Dover Sole with lemon butter dill sauce, quinoa, brussell sprouts, grilled asparagus

Pan fried Dover Sole with a lemon butter dill sauce, Imperial quinoa, roasted brussel sprouts, and grilled aspargas.

It was a tough day.  Well, accept for my swim.  I was ready to do a BOC (bowl of cereal) and hunker down for the night, when I decided, you know what?  I'm making something.  Dang, and it turned out pretty good!  I had some dover sole in the freezer, and I just got some more brussel sprouts, and asparagus, and Moira noticed some Imperial quinoa in the cupboard.  As it turns out, there's quite a bit to it, but everything was fast and easy to make.

Serves 4  Time: 45 minutes, less if you are fast

Dover Sole with lemon butter dill sauce

1 pound dover sole fillets, thawed and dry with a paper towel
2 Tbsp olive oil

Heat the oil in a large saute pan.  Saute the fish to brown at medium heat,
about 4-5 minutes each side.

Lemon butter dill sauce
2 Tbsp melted butter
1/2 juice of meyer lemon
2-3 dashes dill

Warm the butter to liquid.  Add lemon juice and dill.  Stir
and drizzle over the fish.

Quinoa
1 cup imperial quinoa
2 cups water

Put the water and quinoa in a pot.  Bring to boil and reduce to simmer.  The quinoa is done when the water is absorbed, about 20 minutes.

Roasted Brussel Sprouts
1 pound Brussel sprouts
2 Tbsp olive oil

Cut off nub and take off any leaves that don't look green
slice in half
put in a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper
spread on a cookie sheet or jelly roll pan

bake at 400 deg F for 20 minutes

Grilled Asparagus
1 pound fresh asparagus
2 Tbsp olive oil

Break off woody part of the asparagus.  It's about the bottom inch or two.  Drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. Toss to distribute the oil.  Grill, turning once, about 15 minutes until tips are just brown.

Vegitarian Collard Greens and Garbanzo Beans

Collard Greens and Garbanzo Beans

I can't say I've ever had a strong urge to try collard greens.  It sounded greasy and limp and soggy.  That said, I've been on a greens kick the last few days.  I've done chard a few different ways, both red and white chard.  I've done spinach and what else?  I forget.  I've been going over to the greens section, and just checking things out.  So, the trick with collard greens is cutting out that rib and stalk.

Anyways, traditional southern collard greens have ham hocks or some other meat you stew in it.  I went for a vegetarian adaptation.  I had garbanzo beans with greens before, and it's really a tasty rich combination.   That artisan bread is toasted and drizzled with EVOO as Rachael would say.  Olive oil, salt and pepper.  It turned out to be a great last minute addition for sopping and dunking.

Serves 4-6  Total time:  45 minutes

Ingredients:
1 bunch collard greens, washed
1/2 onion, peeled and diced
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp pepper flakes
2 Tbsp olive oil
2/3 of 28 oz canned tomatoes, cut up
1 15 oz can garbanzo beans- rinsed
3 c vegetable broth 
garnish with shaved Parmesan cheese on top

It's probably best to prep the greens first.  This was my first time, and basically what I learned is,  stack about 3-4 leaves together and fold tip to stalk.  Cut the stalk out.  I didn't cut every bit out, but about halfway up the leaf to get out all the fibrous stalk.  Roll the trimmed leaves together, and cut into one inch strips.  You can cut them into shorter strips too if you want.

Heat the oil, then saute the onions and garlic and pepper flakes in the olive oil for about 3-5 minutes.  Start with the onions, then add the garlic and pepper flakes.  Once the onions are translucent, toss in the prepared collard greens and saute for about a minute or two.  Add the broth, and simmer for 30-40 minutes until leaves are just cooked.  Add the tomatoes and garbanzo beans.  It's ready!  I shaved a bit of Parmesan cheese mostly for garnish.  The pepper flakes give it a kick, and the beans add a richness.  The tomatoes were sweet!  You can use fresh tomatoes when they are in season.

I toasted the artisan bread, and drizzled with EVOO and a bit of salt and pepper.  Always a treat.

