Crock-Pot Applesauce

I like my food like I like my men: Simple.

(Sorry, Baroy. I just couldn't resist.)

But, seriously, I like simple food. Good food, real food, cooked with a minimum of fuss. You'll probably notice that as I contribute here over the upcoming weeks and months. Most of my favorite family recipes are on the sparse side, spice-and-ingredient-wise.

Which isn't to say that I don't like me some seriously exotic curries and layered casseroles. But often? It's a couple of ingredients, and a pinch of salt or sugar.

This is that sort of recipe. Simple, easy. And yet, every time I take the time to make it, I get the sorts of kudos you'd think would be reserved for a souffle. Applesauce is one of those things that most of us assume is just as good out of a jar, not worth the time, not worth the effort. Until we get the real thing.

Just ask Em, who initially ignored the bowls of homemade applesauce I put on the table the other night, until both Baroy and I began spooning seconds onto our plates of leftover chicken and rice. She gave it a quick taste, and looked at me, startled.

"I thought I hated applesauce," she said. "But I guess I like real applesauce. It tastes like the inside of an apple pie!"

"That's because it is the inside of an apple pie," I replied.

Anyway, if you try this recipe and it doesn't do it for you, feel free to re-embrace the store-bought, and I won't say a word, I promise. But give it a go, just once. I'm fairly certain you'll never go back.

Crock-Pot Applesauce

About three pounds of apples (I like to mix it up as much as possible; the ones you see at left are Granny Smiths and Pink Ladies, from my local farmer's market, but any variety of sweet and tart will do.)

juice from one lemon

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1. Core, peel, and chop up the apples, adding them to your slow cooker as you go. (I "messily" peel my apples; I like the color a little bit of peel adds to the sauce, and it pretty much disintegrates as the apples cook, anyway. But if you're going to want super-smooth sauce, you may want to be more fussy about it than I am.)

After every couple of apples, I drizzle in some of the lemon juice and stir, to try to prevent the apples from browning while I prepare the rest. If you don't care about that, just add the lemon juice after you've finished with the apples.

2. Add brown sugar; stir in with apples and lemon juice.

3. Cover slow cooker with lid; cook on high for 3 to 4 hours.

4. Add cinnamon, but only if you like cinnamon, obviously. No harm, no foul if you leave it out. As for me, I usually start with about half a teaspoon, do the next step, taste, then add the rest if I feel it needs it.

5. Take a potato masher, and mash up the apples. If they aren't super-soft and mashable, re-cover and give them another hour or so in the slow cooker.

6. If you like your applesauce very smooth, you could always puree it with a blender or hand-blender, or put it through a food processor. Me, I like it with a little texture, so I've never done so.

And that's it, my friends.

Well, that's it except for the most important of questions: Served hot, or cold? In my mind, almost all foods are better when hot. Even in the summer, my stomach tends to crave warmth. Baroy, on the other hand, likes it cold. (I was going to revisit that whole "like he likes his women" concept here, but, um...no.) So I actually split this batch into two, put both in the fridge (since we didn't eat it the night I made it), then microwaved my portion for dinner the next night and left his cold. I thought that was big of me. Don't you?

So...What about you guys? Warm applesauce, or cold? Just don't say no applesauce at all. Because that will make me cry.

Salmon with apricot ginger glaze and green onion

The problem and the blessing of being a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants kind of cook is that I often get my heart set on making a particular thing and assume I have the necessary ingredients on hand. Today, as is often the case, I was not fortunate enough to have on hand the ingredients I thought I would need to make a yummy ginger and plum glaze for some salmon I planned to have Niksdad grill. I was so confident that I even Tweeted my intent. (Last time I do that, huh?)

Well, in my defense, I have to say that I knew Niksdad was on his way home from Sam’s Club with a flat of plums that I intend to stew and puree for some of my son’s meals. How was I to know that not a bloody plum in the bunch would be ripe? Four o’clock found me dashing to the grocery store to pick up a few ingredients —like plum jam— so I could try out the plan which had been brewing in my head all afternoon.

Little did I know that my local grocery store doesn’t carry plum jam.

Recipe? Me? Nope, I didn’t have a recipe, either. But I had a good plan— so I improvised. And voila! Grilled Salmon with apricot ginger glaze and green onions was born.

