Honey Lime Glazed Ham

This is a wonderful glaze that I adapted from a recipe my mother had (she used orange juice, but it was too sweet for me) and it's very simple and easy. I've got the recipe with a fully cooked boneless ham, but if you're cooking your own, just baste for the last 45 minutes of cooking time. It's great for Easter dinner; I cook this every year. Big favorite around my house, and it's stunningly simple, yet tastes great.

1 (8 pound) fully-cooked boneless ham
4 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 cup honey
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

In a small bowl combine lime juice, honey, cinnamon and cloves; mix well.

Place ham on rack in shallow roasting pan. Roast in a 325 degrees F. oven for 2 hours (15 minutes per pound), basting with the honey glaze during the last 45 minutes.
Quick, easy, and delicious.

Enjoy your holiday dinner!

Funny Chocolate Easter bunny t shirt

Maple Soy Glazed Salmon

This maple soy glazed salmon has just the right amount of salty and sweet to complement the salmon. I usually do it on the grill outside, but this can just as easily be cooked under the broiler. If you're going to cook it inside, place the broiler pan in the second position down from the heat source and make sure it doesn't burn.

This salmon needs to stay in the marinade at least two hours ... but 4 is better, and if you make this up right before bed and stick it into the refrigerator, it makes a quick, easy dinner the next day. 15 minutes, tops, to fresh, delicious salmon. What could be better?


Maple Soy Glazed Salmon



1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets
garlic powder to taste
salt to taste
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup vegetable oil





Season salmon fillets with garlic powder, and salt.
In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, maple syrup, water, and vegetable oil until syrup is mixed in. Place fish in a large resealable plastic bag with the soy sauce mixture, seal, and turn to coat. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours .
Preheat grill for medium heat.
Lightly oil grill. Place salmon on the preheated grill, and discard marinade. Cook salmon for 6 to 8 minutes per side, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

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If you need a green way to carry your groceries home, or just something to carry things around in, this three salmon tote by Ghost Dog Productions is perfect. Three salmon represent the circle of life. Plenty stylish.

Circle of Life Salmon Tote Bag

Moroccan Couscous

Couscous is a wonderful, quick side dish that takes just minutes to prepare and adds a little Eastern flair to your cuisine. You can use the instant, which is totally easy. This particular variation is a Moroccan recipe, and it's a wonderful side dish for chicken or spicy sausage.


Moroccan couscous



1 cup orange or other juice
1 cup instant couscous
1/2 cup hot water
1/4 cup pitted dates, finely chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tbsp melted butter

Boil the juice and pour on top of couscous. Mix, cover, and set aside. Meanwhile, soak the dates and raisins in the hot water for 2 minutes. Saute the slivered almonds in the butter. Add raisins and dates to couscous (water and all), then add in almonds. Let sit a couple more minutes, covered. Fluff lightly with fork and serve.

Ten Minute Meals - Quesadillas

When I want a no-fuss, nutritious meal with a little kick, I make quesadillas. You can put anything on a quesadilla (and I have). Chicken cubes, pork shreds, onions, peppers, mushrooms, squash, avocado, any kind of vegetable or meat at all. I usually keep tomatilla sauce and salsa around all the time and serve it with some on the side, along with sour cream or guacamole.

Flour tortillas
shredded cheese, either Monterey Jack or cheddar
chopped vegetables
chopped meat
olive oil for skillet

Preheat skillet to med - med high. Put about a teaspoon of oil in it and swirl around until the skillet is coated. Place a tortilla in, flip a couple of times, add a handful of grated cheese and the toppings of your choice. Top with a second tortilla, mash slightly together, and flip. Keep flipping until tortilla is browned to your satisfaction, and the cheese is melted.

Alternatively, you can assemble them and put them in the oven for 10 minutes at 400 degrees.

Serve with salsa or tomatilla sauce, sour cream or guacamole. Add a salad, and you have an entire meal.

