Another's Trash, My Treasure

Several weeks ago, my son's friend asked me if I would be interested in a rotisserie oven and a bread machine. It seems that his grandparents were moving and they were just going to toss these things. I told him sure, bring them to me, I can certainly put them to good use!

The rotisserie was still in a box and had never been opened.  It seems that his grandparents received it as a Christmas gift a few years back and never found a use for it. What a shame that they never found out how completely awesome this gift was, but I am over joyed with my good fortune.

He also told me the bread machine had only been used once. His grandmother found it harder to use than she thought it would be, so she just stuck it in pantry. Believe me, it looks like it has never been touched and unlike the grandmother, I don't find it hard to use at all. As I type, my house is filling with the awesome smell of fresh bread.

These are two items I have seriously contemplated purchasing lately.  I have seen several bread machines at the thrift store, but they were still  a bit pricey and I am kinda of leery about buying appliances used for a good sum of money.  You never know if it's going to work right until you get it home and if I'm gonna spend over $20 on it, then it better work!

Both the rotisserie and the bread machine has seen weekly use, since received.  I have gotten into the habit of roasting several chickens each weekend, to save on cooking time for meals during the week. I have also found that it is very easy to roast veggies for Meatless Monday's and seafood is so easy in this, that I have no problem keeping my my promise of eating fish at least once every week.  I have dozens of recipes to try out and I'm sure you will see many of them here in blogs to come. The best thing about it, in this hot weather, I'm not heating up my house with the oven! This is definitely a plus.

Today I am making honey wheat bread. It is very simple and oh so good! If you have the time, I suggest you make two loaves, because it never lasts very long around here.

I am also making a rotisserie pork tenderloin, soaked in a apple cider and brown sugar brine and topped with a ginger peach sauce. Green Beans Provencal with Herb Roasted Potatoes.

For the brine I used this recipe and doubled it for a 4 lb pork tenderloin.  I let it soak over night, but no longer than 12 hours.  Please remember to make sure that your pork tenderloin is not enhanced.  The label will indicate if it is enhanced.

Now, the peach sauce is all my own. Find the recipe below:

Peach Sauce:
4 tablespoons brown sugar
4 teaspoons cider vinegar
2 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2  teaspoon ground cinnamon
 4 fresh peaches, peeled and sliced

Mix brown sugar, vinegar, soy, cornstarch, ginger and cinnamon in small saucepan. Bring to boil on low heat; simmer 5 minutes. Add peaches; simmer 3 minutes longer. To serve, spoon warm peach sauce on pork tender loin.

Adventures in Eating Salmon: A Non Fish Eater's Journey Part 1

Baked Teriyaki Salmon
Mango Kiwi Salsa
Honey Lime Corn Relish

If you are are a regular reader, then you know I am not a big fan of fish.  If you are new to my blog, I'll keep the history lesson short.  Up until five years ago, with the exception of shell fish, I did not eat fish.  In the past five years I have acquired a taste for salt water fish, but one of the things that was still a hit or miss thing with me, was and is, salmon. 

I have wanted to like it.  On occasion, I have enjoyed it grilled, usually with a ginger glaze sauce.  But I have never managed to cook it myself, where it was even edible, much less enjoyable.  Nevertheless, I have pledged to keep trying until I can manage to consume salmon, on a somewhat regular basis. In that spirit, I purchase a couple of nice salmon steaks to experiment with. 

One of my great pleasures in life is trying new recipes. Some of my very favorites come from the Cooking Light magazine.  In the latest issue, they had a recipe for Cedar Plank Grilled Salmon with Mango Kiwi Salsa. The picture set my mouth a watering, so I gave my son the task of procuring a cedar plank for me. Well, after several attempts to find a non-treated plank failed, a friend advised me to just do a teriyaki marinade and grill it in my fish basket. This really appealed to me, so grilled teriyaki it was!

As you may know, I am on a quest to be a 80/20 clean eater by January 2013.  Although I have divested most of my kitchen of most pre-prepared foods, mainly ones that contain preservatives, I still owned a bottle of Lawry's Teriyaki Marinade.  I decided now was the time time to use it and remedy my kitchen of it's presence. (I am most certain that one made by me would have been much yummier and I promise from now on, to try hard not to fudge.)

After a few mishaps with our grill, it was decided that I would resort to baking it.  Now, I have NEVER, had much success with baking salmon.  I was sure that it would turn out like it normally does, dry or very fishy tasting, but I consoled myself that I had the awesome salsa and corn relish to fall back on.  

Let me just say that this was the most wonderful surprise I have had in a long time.  Not only was it was it edible, but it was delectable! The spicy sweet salsa was a perfect match and I couldn't be more pleased with how it turned out.  I ate every last fork full. 

I still want to try the original recipe, so I am on the search for a non-treated cedar plank. With more recipes like this one, I may actually promote salmon to a regular rotation status in my menus, dare I say, weekly? What? It could happen!  

I apologize for the quality of the photo.  I am not a professional food blogger (yet), but I am looking for a better camera and will hopefully post better shots in the future.  Below are the recipes for the above meal and I hope you enjoy. 

Baked Teriyaki Salmon

4-4 oz salmon steaks

1 bottle of Lawry's Teriyaki Marinade

Marinate salmon for at two hours. Preheat oven to 350. Spray oven dish with cooking spray. Remove salmon from marinade and place into ovenware. Discard remaining marinade. Bake for 22 minutes.  Remove the skin, by sliding your knife just under the skin. 

Serves 4

Calories per serving 240

Cooking Light Mango Kiwi Salsa

1 ripe mango, peeled and diced

1/2 cup kiwi, peeled and diced

2 tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped

1 tsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp of fresh lime juice

1 serrano chili, finely chopped

Mix all ingredients and chill.  Can be made ahead. 

Serves 4

Calories per serving 54

Honey Lime Corn Relish

4 ears fresh corn, shucked and sliced off cob

1 medium onion

1 cup of bell pepper (red looks really pretty)

2 serrano chili, finely diced

1 tbsp olive extra virgin olive oil

2 tbsp lime juice

1 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

Coat heated skillet with olive oil.  Add onions and bell pepper and cook until onions are translucent. 

Add corn and serrano.  Cook for 2 mins, stirring often.  Turn heat down to low and add lime juice and honey.  Simmer until most of the liquid has evaporated. Salt and pepper to taste. 

Servings 4

Calories per serving 138