Lovin' From the Oven

Baked Salmon

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I’ve been all kinds of adventurous lately. By adventurous, I mean in the kitchen. I made ice cream, worked with yeast, and now I’m cooking fish. I never ate much fish growing up because my dad hates it. When he was younger, he practically ate fish everyday because he was poor and fish was cheap. It was the poor man’s meal.

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Now, my dad can’t stand the taste of fish. He’ll eat everything except for it. Since my mom never cooked fish growing up, I never had fish until high school. I loved it. I’d start ordering salmon at restaurants and going out for sushi whenever I could.

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Unfortunately, salmon’s not the best dish for eating out since it’s so darn expensive. How hard can it be to cook salmon at home? Turns out, it’s just about the easiest thing ever.

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Since my DB doesn’t eat fish (I know, that list is never ending), I didn’t want to buy or cook a huge chunk of salmon for myself. Trader Joe’s sells the perfect sized salmon for one  in the freezer section. Problem solved! I just defrost a piece of fish overnight and it’s ready for me to cook for lunch the next day.

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This salmon would be great over some quinoa and cooked spinach. Talk about a healthy meal!

Oh, also… I was kind of freaking out about the white stuff on top of the salmon after I cooked it. I never saw that on any of the salmon I ate at the restaurants. I googled it and apparently it’s just the fat oozing out of the salmon. Don’t worry, it’s good fat… the omega 3 stuff that your body needs.

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I found the baked lemon to be a bit bitter, so I squeezed fresh lemon juice on top of the salmon just before serving. I am a little bit of a lemon fiend though, so you might be fine without the extra kick on top.

Print
Baked Salmon

Ingredients

  • salmon
  • half a lemon, sliced thinly
  • 2 teaspoons butter
  • salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350.
  2. On a piece of foil, lay your piece of salmon onto sliced lemons.
  3. Add the butter, salt, and pepper on top.
  4. Wrap up the salmon in the foil and bake on a baking sheet for 25-30 minutes.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-salmon/

No Cook Vanilla Ice Cream with Brownie Bites

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Since I’m in a good mood, I’ll post something that’s not due for another couple of weeks.

In reality, I’ve been trying every day not to post this ice cream just yet since there are so many recipes in queue… But I’m too excited not to share.

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My DB’s mom gave me this ice cream machine just for “taking such good care of [her son].” Isn’t his mom the sweetest? She even got it in the color that I wanted! Moms always know.

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I’m not gonna lie, I did stare at it for quite a bit after taking it out of the box. Kitchen gifts make my heart flutter. You can get this ice cream machine in twelve different colors and it’s about the easiest thing I’ve ever used. You just turn the machine on, dump your mixture into it, and let it work its magic for 20-30 minutes. You’ll end up with a creamy, perfectly soft and frozen treat.

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The reason I’m in such a good mood today is because I just returned from a great trip visiting my bestie in Provo!:

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Trips to Utah always make me heart happy. They seriously have some of the best people in that little town. I got to visit with a lot of old friends and make some new ones.

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I didn’t know that I have so many blog readers over there. *Hi Provo-ians!* It’s probably because my bestie is the best form of advertisement that could possibly exist. He spreads the word of my blog all on his own, which I love him for.

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I stayed with my bestie’s sister, who is also a master cook. *Hi Lisa!* I don’t know what I did to deserve such good people in my life. Can you tell I’m in a very appreciative mood?

Anyways, she taught me how to cook a few simple dishes and to not be afraid of yeast. If you follow me on Instagram, then you already know what I’m talking about. If not, you’ll find out in another post! 🙂

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If near the BYU campus, you must go to the Creamery. I go every time I visit. They have this flavor called “Graham Canyon” that I need to learn how to make ASAP. It’s a luscious ice cream with the tiniest hint of caramel and graham crackers mixed in. Not only that, but there’s also honey graham crackers dipped in milk chocolate swirled throughout. It might be caramelized graham crackers. Is that even a thing? It’s the greatest ice cream I’ve ever consumed in my whole 25 years of living. Just try it.

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While this is no “Graham Canyon,” this is still a great starter recipe. Looking around online, I was a little intimidated with ice cream recipes that required cooking and straining eggs, so I opted for one completely without. I didn’t want to mess up the first recipe in my new ice cream maker!

