Salmon Cakes

Our family likes Salmon. As a matter of fact, when the husband and I occasionally have dinner alone, grilled Salmon and lettuce salad is a perfect meal. Salmon filets are a bit spendy lately at over $8.00 a pound, so this is our more frugal version. Think of them as "poor man's Crab Cakes."

Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

• 1 15-oz can of Salmon (drained and de-boned)
• 20 saltine crackers
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup of milk
• 1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash seasoning

Mix all ingredients together in a medium size bowl. Feel free to get your hands in there.

Shape into palm size patties and fry until lightly brown in the oil of your choice - Canola, Vegetable, Olive.

Serve over rice pilaf or on a hamburger bun. Tartar sauce, barbecue sauce or a little lemon all work well to dress the cakes.

French Onion Soup

It's a cool day here in southern Minnesota, so I decided to make a family favorite, French Onion Soup. Even my 7 year old loves it.









Ingredients

• 5 large Vidalia (sweet) onions


• 1 heaping tablespoon of minced garlic


• 2 tablespoons butter


• 1/4 cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil


• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar


• 8 cups beef stock


• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper


• 1 teaspoon dried Thyme leaves


• 1 teaspoon ground Sage


• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper


• 1/2 cup White cooking wine


• 3/4 cup cooking Sherry


• Parmesan Cheese (shredded) as garnish

Slice onions in half and then cut into strips. Saute onion and garlic in the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan, until the onions are translucent. Sprinkle the sugar into the onions and garlic and stir.

While the onions are cooking down, in a large stock pot, combine beef stock, white pepper, Thyme, Sage and ground black pepper. Bring to a boil.

Once the onions are done, add them to the boiling broth. Then add the White wine and sherry. Turn the heat back to medium and let cook for half an hour.

Serve in soup bowls garnished with shredded (real) Parmesan Cheese.

The thing I love about making this soup is the aroma that rises up just after I add the wine and Sherry. If I could bottle it, I'd wear it as perfume.

Who likes pancakes?

My neighbor created a delicious recipe for pancakes, and I wanted to share it with you.

Pancakes, Pancakes

The harvest is just beginning.

Lunch today was a small cucumber and 6 cherry tomatoes from our gardens, sliced up and drenched in a roasted garlic vinaigrette. I love fresh produce!

Follow the Instructions... mmmmmkay

I needed to find a basic sweet Shortcake recipe today. With the great deal I got on strawberries, Strawberry Shortcake seemed like a nice surprise for my husband. After looking at 6 recipes online I finally found one that didn't require shortening (lard) or buttermilk, and did have sugar as an ingredient.

I followed the recipe, tasted the batter and it wasn't quite sweet enough, so I added another teaspoon of sugar. The recipe said to pour the batter into a pie tin, but I did it drop style on a cookie sheet. It was only supposed to take 12 minutes to bake them in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven, but cooktime was actually 20 minutes.

They were delectable - moist, buttery, sweet, melt-in-your mouth cakes, perfect for soaking in the strawberry juice. I'll be adding this one to the recipe box for sure!

Basic Shortcake

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

• 2 cups flour
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 3/4 cup of milk
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter - room temperature

Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Slice butter into 4 pieces and work into dry mixture until consistency is uniform. Slowly stir in the milk. Batter will be thick and sticky. Drop batter by tablespoonful onto non-stick cookie sheet. Bake for 20 minutes. Yield = 12