fish and a few good fall recipes

Seared Ahi Tuna Salad with Balsamic Reduction 
Ingredients

1 big ahi tuna steak (as fresh as possible)
S&P
olive oil
1 cup quinoa or rice
1/4 t. each cumin & coriander
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup shelled cooked edamame
1/2 cup cooked corn kernels
1/4 cup diced red onion
1 cup mixed greens


Directions
Preheat grill or grill pan to high. Season fish with S&P and coat both sides with olive oil. Meanwhile cook quinoa or rice according to package directions and add the cumin and coriander in with the water. Set aside to somewhat cool while everything else is cooking. Put balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan over low-medium heat. Small bubbles will form around the edges after about 3-5 min. Don't touch it, just let it reduce down until thick. I cooked the fish while mine was working on the stove. Sear fish on both sides about 2-3 min each (depending on how done you want it). Let fish rest about 5 min before slicing into thin strips against the grain. Meanwhile stir edamame, corn and onions into quinoa. Arrange quinoa mixture on top of salad greens and then fish on top of that. Drizzle with balsamic reduction. 


Notes
I was craving some kind of fresh fish dish. I made this up and used what I had on hand. Feel free to swap out fish for chicken or beef along with all other ingredients. The good thing about salad is you can usually throw in whatever you have. I also squeezed a lime over the while thing and topped with a lime wheel. Enjoy!


Winter Root Vegetable Soup
Ingredients:
about 5 cups peeled and chopped root vegetables, for example:

3 parsnips

3 large carrots 

2 turnips

1 sweet potato

1 small butternut squash

olive oil, S&P
3 T. butter
3 stalks celery
1/2 yellow onion
dash nutmeg
1 quart veggie broth
1/2 cup milk or half &half
Directions:
Preheat oven to 425. Peel & chop veggies into small pieces. Drizzle with olive oil, S&P on a baking sheet. Roast 35-45 min, stir half way through. Meanwhile saute diced onions & celery in a large soup pot over medium heat about 5 minutes. Stir in veggie broth & bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer 10 min.  Then transfer root veggies & about 1 1/2 cups of soup liquid to a blender or food processor (if you have an emulsion blender, you can just pour the veggies in the pot and blend everything). Pulse until almost smooth (I like some chunks). Transfer back to pot, stir & simmer 10 min. Add nutmeg and milk or half &half. Top with grated nutmeg & serve!
Notes:

I just copy/pasted this from recipe club, so sorry if the layout is all weird. 


Sarah's Punkin' Seeds!!!

I pulled this pic off Google
(doesn't really do mine justice)

Ingredients
pumpkin seeds
1-3 T. butter (I use about 1 1/2 T. per pumpkin)
Lawreys season salt (This really is the best!)


Directions
Scoop out seeds, remove stringy stuff, rinse and pat dry. Preheat oven to 325. Saute in butter on medium/high heat about 5 min. This seems to get them a bit crunchier. Pour out onto cookie sheet and roast in oven 10 min. Stir around and put back in oven 10 min more. Stir around, add Lawreys salt and roast about 3-5 min more. Let cool 5 min. I've seriously got this down to an exact science! Hint: white pumpkins have more seeds than orange. They are also bigger and sweeter! Enjoy!


Orange Iced Pumpkin Cookies
Ingredients

pic from inspired2cook.com

1 cup butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup pureed pumpkin
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
2 cups flour
1 t. baking powder
1/2 t. baking soda
pinch salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup raisins (optional)
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup softened butter
1 t. vanilla
3 T. orange juice + zest


Directions
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Add pumpkin, egg and vanilla. Combine flour, baking powder, soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg. Sit into pumpkin mixture. Add nuts and raisins if desired. Drop in big spoonfuls on greased baking sheet. Bake 15-20 min. Beat together powdered sugar, butter and vanilla until smooth. Add zest and then add orange juice a little at a time until icing is runny. Drizzle over cooled cookies. Enjoy!