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One Pan Roasted Sea Bass + Veggies

I love cooking, but I hate dishes. One pan or pot recipes make me so happy, especially when they taste this good! This is the perfect weekday meal and you can substitute sea bass for any thick fish filet.

Ingredient List:

1 lb Sea Bass

3 tbsp olive oil

1 head of broccoli cut into florets

1 C cherry tomatoes halved (I used brown cherry tomatoes I found at Sprout’s)

1 shallot sliced

2 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp capers (optional)

10 pitted green olives sliced

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Method:

Prepare a greased baking sheet

Turn oven on low broil

Toss broccoli florets with 1 tbsp olive oil, spread out on 3/4 of baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper

Bake for 5 minutes

In a medium bowl combine remaining 2 tbsp oil, tomatoes, shallot, garlic, capers and olives

Remove broccoli from oven

Place sea bass on baking sheet

Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper

Pour tomato mixture on top of fish (most of it will fall to the sides)

Sprinkle with sea salt and pepper again

Place pan back in oven and broil for 15-20 minutes (I had an extra thick piece of fish, it took 20 minutes to cook through)

Your fish is done when flakey and opaque

Enjoy!

Print Sea Bass + Roasted Veggies Recipe

Thai Quinoa-Broccoli Salad

Ingredient List:

Salad:

1 C quinoa

2 C water or stock

1 head of broccoli chopped into bite size pieces

1/4 C carrots cut into thin peices

1/4 C red onion chopped

1 bunch of cilantro chopped finely

Dressing:

2 tbsp Tamari or soy sauce

2 tbsp rice vinegar

1 lime (juice + zest)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp peanut butter

Method:

Cook quinoa according to package

(for additional flavor add 1 tsp Better than Bullion to cooking water)

Let cool

In a bowl whisk together Tamari, vinegar,

lime, oil + peanut butter

Mix quinoa with all other veggies

Pour dressing over quinoa mixture

Enjoy!

Dried Fig + Apricot Pies

Why are things so much better bite sized? These are the perfect addition to any holiday party and are easy to make, but no one has to know that! They look beautiful on any serving dish and pack a lot of flavor into that bite. I hope you enjoy these as much as my family and I did.

Ingredient List:

1 C dried figs chopped roughly

1 C dried apricots chopped roughly

1/4 C shredded carrots

1/2 apple chopped ( I used honey crisp)

1 Lemon juice + peel grated

1 orange jucie + peel grated

1 tsp grated ginger

2 tsp all spice

1/4 C honey (I used solid local honey and heated it until runny before I added it)

2 pie crusts (I used store bought)

1 egg white

Brown sugar

Fresh whipped cream (if wanted)

Method:

Pre-heat oven to 375

Grease a mini muffin pan

In a large bowl combine figs, apricots, carrots, apple, lemon, orange, ginger, all spice + honey

Roll out pie dough on a floured surface

Cut out 1” circles from the pie dough

Press firmly in the bottom of each mini muffin spot

Spoon 1 tsp of fig mixture into each muffin spot

Top with another 1” circle of pie dough

Brush with egg whites

Sprinkle with brown sugar

Bake for 20-25 minutes at 375 (mine were done at 25 minutes)

Top with fresh whipped cream if wanted

Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Fig + Apricot Pie

Open face egg sandwich

I always find myslef making the same thing for breakfast: toasted english muffin + smoked salmon + egg + capers + whatever veggies I happen to have in the fridge. I happened to have asparagus and pickeled onions today. There is nothing better than a runny yolk soaking into the muffin. I pan fried my asparagus for a few minutes in olive oil and added some lemon flavored balsamic before I turned the heat off. I always fry my eggs over easy, but do them to your liking. I spead chive cream cheese on the muffin and then layered all this goodness together. I make a version of this at least once a week. Avacado would be a great addition but I didn’t have any on hand.

I was so happy when I stumbled upon these dishes at Capital City Antiques in Salt Lake City. I love buying things that have history and these two went together so well. I found a few great pieces that I am excited to share with you over the next few weeks!

Brunch

Homemade Pickles

I love anything sour or pickled! I have tried a lot of pickling reciped and have never found one I absolutely loved, until now. I am so happy with this recipe and the great thing about it is they taste great just a few hours after making them and last up to 3 months (although they would never last that long at my home). They have a little heat but if you don’t like heat just leave the jalapeno’s out. I used cucumbers, geen beans, pearl onions and carrots in mine, but throw in anything you have. I will add cauliflower next time. I hope you enjoy these as much as I do!!

Ingredient List:

4 C water
2 C white vinegar
8 garlic cloves peeled
3 tbsp pickling or kosher salt 1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp peppercorns

1 tsp crushed bay leaves
(alternatively you could use 4 tsp of pre made pickling spice)

1/4 C fresh dill

2 large cucumbers halved and then quartered2 carrots sliced
2 C green beans trimmed 5 pearl onions peeled
2 jalapeños sliced

Method:

Bring 4 C water to a boil

Add 2 C vinegar and reduce heat to simmer

Add garlic cloves and salt and simmer for 5-10 minutes

In a large air tight container place all of your spices and dill

Add all cut up veggies

Pour the hot liquid over the veggies until jar is full

Let cool

Refrigerate for at least 3-4 hours and enjoy up to 3 months!

