Salmon with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

This is a really weird week for me.  I only teach 3 out of the 5 days because tomorrow there is an ACT for the 11th graders so I am just proctoring and on Friday we have Student Led Conferences where students present about themselves to their parents.  It is a nice change of pace, but it gives a weird momentum to what we are working on in class.  Because of this, on Thursday, we are doing a "fun" activity where students are going to work in teams to investigate a "murder."  The idea is you can figure out the time of death of a body based on its rate of cooling.  I'm pretty excited to 1. see the students act out the murder story and 2. see them work together to solve a real world situation with math! 

Also, we are TEN DAYS away from closing and moving into our condo.  I can't believe it is finally so close! We have boxes EVERYWHERE (which Benny and Nigel are big fans of) and we still have so much more to do.  I am so excited!  

I just adore brussel sprouts.  They are super fantastic.  I was never a fan growing up because my mom didn't like them either! Now, both of us love them!  Go figure!

This dish is super duper easy to make and it has become one of my go-to dinners for a weeknight when I don't have a ton of time or feel tired after school.  All you do is throw everything onto a pan, stick it in the oven, and I make enough for a couple nights so that I have another dinner or lunch for school!  

Salmon with Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:

2 pieces of teriyaki glazed salmon (5 oz each)

1/2 lb. brussel sprouts, halved

2 tbsp honey

2 tbsp dijon mustard

2 tsp garlic powder

2 tsp lemon juice

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 and line a pan with tinfoil.  Lightly grease the tin foil

2. Place salmon on the pan and brussel sprouts around the salmon.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and garlic powder.  Drizzle with honey, mustard, and lemon juice.

3. Cook for about 15-20 minutes or until the salmon is done.  About halfway through, toss the brussel sprouts around so that they flip and don't stick. 

Enjoy :)

Avocado Egg Salad

How are your new year's resolutions going?

I am not a huge fan of resolutions.  I like to think of them more like lifestyle choices.  I decided that since my wedding is in less than 200 days, I am going to work on being healthy, eating well, and getting in great shape.  So far, I have lost some weight and I've been doing more strength training.  I feel great!  I am also watching my students take their last final right now and so I am getting focused on starting fresh with them next semester!  I can't believe I am already entering second semester...before you know it, it will be the end of the school year and time for summer!

Today I am sharing a recipe that has helped me stay focused on my goal of eating well.  I saw a recipe for egg salad that used avocado instead of the typical mayo/egg combo.  I love avocado and I figured this would be amazing!

I also saw an idea for a smoked salmon sandwich that had avocado on it.  So, I got to thinking:  What if I used my avocado egg salad to build a yummy salmon sandwich.  This way, I would get some great nutrients, lots of good protein, and it would be delish.

Avocado Egg Salad

Ingredients:
3 hard boiled eggs, chopped
1 whole avocado
1 tbsp non-fat, plain greek yogurt
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1/2 tbsp chopped chives
fresh ground pepper
dash of lime juice

Directions:1. Place chopped eggs in a container.  Then, add in the avocado and mash with a fork until well combined.  Then, mix in the rest of the ingredients.

My smoked salmon sandwich! Avocado Egg Salad,
Smoked Salmon, and Cucumbers :)

Enjoy :)

For more avocado ideas, check out this page: 13 Health Benefits of Avocado

Salmon Burgers

I had a bit of a crazy weekend.  Friday night was nice since I got to hang with my co-workers at a bowling alley after school and then I went to Half Acre with some friends.  Then, Saturday morning I went for a lovely 8.5 mile run.  I got home, showered and then Bri and I packed our laundry into my car and headed out to do our laundry at my parent's house (I know we are so not adults).  Anyways, while we were on the highway, we were cut off by another driver who was changing into our lane.  His car clipped mine and we lost control.  The car spun and hit the median.  By some miracle, we were totally fine and my car was still drivable.  The other guy was also uninjured, but his car was totaled.  He was blamed for the accident so I thankfully don't have to pay for the repairs on my car.  Overall, I am incredibly grateful to be alive, healthy, and able to back to school tomorrow.  

