Still Cooking

That's right...despite being crazy busy with a newborn, I'm still on track with my New Year's Goal of making one new recipe a week. My 27th-29th recipes were all hits. I made Baja Black Beans, Corn and Rice, Sweet Orange Salmon, and last night, Salmon Burgers.

One of our good friends in vegan so I'm always looking for ways to feed him. It's kind of a fun challenge, but I think that unless you were completely devout, it would be very challenging to adapt to this lifestyle (this coming from a girl who's not overly fond of tofu). For him, I made Baja Black Beans, Corn and Rice (http://www.recipezaar.com/recipe/Baja-Black-Beans-Corn-and-Rice-55768) to go with his vegan burger. The recipe was fine. Nothing over the top exciting, but I think it would make a great side dish mixed with Quinoa instead of with rice.



Whenever Kristie (my MIL) is in town, I love to cook for her. She is an extremely talented chef who even attended cooking school in France. I love to show off what I can do and am thrilled when she asks me for the recipe. We have a great time in the kitchen together, but when she was here, I kept her out and tried out a new recipe, Sweet Orange Salmon (http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1054902). This recipe was super quick and easy needing only 8 minutes under the broiler (about all I have time for right now), but was very tasty nonetheless. I served it with rice and steamed sugar snap peas; however, it would be really good over a nice bed of lettuce with mandarin oranges and almond slivers. I will be making this one again.



Lastly, I decided that since I had never eaten a salmon burger, I'd try to find an easy recipe for one. I found, in Cooking Light magazine this salmon burger recipe that was quite a hit (http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1206142). The recipe did not call for breadcrumbs, but after reading everyone's reviews I decided to add about a half cup in hopes of holding the burgers together better. I also made sure to really pat dry the salmon before I chopped it. These two steps helped a lot, but they are definitely not sturdy enough to hold up to the grill. Brad and I enjoyed them (Quinn will undoubtedly enjoy them today - a day later) on a good bun with spinach leaves, tomato, and avocado. I'd have to say that I'm quite pleased with salmon burgers...what a healthy alternative to the overdone hamburgers we tend to see and eat all summer long.



New this week...Shrimp Arribiatta and a return visit to the Ginger Lime Stirfry that I reviewed back in December.