Salmon, that pretty pink fish fillet rich in protein and Omega-3 Fatty Acids is not only good for you it’s delicious too!
I love salmon because of it’s mild flavor making one of the easiest fish to prepare in so many different ways. You can make salmon patties, burgers or cakes; grill salmon steaks and kabobs; use it in fish stew; and fry or bake it topped with all sorts of sauces. In short Salmon is like a blank canvas!
One of my favorite Salmon recipes is Seared Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce. It’s delicious! I serve it with a side of poor man’s pasta (that’s spaghetti or any type of pasta tossed in butter and garlic then sprinkled with parmesan cheese) or if we’re on diets (which we are almost always on) I serve it with grilled asparagus or sauteed spinach. Anyway you serve it this Salmon dish is wonderful!
Seared Salmon with Creamy Lemon Dill Sauce
Ingredients:
1 large Salmon fillet sliced into 3-4 strips (see picture)
1 Tbs. Olive Oil
2 Tbs. Butter
Pinch of salt & pepper
1 Tsp. Garlic – minced
1/2 Cup Chicken Broth
1 Cup Heavy Whipping Cream
2 Lemons – 1 with juice squeezed out and the other cut in slices for garnish
2 Tbs. Fresh Dill chopped
Directions:
Pat Salmon slices dry with a paper towel and season both sides with salt and pepper.
In a medium to large skillet melt 1 Tbs. butter in the olive oil.
When butter is melted add salmon, cook both sides about 5 minutes per side.
Remove cooked salmon from pan, place on a dish and set aside.
Add garlic to skillet and cook just until it starts to turn brown.
Add chicken broth and lemon juice to skillet and scrape off any salmon pieces and garlic off the bottom. This is called “deglazing”.
Bring liquid to a simmer and add heavy whipping cream.
Simmer for about 3-4 minutes until sauce starts to thicken a bit.
Place salmon back into skillet to warm up.
Add dill to sauce and spoon over salmon.
Place salmon on serving dish. Pour sauce over salmon garnish with lemon slices to serve.
Roasted Cashews are one of my husband’s favorite snacks, specially when he’s on his “keto diet”. Although cashews have some carbs they are also high in fat, so when consumed moderately they can be part of a keto diet as long as you count their carb content as part of your carb consumption for the day.
I’m not really an expert on all things keto so I’ll leave that up to you. But I digress. Recently I purchased a tub of roasted cashews from Costco, the brand we usually buy, and when my husband snacked on it he insisted that the cashews were not roasted nor were they salted. I can’t imagine what happened but after tasting them myself I had to agree. Perhaps this was part of a weird batch, who knows! But I do know that unless I did something with them we’d end up tossing the container away and that’s a waste! So I decided to roast and flavor them myself. I can’t be that hard. Anyway I tossed some in my cast iron skillet and sprinkled a bit of this and a bit of that over them and lo and behold they came out delicious!
Everyone in the family loved my latest creation, this one I’m calling Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews! I’ve had to make it several more times since then, it disappears that fast! I’m also thinking of using different seasonings. I’ll let you know how that goes!
But in the mean time here’s my recipe for Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews. A quick tip, when roasting cashews or any type of nut be sure you keep stirring the pan because they tend to burn quickly and you do not want burnt cashews!
Anyway make up a batch or two of these Chipotle Flavored Roasted Cashews and see how quickly they disappear! You can serve them hot from the pan, that’s really delish! Left overs can be stored in airtight containers in a cool dry place. But I doubt you’ll be storing them for long. Yes they’re that good!
By the way you can double or triple this recipe. I just prefer to make it in small batches because we really love them warm and in Hawaii the humidity makes it hard to keep them crunchy.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that my husband has embarked on a Keto Diet plan which pretty much means I either make something Keto friendly just for him or find keto friendly recipes for the whole family to enjoy. Since I’m not particularly fond of playing short order cook it is so much easier to make something that we can all have for dinner. And so I’ve come up with this Keto friendly Butter Steak Cubes.