Happy New Year Lentil, Leek and Spinach Soup

 

I made this recipe a couple weeks ago, after all the parties settled down.  We had momentous milestones; Sarah's 21st, Moira turned 18, and I turned 39 (just kidding- 39+), not to mention Christmas and New Years.  Lentils came to mind today, because I made lentils again, and instead of spinach, I used some fresh chard I sauted with the veggie broth, oh, and I added some super hot peppers I chopped up fine, also from the garden from this summer and a little splash of balsamic vinegar.

This a a perfect go-to recipe for after the holidays.  It helped me clear out the fridge, and it's comfort food and seems like it's good for you, after all the rich holiday food.  I particularly like this picture, highlighting my new pottery Sarah made at school, and the Christmas lights dazzling in the window.

See that red pepper?  It was from the garden, amazingly, from this summer.  I think I harvested it at the end of November.  The cheese crusted bread adds a bit of specialness to the dish, making it a nice light dinner.

Serves 4-6
Great for leftovers too.
45-60 minutes start to finish

Lentil leek and spinach soup

1 pound dry lentils
1 onion, diced
2 leeks sliced and diced thin, the white parts
1 red pepper
2 carrots, diced small cubes
1 quart vegetable broth
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 bunches cleaned spinach

Cheesy bread

1 baguette sliced thin pieces
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup shaved Parmesan cheese

Rinse the lentils a few times, then bring the water to boil, about 6 cups of water.  Turn it down to simmer for another 20-30 minutes until the beans are just starting to soften, but not all the way cooked.  Drain out most of the water, and add the vegetable broth and bring to just boiling and turn it down.

While the lentils are cooking saute the onions, leeks, and carrots in the olive oil.  I like to start with the onions, and get them to caramelizing, then the leeks, just until they start to soften, and same with the carrots and peppers. 

Add the sauteed veggies and spinach to the lentils with broth.  In about 1-2 minutes the spinach will wilt and be perfect.

Cheesy Bread
spread baguette slices on a jelly roll pan
drizzle oil lightly over bread
salt and pepper bread
sprinkle with cheese
Broil for about 5-7 minutes until cheese starts to melt.
Serve with the soup.

Happy New Year! Happy Birthday!

This was taken before our Christmas cookie decorating party, where you can see we had a birthday theme going after Sarah's birhday.  I like the photo because you can see the beginnings of our new living room, both inside and outside.  There are the Navajo rugs hanging, and the new couch, along with the shadows of the new patio coming.  Aren't those stair lights cool?!  And the circular stairs coming down from the door.

Don't forget halloween!  See the pumpkins?  And our Christmas tree of course.

Triple Crown PCC Aquatics Center

Peninsula Community Center Pool

We already swam the middle leg.   I started my swim with a bunch of my fellow Masters swimmers at 6am last Saturday.  Before the day was done, we set a new record with 64 swimmers in the pool at once.  I got out of the pool, having finished 7,500 meters for the Christmas swim, celebrated with my buds, and home by 9:30 am.  BAM.

What's the Triple Crown?
It's a fun event we do at PCC Masters, and I think it's something that many Master's teams do.  It's a holiday event, with swims on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years Day.  Actually, the Christmas swim is on an alternate day, ours was last Saturday.  Each day has a longer distance at each of the three levels.  To accommodate all our swimmers, we have 2 start times.  I usually do the early one, 6am.

Here's my guess at the meters at each level:

Level/Day             Thanksgiving             Christmas            New Years Day
Bronze                       1,500                           2,500                       3,500
Silver                         3,500                           5,000                       6,500
Gold                           5,000                           7,500                     10,000
 
The gold levels equate to 3 miles, 4.6 miles, and 6.2 miles on New Year's Day.  That's at least 3.5hrs for me.

Jib Jab with Tim
I took this picture after our workout.   You can see two people still in the hot tub.   Notice all 6 lanes of the pool.  I've been swimming lane 4 lately.  Each lane is a progressively faster pace, lane 5 being the fastest, and lane 6 is available as needed.  When you think about 64 swimmers in this pool at once, it's well, amazing.

