Bowl of Berries

Last week I received  samples of Nature’s Pride Bread from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program so I immediately put grilled cheese and tomato soup on the menu for the week!

The whole wheat went in the freezer to enjoy a bit later but I used the 12 grain for our sandwiches.  First off, the bread smells amazing!  Nice and fresh.  It is packed with an inner wrapping which I am sure helps retain some of the freshness.  The 12 grain has some seeds in it, which Scottie quickly pointed out, but I loved the heartiness of it. Buttered on the outside and stuffed with white cheddar, it made a darn good sandwich.  The ingredients are all natural, no funny stuff here, which I love.  I wish it had a bit more fiber, when I have a sandwich I want to  get a fiber boost from the bread but that can be overlooked because this bread tastes great!  I haven’t seen it in the stores yet so not sure about the price, but I would imagine with would be about $3.69.  Not cheap for bread but I don’t eat a ton of bread anymore so I want high quality stuff!

For the soup I searched and searched for a good recipe.  Why do all tomato soup recipes have to include cream? I mean I do love a nice tomato bisque but not on a Wednesday night :)  Finally I found a Double Tomato Soup recipe from Cooking Light. This soup was great!  Great flavor (I used tomatoes with garlic and basil canned with them which added a nice extra bit of flavor,) thick and a bit of sweetness from the carrots.  I used an immersion blender to blend it up but I may use a regular blender next time to see if I can smooth it our a bit more.  Still a great texture.  I did top it with a bit of gorgonzola cheese for some extra saltiness but it isn’t really needed.

Overall a fantastic, easy dinner on a cool night!

Such a bad blogger I am, we had a dinner party over a week ago and I am just getting around to posting about it! We invited two other couples over for a simple dinner party last Thursday.  I love cooking for people and even though the week was crazy, it was nice to relax and enjoy friends in a non-bar atmosphere.  One of our guests does not eat animals with 4 legs so I figured I would pull out some salmon, which would help put a dent in our supply and would make for a pretty frugal party.  I think I spent less then $25 for the whole dinner- score! I decided to also tap into my pecan supply in the freezer so I went with a simple Honey Mustard Salmon with a Pecan Crust.  I used some of the Emeril’s Horseradish Dijon Mustard that I got a few days before from Foodbuzz, great timing!

I was a little disappointed with the mustard as I expected it to have more of a kick to it but I can better judge it when I have it plain on a hot dog…mmm hot dogs!

I used up the rest of some orzo we had and made a simple spring veggie orzo with the organic veggie broth I also got in my package.

Twas a lovely addition to the dish!  Finally I made  a simple salad of romaine, juicy peaches, red onions and crumbled goat cheese with a simple dressing of EVOO, lemon juice, salt and pepper.  It must have all been good as the plates were cleaned!

For dessert I took this idea from Poor Girl Eats Well and made cheesecake parfaits for dessert.  I used up a lonely bar of cream cheese and a can of sweetened condensed milk and then added in lemon zest and juice.  I actually only used about a half a can of the milk as I found that to be sweet enough without making it too runny.  I made the cheesecake before everyone arrived,  so when it was dessert time I just sliced up some strawberries and layered everything in a wine glass and topped each glass with some crumbled ginger snaps.  The recipe made 5 perfect portions and all of the glasses were practically licked clean.  I loved getting that cheesecake flavor so easily and cheaply.

No party is complete without some good wine and we went through 6 bottles!

Needless to say it was a success and clean up was a snap.  Hopefully we can have many more of these get togethers!

Honey Mustard Salmon with Pecan Crust
From Allrecipes.com

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard
3 tablespoons butter, melted
5 teaspoons honey
1/2 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/2 cup finely chopped pecans

3 teaspoons chopped fresh parsley
6 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
salt and pepper to taste
6 lemon wedges

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). In a small bowl, mix together the mustard, butter, and honey. In another bowl, mix together the bread crumbs, pecans, and parsley.

Season each salmon fillet with salt and pepper. Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with mustard-honey mixture. Cover the top of each fillet with bread crumb mixture.

Bake for 10 minutes per inch of thickness, measured at thickest part, or until salmon just flakes when tested with a fork. Serve garnished with lemon wedges.

I picked up a few Luna products at Fleet Feet a few weeks ago and thought the recovery smoothie would be perfect after an 11 mile run on Saturday.  I am a huge fan of chocolate milk as a recovery drink as I think it is cheap, easy and so good!  I always plan what I am going to eat/drink while I am running and use it as incentive to finish strong, hey whatever gets your through right?  The recovery smoothie has a decent amount of protein and the calories of the mix paired with milk would be good directly after the run to satisfy the hungry monster.  I was going to add a banana but decided to use it in my oats a bit later, plus I wanted the pure flavor of the mix.  I wizzed up the powder with about 1 1/2 cups of 1% milk in the pseudo Magic Bullet along with a handful of ice.

This shake was SO GOOD!  It does not have the chalky flavor that whey protein has, it blended up beautifully and tasted like a regular chocolate milkshake!  It wasn’t too sweet but still satisfied my chocolate craving and this filled me up while I cleaned bathrooms and picked up the house for about an hour.  I also have the strawberry banana smoothie to try but I think the dark chocolate flavor will be hard to beat!  Pick up a packet and try it out, if you like it buy the canister

** I was not paid or compensated for this review, but will gladly accept samples from the company