Fast Salmon Patties

As much as I know salmon is a brain food loaded with omega-3 fatty acids but should be eaten in moderation due to mercury levels, I find it a challenge to cook salmon in a way that is fast, affordable and appeals to me. For years, I would make and serve salmon the way my grandmother did,--mix canned salmon with mayonaise and serve with peas and mashed (in my case baked) potatoes. Ventures to try baked glazed salmon, salmon cakes using corn flakes in lieu of bread crumbs were unsuccessful.

With ingredients I keep in the house,--eggs, soy sauce, non-stick cooking spray, I decided in 2016 to try making salmon patties. This time it was fast, affordable and appealing to my palette.

Fast Salmon Patties – makes 4 patties

1 – 6 ounce can boneless, skinless salmon, drained
1 large egg
2 tablespoons soy sauce, tamari or worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon onion powder
½ teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ground ginger
non-stick cooking spray

1. Place oven rack on middle rung. Preheat oven to broiler setting.
2. Line a medium or large cookie sheet with aluminum foil, tucking in ends. Spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
3. In a medium bowl, break up salmon into small pieces with a fork.
4. Add soy sauce, lemon juice, onion powder, garlic powder and ginger to salmon. Mix until blended.
5. Add egg and mix until blended.
6. Divide mixture into fourths. Roll each fourth into a ball, flatten to a patty and then place on cookie sheet.
7. Spray top of patties with non-stick cooking spray.
8. Place patties in oven on middle rack. Cook 3 – 5 minutes until top is golden brown. Flip patties, spray top of patties with non-stick cooking spray and cook for another 1 -2 minutes. Remove from oven. Serve. Refrigerate any leftovers.  

Salmon Patties ready to serve

 

Whole Wheat Orange Biscuits

This is based on the “Drop Whole Wheat Biscuits” recipe in the 1933 copy of Better Homes Recipe Book by Marjorie Mills. Where there is no rolling or cutting of the dough these are not beautifully shaped discs. They are fast to make. The total number of biscuits you end up with depends on how large or small you make them.

Whole Wheat Orange Biscuits (yield: 4 – 6 biscuits depending on size)

1 cup whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon shortening at room temperature or slightly melted
3/8 – ½ cup orange juice (this is 6 – 8 tablespoons, 2 tablespoons = 1/8 cup)

1. Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
2. In medium bowl and if desired soften/melt shortening
3. Add flour and baking powder and combine with shortening.
4. Add orange juice 1/8 cup or 2 tablespoons at a time until dough congeals into one ball moving away from sides of bowl. Do not go beyond ½ cup or 8 tablespoons.
5. Using a spoon, drop on to non-stick or greased baking sheet.
6. Bake for 5 minutes, turn and bake for another 5 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of center biscuit comes out clean.
7. Remove from baking sheet to either cool or serve.
8. Store any leftovers in air tight container. 

Whole Wheat Orange Biscuits

ready for serving

Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies from scratch in under 45 minutes

Loving sweets as I do, this was a regular dessert I would make when invited to dinner at the last minute. My fastest time was 37 minutes from none to done.

½ cup butter
½ cup sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
(optional) ½ cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.

Grease 8-inch x 8-inch pan.

In medium to large microwave safe bowl melt butter.

Stir in sugars, eggs and vanilla extract by hand lightly until combined.

Stir in flour and baking powder until well blended.

Add chocolate chips and nuts.

Spread mixture evenly into greased pan.

Bake for 25 – 35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely in pan until cutting and serving. Store any leftovers in air tight container.

Chocolate Chip Pan Cookies 

ready to be cut and served

Quick fudgy brownie recipe

Back when I could eat dairy, sugar and cocoa without abandon this was my all-time favorite recipe to make, and the fudgier the brownie the better. While it is frowned upon these days, there was a time when I would scrape the bowl clean of any batter that didn't make it to the pan,--sometimes it was half the batter. This is why I credit this recipe with solidifying my method for scraping bowls and pots clean.

In playing with the recipe on the box to make the fudgiest brownie I could, here are four things I found successful to do to this: use butter instead of oil, melt or soften butter so it can be easily mixed by hand, use a 8-inch x 8-inch pan, add ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips to batter.


One box, DuncanHines Chewy Fudge Family Size Brownie mix
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened or melted.
2 large eggs
¼ cup water
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Place oven rack on middle run setting. Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit.
2. Grease 8-inch x 8-inch pan.
3. In medium to large bowl add butter, brownie mix, eggs and water. Stir until well blended (about 50 strokes by hand)
4. Add semi-sweet chocolate chips and until blended (about 10-15 strokes by hand)
5. Spread brownie mixture evenly into greased pan.
6. Place brownies in middle of oven rack and bake for 31 – 34 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
7. Cool completely in pan until cutting and serving. Store any leftovers in air tight container. 

