Shrimp and Bulgar Wheat with Mexican flavors

The hubs declared this dish one of his favorites I've ever made, which is high praise for something that falls in the healthy category!!  It was really easy and took no time at all.  I did a true "mise en place," meaning having everything chopped and ready ahead of time because it only takes about 15 min to cook and I didn't know when the hubs would get home from work.

I have never cooked with bulgar wheat, but thankfully I decided to give it a go with this Epicurious recipe.

Here's what I used-

Clockwise from the top:
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes
3 chopped cloves of garlic
1 lime worth of juice
1 lime cut into wedges
1 red pepper, diced
2 fresh ears of corn, cut off the cob
1 lb of wild shrimp (trying to stay off farm raised seafood), shells off and deveined
and in the middle,
1 cup bulgar wheat (purchased from Fresh Direct)
and 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Start with a large pot and add a swirl of extra virgin olive oil over medium high heat.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 min.  Meanwhile, add 2 cups of water to your microwave for 2 min so that it boils.  Add the bulgar wheat to the garlic in the pot and cook for a minute or two until you can smell it getting toasted a bit.  Add about 1/2 tsp of salt as well.
Then, add the first 1/2 cup of boiling water.  Stir until the wheat has absorbed the liquid and continue adding the water a 1/2 cup at a time. After the 2 cups are incorporated, the wheat will be just slightly soupy.  This should take about 7-8 min in total.  The rest of the water will continue to be absorbed over the next few minutes.

Then add the shrimp to the pan and cook for another 3-4 minutes until the shrimp are JUST cooked. They still needed a few minutes here.

Then add the corn, red pepper, lime juice, and red pepper flakes and cook for another 2 minutes.

Finally, turn the heat off and add the cilantro and serve with a lime wedge.

This would make the easiest dinner party ever. I would prep everything before your guests arrive, and then it just needs 15 minutes to cook and voila! A Mexican flavored, healthy dish.
I would serve chips and salsa and a nice manchego cheese while guests arrived, and serve the dish with a slice of avocado on top and a crostini on the side.  It pairs beautifully with a light Sauvignon Blanc or fruity Pinot Grigio.

Miso Glazed Cod with rice and roasted peaches and snap peas

This one is a winner from several perspectives - cooks in 20 min (though brown rice takes 50 min), delicious, and you only have to clean the dishes that you cook in - no prep dishes!

First thing I did was get a cup of brown rice going because that takes 50 min to cook and I pre-heated the oven to 475.  You want the glaze to crisp up on the ends of the fish but you don't want the fish to overcook, which means a hot oven.
While the rice was going, I put some sugar snap peas (enough for 2 people) in a glass pyrex and sliced two peaches on top like so:

Then I prepped the fish.  This recipe can be made with any firm, thick white fish.  I've made it before with cod, but Whole Foods didn't have any cod today.  The only thick white fish they had were hake and Chilean sea bass. The hake looked a lot like cod and it was $7.99 to the $27.99 Chilean sea bass, so it was a no-brainer that we were going to try out hake. I asked for the thickest piece they had and got 2 filets cut, each about 5 oz and 1 in thick.
Anyway, prepping for this dish means rinsing the fish, patting it dry, and putting it in a pyrex dish that will hold the filets.
I mixed up the miso glaze by using white miso paste and honey, in equal parts. If you haven't cooked with miso paste before, it is basically just fermented soybeans, which is a deliciously salty Japanese condiment.  I've been wanting to learn to cook with miso ever since I visited markets in Japan in 2009 and saw people shopping for miso like it was red wine (with just as many varieties!) I thought I had a picture of the miso bins, but this was a market in Kyoto with something in the miso (maybe some sort of vegetable?) I could have walked around this market for a day or two:

Anyway, you can get miso in Whole Foods or any asian section of your supermarket. It's a little pricey for the 1-2 TB you need for this dish, but since it is already fermented, you can keep it in your fridge for 6 months - 1 year with no problem. I just whisk equal parts of white miso paste and honey in a small bowl - the honey gives it a nice sweet / salty balance. I used 2 TB of both, since I know that both hubby and I like miso flavor, but if you are hesitant, you might want to use a bit less, since 2 TB of each will more than glaze 2 pieces of fish (it would prob glaze 4-5 pieces), but I load it onto our fish. Here's what the miso looks like:

Pop the peas/peaches on the top rack and the fish on the middle rack when there is 20 minutes left on the timer for the rice.
Once the fish is done (it should break away easily with a fork and be just opaque in the center...check it after 15 minutes depending on the thickness of your fish...my fish was thick, so 20 min was perfect), remove it and the vegetables from the oven and plate.  It's best if the fish can rest a few minutes before you serve.

A 9 from both hubby and me! He said he is saving 9.5s and 10s for unhealthy stuff. Ha.