Butter Steak Cubes are real easy to make and they are really delish! Everyone loves them! I serve them with a tossed salad for hubby and sides like mashed potatoes, corn, and veggies for the rest of us. My husband likes them so much I sometimes double the recipe so he can have leftovers for the next couple of days.
One thing though, if you want leftovers for lunch or whatever don’t over cook the steak. In fact I usually cook them just until they turn slightly pink in the middle. That way they can be reheated later. If you over cook the meat they end up like jerky when reheated. You definitely don’t want that!
Ingredients
4 NY Strip Steaks cut into 1″ cubes
1/2 Tbs. Cayenne Red Pepper
1 Tbs. Garlic Powder
1 Tbs. Onion Powder
1 Tsp. Sea Salt
1 Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1/2 Tbs. Lemon Pepper
1 Tsp. Oregano
1 Stick Butter
3 Tbs. Olive Oil
1/4 Cup Fresh Parley Chopped
Directions
Combine Spices in a small bowl and mix well
Melt Butter in Olive Oil over med high heat
Add cubed meat and sprinkle spices over it
Toss meat in frying pan and cook until it almost reaches your desired “doneness”
My husband recently embarked on a Keto Diet which means I either have to make him something keto friendly or find keto friendly recipes that the whole family will enjoy. Keto friendly meals aren’t really that hard to come up with, basically you just have to limit or replace the carbs. So that means pastas are out unless you use edemame spaghetti or other flourless pasta substitutes. But any way one of our favorites turned out to be this Chicken & Asparagus dish that my husband can eat with a small salad and the rest of the family can eat with pasta or even rice.
My grandkids and even my husband were not big asparagus fans, but after tasting this Chicken & Asparagus dish they decided it was pretty good. One of the best things about this Chicken & Asparagus dish is that it’s super easy to make, it’s really just a stir fry and can be ready in about a half and hour!
Chicken & Asparagus – A Keto Friendly Dish!
2 Servings
Ingredients
4 Pieces Boneless/Skinless Chicken Thighs cut into chunks
7-8 Stalks Asparagus cut into thirds
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Minced Garlic
1 Tsp. Lemon Pepper
1 Tsp. Rosemary
1/2 Tsp. Thyme
1/2 Tsp. Sea Salt
1/2 Tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1 Tsp. Parsley
1/2 Cup Chicken Stock
Directions
Combine dry seasonings in a small bowl (not the garlic)
Heat Olive Oil in a wok or deep frying pan
Saute Garlic until it starts to turn brown
Add chicken and seasoning mixture
Cook until chicken is done
Remove chicken from pan and set aside
Add asparagus to pan and cover with chicken stock
Cook until asparagus is tender
Return chicken to pan and toss with asparagus
Turn heat up and cook until liquid is mostly gone – keep stirring so it won’t burn
Last Christmas one of my daughters gifted me an Instant Pot Lux80. (There it is in the box.) I have to admit it looked intimidating; took me almost a month before I took it out of the box, and only after watching videos and reading lots of internet articles. Now what exactly is an Instant Pot you may ask. The best answer would be that it’s a crockpot on steroids. It can do just about everything a crockpot does but it does it faster. That’s why it takes only 35 minutes to make Instant Pot Beef Stew!
35 minutes to make tender falling apart beef stew! Yes I kid you not the actual cooking time for Instant Pot Beef Stew is 35 minutes! And yes the meat, you can use even the least expensive cuts, are literally falling apart! Ok, the actual time I spent making Instant Pot Beef Stew was closer to an hour, that included chopping, browning, AND cooking and venting. So really dinner was ready in about an hour. Sure beats cooking stew in your crockpot all day!
Can you tell yet what I first made in my handy dandy new gadget? Yup, you got it I made Instant Pot Beef Stew! And the best part is it doesn’t take a lot of planning.
When I made beef stew in my old crockpot I had to thaw out the beef the night before then get up early to chop veggies and brown the beef on the stove top. I had to do all that before I could toss it all in the crockpot and press cook. Now it wasn’t that big a deal, that is until I realized what my new Instant Pot could do! I didn’t have to thaw meat the night before, I could actually toss semi-frozen meat in the pot if I wanted to!