Brownies ready to be cut and served

Eggplant Caviar or Julie's variation on this Alice Waters recipe

This recipe was on the same page as the Olive Oil Rosemary cake recipe I wrote about two years ago. Always on the look out for new recipes which meet my dietary needs of no dairy, low sugar and looking for new ways to cook eggplant, I added this one to the list of recipes to try. I made this recipe for the first and second times in 2016 when eggplant was in season and for the third time in 2017, once again, when eggplant was in season.

I cannot tell how the leftovers of this taste as it's usually gone by the time it cools to room temperature as it's that popular in my house. I can tell you I'm looking forward to this year's crop of eggplant, garlic, onions/shallots to make this recipe again and maybe have some leftovers.

This is a variation of the recipe as it appeared in the September 2010 issue of Yoga Journal,--a reprint from Chez Panisse Vegetables by Alice Waters. This version includes measured amounts for eggplant, salt, pepper, olive oil and shallots, substitutions for garlic cloves and shallots and a trick on how to easily clean the baking dish used to roast the eggplant.

1 large globe eggplant or 4 cups diced eggplant, peeled
¼ teaspoon kosher salt or ½ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 ½ tablespoon olive oil, plus more to taste
1 ½ tablespoon water
2 shallots or ¼ cup diced shallot or ½ cup diced onion
2 tablespoons balsamic or red wine vinegar, plus more to tase
1 clove garlic, peeled and mashed or 1 teaspoon minced garlic
(optional) ¼ cup fresh parsley or cilantro (chopped)

1. Place oven rack in middle position. Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit. Spray 1 quart covered baking dish or 13-inch x 9-inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2.  Peel eggplant and cut into cubes, approximately 1-inch in size. Place cubed eggplant into baking dish, season with salt and pepper, and toss with 1 ½ tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with water, cover with either baking dish cover or with aluminum foil. Bake until eggplant is very soft and can be easily mashed with a fork, about 30 – 40 minutes.
3. While eggplant is baking, peel and dice shallot/onion. Place in medium to large heat resistant bowl. Add 2 tablespoons vinegar and soak for 10 minutes. Peel and mash garlic if using garlic clove and add garlic to shallot/onion mixture.
4. Add cooked eggplant to shallot/onion mixture, mash well with fork and cool to room temperature. Stir in parsley or cilantro, and add olive oil and vinegar to taste. 

Eggplant Caviar on a cracker

ready to eat

Chunky style hummus

When I was a child, beans were not something I would voluntarily eat. “Beans, beans the magical fruit, the more you eat, the more you ….” You get it.

As an adult I eat beans voluntarily on a regular basis and have posted three bean-related recipes on this blog: Winter Fruit Salad, Black Bean Sloppy Joe and White Bean and Sausage Salad. I can trace back this change in attitude toward beans to the first time I tried hummus. Learning that hummus had approximately the same nutritional value with half the calories of peanut butter was my motivation. Loving peanut butter but not the calories, I was open to trying something new.

I found I really liked hummus. Eating it so frequently I chose to find a recipe where I could make hummus on my own whenever I pleased. Having replaced my cans of chickpeas with dried chickpeas as the latter takes up less cabinet space which makes room for my homemade applesauce, I've recently found every endeavor to make homemade hummus ends at the cooking of the chickpeas as I tend to snack on them, toss in salads or add them along with either rice or pasta to a dish of oven roasted squash or eggplant.

• 1 cup dried chickpeas soaked and cooked OR 1-19 ounce can chickpeas (both yield 2 cups chickpeas)
• 3 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 3 tablespoons lemon juice
• 3 garlic cloves, mashed or 3 teaspoons minced garlic
• Water from chickpea can or water from pot used to cook chickpeas

If using canned chickpeas, drain and rinse beans, reserving water in a separate container.

If using dried chickpeas, soak and cook beans according to package, reserving water in pot used to cook chickpeas.

In a large bowl, mash chickpeas with a potato masher, fork or beater of a hand mixer. Add tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic. Using either fork or hand mixer on low to medium speed, mix until blended. If consistency appears too coarse, stir in small amounts of water from chickpeas to make smooth.

Serve. Store unused portion in air tight container in refrigerator.

Creamy Avocado Dressing

Avocados, sometimes called “alligator pears” or “butter fruit”, are a good source of potassium and folate. The August 2014 issue of Yoga Journal contained several suggestions of how to enjoy avocados any time of the day and not as the main ingredient of guacamole. This dressing recipe is a variation of the one included in this issue.  For a thick dressing which could be used a spread, omit water.  

Creamy Avocado Dressing

1 ripe avocado, peeled and seed removed

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 tablespoon olive oil

¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

¼ teaspoon onion powder

water (optional)

Using small food processor or blender combine above ingredients until thoroughly mixed. Gradually thin with water to desired consistency. Store any unused dressing in air tight container and refrigerator. 

Creamy Avocado Dressing 

(no water added) 

on bread and topped with

julienne sliced sun-dried 

tomatoes