Smoked Salmon Pizza

Darren and I have been eating a lot of fish lately, which has been good for our health, but we wanted to try something a little different than fish, pasta and veggies. So, we thought we would give salmon pizza a try! I based my recipe off of the following: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/smoked-salmon-pizza/detail.aspx.

Ingredients:
Pizza Crust
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
3/4 C. Pizza Sauce
1 C. Smoked Salmon cut into 12 inch pieces
1/3 C. Sliced Sweet Onions
2 Tbsp. Chopped Sun-dried Tomatoes
2 Tsp. Capers

We made our own crust for one of the pizzas using Marsha White Pizza Crust. For the other pizza we cut sun-dried tomato foccacia bread in half to make two round pieces of bread. We used the bottom piece as the second crust.

Directions:
Cook salmon thoroughly in skillet on medium-high for approximately 2-4 minutes on each side. Set aside. While the salmon is cooling, start making the crust (ready-made crust can be used). Prepare crust according to packaged directions.

Slice onion; heat olive oil in skillet on medium-high. Carefully, add onion to skillet. Let cook, occasionally stirring until carmelized.
Once the salmon has cooled, cut 1/2 inch pieces and chop sun-dried tomatoes.

Top the crust with olive oil followed by pizza sauce. Spread shredded mozzarella cheese over top. Continue layering the pizza as follows: add salmon, carmelized onions, capers and sun-dried tomatoes.

Bake directly on oven rack at 350 degrees for approximately 10-14 minutes. While the pizzas are baking, top the other half of the foccacia with butter, garlic and light mozzarella cheese to make bread sticks. Add the garlic-cheese bread to the oven and bake at 350 degrees for 7-8 minutes.

Let pizza and breadsticks cool 2-3 minutes before slicing. Add a side salad, if you wish and enjoy!

Happy cooking from Tara's kitchen!

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Back on the wagon with Weight Watchers!

I found the Weight Watchers (WW) app for my phone and I can't begin to tell you how much easier it is to track my points and stay on plan. This ultimately will help me in my endeavor to meet my weight loss goal!!

Today, I made a very quick and easy low point lunch. I topped an everything bagel thin with mesquite turkey and mozzarella cheese I toasted it at 350 degrees for about 3-5 minutes. And...voila, I just made a 4 point WW sandwich! I cut up a small Granny Smith apple as a side, which is 0 points. Perfect lunch on the go!

If you do WW and know other quick, low point meals, please feel free to share!!

Smiles,
Tara

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Baked Cream Cheese Wontons

Easy, impressive and on the healthier side as they're baked not fried!

Ingredients:
Wonton wrappers
1/2 to 1 Tbsp. Cream Cheese
Small bowl of water

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. If your oven runs hot, set at 375 degrees.

2. Fill wonton wrappers with cream cheese. Fold one corner to the other to create a triangle. Use water on fingertips to act as glue to press the seams together.

You can leave the wontons in triangle shapes or be creative and shape like a traditional wonton.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray. Set wontons on sheet and lightly spray them as well. This will help brown them. Cook for 7-12 minutes.

Darren really liked these. Next time, I will cook longer at 375 degrees, instead of 400. We will also try to add crab meat with green onion, possibly.

Happy cooking from Tara's kitchen :-)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0

Crock-Pot Mongolian Beef

The crock-pot works wonders, my friends!! I got this recipe from allrecipes.com, but changed it up a bit to not only suit my tastes, but also what I had on hand. I have noted the ingredients with a star that I changed from the original recipe. Feel free to pass on and enjoy!

Ingredients:
*1 lb Flank Steak, cut into bite size pieces (2-3 inches long, thin pieces will do)
1/4 C. Corn Starch
2 tsp Olive Oil
1 Small Onion (Yellow or sweet onion)
1 tsp Minced Garlic (garlic press works great, thanks to Darren :)
3 Large Green Onions, chopped
*1/2 C. Soy Sauce
1/2 C. Water
1/2 C. Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Ginger
*1/2 C. Hoison Sauce

*I only had 1/2 lb. Round Steak on hand. With that said, I scaled this recipe down to match the 1/2 lb. of meat, but it worked out perfectly for the two of us. I also did not have soy or hoison sauce, so I played with some ingredients and added the following:

1/2 C. Teriyaki Sauce
Couple of shakes of chili powder
3-4 shakes of red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Place steak and corn starch in Ziploc bag and coat evenly. Set aside for ten minutes.

2. Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir steak until evenly browned (2-4 minutes).

3. Place onion, garlic, steak, green onions, soy sauce, water, brown sugar, ginger and hoison sauce in slow cooker. Cook on low setting for about 4 hours.

I made this with white rice, green beans and cream cheese wontons, which were also very easy to make. The taste of the sauce was amazing and this has definitely become a favorite!

Happy cooking from Tara's Kitchen :-)

Published with Blogger-droid v1.7.0