Salmon Croquettes

I have just recently learned that what I have called Salmon Patties my entire life are also refered to as Salmon Croquettes. Either way they are fast, easy, and tasty! Salmon Patties, or Croquettes are also very low carb but still have the crunchy texture so many low carb dieters miss! So here we go!

Ingredients:

1 can of Salmon

3 green onions

1 egg

1 tbsp. oil

salt and pepper

Directions:

1. First you have to get the salmon out of the can and remove the backbone. Warning: If you have a weak stomach....well, you can do it but this is pretty gross. You will notice that there are also very very tiny little bones that are all over the place. You can take some out if they happen to come off easily but its not necessary. The little bones are edible and actually very nutricious.

2. Put the salmon in a large mixing bowl. Dice the green onions up (three whole) and toss on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and the mash up with your hands.

3. Scramble one egg in a bowl and then pour on top. Mash again making sure that the egg gets in all of the mixture to hold it together.
4. Create patties. I usually make 4 from one can. Make them just like you would a hamburger!

5. Warm up the oil in a skillet...I usually keep it on Medium. You don't want your oil to get too hot! Once hot, place the patties in the oil and fry them! I've actually never timed the frying...but you will notice the patty turning a golden brown. At this point flip it over and finish it up! Both sides should be a golden brown.

6. Enjoy! I like to top them with ketchup and have a salad/veggie combo with them.

Here's the Pictures:

Mixing it up!

Frying

Finished Product!

Stuffed Bell Pepper

I've made this a couple of times now. It has become a favorite of my husbands! Its very simple and is great for a busy night. Just mix it up, throw it in the oven, and do what you need to do!

Ingredients:

Green Bell Peppers (as many as you want. 1 fills me up, my husband likes 2)

Ground Beef

Worstceshire Sauce

Soy Sauce

Onion (chopped)

1 Egg

Salt and Pepper

Ketchup and Shredded Cheese for topping.

Directions:

1. Thaw meat and put in bowl (size depends on how much you use)

2. Add in chopped onion, worstceshire sauce (just cover the meat-I'm not sure on the measurement), a splash of soy sauce, salt and pepper to taste. I also put a little Tony Chachere's in mine...you can really put whatever spices you want in your meat!

3. Mash up everything with your hands until mixed well...this gets a little messy! haha

4. Crack 1 egg over the meat and mix it all up again. The egg keeps the onion and anything else you add it from completely falling off the meat.

5. Slice open the top of your bell peppers and put a small hole in each part of the bottom (there is usually 4, but it depends on how your bell pepper is shaped). Cut the center away, pulling out the core and seeds.

6. Stuff the bell peppers with meat, just even it out between the peppers.

7. Place on baking sheet, you can put the tops back on if you want.

8. Bake at 350 for about an hour. About 5-10 min before they are done squirt ketchup on top and cover with shredded cheese.
9. Take them out and enjoy!

Here are some pictures of the process!

Here are the ingredients

All stuffed!

Finished Product!

Results:

Very good meal! However, that was expected. I also like it because its fairly low carb and you can personalize it as much as you want. There are so many possibilities for flavoring the meat!

I gave the meal a 9. It is very good and I enjoy it. I can't give it a 10, I reserve that for A-MA-ZING meals. (Like that chicken I loved so much)

Dillon gives it a 8.7...geez he's worse than Simon. Just kidding. He really likes it too. Red, the dog, loves the meat but is not having the pepper part. haha!

Give it a try!!

Pecan Crusted Chicken & Asparagus

Well if you can't tell, I have been on a low carb diet for a few weeks now. I don't ever get way too serious about it but I do generally like to stick to a smaller amount of carbs. This means protein, protein, protein! This week I have decided to make pecan crusted chicken with asparagus. I got recipes for both from the internet and modified them. The chicken came from dianaskitchen.com and the asparagus came from simplyrecipes.com. I'm going to start with the chicken, then the asparagus and pictures. Here we go!

Pecan Crusted Chicken:
1 cup ground pecans
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon garlic salt
1/2 teaspoon basil
Juice of 1 sm. lemon
2 tablespoons olive oil
Bonless Chicken Breast...I used 2 but I think you could probably make up to 4 with the mixture.

Directions:
In a lg. shallow dish mix the pecans, cheese, garlic salt, and basil. I also used some white pepper and mixed it here as well.
Put the lemon juice in another shallow dish.
Dip the chicken in the lemon juice, then coat in the pecan mixture. Make sure and get the chicken coated well.
Cook chicken over medium or medium high heat for about 3-5 minutes on each side. Make sure you use a non-stick pan or use a non-stick spray.

Simple right? It really is quick and easy. If you want the mixture to stick to the chicken a little better I would suggest using an egg and mixing some lemon juice in with it. Okay, now on to the side item!

Asparagus:
1 lg bunch of asparagus (basically, however much you want)
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese
1 teaspoon lemon zest (use the lemon you juiced for the chicken)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
Rinse off the asparagus and cut the bottom a couple of inches up so that a fresh part shows at the bottom.
Cut into 1 or 2 inch pieces. You could also do them whole, which is what I did. Either way it will taste similar.
Fill a medium saucepan about half way full with water and bring to a boil.
Add the asparagus and reduce to a simmer. You will only need to boil the asparagus for about 2 or 3 minutes!
Drain the hot water.
While still hot toss the asparagus in a bowl with the olive oil, lemon, cheese, and salt and pepper.

