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%

Rise and Shine to Apple Ring Pancakes

Pin It Good morning everyone!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and New years.  I know I did!  My winter break is quickly coming to a close however and its soon time to head back to school.  I am excited to get back and use all my new kitchen utensils I got for Christmas.  Thanks family and friends!  This morning I would like to share with you a recipe I made for my mom one morning. 
These pancakes are full of nutritious ingredients and as a bonus they are super easy to make. :)

APPLE RING PANCAKES

Pancake batter inspired by Chocolate Covered Katie

Ingredients:

1/3 cup Spelt flour (or white whole wheat flour)

2 tbsp Old fashioned oats

1 tsp Ground cinnamon

3/4 tsp Baking powder

Dash of salt

1 tsp Vanilla

1 packet Splenda (or Stevia or sweetener of choice*)

1/3 cup Skim milk

1 medium/large Apple

* I used Splenda because that was the only thing we had at our house at the time.  If you use a liquid sweetener besure to reduce the milk a little.

Directions:

1. Heat a flat pan over medium-low heat.

2. Mix together the flour, oats, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

3. Peel the apple (if you want, I would have left the skin on, but my mom insisted that I peeled it).

4. Core and thinly slice the apple.  Thinner slices will result in a softer apple pancake, whereas, thicker slices will stay more crunchy.  ( I ended up with about 7 rings, which I found to be a bit thick in the end).

5. Add the vanilla, splenda, and milk to the dry pancake mix.  Stir until combined, but do not over mix.

6. Spray the pan with cooking spray.

7. Dip one apple slice in the pancake batter at a time and place on the pan.

8. Cook like a normal pancake and enjoy!*

*Top the pancakes with whatever you want.  My mom and I liked peanut butter, light syrup, and/or cool whip.

 Makes 7 pancakes and serves about 2 people.

Nutrition Facts:

*Nutrition facts calculated for 1 pancake.  Splitting this recipe in two equals about 159 calories per serving.

Calories: 45

Total Fat: 0.3 g

Cholesterol: 0 mg

Sodium: 95.1 mg

Potassium: 45.6 mg

Total Carbs: 9.3 g

     Dietary Fiber: 1.8 g

     Sugars: 3.2 g

Protein: 1.5 g

Vitamin A: 0.8%

Vitamin C: 3.1%

Calcium: 5.5%

Iron: 2.9%