I think the weirdest thing about our weekend was how normal everything else was.  Laundry, book club, cooking, and so on.  It was just a very simple weekend aside from our crazy car crash.  I made these Salmon Burgers recently and they are super tasty.  I'm going to celebrate being alive and normal by eating them :) Oh, and I made a crazy tasty Siracha Greek Yogurt Spread to put on my salmon burgers! 

Salmon Burgers

Ingredients:

1 lb salmon

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper, to taste

1-2 tsp lemon juice

1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs

1 shallot, chopped

2 tbsp chopped Seafood Blend Herbs

1/4 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt

2 tbsp dijon mustard

1 egg

Directions: 

1. Cook the salmon: Place the salmon on a piece of tinfoil and preheat oven to 400.  Drizzle a little olive oil over the salmon and sprinkle salt and pepper on it.  Drizzle with a tsp or two of lemon juice.  Then, wrap in the foil and place on a baking tray.  Cook for 20-25 minutes or until salmon is cooked through.  Let cool.

2. Once salmon is cooled, use a fork to flake pieces of the salmon into a bowl.  Add in the breadcrumbs, herbs, greek yogurt, and mustard.  Stir to combine.  Then, add in the egg and stir to combine.

3. Lightly grease a pan and form a salmon patty.  I made 6 patties with this mixture.  Place in pan and cook over medium for about 4-5 minutes.  Then, flip and cook for another 4-5 minutes.  

4. Serve with a bun or over a bed of greens and if you want, spread some Siracha Greek Yogurt Spread on top! 

Enjoy :)

For the Siracha Greek Yogurt Spread: Use 1/4 cup of yogurt, 1-2 tsp of siracha, 1 tsp lemon juice, and 1 clove garlic (minced).  Stir everything together and you are good to go! 

Salmon Roll and Birthday Celebrations!

I saw this recipe on Food and Wine and I just had to give it a try! It was so easy to throw together and I would totally eat this Salmon Salad on its own! My cat was a big fan too!  Every time I took out the container of Salmon Salad, he went crazy trying to get some!  I finally caved and threw him a little piece of salmon just because he was so stinkin' cute!

But first! I promised to re-cap my birthday shenanigans at some point, so here it goes.  My birthday was on a Monday.  Of course the festivities had to start on the Friday before.  Friday, I went to Ravinia with my parents and a couple friends to see West Side Story with the CSO playing the music.  We got tons of snacks, brought in dinner from City Park Grill, and my mommy got me a red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting!

Saturday, Bri and I went downtown, had dinner at Balana, saw This Is Our Youth at the Steppenwolf, and stayed at Sofitel for the night.  It was really nice and so much fun!

Sunday, I got to see some of Bri's family when we met for dinner at the one and only: Portillos.  I just love that place!

Finally, the big day arrived: Monday.  Monday was a normal camp day for me, but all my campers sang happy birthday and it was really cute.  Then, my mom and I took the train downtown to meet up with Bri, my dad, and my bestie Caryn! We all went to dinner at Kuma's Too and had AMAZING burgers (well, except Bri who got their make-your-own mac n' cheese).  And then, we ended the night with dessert from Margies.  Everything was delicious and I could not have asked for a nicer weekend to celebrate my birthday!

After all that, I needed something fresh and light like this Salmon Roll! I adapted it a bit, so here it how my version went:

Salmon Roll

Ingredients:

1.5 lb salmon filet

salt and pepper

1/2 cup non-fat, plain greek yogurt (I used Chobani)

2 celery stalks, chopped

2 tbsp chopped chives

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp fresh lemon juice

8-10 whole wheat hot dog buns

Directions:

1. Cook salmon: sprinkle salt and pepper over the salmon filets and let bake in the oven.  I did mine for 15 minutes at 450 degrees.  Once the salmon is cooked, allow to cool.  And then flake the salmon into small chunks.

2. To make the salmon salad, in a bowl, combine the greek yogurt with the chopped chives, parsley, and lemon juice.  Stir in the salmon chunks.  

