Pan-Fried Chickpea Salad & Mustard Fish

Here's another protein packed recipe from the 101 cooks website...not only from those little flesh colored balls of protein wonders known as chickpeas and/or garbanzo beans, but also from the fish that you may choose to serve with them!

Tools from your Kit:

1 tbsp olive oil or butter (you choose!)
2 c cooked chickpeas, pat them completely dry once their out of the can
1 c chopped leeks
2 cloves garlic, chopped
zest of one lemon (we skipped this b/c we didn't have a zester. so sad.)
1/3 c plain yogurt (we used low-fat greek yogurt b/c that's what i eat)
1.5 tsp curry powder
dash of sea salt
1 or 2 tbsp warm water (you be the decider!)
1/2 c cilantro, chopped
1/4 c red onion, chopped (note: original recipe called for 1/2 c, but it was overkill. you may add at your own risk!)

Plan to follow:

Heat oil in large pan & then add the chickpeas. Saute over med-high heat, stirring occasionally, until they get a little golden brown. Add leeks and cook until chickpeas get a little browner and leeks get a little softer. Stir in garlic & lemon zest for the last minute of cooking.

Remove from heat and while this little mixture cools, make the dressing by combining yogurt, curry powder, and salt. If you want to thin it out (which we did), add 1 tbsp of warm water at a time (we added 2).

Toss the chickpeas w/ the 1/2 the dressing and most of the red onion and most of the cilantro. Taste then add as much of the rest of the dressing, onion, cilantro that you want!

Enjoy!

P.S. We served this as a side to "Mustard Roasted Fish" concocted by Barefoot Contessa and found on foodnetwork.com.

Fish: we used almost 1 lb of red snapper. It was a whole piece, but you could do 2 fillets instead.

Sauce:

4 oz creme fresh
1.5 tbsp dijon mustard
.5 tbsp whole grain mustard (we actually used dill flavored mustard instead...hey, it was from harry & david's!)
1 tbsp minced shallots
1 tsp drained capers

Method:

Preheat oven to 425. Use a ovenproof baking dish or line a tin pan with parchment paper.

Put fish skin down in the pan & sprinkle generously with pepper & sea salt.

For the sauce, combine all ingredients (as well as little salt & pepper) before spreading evenly over the fillet(s) of fish. Make sure fish is completely covered and bake for 10-15 mins (until fish easily flakes at its thickest part).

Voila: another protein packed food for your protein packed, muscle building diet!

Cashew Curry

This recipe is great for a cold hard winter days nite (compliments to mr. lennon) and is perfect for 3-4 servings. We served ours over brown SUCCESS rice (b/c nothing makes you feel like a SUCCESS more than knowing that you can cook the perfect rice in a pre-prepared plastic bag that you can micro!).

FYI: adapted from the 101 cooks recipe and is under the "high protein" section. hey, i need all the protein i can get pooks.

What you'll need:

1 can coconut milk (14 oz, we used the thai brand, in a red can, can't remember the exact name)
2 tbsp curry powder (you can use less/more depending on your tongue's preference)
dash of sea salt
1/2 large red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/3 c water
4 oz firm tofu cut into small cubes (mother wussed out on this ingredient, so you can too)
1 c green beans, cut to 1 in. length
1.5 cups cauliflower, cut into tiny florets (you only need a very small head of cauli)
1/3 c cashews toasted (we just used ones that were already salted & toasted)
handful of cilantro, loosely chopped for garnish

What you'll do:

Bring 1/2 of the coconut milk to a simmer over medium heat in a large saucepan or deep skillet. Whisk in curry powder & salt and get rid of those clumps!

Add chopped garlic & onion and cook for a min or so before stirring in the remaining coconut milk & water. Add tofu now if you so choose! If you don't, add the green beans & cauliflower and then cover & simmer. You can cook it as long as you like--we did about 7 mins b/c mom likes her veggies mushie so they can get thru her dentures. You probably would like yours a littly crunchier.

When you are happy with the veggie texture, remove from heat, stir in the cashews. Pour over rice if you made it, then top with cilantro.

Yum! You'll be left wondering if you have been transported to Mumbai or Bombay....call it what you will!

Turkey and Roasted Red Pepper Meatloaf

This is sooo good! Only for meat lovers......sorry Poodie ;( Mother, I think you will likey even though your traditional recipe is also so good. Maybe you'll want to try something new?

-1.5 lbs ground turkey
-1 small yellow onion, chopped
-1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped
-2 garlic cloves, chopped
-7 oz jar roasted red peppers cut into half-inch pieces
-2 tablespoons dijon mustard
-1/2 cup bread crumbs
-1 cup grated parmesan
-1 egg beaten
-salt and pepper

-Preheat oven to 400 degrees
-Mix all ingredients together
-Form an 8 inch loaf
-Bake for 45 min. until no longer pink

So easy and you really can't screw this up! Tasted great and I'll definitely be making this again. Can't wait to get home and make a cold meatloaf sandwich!