Frugal Southern Salmon Cakes

Here's the recipe for Salmon Cakes to feed a family of 5-6

2 - 14oz. Cans of salmon
1 onion - chopped
1/2 tsp. dill
2 eggs
2 handfuls of bread crumbs (sorry this is how I measure, I have small hands if that helps!)
1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. paprika
1 tbsp. vegetable oil

Empty the salmon into the bowl. Carefully pick out bones, don't worry about getting all the bones out they are pretty soft and edible. I mostly just get the round spine bones out and whatever other ones I can get. Lightly flake the salmon with a fork. Add the onion, eggs, bread crumbs and dill. Mix together until well blended, but don't over mix. In a separate plate mix the cornmeal and paprika. In a skillet heat the oil over medium high heat.
Shape the mixture into patties about 3 inches in diameter and coat with the cornmeal mixture. Fry the patties on each side until golden brown and drain on paper
towels.

These are a tasty frugal dinner that the kids love. I usually try to make this homemade tartar sauce http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Tartar-Sauce-I/Detail.aspx from allrecipes.com

Serve with pasta and salad for a complete meal! Enjoy!

Family Loving-Waistline Hating Mac & Cheese

Disclaimer: This recipe is in no way friendly when it comes to the waistline. If you are currently on a diet, try at your own risk. Everything in moderation.

I make this on occasion when I really need a good comfort food and it gets the job done everytime. I'm not a chef, I just know what me and my family likes; this recipe was inspired by several TV chefs until I found a version that tastes the best to us. So here goes:

1 lb. elbow macaroni
3 cups whole milk (although 2% can be substituted for a little break in fat)
1 stick butter
1/2 cup flour
2 cups + enough for sprinkling sharp cheddar cheese
Thin potato chips (I use Lays)
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. ground mustard
Salt
Pepper


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a 13x9 baking dish or nice sized casserole dish. Boil macaroni according to package directions. (Make sure to salt the water to flavor the pasta) When the macaroni is done, pour into a strainer. In the pot, melt the butter and whisk flour into the melted butter. Cook for 3-4 minutes being careful not to let the flour brown. Slowly whisk in the milk in a slow stream. Continue whisking for about 5 minutes until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and add, cayenne pepper, nutmeg, ground mustard, salt, pepper and the cheese. Pour into casserole dish. Top with additional cheese. Crumble chips and sprinkle on top. Bake for 30 minutes.

Additional note: Asha loves this meal and it's doctor approved because she's underweight. If you have a child that needs to gain some weight, he or she will love this.

A Roast Named Chuck

Tonight's Dinner Was:
Braised Pot Roast and Garden Salad

So I actually took the chuck roast I got on sale a couple of weeks ago out of the freezer on Monday so it could thaw. Although I planned to cook this in the slow cooker I didn't get started until noon. Slow cooker pot roasts take about 8-9 hours; 8pm might be a little late for dinner, plus DH and kids probably would be starving by then. Anyway, I found this Tyler Florence recipe stashed in my makeshift cookbook. It's actually a photo album that I've cut out recipes in and instead of pictures--voila!--cookbook! I've had this cookbook for about 10 years now and I consider it to be so valuable, I'll probably leave it to my oldest daughter in my will.

Anyway, here's what I did:

• Seasoned 1 side of the roast w/kosher salt, grill seasoning, and a little pepper.
• In a dutch oven, add about 2 tbsp. olive oil over med/high heat.
• When oil is hot dropped roast in seasoned side down (very carefully...the oil pops!)
• Seasoned the other side of the roast.
• When the first side had a nice crust on it, I flipped it over and got the "crust" on the other side.
• Added to the pot: 1 can of crushed tomatoes. (I think a 14oz. can works best, I used 28oz. and there was a little too much liquid.), 1 cup of water (I'll decrease the water too next time, or use beef broth), 1 cup of sliced carrots (I like them a little bit on the rustic side--kind of thick), sliced mushrooms, 1 clove chopped garlic, and 2 stalks of celery sliced (rustic-style here too).
  
• Seasoned all w/salt, pepper and 1 tsp. of dried thyme.
• Bring to boil, then turn down to a simmer for 3 hours.
• Take the roast out and let it rest for 10 minutes before slicing.

To serve, I just take a few slices to each plate and then scoop some of the veggies from the pot, with the tomato gravy and pour over the meat...

Served w/salad mix from the bag with grape tomatoes and some of the leftover sliced mushrooms.

This meal went over pretty well. The kids said they liked it (of course they say the same about almost everything). It was a nice warm, comforting meal on a windy, rainy day like today.

Then it was time to head out for a meeting at the school. A mother's work...

Love This Recipe!

I would like to share some recipes with mothers (or fathers, I want to give a shout out to fathers who are holding it down in the kitchen too) of meals to cook for their family. So tonight I made the kids favorite recipe for tilapia.

Parmesan Breaded Tilapia

6 tilapia filets
3/4 cup of Italian-style bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1 Tbsp. water
1/4 tsp. paprika
1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper


Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a bowl or shallow dish, beat together the eggs and water. In a separate bowl mix together bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, paprika, cayenne pepper and melted butter. Rinse and dry tilapia. Dip filets one by one into egg mixture and then coat both sides with bread crumb mixture and place into a slightly greased pan. I use an 11"x13". Bake for about 12-15 minutes until fish flakes easily. Turn on broiler briefly until breading is crunchy and crispy on top.

I serve this with those restaurant style garlic biscuits. Here's the recipe:

Restaurant Style Garlic Biscuits

2 cups of baking mix
2/3 cup of milk
1/2 shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 cup of melted butter
3/4 tsp. garlic powder (not salt)
1/2 tsp. dried parsley

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix baking mix, cheese and milk with wooden spoon until soft dough forms. Drop by spoonfulls onto very lightly greased baking sheet (or ungreased if it's non-stick). They should be kind of mounded on their and about 2 inches in size. Bake for about 8-10 minutes. Mix melted butter and garlic salt together until mostly dissolved. Stir in parsley. Brush butter mixture over the biscuits when they're out of the oven.

For the veggie I serve green beans. I just use the frozen bagged ones. I pour them in a glass bowl, add a little water, a couple of pats of butter and seasonings. Usually salt, pepper, garlic powder and cayenne pepper.

The family devours this meal and the best thing about it is, you can tweak it to your liking.

A Father's Promise

I just finished watching this documentary on MSNBC and was deeply touched. As a prior single mom I understand the problems and issues that the mothers go through with not having a father for their children. However, I felt the most compassion for these children with their varying degrees of unhappiness with their father's participation in their lives. One young man made excuses for his dad, stating that "He was a poet and sometimes would be working on poem a poem for days at a time." I was thinking to myself "Wow, what kind of man is this letting his son make excuses for him." Another young man described his dad as being evil and the young lady stated that she never wanted to get married or have children. It was deeply troubling and I had a hard time understanding the mentality of the men here, but like the father of my two oldest, I've just stopped trying to understand it. My only focus is the health and welfare of my kids. They are beautiful, better off and blessed. My husband has been great and is the best father they'll ever know. I pray for all kids who don't have their biological fathers in their lives and for the fathers who are so blind that they can't recognize the beauty of God in their children.