My New Favorite Green

Swiss chard is my new favorite green. It's so buttery and creamy--flavors I never expected to associate with a lettuce-y food. Yum!

I cut out the stalks and saved them to put in a pasta later, and I sliced the leaves into long strips. Then I browned some diced garlic, shallot, and serrano pepper in olive oil in a sauce pan. Once it was browned, I threw in my chard and covered the pan with a lid for a couple minutes. Opened that sucker back up, flipped the chard a bit, and closed the lid again. I pulled it all out when the leaves were a bit wilted.

Then I ate some even though my whole dinner is not ready yet. It was delicious. The only thing keeping me from eating the entire bag's worth for tonight's meal (not really that much with the shrinking that happens during cooking) is that I am back to making menus again. If I eat it now, Thursday will be foodless according to the plans of the menu. Oh well. It will be yummy then, and I won't be forced to eat something lame for dinner on Thursday instead.

Trying a new fish to go with it...swai. It was on sale in the grocery store. I got a giant bag for $8. I have coated it in homemade bread crumbs made from the heel of my french loaf. I mixed the bread crumbs with cayenne pepper, smoked paprika, cumin, and garlic powder. The fish went in an olive oiled pan, was covered in breadcrumbs, and juiced with a bit of lemon. It's now in the oven at 350 degrees for about 15 minutes. It's already smelling good, so I think it will also taste good.

Mmmmmmm Bread

So I'm making a dill batter bread. As usual, I don't want to follow directions/didn't have everything/didn't want to buy everything. In other words, I tweaked my recipe a bit both because I am lazy and because I thought I could do better.  Mine is just rising right now, but it already smells fabulous.

Things you will need:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour (it will be split into 1 cup for initial use, and you'll add the 3/4 cup at the end)
• 1 package dry active yeast
• 1/2 cup water
• 1/2 cup cottage cheese
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon dill
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon onion powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup food-processed sunflower seeds

Things you will do:

• Grease a round 9-inch baking pan.
• Stir 1 cup flour and the yeast together in a large bowl.
• In a medium saucepan heat and stir everything from the water to the salt together until it's warm and the butter is almost completely melted.
• Add the cottage cheese mixture to the flour mixture.
• Beat on low for 30 seconds.
• Beat on high for 3 minutes.
• Stir in remaining flour and sunflower seeds with a wooden spoon.
• Spoon the batter into the baking pan and spread it to the edges.
• Cover it and let it rise for about an hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
• Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden.
• Immediately remove from pan.
• Serve warm.

As always, eat and be happy. Food makes me happy.