Post Boating Meal

Brad and I went boating today with my uncle. On the river. In the 100+ degree heat. On the river. During the hottest part of the day. On the river.

I know Mark Twain had a spiritual relationship with the Mississippi River, but I just don't. I respect the functionality of it and empathize with the romantic notions of the freedom the river allows, but to me it is just geography -- and right now it is debris laden, flooded geography. That's fine, though. I don't have to actually get INTO the river. I got to spend time with my uncle and my fiance, two men of whom I am very fond.

Enter the weather. 99 with a heat index of over 100. Nice blue sky with minimal clouds and bright hot sun beating down.

Needless to say, I was not hungry much when it came time to decide on supper. Normally, this would be a perfect excuse to dine out. The problem, though, is that we ate out ALL DAY the previous day. (Hardee's breakfast sandwiches, Chinese for lunch, Outback for supper) I didn't want to spend the money to have a really good meal, and I certainly didn't want anything fried. We decided to stop at the grocery store and pick up some lettuce and just have a nice salad... minimal effort, cool, light, healthy...

Then Brad offered to grill. This is where we cheated a bit on the challenge. We bought fresh salmon and shrimp. I feel as though this wasn't cheating terribly, though, because we bought it last night and cooked it last night. We didn't ADD anything to the freezer, and if we had dined out, we'd be in the same place (having not used any freezer food...)

We had...
Salmon with dill sauce
Sauteed Shrimp with cocktail sauce
Steamed green beans
Fresh tomato and mozzarella salad
Rice Pilaf

Sadly for me, it started raining right as we were walking in the door, so no grilling. I ended up just cooking the salmon in the oven.

Slammin' Salmon
1 pound piece of salmon
Chesapeake Bay seasoning from Penzey's spices

Preheat oven to 350 F. Sprinkle both sides of salmon with seasoning and pat into fish. Spray a piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray. Place the foil on a baking sheet, and place fish on foil. Loosely fold foil over the top of the fish. Bake about 10 minutes per inch of thickness. (It took about 20 minutes to bake last night's piece).

Dill Sauce
2 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoon dill
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1 cup sour cream.

Mix together. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until needed. It takes about an hour for the flavors to truly meld together.

Sauteed Shrimp
1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 1/2 tablespoons butter
3 cloves garlic, chopped

Melt butter in small skillet. Add garlic and cook on medium heat for about 2 minutes. Add shrimp and toss with garlic butter mixture. Saute until shrimp is thoroughly cooked, stirring occasionally.

Cocktail Sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons prepared horseradish

Mix together. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until needed. It takes about an hour for the flavors to truly meld together. (If you are feeling a little deja vu, you aren't crazy. you have seen this before. I just copied it from up above. They are the same directions as for the dill sauce.)

Fresh Tomato and Mozzarella Salad
2 ripe tomatoes, free of salmonella, sliced
Equal number of slices fresh mozzarella
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon olive oil

Slice tomatoes and mozzarella. Place mozzarella slices on top of tomato slices. Mix oil and vinegar, and sprinkle over tomatoes and cheese.

Steamed Green Beans
Fresh Green beans
Pad butter
Salt and pepper

Wash and trim green beans. Place in a Ziploc steamer bag and cook for 90 seconds. Remove from bag and toss with butter and seasonings.

Rice Pilaf
Box of Organic Rice Pilaf from Trader Joes

Follow the package directions.


Dinner was Yummy! The only pantry/freezer item I used was the Trader Joe rice pilaf box.

Brad wanted to look at the ice cream at the store; I told him we couldn't get any because it was a freezer item. "But...it's ice cream..." he said with a pouty face. Too cute.