

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt (don't accidentally buy vanilla!)
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1 small bunch kale, stems removed and leaves thinly sliced (or use baby kale)
• 3/4 pound medium shrimp (or prawns), peeled and deveined
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained, rinsed, and patted dry
• 1 pint grape tomatoes, halved
• 1/4 small red onion, thinly sliced
• 4 pieces pita pockets, halved

Directions
In a large boil, whisk together the yogurt, 2 1/2 tablespoons of the olive oil, the lemon juice, garlic, salt, and cayenne pepper.  Add the kale and toss with tongs to coat.  Set aside at room temperature while you make the rest of the filling.

Heat the remaining 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil in a pan over medium heat.  Add the shrimp, sprinkle with some freshly ground pepper, and cook until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.  Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly.



Add the chickpeas, tomatoes, red onion, and shrimp to the bowl with the kale, and toss gently with the tongs to coat everything well.



To prepare the pita pockets, stack them on a plate and microwave for about 30 seconds until warm.  This will also make them easier to open.  Fill the pitas with the kale-shrimp mixture.  Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  Food Network - Kale and Shrimp Pitas

Prawn and Andouille Sausage Gumbo

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Ever since our first visit to New Orleans for our honeymoon in 2010, The Hubby has been asking me to recreate in our kitchen the delicious gumbo that we ate there.  He even begrudingly approved the purchase of a cookbook with a gumbo recipe in it from our favourite restaurant there (NOLA), even though I have 90 million cookbooks already (side note: and want more, more, MORE!)  Then we went back to New Orleans in 2012, and again in 2014, and coming up again this year, and still I hadn't made the gumbo.

But then!  My mom and I decided to make the gumbo together one night, and I surprised The Hubby with a hot bubbling pot of this Creole concoction the next day.  He was stoked (well, as stoked as one can get over soup).  I was redeemed.

So, I'm either a really good wife, or a really bad wife.  Or both (but probably the second one).  In any event, I'm glad that I put my cookbook (Emeril's Potluck) to good use and finally got around to making this gumbo.  It was delicious, and one of those things that is better the second time that you eat it, and since this is a big recipe, the third and fourth and maybe even sixth time that you eat it too.

The stores didn't have any fresh okra when I was making this dish, so I purchased it from Safeway's frozen vegetable section and it worked just fine.  Having never worked with okra before I was very surprised at the resulting 'goo' or slime that appears when you start cooking it.  The slime just keeps coming and coming, and I just kept commenting and commenting on how, just, WEIRD it was, and my mom just kept tolerating and tolerating my incessant noticing of and commenting on the slime.  But then the slime cooks itself away and eventually it becomes the thickening (and flavouring!) agent in this gumbo.  You can't skip the okra...plus it's a fun science experiment to watch along the way.

We are heading to New Orleans again this year, and I can't wait!  This time my parents are joining us too.  But dare I say...I actually enjoyed this homemade gumbo more than the authentic stuff that we ate in the (ok, yes, very touristy, but still more authentic than say, Canada, for instance) French Quarter.

And if you're in the mood for Cajun / Creole food, here is an awesome Jambalaya Recipe that appeared on this blog back in 2012.



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One Year Ago:  Easy Weeknight No-Brainer BBQ Chicken Salad
Two Years Ago:  Butternut Squash Risotto with Arugula
Three Years Ago:  Crispy Chicken with Green Curry Sauce

Prawn & Andouille Sausage Gumbo

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 pound Andouille sausage, sliced into 1/4-inch round slices
• 2 pounds okra (frozen or fresh), stems trimmed off, and then cut into 1/4 inch round slices
• 2 cups canned tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 cup onion, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup green pepper, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon garlic, minced
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 3/4 teaspoon dried thyme
• 8 cups chicken broth
• 2 pounds prawns, peeled and deveined
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
• Fresh parsley, finely chopped (for garnish)
• Green onions, thinly sliced (for garnish)
• Cooked white rice, for serving

Directions
In a large pot, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sausage and cook for five minutes, or until fat is rendered.  Add the okra and cook, stirring continuously, for 10 to 12 minutes, or until most of the slime disappears.  Add the tomatoes, onion, green pepper, celery, and garlic, then cook, stirring often, for 10 minutes, or until the okra and the vegetables are soft and the slime from the okra has completely disappeared.  Add the salt, cayenne pepper, bay leaves, thyme, and chicken broth.  Stir well, and bring to a boil.

