Simple Salmon Pies

I wish I had a picture of these. They are absolutely beautiful!! Jon and I were watching the Food Network one day and saw THIS. Months later I was craving salmon and I knew this would be the perfect meal. They are SO easy and really melt in your mouth. Below is the recipe. We made a few changes to simplify even more. We used olive oil, regular white onion and mushrooms, dried thyme and no parsley. Enjoy!!

Ingredients

• 4 (6-ounce) center cut salmon fillets, skin removed
• 1 lemon, zested and juiced
• salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons canola oil, divided
• 1 medium Vidalia onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 cup chopped shiitake mushrooms, stems discarded
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 4 cups washed, dried, and loosely packed fresh baby spinach
  
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 2 frozen puff pastry sheets, defrosted
• Chopped fresh parsley leaves, for garnish

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Brush both sides of the salmon with 1 teaspoon lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper, to taste. Set aside.

Warm 2 tablespoons oil in 2 separate skillets over medium-high heat. Add half of the onion and half the garlic to each pan. Season with salt and pepper, to taste, and saute until tender, about 5 minutes. Stir in the mushrooms and thyme into 1 pan and the spinach, lemon zest and remain lemon juice in the other pan. Stir the spinach until it wilts, then transfer it to a bowl and set aside. Saute the mushrooms until they are reduced and tender, about 5 minutes. Turn off the heat and stir in the sour cream. Set aside.

Trim the thinner ends of the salmon fillet so you have 4 pieces of even thickness. Unroll a pastry sheet on a lightly floured surface. Pass a rolling pin lightly over 2 or 3 times to seal the seams and lengthen slightly. Cut the pastry sheet into 3 equal strips, using the natural seams as a guide. Roll out the second puff pastry sheet to get 1 more strip. Save remaining puff pastry for another use. Lightly prick the 4 strips with a fork. Put 1 heaping spoonful of mushroom mixture on 1 half of each pastry, top with salmon, then layer with a heaping spoonful of spinach mixture. Wet the edges of the pastry with water and fold over the other half, pressing lightly and folding to seal the edges. Repeat with remaining pastry and filling. Cut 2 vents on the top of each pastry packet and arrange them on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Bake until the pastry is golden and fish is just opaque in the center, about 25 to 30 minutes.

Transfer the pies from the oven to serving dishes and garnish with chopped parsley.

Baked Salmon Dijon

One week day after work I was CRAVING salmon. It's all I could think about. So, my sweet husband picked up some oh so delicious salmon on the way home. I needed to find a quick, yummy recipes and with my trusted source Allrecipes.com I found this. The topping melts in your mouth. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 (4 ounce) fillets salmon
• 3 tablespoons prepared Dijon-style mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1/4 cup Italian-style dry bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup butter, melted

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Line a shallow baking pan with aluminum foil.
2. Place salmon skin-side down on foil. Spread a thin layer of mustard on the top of each fillet, and season with salt and pepper. Top with bread crumbs, then drizzle with melted butter.
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 15 minutes, or until salmon flakes easily with a fork.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 15 min. Ready in: 25 min.
Amount per serving: 331 calories 21.5 grams fat

Lemon Garlic Tilapia

This delicious tilapia dish has the perfect combination or lemon, garlic, and butter... Mmmmmm... A yummy way to eat healthy. Enjoy!

Ingredients

• 4 tilapia fillets
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
  
• 3 tablespoons butter
  
• 2-3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
• pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (190 degrees C). Spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Rinse tilapia fillets under cool water, and pat dry with paper towels.
3. Saute garlic in butter.
   
4. Place fillets in baking dish. Pour lemon juice over fillets, then drizzle butter/garlic mixture on top. Sprinkle with parsley and pepper.
5. Bake in preheated oven until the fish is white and flakes when pulled apart with a fork, about 8-12 minutes depending on thickness of fish.

Note: For more flavor and an extra crunch add 2-3 Tb. of buttered bread crumbs or finely crushed Ritz crackers.

Serves: 4
Prep time: 10min. Cook time: 10min. Ready in: 20min.
Amount per serving: 142 calories, 4.4 grams fat (I added 2Tb. more butter than the original recipe. These amounts may be off.)

Szechwan Shrimp

We LOVE shrimp and this spicy dish is so delicious. The other day we made this dish again only with cooked pieces of chicken and it was just as good.

Ingredients

• 4 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons ketchup
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup sliced green onions
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 12 ounces cooked shrimp, tails removed

Directions

1. In a bowl, stir together water, ketchup, soy sauce, cornstarch, honey, crushed red pepper, and ground ginger. Set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Stir in green onions and garlic; cook 30 seconds. Stir in shrimp, and toss to coat with oil. Stir in sauce. Cook and stir until sauce is bubbly and thickened.

Note: If you would like to add veggies to the sauce, I would suggest doubling the sauce.

Servings: 4
Prep time: 10 min. Cook time: 10 min. Ready in: 20 min.
Amount per serving: 142 cal., 4.4 grams fat

- Mindy

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

At the last minute last night I decided to make fish for dinner. We try to have some type of fish at least once every two weeks. It can be so expensive! I had no idea how incredible tilapia could taste... WOW!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/2 teaspoon paprika
  
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder/garlic powder
  
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt/seed
• 2 pounds tilapia fillets

Directions

1. Preheat your oven's broiler. Line the broiler pan with aluminum foil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
3. Spray cooking spray on both sides of the fish. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Note: For our small family of two on a diet, we cut the recipe in half and had plenty. Serve with rice and veggies.

Servings: 8
Prep time: 5 min. Cook time: 10 min. Ready in: 15 min.
Amount per serving: 203 cal., 11.4 grams fat

- Mindy

Maple Salmon

Maple Salmon

I LOVE salmon! One of my favorite salmon dishes is a brown sugar glazed salmon. I could eat it every day but it's a little too unhealthy for what I need. This recipe is a fabulous second.

Ingredients

1/4 cup maple syrup
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ginger, minced (I added the ginger, it's divine!)
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 pound salmon

Directions
In a small bowl, mix the maple syrup, soy sauce, garlic, ginger and pepper.
Place salmon in a shallow glass baking dish (covered with foil), and coat with the maple syrup mixture. Cover the dish, and marinate salmon in the refrigerator 30 minutes, turning once.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).

Place the baking dish in the preheated oven, and bake salmon uncovered 20 minutes, or until easily flaked with a fork.

Servings: 4 Prep Time: 10 min. Cook time: 20 min. Ready in: 1 hour Amount per serving - Calories: 265 Total Fat: 12.4g

- Mindy