Oh, did I mention I ran out of aluminum foil to wrap the fish for the grill? Yep. Tough to make an ooey-gooey caramelized hunk of fish on the grill without foil. (But if anyone has any alternative ideas, please share?) So...Plan B, or is it C?

BAKED salmon with apricot ginger glaze and green onions made the final cut. Whew. The best part is that it’s super easy to make, looks impressive as heck, and tastes yummy. And I’m not even that fond of fish to begin with!

Ingredients:

1 ½ - 2 pounds salmon fillet
*(I splurged and bought one huge fillet at the market today)
1 TBSP Ginger juice
3 TBSP Plum vinegar (may sub. plain or garlic rice vinegar)
4 TBSP Apricot preserves
3 TBSP Molasses
4 TBSP Brown sugar
3 TBSP Water
3 TBSP GF flour blend (may use regular flour, if you prefer)
2 Green onions, chopped
6-8 pieces Crystalized ginger (optional)

Preheat oven to 375F.

In a small bowl or large measuring cup (should be microwave safe):
Mix all wet ingredients together
Whisk in flour until smooth
Add brown sugar, whisk until dissolved
Microwave on high approximately 45-60 seconds —long enough to let flavors blend

Prepare 9x13 baking dish (I use PAM spray) and place salmon in the pan, skin side down.

Pour glaze over salmon. It will pool in the pan; that's ok.
Sprinkle crystallized ginger over salmon.



Bake 25 minutes or until fish is fully cooked. This will depend on the size and thickness of the fillet.

Sprinkle with green onion and serve.



Serving suggestions:
Add a side of steamed rice with almond slivers and steamed snow peas or broccoli or serve with Asian-style coleslaw made with a sesame vinaigrette.

Notes:
The flour, while not absolutely necessary, will help give the glaze its smooth finish; it helps keep the sugars from crystallizing completely.

I used ginger juice for convenience. You may use fresh ginger —minced or grated is fine. Note that cooking with ginger can be tricky; it's easy to us too much and your meal can taste bitter. With the ginger juice, you can always add more if you like a little more "zing." You can also sprinkle fresh ginger on top just before baking.

I cooked my fish with the green onions. Next time, I'll add them before serving; the heat completely overpowered them and they lost their flavor —which is necessary to balance the fruity, gingery glaze.

Ideally, this would have been cooked in a foil pouch on medium high heat on the grill for approximately 20-25 minutes. Next time...


What are some of your favorite ways to eat fish? Do you like fish but shy away from cooking it? Is there a recipe you're looking for? Let us know!

Taco salad

Last week I shared one of my family’s favorite meals – salmon patties. In keeping with that theme, here is another family favorite meal – taco salad. We probably make this twice a month and just love it every time. Occasionally it will fall out of rotation for a longer period. When we serve it up again, we never fail to wonder why we don’t have it more often. It's just that good.

The thing about taco salad is that there are as many ways to make it as there are people to eat it. We like doing it this way because the girls will eat (part of) it too. Well, they used to. I’ll get back to that.

First things first: seasoning the meat. I used to use store-bought packets because I hadn't a clue how to make my own. I experimented here and there, but never could find a taste that worked. Something was always missing.

Eventually, I found this recipe online but cannot, for the life of me, remember where, so unfortunately I cannot give proper credit. I scribbled it on a scrap of paper and shoved it in my recipe box. It’s good that I’m posting it because if I ever lost it, I’d be oh so disappointed.

I like making my own taco seasoning rather than using a packet because I rotate through my spices faster, keeping them fresh. And let’s not forget that it’s cheaper, all natural and tastes better too!

Taco Seasoning (for 1 lb of meat)
1 Tbsp chili powder
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper*
1/4 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp paprika
1½ tsp ground cumin
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp black pepper
*that 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper packs a nice punch of heat, use less if you want it less spicy

Brown 1 lb ground beef (or turkey if you prefer) and drain.

Add about 1/2 cup of water and the taco seasoning to the meat, stir, and heat until most of liquid has evaporated.

Taco Salad (for the adults)
Layer lettuce, taco meat, cucumber (scoop seeds out and chop), corn, avocado, and tortilla chips (I use Frito-Lay Scoops for reasons explained below).