Meanwhile, put your prawns into a medium sized bowl, then sprinkle with paprika, garlic powder, pepper, oregano, and a dash of salt.  Toss to make sure that the seasoning is distributed over all of the prawns, then set aside.

Once your pot is boiling, reduce the heat to medium, and simmer, uncovered, for 15 minutes.  Add the prawns and cook, stirring occasionally, for 30 minutes.  Remove the bay leaves.

To serve put the heated cooked rice into a bowl, then top with the soup.  Garnish with parsley and green onions.

Enjoy!

Recipe Source:  Emeril's Potluck - Shrimp, Okra, and Tomato Gumbo

The Hubby's Smoked Salmon

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The Hubby's first blog recipe, and of course it's one for the BBQ.  My apologies to my Canadian readers who don't live on the west coast, but out here it's barbeque season all year long baby!

Hubs has made this to-die-for smoked salmon for New Years Eve every year for the past two years (so, twice), since his parents bought him the smokebox accessory for our Weber BBQ.  He stresses and fusses and toils over it as though it were his baby.

"It's getting too smoked!"
"I think this will be my best smoked salmon attempt yet!"
"This is going to be a total fail!"
"It's not getting enough smoke!"
"I think the smoke level is good now!"*

*he has just informed me that he has never actually said this last one.

The BBQ smoking away!

In the end it's always perfect.

This year he made a double-batch because I accidentally bought double the amount of salmon that I was supposed to.  That works just fine for me because now we will have super flavourful smoked salmon in our freezer for a quick appy.  Speaking of quick appy, this one takes over a day to prepare in its entirety, so make sure to plan ahead.  You will need some hardwood chips to smoke the salmon.  The Hubby's preference is hickory.

We choose to serve it with bagel chips, cream cheese, and capers.  This is a crowd pleaser and he always gets rave reviews!



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One Year Ago:  Turkey Meatballs in Coconut Curry Sauce
Two Years Ago:  Curried Chicken and Rice Soup
Three Years Ago:  Caesar Salad

The Hubby's Smoked Salmon

Ingredients

• 2/3 cup Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 large salmon fillets or sides, pin bones removed

Directions
To prepare the rub, mix together the salt, brown sugar, white sugar, and pepper in a medium bowl.  Spread a piece of extra-wide aluminum foil a little longer than the length of the salmon along the counter, then top with an equally-long layer of plastic wrap.  Sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the plastic.  Lay one side of the fish skin down onto the rub, then sprinkle 1/3 of the rub onto the flesh of the salmon.  Place your second piece of salmon flesh-down onto the first piece of salmon.  Use the remaining rub to cover the skin on top of the second piece.  Fold the plastic over the salmon to cover it completely, then close the edges of the foil together and seal tightly around the salmon.

Place the wrapped fish onto a rimmed baking sheet, and top with another baking sheet.  The rimmed edges are important because lots of juice (salmon juice??) leaks out during the marination process, and you need something that will collect the run-off.  Weigh down with something heavy, such as a phone book, heavy cookbook, or a brick.  Refrigerate for 12 hours.  Flip over the salmon, then refrigerate again for another 12 hours.

Unwrap the salmon and rinse well with cold water to wash off the rub.  Pat the salmon dry with paper towels, then place in a cool place (not the fridge) until the salmon is dry, about 1 - 3 hours.

Now you are ready to start smokin'!!!  Set your BBQ's smokebox attachment or a smoker to between 150 - 160 degrees F, and start smoking your fish over hardwood chips such as hickory.  Keep smoking away until the thickest part of the fish registers at 150 degrees F.  After that, you can serve right away (or chill and serve), or keep it for later in the fridge for up to 3 days.   We choose to serve with cream cheese, capers, and bagel chips.



Recipe Source:  Alton Brown's Good Eats - Where There's Smoke There's Fish!

Garlic Scape Pesto

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Garlic Scape Pesto

Warning:  For garlic lovers only...all others beware the deliciousness!!!

