Air Fryer Salomon Croquettes (Whole 30)

I can’t believe there are only two more days of 2019!! I didn’t think in January of 2019 I would over come some pretty big fears and find a new job that I love and am happy at.

I didn’t think I would fall in love with a reptile and have many reptile adventures.

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I didn’t think I would reconnect with an old,old, like I met her in high school friend.

I didn’t think I would go through some scarey health shit with family and friends. I sure didn’t think I would physically turn 50, feel like I am 25 and act like a 5 year old ( I may have to grow older but I sure as hell don’t have to grow up).

2019 was an incredible year filled with laughter, tears and a lot of support from family and friends, both old and new. I can’t wait to see what 2020 has in store.

Salmon Croquettes

• Difficulty: Easy
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From Air Fryer Revolution cookbook Whole 30 adaption by me

1 14 oz can pink salmon

1 large egg, beaten

1/4 cup almond flour

1 green onion, finely chopped

1 tsp dried dill weed

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp black pepper

In a medium bowl, combine salmon, egg, almond flour, green onion, dill weed, salt and pepper. Gently mix until combined. Shape into 4 patties. Lightly spray both sides of each patty with olive oil spray.

Arrange the patties in the air fryer basket. Set the air fryer to 400 degrees for 15 minutes, turning halfway through and spraying both sides with more oil. The patties should be golden brown and crisp when done.

Pan Fried Sardines (Whole 30)

This morning I woke up with a case of pink eye.  Who the hell gets pink eye in July?  To make matters worse, today is my day off so I didn’t even get to call in sick to work.  I spent the whole day feeling miserable because  I never get a mild case of pink eye, I get a massive case of pink eye.  The first time I got pink eye, I called my Aunt Janis at 1 am because I was convinced I was going blind because the infection under my eye lid almost swelled my eye shut. When I saw my doctor later that day, he said he had never seen an adult with such a bad case of pink eye in his whole career.

I know I will be fine in 24 hours but I still spent most of the day feeling sorry for myself because I don’t feel sick but I know I am contagious so I can’t go out and do the things I wanted to do today.  I can’t go out and get everyone else sick too so all I did was lay on the couch and watched movies through one eye.  On second thought, there are worse ways to spend your day off.

Pan Fried Sardines

• Difficulty: Easy
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from Mel Joulwan’s Well Fed Cookbook

1 (3.75 oz) can sardines in olive oil

1 TBS lemon juice

1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 cup fresh parsley, minced, optional

1 TBS arrowroot

1/4 tsp ground cumin

pinch cayenne

pinch paprika

salt and pepper, to taste

2 tsp olive oil

shredded lettuce or other greens

In a small bowl, combine the olive oil from the sardines with the juice of a small lemon.   Add the sardines and marinate for at least 30 minutes to 60 minutes.  On a small plate, combine the arrowroot, cumin, cayenne, paprika and salt and pepper. Mix well.  When you are ready to cook, heat a small pan over high heat and add the olive oil.   When the olive oil is hot, take each sardine from the marinade and coat with flour.  Lay each sardine in the pan and cook 2-3 minutes per side.  Serve over the lettuce or other greens with the leftover marinade.  It is okay to do this because the sardines are already cooked.

 

Tuna Salad, 2 Ways (Whole 30)

Apparently,  I had a harder day at work then I thought.  I went to Taco Bell for a snack after work and the cashier gave me a senior discount.  I am 47.  Its a good thing I am not sensitive about my age.

Fortunately,  the rest of my week has gone much better than that.  Graduation season is over so my Saturdays in the bakery should get much less stressful.  This weekend I made some decisions, some big, some not so big, but now that they are made, I am feeling like a weight has been lifted off my shoulders.I worked all of Sunday and most of Monday and got a rough draft of my Whole30  project almost completely done.  I haven’t worked that hard on pulling together a project since I was in college.  Now all I’ll have to do over the next two months is polish it and add recipes to the file as I find stuff that I like.

I know I said I was going to be gone until the end of the month  but you know I just can’t quit you for long.  So here I am with a post with some yummy tuna salad recipes for these hot, muggy, I gotta eat but I don’t want to heat up the house kinda days.  I serve them with sliced vegetables.

