Tag: eating

Seafood Series: 1

Posted on by Samantha Dedea

If you’re wondering how to fillet a fish, I have no idea, I just have the guy at Publix do everything for me. But, I love seafood. Even though I am picky about the fish I enjoy eating, I could probably eat seafood every single day. Off the top of my head, I know I like trout, salmon, tuna, and sea bass. That’s pretty much it and it’s not a whole lot of variety. But up until recently, I only really liked sushi and not cooked fish at all. The photo I attached is of some salmon fillets I made last night. I don’t really use recipes or write them down, but here is my best guess as to what I used:

Wild Sockeye Salmon FIllets:

  • 1lb of salmon skinned and cut into 4 fillets
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 shallot
  • 1 bunch of fresh thyme
  • 1 bunch of fresh basil
  • 1 bunch fresh cilantro
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • juice of 2 limes
  • A dash of Pinot Grigio

So here’s the thing… I didn’t really have the ingredients I wanted to make the salmon dish I had in mind, but you make do with what you have because #ballinonabudget. The salmon was actually pretty thin, so I didn’t have time to cook the sauce with the fillets still in the pan. Instead, what I did was season the fillets with salt and pepper on both sides, cook them until they were nearly done, and then took them off the pan just slightly undercooked so that they could finish cooking in the sauce. I then added the chopped shallot, garlic, cilantro, basil, and thyme to the pan and let it cook for a couple of minutes. I added a little more salt and pepper just to enhance the herbs natural flavors. After about 2 minutes, I added the juice of 2 limes and a little white wine and let it cook for about 5 minutes. I then added the salmon fillets back into the pan letting it finish cook while absorbing all of the flavors in the pan.

It was a way of cooking salmon I have never tried before, but it actually turned out really good. I hear a lot of people don’t like cilantro but I think it tastes much better after it’s cooked. What are some of your favorite recipes? Leave a comment down below with some of your favorite seafood dishes and I’ll try to make it!

Are Salads Basic?

Posted on by Samantha Dedea

It doesn’t matter where you go, salads are everywhere. I love salads and eat them every day, but, I’ll admit that restaurant salads have always been super basic to me. When you think of salad, you probably think of a bed of lettuce with some tomatoes, croutons, and cucumbers right? I’d like to talk about the way I assemble my salads at home to be the most NOT BASIC SALADS EVER. So let’s start with what everyone knows to be the base of a salad… the greens! I personally do not like romaine lettuce for my salads, but prefer arugula, radicchio, spinach, or a 50/50 blend. Arugula is my favorite because of the nice and spicy bite that it has so I feel like theres some flavor to my greens before even having to put a dressing on it. Next, comes the crunch. I hate croutons with a passion and think they’re way too salty, so crunchy vegetables it is. Yes, I put cucumbers in my salads but I also put bell peppers, onions, and sometimes even green beans. I almost always put roasted sweet potato and roasted butternut squash in my salads because carbs are life and it adds a really nice sweet flavor. Then, I’ll add some cherry tomatoes and if I’m looking for my salad to be more of a meal, I’ll add some protein. A few common examples for me are chicken, salmon (smoked or seared), steak, or tuna. I usually add half of an avocado but that really depends on if Publix has good avocados on the shelf. My final step to making a really non-basic salad is my dressing. When I have the time, I like to make my dressings from scratch. I am all about eating my medicine so I try to always incorporate anti-inflammatories into my food so my staple dressing is a homemade ginger and turmeric dressing. I finely chop fresh ginger root and fresh turmeric root (and when I say finely I mean FINELY), then I chop some garlic, shallot, and sometimes cilantro. I then juice either lemons or limes or both depending on if they need to be used and then add some honey and I’m done. I give it a good whisk and pour it over my salad. I make vinaigrettes too but that’s less common for me to want to eat. If anyone wants some of my dressing recipes, let me know in the comments section and I’ll post them!