Grilled Wild Alaskan Salmon w/ Orange Tamari Butter

This weekend we found fresh Wild Alaskan Salmon on our Costco trip. I was so excited to see it again. I picked up a single large 2-pound fillet. This time it was priced at $9.99/lb which is a GREAT price, considering several weeks ago I paid $16.99/lb at Costco. I decided to cook it on the grill since it was so hot here today. It helped to keep the house cool without having to turn the oven on (although you can also roast this salmon in the oven). I whisked together a quick and easy Orange Tamari Butter to brush the salmon with. It was so delicious and mild and did not detract from the delicate flavor of the salmon. I served it with steamed fresh broccoli.

Since we've got quite a bit of rain in our forecast this week, I pounded some boneless chicken breasts and whisked together a quick herby marinade and marinated the chicken all afternoon and went ahead and grilled that alongside tonight's salmon to get a head start on a few meals for the week. I like to cut grilled marinated chicken into chunks and add it on top of a big fresh green salad for a quick and cool weeknight meal. I snapped several photos of tonight's beautiful, fresh and easy meal below. Enjoy!

Grill-Roasted Wild Alaskan Salmon with Orange Tamari Butter

Ingredients:

2 pounds wild salmon fillets (rinsed and patted dry)

3 to 4 tablespoons butter

3 to 4 tablespoons orange juice

1/2 teaspoon orange zest

1 to 2 tablespoons organic Tamari sauce

Directions:

Preheat grill (or oven) to 425-450 degrees. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Remove from heat and whisk in orange juice, orange zest, and Tamari sauce. Allow to set for a few minutes until the butter cools a bit and begins to thicken slightly so when you brush it on your salmon fillet, it doesn't roll off.

Place salmon fillets in center of large sheet of foil. Gently crimp and form foil into a packet around salmon fillet to hold butter and juices as it grills (keep packet open on top while roasting). Brush salmon fillets with orange Tamari butter. Carefully place foil packet of salmon on hot grill and close lid. Try and maintain grill temperature between 425 and 450 degrees F. Cook for 10 to 12 minutes, depending on thickness of fillets. Carefully remove and transfer foil packet to a platter or baking sheet. Crimp and close packet tightly to allow salmon to continue cooking gently off the heat for about 5 to 10 minutes. Spoon and drizzle salmon with orange butter juices when serving.

            

Southern Turkey Burgers w/ Vidalia Onions & Pimento Cheese

This evening I was in the mood to grill a few of the frozen turkey burgers that I had in the freezer (I buy these frozen from Costco). You grill them frozen for about 6 to 7 minutes per side (I spritz them with olive oil before grilling). Since these are made with turkey breast, you need to be careful not to overcook them because they will be dry. These turned out great. Of course you don't need to use turkey you could use ground beef or chicken as well. I also grilled a thick slice of Vidalia onion to go with my burger. We topped our burgers with a small scoop of Pimento Cheese w/ Jalapenos which added a lot of flavor using only a small amount. I had a few of my grain free sesame seed buns left from this past weekend so I put my burger on a bun. I started by placing the grilled Vidalia onion on the bottom of my bun, then topped it with the burger and then the pimento cheese and a few Bubbie's pickles. If this doesn't qualify as a "Southern Turkey Burger" with both Vidalia Onion and pimento cheese, I don't know what does!

We enjoyed our burgers with a side of Bubbie's sauerkraut. It was a delicious, quick and easy meal. I grilled an extra burger to have for tomorrow's lunch. I want to share my excitement with you this evening because I feel like I won the Bubbie's lottery. Wait until you hear the deal I got! Unfortunately, a couple of our local "The Fresh Market" stores are closing and everything in the stores were on sale for an additional 30% off. I headed there straight from work and was so excited that they still had Bubbie's on the shelf. I picked up 2 big jars of their pickles and 2 big jars of their sauerkraut for only $3.48 each (normally $9 to $10/jar depending on where you buy them). I couldn't wait to incorporate them into our dinner tonight. The only regret I have is that I didn't buy all they had left. I snapped a few photos of the easy "Southern Turkey Burgers" below. Enjoy!

           

Best Grain-Free Bagels - Low Carb, Gluten Free & Delicious

Tonight I am finally sharing my bagel recipe. I began working on it last summer...1 year ago (June 2017). I have been tweaking it and have made at least half a dozen different recipes, tweaking each one. I didn't just want it to taste good, because honestly, all the versions I made actually tasted good.

I kept tweaking it, not only for texture but just as important for me was to make a recipe that wouldn't be so frustrating to make for the average person that wasn't a "baker" or who maybe wasn't used to handling regular dough. In the first 4 versions I made, I rolled the dough into ropes with my hands and formed each bagel. I found it to be messy because this dough doesn't have the same elasticity that dough made with wheat and yeast has. I feared it would make some of you break out all of your bad words (not that I know anything about that) both at me and at the dough. And you certainly wouldn't be excited to make them again. With each of my 6+ versions, I not only tweaked the ingredients but used different pans to see how they baked. Also, when you look at the recipe...just so you know, the teaspoon of apple cider vinegar that is added can not be tasted at all. It is there to react with the baking soda to help lighten the dough. You can make plain bagels, or top with grated Parmesan or Asiago cheese for cheesy bagels or my favorite, add sesame seeds. You could make "everything bagels" or even poppy seed.

