Watching the Makos, Dreaming of Salmon

I don't know if it was because I spent the afternoon at a Makos swim meet watching a bunch of kiddos splash back and forth in the pool, but I sure had a hankering for fish tonight.

I have not forgotten about the remaining 75 cookbooks I need to go through, but there was a particular recipe I saw on Pinterest that was calling me.

Salmon with Avocado Salsa.

After realizing that there were very few ingredients and not much work involved, I decided to stop at Whole Foods to pick up the fish. I know that Whole Foods has a reputation for being pricey, but the fish there is top-notch and worth paying a few extra dollars for. The salmon is ALWAYS good and I can't say that for some of the other stores around here. Once you get a batch of questionable fish, your taste for it is ruined for a looooong time, if not forever. So, I pay a little more and am always happy with what I get.

With my two pounds of salmon, a couple of avocados, a red onion and a bunch of cilantro, I was ready to go.

When I got home and read over the recipe I realized a few things. One was that I was not going to grill this fish. Partially because I have a charcoal grill and had no interest in fussing around with it, and partially because I have perfected searing fish in the pan and then finishing it off in the oven.

The other issue was that a couple of my spices didn't match up. I don't have Ancho chile powder. I have regular chile powder. It was going to have to do. Also, no onion powder. I had minced onion, so I swapped that out. Other than that, I was in business.

Here are the spices before the olive oil is added:

And here is the rub on the salmon:

While this sat in the fridge for 30 minutes, I made the Avocado Salsa. Here is where the final change was made. The original recipe called for one avocado. That wasn't enough for this avocado-loving crew, so I used two.

The finished dish:

Oh. My. Gosh. This was SO good. Like, company good. Like, my husband and son sang my praises good.

This dish is a major winner. I hope you try it out and enjoy it as much as we did. I had a small piece left over with a bit of salsa, so I hid it in the fridge for tomorrow. Shhh. Don't tell anyone!

Salmon with Avocado Salsa

Serves 4

• 2 lbs salmon, cut into 4 pieces
• 1 tbs olive oil (I used light extra virgin olive oil)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1 tsp paprika powder
• 1 tsp onion powder or minced onion
• ½ tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp black pepper
• for the Avocado salsa:
• 2 avocados, cut into chunks
• ½ small red onion, diced
• Juice from 2 limes
• 1-2 tbs finely chopped cilantro 
• Salt to taste

Instructions

1. Mix the salt, chili powder, cumin, paprika, onion and black pepper together, rub the salmon fillets with olive oil and this seasoning mix
2. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Pre heat grill, or heat oven-proof pan on stovetop with a bit of non-stick spray
4. Combine the avocado, onion, cilantro, lime juice, and salt in a bowl and mix well, chill until ready to use.
5. Grill the salmon to desired doneness, or sear skin-side up in pan for a few minutes. Flip over and bake in 350 degree oven for 20 minutes. 
6. Top with avocado salsa

My Buddy Joe

One of my all-time favorite stores is Trader Joe's.

I used to shop there when I lived on Long Island. We had a store open sometime in the late 90's in Commack. When I moved to the Boston area, we had even more Trader Joe's to choose from. When we settled in Connecticut, I had to wait a while before one opened nearby in Danbury...but as soon as it did I was back in the zone!

TJ's has something for everyone, all of it a veritable bargain. We buy all of our coffee there, most of the lunches that my husband takes to work, my beloved salsa that is irreplaceable, countless vegetarian items, oatmeal, the best cornbread mix ever, and so much more.

It works when you want to eat clean and be super-healthy, and there's also plenty for when you just want to be a sloppy mess. I got blindsided this holiday season by something called Jingle Jangle.

Chocolate-covered Joe-Joe (Oreos) pieces, dark and milk chocolate covered pretzels, dark and milk chocolate covered caramel corn, dark and milk chocolate mini peanut butter cups and some crappy fake m&m-type things.

I fell face-first into this can and didn't come up for air until New Year's Day.

Yikes!

Anyway, now that I am back on the wagon I am sticking to the clean-eating options at TJ's...which brings me to cookbook #16 of 99.

I must be really getting old, because here is another book that I can't recall the details of. I think that I had read about it online. There is a website about TJ's that reviews their new products and discusses what has been discontinued there...and yes I realize I sound like a nut when I admit to following such nonsense. What can I say? I've got issues.

