cake in a can

HAPPY. FRIDAY.

last night's light dinner: salmon cakes and quiona.

this week, HEB's fresh salmon is on sale and finally in my budget. so, i picked up a big slab of it- you'll see it again shortly.  the other 75% of the year, i buy the canned stuff and either make my salmon fish for lunch, or protein packed patties/cakes for dinner.

dump the can in a bowl along with:

patty:

• 1 tbsp greek yogurt (no mayo!)
• 1 tbsp capers (optional)
• 1 tbsp honey mustard or dijon mustard (or both)
• 1 medium shallot, chopped
• 2 stalks green onion, chopped
• 2 big stalks celery. chopped
• fresh parsley, chopped
• fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 egg whites (beaten)
• tony c's and pepper to taste
• sriracha (if you want...Sonny HAS to put this on everything so i squirted some in for flavor and heat)
• juice of half a lemon (i only had a lime at the time and that worked well too)

coating:

• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup panko breadcrumbs

mix. again, i like my veggies nice and chunky. dice them finer if you don't though.

waste is no bueno, so if you want to start with 1/2 cup of whole wheat flour then add more as needed, that's cool.  the egg whites provide more protein and holds the patty together.  the panko breadcrumbs add texture and crunch- you can either add them into your salmon mix, OR add it to the flour and coat your patty with it. your call.

shape and dip both sides.

i pan 'fry' these in butter flavored cooking spray for 3-4 min on each side.  every now and then i'll use a tbsp of LOL whipped butter or a splash of olive oil.  i can squeeze about 10-12 patties out of 1 can which will give you about 80 cals and 2g of protein per patty. if you drop the panko, so will your cal count.

 time to whip out the quiona, finally.

and i've been saying it wrong this entire time. apparently it's pronounced 'keen-wa', not 'key-o-nah'. no matter how you say it, it's suuuuuper boring eaten by itself.  it's light, fluffy, slighty crunchy, and an extremely popular 'superfood'  in the vegetarian community.  i totally recommend this over rice as a side, any day.  since it's friday,  i won't bore you with why you should eat it this time, but just know i eat it and highly recommend it. (ok if you have a few extra minutes, read this.)

i cooked it up similar to rice.  1/2 a cup of quiona, and 1 cup of water makes for a nice big serving.  once it boils, turn the heat to low and let it do its thing (with the top on) for 12-15 min.  after that, let it sit for another 5 min, then grab a fork and fluff your heart out.

to make this a little more exciting, i chopped up a ripe tomato, some fresh parsley, and tossed in a handful of cranberries (see top picture).  i'll be in my test kitchen this weekend baking up some stuff, and hoping to finally turn some of these drafts into posts!!!

le