Sprinkle with shredded cheese (we’re dairy free, so we skip this part, but I sure do miss it). Use your favorite salsa in place of traditional salad dressing and ... ENJOY!

For the kids (if they aren’t salad eaters):
Scoop ground beef into the Scoops, sprinkle with cheese and, voila, taco cups! Add avocado and corn on the side and you've got a balanced meal.

For the longest time, both of the short people in this house loved their “little tacos.” The young one still does, but the elder prefers to have the salad and her beloved (dairy free) Ranch dressing.

Note: Frito-Lay tortilla chips are gluten free, which makes this meal entirely gluten free, no modifications needed.

As I said at the start, there are a million ways to enjoy taco salad. What is your favorite way?

Chocolate honey zucchini bread

We're on the tail end of having fresh zucchini available, so I thought it would be timely to make this delicious treat one last time before moving on to pumpkins and pears and cranberries. I stumbled upon this recipe through Penzey's Spices. And though it is truly a muffin mix, I decided to use two loaf pans today instead. I find that most muffin and quick bread recipes are interchangeable, it's simply a matter of adjusting the baking time.

Here's what you need to get started:

2 cups of flour

1/2 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp cinnamon

3/4 cup butter

2 tsp. vanilla extract

3/4 cup honey

3 eggs

2 cups grated zucchini

2 tblsp. flaxseed (optional)

8 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips

raw sugar for topping (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

I lined the two loaf pans with parchment paper. If you don't have parchment paper in the house (buy some!), you'll want to grease and flour the pans. If you are making muffins you'll need about 20-22 paper liners for your muffin tins.

In a large bowl combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. You can sift these ingredients together, or simply whisk them around until they are well-blended. Make sure to break up any clumps of cocoa. Mine actually had a lot of lumps, so I ended up pushing it through a fine mesh strainer.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and vanilla. Slowly add the honey in a fine stream. Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well.

Next, add the dry ingredients in batches. Fold in the zucchini and, if you want, the flaxseed. I've been adding flaxseed to a lot of baked goods lately, even to pancake mix and the breaded coating for chicken cutlets. Flaxseed is loaded with Omega 3 and fiber, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something healthy for my family to offset the fact that we are addicted to chocolate and eating fried chicken cutlets. Also, it has a nice nutty flavor. You can call it a secret ingredient. Kids love the idea of secret ingredients.

Now, add most (but not all!) of the chocolate chips. The batter is kind of thick, so if you are making muffins, you'll need two spoons to scoop it neatly into the liners. Once the batter is in the pans, toss the rest of the chocolate chips right on top and bake at 350, 20-22 minutes for muffins, 50-55 minutes for the loaf pans.

About halfway through baking is the right time to add the raw sugar crystals. If you add them too soon, they'll melt and you won't get that shimmery sugary look on top. If you don't have raw sugar, it's no big deal. You'll never miss it.

I love this recipe because, a) it's chocolate, and b) it's loaded with healthy zucchini and flaxseed. Here's the thing about the zucchini and the flaxseed: You'll never know they're in there. Really. So, if your kids turn their noses up at zucchini, or your husband hates green vegetables, no problem. Just don't mention it (little white lies can be very useful in the kitchen. I used to make sure my son ate his fruits and vegies by hiding them in pancakes or stirring them into yogurt!).

Also, if you call it a cake or a cupcake, chances are your kids will be all over it. My eight year old son makes his disappear with a cold glass of milk. I prefer mine with a nice, strong cuppa joe.

Cocoa-orange-braised chicken

It's stressful trying to figure out what your very first recipe is going to be on your very new group cooking blog. Especially when the mere IDEA of having been invited to hang out with these three other incredible women makes you want to jump up and down and squeal like a little girl. (I'm 45 years old. When jumping-up-and-down excitement happens? It may be an appropriate response, but it's not pretty.)

So, the first recipe. It needs to make a statement, I thought. It needs to tell readers something about me, I thought. It needs...to have photos.

Oh. Yeah. I almost forgot about that part.

See, a lot of my favorite recipes are things that you just don't make during a Southern California middle-of-fall heat wave. (That was earlier this week, by the way, when I was cooking for this entry. Today? FREEZING. Like in the 60s! Brrrrr. And yes, I know you all hate me right now.) Or they're things that you just don't make when you're in the middle of having a mini nervous breakdown over your youngest child's upcoming IEP, because they take too much planning or buying or thinking. (That can apply to either the receipes or the IEPs, by the way. In case you were wondering.) Or they're things that just weren't SPEAKING to me at that particular time on that particular day. And I like my food to speak to me. In a figurative way. Not, dear god, literally.

