Various Dinners

Things have been a bit crazy adjusting to life with a dog. Snowbird is going great. My routine for the last few days has been to get up at 5:30, take him out to the bathroom, stick him back in the crate (for which he thinks I'm a monster), and go to the gym for 30 minutes. Then I come back and we go on a 30 minute walk before I stick him back in the crate while I'm at work. After work, I take him outside to the bathroom, work out on the bike downstairs for 30 minutes while he plays, and then go on another 30 minute walk. Then I cook dinner. Things are slowly developing into normalcy. I need to get back into my cleaning routines too. The extra dog hair is requiring a lot more vacuuming and swiffering.

Here are a few of my recent dinners.
On Sunday night, I decided that I wanted to make blueberry sauce with a bunch of leftover blueberries. To go with it, I made gingerbread pancakes - breakfast for dinner. The pancakes tasted good, but did not look very good, so no pictures. The blueberry sauce was also excellent - I've been eating it for breakfast with oatmeal or yogurt.

GingerBread Pancakes from http://www.recipezaar.com/

1 1/3 cups unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves (optional)
1 egg
1 1/4 cups milk
1/4 cup molasses
3 tablespoons canola oil

Sift together the dry ingredients.
Beat egg well.
Add milk, beat in molasses, then canola oil. Mix in dry ingredients until smooth.
Using a quarter cup measure, spread pancake on preheated griddle and cook until golden brown.

Blueberry Sauce from http://www.recipezaar.com/

2 1/4 cups

1 lb fresh or frozen blueberries
1/2 cup sugar
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/2 teaspoons grated lemon rind

Combine all ingredients in medium saucepan.
Stir over medium heat until cornstarch dissolves.
Boil until thickened, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes.
Cover and refrigerate.

On Monday night, I made a pesto crusted salmon. I put leftover pesto on two pieces of wild salmon, seared it, and baked it at 400 degrees until it was done - about 15-20 minutes.

On Tuesday night, I made a roasted beet salad. I roasted a bunch of small beets I'd bought at the farmer's market for about an hour at 375 degrees and some asparagus at 400 degrees for 15 minutes. To that I added a bag of baby spinach, half of a green pepper, and about 4 oz of feta cheese. I used the creamy garlic dressing (recipe and picture posted below). It was quite tasty. I don't love beets, but I like them well enough to try them once or twice a year. I think roasting brings out a nice flavor. See the photo: