Eating Dinner With My Family

Ok here is a place you will really see the slacking. :)  We liked it and it was easy.  Company worthy? No.  But just because it wasn't an OMG doesn't mean write it off.  It was a snap to make and I thickly sliced some zucchini and broiled it right along with the salmon and the meat and veg was done at the same time.  I did use the thinner wild salmon and we like our veggies crisp if any of those don't apply to you, that would alter the cooking times.   I think I got it from allrecipes.com and you can feel free to grill the salmon like the recipe says, but I recommend following my instructions I added at the end.  Easier and faster clean up that way.   Grilled Salmon 1 1/2 pounds salmon fillets lemon pepper to taste garlic powder to taste salt to taste 1/3 cup soy sauce 1/3 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup water 1/4 cup vegetable oil 1. Season salmon fillets with lemon pepper, garli...

This throwback Thursday was picked by  husband, but my son's favorite fish is salmon.  (maybe even favorite protein)  Just be careful, it's easy to put too much of the brodetto and this isn't soup;).  This time the dinner wasn't as picture worthy as the last time I made it, but just as tasty.  I can't get over the pea puree.  It is amazing!   This time the picture looked bad too. It is also because of my over ladling of the brodello.  Oops!  In the end, this dish is good ( good enough to be one of the first to be repeated), looks pretty, easy to make, and is a little different. Salmon In Lemon Brodetto With Pea Puree Lemon Brodetto 2 Tbl olive oil 1 shallot diced 2 lemons juiced 1 lemon zested 2 Cup chicken broth 1 Tbl chopped fresh mint leaves Pea Puree 2 Cup frozen peas thawed (about 10 ounces) 1/4 Cup fresh mint leaves 1 Clove garlic 1/2 Tsp kosher salt 1/2 Tsp freshly ground black pepper 1/2 Cup extra-virgin olive oil ...

Ahh these throwback Thursdays are teaching me about the fallibility of memory. This ranked among the top 10 things we ever made, and was a strong contender for #1, and it was still delicious, but it didn't neatly make me faint and cry with joy the way I  remembered it.  My boy, who picked this TBT dish, still proclaims it a 5 star dish! My husband too.  I really enjoyed it and truth be told the sriracha cream does still make we weep with joy, but I was a smidge disappointed. Perhaps, in the exalted perfection of memory, I set my expectations too high. I shouldn't be complaining, it was a fine, nay excellent dinner, but I had put the memory of it on so high a pedestal, I should have known, it was going to lose in the comparison. I hope I haven't put you off the dish with my lamenting my first world problems. It is an outstanding dish.  It looks pretty too. (Although I think that the first post picture looks better than tonight's) It isn't too hard, or pricey. By thos...

I swear there is a burger conspiracy out there. Or maybe it is perpetuated by the ground beef people.  Eight buns in a pack and most families hover around the 4 mark.  Now we have to have burgers again right?!  I adore burgers but twice a week is bit much every time we have burgers.  (the boy's favorite food and what I craved when I was pregnant with him)  So I let my boy check out the to try file for burgers and he chose this Salmon (no surprise there) burger from Happy Valley Chow .  It was very good!!  (and it showed those ground beef conspiracy nuts what's what ;) My husband cooked again since I am still feeling a bit yucky, and he was really impressed how well they held together!  They the mayo was perfect and I totally loved it.  We all totally loved the burger.  (Even the girl)  I am keeping a short post; I'm turning in early.  I need to be rested and have my strength for tomorrow's Gator game.  We are ha...

My boy loves salmon!  He choose this recipe for dinner tonight and he loved it!  I am putting it in the fixable file. Why?  Well there was a ton of mustard to salmon ratio.  I think next time I would like whole grain mustard with the English powdered mustard I have. The recipe just says powered mustard, and perhaps the strong horseradish flavor in the English mustard coupled with the Dijon was what made it sinus cleaning!  :0. Once I scraped the mustard off the little girl's portion, she liked it. I ate my bites with the potatoes to help cut the mustard. (Giggle) The potatoes were another issue. I cooked them at least twice as long as recommended and they still were not done. I even bought the small "two bite" red potatoes and quartered those. Also, the crust didn't brown in the time allotted, so I turned on the broiler.  So, while not terrible, I think it could be fixed.  I liked this Salmon with Whole Grain Mustard much better.  The only t...