One more thing. I have made this recipe 3 times, to use different pans/methods to bake. I made them on a parchment lined baking sheet and they are good but they spread more and are thinner (but just as delicious). I made them in my deeper USA Pan 6-well mini-cake pan and they are good but it contains them so much that they are thicker, and closer to hamburger buns. My favorite result was using my Chicago Metallic Professional 6-well muffin top pan. The reason I preferred this pan was it has the shallow wells that help contain the spread, but since it doesn't have deeper wells, it allows them to spread a bit and brown and it produced a not too thick/not too thin bagel that could be sliced in half more easily. These bagels are not the 1-1/2" to 2" thick bagels of your wheat eating days. But you will find them very satisfying and delicious. I hope you give them a try and let me know what you think. Check out the recipe and photos below. Enjoy!

Grain-Free Bagels

INGREDIENTS:

10 ounces (2-1/2 cups) shredded mozzarella

3 ounces brick style cream cheese

1 cup almond flour

1/4 cup PLUS 2 Tablespoons (6 Tablespoons) ground golden flax seeds

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

2 Tablespoons sesame seeds or 2 Tablespoons shredded Parmesan or Asiago cheese, optional

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly spray a 6-cup nonstick muffin top pan with olive oil. Alternatively you can line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (bagels will spread out more and be thinner). 

Place mozzarella and cream cheese in a medium bowl. Heat cheese in microwave on high for 45 seconds; stir and heat an additional 45 seconds or until a hot melted mass of cheese is formed; blend well, folding with a rubber spatula. 

While cheese is melting in microwave, in a separate medium bowl, combine almond flour, ground flax, salt, baking powder and baking soda; whisk until blended. In a separate small bowl, beat egg and vinegar together; set aside. Add flour mixture to bowl of hot melted cheese (make sure cheese is hot before adding flour mixture; return to microwave for 10 to 15 seconds or till hot). Working quickly, fold dry mixture into melted cheese using a rubber spatula until dough begins to come together and cheese and dry ingredients are combined; add egg/vinegar mixture and continue folding into dough until combined. The texture of the dough will begin to become light and airy. Continue folding mixture until thoroughly combined. 

Divide into 6 even pieces (I cut it into wedges in the bowl with a knife). Very lightly oil or wet hands to prevent dough from sticking. Scoop each section of dough with a spoon; using your hands, form dough into a large meatball shape, then pat to flatten into a burger shape approximately 1-inch thick in the palm of your hand (if desired lightly press dough patty into a shallow bowl lined with sesame seeds). Using your index finger of your other hand, poke a hole in the center of the dough patty, wiggling finger in a circular motion until a smooth hole forms in the center. Place in muffin top well and repeat until all six are formed. (If using a parchment lined baking sheet, space bagels about 2 inches apart; sprinkle with sesame seeds or grated cheese, if desired). 

Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from oven to reopen bagel holes by using the tip  of a handle from a wooden spoon, dipped in olive oil, using a circular motion to reopen the holes. Reduce oven temp to 375 degrees and return bagels to oven and bake for an additional 5 to 6 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool in pan 5 minutes; carefully remove to a wire cooling rack to cool. Use a sharp serrated knife to slice in half; spread with butter or cream cheese as desired.

*Note: If blended dough is too soft to handle, allow to cool for a minute or two to firm up a bit before shaping into bagels. If bagels begin to brown unevenly, rotate pan half way through for more even browning.

           

Roasted Sweet Mustard Glazed Salmon - Wild Alaskan Salmon

This evening I made the most delicious roasted salmon (yeah, I know I've said that many times before), but it really was! We went to Costco again this past Friday evening and low and behold they had another shipment of Wild Alaskan Salmon! This time they only put 1 fillet per package which I actually prefer. It was $14.99/lb this week, down from the $16.99 last week! I could eat salmon simply roasted with some salt and butter every day, but to keep my hubby and visiting grown salmon loving son from rolling their "salmon again" eyes, I like to keep changing it up a bit. Not enough to overpower the fresh salmon, but rather enhance it. This dish worked like a charm! And it was so very simple to make. I love to take advantage of having fresh wild salmon available since the season is so short. Even though I like using the salmon I've frozen...I prefer it fresh. I have a confession to make...even though I usually do not add any type of sugar to anything, I am going to confess that I did add 1 slightly rounded tablespoon of brown sugar to this glaze. I've made a sugar-free brown sugar substitute in the past using Swerve and a tiny bit of molasses but since I was only using 1 tablespoon to add to glaze for about 2-1/4 pounds of salmon, I decided not to bother and just use the real deal. I hoped it would be enough to help it brown and be "glazey" and it was. You could easily add your favorite sugar substitute in place of the brown sugar or a tiny bit of stevia. You can make it as sweet or as mustardy as you like. Just taste it as you go. Also, this recipe can be easily halved (I used 2 large salmon fillets, but if you only use 1 fillet, simply cut the glaze in half). It turned out AMAZING! I served mine alongside a salad, but for hubby and son, I baked potatoes and made peas to go with theirs. They LOVED it! I snapped a few photos below and included the easy peasy glaze recipe. Enjoy!

Roasted Sweet Mustard Glazed Wild Alaskan Salmon

Ingredients:

2 large salmon fillets (preferably wild salmon, about 1 to 1-1/4 lbs each)
3 to 4 tablespoons Dijon Mustard (or any good spicy brown mustard)
1 tablespoon brown sugar (or substitute your favorite non-sugar sweetener)
Dash of garlic powder
2 or 3 generous dashes of ground Ceylon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Rinse salmon fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Place fillets skin side down on a foil lined baking sheet.

In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients. Taste and make any necessary adjustments to your own taste; if desired add more or less sweetener. Brush or spoon glaze over salmon, spreading and smoothing with back of spoon. Roast at 425 degrees F for 12 minutes. Turn oven to broil and move closer to broiler. Broil 3 to 5 minutes or until glaze is hot and bubbly and just begins to brown. Let salmon sit for a few minutes before serving to allow glaze to set.

*Note: If using only 1 salmon fillet, halve the glaze ingredients.