Did I mention that my Instant Pot Beef Stew turned out amazing? My family raved about it! In fact I had made a big pot – the model I have is 8 quarts – and we had the left overs for dinner the next day! So without further ado here’s my recipe! Hope you love it as much as we do!
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Ingredients:
3 Lbs. Beef Cut into 1″ cubes – you can use any cut of beef you want, I usually use a chuck roast
2 Tbs. Olive Oil
1 Tbs. Italian Seasoning
1/4 Cup Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbs. Minced Garlic
1 Large Onion Cut in large pieces
2 Cups Baby Carrots
2 Cups Baby Potato Medley
2 Cups Celery Cut in large pieces
3 Cups Beef Broth
1 Cup Tomato Sauce
Salt & Pepper to taste
1/4 Cup Corn Starch
1/4 Cup water
Directions:
Prep ingredients – Cut all the meat & veggies to size
Separate Beef from the veggies as you will be using it first and you don’t want the veggies sitting in raw beef juices
Add olive oil to Instant Pot and set on Sauté
When pot is hot enough place cubed beef into pot
Brown all the sides of the beef
Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic, worcestershire sauce, and mix well
Switch pot off and add veggies, beef broth, and tomato sauce
Stir well making sure to scrape off any meat or seasoning at the bottom of the pot
Set Instant Pot on Manual and adjust time to 35 minutes
Secure lid making sure the valve is on the sealing position
When pot beeps wait 10 minutes then set the valve to venting to release remaining pressure
Meanwhile dissolve cornstarch in water
When pressure has been completely released remove pot lid
Stir in cornstarch water to get desired thickness. If you want thicker sauce add more dissolved cornstarch slowly until you get the thickness you want.
Serve with steamed rice or some nice crusty bread to sop up all that meaty goodness!
Left overs can be stored in the fridge for a day or so, stew always tastes better the next day! Or for longer storage place stew in freezer safe containers, label with date, and freeze until needed. It will keep in the freezer for about 2-3 months. Reheat in the microwave or stove top.
Prep ingredients - Cut all the meat & veggies to size
Separate Beef from the veggies as you will be using it first and you don't want the veggies sitting in raw beef juices
Add olive oil to Instant Pot and set on Sauté
When pot is hot enough place cubed beef into pot
Brown all the sides of the beef
Add Italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic, worcestershire sauce, and mix well
Switch pot off and add veggies, beef broth, and tomato sauce
Stir well making sure to scrape off any meat or seasoning at the bottom of the pot
Set Instant Pot on Manual and adjust time to 35 minutes
Secure lid making sure the valve is on the sealing position
When pot beeps wait 10 minutes then set the valve to venting to release remaining pressure
Meanwhile dissolve cornstarch in water
When pressure has been completely released remove pot lid
Stir in cornstarch water to get desired thickness. If you want thicker sauce add more dissolved cornstarch slowly until you get the thickness you want.
Serve with steamed rice or some nice crusty bread to sop up all that meaty goodness!
Roasted Cashews are one of my husband’s favorite snacks, specially when he’s on his “keto diet”. Although cashews have some carbs they are also high in fat, so when consumed moderately they can be part of a keto diet as long as you count their carb content as part of your carb consumption for the day.
I’m pretty sure I’ve mentioned that my husband has embarked on a Keto Diet plan which pretty much means I either make something Keto friendly just for him or find keto friendly recipes for the whole family to enjoy. Since I’m not particularly fond of playing short order cook it is so much easier to make something that we can all have for dinner. And so I’ve come up with this Keto friendly Butter Steak Cubes.
My husband recently embarked on a Keto Diet which means I either have to make him something keto friendly or find keto friendly recipes that the whole family will enjoy. Keto friendly meals aren’t really that hard to come up with, basically you just have to limit or replace the carbs. So that means pastas are out unless you use edemame spaghetti or other flourless pasta substitutes. But any way one of our favorites turned out to be this Chicken & Asparagus dish that my husband can eat with a small salad and the rest of the family can eat with pasta or even rice.
Prep ingredients – Cut all the meat & veggies to size
Brown all the sides of the beef
