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Thursday, May 24, 2012

Salmon Burgers/Patties/Croquettes

Living in the middle of Georgia means there isn't a lot of fresh seafood around.  (Except for the shrimp guy who sets his truck up near F&M Bank one Friday a month (I think)...the guy I always forget about and wish I had shrimp later).  Reid goes fishing on his lunch breaks at the Augusta canal but obviously we don't eat those.   (I guess he should be fishing more at the river here...he will love this post).  There is an amazing source for Wild Alaskan Salmon on Augusta Locally Grown (Doug's).  I've ordered it before and the filets are amazing, amazing, amazing.  However, the $26 or so price/lb-1.5 lbs is a little on the pricier side for an everyday meal.  Food is something I don't mind paying the price for quality on but we will probably stick to something a little more on the budget friendly side for an everyday meal.

So for a weeknight meal (that you can prep in advance) and a way to incorporate more fish/Omega 3's in our diet, I'm a big fan of canned salmon.  

If you haven't used it, then here is what you want to look for:  Wild Caught Alaskan Salmon, MSC (Marine Stewardship Council) certified, and with only two ingredients:  Salmon, Salt.  While a filet may run $26/lb, a can of this costs less than $4.00.  There are 7 servings in each can with 15 grams of protein and 782mg Omega 3 fatty acids/serving.  Also 18% DV of calcium.  (The brand I buy here in Washington at Ingles is Double "Q" Pink Salmon-it has a red label.)  

The other thing to know about canned salmon is that it looks a little gross.  It's not just the nice meaty portion of the fish.  It has the skin and bones.  So when you cook with it, I recommend having everything else ready then opening up the can of salmon last so you can dump it in, stir and not have to look too closely at it. Yes, you eat the entire can and you don't want to drain it and lose any of those good Omega 3's.  (And I really only had to do this a couple times...it's not all that horrible but you don't want it sitting on your counter while you boil sweet potatoes.)


So here is the recipe...you will probably want to play around with the amount of seasonings and add/substitute based on flavors your family likes.  (Another good reason to make your non-fishy and non-egg mixture first...you can taste knowing that you'll be adding a little salt with the fish and that's it.  Once you add the eggs, you won't want to taste test it.  You can only justify that with cookie dough.) My "whole foods" cooking philosophy means using a whole onion, or a whole sweet potato, or a whole can of beans.  So if you have a large onion and not a small one, go ahead and use the whole thing. In cooking, the less picky you are with measurements the easier life is. (Because seriously who is going to have a way to "use up" a third a can of beans?  This philosophy is also why I make about 20 cups of hummus at a time because I'm not about to try to mix and measure tahini.  That goes for peanut butter cookies as well...I always adjust to be able to just dump the whole jar in.)

Step 1: Mash all your ingredients up together in a bowl.



Step 2:  Use an ice cream scoop and a parchment lined baking sheet to make beautiful patties burgers.  Bake them first, then "fry" them in a little oil right before serving.  The method makes sure they don't fall to pieces on you and have crazy shapes (like mine used to do every time).
Step 3:  Give them a little shallow oil run in the skillet for the crunchy effect.  Better than fish sticks any day...

Sweet Potato Salmon Patties

Half bunch of parsley
1 small red onion, chopped
1 medium sweet potato, peeled, cubed & boiled until soft
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp Dijon horseradish mustard
2 chopped green onions (optional)
1 tsp Sea salt
1 tsp coarsely ground pepper
1-2 cloves garlic (optional)
Fresh herbs-dill, thyme and parsley are all wonderful
1 Can of black beans

1 Can Double “Q” Wild Alaskan Caught Salmon

2 pastured chicken eggs (small-medium sized)
½ cup MASA cornmeal flour or whole wheat panko breadcrumbs (Ian's is a good brand sold here)..or whatever dry grain flour you have on hand (a sleeve of saltine crackers also work pretty well...just use up what you've got to hold it all together).