My son got to choose dinner tonight and he picked another recipe from the lovely and talented Nillawan.com .  It was another awesome dish, and surprisingly easy to make considering just how much flavor it delivered.  I think I cooked the tomatoes a bit longer than she did, but my husband has issues with chunks of tomato.  I didn't think this would be his kind of dish as feta and tomatoes aren't his favorites, but he wasn't going to be home for dinner. He got home and tried it reheated and declared it delicious!  (despite the fact of his less than favorite ingredients and it being reheated!!!)  As with all the recipes I try from my fellow bloggers, I give you a link to their site. Salmon Feta Pasta Roma tomatoes garlic basil Smoked salmon pine nuts feta Recipe and instructions here

Well tonight's dish was no wow. However, I feel honor bound to round up 1/2 a star on pure healthiness.  So it gets 3 stars.  I used a wild salmon and I think that I should have broiled it, but I hate to diverge from a recipe the first time I make it.  I picked this dish for it's lightness as we are all heavier and bloated from all the food we ate on vacation.  The flavors were ok, but like I said, not a wow.  The thing we liked the best was the Lemon Chia Seed dressing for our salad!  It was really amazing, and it went well with the fish.  In fact, I think a plain piece of broiled Salmon with this dressing would be better than the following recipe.  Of course the dressing has oil in it where the fish recipe doesn't.  If you are looking for a decent low cal recipe, than this will fit the bill, but if you are looking for really tasty food, go with a different salmon recipe, eat less of it, and fill up on salad. Salmon With Sriracha Sauce...

Well this was very good, but as it required some online shopping for special ingredients and me begging sushi restaurants for the salmon roe I couldn't find in the grocery store, I'm betting most of you aren't going to want to try it because of that.  The smoked salmon and roe do make it a very fishy dish too, however, it was really great if you like that kind of thing. It is an Eric Ripert dish, and it looks more like artwork than food!  I used lime zest since I couldn't find fresh Yuzu, but I ordered the juice. I also couldn't find fresh chervil, so I used 3 parts parsley and 1 part tarragon.  We were split on whether this was a 4.5 or a 5. I decided that because of the issue acquiring ingredients, I'm going with the lower score. Salmon with Pea-Wasabi Puree and Yuzu   1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen peas, thawed 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon wasabi paste Fine sea salt Freshly ground white pepper 2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons 1 t...

I love salmon and pickles, but this one was just 3 stars.  I think the butter had possibility; I think it needed more pickles and some more mustard or some sort of flavoring.  I kept wanting to put more on my fish because I didn't taste anything but salmon and butter.  The bites that had a lot of pickle in it were better.  Still, I can think of at least a dozen truly tasty incarnations of the wild salmon I bought, all better use of my dollars spent on the fish.  Keep in mind it gets 3 stars only because salmon is inherently tasty and the combination of it with the pickle was somewhat novel. Grilled Salmon with Dill Pickle Butter 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1/4 cup finely diced dill pickles 1 teaspoon minced tarragon 1/2 teaspoon Dijon mustard Salt and freshly ground pepper Four 6-ounce salmon fillets, with skin Extra-virgin olive oil, for rubbing Light a grill. In a small bowl, blend the butter with the diced pickles, tarr...

Salmon is quickly becoming a favorite in this house.  I find that funny, because originally, I barely tolerated it.  I attribute my change of heart regarding salmon to two things.  First of all, we switched to wild salmon.  Not only is it better for you, but it tastes so much better.  Oh, I am running off on a tangent here, but I am big in to the responsible eating and perhaps one  of the most important things you can do is to ensure that you eat sustainable seafood.  I have a free app called seafood watch.  I think it is easy to use and lets you know not only what particular seafood is ok to eat, but what fishing practices used to catch them are preferable.  I strongly suggest you find yourself this app or one similar to help you make informed seafood choices.  Ok, tangent over!  The second reason I think I like salmon so much better now, is that I cook it way less.  The original recipe (which I changed a good bit) had the sal...

