Asian Grilled Salmon and Red Pepper Soup

This month, I helped put together an article for Alive! Utah South Area, online magazine. You'll love the red pepper soup recipe. It is really delicious and so easy to make, not to mention low calorie. The salmon recipe is wonderful as well. Go check it out the original post here .

picture courtesy of Alive! Utah

Asian Grilled Salmon

1 side fresh salmon, boned but skin on (about 3 pounds)

2 TBSP Dijon mustard

3 TBSP soy sauce

6 TBSP good olive oil

1/2 tsp minced garlic

Light charcoal briquettes in a grill and brush the grilling rack with oil to keep the salmon from sticking.

While the grill is heating, lay the salmon skin side down on a cutting board and cut it crosswise into 4 equal pieces. Whisk together the mustard, soy sauce, olive oil, and garlic in a small bowl. Drizzle half of the marinade onto the salmon and allow it to sit for 10 minutes. Place the salmon skin side down on the hot grill; discard the marinade the fish was sitting in. Grill for 4-5 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish. Turn carefully with a wide spatula and grill for another 4-5 minutes. The salmon will be slightly raw in the center, but don't worry; it will keep cooking as it sits. Transfer the fish to a flat plate, skin side down, and spoon the reserved marinade on top. Allow the fish to rest for 10 minutes. Remove the skin and serve warm, at room temperature, or chilled.

picture courtesy of Alive! Utah

Red Pepper Soup (Kitchen Close-up by Diedre Hall)

1 yellow onion

2-3 large red or orange peppers, cut into chunks

1 clove garlic

1 c. or more chicken or vegetable broth

1/2 Carrots or zucchini chunks, optional

1 tsp olive oil

salt

Cook the vegetable chunks in the broth until tender, then transfer to blender. Blend with other ingredients and season to taste.

Martha Stewart's Carrot-Cake Cookies

I usually try and post healthy food choices on this blog, but it was very chilly yesterday, and I was in the mood to bake. This cookie recipe from Martha Stewart ( got it from Everyday Food, Holiday Issue 2006) is fantastic. I can eat 1 or 2 of these cookies, and not feel like blowing the whole diet. Here is the recipe:

8 TBSP (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted (note: I used 5 TBSP and it turned out great)
1/2 c. packed light-brown sugar
1/4 c. granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
3/4 c. all purpose flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 c. old fashioned rolled oats
3/4 c. packed finely grated peeled carrots
1/3 c. dried currants (I used raisins)

Preheat oven to 350* Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream the butter and sugars, then mix in the egg yolk. Add the dry ingredients and mix. Since I used less butter, I used the Rachel Ray method of using my hands to mix. Here is a picture of the cookie dough.

Make up some frosting using:

4 oz. softened cream cheese
2 TBSP softened butter
1 /4 c. powdered sugar
1 tsp fresh lemon juice

Here is a picture of them just out of the oven, transferred to a cookie cooling rack. Bake for about 10 minutes.

And here are some frosted. I served these to the 2 guys that were here to clean my carpet. They thought that Martha came up with a really good recipe!

If you are in the mood to bake, you will love these!

Using Pudding from food storage

For dessert, I pulled out a #10 can of vanilla pudding. I have had this for awhile, when the drypack cannery used to carry it. We are not big pudding eaters, so I decided I had better make it special! I had gotten oreos a few weeks ago on sale at Walgreen's, so I chopped up a about 1.5 cookies per serving, and mixed them in with the pudding. It was really a tasty dessert and it didn't require much of my time or energy in making it. I used my vitamix to blend the pudding powder and water.