Salmon Quinoa Patties with Lemon Tahini Sauce

I made these salmon patties for dinner on Friday night and they were really good!  You can easily make them after a long day at work, without having to spend much time in the kitchen.  One thing about the salmon.  It's canned.  I know that some folks hate canned salmon.  You are welcome to substitute nice smoked salmon but I live in Luanda, Angola and smoked salmon is 1. hard to find or 2. so expensive that it would probably be cheaper to fly out of the country to buy it.  So, I used canned salmon (that I order through Amazon).

Patties
1 1/2c cooked quinoa
12-15 oz canned salmon
1 1/2 tablespoon cilantro
 zest of one lemon
1/2t lemon pepper
Salt
2 eggs
oil for sauteeing

Sauce
Lemon-Tahini Sauce
1 1/2 Tablespoon tahini
2 large garlic cloves, pressed
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Juice of one lemon
⅓ cup extra virgin olive
1/2 teaspoon cumin

First, I prepared the sauce and then stuck in the fridge to chill while the patties came together.  Mix the tahini, garlic, salt, cumin, and juice together then whisk in the oil. Chill.

Gently combine all the ingredients (except the oil) for the patties together.  Depending on your salmon, you may need to add a little more quinoa to it to make the patties stay together.  Heat a skillet over med then carefully  add the patties (I had six patties but it depends how big/small you make them) and brown (about 5 minutes) then flip and repeat.

Top with sauce and enjoy!











OR (AND)

Serve for breakfast/brunch

I had leftovers the next morning for breakfast!  I topped a reheated (in the oven) salmon patty with an over-easy egg, sauce, tomato slice and avocado slice for an amazing twist on eggs benedict.

Chicken Egg Cups

This is a super easy, quick, yummy breakfast!  There is lots of room to improvise, so it can be tailored to your tastes.  Here is how I made mine today -

Deli meat (I used chicken)
eggs (one per chicken slice)
cheese (I used mozzarella)
salt
pepper
other seasonings (I used Greek seasoning)
other cooked veggies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a muffin tin. Line each with a slice of deli meat.  If you are using thin slices, you may need two slices each.  If you want to saute some onions, peppers, garlic, or other veggies, sauté them then place on top of the meat.  Sprinkle with cheese.  Next add the eggs.  You can do this by either cracking eggs directly into each cup or you can whisk them in a bowl and pour on top (depending if you want the eggs scrambled).  I use one egg per muffin. Add salt, pepper and other seasonings to each cup. Bake for about 15 mins.  If you want the eggs slightly runny, check them at 12 minutes.

That's it!  You can change the cheese, the meat, the seasonings.  These taste really good!  Enjoy!

Broccoli, Tomato, and Dill Frittata

The best thing about having breakfast of dinner is have leftovers for breakfast!!  BRILLIANT!

Last night for dinner, I made banana pancakes and and a frittata.  Now, I have to warn you, this recipe has very few measurements in it.  I have a good excuse, since I'm in the middle of a move and haven't found my measure cups and spoons yet.  But it's a frittata and doesn't require exact measurements.  Give it a try - it's really delicious!

broccoli florets (about a cup)
med diced tomato
med diced onion
1 clove garlic, minced
dill seasoning
salt and pepper
oil
6 eggs
parmesan (I used maybe half a cup)

Preheat oven to broil setting.

Steam the broccoli.  Chop into smaller, bite size pieces.  Whisk eggs, Parmesan, pepper, and salt. Heat an oven safe saute pan over medium high heat. Add some oil to pan (enough to coat). Add onion and garlic and sauté about 5 minutes. Add broccoli and tomatoes.  Pour egg mixture into pan and stir. Sprinkle with dill. Cook for about 5 minutes or until the egg mixture has set on the bottom and begins to set up on top.

Place pan into oven and broil for 3 - 5 minutes, until lightly browned and fluffy. Remove from pan and serve immediately.

I also sliced up some avocado to go with the frittata.  When I reheated it for breakfast this morning, I mashed the avocado and added salt and pepper and put it on top of the frittata.  I think I liked it better mashed.

Hope you enjoy!  Now, back to moving boxes for me.  Oh joy!

Homemade yogurt

I've been making my own yogurt for the last couple of months and decided it was time to share.  This is such an easy thing to make and it's a lot cheaper than buying those tiny containers of yogurt at the grocery store.  The nice part is that you know exactly what you're eating.  It is plain yogurt so you still have to add whatever kind of flavor you want but that's the fun part.

1. Pour a 1 liter container of milk (whole, low fat or fat free) into a pot and bring it to a boil.
2.  Allow it to cool until you can just touch it but not completely cool (about 125 degrees)
3. Pour into a container  (with a tight fitting lid) and add 4 teaspoons of plain, live culture yogurt
4. Put lid on container and leave in a dark cabinet for 5-6 hours (longer if it's a cold day)
5. Refrigerate and enjoy

I enjoy a bowl with some fresh fruit, a drizzle of honey and some granola.

Oh, and a little tip - I have forgotten about the yogurt a couple times and left it out overnight.  Now I set a reminder on my phone to ping me and remind me to take it out of the cabinet and stick in the fridge when it's done.