So, book was purchased and a few dishes were made. The premise was that all recipes included items that could be purchased at TJ's. I don't recall anything memorable, but I do know that some pretty nasty peanut noodles were consumed and Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's went to live downstairs on the shelf.

Now that my eating habits have changed significantly, I found some more options that appealed to me when I re-read the book. Particularly one called Hearts and Snaps.

This was super-easy to make, and while I did purchase the majority of the ingredients at TJ's the only one that HAS to come from there is the Goddess Dressing.

This stuff is SO good!

The rest of the ingredients can be found anywhere...

Hearts and Snaps Salad

1 cup sliced hearts of palm
1 cup chopped cucumbers
1 cup halved or quartered cherry tomatoes
1 cup sugar snap peas, chopped in thirds
1/4 chopped parsely (cilantro may be substituted - I used cilantro and it was YUM!)
1/4 cup crumbled feta (I used TJ's Reduced-Fat Feta)
1/4 cup goddess dressing

Combine it all in a bowl and toss to blend.

Serves 4, and is considered Cycle 3 on the 17DD. We all really loved this salad, and I would make it for company in a heartbeat! It's considerably more "summery" tasting than a cold-weather dish and it would make a great healthy addition to a picnic or bbq!

How many days left until summer?????

BBQ Chicken Pizza Redux

Let's move onto cookbook #10 of 98....

I bought this book sometime around the beginning of the show in 2006. I was easily swayed by the magic that happened on the ranch back then....before I knew that they worked the contestants like animals and that losing that much weight that quickly was a recipe for disaster. 

The Biggest Loser was and still is a big proponent of product placement. Big companies pay a ton of money to have the show pimp their product. Most of these products are full of chemicals, like sugar-free Jello, yogurts with aspartame, Subway, and Extra Sugar-Free Gum. No thanks.

But...the cookbook does have some pretty good ideas. 

I made turkey sausage and it was really good...no funky ingredients.

Then I saw a recipe for Thin-and-Crispy BBQ-Chicken Pizza Snack Wedges.

I love me some BBQ Chicken Pizza!

The best I have ever had is in Moorestown, NJ near my mother-in-law. It comes from Passariello's.

Hello gorgeous!

Well, that's not happening anytime soon.

The Biggest Loser recipe reminded me just how much I love the combination of the barbecue sauce, chicken, cheese, onion and cilantro...and had me wondering how I could make it work.

The base of the "pizza" was a tortilla in the original recipe. I subbed a cauliflower crust. My favorite recipe for that can be found here.

The chicken, onion, and fat-free cheddar were all totally 17 DD compliant. The cilantro is technically not allowed until Cycle 3...but I was going to be a rebel and eat that one teaspoon of it anyway!

Barbecue Sauce...notorious for sugar. What I didn't realize was that there are ZILLIONS of different sauces out there. I wasn't going to go for a sugar-free one because, well, ick. The dietician agreed with me in the Biggest Loser Cookbook and suggested to find a sauce with less than 7 grams of carbs per serving.

So, after squatting all over the condiment aisle at the store, I found this guy:

If you can see the label, there are six carbs and four grams of sugar in two tablespoons. Not bad.

I only used one tablespoon. Even better!

So while this may not be technically compliant, I think it's close enough. Plus, I can understand all of the ingredients.

Once the crust is made, it's super easy to throw together. The chicken can be pulled from an already cooked breast, or you can do what I did and thinly slice a chicken cutlet and cook with salt and pepper.

I made a bunch, so I can add some to other recipes or salad:

I spread the one tablespoon of barbecue sauce on the crust, added the fat-free cheddar, the chicken, the red onion and cilantro:

Threw it in the oven at 350 for 5 minutes and done!

I would have photographed it on a nice white plate, but it was stuck to the damn foil. Guess I should have used some PAM?

Regardless, it was SO GOOD! Totally hit the spot for me.

Despite my bad feelings about The Biggest Loser show, I am keeping this book. There were quite a few recipes that may not be great as they are written, but gave me some wonderful ideas.

Here's my take on the recipe:

BBQ Chicken Pizza with Cauliflower Crust

1 cauliflower crust (about the size of a large tortilla)
1 Tablespoon Stubbs BBQ Sauce
1/4 cup fat-free shredded cheddar
handful of grilled or shredded chicken
1 teaspoon of chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons slivered red onion

Preheat oven to 350.

Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray before putting crust on it. Spread BBQ sauce on, then cheese, chicken, onion and cilantro. Heat for 5 minutes. Enjoy!