Fresh Salmon-Cilantro Burgers

Wegman's has these great salmon club packs, which are a bunch of individually-wrapped 5 oz salmon fillets.  It makes life so much easier to thaw out the exact amount you need.  For a really quick weeknight meal and a great way to get in that serving of fish without it tasting too 'fishy', Fresh Salmon-Cilantro burgers are the ticket.  The picture is a little deceiving--I mis-measured the amount of fish we needed because we cut this in half. So these portions are about 2 oz larger than what they should be.  I haven't made the salad that they pair with these burgers but it sounds tasty.  

Do you have one of those Cuisinart mini-prep food processors? If not, and you like to cook, this is an incredible tool to have in your kitchen.  It's much smaller than the regular size food processor and it makes creating patties like the ones in this recipe soooo simple.  Definitely the type of kitchen appliance that would fit in a downtown studio apartment.

We don't make any changes to this recipe but usually half it and it works out fine (unless your math is wrong :] ).  

I have to acknowledge my guest blogger Mimi (Pepper) who co-authored this post.  She sat on the keyboard while I was typing because of the thunderstorm.  This is her good side.

 As of today's post 15 people gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5!

Enjoy, and take a walk afterward to de-stress and get some exercise!

Recipe by Jackie Mills, Cooking Light, May 2009

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 burger)

Ingredients

• 1/4  cup  reduced-fat mayonnaise
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh cilantro
• 1  tablespoon  fresh lime juice
• 1/8  teaspoon  salt
• 1/8  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  (1-pound) salmon fillet, skinned and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4  cup  dry breadcrumbs
• 2  tablespoons  cilantro leaves
• 2  tablespoons  chopped green onions
• 1  tablespoon  chopped seeded jalapeño pepper
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lime juice
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• Cooking spray
• 4  (1 1/2-ounce) hamburger buns with sesame seeds, toasted
• 12  (1/4-inch-thick) slices English cucumber
• 4  leaf lettuce leaves

Preparation

1. Combine first 5 ingredients in a small bowl; cover and chill.
2. Place salmon in a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Add breadcrumbs and next 6 ingredients (through 1/4 teaspoon black pepper); pulse 4 times or until well blended. Divide salmon mixture into 4 equal portions, shaping each into a 3/4-inch-thick patty.
3. Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add patties to pan; cook 2 minutes. Carefully turn patties over; cook 2 minutes or until done.
4. Spread about 1 tablespoon mayonnaise mixture over bottom half of each hamburger bun. Top each serving with 1 salmon patty, 3 cucumber slices, 1 lettuce leaf, and top half of bun.
Spinach salad: Combine 2 tablespoons hoisin sauce, 1 tablespoon rice vinegar, 2 teaspoons canola oil, 2 teaspoons water, and 1/4 teaspoon chile paste in a large bowl; stir well with a whisk. Add half of 1 (5-ounce) package baby spinach, 1/2 cup yellow bell pepper strips, and 1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion to bowl; toss to coat.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 341

Fat: 11.5g (sat 2g,mono 2.9g,poly 4.9g)

Protein: 31.6g

Carbohydrate: 30.9g

Fiber: 1.8g

Cholesterol: 66mg

Iron: 2.2mg

Sodium: 816mg

Calcium: 67mg

Fingerling Potato Salad with Gremolata Dressing

Summer is a time for great potato salads.  While I must say I do love mayonnaise, this potato salad (sans mayo) is fantastic.  If you like garlic and lemon flavors this will be a big hit in your house.  I also loooooooooooooooove capers, so to me they are the icing on the cake of this dish.

While I didn't have fingerlings this time (you can tell in the picture), I just used the small yukon gold potatoes and it worked fine.  I don't make any changes to this recipe except to add another clove of garlic because garlic is like the 7th food group to us.

You have to at least try this one recipe, you won't regret it.

11 people (including me) gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5!

I hope you enjoy this in your home because we LOOOOOOOOOVE it!

Recipe by Jackie Mills, Cooking Light, July 2008

Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 3/4 cup)

Ingredients

• 1/2  pound  white fingerling potatoes
• 1/2  pound  red fingerling potatoes
• 2  tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
• 1/2  teaspoon  salt
• 1/4  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1  tablespoon  extravirgin olive oil
• 1  teaspoon  grated lemon rind
• 1  garlic clove, crushed and minced
• 1  tablespoon  chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
• 1  tablespoon  capers, drained

Preparation

1. Steam potatoes, covered, 12 minutes or until tender. Cover and chill.
2. Combine juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl; slowly add oil, stirring well with a whisk. Stir in rind and garlic; let stand 10 minutes. Stir in parsley and capers.
3. Cut potatoes into quarters; add potatoes to juice mixture, tossing to coat.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 125 (26% from fat)

Fat: 3.6g (sat 0.5g,mono 2.5g,poly 0.4g)

Protein: 2.6g

Carbohydrate: 21.4g

Fiber: 2.2g

Cholesterol: 0.0mg

Iron: 1mg

Sodium: 370mg

Calcium: 16mg

Pork Tenderloin with Ginger-Maple Sauce

I can't remember how I stumbled upon this recipe. I think I was looking for a way to use pork tenderloin since I love it so much. I though to myself if 31 people rated this a 5 out of 5, then I must be pretty stupid to pass this recipe up.  I'm so glad I didn't! This was AWESOME. I was a little worried--2 tablespoons of ginger sounds like A LOT of ginger for my taste, but the maple syrup balanced it nicely.  I also bought real maple syrup instead of using that light stuff which is all high fructose corn syrup.  