All of which meant that, while I could tell you all about how to cook these favorite dishes o' mine, I couldn't show you them. And I want to show you them.

And so I decided to start from scratch, as it were. To do that, I went to the cookbook shelves.

I should say, here, that most of my cooking is of the improvisational variety. But, as you can see from the above photo, I do love me some cookbooks. And some cooking magazines. and some handed-down-from-my-grandmother-and-her-friends recipes.

I have more recipes than I could ever possibly use. But that doesn't mean I don't actually have another set of cookbooks in addition to those above on the other side of the kitchen.

(No, it would not be wrong for you to think quietly to yourself that I have more than a little obsessive-compulsive disorder lurking inside.)

Anyway. When I hit the cookbooks, I came across one I'd never tried before. One I'd never even seen before that I could remember. And then I saw that it had cocoa in it. And that it was quick and easy to make. And that it had COCOA in it. (Did I mention the cocoa?) And I was sold.

Cocoa-Orange-Braised Chicken (adapted from Best of Sunset Weeknight)

2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat trimmed (I used closer to three pounds, I think. Because that was what was in the on-sale package of thighs I bought.)
2 T olive oil
1 onion, peeled and chopped
2 cloves garlic, either minced or pressed
1 1/2 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 T chili powder
1 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
chicken broth (The recipe calls for 1 1/4 cups. But then the directions had me using only 1/2 cup. In the end, I upped that to about 3/4 cups, and I was happy with the amount of liquid the chicken was in. You might need to eyeball this.)
2 oranges (You'll need to grate peel from one--about 1 teaspoon's worth--and squeeze juice from it. The other one is going to become your garnish, if you want to follow the original recipe exactly and be all fancy like I decided to be.)
1/4 cup sweet dessert wine (They suggest an orange muscat wine. I used the cheapest sweet dessert wine I could find at the store. Which, for the record, was Barefoot. Barefoot Moscato. Love Barefoot wines. As you can see, I love to cook, but I'm clearly no gourmand.)

So, now, the how-to:

1. Rinse, pat dry, and cut up chicken into chunks.

2. Pour oil in a 12- to 14-inch frying pan or skillet; when hot, add chicken and brown all over. Transfer chicken to a plate until step 4.

3. Add onion, garlic, cocoa powder, chili powder, sugar, cumin, and cinnamon to skillet; you want the onions to be translucent and the spices to start really giving off fragrance. At that point, add your chicken broth (see note above), and stir to loosen any spices sticking to the pan bottom. Simmer for a few minutes.

4. Return the chicken to the pan. Add the orange peel and juice to the pan. Simmer it all until the chicken is cooked through, which if you're me, means cutting into random pieces, being sure you still see pink, and then simmering for way longer than the 8 minutes the recipe thinks you'll need at this point. (Remember that OCD?)

5. Now's the time to be fancy if you want, and peel and cut the other orange into thin slices, which you'll place on top of each serving of the braised chicken when you plate it out. This made my 12-year-old daughter, Em, giggle with delight.

6. Finally, when the chicken is cooked through, add the wine and bring to a boil over high heat. Add salt to taste. Put into bowl or on plates and garnish with orange (and parsley sprigs if you really want to go all out).

Makes about four servings, maybe more. And Sunset says it's about 440 calories per serving.

I served this with garlic mashed potatoes, because Em wanted to help me cook (she actually declared herself my sous chef, and did a lot of the measuring of ingredients for me as well), I had some small white potatoes in the house, and she loves her some mashed potatoes.

She was also beyond thrilled when I took a picture of HER creation and said I'd include it in my new blog. It's the little things.

Anyway, I thought this was delicious, though there was something about the chicken thighs I bought that was just...wrong. They never seemed to finish cooking, no matter what I did. So, next time, I'm going for white-meat tenders, so I don't have to do as much cutting off of fat, which I hate doing and am terrible at anyway. Plus, as much as I appreciated Em's sous chefdom, this dish NEEDS to be served over rice, in my opinion.

