Green Beans can substitute for Lentils, right?

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So last night I decided to make Martha Stewart’s Mustard-Glazed Salmon with Lentils (Everyday Food, Nov. 2012, p.74).

Except, I didn’t have canned lentils or grainy mustard.

I figured Dijon is a spicy mustard, so I’ll use that.  Oh, and I’ve got some green beans that need to be made RIGHT NOW.  Green Beans are a kind of bean….Lentils are a kind of bean…That’d work, right?

Reminds me of a story about my mother’s cooking: Early in their marriage my mom made a recipe she’d torn from a newspaper… But she only had a few of the ingredients on hand…so she got creative and subbed in all sorts of things – much to my father’s chagrin.  He still talks about how she used raisins instead of mushrooms because, well, they’re kinda the same color once cooked.

Yup.

I come by it naturally.

Anyway, so out with the non-existant canned lentils.  In with the fresh green beans.  I cooked the onions down with a sprinkling of cumin, tossed in the green beans with a little bit of water, covered the pan and let it cook over low heat for awhile til the beans were crisp-tender.  Of course this meant tasting lots of green beans to make sure I wasn’t overcooking them = totally fine by me!

Conclusion: The green beans were REALLY GOOD, the dijon overpowered the salmon.  Perhaps it would’ve been better with grainy mustard, but as C said – there are a million mustard + fish recipes online.  Do you really wanna try this one again?  Maybe…we’ll see.

Mustard-Glazed Salmon with Green Beans over Garlic Rice

Oh – and I served this with some rice.  I used Basmati (I bought a huge-ass bag of Basmati rice from the market because it came in this neat little burlap bag with handles.  SO CUTE!  I can totally picture myself being all stylish with my burlap-rice-bag-turned-awesome-purse).  So I threw the rice into the rice cooker with a crumbled up stock cube and a few cloves of the confit’d garlic.  It was SO good.  Not just kinda good.  S.O. good.

That rice is totally going in the repeat file.

Mustard Glazed Salmon with Lentils (or green beans) adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food

Printable Recipe HERE

Dairy-FREE, Gluten-FREE

Ingredients:

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

1 medium Yellow Onion, diced small

1/2 teaspoon ground Cumin

2 Tablespoons Grainy Mustard **I used Dijon

4 skinless Salmon fillets (4 to 6 ounces each)

Salt and pepper

2 cans (14 ounces each) lentils, rinsed and drained **I used fresh Green Beans

1 cup fresh cilantro leaves, chopped **Blech. Blech. Blech. Therefore, this is OPTIONAL.

How To:

1- Heat broiler, with rack set 8 inches from heat. In a large broiler-proof skillet, heat oil over medium-high. Add onion and cumin and cook, stirring, until onion is golden, 8 minutes. Meanwhile, rub mustard on salmon and season with salt and pepper.

2- Add lentils to skillet, stir, and season with salt and pepper. Nestle salmon in lentils and broil until opaque throughout, 5 to 8 minutes. Sprinkle with cilantro IF USING and serve.

 

Tonight I’m making Crunchy Parmesan Tilapia with Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes.

More of a sauce than a Crunch.

Crunchy Parmesan Tilapia by Amy at SimpleButDelicious.com

Gluten-FREE
Ingredients:
1/2 cup Parmesan, grated
1/4 cup Butter, softened
3 Tablespoons Mayonnaise
2 Tablespoons fresh Lemon Juice
1/4 teaspoon dried Basil
1/4 teaspoon ground Black Pepper
1/8 teaspoon Onion powder
1/8 teaspoon Celery salt
2 pounds Tilapia fillets
How To: 
1- Preheat your oven’s broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
2- In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
3- Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes.
4- Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Garlic Mashed Sweet Potatoes by Gina at Skinnytaste.com

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

2 lbs (4 medium) sweet potatoes, peeled & cubed

1 Tablespoon butter

3 cloves Garlic, crushed

1/2 cup 1% Milk

2 Tablespoon light Sour cream

Salt and fresh cracked ground pepper, to taste

How To:

1- In a large pot boil sweet potatoes in salted water until tender, drain in a colander.

2- Meanwhile, melt butter and sauté garlic until lightly golden. Return potatoes to the pan, add milk and sour cream; mash until smooth and creamy. Adjust salt and pepper to taste.

 

OH!  I nearly forgot!  I made a Thank You Gift for some sweet friends who lifted heavy crap for me.

Here’s a photo:

A little fun with Marshmallows & Sprinkles

 

Chocolate Covered Marshmallows with Sprinkles by Me

Printable Recipe HERE

Ingredients:

1 bag of Marshmallows

1 bag of Lollipop sticks

1 bag of Chocolate or Candy Melts

1 container of Sprinkles

*Optional: Candy Bags to house your finished products! (Ziplocs totally work too).

 

How To:

1- Open a bag of marshmallows. Insert a lollipop stick into each marshmallow.

2- Melt the chocolate (in the microwave, in a double boiler…up to you), dip each marshmallow in. Shake off the excess and roll the bottom in sprinkles. Set aside to dry for at least an hour or so.

3- Serve them as is, or put each one in a cute little treat bag and tie with a pretty little ribbon. Enjoy!

 

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