Tasty Tuesday: Salmon Cakes and Cucumber Tomato Salad

When I was growing up my grandmother would make the best salmon cakes!  She passed away when I was 8, but I can still taste them, and have been trying to re-create that taste ever since.  I eventually gave up.  Over the past few years I have learned more and more about the benefits of fish oil, and salmon keeps popping up as a great source for Omega-3’s.  I am not a big fan or salmon by itself.  But with all the benefits I decided to search again for a good salmon cake recipe, and recently stumbled upon one from Practical Paleo.  I have made a few changes to make it my own, and have paired it with a cucumber tomato salad.  

Salmon Cakes
Adapted from Practical Paleo
Serves 2-4

2 – 6 ounce cans of wild salmon, drained
2 eggs, beaten
3 tablespoons green onions, finely chopped
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder, or 1 clove fresh minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon rosemary
1 Tablespoon Dijon mustard
Salt & pepper to taste
Coconut oil for pan



Directions:
1. Combine the salmon, eggs, green onions, rosemary, Dijon mustard, and salt and pepper in bowl.  The mixture will be mushy.
2. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add about 3-5 Tablespoons of coconut oil. When the coconut oil melts it should cover the pan and come 1/8 of an inch up the sides.
3. Make 4 salmon patties from the mixture and add to the pan when hot.
4. Allow the salmon cakes to cook and brown slightly on one side before flipping, about 5 minutes.
5. Flip the salmon cake and cook on the other side until done.
6. Serve with a slice of lemon





Cucumber Tomato Salad
Serves 2-4

1 Cucumber, halved lengthwise, and sliced
1 Medium tomato, diced
2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
4 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
2 Tablespoons Italian seasoning
Salt & pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Wisk apple cider vinegar, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, and oil in a small bowl.
2. Combine cucumber, tomato, and Italian seasoning in a medium bowl.
3. Pour dressing over cucumber and tomatoes.  Mix well.

Serve room temperature of chilled

While I've only had this salmon cake recipe once I must say it is by far my favorite.  Not only does it fit our mostly wheat free lifestyle, but it also has a flavor reminiscent of grandma's salmon cakes.

Tasty Tuesday: Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Spaghetti with meatballs.  Spaghetti with garlic and butter.  Shrimp scampi.  These all have a few things in common.  Yes, of course they all include spaghetti.  But they are also quick family staples, comfort food for some, and foods that we didn't think we would be able to enjoy since going wheat free.  

Thankfully, there is an alternative.  Until a few years ago I had never heard of spaghetti squash.  And I sure didn't know how to cook it, or how it tasted.  I have learned that I like spaghetti squash, quite a lot, actually.  My kids love spaghetti squash too, and don't miss the old, processed stuff.

Here is a my favorite way to cook spaghetti squash.  This is also an easy recipe to put together Sunday evening and pack for lunches throughout the week.

How to Cook Spaghetti Squash

• Preheat the oven to 400 °F 
• Cut the squash in half lengthwise - you  might need a pretty heavy duty knife to do this.
• Then use a spoon to scoop out the seeds in the middle.  You can toss them out, or roast them just like pumpkin seeds.  

• Arrange squash on a cookie sheet, or 13 x 9 pan, cut sides down. 
• Pour 1/2 cup water into the dish and bake until just tender, 30 to 40 minutes.  You will know it is done when a fork goes all the way through the flesh to the skin.
• Allow to cool for 5 - 10 minutes.
• Scrape a fork back and forth across the squash to remove the insides.  It should look like spaghetti!

For this post I chose to make a quick meat sauce to serve over the spaghetti.  All I did was brown some lean ground beef until it was no longer pink and drained away the grease.  Then I added about 3/4 of a jar of my favorite pasta sauce - Newman's Own Organic - and tossed it together.   Voila!



A normal serving is 1/2 of a cup of squash.  Feel free to measure it out first and then top with sauce.