Baroy and Em enjoyed it, too.

N had cereal. This is not unusual. Sigh.

So, in the end, I'm pleased with Best of Sunset Weeknight's suggestion for my evening. But it's never going to replace my all-time-favorite go-to cookbook, which is The Joy of Cooking. I know it's probably no longer cool to admit to adoring Joy, but I do. It's just so...perfect. Easy. Versatile.

What about you? What's your favorite cookbook? I think I need some suggestions to add to the collection. And an addition to the house, of course, to store them all.

Beef stew for dummies—or for busy cooks

Once upon a time I had a very large kitchen with oodles of storage and counter space; I also had the luxury of lots of time to shop farmers' markets and specialty shops unencumbered by anything more than my own imagination and the time to "create" in my culinary kingdom. Then, life handed me and my husband a surprise in the form of our extremely premature and very ill child. Nearly six years, three thousand miles and, it seems, a whole lifetime ago, life handed us a set of circumstances which turned our world upside down. We opted to move back to the east coast—to my hometown—to be closer to our families and, we hoped, a built-in support network.

Today, our life is fuller than we could ever have imagined. Complicated? Sometimes. Okay, fine, nearly always. Rich? Absolutely. I am a stay-at-home parent homeschooling our son; my husband is a nurse. Our little family lives in a tiny townhouse with an even tinier kitchen. And two cats.

No, really, I’m not kidding.

My kitchen is so tiny we can’t open the dishwasher and the oven doors at the same time. If I’m standing at the sink and my husband opens the refrigerator door, I am effectively trapped until the door is closed. Did I mention my kitchen is tiny? On the occasions we’re in the kitchen together, my husband and I need to give each other directions much like a wait staff in a busy kitchen. “Behind you! Hot food!”, "Watch out for the cat's tail!" or “Knife on the left, don’t back up!” are frequently heard in our kitchen. It’s really a one-cook space. Consequently, I tend to do a lot of crock pot cooking, baking in batches that I can freeze or store, or marinating something for my husband to cook on the grill—year round.

I’m blessed with a husband who enjoys cooking—though not as much as he enjoys eating. He is a willing sous chef on the occasions I have the time and energy to plan something adventurous. More importantly, he is content to eat anything I prepare and loves it when I experiment in the kitchen. I’ve been doing much more of that since our son, Nik, decided he enjoys food—a lot!

Nik has had a feeding tube of one sort or another since he was born. It wasn’t really until early this year that he showed any interest in food. But once he did, the boy became an eating machine. As we phased out Nik’s feeding tube, replacing more and more formula with pureed or mashed foods by mouth, I had to up my game in the kitchen. Not only have I had to come up with a greater variety of foods but I’ve had to figure out how to adapt them meet Nik’s need to be gluten free (GF) as well as avoiding some other suspected allergens. The transition hasn’t been nearly as hard as I thought it would be; there’s such a wealth of information and products readily available.

Many of the recipes I’ll share with you may be GF or I will try to give tips on how to adapt a recipe to be GF. Many of those adaptations will have been born through trial and error—sometimes lots of errors. I’ve always been more of an intuitive, experimental cook than a precise one.

Ask me for a recipe for something I’ve served and it might go something like this: “Add a pinch of this, a dash of that, simmer until it’s thickened. Add xyz spice to taste.” How long should it simmer? I don’t pay attention, really. Instinct. Consequently, a few of my meals are fabulous creations which turn out exactly as I envision them while many turn out to be reasonably good but not quite what I intended. In most cases, they are never prepared exactly the same way twice.

Of course, if you’re reading a cooking blog, odds are you’re not looking for precisely measured and strictly regimented recipes. You'll get a few of those from me but, really, if you want measured and regimented, use a cookbook. If you want to know how this stay-at-home-homeschooling mom manages to make some tasty meals for her hungry family? Pull up a seat, pour yourself a cup of coffee—or a glass of wine—and let’s get cooking!


Crock Pot Beef Stew

Ingredients:

1 pound boneless chuck, fresh or frozen*
12 oz baby carrots
8 oz canned chopped spinach
1 large can (14.5 oz) low fat, low sodium beef broth
1 1/4 pounds new potatoes, scrubbed and halved
1/2 cup dried minced onion or 1 large fresh chopped onion
2 cups cold water whisked with 6 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour Blend**
Savory
Oregano

Prepare your crock in whatever manner you prefer. I simply spray the bottom with cooking spray; some people prefer to use liners.

