Savory Salmon Cakes with Dill-Sour Cream

Good morning! If you're like me, on days when your free time is limited, time consuming kitchen activity is the last thing that you want to do. Salmon cakes are an easy, savory, and protein packed dish for evenings when you don't want to pay for take out or eat a frozen meal. 

When mixed with bread crumbs, salmon takes well to lots of herbs and spices. You can make salmon cakes from fresh or canned salmon. It just depends on your budget and palate. But, be cautious when adding salt or seasonings with salt to canned salmon. Additional salt is often not necessary as the sodium in canned salmon can be high. 

There are a number of ways to season salmon cakes. Here is my combination of seasonings that produce a batch of delicious cakes!

WHAT YOU NEED (Yields 6 salmon cakes)

1/4 cup olive oil
1 14.75 oz can of salmon (traditional style) OR 1lb of fresh salmon (cooked)
3 teaspoons old bay blackened seasoning

2 teaspoons dried parsley

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon cracked black pepper 

1 1/3 cup panko bread crumbs

1/3 cup diced onion
4 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce

1 tablespoon sriracha

2 eggs

Dill Sour Cream

1 1/2 teaspoons dried dill

1/2 cup sour cream

pinch of salt

Place a pan on medium heat and coat evenly with olive oil. Flake your salmon in a large bowl. In a separate small bowl, mix old bay, parsley, garlic powder, paprika, black pepper, and panko crumbs together. Beat onion, Worcestershire sauce, sriracha, and eggs into the seasoning bowl until mixed well. Pour the mixture into the large bowl with the salmon and mix well with a large spoon. Mold the salmon into medium sized cakes. 

Fry the cakes until golden brown on each side (about 2-3 minutes on each side). Allow salmon cakes to rest on layered paper towels until excess oil has been absorbed by the paper towels. Meanwhile,  mix your dill with the sour cream. Serve the dill sour cream on top of the salmon cake along with a little bit of sriracha for dipping. Enjoy!

Lavender Blueberry Muffins

Happy Sunday! I would like to share with you my love of combining fruit with herbs. Strawberries and basil! Oranges and mint! Apples and fennel! Whether you pair them for a fruit salad or fancy drink, there is something so refreshing about fruit and herbs.  

A few weeks ago, I decided to share my love of fruit and herbs with my office in the form of delicious, lavender blueberry mini-muffins. They were a hit! It may seem unexpected, but lavender and blueberries are the perfect pairing. When used with a delicate hand, lavender brings out the sweetness in blueberries. This combination also has a beautiful aromatic quality to it. You can really make someone's day by bringing them a freshly baked batch of these! 

WHAT YOU NEED
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 
3/4 cup white sugar 
1/2 teaspoon salt 
2 teaspoons baking powder 
1/3 cup vegetable oil 
1 egg 
1/3 cup milk 
1 cup fresh blueberries 
3 teaspoons dried lavender flowers 
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Combine flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder. Place vegetable oil in a 1 cup measuring cup; add the egg and enough milk to fill the cup. Mix this with the flour mixture. If the mixture seems too stiff/thick, add about 1-2 more teaspoons of milk. Stir your lavender flowers and vanilla extract into the batter. Fold in the blueberries with the mixture. 

Grease muffin cups and fill about 3/4ths full. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the oven, or until a knife comes out clean. Enjoy!

Rosemary Lemon Pepper Fried Chicken

Now that the summer is upon us, I have reclaimed my weekends for cooking and excessive nap time! Hooray! I am full of new recipes and kitchen ideas, so let's get started! 

Having been raised and fed in Georgia, I enjoyed my share of crispy, fried deliciousness that makes the mouth sing praises unto the bubbling oil. Yes, frying (especially frying meat) is definitely an art that until recently, I had not mastered. 

Watching my mother drop a piece of breaded tilapia or chicken into a hot pan and jump four feet away from the scalding, airborne oil was not a treasured sight for me as a child. Humorous, but certainly not treasured. I am ashamed to say that my role in helping my mother fry food ended shortly after breading the meat. 