It's garlic scape season again!!!!!!  Run, don't walk, to your nearest farmer's market and pick up some of these green beauties while you can, because their season is very short, too short, only 2 - 3 weeks in duration short.  I get a bit freakishly excited when I see garlic scapes at the market.  For example, my friend texted me that she picked up some garlic scapes and my reaction was 'Jealous!'  I've been known to buy armloads at at time, then go back for another bunch, then talk about it to whoever will listen.

Garlic Scapes !

Garlic scapes are one of the best kept secrets in the world of produce, and I'm here to out them.  The garlic scape is the long, bright green, usually curly stem that grows out of the garlic at the plant's maturity.  The closest thing that they resemble visually is a green onion, but they are hard to the touch unlike the soft green onion, with the stiffness of the stem of a daisy.  Their season is very short, from late June to early July (where I live anyway), and they can typically only be found at your local farmer's market.  Garlic scapes range in price from $1 to $2.50 a bunch - cheap, cheap, cheap - so get out there and support your local farmers.  They taste is exactly like garlic to me, which since I'm like very into garlic, works for me.

The Coconut Chronicles / My Dad's Teriyaki Salmon!

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Hi all!

Just writing to let you know about the spotlight on Playing With My Food over at the Coconut Chronicles blog.  Man, I think this is so cool!  

Coconut Chronicles was created in 2003 by the globe-trotting, spontaneous, cat-loving, opinionated (in a good way), and very funny Kristene Perron, as a weekly newsletter to help family and friends keep up with her while she was living with her hubby in the Caribbean.  It has turned into a smartly-written blog about whatever happens to be on Kristene's mind, from observations about human nature and life, to travel, to cats, to writing, and all sorts of interesting gems in between.

Kristene!

Kristene is a family friend and my former next-door neighbor.  In a past life she was a stunt-woman, and is now a published author of her first novel, Warpworld (www.warpworld.ca).  Warpworld is the first instalment in a five-part sci-fi book series, and if you like The Hunger Games you will love this book!

Souper Sunday #13: Shrimp Bisque

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Bonjour and ooh la la!

What is a bisque?  Well, it's delicious, I know that.  But as for what differentiates a bisque from any other soup, I didn't really know...so I looked it up.  According to the internet, a bisque is a rich, cream soup of French origin, usually made with shellfish and thickened with pureed rice.  That sounds pretty much exactly like the soup that I made this afternoon - a shrimp bisque.  I felt kind of, I dunno, fancy-pants classy making and eating this today.  Like, because I knew what a bisque was today and I didn't know what a bisque was yesterday, and because it was French cuisine which always seems upscale to me.

Souper Sunday #4: Light Tomato-Based Fish Soup

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Here is a good way to use up that bag of Costco frozen fish in the back of your freezer.  Just me?

 

Speaking of which, we got our first Costco 2% rebate cheque in the mail this week ($49.95!) since upgrading to the Executive membership, which kind of feels a bit like winning.  Which I like to do, because of a slight competitive streak in me.  For instance, when all of the blocks of cheese at the grocery store are marked at a flat price even though they are all of slightly different weights, The Hubby and I will on occasion compete for who can find the heaviest block of cheese, which definitely kind of feels like winning the cheese.  The Hubby and I also did a big shop at Superstore today and if you spent over $150 you got a free case of mangoes.  You better believe we were winning those mangoes too!  Woo doggies...we filled that cart up good!  (Why yes Hubs, you may purchase that $6 double box of frozen pizza.  And yes, please be my guest and place that chocolate milk into our cart.)  So now we have a big case of mangoes!  I'm not really sure what to do with it, but it's ours, and we totally rocked at earning it!  I am now welcoming mango recipes please.

Scallop and Broccolini Risotto

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Sometimes...I impress myself.

Like, take last Wednesday night for example.  First of all, it's a Wednesday night, so there's that.  Second of all, I'm like tired after work on Wednesdays, guys!

But, let me back up a little bit, because before Wednesday night there was Monday night, which as we all know is way worse than Wednesday night (because at least Wednesday night is Hump Day and also there's Big Brother).  On Monday night I thawed a frozen package of scallops from Costco in the refrigerator.  This is usually pretty much how I guarantee to myself that I will not be lazy at some point later in the week, because the guilt of having something thawing in my fridge sits in my mind all day long.