Place meat on the bottom of the crock. (* I used frozen meat because I knew I would be cooking the meal overnight. Either thawed or frozen works fine.)

Add vegetables and beef broth right on top.

Add generous sprinkles of both savory and oregano (NB: I don't measure but I'd estimate nearly 2 Tbsp each. Start light; you can always add more later.)

Whisk flour** and water together until completely smooth. Add to crock.

Cover and cook 4 hours on high. This should be enough for the meat to be tender and the vegetables completely cooked without being mushy. (I cooked mine overnight on low for twelve hours because I wanted everything to be soft enough to grind/puree to feed to my son.)

This recipe can be adapted to suit your particular tastes in vegetables. I simply made it using ingredients I knew would puree well and which Nik enjoys. In the past, I've made it using broccoli. You can use cauliflower, green beans, peas...whatever you like. You can also add more meat or make it completely vegetarian.

**To make this recipe using traditional wheat-based flour, use a 1:1 ratio. For general cooking, I use this all-purpose blend I found in Living Without magazine.



This recipe, as written, yields 8.5 cups. Approximately 230 calories per cup. (We are still tracking my son's caloric intake so many of my recipes will have that information provided.)

I hope you'll give this recipe a try and let me know how you like it. Meanwhile, what's your favorite crock pot recipe?

Gluten-free salmon patties (and hello!)

I am so excited to be a part of (Never) Too Many Cooks. To get to talk about food and help out a cause that is important to me – who could ask for anything better?

Food is a very big deal to me. We’ve often joked in my family that we plan our vacations around the restaurants we want to try. Family get togethers? Always about the food. Why do we look forward to the holidays so much? The food, of course!

I have always enjoyed cooking but reserved it for weekends, holidays and special occasions. My husband and I often made a “date” of cooking at home, choosing a special wine, not skimping on dessert.

That was before kids.

Now there are 2 more hungry mouths to feed (every day even) and, cliché as it sounds, I feel like I spend all of my time in the kitchen. Every day.

I enjoy looking up recipes, talking to friends about what they have for dinner to get inspiration, and even occasionally try to be a little inventive. Sometimes that works out, sometimes not.

My oldest daughter (age 5) has some food sensitivities, so we’ve modified our diet to be free of both gluten and dairy. It hasn’t been easy, but it hasn’t been as difficult as I imagined either.

Nearly everything I post will be free of both gluten and dairy. Nearly. Come the holidays, I’ll be making many of our favorites that my daughter wouldn’t eat anyway, so why bother modifying it? I’ll share some of those too.

The recipe I want to share today is the very first recipe I have ever modified to be gluten free (GF).

One of my family’s all-time favorite meals is Salmon Patties. The kids, ages 2 and 5, love them! Over the years, I have tried many, many different recipes, and eventually we settled on a Bisquick version as our favorite, and that’s the one I started with when creating my own GF Salmon Patties.


Gluten Free Salmon Patties
1 C crushed Rice Chex cereal
½ C all purpose gluten free flour
2 tsp garlic powder
¼ tsp black pepper
8 medium green onions finely chopped
1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 6-oz cans, or 1 14.5-oz can, of salmon

Olive oil for cooking

Mix the cereal, flour, garlic powder and black pepper in a medium bowl.

Add green onions, mustard and eggs.

Mix these ingredients together really well before adding the canned salmon. I have found the patties are firmer and moister if the ingredients are well-mixed before adding the salmon.

Add the canned salmon and mix well (I use my hands!).

Form into 3-inch patties.

Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium heat. When oil is heated, add the patties and cook for about 10-12 minutes, turning once, until they are nicely browned and cooked through.

Drain on paper towel after cooking to absorb some of the oil.

Notes: You can use the fresh salmon pouches in place of canned salmon if you prefer. I buy wild-caught Alaskan canned salmon (in bulk) because we eat these so often.

Salmon patties can be served with any number of things. When we are feeling particularly in need of comfort food, we make French fries. Pasta goes well with them too. You could also make them burger-size and serve them on a bun.

Please leave a comment if you have a question, or if you try them - let me know what you think.

And let us know - What is your family's favorite meal?