Teriyaki Salmon and Pineapple-Chili Halibut

The Husband's uncle and girlfriend were in town, so we made some inroads on our remaining fish and had a great big seafood extravaganza - necessary, since we're going out fishing again in less than two weeks.  I opened up with white wine clams, then had these two dishes as entrees as well as some king crab legs.  Fantastique!

Thanks to Ed's Kasilof Seafoods for the ideas!

Teriyaki Salmon

Ingredients
Salmon fillets
1/4 c brown sugar
3 T olive oil
3 T soy sauce
1 t garlic powder
1 t ginger
1/2 t cayenne

Blend all but the salmon in a plastic bag.  Add the salmon and refrigerate for 30 minutes.  Flip over and refrigerate another 30 minutes.  Bake at 350 for 3-4 minutes on each side.

Pineapple-Chili Halibut

Ingredients
1 halibut fillet, cubed
1 cup sweet chili sauce
1 small can crushed pineapple
1/4 c olive oil
juice from 2 limes
1/2 c rice vinegar
2 t cayenne

Blend all but the halibut in a plastic bag.  Add halibut and refrigerate for 1 hour, turning halfway through.  Bake at 350 until cooked through and flaky, about 8 minutes.  Alternatively, skewer and grill!

Shortcake Roll

This is a great dessert that I got from a coworker a year or so ago.  I tried to make it last summer, but I made the mistake of leaving it on the counter to cool while I ran some errands - who would have thought that cats liked angel food cake?  Mine apparently does!

Use any fruits you'd like for this roll.  The chocolate topping is optional, but my husband's side of the family doesn't consider anything dessert unless it has chocolate in it!

Ingredients
1 package angel food cake
2-3 cups sliced strawberries (or other fruit!)
2 c whipping cream
2 t vanilla
2 T powdered sugar
powdered sugar for dusting
chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a large rectangular pan (I use the 18x15 disposable oven trays... it needs to be big!).  Mix the angel food cake according to package directions.  Pour onto pan and spread evenly over the whole pan.  Bake about 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Sprinkle a cotton towel with powdered sugar.  Place the cake onto the towel.  Remove the pan and roll the cake up in the towel.  Cool on a rack while rolled up.

In a large bowl, combine the whipping cream, vanilla and powdered sugar.  Whip with a mixer until light and fluffy.

Carefully unroll the cake.  Spread with whipped cream and top with berries, then roll it back up.

Top with powdered sugar or melt chocolate chips and drizzle over top.

Garlic-Rosemary Chicken

I used to be afraid of whole chickens.

Now, I am not.  Now, I am a believer in the amazing deliciousness and cost effectiveness of whole chickens.  If you use the carcass for stock, as I do, it's way cheaper than buying breasts or whatever.  Sometimes I'll butcher the chicken and sometimes, like this one, I will roast it whole.  The Husband is quite partial to a roasted chicken!  It's super easy, too!

Ingredients

1 chicken
4-6 T melted butter
1-2 cloves garlic, minced
2 t rosemary

Preheat oven to 425.

Clean out the chicken under cool water.  Remove any remaining giblets and pat dry.  Place on a roasting rack.

Mix melted butter, garlic, and rosemary.

Rub the butter mixture all over the chicken - rub some inside it, too!

Bake for approximately 1 hour.

Backpacking Menu 6/5-6/7

We're going backpacking this weekend down by Hope, and I figured I'd post our weekend menu and some recipes.  I've got quite an assortment here, making good use of my dehydrator which has already paid for itself.

Each day has a breakfast, lunch, dinner, and three snacks since we'll be putting in significant mileage during the day.

Saturday

Breakfast - at home
Lunch - Subway, since we won't have to haul it very far!
Dinner - Spaghetti (dried noodles, dehydrated sauce)
Snack - home-made trail mix
Snack -fruit (fresh)
Snack - oreos

Sunday

Breakfast - cereal with dried milk
Lunch - PB&J for him, tuna salad for me
Dinner - Beef stew (beef and veggies dehydrated at home, stew mix from the store)
Snack - peanut butter/cranberry roll-ups
Snack - fruit leather
Snack - oreos

Monday

Breakfast - oatmeal
Lunch - same as Sunday
Dinner - home!
Snack - fruit leather
Snack - home-made trail mix

Now, for the recipes, since that's what this blog is all about!

Trail Mix

This one is easy and entirely customizable.  Here's what I throw into mine:

1. Nuts.  Just buy whatever kinds you like at the store.  I don't like them much, so I buy tiny ones like peanuts and slivered almonds.

2. Fruits.  You can buy dried fruits or dehydrate your own.  I've found that dehydrated strawberries are a HUGE hit, as are dehydrated apples.  I slice the strawberries, and dice the apples as small as possible.  Craisens I just get from the store.