Enjoy

Ten Minute Meals - Honeyed Chicken Salad

I've come home from work many a night, exhausted, not wanting to cook, so I've come up with the ten minute meal. I can't abide terrible food, so it must taste good, and be quick. This Honeyed Chicken Salad is terrific on a whole grain roll, or to top a spinach salad. It's got a little zip to it -- the balsamic vinegar is a wonderful counterpoint to the sweetness of the honey.

Use leftover chicken breast for this, or buy and keep on hand cubed chicken. I add pecans, and grapes to this, but have been known to substitute chopped apples on occasion. Experiment. It's your recipe, do it the way you want to.

Try to use local honey if you can; if you have allergies, it's a good way to desensitize yourself to the local pollens. And by the way, babies under one year of age should never eat honey. Although honey is a natural, healthy food that cannot support bacterial life, it's important to note that it can carry C. botulinum spores which may be harmful to the undeveloped immune systems of infants.

Honeyed Chicken Salad

2 chicken breast, cut in bite-sized pieces
1 rib celery, chopped very fine
2 tbsp. onion, chopped very fine
2 tbsp. chopped pecans
1 tbsp. poppy seeds
2 tbsp. honey
2 tbsp. Balsamic vinegar
1 cup sliced seedless grapes
1/4 to 1/2 cup mayonnaise

Mix it well. It's even better the next day.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Chili

This great meatless chili is wonderful for those cold winter days. Vary the vegetables, add different kinds of beans, make it without the soy crumbles. You can vary it many ways, and it still turns out great. Top it with some cheese and sour cream, or a tablespoon of salsa. Hearty, healthy meal that is done quickly. I've used canned beans in this recipe, but you can, of course, cook yours from scratch. Even better the second day.

Vegetarian Chili

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 onions, chopped
1 green or red pepper, seeded and chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 zucchini, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1 yellow squash, cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper
2 tablespoons chili powder
2 cans crushed tomatoes
salt to taste
1/2 cup salsa
1 can dark red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can light red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
1 can refried beans
1 cup soy crumbles



Heat oil in large pot. Add onions, green pepper and garlic. Saute until onions are soft. Add the zucchini, squash, oregano, red pepper and chili powder and saute for another couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, salsa, and salt. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, lightly covered. Add all the beans and cook on low to medium for about 20 minutes to let all the flavors meld. Add soy crumbles and cook until heated all the way through. Serve with chopped onions, cilantro, cheddar cheese, or sour cream.

Roasted red pepper sauce

This is absolutely the easiest sauce to make, and it tastes great on everything. I've served it on fish, chicken, pasta ... and even potatoes. I swirl it on the tops of soups along with a dollop of sour cream ... the uses are nearly endless. I use a lot of cayenne in this recipe; I like the juxtaposition of the sweetness of the peppers mixed with the burn of the cayenne. You use the amount that you want. If it doesn't seem like enough, add a little more until you get it just right.

If you want to roast your own peppers, just coat them with oil (if you use olive oil, it will smoke and burn, as olive oil has a lower smoke point than other oils), place them in a pan under the broiler and watch them until they get dark spots. Then turn them over with tongs and let them cook on the other side. Remove them from oven, put them in a bowl covered in a bag or plastic wrap (to loosen the skins), let cool (about 20 minutes), then pull the stem out. Then skin them; it should pull off fairly easily. You can use a knife to scrape out any seeds that didn't come out when you pulled the stem. Voila!

Of course, if you don't feel like going to the trouble, you can always used roasted red peppers in a jar. It's just as good and a lot faster.


Roasted Red Pepper Sauce


2 large red peppers, roasted and chopped, or 2 jars roasted red peppers, drained
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice, or to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar, or to taste
Cayenne, to taste

In a blender blend together the bell pepper, the oil, the lemon juice, the vinegar, the cayenne, 1 tablespoon water, and salt and black pepper, to taste.

Enjoy! Fast, easy, and delicious.