Fish and Chocolate Chips

I think Dustin’s feeling a little better, but not quite all the way there yet. I’m crossing my fingers that tomorrow is the day that he wakes up feeling great. I haven’t gone anywhere since last week and I’ve got the itch. I need to soothe it was a mini shopping spree. lol I actually need some spring nightgowns, plus we have to return the carpet cleaner that we got mom for her birthday–wrong one. Who knew they make one with multiple mini rotating brushes at the bottom? I certainly didn’t. So apparently I got the old fashioned, one spinning brush kind. My mother is obsessed with vacuums. No, I’m serious. She goes through 3 or 4 a year because she’s always breaking them! I bought her an Oreck for Christmas, she doesn’t like that one either. She has a Dyson, loved that one but broke the handle. Whatever floats her boat; I’m all for fetishes that keeps a house with 6 cats sparkling clean. LOL

I did a lot of picking while cooking today. Probably because I didn’t eat until 7 hours after I woke up. It was just one of those days, ya know? I defrosted some salmon in the fridge overnight, then turned it into brunch later on in the evening. Dustin requested hot dogs, so we had a food party this evening, including cupcakes baked by the vacuum slayer and decorated by moi.

Fridays just seem like a fish and chips sort of day to me. Maybe because a lot of people eat fish on Fridays? Well, I didn’t have traditional fried fish and chips, but I made an equally delicious version:

Salmon with gorgonzola spread and avocado drizzled with honey on a sprouted grain roll, red potato oven fries and steamed asparagus

It’s that time of year again! The time to find beautiful fresh asparagus in season. I don’t care for the thick stalks, I prefer the very thin, tenders stalks. I think asparagus just might be my number one favorite green veggie, but shhhhhhhhhh… don’t tell lettuce, spinach, brussels sprouts or broccoli!

• 4oz salmon filet (120 cal) pan-fried with EVOO, then placed on an Ezekiel 4:9 sprouted grain roll (170 cal) with 14g gorgonzola spread (45 cal), 22g avocado, and 3g honey
• Red potato oven fries; parboiled, then cut and drizzled with EVOO + garlic salt + black pepper, then roasted on 400F for about 20-25 minutes on a baking sheet. Heinz no salt added ketchup on the side.
• Steamed asparagus (microwaved with a bit of water and covered with saran wrap)

I didn’t keep track of the calories, this was my biggest meal of the day, though. It was fantastic! The salmon sandwich was salmonsational, loved the touch of honey mixed with the gorgonzola. Mmmm! And the oven fries were outrageously good, just as good, if not better than anything regular deep fried ‘tater. Later on I had some leftover meatballs and a turkey sandwich with 1oz turkey and1 slice bread.

While I was making dinner, mom was making cupcake batter. Swooooooooooooooooooooooon! They baked while we ate, you can just imagine how much better dinner tasted when you’re in a room that smells like cupcakes.

She made the recipe on the back of Hershey’s special dark chocolate powder container, but substituted real butter for the vegetable oil, which I highly recommend. This dark chocolate powder is excellent!

I helped make the butter cream frosting with butter, powdered sugar and my secret ingredient:

1 teaspoon Chambord (raspberry liquor) instead of vanilla, which makes it a light raspberry flavored frosting. I decided to get fancy and decorate them with a pastry bag and added some mini chocolate chips on top. I had one after Dustin and I watched a movie on Pay-Per-View (Everybody’s Fine with Robert DeNiro and Drew Barrymore — so sad!)

Oh my! Best cupcake EVER!! The cake part was so incredibly moist and chocolaty, WOW! It actually tasted like chocolate pudding to me, it was just amazing. Dark chocolate in baking ROCKS! Totally loved it, can you tell? LOL Next time you want to bake something chocolate, use this dark chocolate powder and thank me later. Dustin fell asleep right after movie, he needs his rest, but he doesn’t have a sweet tooth, so he didn’t want a cupcake anyway. I mean, he will eat desserts and treats, but he never ever craves them. Never looks for a sweet palate cleanser after dinner; never adds ice cream or cookies to the shopping cart. Then again, he’s addicted to Coca Cola so he definitely gets his sugar fixes, but he says it doesn’t taste sweet to him, probably because he’s desensitized at this point. *sigh* Honestly I think he’s addicted to the caffeine more than the sugar. Terrible habit he picked up from working 36 hours straight in his teens and early 20s; he hardly ate anything, just drank caffeinated beverages and would go days without eating. If I didn’t remind him to eat now, he would still probably only eat once a day or every other day lol. And I thought sugar was supposed to make you hungrier? I imagine his brain must use a lot of glucose programming in 5 languages, he’s like a coding machine. It’s a little freaky, but very attractive. Nerd love <3 hehe

Alright, I'm rambling. Very, very tired--almost 5:00AM. Must go beddy byes.

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Tagged as: asparagus, Chambord, chocolate chips, cupcakes, frosting, Hershey's special dark chocolate powder, oven fries, salmon