Directions:
1.)    Prepare sweet potato as directed.
2.)    Add sweet potatoes, onions, parsley, lemon juice, mustard, sea salt and black pepper in bowl and mash well together. 
3.)    Open can of salmon and add directly into sweet potato mixture and mash to combine.
4.)    Add eggs.
5.)    Add cornmeal or bread crumbs starting with ¼ cup.  Combine and add more as needed until desired consistency to form patties is reached.
6.)    Use ice cream scoop to make about 12 portions onto parchment lined baking sheet.  Slightly flatten out so you've got a tray of salmon patty disks.
7.)    Bake in preheated 350 oven for 15-20 minutes until fully cooked.  (If you want, at this point you can chill or freeze the patties until you're ready to eat them.  Reid insists chilling them first before the last step is the secret.  If you freeze them, thaw out in the fridge first).
8.)    Immediately before serving, add 2 tbsp oil in large skillet on medium heat.  Cook 3 minutes/side.

Makes 12 patties; Per each, approximately 470 mg Omega 3’s; 8.75 gm protein

Add a few sides and you've got all the taste benefit of using fresh ingredients and a little slight fry there at the end; the health benefits of a variety of fruits/veggies/beans/grains/herbs and a happy husband.  Or a happy 8 month old.
Lemon broccoli, salmon patties, fruit salad and homemade pumpernickel bread.

Dinner aftermath...
Hope you enjoy this recipe!  Feel free to mix up the herbs, seasonings, binder, etc...you can make cilantro lime patties, spicy salmon patties, even Greek salmon patties (which is great if you repeat these at least 1x every 1-2 weeks like I do...)

Thursday, May 17, 2012

Girls And Their Dogs...

I love dogs.  When I met Reid I had two big dogs (a black lab and my Rhodesian Ridgeback/hound/not the brightest dog on the block/mix).  I was perfectly happy with my dogs and my ceramic dog collection I had started when I was five.  (For Christmas I had decorated one of the seven trees in my house with dog bones hot glued onto ribbon, with the ceramic dogs hanging from ribbon and a leash as garland...I thought it was cute but looking back I'm sure my holiday guests were a little worried about my social network.)

Merry Christmas from me and my ceramic dog collection!


Myra and Addie...(my) best friends.

Anyway, it was happy crazy dog lady town for me (maybe a step above crazy cat lady) until Reid stepped in a swept me off my feet.

I love his biceps.  So does Myra.



Luckily, Reid loves dogs too.  So in Josephine's nursery there is an old print that hung in Reid's nursery and his dad's nursery as a baby of a dog and cat along with my stuffed dog (Frisky of course).  (Oh, and also a few dog books which might have been purchased to go under aforementioned Christmas tree...) I thought it was very important our dogs got to know her right off the bat so they knew she was part of the family and someone to protect.  So every morning since we brought her home, I've taken her outside and told her about each of our dogs.  (Roscoe, the stray who made our house his home for about six months, has now gone on his way).  When she was a little older I'd let them sniff her (and maybe more than once might have licked her...good for her immune system, right?)

So now that baby girl is up at 5:45 every morning, by 6:30 we're out of bed and playing.  In my stupor I can usually get a pot of coffee made so that when Reid leaves for work by 7:00, baby girl and I can have breakfast on the front porch.  This way both of us are happy because I get to sip coffee (now in our new rocking chair our friend brought us!) and baby girl gets her banana, egg and cereal (the organic toasted O's) in her jumper chair.  And the dogs loooove it.  Not only do they get fed on the front porch every morning anyway, but now they get a little dessert of whatever baby girl happens to knock off the chair (or toss their way). 

Anyway, all of this to say that I think Josephine has developed the same fondness for dogs as we have.  And perhaps some sixth sense understanding of canine psychology  because when I looked at all the pictures I took of her and Myra this morning (Mattie is a bit more aloof) they were making the same expression/doing the same thing in every single picture.

Maybe Josephine will be known as the "crazy dog baby."

Yes, we have a motorcycle on our front porch.
Notice Myra's under bite...


   











Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Two Year Anniversary!

March 20th, 2010 is our wedding anniversary.  April 6th, 2009 is the anniversary of when we met.  Two days later would be the anniversary of when he called me his Sugar Britches and that was the end of me.  And May 1st, 2010, a little more than a month from when we got married, is the day when I packed up my trunk with a table, scones and pound cakes to set up a little booth at the Washington Farmer's Market.

So here is one photo from the past two years..(there would be way more but our DSL apparently is more akin to 1998 dial up and after spending likely close to three hours of my day trying to get all these pictures uploaded our server crashed.  Think I need a little phone upgrade for our "anniversary" present!)


Thanks so much to everyone who has been a part of our little business!


Love,
Reid, Sugar Britches & Sugar Diapers
Our parking lot patisserie