Pretentious Tuesday - Baked Cod & Roasted Cauliflower

I'm drawing a line in the sand.

It gets easy to find yourself in a rut, making the same dishes over and over because the dish is either easy to make, the ingredients are cheap, your comfortable with the meal...name your excuse.

Growing up in my parents' household those "go-to" meals were meatloaf and spaghetti.

We all live very busy lives and it gets hard when you have to come home from work to take care of your family, cook dinner only to look forward to logging back into your work computer again later that evening.

I recognize that this rhythm is tough, and you've gotta eat. But it doesn't always have to be the some old meal prepared the same way over and over (I'm guilty of it myself. Ask Kristi about my spicy rubbed grilled chicken).

So here's my solution: I declare Pretentious Tuesday to be a day that no matter what stand-by meal I make, I prepare it differently, and describe it with as many snotty, foodie snob buzzwords as humanly possible. It mixes things up, even if it's just a psychological boost and it gives my snarky alter-ego the opportunity to make fun of the foodie elite blogger/critic/home-cook/author/food porn hipster that exists in all of us.

On my inaugural Pretentious Tuesday dinner, I offer Spice rubbed baked cod and rustic roasted cauliflower over a bed of local greens.

Key ingredients

• Wild cod
• 4 cloves of garlic - whole, unpeeled
• Half Mayan onion, thinly sliced
• Mixed greens
• Half lemon, sliced
• 1 pad of organic butter
• Rub for fish
• Murray salt - no substitutes
• Crushed habenero chili flakes
• Ground black pepper
• Fresh thyme - hand shredded
• Herbs de Provence
• 1 head of cauliflower
• 4 cloves of garlic, whole, unpeeled
• Ground pepper
• Himalayan salt
• Extra virgin olive oil

Cooking the Cauliflower
Throw the cauliflower ingredients on a roasting pan and cook in the oven at 425 degrees for 35-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Cooking the Cod
 Spray coconut oil (or Pam) on a baking sheet. Apply the rub ingredients to your level of heat, taste. Scatter the sliced onion and garlic on the same sheet. Squeeze the lemon over everything and throw on the pan. Cook at 400 degrees for approximately 12 minutes, but check regularly. Remove when flaky.

Let us know about your Pretentious Tuesday meals.

Let dinner cook itself while you're at work

I love feeling smart. A busy lifestyle makes it difficult to actually make a dinner you want to eat. But with a little pre-planning, dinner can cook itself while you spend your day in meetings, con-calls  and glazing over road maps & spreadsheets. It's called throwing everything into a slow cooker when you leave in the morning and come home to a dinner that's already cooked! Yesterday we slow cooked rosemary garlic chicken. Damn, it was good.

 Don's been in Pragmatic Marketing training all week, and I've been swamped at work myself. The idea of cooking up something from scratch when I got home was about as appealing as watching a season of Honey Boo Boo.

Roasted garlic rosemary chicken - easy Real Food recipe

 This is a fairly easy paleo diet dish and its easy it is to make:

Ingredients
8 cloves garlic, sliced
5-6 sprigs fresh rosemary, separated from the stem
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
3 Tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
3 Tbsp white wine (don't use anything old)
2 Tbsp water
2 lbs skinless, boneless organic chicken breasts
cooking spray (coconut oil preferred)

Directions
Spray slow cooker with the cooking spray. Mix all ingredients except the chicken in the slow cooker. Mix well. Add the chicken one piece at a time, making sure to turn each piece to cover. Cook on low for eight hours or high for four hours. Makes approximately 8 servings of 4 oz each. I usually prep and turn it on before I go to work and it is ready when I get home.

Add blanched carrots or broccoli, rubbed in olive oil and grilled for a few minutes on each side and viola, you've got yourself an easy, delicious meal. BONUS: this meal will avoids the whole "grocery bill too high" syndrome.

Healthy recipes are easier, and tastier than you think.
You can modify the recipe to your tastes and lifestyle. You can replace the protein with pork tenderloin of a beef brisket. What? you don't like garlic? Use shallots. Swap out rosemary with thyme. Its your dinner and we want you to experiment to find the flavors that work for you and your family. A recipe is simply a guideline, you make it what you want. But one rule to adhere to: cooking with healthy recipes are easy to do, once you make it a routine. And dammit, enjoy yourself - and have a glass of wine.

Make real food granola at home

Alright, so let me start with this: I love granola. All time favorite cereals (besides Cap'n Crunch with Crunch Berries) is granola. 

Since Kristi discovered the Real Food blog earlier this year, we've taken some of the spirit of the concept and adapted many of their recipes to suit our personal tastes.

This recipe is based on Alton Brown's recipe for granola, but with the Real Foods influence. The result is a sweet, healthy and delicious granola that serves as a breakfast cereal or a snack.

 We usually double the recipe; it keeps for a while in airtight jars. If you want to stay 100% away from unnatural sugar use raisins, I have yet to find unsweetened cranberries. You can add some nutmeg in there if you like, some recipes also call for a little bit of powdered ginger. Once you make it, you can alter, add/omit ingredients it to your taste. Sometimes we will just use 1C honey or 1C syrup instead of both. I hope you like the recipe; it is awesome for breakfast in Greek yogurt or cereal! ☺



Ingredients

• 3 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup slivered raw organic almonds
• 1 cup raw organic pumpkin seeds
• 1 cup raw organic sunflower seeds
• ¾- 1 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup raw organic honey
• 1/4 cup Grade A maple syrup
• 1/4 cup extra virgin coconut oil (A good extra virgin oil makes a huge difference vs. regular coconut oil)
• 1- ½ teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 2 teaspoons or so of cinnamon (Depends on your taste how much)
• 1 cup raisins or cranberries

Double the recipe, it's worth it.

 

 

Directions
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
Heat up coconut oil in small pan on low to melt it. Add the vanilla to the oil and set aside to cool a bit.
In a large bowl, combine all ingredients except the oil mixture and cranberries/raisins.

Pour oil into the large bowl with ingredients and combine both mixtures well and pour onto sheet pan/s (I use two when I double the recipe). Cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes to achieve an even color.

Remove from oven and add raisins or cranberries and mix until evenly distributed.