Well tonight's dinner was a win.  Not only was it easy to prepare, but it was really tasty!  It kind of reminded me of this cold "smoked salmon" appetizer I had recently at a restaurant I like, so next time I want to play around with it and add the ingredients that were in that dish.  (some brown sugar, dill, and maybe liquid smoke??) Everyone loved the meal.  (well not the 3 year old but she had missed a nap and didn't like anything at that point!)  I think it is really important to get a great mustard.  (and one that has visible mustard seeds in it!!)  And, as I have chives growing in my garden, and whole grain mustard and olive oil are pantry staples, all I needed to buy was the salmon.  (which was good because it isn't exactly economical;)  The only deviation I made was I only roasted it for 2 minutes before the 4 minute broil.  These fillets were a bit smaller and fairly thin.  Next time, I think I could skip the roast all toge...

Tonight's dish was stellar!  I found it on another of my favorite sites nillawan.com .  I is loaded with yummy sounding things and just plain cool stuff.  She calls it a guide to whimsical living.  Love that.  I can't say enough great things about this dish!  My son inhaled 2 large portions.  I wanted a second one but....  you know the first one was pretty big! Everyone at the table raved about it.  In short, make this!  And you know the drill, with my fellow bloggers, I give a link to their site.  Oh I did make one small change.  I didn't cook the salmon.  I just threw it in with the hot pasta and sauce and stirred. Smoked Salmon Pasta penne pasta smoked salmon pine nuts spring onions garlic capers cream Splash white wine Knob butter Salt and cracked black pepper Recipe and directions here

So, I saw somewhere that it was Eggs Benedict Day (or maybe week). Being one of my favorite dishes, I had to celebrate by making some!  I mean hello?  It is loaded with egg yolk!   Problem.  I have made them for the blog before and I have been slacking about posting every day, so it really should be different some how.  What I decided to to was clean up a bit.  (some of it is actually pre clean up!  Yea impressive I know:)  I had some spinach laying around so I wilted it with some garlic and anchovy paste.  (like in the Italian Sausage Burgers with garlicky mayo)  That cleaned up some produce, and I had a bit more smoked salmon than I need for the up coming smoked salmon pasta, so we each had one smoked salmon Benedict and one spinach.  Both were really tasty but ham or the veggie one from Peach Valley Cafe still reign supreme in my mind! I am including the recipe for the spinach, eggs and the hollandaise.  If you n...

Update to the original post that follows: I made this with fresh ginger, a slightly thicker piece of salmon than last time, baked it in a rimmed baking sheet for 10 minutes at 400 and then spooned some of the marinade it was cooking in over the top and broiled it for about 2 minutes and it came out perfect.  It was one of the most amazing meals.  We had company and everyone loved their dish.  5 stars all the way!  I also made extra of the sauce, which I adore, and found out the next day it makes a tasty salad dressing if you can handle the heat Tonight, I decided to dive into my thousands of pins on Pinterest and take the first step in my very long journey to get through them. I began this journey with some excitement but with a lot of trepidation.  My concern sprang not only from the infamy of Pinterest fails but as I read through the recipe I saw 2 things that boded disaster. The first of which was the amount of sweet things in the recipe. I was afraid th...

I really liked the glaze for the salmon, and a runny egg on hash.... heaven.  My only issues with the dish, not enough of the bacon and apple to potato, and the salmon was a bit over done and annoying to cook on the grill.  I did use wild salmon, and those filets are much thinner, and the fillets didn't have skin on them wich also made grilling even more annoying.  We all liked the dish well enough and will make it again but with some small changes.  I think next time we will reduce the amount of potato.  That way, we have more of the tasty bits with the potato.  I really got out of the blogging groove, and now that there is a new year, I need to get back in to the groove.  Alas, tonight is not that time, so anothere short and sweet post:) Salmon, Bacon And Potato Hash 2 lb baking potatoes Salt 4    thick slices of bacon,cut into 1-inch pieces 1/4 c  vegetable oil 1    onion,cut into 1-inch dice 1  ...