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian Cheese Bread)

This is a great little recipe! Brazilians mostly eat it for breakfast or as a snack. The only ingredient that might be hard to find is the sour cassava flour (which we learned about during our trip to the Amazon).  You can order it on www.amazon.com and you may even find it in a Latin grocery store.  Find it.  It's worth it.  Oh, and for those of you that avoid gluten, it's gluten free!

Sour Cassava Flour

These few things are transformed into amazing pão de queijo

The cheese called for in this recipe is Quejo Minas Fresco (fresh cheese traditionally produced in Minas Garais in Brazil). You can definitely substitute other cheeses for it.  I will be experimenting with some different combinations of cheese the next time I make this bread.

Pão de Queijo (Brazilian cheese bread)

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups sour cassava flour

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups Minas cheese (can substitute parmesan or other cheese)

Ready to be portioned and put in the oven

Preheat oven to 350. Grease or line pan with parchment paper.  Put oil, milk and salt in a pan over medium heat and whisk  just until it starts to bubble.  Remove from heat and immediately add the cassava flour and mix well. Put the dough in the bowl of a mixer and (use paddle attachment) beat on med until dough smooths and it's cool enough to touch. Whisk eggs in a bowl and then slowly add them to the mixer while it's running. Add the cheese and continue mixing until incorporated.  The dough is going to be very sticky.  I use two spoons to portion and place on the baking sheet. You can also use an ice cream scoop (probably easier).  I also saw a recipe where the dough was placed in a mini muffin pan to cook.  Whatever works for you. Bake until the outsides are dry and they get a little color on them.  My oven is terrible and I had to cook them for almost an hour.  I imagine if I had a good oven, it would probably be closer to 30 minutes.

 Let cool a few minutes and enjoy.

When I made these, I made one baking sheet of them and portioned the rest of the dough onto another baking sheet and let freeze.  Once they were frozen, I transferred them to a freezer bag and threw them back in the freezer.  That way I can easily pull out a few to bake when the mood strikes me. They are really best served warmed, right after coming out of the oven.

Ready for the freezer

Spinach Quiche

For dinner Friday, I decided to make a nice vegetable quiche (Catholic = no meat on Fridays in our house).  I found a nice recipe for a spinach quiche on Smitten Kichen's page and played around with it a little and came up with my version - Spinach, caramelized onion and mushroom quiche.

For the crust, this recipe from Martha Stewart is super easy and it makes enough for two crusts which is great because you just freeze the other and have it on hand for the next quiche or pie or whatever.  If you hate the idea of making your own crust, you can always buy a pre-made crust (unless you live in Rio because I have definitely not seen them in the grocery stores here). I made the crust the day before and left in the freezer overnight.  I took it out in the morning and let it defrost in the fridge all day.

For the quiche, preheat the oven to 425.  Then, caramelize the onions and mushrooms.  This takes maybe 30-45 minutes because you want to do it at a low heat and give the onions time to get nice and brown and delicious.  You can always do this earlier in the day (or the day before) to save time.  Once the onions and mushrooms are almost done, throw in a minced garlic clove to add a little more deliciousness. Remove from heat and let cool a little.

Caramelizing the onions/mushrooms.  They aren't quite done here but getting close.

Next,  take the cream cheese and and beat until nice and fluffy.  Then add the eggs, one at a time and beat before adding the next egg.  After that add the half and half.  I couldn't find half and half here so I made it (half milk, half cream, duh).  Next add the onion/mushroom mix, drained spinach, cheese, green onions and salt and pepper.  Mix well and pour into the pie crust.  Bake until the top is nicely browned and the the filling is set (not jiggly). Let cool and rest for a few minutes.


1/2- 1 medium onion, chopped (I used 1/2 an onion but next time will use a whole one)
5 oz shiitake mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 3-ounce package cream cheese, room temperature
1/3 cup half and half
3 eggs
1 10-ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 cup grated Gruyere
1/2 cup grated Parmesan
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

I served this with a nice salad, fresh fruit (mango and papaya) and some extra Gruyere cheese chunks.

Chocolate Banana Cranberry Bread

I love the bananas here.  I mean, I love bananas period but here they seem more flavorful and a little sweeter.

So, we had a couple bananas that were getting pretty ripe and I decided banana bread would be perfect. I also have a lot of dried cranberries and some chocolate and thought that might all work together.  And it did!   As I sit here typing this, I can't wait for my afternoon coffee so I have an excuse to have another delicious slice.

Here's the recipe --

1/4 cup softened unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 small bananas chopped
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup chopped dark chocolate (or you can use chocolate chips)
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 3/4 cup flour, sifted
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder, sifted
1/2 teaspoon baking soda, sifted
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat to 350.  Butter or spray a loaf pan.  Cream sugar and butter together.  Add the eggs, one at time, and mix between each one. Fold in the bananas, cranberries and chocolate, water and vanilla.  Add everything else and mix just until its incorporated.  You don't want to over mix it. Bake for about an hour - until the top is nicely brown and a toothpick comes out clean.

Let it cool in the pan for a few minutes then loosen with a knife and put on a pretty dish.

I really like this bread but I think I'll use more chocolate next time. And maybe throw in some nuts.