Lemon Cream Salmon with whiffs of Quince

My senses are in a tizzy.  I just got my first winter farm share.  Saturday I got an email from my farmer Susie about Quinces.  I once had grocery store quinces in Saudi Arabia as a young teen, but never ones this fresh.  I'm so excited that I can't wait to share with ya'll what I make.  Just having them in our house makes the kitchen smell wonderful.  I don't like perfume, but if you could bottle this up I would wear it without question.  Susie is going to bring over 30 lbs for me to process for her.  I get to keep a portion of what I make and the rest heads back to her to be sent out with the farm shares.  That's the great benefit of knowing my farmer.  Currently I am contemplating Quince Preserve and Quince Empanadas.  In addition to the Quinces, I got salad greens after two weeks of nothing as Susie was on vacation.  She definitely deserves it after all the hard summer work. 

Tonight's dinner reinforces my idea that I should get a rice cooker.  My husband scorns my rice sometimes and wonders aloud why I can't cook rice.  The salmon entree I planned for Sunday got postponed until tonight in order to reduce the leftovers that were starting to pile up.  I started prepping for dinner right after picking up my farm share.  The salmon smelled so good when David came home and the rice was bubbling along nicely. Needless to say, I burned it.  This was a different twist from my usual rice blunders - it often turns out crunchy or soggy.  Well, I guess I'll keep trying.

With the rice out of the question, I scrambled to make an alternate plan.  I grabbed the salad greens from the farm share to make a lovely bed for the salmon.  With our dinner salad sabotaged, I now needed a salad.  Aha! I could make a caprice salad with tomatoes, avocados and Mt Tam Cowgirl cheese.  A great save.

Some of you might wonder why I rarely include main dishes in my postings.  The reason is that I have a membership to Saving Dinner, a website that sends out weekly menus.  This really frees me up to make creative side dishes from our lovely veggies from CSA.   Saving Dinner provides a menu and side suggestions (which I ignore or follow depending on my mood) and a shopping list so that a busy mom can save time at the store.  I really like the simple and quick meals.  There are 7 menus including variations for the southern hemisphere (due to seasonal differences) as well as kosher options for those who follow that tradition.  The kosher options were helpful to me when my husband had doctor's orders to avoid beef and dairy products.  I get 5-6 recipes each week which allows for a meal out or making a family favorite.

The menu I receive is called Body Clutter.  It is for people who are struggling to keep there weight down or to teach themselves healthy eating habits.  I don't have a weight problem, but since I find eating alone to be miserable, I don't remember to eat unless its a meal that I make for my husband.  The BC menu has breakfast, lunch and snack ideas and it's been helpful for me to finally learn what kind of things are really nutritious for breakfast.  I need protein at the beginning of the day but I really crave pancakes, waffles and French Toast.   Adding natural peanut butter helps control my cravings.

Anyway, the Salmon recipe that I cooked today came from the BC menu.  By permission I have included it for ya'll to try.  They have tasty sample menus for anyone to try for free.  They also have a Mega Menu mailer which is a response to the Dinner Franchises that help you prepare meals to put in the freezer at a super high price.  The mega menu mailer sounds like a great idea for a new mom or someone laid up after surgery since it is so simple and cheap.

Skillet Salmon with Lemon Cream

copyright Leanne Ely www.savingdinner.com
Serves 4

• 1 T olive oil
• 4 salmon fillets
• 1/2 t basil
• 1/2 t garlic powder
• salt and pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Season fish on both sides with basil, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste.  Sauté fish for 5 minutes on each side, or till nicely browned and fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.  Serve with a dollop of Lemon Cream on top.

Lemon Cream (mix all ingredients together in a small bowl)

• 1/2 c low fat sour cream
• 1 T low fat mayonnaise
• 1 t lemon juice
• 1 t honey

Serving suggestions: Low carb - grilled asparagus and a big green salad.  Regular - add wild rice pilaf.

The only changes I really made were to sear all four sides of the salmon instead of just top and bottom and to place it on a bed of mixed greens.