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These pictures show what the ice cream looks like after 5, 10, and 20 minutes. See how it gradually thickens and comes together? Yeah, I totally sat next to the ice cream maker the entire time with my head peering into the bowl. Science can be fun!

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That looks about done to me. Let’s pull out middle and see what happens.

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Glorious. I baked a batch of boxed brownies the night before, froze them, and then chopped them up. Brownies would be the perfect addition to my first ice cream recipe.

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I also realized that frozen brownie bites are the best way to eat brownies. Please add that on your “to-do” list.

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You can fold anything else you’d like into the ice cream batter. Sprinkles, nuts, syrup, candy, cookies, marshmallows, bacon… everything goes well with ice cream.

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That’s it! See how simple that was? You can eat immediately if you like a soft-serve texture, or pop it in the freezer for a harder consistency.

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I just threw my finished product into a tupperware and into the freezer. I ate directly from it for a couple of days. Every brownie piece was a little piece of heaven.

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Print
No Cook Vanilla Ice Cream with Brownie Bites

Ingredients

  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • pinch of salt
  • half of a 13x9 pan of brownies, cooked, chopped into pieces, and frozen

Directions

  1. Whisk together the milk, cream, sugar, vanilla, and salt until dissolved.
  2. Pour the mixture into your ice cream maker and mix for 25 minutes.
  3. Once the ice cream has formed, fold in the frozen brownie bits.
  4. Serve immediately or put the mixture in a freezer safe tupperware to harden.
https://lovintheoven.com/no-cook-vanilla-ice-cream-with-brownie-bites/

Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

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It’s that time of the year again, folks; It’s girl scout season! That means plenty of cookies to buy and devour. You’re either lucky or unlucky when it comes to finding them. When you’re most craving some Samoas, there won’t be any girl scout in sight. You’ll drive to all of your Targets, grocery stores, and school campuses to see if there’s a table stationed anywhere, but you’ll always drive away disappointed. Welcome to my life.

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Lucky for me, I have a niece that just started her first year in girl scouts. I have to be the good auntie and buy boxes from her, of course! That makes my life so much easier because I don’t have to walk around stalking troops. Not that that has stopped us from buying boxes from anyone else. My DB came home from school with a box of Thin Mints that we could rip open immediately. No waiting necessary.

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Not only that, but working at the Y has its perks. There are at least three kids in every grade that are determined to win that mini Ipad by selling 3,000 boxes.

By the way, that’s ridiculous. How can one child sell 3,000 boxes?! They probably know 30 people in their lives. That means everyone they know would have to buy 100 boxes from them. That’s like when I was in elementary school and we tried to sell rolls of wrapping paper. They always enticed us by having the “money hurricane machine.” Thinking back on it, I have no idea what the big prize was. Now, they have Ipods, Ipads, Shuffles, and all those electronics, but that certainly didn’t exist when I was in grade school. Does anyone remember?

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Either way, I never sold anything. My parents would buy two rolls of wrapping paper so I wouldn’t feel so bad and then call it a day. I never walked door to door asking neighbors to buy from my catalog. My parents would kill me if I ever did that.

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Here’s an easy breakfast meal that you can make for the week. Just store the portion you don’t eat in the fridge and warm it in the microwave whenever you want it. You can also make this bake for guests. It’s nutritious, has a pleasant cinnamon spice taste to wake you up, and can be served alongside eggs if you want just a little sweet treat to finish your breakfast.

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The oatmeal is soft without being gooey or mushy. If you want it for dessert, serve a piece with a scoop of ice cream. I promise I won’t tell anyone. 🙂 From Sweet Pea’s Kitchen.

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Baked Apple Walnut Oatmeal

Ingredients

  • 2 cups uncooked quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/3 cup cranberries
  • 1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free milk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 apple, grated
  • 2 tablespoons butter, melted
  • 1 large egg, beaten
  • Cooking spray

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 375° F. Spray an 8x8 inch pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a mixing bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cranberries, walnuts, and baking powder.
  3. Gradually stir in the milk, vanilla, grated apple, butter, and egg and mix until well combined.
  4. Pour into prepared pan, leveling it out.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes and serve warm.
https://lovintheoven.com/baked-apple-walnut-oatmeal/

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