It isn't a 'pretty' sauce;) This recipe we first made years ago.  Like ten years ago!  It was originally from Eating Well or Cooking Light or one of the healthy food magazines.  We liked it quite a lot back then and it was one of the only ways we enjoyed salmon.  Needless to say, it was when we weren't as interested in food and didn't have a diverse range of foods we enjoyed.  I think the last time we made this was almost 7 years ago.  Why it seemed to fall out of vogue with us then is a mystery.  I decided to drag it out and try it again. (Now that we have learned more about food)  Sadly, it is not a wow recipe.  It was good, but not great.  That being said, if you want an easy, and fairly fast recipe for salmon this one will fit that bill nicely. Also, since we weren't fans of salmon then, if you aren't a fan now, it may work for you.  Kids do look askance at its vivid green color.   I knew 20 minutes were going to be too...

Well we enjoyed the skinny tostadas so much, I choose another recipe from Laurie's Cravings .  As expected, it was delicious.  It was also fast and healthy.  If you don't know what tamari is, it a type of soy sauce.  I do notice a flavor difference, but I know many do not.  The main reason most people use it, is because it is naturally gluten free, where traditional soy is fermented with wheat.  However, I did read that the labeling has not always been completely accurate, at least in the beginning.  If you want to read a quick summary you can check out wisegeek .  With the salmon, I made some brown rice cooked in a low sodium stock.  (beef was what I had open so that is what I used, but any could work) I also quickly stir fried a couple of carrots, red onion and green pepper with some garlic and a bit of the tamari.  I think one of the best things about Laurie's recipes is that not only are they tasty, but you feel good after eating ...

Having pomegranate molasses from last night's recipe, I decided to pull out this one from my to try file that has been passed up because I didn't have the molasses.  I hate to get an ingredient with only one use for it.  Well unlike in school house rock, it seems two was the magic number.  This one was vastly superior to last night's dinner.  My only complaint was with mother nature.  I did not enjoy the woody aspect of the pomegranate arils.  Loved the tart pop but that woody crunch after was a texture issue for me.  I kept thinking that I was getting a fish bone.  I learned to work with it and over the course of dinner, I found myself enjoying it more and more.  The flavor of the fish was awesome.  I even enjoyed the mint.  I usually have an issue with mint in savory dishes. Pom egranate-Glazed Salmon With Armenian Rice Salmon 2 T  soy sauce 1 T  extra-virgin olive oil 1 T  fresh lemon juice 1...

I actually didn't cook this, my husband did. I was feeling really sick. I offered him the blog post, to give his thoughts on the cooking process, but he has informed me that he doesn’t want to:). So I can only give you my impressions of the taste. I liked it a lot. Being a bit stuffy I think the flavors were a bit dulled and I still enjoyed it. My husband and father loved it and the boy tolerated it. (he isn't a huge fan of salmon... yet;) We served it with steamed rice and a simple salad. I picked this dish to use up the rest of the miso from the father's day dinner of cr ispy roast chicken with shallots and miso gravy . When buying the ingredients, I did cut the recipe in half. (I didn't have 10 diners) but other than that, we made no changes. It is super fast. I don't know what the longest time the marinade would be good on the fish. I know fish is more delicate and usually has a short marinade time. Wait a minute, we did marinate it about an hour, as we got dela...

I liked this dish.  There are a few things I would have done differently.  The salmon was a bit overcooked but the green beans were perfect.  Next time, I would start the green beans 2-3 minutes earlier than the fish; say at the point where you toss the beans in the middle of the cooking, I would then add the fish.  I thought the glaze/marinade was great and loved the method of it. I didn't need a starch, but at least the boy did, so I made some rice and added the rest of of the spicy Korean dipping sauce to it.  It was pretty good. Cost of the meal $4.50 per person and I bought expensive wild salmon and french green beans.  I was a little light on the salmon, but 2 packages would have been way more than I needed.  Farmed salmon and regular green beans would have made this about half price per person. Five-Spice-Glazed Salmon With Sesame Green Beans 1/4 c  honey 4 t  reduced-sodium soy sauce 1-1/2 tsp. five-spice powder 2 ...