Fortunately, those dark days are over! Motivated by some good-natured teasing from friends and family, I have finally dared to fry my first piece of meat! Though I will never be able to add this particular skill to a resume (if I can, then my career plans have taken an awkward turn Oo), I am delighted to share my simple, but flavorful, panko fried chicken recipe with you all. 

WHAT YOU NEED
2 teaspoons lemon pepper
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
2 cups panko bread crumbs (I prefer honey infused panko)
Crushed red pepper to taste
Salt to taste
2 eggs
1/4 cup milk
4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts 
Olive oil

Heat oil in frying pan on medium heat. In a large bowl, combine, panko, lemon pepper, rosemary, and crushed red pepper. Taste your seasoned panko before adding salt as some prepared lemon pepper mixtures tend to be on the salty side. In a small bowl, crack and lightly beat your eggs with milk. 

Dredge your chicken breasts with the egg and coat them in the seasoned panko. For a crispier (and therefore, more delicious) crust, coat the chicken in the egg mixture and seasoned panko one more time before frying.

Now the fun part! Gently place your chicken breasts in the pan and step far away from the popping oil. Cook your chicken for 4-5 minutes on each side (or until golden brown and no longer pink on the inside). 

Remove crispy chicken to a plate coated in paper towels and allow the paper towels to soak up the excess oil. You'll be left with bright, aromatic, crispy, juicy chicken! Delicious over pasta or salad. Serve and thoroughly enjoy! 

What else is on the plate, you ask? A bed of lemon-mushroom pasta with basil and romano cheese served with a salad of chopped tricolor peppers dressed in a little olive oil and red wine vinegar. Garnished with a big, beautiful, basil leaf.

  

Spicy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Have you ever seen the movie Like Water for Chocolate (Como Agua Para Chocolate)? It's one of my favorite films. The basic concept is that when people eat food prepared by the woman in the movie, they experience whatever emotions she was feeling when she cooked the dish. Passion. Sadness. Joy. Anger. You get the picture.


That said, it's hard to be in any mood other than adventurous when I make these cookies. They are by far my favorite recipe as I've added ingredients and adjusted the measurements over time to create a truly spicy cookie. Ready to go on an adventure?

WHAT YOU NEED

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cayenne pepper (reduce or increase depending on your taste)

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels

Preheat your oven to 375° F. Combine flour, baking soda, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, and salt in small bowl. Beat butter, granulated sugar, brown sugar and vanilla extract in large mixer bowl until creamy. Add eggs, one at a time and beat well. Gradually beat in flour mixture. Stir in morsels.

Roll dough into 1 inch balls onto un-greased baking sheets. BAKE for 9 to 11 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on baking sheets for 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Winter Chai Tea

Seasons greetings people! If you’re somewhere cold, I hope that you’re enjoying the warmth of a thick blanket and some hot cocoa. If you’re like me though, the hot cocoa can get pretty tiring after a while. My favorite cold weather drink is chai tea. Spicy. Warm. Creamy. Perfect. My best friend’s mother introduced me to homemade chai tea on New Year’s Day a few years ago. I still toss and turn at night over the perfection that my taste buds encountered on that fateful night. I put my own twist on her recipe to get a spicier tea. 

WHAT YOU NEED (Yields 2 1/2 cups):

12 cardamom pods, crushed

12 cloves

1 tablespoon chopped ginger

2 cinnamon stick

2 cups hot water

2 tablespoons black tea

2/3 cup of milk

Sugar, to taste

Steep cardamom, cloves, ginger, cinnamon stick, and water for 12 minutes on medium heat, stirring occasionally. Turn down your stove to low heat and add black tea. Steep until boiling, stirring occasionally. At this point, your tea will be extremely bitter, but the milk will balance that out. Stir in milk and sugar to taste. Steep for 1-2 minutes, allowing the milk to warm up. Strain and pour into your fanciest tea cup. 

A warm, spice-rich cup of chai tea to keep you warm this coming winter. Add a spiral of whip cream and a dash of cinnamon on top for a cozier experience. Enjoy with someone special :).