Roasted Wild Salmon with Rice and Cauliflower

This recipe turned out to be pretty tasty. It's nice and light and summery (although a 400 degree oven on a hot day isn't always the best). It was something we found in a search on foodnetwork.com.

I was afraid the salmon would be too dry if I baked it on a baking sheet, so I baked it in a skillet, drizzled in olive oil and lemon juice, sprinkled with lemon pepper.

The parmesan cauliflower tasted great... almost like you were being really bad and having it fried because of the texture! I don't have cooking spray, so it too got a light drizzling of olive oil before baking.

Instead of instant brown rice, I used Texmati whole grain Royal Blend. It's much more interesting than regular brown rice (and tastes better too).

The leftover salmon and tomato mixture, combined with fresh avocado, made a great sandwich the next day.

Enjoy!

Substitutions for pesto!

This may seem like a small thing to you, but for a pesto lover like me, it was a fine discovery. A few nights ago I had some girlfriends over for wine and appetizers. At the last minute I decided I needed one more little dish and scavenged for something to whip up. Pesto is always a crowd pleaser, but I didn't have pine nuts or parmesan. My enormous basil plant was just begging to be pruned, so I decided to improvise with feta and pecans. The result was a hit and a less expensive way of making pesto, at that. (This photo is of the plant after I pruned it about halfway down!)

Naturally, I didn't measure anything out, but here is a rough idea:

1 cup fresh basil
1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup crumbled feta cheese
1 clove garlic
1/2 cup olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Pulse the top four ingredients with a splash of the olive oil in a blender or food processor to get them moving. As the ingredients puree, slowly add the olive oil until it has a consistency a little runnier than peanut butter.

Pesto is great with so many things.... Pita chips, veggies, tossed with pasta, as a sandwich spread, slathered over chicken before baking or broiling, as pizza sauce, etc. Plus it's loaded with fresh ingredients, healthy fats and the fresh aroma that emanates from the blender is amazing.

Enjoy!