Typical Workout on the board

Here's a typical workout.  You can see we do all strokes.  Anything from 25 meters, to 400 meter swims.  All said, including 500 meter warm-up, 2,900 meters for those in the faster lanes.  The number matrix shows times for each length.  The numbers closest to the left are for the faster lanes.  For example, top left in the 2nd set (#2) is 600 which means 6 minutes for 1x 400 meters.  That's a 1:30 pace per 100 meters.  Pretty rockin for me, and I am happy to say, I made it!

PCC Pool

A couple more shots- This shows our coach, Mike on the pool deck.  The motto sounds a lot like Mike's motto for us.  It's incredibly straight-forward, yet incredibly life-changing.  "Get in, go back and forth."

 

Double Jib Jab

Swimming has become an integral part of my life.  It seems every day I swim is a good day.  Every other day may be too, it's just those swim days seem particularly special.  Here's a couple pictures on the 7 minute drive to the pool.

Cranberry Noels, Cherry Chocolate Chunk, revisited

Cranberry Noels, candy cane and Christmas tree cookies

We made these last year, and the year before, and the year before.  The recipe is here.

Cherry Chocolate Chunk cookies

These cookies are so delicious.  Huge chunks of chocolate and bing cherries.  These are also a recipe from previous Christmas cookie cooking sprees.  The recipe is here.

Jib Jab with Tim
It was really fun making these cookies.  It's really helped me get into the holiday spirit.  These are some of the best holiday cookies I've ever had.  My sister-in-law introduced us to them several years ago.

Cranberry Noels
These are incredible cookies.  Such an awesome combination of butter, sugar, cranberries, coconut and pecans.  There are a couple techniques and tricks to keep in mind. First, when you roll them out, make the dough thin.  Also, you are going to tend toward browning them.  DONT.  These are best if you don't brown them.  It's really a balancing act, between thin and making sure you don't brown em.  In the end, these go in the premium cookie section.  They are a step above the traditional chocolate chip or sugar or snickerdoodle cookie.

One more note.  I used sweetened coconut from the grocery store.  Later, I was at Whole Foods, and they have a much better selection of coconut in the bulk section.  It looks a lot fresher and it's less expensive.  The more I shop at Whole Foods, the more I think it's not only better food, and better choices, but often less expensive. 

Cherry Chocolate Chunk

Another totally premium cookie.  Bring these out for your special family and friends.  :-)  If you have had them, you know who I am talking about.  If not, ask for them.  They are a special treat.  These are a combination of intense cocoa, sour cherry, and big chunks of bittersweet chocolate chunks.

Trader Joe's has the dried cherries and the huge bittersweet bars.  They do a 500 gram bar, which is a bit over 16oz.  It's bittersweet with almonds.  I crushed the chocolate into really large chunks, which is tasty, just messy if they are still warm.

All said, these are going to make a nice gift for our neighbors, if the rain breaks long enough to deliver...

I love our new patio

It's not finished yet, but every day, I like it more and more. We have a craftsman/artist building it. It is a concrete patio, which sounds incredibly common. The thing is, it's going to be totally contemporary and unique.

Conscapes Landscape and Concrete Construction
Working with Rick has been an inspiration.  He's an artist with concrete.  We originally were planning a flagstone patio.  Even now, I think that would have been beautiful.  Now, we've moved to something much more special.  It's a sculpture.  It's a highlight, a unique jewel within our home.  Rick has worked with us, to incorporate our ideas and whims, and helped us shape them into special accents, and attention to detail I can already feel.  The benches?  His idea.  Part of the pour.  Another idea he suggested?  He knew we wanted modern.  So, he says, maybe we could use stainless steel instead of the normal joints.  Sweet!  Another exciting twist?  Rick showed us some exposed stone he created in a concrete planter.  So, he took some beach finds we gave him, and embedded them in the bench.  See the lights in the stair riser and the ends of the bench.  It's a 12 V system embedded.  He embedded irrigation too, for the flush planter we'll have.  I will tell you more about the ipe river later.  It goes between the window and blue spruce.


It's been a blast.  Can't wait to do more.  The final pour is scheduled for Thursday.  Cross your fingers for no rain.

Final pour complete.  Now for the finishing touches.

Concrete in.  Non-stop rain since.

Here you see the kitchen steps, and the recess where the ipe will be, flush with the concrete.