3. Granola crunch.  Because we all need that crunch!  Mix up some granola, applesauce, and spices (salt is quite tasty, actually) in a bowl.  Add some nuts if you want.  Spread thin on a sheet and bake until hard and crispy.  Break into small chunks and toss in the bag!

4. Chocolate.  You can't have trail mix without it!  I like peanut-butter M&Ms, the hubby goes for regular.

Throw everything into a bag and you are good to go!

Peanut-butter Cranberry Roll-ups

I feel guilty even calling this a recipe.  Get the tiny flour tortillas from the store.  Spread with peanutbutter and craisens.  Roll up tightly and seal in a bag.  Easy snack that won't go bad for a few days hike!  High in protein, too!

Leathers and Dehydrated Sauces

I've talked about this before so I'll be brief.  The same idea that works for fruit leather (puree, spread, dry) works for sauces, too.  If you've got a chunky tomato sauce, it's probably a good idea to run it through the processor for a moment to smooth it out.  Otherwise, spread it out, dry, roll up, and you're good to go.  Just toss it into the pot with the pasta and the water!

I'm making four different fruit leathers for this weekend - strawberry/raspberry, strawberry/apple, peach/cinnamon, and mixed fruit.

Dehydrated Beef Stew

Not as hard as it seems.  Take your stew beef, trim off all the fat.  Simmer for an hour or so, until cooked through.  Dehydrated at around 145 for 6 hours or so, until hard.

Dice up all of your veggies.  Dehydrate at 130, 145 for onions.  Toss in a bag with the beef.

If you need more calories, throw some rice or quinoa in as well.

Take a packet of stew seasoning or bouillon cube with you - toss the seasoning, meats, veggies and all into a pot of water, and cook away!

Zesty, Fruity Ham and Asparagus Bake

Here's another of my somewhat random "throw things into a pot and see how they taste" last minute meals.  And it is fantastic!  It does not get simpler than this, but still packs quite a punch (both taste-wise and heat-wise).  It's colorful, too!  If you like less spice, simply use a different type of tomato.

Ingredients

4 slices ham, diced
1 can diced pineapple
1 small can diced habenero tomatoes
1 bunch asparagus, diced

Combine all ingredients in a tinfoil pouch.  Bake for 30 minutes at 350.

Stuffed Peppers

I love stuffed peppers because it's a great way to get some veggies in and it's never the same twice - at least, the way I make it!  A little of this, a little of that, and tadaa!

To begin, select your pepper.  Red ones are sweeter than green ones, but up here I mostly just take whichever ones look less nasty.  We don't get good fresh veggies at the commissary!  Wash and remove the guts, then set aside.

Preheat the oven to about 350.

If you want a carnivorous pepper, the next step is to brown off your meat.  I used ground beef for this, but anything would work.  Once the meat is cooked, add in some aromatics.  This time I used onions and garlic.  I almost threw some basil in, but forgot about it.  Dice up some veggies and toss them in as well (I used zucchini and yellow squash).  Let the veggies cook a bit, then get the pot simmering with a big of liquid.  You don't need much - a bit of red sauce, or some canned diced tomatoes (habenero for a kick!).  Simmer to reduce a bit, then spoon the mix into the peppers and bake about 30 minutes, or until the flesh of the pepper is tender.

You can add a starch to this as well, rice or quinoa or whatever your favorite is.  I found that this time around I didn't need any, since I had the meat and tons of veggies.  If I was going vegetarian, I'd probably sub some quinoa for the beef.

Fruit Leather

Or, as my friend has named it, Heather-Leather.

Essentially, fruit leather is a fruit roll-up. But minus all that crap that you don't want!  This is a very basic, easily customizable recipe. Today was my first time making it. As it turned out, I made the error of spreading it too thin. However, it's still amazingly tasty!

I used 1/2 strawberries for this, with honeydew and kiwi to round it out.  As soon as the weekend market opens, I'm going to get some of those fat white peaches and make cinnamon peach leather!

As a note, most fruit can be pureed simply by running it through a food processor. A few, such as rosehips, require boiling to reduce them to puree.

Ingredients

2 c pureed fruit
1-3 T honey
Spices to taste

Mix the honey, puree, and spices together.  Line a baking pan with microwave safe plastic wrap and set your oven as low as it will go (under 200!).  Spread the mixture onto the plastic wrap, 1/4 to 1/8 thick - don't spread too thin!

Place in oven.  Do not close oven door all the way!  Dry for 4-8 hours, depending on your fruit, humidity, and oven.  Leather is done when it can be peeled from the plastic while maintaining its shape.

Roll up in the plastic wrap.  Store in the refrigerator.