I didn't make any changes to the recipe except that I used my new calphalon stainless steel chef's pan and it cooked the pork in about half of the time which is amazing. Thanks to Debbie L. if you are reading this! Thanks also to Kirsten O. for  providing me with a great backdrop for the pork (new plate).  

Besides the fact that the pork had to marinate in the rub for 30 minutes, brown for 6 and cook for 30, it felt like it took less time. Be sure to start the sauce when you put the pork in the oven--I find that 90% of the CL recipes that call for a reduction take longer than the estimated time (could just be my stove top).

Yield: 6 servings (serving size: 3 ounces pork and 2 tablespoons sauce)

Ingredients

• 2  teaspoons  chili powder
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt
• 1  teaspoon  black pepper
• 1  teaspoon  ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2  pounds  pork tenderloin, trimmed
• Cooking spray
• 2  tablespoons  butter
• 1  cup  chopped onion
• 2  tablespoons  bottled ground fresh ginger
• 1  cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
• 1/2  cup  maple syrup

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375°.
Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl; rub pork with spice mixture. Refrigerate 30 minutes.
Heat a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray over medium-high heat; add pork. Cook 6 minutes; brown on all sides. Place on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until thermometer registers 155°. Let stand 10 minutes before slicing.
While pork bakes, melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion, and cook 10 minutes or until golden brown, stirring frequently. Add ginger, and cook 4 minutes. Stir in broth and syrup, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Bring broth mixture to a boil; cook until reduced to 3/4 cup (about 10 minutes). Cut pork into 1/4-inch-thick slices; serve with sauce.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 263 (28% from fat)

Fat: 8.2g (sat 3.9g,mono 2.8g,poly 0.6g)

Protein: 25g

Carbohydrate: 21.7g

Fiber: 1.1g

Cholesterol: 78mg

Iron: 2mg

Sodium: 663mg

Calcium: 39mg

Blueberry Buttermilk Pancakes

We rarely eat breakfast out at a restaurant and never make big weekend breakfasts on our own, so for the fourth of July I decided to make pancakes.  We saw a recipe for blueberry pancakes in one of my previous cooking light issues. However, once I logged on to myrecipes.com , I found out that this recipe had much better reviews and included buttermilk (can't go wrong with buttermilk).  I don't know if you've used myrecipes.com before but if you have, I hope you look at the reviews before you make the recipe. Most recipes are rated by people like myself and can often include great substitutions, modifications and comments.  This recipe was no exception.  I believe the recipe calls for you to put the blueberries on top of the pancake once you turn it over on the skillet, but I followed other reviewers who said they used frozen blueberries and added them to the batter. You may also be able to use fresh blueberries but you'd probably have to toss them in flour to keep them from sinking to the bottom of the batter.  We cut the recipe in half and I used 1/2 C whole wheat flour and 1/2 C white flour to increase the nutritional value. Since we cut it in half, I used 1 egg white instead of the whole egg.  Ours were a little undercooked; for whatever reason I seem to be horrible at making pancakes, so I usually leave this to the soon-to-be Mr. VaFoodie. 

As you can see in the back, we ate these with Trader Joe's Wild Maine Blueberry Fruit Topping (yum!). 

As of today's post, 13 reviewers gave this an average rating of 4 out of 5.

I hope you enjoy this in your home as much as we did in ours.

Recipe by Cooking Light, January 2001

Yield: 12 (5-inch) pancakes (serving size: 2 pancakes)

Ingredients

• 2  cups  all-purpose flour
• 1  tablespoon  sugar
• 1  teaspoon  baking powder
• 1  teaspoon  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  baking soda
• 1 1/2  cups  low-fat buttermilk
• 1/2  cup  1% low-fat milk
• 1  tablespoon  vegetable oil
• 1  large egg, lightly beaten
• Cooking spray
• 2  cups  blueberries

Preparation

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and baking soda in a large bowl. Combine buttermilk, milk, oil, and egg in a bowl, and add to flour mixture, stirring until smooth.
Spoon 1/4 cup pancake batter onto a hot nonstick griddle or large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, and top with 2 heaping tablespoons blueberries. Turn the pancake when the top is covered with bubbles and the edges look cooked. Repeat the procedure with the remaining batter and blueberries.

