Fish

30 minute Honey Sesame Baked Salmon

30 min sesame honey baked salmon

This is a family favorite and you only need 30 minutes to get it done. We try to eat fish once or twice a week. Salmon is the kids and ‘hubs’ favorite fish. I’ve made baked salmon all sort of ways, but this is the winner.

The ‘Deal’:  Sprouts has this delicious super fresh Chilean salmon for $9.99 lb. this week.

Start by placing the salmon skin side down on a baking sheet lined with foil. Wipe the fish gently with a paper towel, removing excess juices and scales. Sprinkle 1/2  tsp salt over it and let it sit while you mix the sauce. Note: I used smoked sea salt from Trader Joe’s for extra flavor and I recommend having this delicious and super salty salt handy.

Baked Sesame Honey Salmon

Make the sauce

Sesame Homey Baked Salmon ingredients

For each 1 lb. of salmon you’ll need the following ingredients for the sauce:

  • 1 tbsp Liquid Aminos or 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce
  • 2 tsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil (I used black sesame oil)
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder

Mix all the ingredients well and pour sauce over the salmon slowly, making sure all sides are cover.

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 min

Here is the “dirty little secret” for this recipe. I added 1/2 tbsp of MAYO after fish absorbed the sauce for a couple of minutes to seal the taste and add some evilness to such a clean recipe (Mayo is optional but it tastes so much better with it. It’s only 1/2 tbsp but it’s worthy! Just sayin’)

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 mi

Spread the Mayo like you mean it, until the fish is covered with a brownish homogeneous coat. Sprinkle toasted sesame seeds to taste and let it bake for about 20 minutes at 400-420F. The sauce around it will burn due to the honey at high temp, but don’t panic. The salmon should be cooked through, crispy on the sides and moist in the inside.

Honey Sesame Baked Salmon 30 min

To place salmon on a serving dish, gently run a thin spatula between the fish and the skin. The salmon skin should remain stuck to the foil and the spatula should run easily under the fish.

We ate our salmon tonight with a side of jasmine brown rice and steamed broccoli but we also love it with coucous and quinoa. If you happen to have any leftover, ad it to a salad. It tastes great cold too!

Happy Healthy Eating everyone (minus the MAYO)

Week 11: Coupon clipping nonsense

Clipping and using coupons can be a complicated and very impractical routine. I hate it. I try to be organized and even use coupon folders, envelopes and other dumb tools. I tend to leave a trail of coupons whenever I go shopping – some in the car, some on the kitchen counter, my yellow bag, my black purse, my pockets. Who has time to clip coupons from lots of different sources, categorize and organize them? Seriously. It’s time for the Unicard, where you can electronically clip all coupons you can find and put it in one single card or even app. How hard can that be?

On a not-so-bitchy note, I did serious damage to my grocery budget this week but I also saved $58.00 with coupons and Vons Club Card. I spent $160.00 at Von’s for our week meals and other pantry items and $46.00 at Sprouts for gourmet Friday.

From Vons: Fresh caught Pacific Red Snapper $4.84, Broccoli c77 lb, Organic Delicata and Sweet Dumpling squash $1.49 lb, Organic red grapes $1.99 lb, Ground Veal 97% lean manager’s special $3.00 for 1lb.

Menu week 11

Baked Snapper: On a large piece of foil place 2 whole green onion, aprox. 1lb of fish, salt, pepper, 1tsp of butter, dry celery seeds, 1tbsp of capers, 2 sprigs of fresh thyme.Wrap it and baked for 15 minutes at 380F.

 

 

Wednesday: Baked Red Snapper, roasted asparagus and mushrooms

and brown rice. Baked breaded Snapper for the kids made with Ian’s whole wheat panko.

Thursday: Big Boy’s fundraiser dinner.

Friday: See Gourmet Friday for a simple and elegantSweet Dumpling Squash Thai soup.

Saturday: Dim Sum (eat out).

Sunday: Steak dinner

Monday: Couscous stuffed Delicata squash with roasted beets.

Tuesday: Veal meatballs cooked on TJs turkey gravy,mashed potatoes and steamed broccoli.