How We Got to be Wheat Free (Well, Almost)

Years ago when I was going to the gym I believed that as long as I was working out and burning calories I could eat whatever I wanted.  The same was true when I started running in 2010.  I thought I could out run bad food choices. But that was not the case.  After having our second child in 2007 something else changed.  What worked in the past, what I thought was a healthy diet, didn't seem to work.  We ate the traditional food pyramid, yet, despite all my exercise, I could not seem to lose weight.  In addition I just felt awful – physically, mentally, and emotionally.

Our diet consisted of whole grain cereals with 1% or skim milk or whole wheat waffles or bagels for breakfast, deli sandwiches on whole wheat bread for lunch, and dinner was pasta (once or twice a week) along with chicken, ground beef or pork and maybe some vegetables.  Snacks throughout the day were usually low fat yogurt with granola, or a granola bar of some sort.  And of course there was the after dinner treat, usually low-fat frozen yogurt.  Why didn't I feel healthy?  I was following what we thought was a healthy diet. 

I would eat a good breakfast, and be starving only 2 hours later.  Or have a huge bowl of pasta and have the worst stomach pains after and thought “Man, I ate way too much!”  Other times I would have a nice bowl of Cheerios with banana and milk for breakfast and have more stomach pains.  This breakfast seemed so simple and healthy, but what I didn't realize it that it is the cause of my pain.  Honestly, I didn’t think to go to a doctor because I didn't think there was anything really wrong with me.  This was how I lived for many years, until my husband read the Wheat Belly book by Dr. William Davis and Good Calorie, Bad Calorie by Gary Taubes.

These books were a huge light bulb!  It described most of my symptoms to a tee, and some I didn't realize here symptoms. Can you guess what the “cure” was?  Remove all wheat and wheat products from your diet.  What?  That seemed crazy since we are constantly told to eat “healthy whole grains”.  If it’s healthy, how can it hurt me?  Well, wheat is not all it is cracked up to be, and the effects on our bodies are far from anything healthy.  You know that feeling when you eat cereal, toast, or a bagel for breakfast are starving two hours later?  That is due to the impact wheat has on your blood sugar.  The processed carbs found in these breakfast foods quickly turn to sugar and your body either burns through them, or if you don’t need them at the time they get locked away as fat.  In addition, there really aren't a whole lot of nutrients in wheat, so your body is starving for real foods in search of the nutrients it needs to fuel your body.

Whoa!  So we decided to give it a shot and remove all wheat based products, and a few others mentioned in Wheat Belly, and see how it went.  This seemed hard and I was constantly looking for “wheat replacements” - which I don’t recommend trying to do.  If you’re going to remove wheat just do it!  Don’t look for things to replace the things you once love; you’ll be happier in the long run.  But within 8 days I began to feel better – not as much stomach pain around meals. 

About two more weeks later I noticed a big differences.  My energy levels were higher than ever, and I even slept better.  In addition that little belly “pooch” (ladies you know what I’m talking about!) started to go away.  I stepped on the scale for the first time in months and had lost 8 pounds!  What was happening was my body was less inflamed from trying to digest the wheat, and my body was getting the nutrients it needed so I wasn’t always looking for something to eat.   Another change I had noticed was my emotional and mental states seemed to improve.  I no longer felt “down” most of the time.  What I learned is there is a connection between the gut and the brain.  A protein found in wheat wreaks havoc on your gut and brain ultimately leading to depression and anxiety.    If you want to read more about this connections check out this article by Dr. Mercola.

This has been a learning process.  In the beginning we tried to remove everything wheat-based from our diets, along with milk and yogurt.  Here is an extensive list that we used in the beginning.  However, we realized that this might not be 100% sustainable over time.  There are a few things that we do eat today, such as oatmeal, bacon and deli meats, some corn, the occasional French fry when we go out to eat, and occasional sweets.  We are not perfect, but this is what works for us.  It’s about balance and moderation.  Will we ever eat regular pizza again?  Probably not.  I did have regular pizza once or twice since going wheat free and the resulting pain, bloating, and ikiness were so bad I never want to feel that way again!

So, just from removing wheat I felt better in so many ways – I had more energy, no more brain fog, improved sleep, better mood, and even lost weight.  I feel better than I have in a long time! If you have any questions, or need help going wheat free, please let me know.  I would be more than happy to help!