Pictures: I'm having trouble with the pictures, but I did manage to get one up. Here is the finished plate!

Results:
I LOVED it! The chicken was very good. The pecan crust gave it a crunchy texture without very many carbs. The lemon juice gave some flavor as well. The asparagus were very good. I was excited to find a way to eat asparagus without drenching them in butter. The olive oil mixture was very good!

I gave it a 10! Yay! My first 10. I will definitely make this meal again.

Dillon gave it a 9.5! He said he loved it, but just has to be stubborn and hold out for a true "10". I told him he should have been an olympic judge! haha

Then there's the dog, Red. He loved the chicken but was just not having the asparagus! He's not much of a vegetable eater I suppose.

All in all we had a great meal! Give it a try! I'm anxious for someone to try something and see if it turns out the same way or not.

French Onion Soup

This week I have decided to try making French Onion Soup! I am using a soup mix and recipe from a company named "Frontier Soups". I also changed up the recipe, making the soup a little more hearty and filling. Here is the recipe that I used (I changed the original up a little bit).

Recipe:

3 Tbsp butter

1 Very large sweet onion

4 Cups canned beef broth

2 Large potatoes

1 to 2 lb beef stew meat (I used ground beef, which worked just fine)

8 oz. Shredded cheese

4-6 Slices of French Bread (I used cornbread instead, because I didn't want to go to the store)

Instructions:

1. Peel the onion and cut into quarters, then cross cut quarters to make semi-circle slices. (Just cut it up, its not really going to matter how.)

2. In a 4 quart pot, melt butter and saute onions for about 10 minutes. Add sugar if you want to carmalize the onions (I added sugar).

3. After about 10 minutes, add in your stew meat and saute it with the onions. Let the mixture saute for about 20 minutes or until meat is browned and onions are a golden brown color.

4. Add in Fronteir Soups: Chicago Bistro French Onion Soup Mix and 4 cups of canned beef broth.

5. Stir for 30 seconds, bring to a boil.

6. Cover, reduce to simmer. Add in 2 potatoes (chopped) and let simmer for a minimum of 30 minutes, or until potatoes are soft.

7. Ladle soup into bowls. Top with shredded cheese. Serve with French bread.

This would also be fairly simple to do from scratch. The soup mix contains: black beluga lentils, onion, carrots, scallions, and various spices and herbs.

Here are the pictures...

This is the soup mix I used.

Sauteeing the onions and beef.

Everything mixed together, simmering.

The final product!

The Results:

The soup was very good! I added a little garlic salt and pepper while it was still simmering and I think that added to the flavor. The soup mix used had a very good flavor. The soup was hearty enough for a great winter dinner.
I gave the soup a 9. I really liked the flavor. However, it defintely would have been better with french bread rather than cornbread. A good slice of country cornbread just didn't complement the flavors of the soup!

Dillon gave the soup an 8.5. He liked the soup, but it was a one time thing for him. No leftovers the next day.
I didn't let the dog have a taste because I was afraid all of the onion would make him sick! He did like the smell though.

Overall, this was a good, cheap meal. Give it a try!

Lemon Basil Pasta with Summer Squash

Here's a new recipe I recently tried:

Lemon Basil Pasta w/ Summer Squash

Ingredients:

2 oz or 2/3 cup whole wheat penne

1/2 cup chopped zuchinni

1/2 cup chopped squash

1/2 cup white beans (rinsed and drained)

1 lemon (juiced)

1/4 cup chopped fresh basil

1 tbsp. Parmesan cheese

1 tbsp. olive oil

The VERY simple directions:

Boil Pasta, drain. Toss with remaining ingredients.

However...I decided to saute the zuchinni and squash because I don't really like them raw. Also, I added in some chicken. My husband is just too much of a meat & potato guy to hand pasta with no chicken!

Here's a few pictures:

Cutting up the ingredients (Dillon helped)

Sauteed veggies & chicken. I also threw in some chopped basil because I didn't have any fresh basil in the house.

The finished product!

RESULTS:

On a scale of 1-10 I gave it an 8. It was good, but had too much of a lemon flavor. The recipe calls for one lemon, juiced. However, it didn't say a small lemon like it should have! Also, I think it would have gotten a higher rating if I had used fresh basil. It was still a good dish, just not amazing.

Dillon gave it a 6.5. He also thought it was too lemony but also said it was too light, especially for winter. (I agree)

Overall, a good dish. It could use a little spicing up and may be better in the summer or as a lunch dish rather than dinner. Give it a try!

Introduction

Well I figure the best way to get started with this blog is to introduce myself. My name is Candice, I live in Pea Ridge with my husband, Dillon. I'm an Elementary Education major and I graduate May 8th! I chose to do my blog over cooking because it is something I enjoy doing when I have time. I'm not going to guarantee that I'm a gourmet chef or anything like that, but I have been trying out some new recipes so I plan to share them with you. I love to find simple meals that are easy to throw together and good to eat! I plan on trying out a few new recipes and seeing how they turn out. I'll try to get an honest opinion out of my husband. I don't think I have anything to worry about...unless the dog won't eat it! haha I hope everyone enjoys!