FoodFash

Adventure Begins in the Kitchen

Archives for June 2012

Slumber Weekend

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Let me just start by saying that my intention for this weekend was to be productive.  I woke up on Saturday, cleaned house, stuffed my new bike in the back of the Jetta, learned how to remove/replace the front tire, and saw a missed call from Kara as I plopped my sweaty self back in the driver’s seat.  Would I like to head down the street and lay out by the pool with her and Jodie?  Uhh yeah.  Would I like a refreshing citrus cocktail?  Uh huh.  Would I like girl power tequila shots with orange slices, more citrus cocktail, TNT margaritas, and TNT tequila shots?  Why not…

Thankfully we were within super short walking distance to wherever we went, because we were ridiculous!  So ridiculous that all three of us fell fast asleep, still suited up in swimwear, in Kara’s living room before 9PM.  A mere 12 hours later, we awoke, ready for a more responsible day.  We reconvened after a couple hours, ready to get our Greenbelt on!

 

We hiked a solid 8 miles, confident that tequila was oozing out of our pores.  Can that happen??

When we got back to Kara’s, she made us an incredibly delish salad with baby greens, radishes, cucumber, carrots, cranberries, couscous, and a citrus balsamic dressing.  A how-to on that dressing will be coming shortly because there’s no doubt that I’ll be getting the recipe from her!

End Of A Streak

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Recipe-less cooking doesn’t always turn out fine and dandy for this girl.  For instance, the chilled cucumber soup that’s been lurking in the back of my brain since dinner at Haddingons.  I remembered cucumber, creamy, hint of vinegar and thought how yum all of that could taste with some herbs, yellow tomato, and jalapeno.  I was so wrong.

It was an herby explosion of grossness.

I poured it down the drain, fixed another meal, and searched for recipes on the opposite end of the tasty spectrum.  I narrowed it down to the following three, but I’m willing to add another to the running if you’d like to share a chilled soup recipe you love!

A Green Gazpacho via Food & Style

Chilled Cucumber Soup via Real Simple

Cucumber Mint Soup via Whole Foods

A FoodFash Best

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I had no idea how much goodness I was getting myself into tonight.  I had some leftover dip ingredients and frozen salmon fillets and thought “why not?”.  If you follow me on Instagram, surely you could sense my hesitation when I posted this picture.  But boy was I wrong!

FoodFash Salmon Cakes (yields 1 – 425 calorie serving)

6 oz. salmon fillet, thawed

1/2 small avocado (the 99 cent size)

juice of 1/2 lemon

1/4 cup fresh parsley

2 green onions, chopped

salt to taste

nonfat plain Greek yogurt for garnish

In a food processor, puree avocado, lemon juice, and half of the salmon fillet.  Add the onions, parsley, salt, and remaining salmon and pulse a few times until all of the ingredients are mixed, but the salmon is still chunky (see below).

Heat frying pan over medium heat.  Spray with olive oil (or a high heat oil may work better).  Remove all of the salmon mix and form into a patty with your hands.  Cook patty for 4 to 5 minutes on each side, flipping gently so the salmon cake stays in tact.  If a small piece breaks off, gently form back together with the spatula.  Dollop with Greek yogurt and serve.

I’m going to try my hardest to use a word other than wow to explain what was going through my mind as I ate every last bite.  The tartness of the lemon, the slight texture of the chunk salmon, the crunch of the green onion, the coolness of the Greek yogurt…  It all came together more perfectly than I ever could have imagined.  And the avocado?  The avocado just did it’s little glue-like thing in the background.