Something Fishy…

This recipe was meant to be last nights dinner. I had it all planned out and had even cut up the onion, opened the tin of salmon and sliced the tomato when I realised that I only  had one egg left. Fail. So into the fridge all the ingredients went and out came frozen left overs from last week. At least this meant that when I went to cook lunch today everything was nicely prepped for me.

This quick recipe was another recipe inspired by the random items left over before grocery shopping day. The little salmon quinoa cakes are baked in a muffin pan. The quinoa helps add a little crunch to the outer shell of the cake and prevents them from being watery. If you don’t mind spending a little extra, use red salmon instead of pink. I think the taste is far nicer.

Salmon Quinoa Cake Recipe

(serves 2)

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup quinoa
• 1/2 red onion, finely diced
• 210g canned red salmon, drained
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1 heaping teaspoon of whole grain mustard
• 4 egg whites, lightly whisked
• salt and pepper, to taste

Method

1. Boil quinoa in 2/3 cup of water for approximately 15 minutes, until the water is absorbed
2. Microwave onion for 2 minutes in a medium bowl to soften
3. Add baby spinach to quinoa once it is cooked and keep over heat until the spinach has wilted
4. Add baby spinach, quinoa and all other remaining ingredients to onion
5. Stir gently to combine. I tried to keep small hunks of salmon instead of making it into a paste but it’s up to what texture you prefer.
6. Spoon mixture into 6 muffin holes, lightly sprayed with cooking oil
7. Bake for 20 minutes until golden brown

I served my salmon quinoa cakes with tomatoes roasted in balsamic vinegar, rosemary and olive oil, on top of some iceberg lettuce leaves. This was the perfect fast, high-protein lunch after a heavy morning gym session.

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Almond Butter, Pancakes, Salmon and Hummus

Don’t worry, I haven’t gone mad – I’m not considering putting the ingredients in the title together! Yesterday morning started disastrously – my beloved almond butter smashed onto the kitchen tiles. Thankfully the stickiness of the almond butter meant that most of the glass attached itself to the giant glob of nut butter. Not cool.

To console myself I made a new egg white and oat pancake recipe topped with banana, toasted coconut, pineapple and a tiny bit of almond butter I managed to save. The toppings were amazing but the pancakes were so so, so no recipe to share for them. I’ve seen so many recipes online with egg whites and oats blended together to make a healthy, protein-filled pancake but there is no disguising the egg. The pancakes had an ‘omlettey’ texture, nothing like the spongy pancakes I prefer.

For lunch I made a Salmon Noodle Bowl by Faith at An Edible Mosaic. You must give this a go. The noodle bowl is very simple to prepare and looks impressive. You just simmer the noodles, saute the vegetables in a garlic-ginger-honey glaze and then add the fried salmon on the top. For the vegetables, I used bok choy (80 cents at my local FruitWorld – what a bargain), carrot and half an onion. Next time I’d probably two bok choy as I prefer lots of green stuff! I used whole grain spaghetti instead of noodles because it is what I had on hand but soba noodles would have been better. You could even use rice noodles and make it gluten-free.

Today’s lunch was also very satisfying. I made a sandwich using homemade cannellini and feta hummus. I adapted this recipe from Caitlyn’s Holly Deliciousness Hummus and it was super good. Adding feta is actually genius. It took all of two minutes to throw the ingredients in the blender to being able to spread this on my sandwich.

Cannellini Feta Hummus Recipe (adapted from Caitlyn’s Holly Deliciousness Hummus)

Ingredients

• 1 can of cannellini beans
• 1TBSP tahini
• 1tsp garlic, minced
• 50g feta, crumbled
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 TBSP water
• 1 tsp dried capscicum flakes (optional)
• salt and pepper

Method

1. Drain and rinse cannellini beans
2. Add beans and all other ingredients (apart from salt and pepper) to blender
3. Blend until smooth and creamy
4. Season to taste with salt and pepper
5. Try not to eat too much and give yourself a tummy ache like I did – it’s quite rich!

This recipe is definitely a keeper. Next time I’m going to add sun dried tomatoes and basil. This definitely beats store-bought hummus!

Holy Deliciousness Hummus

Mim vs Kitchen: 1 All

Do you know that is? Sunshine on my legs (please excuse the pasty whiteness)! Today it felt like Spring has arrived and warm days always make me feel like seafood. I’m not sure why – maybe it’s childhood memories of fish and chips on the beach. So, for dinner tonight I set to work converting a recipe for Salmon Jerky and Citrus Tahini into marinated Salmon and Citrus Tahini Coleslaw.

It looked and smelt awesome while it was cooking. The coleslaw dressing tasted pretty good with its lemon juice, orange, tahini, and honey flavours but when it came to tasting the salmon – bleh! I only used 2TBSP of tamari but it was WAY to strong. Oops. So sorry, no salmon recipe today but maybe I’ll come back to that idea.

Fortunately I have a kitchen success to share from my breakfast: Simple Berry Sauce. Simple Berry Sauce has been part of my morning for a long time. When I have time, my go to breakfast is a big bowl of oats topped with Simple Berry Sauce and yoghurt. This sauce is quick enough to zap in the microwave while the oats are cooking on the stove.

Simple Berry Sauce Recipe

(serves 1)

Ingredients

• 1/3C frozen mixed berries
• 1/2t arrowroot powder (you could substitute cornflour but arrowroot powder has less taste)
• drop of vanilla essence
• drop of lemon juice

Method

1. Microwave berries for 1 or 2 minutes. They should be fully defrosted and steaming hot.
2. Mush with a fork and mix in arrowroot powder
3. Microwave for a further 1 or 2 minutes. The mixture should now have a ‘jam-like’ consistency.
4. Mix in vanilla essence and lemon juice.

This sauce is not overly sweet but works well with the sweetness of the banana I put in my oats. It also works well on pancakes. If you have a sweet-tooth add some maple syrup, honey, sugar or agave nectar to taste.