Harvest Tuna Salad

• Difficulty: Easy
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Adapted from Melissa Joulwan’s Well Fed Week Nights Cookbook

1 5 oz can tuna, packed in water

2 TBS dried cranberries

2 TBS pecans, chopped

1 stalk celery,  thinly sliced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1-2 TBS mayo

Drain the tuna.  In a small bowl, combine the tuna, cranberries, pecans, celery,  and scallions.   Add mustard and mayonnaise.  Stir well.  Serve on a bed of greens and sliced vegetables.

Curry Tuna Salad

• Difficulty: Easy
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1 5 oz can tuna, packed in water

1/2 apple, diced

2 TBS raisins

2 TBS sliced almonds

1 stalk celery, thinly sliced

2 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 tsp curry powder

1/4 tsp lime juice

1 -1 1/2 TBS mayo

Drain the tuna.  In a small bowl, combine the tuna, apple, raisins. almonds, celery, scallions, curry powder, and lime juice.  Add the mayonnaise.  Stir well.

Spicy Shrimp Créole

Are you as sick of Thanksgiving leftovers as I am? There are only so many different ways to repurpose turkey. One of the reasons I started adapting big batch recipes into recipes for one or two is because I don’t like eating the same food for a week straight. I am so ready for something different. I don’t eat a lot of fish or sea food so I thought something with shrimp would be different enough from turkey to make me happy.

I was out of chili powder and didn’t feel like mixing up a batch of my own blend so I substituted a 1/2 teaspoon cumin and a few drops of hot sauce for a pleasing heat.

Spicy Shrimp Creole

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
1/3 cup onion, chopped
1/3 cup celery, chopped
1/3 cup green pepper, chopped
1 TBS canola oil
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 garlic clove, mined
1 (8oz) can tomato sauce
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp sugar
½ tsp salt
½ tsp chili powder
dash pepper sauce
8 oz medium shrimp, peeled
In a large skillet, saute onion, celery, and green pepper in oil until tender. Add the garlic and saute 2 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes, tomato sauce, Worcestershire sauce, sugar, salt, chili powder and pepper sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, 20-25 minutes. Add shrimp and cook 4-5 minutes longer. Serve over rice.

From Cooking for Two magazine

Crispy Panko Fried Fish

I accomplished a lot this weekend. I watched Fast and Furious 4, 5, and 6, in anticipation of seeing 7. I organized my posts so I can get a working recipe index for my blog. I got most of my recipes up and linked for a working recipe index and I cooked the perfect piece of fish. Cooking fish may not seem like much of an accomplishment to the average person but for me it is huge. I always overcook my fish to the point of being inedible or undercook it to the point of being inedible. Every. Single. Time. Fish is the bane of my culinary existence. So when I get a piece of fish with a coating that is golden brow and still stuck to the fish and the fish is cooked all the way through, it gives me a great sense of accomplishment.

The recipe came from Mollie Katzen’s Get Cooking cookbook. The cookbook is full of basic recipes, both vegetable and meat, for the beginning cook. Even if you aren’t a beginning cook, the recipes in this book are quick and easy, for nights you are hungry but don’t really want to cook.

The key to the successful frying of fish is to start with hot oil in a hot pan then, after adding the fish, turning down the heat and not messing with the fish until it is time to flip it. This is the hardest part for me. I always want to make sure the crust isn’t burning or the fish is cooking through. Don’t do it. Just leave it alone and let it cook. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of your fillets. The first few times you make this recipe experiment a bit to find how you like your fish cooked and what it takes to get it there.

• Difficulty: Easy
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Ingredients
1/4 – 1/2 cup Panko bread crumbs
1 egg, beaten until a uniform yellow
2 pieces of cod, about 4 ounces each
Salt and pepper
1 TBS Butter
1 TBS Canola oil

In a small bowl, beat the egg until it is a uniform yellow color. Place the Panko on a small plate. Pat the fish dry as possible with a paper towel. Dip the fish into the beaten egg. Allow the excess egg to drip off then dip in the panko bread crumbs, coating each side well; set aside. Place a pan, I Like my cast iron pan for this, over high heat. After it has heated for a few minutes add the butter and canola oil. It is ready to add the fish when a flake or two of Panko hits the pan and the oil immediately sizzles. Add the fish and reduce the heat to medium. Now comes the hard part, for the next 3 to 4 minutes, go make a salad, read the mail, the dog, kiss your significant other, anything but don’t touch that fish. After 4 minutes flip the fish and leave it for another 4 minutes. Determine if the fish is done to your liking. If it is, plate and eat. If it isn’t cook till it is then plate and eat.

Adapted slightly from Mollie Katzen’s Get Cooking