3.  To serve: scoop some salmon salad into a whole wheat hot dog bun.  It will look just like a lobster roll, but so much healthier!!!

Enjoy :) 

Plated! Apricot Chicken with Almond Green Beans

I had a great opportunity recently.  I was able to try Plated for free! It is a fantastic organization where you can order meals online, they send you all the ingredients, and then you cook the dinner.  All the menus are created by different chefs and the menu options change weekly.  It is so fun to look through the yummy recipes! Plus, this was a great way for me to make a non-vegetarian meal.

Bri is a vegetarian and I love coming up with yummy dinner options, but sometimes I just really want a good piece of chicken or salmon.  Whenever we go out for dinner, I order something with meat because I know that it isn't something I get at home a lot. This has also helped me always have a variety of foods and I love that.  I ordered a great salmon dish and chicken dish from Plated.  Both were amazing, but my favorite was the chicken.  It was Apricot Chicken with Almond Green Beans.  This light and healthy meal came with enough food for two meals and so I was able to make myself dinner on a night where Bri was out with his mom and I had a ton of work to do and then I had another meal for lunch one day at school! It was such a great deal and I think you should all check out this fun site!

The American Club, Kohler, WI

My mom and I had an amazing time over spring break.  We went to the American Club in Kohler Wisconsin and had our very first massages!  We spent two days and two nights at the hotel and had great food and a really nice and relaxing time.  On the way there, we did some shopping at the outlet malls in Pleasant Prairie (teacher clothes!).  We also checked out the Shops at Woodlake for lunch at the Woodlake Market while we were there and I even found a great UW-Madison sweatshirt!

afternoon tea

welcome mimosas!

tea treats! 

appetizers and wine

The food was great! Our first night, after a lovely afternoon tea and some great appetizers with wine, we had Italian at Cucina.  My mom and I split a salmon dish and chicken dish and everything was delicious.  Then, we came back and hat a slice of Chocolate Cake at the Winery for dessert.  We obviously overdid it a little since we both had trouble sleeping that night!

dinner was so good...I forgot to take a picture!

THE chocolate cake

That was alright, since the next day, we had our massages.  It was fabulous.  I felt relaxed and amazing.  We went early, read books, and stayed after to chill and just relax.  I haven't spent that much time relaxing in ages and it was must needed.  Afterwards, we had our tea, appetizers, and then it was off to dinner at the Wisconsin Room.  My mom got the Pork and I had the Steak on special.  Both our meals were, again, fantastic, and we decided to skip dessert in hopes of sleeping better and being healthier.

However, the next morning, we made a stop at the Greenhouse for ice cream and lattes before it was time to head back home.

The entire trip was amazing and I would gladly head back in a heartbeat.  This was a great way to spend a few days over break and we did not have to travel far at all for a very fun time!

Francesca's al Lago and a Birthday!

I just had such a fun weekend! My parents came up to visit me and to celebrate my Dad's birthday!

Happy Birthday Dad! 

On Friday, I had Vegas Night at my house and it was a blast.  We got all dressed up and had a really fun time.  It was extra special since it was my LAST Vegas Night.  It was a good one to end with and I had a ton of fun dancing and hanging out with my friends.

Also, I found out that Bri got accepted into the University of Chicago's Law School!!!!  This was amazing news and probably means that I will end up in Chicago with him after graduation! I am so excited for him and I can't wait to see where I will be and what I will be up to in the future.  Now, I have to seriously start job searching.  This is stressful, but also really exciting.  If you know of any good teaching opportunities in the Chicago-land area, let me know!

Saturday was when my parents showed up.  They stayed in the Concourse Hotel.  This place is famous for it's amazing Happy Hour.  They serve FREE drinks and appetizers.  We got a few cocktails and some snacks and then headed to Francescas al Lago for dinner   My mom and I have been here before and knew that we would love it.  It was a great place to go for a lovely birthday dinner. My mom and I got the salmon and then my dad got the chicken parmesan.  It was all delicious!

