This blog is dedicated to my good friend Serena. She is the author of the It Starts with Quiche blog.
Since my diagnosis of type II diabetes at the beginning of 2020, I have had a humdinger of a time trying to motivate myself to eat better. At first, I thought no carbs, carbs are bad. and to an extent they are not friendly to me, but mostly … and importantly, it is about portions and consistency of meals for my body.
One of the easiest meal time ideas for me, and this also means for my three kids and husband, is protein. We like chicken in our house. And we love salmon. And we love steak! Now, depending on what day it is, where the moon is in the sky, and if their socks are on their feet or not, one of the three kids is bound to hate whatever I make. So … I try not to take it personally and I try not to dump a plate of food over their round little heads. 🙂
Adding protein to meals is pretty simple to do, and a complete protein doesn’t have to be animal-based. Rice and beans make a complete protein and we love that dish in our house. Chop up some avocado, sprinkle chopped green onions from the onions growing on my kitchen window sill, add cheese and sour cream, and my kids are begging for seconds.
Over the summer, I’ve started buying more salmon from my favorite grocery store … Sprouts. I might have a small crush on sprouts and everything inside that store! I buy about 2 to 3 pounds of that delicious pinkish orangeish fish a week and we usually have leftover fillets for lunch.
Last Monday, I had a giant dead salmon to bake, and I didn’t quite know what else to make with it. I was chatting with my bestie, Serena, and I decided that my porch time was up and I had to make dinner. So I took her into the scary garage with me, popped my head into the freezer, and started to rattle off items to Serena. She helped me decide to bake up the frozen quiche in my freezer and she told me that if I had some pesto, that I should top off the salmon with pesto.
I had all of these things and put it together in less than 45 minutes. Yay me!
I baked those quiche: one spinach and artichoke, the other broccoli and cheddar. Half way through, I popped in the pesto covered salmon, and a quarter of an hour later, we had dinner on the table.
What I love about cooking salmon is that it is so freaking easy. I have learned through trial and error that cutting the fish into servings is easier after cooked. So, usually, I put the whole slab of fishy goodness on the tray, season, and bake … broil … or, if you are really lucky, grill.
I’ve sauced up my fish in various ways. Here are my favorites:
On Monday, we tried for the first time, and loved, the pre-made pesto sauce from Costco. I just spooned pesto over the salmon and spread the sauce evenly.
In the past, I have made a dry rub of chili powder, onion flakes, cumin, and roasted garlic powder and rub that on my salmon. This is my absolutely favorite flavoring for salmon.
I’ve also mixed honey and stone ground mustard together and spread that over my fish.
I’ve used lemon olive oil and a little bit of salt.
I have used the above chili rub that I mentioned with a little bit of lime.
I’ve put peach salsa over my salmon. And the peaches came from my tree so the salsa was extra special.
I’ve eaten my salmon with rice, or potatoes, on a salad, with veggies on the side, and now with quiche.
I’m really digging my adventures with salmon. I’d love to hear any creative ways to prepare salmon that you might implement in your kitchen.
signing off for now,
Bay Area Blind Mom
Bay Area Blind Mom 