Maple Glazed Trout

I often buy trout from Costco - it comes as two nice fillets that are pretty easy to prepare.  This recipe will glaze two of those fillets (about 1.5 kg).  It can easily be halved if you are planning on making one fillet and freezing the other for another use. (Original recipe: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/member/views/steelhead-trout-baked-with-honey-or-maple-glaze-50175385)

This trout pairs nicely with some basmati rice and steamed green beans tossed in salt and olive oil.  You can also sub out the maple for honey with the same results!

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp maple syrup (or honey)
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/3 onion, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a glass bowl in the microwave.  Whisk in the remaining ingredients.

2. Place the fish in the centre of a piece of foil.  Pour the glaze over the fish and fold the packet around the fish.

3. Preheat the oven to 400F.  (The fish will marinate while the oven heats up.  This step is not necessary though; you can preheat the oven while you prepare the fish to save time.)

4. Bake for 10 minutes plus 10 minutes for each inch of thickness (ie: a one inch thick fillet would bake for 20 minutes.)  Alternatively, you can subtract 5 minutes from your total cooking time, open up the foil and broil for 5 minutes.

Tahini Cookies

I remember seeing a recipe for Tahini Cookies once.  The writer said that it was a great alternative to peanut butter cookies.  It looked easy enough and the reviews were good, so I went out to buy tahini.  Of course life got in the way and the tahini sat in my cupboard for awhile.

Today was a snow day so I decided to bake cookies with my eldest while the baby napped.  I thought about those tahini cookies, but couldn't remember if I had saved that recipe so I looked for a new one.  This one had a lot a great comments and very few ingredients - all great things when I didn't know how much time I'd have before the baby woke up. (Original recipe: http://sweetpotatosoul.com/2014/12/life-changing-tahini-cookies.html)

These cookies came together really easily - perfect for little hands!  And the batter itself is delicious to eat - and safe since there's no raw egg.  This recipe is nut-free, dairy-free and egg-free, and also vegan!

Ingredients:
1 cup tahini
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup  honey
2 tsp cinnamon
1.5 cups rolled oats
1.5 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. Mix the tahini, maple syrup, honey, cinnamon, vanilla and salt until well combined.

2. Add rolled oats and stir to combine.

3. Scoop out some dough into your hands and roll into a ball.  Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet and flatten slightly.  Repeat with remaining batter.

4. Bake in a preheated 350Ff oven for 10 minutes.

5. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving.

Makes approximately 16 cookies.

Try adding chopped walnuts or chocolate chips for added flavour!