After dinner, it was time to head to the Overture Center to see West Side Story.  Now, I'm not a huge fan of this show simply because it is rather depressing.  However, the dancing was amazing and I ended up wishing I could jump up on stage and dance with them.  My family has always been into musicals and this was the perfect activity for us.  Plus, afterwards, we went to the Ivory Room for a few more drinks and dueling pianos!  This bar is so much fun and a great place to go when you are in Madison.  We requested songs and had a great time listening to the music.  The piano players are super talented and they can play anything!

So this pretty much sums up a typical Madison weekend  fraternity party, happy hour, amazing food, cultured experience, and going to a bar.  It was great to share all this with my parents.  No wonder I love this city so much!

Restaurant Week: Sardine

My first restaurant of restaurant week was Sardine. I went with my bestie, Tamara and we had an amazing time!  So, this is how it works: each person pays $25.  This gets you an appetizer, entree, and dessert.  This is how Tamara and I worked it: we each got something different, and tried it all! We make a pretty fantastic team! I am excited to share our dining experience with you!  This last semester of college is going to be a lot of exploring Madison and since I LOVE food, I'm going to share some great restaurant experiences.

We started off with the fabulous house wine for our drink and then shared two different salads as our appetizers.  Both were light, fresh, and delicious.  I ordered the Mixed Green and Bibb Lettuce Salad which came with shaved shallots, crispy chickpeas, beets and a sieved egg in a champagne tarragon vinaigrette.  Tamara got the Apple Endive Salad which had toasted walnuts, blue cheese, crispy squash and a black current vinaigrette.  

Following our starters, we enjoyed the salmon and chicken as our main dish.  The salmon came with french lentils, sautéed spinach, and portobello mushrooms in a tomato and beurre blanc...can we just look at that sentence in awe...The chicken was stuffed with gruyere and leeks and serviced with bacon, lardons, roasted carrots, turnips, new potatoes, and brussel sprouts in a riesling sauce.     My goodness everything was amazing.

As if dinner and appetizers weren't enough, we then got our desserts! Gianduja Crunch Chocolate Hazelnut Ganache and Vanilla Creme Brûlée!  We left totally stuffed and crazy happy. We sang at the top of our lungs in the car in the way home and then went out on a Sunday since it was a long weekend!

It was such a fun night!

Maple Glazed Salmon

In yesterday's post on Roasted Vegetables, I included this not-so-fantastic photo at the end of it. 

This was one of my dinners back in Madison and it was amazing! I had the Roasted Vegetables as a side with some Maple Glazed Salmon.  I LOVE salmon.  It is so good and so easy to make.  Basically throw whatever you want on top and stick it in a pan or the oven until it is cooked.  This salmon recipe was done in the salmon and ends up being super flavorful and delicious.  It is sweet from the maple syrup and savory from the mustard.  It is simply perfect! Last night I had my last piece and I am sad to see it go.  I will have to whip up another amazing salmon dish soon!

I'm also excited to share that I am feeling pretty good today.  Last night, I got to see some of my best girlfriends at Forever Yogurt and then today, I had a good day teaching and yet another good day working.  We are wrapping up our Looking for Pythagoras Unit in math and it is fun to see how far the students have come since day one.  We went from learning about square roots, to discovering the theorem, to applying the theorem.  Tomorrow we are doing a great activity where the instruction is differentiated and students can work on problems that vary from hard, to harder, to hardest.  They get to choose their level of difficulty, but all of the problems are about the Pythagorean Theorem.  I am excited to see how it goes!

Work was strange today because it was my last shift at the Wisconsin Institutes for Discovery.  I still have one more shift at Union South, but it was still sad to think that I am almost done with this job.  I have loved working for VIP and I will miss all of my co-workers very much. I learned a lot through this job about working with others and providing excellent customer service.  I also learned a ton about the University in general.  This job has truly made me feel more at home on this campus, more connected to the campus, and even more in love with Madison.

Tonight, I am excited because I was invited over to Tamara's house for a home-cooked meal! I can't wait! It is always so nice to be in a  house with a yummy dinner.  It is going to feel a little bit like going home for an evening and I can't wait! Maybe that is why I am so excited to share this recipe for Maple Glazed Salmon, it also makes me feel like I am home :).

