Baked Creole Honey Butter Salmon

Ingredients

• 2-3 Salmon Fillets (I buy 1.50 pounds center cut and slice into 2-3 portions)
• salt, as preferred
• 1 teaspoon Olive Oil 

Dry Rub: 

• 1 teaspoon Dried Parsley Flakes
• 1 teaspoon Garlic Powder
• 1 teaspoon Onion Powder
• 1 teaspoon Smoked Paprika 
• 2 teaspoon Creole Seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Fillet Butter:

• 2 Tablespoons Butter, softened or room temperature
• 2 Tablespoons Honey

Instructions
Preheat oven to 425F.

• In a small bowl, combine all the dry rub seasonings – dried parsley flakes, garlic powder, onion powder, smoked paprika, creole seasoning, black pepper and set aside.
• In another bowl, combine butter and honey, mix until well combined, set aside.
• Cover a baking sheet in nonstick foil and add a light coating of olive oil. 
• Pat dry salmon, add to baking sheet.  Add a teaspoon of the honey butter on each fillet, smear coating the surface.  Salt lightly, if preferred. 
• Season top side of salmon generously with the prepared dry season rub.
• Depending on the thickness of your salmon, bake for 12 minutes or until flaky and internal temp reads 145°F.  My thicker fillets cooked a total of 25 minutes. 
• When salmon is 5 minutes from being done, add the remainder of honey butter to the tops of the salmon.  You can turn the oven off at this point and let honey butter carmelize the salmon a bit (watch so it doesn't burn.)
• Serve Hot. 

​Chicken Chow Mein Casserole

Ingredients: 
2 large raw chicken breasts, diced
1 Tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil 
1 large carrot, sliced
1 small onion, diced
1 small zucchini, sliced
2-3 celery stalks, sliced
2 teaspoons garlic, minced 
1 Tablespoon Soy sauce plus 1 teaspoon *divided
4 Tablespoons Hoisin sauce
1 Tablespoon Rice Vinegar
Dash toasted sesame oil
Dash hot chili oil, optional**
Salt & Pepper
1 can sliced water chestnuts
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/4 cup chicken broth

​Serve Over: Steamed Rice 
Topped With: LaChoy Chow Mein Noodles (I used half of a large 12oz bag) 

Directions: 
   Preheat oven to 350F. 

• Wash and cut up all the vegetables.
• Saute vegetables in a saucepan with butter and olive oil. 
• Salt & pepper vegetables and cook about 5-7 minutes. 
• The final 2 minutes, stir in garlic and *1 teaspoon of soy sauce to vegetable mixture. 
• While the vegetables are par-cooking, cut your your raw chicken into 1" diced pieces. Lightly salt and pepper chicken.  Set Aside. 
• In the bottom of a large 9x13 casserole dish place the condensed soup, chicken broth, add in remaining soy along with the hoisin, rice vinegar, sesame oil and hot chili oil. 
• Add in the raw chicken, water chestnuts and parcooked vegetables. Stir until everything is coated in the sauce. 
• Bake in the oven 35 minutes.
• Add Crispy Chow Mein Noodles on top of casserole dish and bake a final 10 minutes. 

​Kitchen Note:  While Hoisin Sauce and Rice Vinegar are easier to find in your local supermarkets nowadays - **Hot Chili Oil may not be - you can sub with red pepper flakes, sriarcha sauce or hot sauce of your choice. (you can also omit the hot sauce) What I like about Chinese Hot Chili Oil is that it has a heat and a burn but, the burn goes away rather fast (not like say - a jalapeno!) which is why I keep the oil on hand...

    Make it how you want it!! Use your own vegetables and protein.  In my recipe here I used shrimp. Enjoy! Diane 


Shrimp Pasta Primavera

Ingredients:
8oz dry short cut Pasta; farfalle, rigatoni
3-4 Cups finely cut Vegetables of your choice
​       (I used carrots, bell pepper, onion, frozen peas)
1 can diced fire Roasted Tomatoes, drained
2 teaspoons Italian Spices
2 teaspoons Garlic, minced
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
Salt & Pepper
Finely grated Parmesan cheese
2-3 Tbs Cream or Milk *optional
(1-2 Cups Protein of choice - cooked ahead)

Directions:

• Prepare pasta according to package; drain once cooked. Add 1 Tbs butter and a dash of olive oil to prevent sticking. Mix, cover & set aside.
• Place 1 Tbs butter and 1 teaspoon olive oil in Dutch oven; once hot add your chopped vegetables. Lightly salt & pepper; stir while cooking down about 5-7 minutes. Add in drained tomatoes with Italian Spices, Garlic and Chicken broth, bring to a high simmer and let broth reduce by half.
• Add in cooked protein of choice and cooked pasta to warm back up. Stir in a splash of cream or milk if preferred. Serve with Parmesan on the side.

​

   We've made ribs many different ways; grill, bake, slow cook and alos used many different  rubs, sauces, marinades, salts and wood-smokes.  I have to say, this recipe is not only mostly "hands-off" but, has to be so far - the best ribs I've ever made!!!!!  It's the apple cider vinegar that helps breakdown any tought sinew.  The spices bring a richness to the ribs.  I hope you at least give these a try as written then make adjustments after trying these.  Enjoy! Diane  


My Best Crock Pot
Baby Back Ribs!!

Ingredients:
2 Cups Original Sweet Baby Rays BBQ Sauce
4 Tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
1/4 C Brown Sugar
1 Tablespoon Worcestershire
1 Tablespoon Chili Powder
2 teaspoons Dried Oregano
1/8 teaspoon Cayenne powder
Salt & Pepper to taste
3-4 pounds Baby Back Ribs *one large rack

Directions:
Peel silver skin off back of ribs (using a paper-towel to hold the skin in one hand and pull skin down length of rib helps a lot).
Cut ribs in 2 bone pieces.
Salt and pepper each rib and place in crock pot.
Mix together all remaining ingredients in a bowl and pour over ribs (use a large spoon or tongs to toss ribs a bit in the sauce and make sure all the rib meat is submerged in sauce.)
Place crock pot on HIGH for 1 hour and then lowered to LOW for 6 hours.
Remove ribs from crockpot and place on a foil lined baking sheet. Lightly brush on your favorite BBQ sauce (I used my homemade Honey BBQ sauce) and bake for 15-20 mins in a 350F preheated oven.

One large rack serves: 2 Adults 

Mandarin Orange Upside Down Cake
*Guest Post by JD Provence 

Ingredients: 
1 15oz classic yellow cake mix
1 11oz can mandarins
3 large eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil 
3 whole mandarin oranges
1 cup orange juice or Tang
3 Tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
maraschino cherries (optional)

Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350°F

• Line 9”x13” or similar size pan*, bottom only, with parchment.
• Melt butter and mix with brown sugar, spread evenly over lined pan.
• Arrange peeled** whole mandarin slices, cherries, and 1/2 the canned mandarins on butter/sugar mixture.
• In a separate bowl, mix cake mix as per instructions, using the eggs, vegetable oil and replacing the water with Tang or juice, add remaining canned mandarins to cake batter, mix well, 3-5 minutes, long enough to break up the mandarin wedges into tiny bits.
• Gently pour cake mix batter into baking pan, bake about 40 minutes, toothpick test to determine doneness.
• Remove from oven, gently insert knife or spatula around edges, to prevent sticking, flip cake over, out of pan, into serving dish.

Kitchen Notes: 
*Pictured is a 9” square pan, my cake was too thick, 9x13 would be better.
**If you leave the peeling on the whole mandarin slices, they’re too bitter to eat.