Sunday with Sandra Lee

Sandra Lee just happens to be my all-time favorite Food Network celebrity chef. I admire her cooking style as well as her flare for setting a mood with tablescapes. Sandra's recipes are creative and flavorful but always semi-homemade so they make sense for the working homemaker/cook. I refer to her cookbooks often such as Cooking Made Light and Cocktail Time, featuring healthy meals of all varieties as well as appetizers and desserts for entertaining. This evening I will prepare a Sandra Lee entree and side dish (with a special Weekend Test Kitchen idea for a starter course).

My husband's parents will be joining us for dinner. I began my menu preparation by asking what category of food they were in the mood for- and seafood it is!

• Crabby 'Shrooms (my test kitchen creation to be featured in my upcoming blog)
• Sandra's Halibut-and-Spinach Packets
• Sandra's Sesame Brown Rice
• Wine pairing of Raphael pre-release of Grand Cru Sauvignon Blanc 2009 (Coming soon to the tasting room!)

Entree Ingredients:

Fresh Halibut fillets- 2 pounds

Garlic pepper- 1 teaspoon

Frozen cut spinach-1 box, thawed

Newman's Own chunky salsa-1 cup

Lemon- 4 slices

Jalapeno chile pepper- 8 slices

Preparation:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Rinse fish under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Cut into 4 serving-size portions. Sprinkle with garlic pepper; set aside. Cut four 12x10 inch pieces of parchment paper or aluminum foil; set aside. Squeeze excess water from spinach.
2. Place one-fourth of the spinach on a sheet of parchment. Top with a piece of fish. Add 1 tablespoon of the salsa, a lemon slice and two slices of chile pepper. Fold parchment over fish; seal packet with a double-fold on each edge. Repeat to make 4 packets. Place packets on baking sheet.
3. Bake fish in preheated oven for 16-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily.

Rice Side Ingredients:

Vegetable broth- 1 3/4 cups

Quick-cook brown rice-1 cup

Chinese chicken salad dressing mix-2 tablespoons

Red pepper flakes-1/2 teaspoon

Scallion-1

Sesame seeds-1 tablespoon

Toasted sesame oil-2 tablespoons

Preparation:

1. In a medium saucepan, combine vegetable broth, rice, salad dressing mix and pepper flakes. Bring to a boil over high heat; reduce heat to low. Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until all of the liquid is absorbed. Remove from heat. Fluff rice with a fork. Stir in bias-sliced scallion, sesame seeds and sesame oil.

If you've never tried one of Sandra Lee's recipes, I recommend it. They are very straight forward and include "super foods" that make things a bit healthier.

Signing off for now from my kitchen. Have a fun and creative day!