Maple Glazed Salmon

Ingredients:
2 lbs. salmon filet
2 tbsp dijon mustard
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 fresh lemon juice

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 and line a pan with parchment.  Wash the salmon, pat dry and place on parchment.
2.  Cook the salmon for 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.
3.  While salmon is cooking, place the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and whisk together.  After 10 minutes, spread the mixture over the salmon.  Place the salmon back in the oven for about 20 minutes or until done.

Enjoy :)

Simple Oven Poached Salmon

Game Day Spread

My mom and I went to town with our little football party over break.  After all the appetizers and dips, we made this poached salmon as an entree.  This was great because it was so simple and went great with our dips.  We had Baked Spinach and Artichoke Dip and Baked Cheesy Crab Dip.  Many people use dill dip and this would go great as well.  This is the perfect dinner for when you need to whip something up fairly quickly and don't want to make a complicated dish.  With only a few simple ingredients, you will end up with an amazing salmon dinner!

Simple Oven Poached Salmon

Ingredients:
2 lbs. salmon
1 cup dry white wine (we used Sauvignon Blanc)
4-6 slices of lemon
2 tbsp butter
salt and pepper
1/2 onion, sliced

Directions:
1.  Lay a sheet of tinfoil in a 13 by 9 inch baking dish.  Place the salmon on the foil.  Rub the butter over the salmon.  Pour in the wine and place the lemon slices over the salmon.  Season with salt and pepper.  Lay onion slices around the salmon.  Take the ends of the foil and crimp them together so that the salmon is sealed.
2.  Bake at 375 for about 30 minutes.  This will depend on the thickness of the salmon.

Honey Salmon with a Brown Butter Lime Sauce

I made this amazing salmon for my family and everyone agreed, it was the best.  It was super tasty and the salmon came out perfectly! I love salmon and whenever I can find a good recipe that involves salmon I am all over it.

We served the salmon with my Roasted Garlic Mashed Potatoes and a side of asparagus.  The salmon has a honey glaze and then you top it off with a brown butter lime sauce.  I had a little of the brown butter sauce left over and so I poured it over the cooked asparagus.  It was an amazing meal!

Honey Glazed Salmon (adapted from Cooking Classy)

Ingredients:
5 salmon filets
10 tsp flour, divided
10 tsp honey, divided
extra-virgin olive oil
zest of 2 limes
brown butter lime sauce (recipe below)

Directions:
1. Drizzle about 1 tbsp of olive oil into a pan and let it heat over medium heat.
2. Place salmon filets on a plate and coat each side of each filet with 1 tsp of flour.  Next, coat the tops each with 1 tsp of honey.  Place 2 filets at a time in the heated pan, honey side down.  Coat the bottoms with the honey at this point.  Cook each filet for 3-5 minutes in the heated pan and then flip and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes on the other side.
3. Sprinkle the lime zest over the cooked filets.  Drizzle the sauce on top and serve warm.

Brown Butter Lime Sauce

Ingredients:
6 tbsp salted butter
3 tbsp lime juice
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Heat butter over medium heat, swirling frequently, until it is melted, turns tan, and is fragrant.  This should take about 5 minutes. Once the butter has browned, whisk in the lime juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.  Whisk well and then pour over the salmon.  Or, if you make this ahead of time, simply let it sit, and then reheat and re-whisk before pouring over the salmon.  I used a little lime sauce over my asparagus as well.

Enjoy :)

Healthy Salmon

Today was a lovely day.  I woke up, worked out, showered, and then spent the day with Mommy.  She was able to take me with her to her yoga class.  This class was amazing.  I always forget about how great I feel when I slow down and just spend time relaxing and focusing on bettering myself.  I am so busy when I am at school that this 1 hour did wonders for me.  That's when it hit me: If I can find an hour a week to do something relaxing and good for me, like stretching or focusing on my breathing, I can probably do wonders for my health.  I need to find a good yoga experience or something similar at school.

