grilled trouts & dinner on the patio

by Anna on 14 May, 2013 | 3 comments

grilledtrout1

Trout. One of my favorite fish to eat. Whenever I see it in restaurants menus I can’t resist to order it. At home I’ve prepared it broiled, baked in tinfoil, fried sprinkled with flour or just seasoned, and last week I finally had a chance to taste it grilled to perfection by my husband. He is fishing with his buddies on the weekends and recently he caught six beautiful trouts. All I had to do was to prepare two sides: baked potato fries and sauerkraut salad, pour some good white wine and dinner on the patio was ready. I can easily say that since I took the first bite I knew that grilling trout is going to be my favorite method of preparing it.

rawtrouts

Trout:

Season each fish with salt and pepper inside and outside, put slice of lemon inside of each fish, place in the fish grilling basket and grill 7 minutes per side on the medium heat.

Baked potatoes:

Peel the potatoes, cut into wedges, place on the baking sheet, sprinkle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper and bake in 385 degrees F for about 45 minutes until crispy and brown.

Sauerkraut salad:

Ingredients:

2 cups of drained and cut sauerkraut

1 carrot shredded

1 leek (white part) thinly sliced

1/2 apple shredded

a pinch of sugar, salt and pepper

Preparation:

Mix all ingredients in a bowl, adjust seasoning to your taste.

weekend gardening

by Anna on 9 May, 2013 | 1 comment

Sharing with you the fruits of the recent gardening session on my deck.

President Lilacs…looks like they won’t bloom this year so I’ll have to wait until next spring for beautiful cones of blue flowers… Gorgeous Unpatients…I bought them in Costco for $19.99 per tray of 8, I got 2 trays, white and pink. The wooden barrel is from Lowe’s for about $35.

And my little herb garden {thyme, sage, rosemary and oregano} in coconut hanging basket I bought at Lowe’s for about $10.

My next gardening project is to plant some mint, parsley and basil.

Do you plant a garden?

celery ginger juice with a bit of honey

by Anna on 6 May, 2013 | 4 comments

celerygingerjuice1

Happy Monday! On Saturday I planted some flowers, herbs and shrubs on my deck. It cost me back pain on Sunday but with help of arnica gel I’m feeling fine today. Gardening is a tough work for sure. I will post a few pictures of how it turned out next time. I can tell you now that I’m very pleased with the result.

The color of this juice may not be the prettiest but it is definitely tasty and healthy. A couple of times when making juice I was trying to skip an apple to make it healthier but without a bit of sweetness it’s not very tasty…. This time instead of juicing an apple I decided to mix in a bit of natural honey. The juice not only tasted great but also had this amazing aroma of honey and ginger.

Ingredients:

1 whole head of celery (stalks)

a piece of ginger

2 medium carrots

1 tsp of natural honey ( or more if you want)

Preparation:

Put celery stalks, carrots and ginger through juicer, mix in honey and enjoy!

celerygingerjuice3 celerygingerjuice2

Sauteed garlic kale broccoli

by Anna on 29 April, 2013 | 8 comments

Hello! How was your weekend my friends? May is around the corner and it is still not warm enough here on the east coast. I’m planning on planting some flowers and herbs in the planters on my patio this week. Recently, I read about setting your own veggie garden in the wood box so I’m also thinking about creating little garden section as well but we will see how it works. Yesterday my husband assembled brand new grill so we hope to start barbecue season soon. I can’t wait…

I served this garlicky kale broccoli as a side dish with crusted chicken and quinoa but it is also great on a top of brown rice or fusilli pasta. Tasty and quick to prepare.

Ingredients:

16 oz bag of organic baby kale

small head of broccoli, cut into florets

garlic clove, minced

salt and pepper

olive oil

approx. 1/8 cup of vegetable stock

Preparation:
Heat the oil in the sauteing pan, add garlic, saute for 30 sec, add kale leaves and broccoli florets, salt and pepper and continue sauteing stirring occasionally for another 3 minutes until kale leaves are soft, Add vegetable stock and keep cooking for another 5 minutes until stock is absorbed. Serve over pasta with a sprinkle of goat cheese crumbles or as a side dish for dinner.