Week 10

It’s week 10. I’m genuinely happy about being committed to this blog and it’s purpose.  Having a planned menu based on the weekly deals has saved me time and money.  Our family has been eating even healthier after I started planning our meals and the kids are more adventurous about trying new foods and combinations.

The goal this week is to seek inspiration. Quite frankly, I’m a little tired of my own cooking. I think I need some food porn. Some inspiration coming from a source other than Food Network. Maybe is time to research some local cooking classes. I took classes at Christine’s Restaurant 4 years ago and suddenly my kitchen was a better place to be. I was more than inspired…I was possessed. I need that feeling again.

I’ve spent $51.00 at Sprouts and I’m anticipating at least $30.00 more until next Wednesday.

The list:

From Sprouts: Fresh wild caught Pacific salmon at $4.99 lb. Roma Tomatoes 77c lb. Kiwi 4 for $1.00. Green onions and cilantro 15c each. Cantaloupe 15c lb. Asparagus $1.99 lb. Candy corn.

From Ralphs: I’m skeptical about the $7.99 lb filet mignon, but it’s definitely a deal.

The Menu:

Wednesday: Baked salmon asparagus pasta with garlic Dijon mustard sauce

(Applegate Organic hotdogs and “Peas of Mind” broccoli oven fries for the kids)

Thursday:  Green Tea cold noodles with miso dressing and Teriyaki baked tofu

Friday: Gourmet pizza (possibly homemade)

Saturday: eat out/take out

Sunday: Friends over for dinner. Hawaiian food? BBQ?Cajun?

Monday: Leftovers

Tuesday: Rice & beans Brazilian style with collard greens

 

 

Week 5: at the Islands

Our time in Hawaii was amazing. Kids ran free at the beach, no TV, clean air, sunsets, dancing in the rain and even a rainbow. I’m so grateful for this magical family time, for nature that I often forget to connect with and for the contagious aloha spirit. I got my share of Poke, Poi, Lau Lau, my dad-in-law unbelievable Portuguese Bean Soup and papayas…sweet juicy delicious papayas.

I had some time to visit Whole Foods Kahala store and I was delighted to see so many options on local organic produce, mostly from the Big Island.

We made a quick stop at Hilo farmers market, but it was enough to make me wish for a stove in our hotel room. The eggplants…oh, the eggplants…so many types, colors and shapes. I wanted to cook them and eat them all.

We ate at Huli Sue’s in Kamuela (Waimea area) and if you ever in that part of the Big Island make sure you stop by. Their food is super fresh and the banana cream pie is ridiculously good.

We all had a hard time leaving the islands but I have a feeling (or maybe just a very strong hope) we’ll be coming back pretty soon.

Week 1: Wednesday

I chose Atlantic farm raised salmon (Ralphs $7.99 lb.) over wild caught Sockeye Salmon (Sprouts $7.99 lb.) this week. Atlantic salmon has a milder flavor and I really wanted the kids to try it. They ate the “pink fish”  with little drama and lots of quinoa.

The white corn from Sprouts was super sweet and juicy. I boiled the 2 cobs with 1 tbsp of salt for 15 minutes, sliced the kernels in chunks of the cob, tossed all the ingredients together and made this ‘dealicious’ salad (all ingredients except for the lime were on sale) to go with the salmon.

CORN, TOMATO, AVOCADO, GRAPE LIME SALAD

1 org avocado diced

1 cup org red grapes cut in halves

2 green onions thin sliced

2 med tomatoes diced

Corn kernel chunks from 2 cooked corn cobs

1 tbs of olive oil

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper (you can hold it if you don’t like it spicy)

juice of 1 lime

(It can be kept refrigerated overnight. The lime juice keeps the avocado from browning).

HONEY MUSTARD BAKED SALMON

1 pound of salmon

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp of honey

1 tbs of honey mustard

1 tsp of Vegenaise (or your fav Mayo)

1/4 tsp of granulated onion

Place salmon skin down on a nonstick bake pan. Salt it. Mix all the remaining ingredients and spread it over the fish. Bake it at 380 covered with foil for 15 minutes. Uncover and bake it for 5 more minutes at 400. The mustard-mayo spread locks in the moisture and adds to the unique creamy texture of the salmon.