Seafood! And SOUP!

So as I am sure you have seen before, I am really into the idea of making a big batch of something and then having it for the whole week. It's really good for my busy schedule and frees up my time so I am not CONSTANTLY cooking. This week I made New England Clam Chowder. I went though a bunch of recipes online, and found one on epicurious that boasted being totally authentic. It said in the recipe that real New England Clam Chowder should be simple and thin like milk, rather than rich and creamy with tons of ingredients.

So here is what I used:
1 can of crown prince boiled clams
1/2 bottle of crown prince clam juice
1 1/2 cups of organic half and half
1/2 yellow onion chopped
A bit of olive oil to saute the onions
3 Smallish red potatoes, cubed
 a bunch of shallots chopped
1/2 cups chicken stock
Salt and pepper to taste
3 strips of uncured bacon

So first what I did was fry up the bacon in a pan and put it on a few paper towels. Then I chopped it up into chunks

 Then I began to fry the chopped onions in the bottom of a soup pot. After they softened I added the broth, shallots, and potatoes. I then simmered it covered for 10 minutes, and uncovered for 15 minutes until the potatoes were soft and most of the stock was evaporated or absorbed into the potatoes and onions.

Then I added the drained the clam juice, putting it aside, and rinsed the clams in a strainer. I then added the clams clam juice from the can, and about half the bottle of clam juice. I let that simmer for about 3 minutes.

Then I added the half and half, and bacon that I had prepared earlier, and let that come together for about five minutes. It was great!

Ready to go!

This recipe provided about four servings.

Another great seafood to make are sardines. They are really high in Omega 3, and taste great when they are good. You can get good brands of canned ones like crown prince or others (just make sure it's not packed in a low quality oil like cottonseed) Also, if your sardines come in oil you might want to USE the oil in whatever you are making, since some of the Omega 3 oil will probably leek into the oil used to pack it.

Even better though, are fresh sardines cooked on the grill, although I couldn't be there, my parents made sardines last weekend on the grill and my dad sent me this picture of him cooking them!

Jealous!

 If you can't get all your Omega 3 from fish, as so few of us can, make sure that you are taking a high quality fish oil supplement. If you are getting a bargain price you want to be wary because fish oil, like any other oil, can go rancid and then it is doing more harm then good. If you are getting fishy burps, its a sign that your fish oil is rancid.

So enjoy your seafood everyone!

Name something better than SNACK TIME! Nope, you can't!

Snacks are just great! How often are you working on something boring and distract yourself with a snack? All the time, if you are me. Many experts say that it is important to try to eat more than just 3 times a day, so it is good to have healthy snacks around so you don't get driven into the vending machine routine.

Hey now.

Although there are a lot of simple snacks that are good like nuts, fruit and raw veggies, I thought I would provide an idea for if you want something new and maybe takes care of more of a snacky craving.

Last week, I made swis chard chips!

1) Preheat your oven to 350
2) I started out with a nice big bunch of organic swiss chard. You can also use another type of green like kale or spinach.

3) Wash and dry the greens and roughly rip in into sections, keeping in mind that it will shrink a little bit in the oven
4) Spread the greens out on a cookie sheet
5) Coat the leaves lightly in olive oil and toss them around for an even coverage.
6) Spread out the leaves on the cookie sheet, and send it into the oven for about 20 minutes! Check on it every once in a while. You want them to be crispy like chips.
7) After the leaves come out, sprinkle with sea salt.

THATS IT! So easy and tasty

PS, Hope everyone had a great Halloween!