After yoga, we went to Target.  Target has to be the best store in the world.  I always have such a fun time walking around and I can never leave without buying something.  Last week, it was the much needed green bow for St. Patrick's Day.  This time, it was socks, shoes, cereal, and make-up.  This was arguably a better Target trip because I'm pretty sure that these things are actual necessities, although the bow is pretty fantastic.

Then there was grocery shopping.  Mom and I already decided on salmon for a good family dinner, but we were working out the rest of the details.


Salmon is fantastic because it is so good for you and you can do basically anything you want with it.  It is also my mom's go-to meal. We wanted to do something healthy and I wanted to do something that I don't have that often at college.  Fish is the perfect solution.

We found a recipe for a healthy chipotle salmon over at The Girl Who Ate Everything.  The recipe called for Adobo sauce.  We read the recipe quickly and then ran out the door to do yoga and go shopping.  By the time we made it to the grocery store, I couldn't remember if it was Adobo sauce or Adobo seasoning.  I ended up finding Adobo seasoning first and purchasing it.  Long story short: our salmon was less chipotle-y and more just healthy and a little sweet.  Here's how it went:

Healthy Salmon

Simple and Beautiful

Ingredients:
Salmon filet (about 5 servings)
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
dash of Adobo seasoning (about 1-2 tsp)

Directions:
1. In a small bowl, mix the brown sugar, salt, and olive oil.  Rub this mixture over the salmon filet.  Next, sprinkle Adobo seasoning over the top.
2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees and bake salmon for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how well-done you would like your salmon.
Enjoy :)

Healthy Meal

Ugh...after feasting on delicious Austrian delicacies for the past week, not to mention eating dessert with every meal or for a meal...all I wanted was a good, balance, healthy dinner.  My mom and I went grocery shopping together today which was really nice because I got to catch up with her plus, I just love grocery shopping.  I went on the Food Network webpage and found a great section where they actually give you example menus of healthy meals.  I found this great one centered around a Mustard Salmon dish and then we went shopping for the ingredients we needed.  This site is really neat because you can design a meal to fit all types of dietary needs and it gives you the nutritional information below the recipe.  Of course, we made some alterations and we decided against the dessert portion of the menu, but overall we followed the original which you can find here: Healthy Meal

Here is our version:

Mustard Roasted Salmon

Ingredients:
2 pounds salmon (whole piece or cut into four pieces)
2 tbsp whole grain dijon mustard
2 tbsp lite maple syrup
1 clove garlic, minced
Juice of 1/2 fresh lemon

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Wash salmon and place on a pan lined with parchment paper.  Cook salmon for 10 minutes.
2.  While salmon is cooking: mix mustard, maple syrup, garlic, and lemon juice in a small bowl.  After 10 minutes, take salmon out and brush with the mustard mixture.  Place back in oven for around 20 minutes, or until it is cooked to your liking.
Enjoy :)

Herbed Basmati Rice

Ingredients:
1 cup uncooked whole grain brown rice
1 3/4 cups water
1 tbsp unsalted butter
3/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, minced
1 tbsp fresh dill leaves, minced
1/2-1 tsp onion powder
pinch of pepper

Directions:
1. In a small pot, bring rice, water, butter and salt to a boil over high heat.  Stir once, lower heat to low setting, and cover.  Let this simmer for about 15 minutes.  Turn heat off and stir in remaining ingredients.  Serve warm.
Enjoy :)

Green Bean Salad

Ingredients:
12 oz fresh green beans, ends cut off
2 tbsp chopped pecans
2 tbsp fresh parsley leaves, minced
1 tsp onion powder
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper

Directions: 
1. Steam green beans until they are fully cooked and place in a bowl.
2. Toast pecans in a dry pan until they are fragrant for around 2 minutes.  Place pecans in a bowl with minced parsley and onion powder and stir together.  In another small bowl, whisk olive oil, vinegar, and mustard.  Pour dressing over the green beans and toss.  Sprinkle pecan mixture over the top and season with salt and pepper.  Serve warm.
Enjoy :)

More tomatoes and hold the Salmon

Home sweet home! I can't believe how fast the semester is flying by and that I am already home for Thanksgiving break! I found the recipe below off my favorite site: www.foodgawker.com and I just couldn't wait to make it! My mom loves pesto/salmon and so I figured this would be a perfect homecoming recipe for us to make! The one problem: the boyfriend.

