Salmon Burgers and Rosemary Fries

This weekend was a lot of fun, but full of driving. We drove to Houston to see the Bears in the Sweet Sixteen! Then we drove to Dallas for Stephanie and David's wedding, and on Sunday we woke up and drove back to Houston to see Baylor play, for the first time ever, in the Elite Eight! It was such a fun weekend!

Since it is Lent, I've been making meat free meals on Friday. This Friday I made delicious Salmon Burgers with Rosemary fries. They were so good, they literally made my mouth water as I was making them! I couldn't find a particular salmon burger recipe I really liked... So I combined all my favorite parts of about 4 different recipes and came up with this recipe! The recipe will make 4 burgers.

Salmon Burgers with Scallion Sour Cream Cheese Sauce

Ingredients:

• 4 (6-oz) skinless salmon fillets, cut into large chunks
• 1 Tbl grill seasoning (I used Montreal Seasoning by McCormick)
• 1 Tbl poppy seeds
• 1 Tbl sesame seeds
• 2 Tbl chopped fresh dill
• 3/4 cup ranch style or Italian style bread crumbs (thanks for the tip Dr. Tanner!)
• 2 egg yolks (to help everything hold together)
• extra-virgin olive oil for drizzling
• Fresh spinach leaves or any kind of green lettuce, for topping
• Sliced tomato, for topping
• Sliced red onion, for topping
• Burger buns, split and toasted

Sauce:

• 1/2 cup softened cream cheese
• 3 scallions, white and greens, chopped
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 tsp lemon juice

Directions:

Preheat a large skillet over medium-high heat with a drizzle of extra-virgin olive oil.

Place salmon in a food processor and pulse to coarse grind meat (or if you are like me and don't own a food processor, I just chopped the salmon up as finely as I could, probably not as efficient as a food processor, but it got the job done).

 Transfer fish to a mixing bowl and season with grill seasoning, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dill, egg yolks, and bread crumbs. Mix and form 4 patties, Drizzle burgers with evoo. If you have time,  store in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to help all the flavors come together.

Cook burgers 4-5 minutes on each side for fully cooked fish.

While burgers cook, combine in a bowl the cream cheese and the scallions and fold in sour cream and lemon juice.

Top the burgers with lettuce, tomato, onion and sauce on crusty, toasted buns. Enjoy!

Rosemary Fries

Ingredients:

• 4 large Idaho potatoes, scrubbed (or 1 potato per person)
• 1/3 to 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 4 to 5 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes, divided (optional)
• 4-5 cloves of garlic

Directions:

Heat oven to 500 degrees F.

Cut 10 wedges from each potato and place on a baking sheet. Drizzle a couple tablespoon of oil over the potatoes to coat them lightly then season with rosemary, salt and pepper and 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes. Throw a couple of cloves of cracked garlic on the sheet with potatoes. 

Roast 25 minutes, turning once. Make sure you don't open the oven except to turn the fries half way through, so the oven will stay hot!

Tasty Tomato Soup

I was in Dallas this weekend for Jen's wedding shower, it was so fun. Jen got the most incredible kitchen appliances, utensils, serving bowls, platters, measuring cups, spoons, cookbooks, etc... Needless to say, I was jealous!

Cameron and I went to Williams Sonoma (one of my favorite stores EVER) and it took a while for us to pick out what to get Jen and Craig... We ended up getting this 10-piece set of glass bowls, salt and pepper shakers, and Cameron picked out this hard boil egg timer (you put it in the water with the egg and after a certain amount of time in the water the device, shaped like an egg, tells you when your egg is boiled!).

For lunch on Sunday I made Ford and Cameron some roasted tomato-bread soup, and Mr. and Mrs. Ongena came over just in time to eat with us! But as a side note, this soup is delicious and perfect for a cold drizzly day like Sunday was, but to feed hungry boys, like Cameron and Ford, I would recommend making a salad, or grilled cheese to pair with this yummy soup. I love to dip grilled cheese in tomato soup!

Another great thing about this soup is it doesn't take a lot of ingredients! You might have some of these ingredients lying around, but if you don't its not expensive or time consuming to pick them up at the store.

