Homemade mayo

Here it is... I swear you will never want to purchase store bought mayo again after creating your own.  That or you will be grossed out there is raw egg in mayo and you never realized it until someone actually told you what mayo is. This is so simple! All you need is a food processor or blender that you can add ingredients to while the blade is running (so basically not a bullet style blender). I will show you the reason why in the photos.

Ingredients:
1 egg
1t dry mustard powder
1T lemon juice or vinegar (I prefer lemon)
I cup of your oil of choice (I like the flavor of avocado oil best)
Salt and pepper to taste

Start by adding the egg, lemon juice, and mustard to the processor and give it a little whirl.

Then SLOWLY add the oil, while the food processor is running. By the time you have all the oil poured in it should be good to go. If you like a littler thicker mayo just add a touch more oil. Now, I have tried dumping it all into a bullet and it does not work! You need to slowly add the oil for it to properly emulsify. You can also do this by hand but it's kind of a wrist workout.

So there you have it! Homemade mayo! Use it as you would any other mayo. Can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.

I'm baaaack!

Hello world!! It's been a while since I've done this and quite a bit has changed in my food world.  After looking back at my old posts and seeing that I used to eat pasta with every meal was kind of funny to me!
So... here Is a little disclaimer, I suck at writing. If you know me, you know I also suck at writing recipes but I like to share my ideas with people to encourage them to step out of their comfort zone and make something different that may actually nourish the body and taste good instead of just tasting good.  So if you are looking for a blog with great literary content you've come to the wrong place. Here you will find some tasty ideas, a few decent pictures, and a dose of my food life.  I will do my best to describe my recipes so you can try it if you feel like it. Please ask questions if something doesn't make sense and I will gladly send you in the right direction! Finally I'm not sure how frequently I will be posting but I'm going to give it a shot again so hang in there. Thanks for checking it out!!  Stick around... later I will be posting my easy homemade mayo recipe!!

Lemon Dill Salmon

Well hello!  I finally cooked a normal meal this evening and I even remembered to take pictures.  It was quite easy and if you are into salmon it tasted delish!
I just covered a sheet pan in foil drizzled some olive oil, placed four pieces salmon skin side down on the pan, then seasoned them with dill, salt, pepper, garlic, and lemon slices.  I also drizzled a little more olive oil over the top before I sealed the foil pouch.  Here is what it looked like before baking.

After adding this photo I realized I also forgot to mention that I threw some sliced red onion and a few mushrooms in there too.  Good thing I took a picture or I would have totally forgot that.  Silly me!

This is what the foil pack looked like.  I just put a piece of foil over the pan and sealed the edges.

I baked it at 400* for about 30 minutes.  The fillets were frozen so it took a little longer.  I would check it after about 15 minutes if you use thawed salmon.

I sauteed some asparagus with red onion in olive oil and had that on the side.  We have been eating asparagus almost everyday thanks to our bountiful asparagus patch in the back yard.  I also cooked up some whole wheat shell pasta and tossed a little pesto with it for some starch on the side.
Here is the finished product...

Teaser

So... I know it's been like 2 months since I have written a blog.  I did not give up I just haven't been cooking anything fun.  Dustin and I have not had coordinating schedules therefore I have not been making much.  Let's just say we have been going through a lot of cereal lately.
This one is just a teaser but I promise there is more to come in the near future. Especially because my garden is starting off rather nicely. :)  I hope you have not forgotten about me. Come back soon.

Bacon wrapped tenderloin with grilled asparagus and a baked potato

Parmesan crusted pesto grilled cheese

After working in my garden all morning.  By all morning I mean about an hour.  I worked up quite the hunger.  I was feeling lazy and a sub sounded really delish but then I remembered it's grilled cheese month and I should really do something to celebrate.  So i did just that.  I looked at the jar of homemade pesto that was given to me by a friend and that's where this little ditty came from...

Not the most flattering photo but let's be honest... I really just wanted to eat it, not take it's picture

I grabbed two slices of bread and spread a thin layer of pesto on each of them.  Then I pre warmed my cheese in the microwave for like 15 seconds just to warm it up a little.  I sliced it rather thick and there is nothing worse than having the center of your grilled cheese not melted.  I warmed the pan and added a tiny bit of butter (yes I used butter.  We normally don't keep butter in the house because we eat far too much of it) then I threw in one of the slices of bread pesto side up, added the cheese(I used swiss because I love it.  I think mozzarella would be just as good if not better), put a thin layer of sliced tomatoes, and the other slice of bread pesto side down.  I cooked it like a normal grilled cheese until it was almost done and then sprinkled it on each side with a little shredded parmesan until it was brown and amazing looking.  This totally hit the spot and helped me forget about that sub I was longing for.

Buffalo shrimp wrap w/creamy ranch slaw

Okay... I am going to just go out there and say it.  I am extremely proud of myself for creating this meal, start to finish(that includes thinking of the idea and thawing the shrimp) in 15 minutes.  So delightful.  I am on a buffalo kick lately I just can't get enough buffalo sauce!  With next to nothing in my fridge and 20 minutes to cook dinner this idea just popped in my head.

I opened the fridge and saw the bag of broccoli slaw mix sitting there and I thought..."hmmm that would most likely be amazing if I added ranch to it"  So here is how it went down...

I grabbed a bag of shrimp out of the freezer (raw and unpeeled) then I dumped them in a bowl of cool water.  While those were hanging out I took about 3 tablespoons of mayo dusted it with ranch powder and added a touch of milk to thin it out and that was my dressing for the slaw.  I added a couple handfuls of the broc slaw (about a cup maybe) and mixed it up.  While that was getting all flavorful and delicious I peeled the shrimp.

this is the slaw getting all flavorful and delicious

  Then I melted a tablespoon of butter in a pan and added a generous amount of franks red hot sauce maybe about a quarter cup?  Once that was all bubbly and awesome looking I added the shrimp and cooked it about 5 minutes. This is what it looked like while cooking...

When the shrimp was done I heated a tortilla on a hot dry pan and then assembled the wrap.  First I sprinkled the tortilla with some shredded mozzarella(you could really use any cheese it was just what I had on hand), then put a little lettuce, a pile of shrimp, a little more cheese, and I topped it off with the slaw.  Then I folded it up and threw it in the pan a minute to warm the wrap and the rest is history!

Man it was good!!  Sometimes I am so easy to please.  This was so easy and tasted just right!

Black bean sweet potato burritos

Short and sweet today...
I used a few things I had left over from dinner last night to make some yummy healthy almost vegan burritos.
First I diced up a sweet potato and sauteed it in some olive oil.  When the sweet potato was tender I added some black beans just to warm them up.  Then I tossed the left over brown rice and chicken chunks in the microwave(which I don't normally do but I was lazy) just to warm it.  Then I threw it all in a whole wheat tortilla and browned it on a hot dry skillet!  Here is what it looked like.  I also served it with salsa.

They were good and super filling.  Dustin ate his with aged brick...I wouldn't recommend it, in fact I would recommend never eating aged brick if you don't have to.  It is so gross!  Happy day! :)