Nutritional Information

Calories: 261 (18% from fat)

Fat: 5.3g (sat 1.5g,mono 1.5g,poly 1.7g)

Protein: 8.6g

Carbohydrate: 45g

Fiber: 2.4g

Cholesterol: 38mg

Iron: 2.2mg

Sodium: 536mg

Calcium: 159mg

Steamed Pork Buns

The recipe says that these are a type of Chinese street food. I verified this with one of my coworkers (who happens to be Chinese) who said that it is true but said "you have to make your own dough, this is too much work!"  I don't mind making my own dough so it's not a problem. I had to buy Chinese 5-spice which was kind of pricey but these were worth it.  I would say the recipe took a total of 2 hours to make if you are trying to budget your time.  The great thing about this recipe is that if you're only making it for 2 people, you have a ton of leftover buns that you can freeze.  So this means you could probably put the work in on a Sunday (or late on a weeknight like we do because we eat late) and then on other nights pull them out of the freezer and cook them in 20 minutes.

We made 3 changes to this recipe. The first was to sub 1 cup of whole wheat flour and the second was to use red onion instead of green (we didn't have green onion).  The most obvious change was to use ground turkey instead of pork tenderloin--pork tenderloin is expensive so I didn't want to eat cut up pork tenderloin stuffed in bread when I can enjoy it like this instead: Peppercorn-crusted pork tenderloin with Soy-Caramel Sauce

As of today's post 23 people gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5!

I hope you enjoy this trip to the Orient in your home as much as we did in ours!

Goat Cheese Spring Rolls with Asian Pear Salad

Alright here's a way to use those leftover eggroll wrappers if you made the last recipe.  The flavors in these eggrolls are slightly different from a 'typical eggroll' due to the addition of the goat cheese.  After a while, the soon-to-be Mr. VaFoodie said that he could taste the goat cheese and it was too much for him (he's not a huge fan). So we may adjust to add more of the red chili sauce because it's delicious.  One other reviewer subbed Feta instead of GC, so maybe i'll do that next time to make my man happy. If you chop most of the ingredients for the eggroll beforehand, this dish comes together quickly.  Eggrolls are much easier to make than samosas!  


Um, can we just say the salad is a MUST make!?  The rice wine vinegar and maple syrup have the perfect sweet/bitter combination and the pear matched with the cilantro is awesome. I would make this for a dinner party as a side salad on it's own, it's that good.


As of today's post 5 people (including me) gave this an average rating of 5 out of 5!


I hope you enjoy this in your home (at a dinner party?) as much as we did in ours!!


Recipe by Cooking Light, March 2005

Yield: 8 servings (serving size: 2 spring roll halves and 1/4 cup salad)

Ingredients

• SALAD:
• 2  cups  sliced Asian pear or ripe pear
• 1/4  cup  chopped red bell pepper
• 1/4  cup  chopped red onion
• 1 1/2  tablespoons  chopped fresh cilantro
• 2  tablespoons  rice vinegar
• 1  tablespoon  maple syrup
• 
  SPRING ROLLS:
• 1  tablespoon  sesame oil
• 1 1/2  cups  matchstick-cut carrots
• 1 1/2  cups  vertically sliced red onion
• 1 1/2  cups  chopped green onions
• 1 1/2  cups  thinly sliced shiitake mushroom caps
• 1 1/2  cups  red bell pepper, cut into (1/4-inch) strips
• 1  tablespoon  low-sodium soy sauce
• 1  tablespoon  sweet red chile sauce
• 1/4  cup  (2 ounces) goat cheese, crumbled
• 8  egg roll wrappers
• Cooking spray

Preparation

To prepare salad, combine first six ingredients.

Preheat oven to 425°.

To prepare spring rolls, heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots, 1 1/2 cups red onion, green onions, mushroom, and 1 1/2 cups red bell pepper; sauté 3 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from heat; stir in soy sauce and chile sauce. Cool 5 minutes. Stir in cheese.

Working with 1 egg roll wrapper at a time (cover remaining wrappers to prevent drying), spoon about 1/3 cup vegetable mixture into center of each wrapper. Fold lower right corner over vegetable mixture; fold lower left and top right corners over vegetable mixture. Moisten top left corner with water; roll up jelly-roll fashion. Coat spring rolls with cooking spray; place rolls, seam sides down, on a baking sheet. Bake at 425° for 18 minutes or until golden brown, turning rolls over halfway through baking time. Cut rolls crosswise at an angle; serve immediately with salad.

Nutritional Information

Calories:

171 (23% from fat)

Fat:

4.3g (sat 1.8g,mono 0.5g,poly 0.1g)

Protein:

5.7g

Carbohydrate

30.3g

Fiber:

3g

Cholesterol:

6mg

Iron:

1.5mg

Sodium:

267mg

Calcium:

53mg