Roasted Tomato-Bread Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 pound vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered and seeded (about 3 tomatoes)
• 3 tablespoons EVOO, plus more for garnish (the recipe calls for garlic-infused extra-virgin olive oil, but I just had regular EVOO and used garlic salt instead)
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper (And garlic salt!)
• 1/2 cup finely sliced fresh basil leaves, plus more leaves for garnish
• 1(28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 loaf sourdough baguette (day-old, its a little bit stall and soaks up all the flavor better) or 1/4 loaf country/ french bread, torn into 1/2-inch pieces (about 3 cups)

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the tomatoes on a rimmed baking sheet, toss with 2 tablespoons of the garlic oil and season with salt and pepper, to taste. Roast until the tomatoes are softened and the edges are beginning to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1 tablespoon of the garlic oil in a saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the basil and stir for about 30 seconds. 

Add the canned tomatoes with their juice and the water; season with salt and pepper, to taste. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the bread and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.

Stir the oven-roasted tomatoes and any cooking juices into the saucepan and simmer for another 3 minutes. Taste for seasoning, adjusting if necessary, and ladle into serving bowls. Garnish with a drizzle of garlic olive oil and basil leaves.

ENJOY!!!

The Brown Bag Lunch

I've been listening to Cameron talk about bringing his lunch to work versus eating at the many restaurants in downtown Dallas surrounding his office. I thought it would be helpful to write about work-lunches and give some tips and suggestions.

I was doing some 'googling' on lunch ideas, looking for ideas and different things to put on here. I found that leftovers are a great way to save money and eat healthier. (Well healthier than if you were eating fast-food. It's also better than eating a PB&J.)

Most of the time when I make dinner, I always have left overs. Most work places offer microwaves, and reheating your lasagna or pasta from the night before could save you around $8 a day on a lunch at Corner Bakery.

The key to bringing your lunch to work/ school etc. Is to be healthier than the options around you.

I found this recipe for sweet potato soup. Sweet potatoes are in season right now, and I love soups during the winter. And to top it all off, it's healthy for you too!

Sweet Potato Soup

This soup would be delicious on a cold wet day, similar to today in Waco. But would also be delicious the next day at work! Serve with crusty cheesy bread!

Ingredients:

• 6 cups water
• 1 Tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 Tbsp. salt
• 2 orange sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
• 2 white sweet potatoes, peeled & diced
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 c. sweet white corn
• 4 oz. green chili's
• 1/2 c. roasted red bell peppers, diced
• 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream
• 3 Tbsp. turkey gravy powder
• Cilantro to garnish

Directions:

Fill a large pot with water, sugar, salt, sweet potatoes and onions. Boil until sweet potatoes are softened, about 20 minutes. Add remaining ingredients to pot, stir well and bring just to a boil. Serve immediately, slurping all the while. Store left-overs in refrigerator and reheat for lunch!

Chicken Salad Sandwich

This next recipe is a chicken-salad that we made in Horse Shoe Bay during the summer. Anna and I made it mostly, but it was my first time to ever make chicken salad, and to take apart an entire chicken for the meat! It has lots of flavoring in it, so all it needs is a toasted croissant or crispy lettuce.

All the girls at the lake ate the chicken salad right out of the bowl though, so it can be done!

Ingredients:

The best part about chicken salad, is you can really change the recipe to your preference. If you don't like an ingredient you can always substitute it for something else. A lot of people put celery in theirs, but I've always put grapes in it for an extra sweet crunch. And if you don't like almonds, cashews are great too!

• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3 1/2 cups diced chicken
• 1 cup grapes, halved
  
• 1/3 cup slivered almonds

Variations: like I said you can add celery, raisins, dried cranberries, sliced apples, cashews, pecan, walnuts, sour cream,  or mustard.

Directions:

Combine lemon juice, mayonnaise, and salt and blend well. Toss with chicken, grapes, and almonds. Serve on toasted bread or crisp lettuce. If you are making a sandwich...

• Toast the bread and add sliced tomatoes and lettuce. 
• Toast bread and add cranberry sauce and melted brie  

In the end, it doesn't take long to prepare a good and healthy home-made lunch.

Left-overs are great, as well as salads, soups, and sandwiches. It saves you lots of money and you can test your skills with some new recipes. I always look for some in my cookbooks at home or on sites like Food Network or Williams-Sonoma!