Have you ever opened a can of salmon?

Pin It Today I experienced canned salmon for the first time.  For those of you who have never seen the contents of a can of wild pink salmon here's a visual:

Not so pretty eh!?  I was expecting little chunks of meat similar to tuna... but oooooh no.  Full spine. Vertebrae still intact.  Mushy skin all over.  Gross.  Ok I am sorry I shouldn't be scaring you away from canned salmon because my salmon burgers turn out GREAT.  Seriously so good!  You just gotta put on your big girl (or boy) pants and dig in.  I had to text my mom in a panic on this one freaking out on how I was going to remove all the tiny little bones.  Apparently, the little bones are ok to eat.  They just ended up kind of mushing together with the rest of the ingredients.  I promise you won't notice them in your burgers!  "Good calcium!" as my mom would say. 

Alright so now that I have you all freaking out about canned salmon, I suppose I should share the recipe... or are you too chicken to dive into the adventure of opening your own can??  Best wishes!

SALMON BURGERS

Ingredients:

1 (14 oz or so) can Wild Alaskan caught salmon

2 Eggs

1/2 cup Onion very finely chopped

1/4 cup Whole wheat Italian seasoned bread crumbs

1 tsp Basil

1/2 tsp Garlic powder

Salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Brave the can and debone and deskin salmon.

2. Mash the salmon into small pieces.

3. Beat the eggs together with a fork in a small bowl.

4. Mash together salmon, onion, bread crumbs, basil, garlic powder, salt, pepper, and 2-4 tbsp water.

5. Stir in egg.

6. Form 8 patties with your hands (about a 1/4 cup each).

7.  Heat a pan over medium-low heat.

8.  Spray with cooking spray and  cook patties until browned on each side and heated all the way through.

9. Congrats you braved the salmon! Enjoy!

Makes 8 burgers.

Oh and before I forget!  I have to mention the best part about salmon: the health benefits! 

The biggie with salmon is that it is a great source of omega-3 fatty acids  A 4 oz serving has 52.5% of your daily value!  That's more than the average adult gets from their food over the course of several days.  Crazy.  The only caution I have about salmon is to make sure you find wild salmon preferably caught in the U.S to avoid high mercury contents.  For more information on the benefits of salmon check out http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=104.

Source:  The George Mateljan Foundation, 2012. 

Nutrition Facts:

Calories: 113

Total Fat: 3.8 g

     Sat. Fat: 0.9 g

Cholesterol: 83.8 mg

Sodium: 277.8 mg

Potassium: 0 mg

Total Carbs: 3.1 g

     Dietary Fiber: 0.3 g

     Sugars: 0.7 g

Protein: 15.3 g

Vitamin A: 2.8%

Vitamin C: 0%

Calcium: 17.3%

Iron: 5.5%