Me and Brian

My boyfriend is a vegetarian. Not a vegetarian who eats fish or sometimes chicken, nope, a total vegetarian.  We are in a long distance relationship with him at Washington University in St. Louis.  When I found out I could come home for Thanksgiving on Tuesday I gave him a call and found out that he was doing the same! I can't WAIT to see him and he wanted to come over as soon as possible, which means for dinner.  Uh oh! I had already planned out this fabulous salmon/pasta dish!  I looked back at the recipe and saw tomatoes were optional...this was huge.  If Brian (the boyfriend) could eat one food for the rest of his life I'm pretty sure it would be tomatoes.  So, I decided that I would make him Salmon Pesto Pasta (hold the salmon) and add in TONS of tomatoes.  


Salmon Pesto Pasta
Slightly adapted from Pink Parsley

Ingredients:
12 oz whole wheat pasta (I used the Smart Taste brand)
12 oz salmon
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tbsp olive oil
5 oz evaporated milk
1/2 cup pesto (make your own or use what you have)
Parmesan
Scalloped Tomatoes (recipe follows)

Pesto Recipe:
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves
1/4 cup pine nuts, toasted
5 medium garlic cloves, unpeeled (or the equivalent of fresh garlic)
2 Tablespoons Italian parsley
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Toast nuts in a small skillet over medium heat, stirring frequently, until golden brown. Add to the food processor. Also, add basil to food processor. Add the garlic cloves to the skillet and toast, tossing frequently, until the skins are toasted and garlic is fragrant. Peel and add to food processor as well.

Process until finely chopped, and add remaining ingredients except cheese. Transfer to a small bowl and add the cheese.  Take a little taste and adjust seasonings as you want.

Make the Pasta Dish:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once water is boiling, add 1 Tablespoon of kosher salt, and stir to dissolve. Add pasta and stir. Allow to cook to al dente, 8-10 minutes (or as directed on box).

Lemon Zest Salmon

2. Heat broiler on the middle oven rack. Line a baking sheet with foil, and place salmon on the foil. Season with salt and pepper, and rub with lemon zest and olive oil. Broil until flesh is firm and salmon is no longer translucent, about 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with lemon juice. Break apart the salmon with a folk into smaller pieces. Set aside.
3. When pasta is cooked, drain and set aside. Add the evaporated milk to the empty saucepan and cook until reduced to about 1/4 cup. Return pasta to the pan and stir to combine.
4. Remove the pot from heat, and add the salmon and pesto. Stir to combine. Serve with additional lemon wedges and Parmesan cheese. Top with tomatoes if desired (or in my case, top with TONS of tomatoes and hold the salmon).

Pesto Pasta

Scalloped Tomatoes:
From the FoodNetwork/Ina Garten

olive oil
2 cubs diced French boule (no crust)
16 plum tomatoes
1 tbsp minced garlic
2 tbsp sugar
2 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 cup basil leaves, lightly packed
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese


Directions: 
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Heat 3 tbsp of olive oil in large saute pan over medium heat.  Add the diced bread and stir to coat.  Cook over medium to medium-high heat for 5 min, stirring often, until diced bread is evenly browned.
3. Meanwhile, dice tomatoes into 1/2 inch pieces and combine tomatoes with garlic, sugar, salt, and pepper.  Add tomato mixture to the bread crumbs and continue to cook, stirring often, for 5 min.  Take off the heat and stir in the basil.
4. Pour tomato mixture into a shallow 6-8 cup baking dish.  Sprinkle evenly with Parmesan cheese and drizzle about 2 tbsp of olive oil over the top.  Bake for 35-40 min.  The top should be browned and the tomatoes should be bubbly.
5. Serve over Pasta...yum!

Scalloped Tomatoes