Make a Box Cake Better

Almond-Caramel Devils Food Cake

I love cooking but I am not the best baker! I like using box mixes, they’re just so easy, but I like dressing them up a little. To make this box Devil’s Food Cake better I melted 1 stick of butter in a sauce pan, added 1/4 C of whipping cream and 3/4 C of light brown sugar. I split the mixture between 2 8″ greased baking pans and then sprinkled crushed almonds over the caramel mixture. I prepared the box cake mix according to the directions and then poured the cake mix over the almond-caramel. I baked them for 35 minutes at 350, removed them from the oven and let them cool on a rack. I whipped the left over whipping cream I had with 1 tsp of vanilla and a little sugar. I spread some of the whipped cream inbetween to two layers and topped it with a little additonal. Everyone loved it!! Next time you make a cake, think about doing this!

Jalapeño stuffed mushrooms

Ingredient list:

6 small portobello mushrooms, stems removed, chopped and set aside

1 tbsp olive oil

1 bunch green onions sliced thinly

2 jalapeño’s chopped (de-veined and seeded)

1 clove garlic minced

1/4 c whole wheat panko

1 tbs cream cheese

1/4 c shredded cheddar cheese

Sea salt
Method:

Pre heat oven to 350

Line a baking sheet and grease

Sauté mushrooms, onions and oil in a large skillet

Season with salt

Stir in cream cheese, panko, jalapeño and cheddar cheese

Place mushroom tops on baking sheet, spray with oil and sprinkle with salt

Bake for 5 minutes, remove, fill with cream cheese mixture and place back in oven for 25 minutes or until browning

Enjoy!

My Kitchen

The minute my husband and I saw this house we knew we wanted it. We tried to talk ourselves out of it and look at other homes but we kept coming back to it. We knew just how much work it would be and we were not sure we wanted to take that on. We both work full time so all of the work would have to be done on weekends and after work but we decided to get it anyways!

The part of the house that needed the most work was the kitchen. It looked like something out of the flinstones. Black and orange concrete countertops, dark slate everything, zig-zag cabinets and flooring that i don’t even know how to explain.

First we started by tearing everything out. I mean EVERYTHING! Once we got started we realized there was termite damage along with water damage. My husband had to work through the night to replace all the wood beams in our kitchen.

Once he got that done, the next week came cabinets. He was fortunate and knew someone who did cabinets. We had our cabinets custom built at Barlow’s. I’m so happy we decided against box cabinets from a chain store. Slow close, dovetail, shaker style-painted white maple are what we went with. Barlow’s did such an amazing job, I could not be happier. We knocked down the gally style kitchen, made a walk way and added an island. I even got a spice drawer to the side of my cooktop, it’s so handy! We had them build a wine rack above the microwave and vertical shelves above the fridge. There is a cabinet for everything.

We decided to go with stainless appliances and of course I had fun picking them all out! I am so happy I went with a double oven, it helps so much to set two different temperatures. The slide in range is something I really love also, a lot less bulky and more sleek than a traditional range. We found all of our appliances at RC Willey.

Next we decided to do an apron sink. It is so nice having such a big sink with an industrial faucet. It makes cleaning dishes so much quicker and I’m able to fit very large serving dishes right in the sink. Because we had white cabinets we thought stainless steel would be a nice accent. We found our sink and our facuet, both made by Kraus, on Amazon. I love retro anything, so when my husband found the white, round light at Home Depot I was so happy. We also found our backsplash tile at home depot and put it in ourselves (really I justed handed my husband things while he did all the work).

We decided on a white quartzite with a lot of crystalization. Our countertops are probably my favorite part of our kitchen. Photos do not really do them justice, they are much prettier in person. You do have to be very careful with them and treat them about the same as marble. Although natural stone is harder to maintain, I’m really happy we went with it.

Now it was time finishing touches.

I love my Shun knife from Williams + Sonoma and my cutting boards I found on wayfair.com. I have two cutting boards, one for fish and one for veggies and everything else.

I love taking photos of food on clean white dishes. I found mine at Ikea.

This is only a fraction of the plates I own. I seem to collect them and hardly ever in fours. I usually only buy one or two at a time from Ikea, West Elm, and Downeast Outfitters.

You can never have too many bowls! I found my wooden bowls at Big Lots for $12 a piece and they are such great quality. I have had them for years.

We have a glass for any kind of drink you could ever want! I ordered these from amazon and Ikea also has great deals on good quality glasses.

I have a thing for measuring cups, I can never have too many. These are my favorite measuring cups ever and I think they always will be. My mom bought these and matching measuring spoons for me from Anthroplogie a few years ago.

There is nothing better to me than listening to music while cooking. My Sonos is so great for that.

I keep whole wheat four, unbleached white flour, sugar, flax seed and flax seed meal in these canisters I found at Target.

My boss and his wife (I have a feeling mostly his wife) gave us the cutest tea cups as a house warming gift. My favorite tea cups, they are just too pretty for every day use. I have them on display on a shelf in our kitchen.

I had no idea that going into a nursery one day I would find the cutest kitchen accessories too! Sun River Gardens in Orem, UT has a great supply of all things kitchen.

My husband found these hammered copper canisters on Amazon this year for my birthday. I filled one with a decorative whisk and serving spoons + forks from Anthropologie.