A Healthy Meal, With Salmon

Now this meal is super easy, very health and even better tasting. My freezer was starting to get a little empty and towards the back I found a few pieces of salmon. I've never really done much with fish so I wasn't too excited to try coming up with something good. I started looking up some different recipes and came up with something that didn't sound too bad but turned out to be one of my new favorite dishes. It takes a few ingredients but it's real easy to put together Just get the following:

1/2 lb whole wheat spaghetti
4 pieces of salmon (4-6 ounces)
1 clove garlic minced
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves chopped
3 tablespoons capers (they're by the olives in the store, I had trouble finding them too)
1 lemon zested
2 cups fresh baby spinach

If you're new to cooking, you probably don't know much about zesting a lemon. You'll need to get a rasp or a hand-held grater. Over a cutting board just rub the yellow(zest) off the peel of the lemon and save the zest.

In a large pot of salted water boil the spaghetti about 8-10 minutes or until tender. Strain and put in a large bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, minced garlic salt and pepper. Mix it all in and set aside.

Heat the other tablespoon of olive oil in a large pan, season the salmon with salt and pepper, and cook about 2 minutes on each side. Remove the salmon from the pan.

Now add the basil, capers, lemon zest, and lemon juice to the spaghetti and mix all these in. Set out 4 plates and lay out 1/2 cup on the baby spinach on each. Top the spinach with 1/4 of the spaghetti then place a the salmon on top.

Whiskey Burgers

So I had about a pound of ground beef left in the freezer and I was trying to think of what I wanted to do with it tonight. As I had it out thawing I started looking through the cupboards for what I would use to give these burgers a little kick, and what came out of it was a lot better than I had expected. Here's what you'll need

1 lb. ground beef
1 small onion
3 tablespoons Jack Daniels whiskey
1 1/2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon unsalted butter

Place the ground beef into a large bowl and mix in 2 tablespoons of the whiskey and the Worcestershire sauce evenly. Then mix in the cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, salt and pepper. Mix evenly but be careful to not over mix the ingredients. Split the ground beef up into two equal patties and set aside.

Heat up a large frying pan and get out a smaller pan. Place the patties in the large pan and cook on one side for about 4 minutes on medium heat. Turn over and reduce the heat a little.(If you want cheese on your burgers put the cheese on now) Cover the pan and cook another 4-5 minutes. While the burger is cooking on this side put the olive oil and butter in the smaller pan and while the butter is melting chop up a small onion. Saute the onion in the butter and oil and add the other tablespoon of whiskey about a minute later. Saute until the onion is a light golden brown and soft.

Serve with the onions on top of the burger along with any other condiments you want. This burger went great with a cold beer.