Monday, January 19, 2009

Salmon burgers with baked soy bean cakes

I'm trying really hard to cook tasty and nutritious meals that won't break the piggy bank. Many of you know that I love, love, love rice. Here's yet another dish I'm serving over a bed of rice. I bought salmon burgers (came in a pack of ten) at Sam's Club and bought the baked soy bean cakes (that's what they're called; I didn't bake them myself) at Pacific Ocean International Supermarket. Garlic and green onions with olive oil on medium heat. Once sizzling (not burning) and the smell permeates, I tossed in the tofu. Added salt and soy sauce. The tofu really doesn't need to be cooked, but I let it cook awhile, to soak in the soy sauce and salt. After that, I placed the sliced salmon burger in (no more seasoning necessary) and when the salmon is cooked, the dish is ready to serve. Again, I cooked the rice in the rice cooker and served the dish over a bed of rice.

2009-1-19

It smelled and tasted much better than it looks here in the picture. It also looked better in person than in the picture. I will be making this again soon! Yummy.

Seared tuna with peas

There is a grocer called Sunflower Farmer's Market that has fantastic weekly deals, and I buy according to what they have on sale. One week the store had a good price on fresh tuna. Mmmm. As Americans, we tend to overcook our meats and fish, and, as my dad pointed out, cooking fish in the oven increases the chances of overcooking the fish.

Since my pregnancy with Victoria, I have really enjoyed seared tuna. For those of you who are not familiar with the term "seared," it means cooked on the outside and fleshy or pink on the inside.

I put some green onions and olive oil in a pan on medium heat. Once the onions were sizzling and I could smell the fragrance of it, I put the fish in the pan. Probably cooked the fish approximately four to five minutes on each side. Keep in mind this was fresh fish. If you're using frozen fish, the cooking time will need to be increased. I used some salt and soy sauce to flavor the fish, while cooking in the pan. Once the fish was almost done, I tossed in frozen peas (frozen vegetables keep the nutrients in them). Viola, the meal's ready to go. The fish and peas, I served over a bed of rice. I cooked the rice in a rice cooker.

2009-1-8