Saturday, May 11, 2013

Two Spring Salads and a New Salmon Recipe

With the twins home from college and interested in choosing a few new seasonal recipes, our spring Pin It and Do It Challenge moved into high gear this week. I even created a new Pinterest board, Super Salads and Sandwiches, to aid in planning lighter summer meals.

Early in the week, with warm weather and an especially hectic day, we opted for a quick, cold supper. Apple Pecan Chicken Salad from Smells Like Home appealed to all of us. Picking up a rotisserie chicken and fresh croissants on the way home made things even easier. The sandwiches were delicious - a definite "keeper" recipe that would be perfect for a summer luncheon, too. The above photo is from Pinterest; my original pin is here.

Encouraged by success, we tried the Southwest Black Bean Salad from skinnytaste.com - another winner! It is excellent as a side salad, but could also be used as an appetizer or salad topping. We needed to plan ahead and allow the avocado time to ripen to perfection, but I'm sure that won't be an issue as the season progresses. Here is my original pin.

Next up was Baked Dijon Salmon, adapted from allrecipes.com and found on What's Cookin' Chicago? blog. This is my new favorite salmon dish and it has definitely earned a spot in the regular dinner rotation. In addition to trying the recipe, we also ran a taste test between fresh and frozen salmon. For months I have been maintaining that Wegmans club pack frozen salmon fillets are just as good as fresh, but this side-by-side testing proved me wrong. I baked one frozen fillet along with the fresh and, of course, we could all tell the difference. Frozen salmon is still a freezer staple, but now I'll use it only when I can't get to the store for fresh. The photo of the cooked salmon is from Pinterest (I forgot to take one), but below is the salmon brushed with honey-dijon glaze and then sprinkled with the panko-pecan topping before baking. My original pin is here.


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34 comments:

  1. All these recipes sound good -- I love salmon and will try this one next week! Also enjoy having chicken salad on croissant sandwiches during the summer months :).

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    1. Jama - Hope you enjoy the salmon as much as we did!

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  2. You had a great food week! I love the looks of the salmon and the black bean salad! Yum!

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  3. I pinned your chicken salad and am looking forward to it. I'm also drawn to that salmon, though I'm still not 100% sure I like salmon. Isn't that funny? The power of a picture!

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    1. Audrey - That's funny because one of the twins keeps saying she's not sure whether she likes salmon either... yet she ate this without complaint.

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  4. Look at you!!! You Pin It and Do It overachiever! Wow. All of the recipes look good and I'd have a hard time deciding which to do first. We bought the frozen salmon from Wegman's once ... decided it isn't bad but the fresh wins out! We eat salmon almost every week and I'm always looking for new ways to cook it.

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    1. Beth F - I think the girls encourage me ;-)

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  5. I need to get out there on Pinterest and check out these recipes!

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    1. Tina - Beware... pinterest can be addicting!

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  6. hey, I have an avocado salsa this week too!!

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  7. I bet the panko on top of the honey mustard sauce is so good. I'm sure my family would love this recipe too.

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    1. Janel - I hope they enjoy it as much as my family did!

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  8. My husband says he doesn't like salmon either. It's probably that he's never had it as nicely prepared as this! Everything you made looks and sounds delicious to me!

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  9. Jo Ann, I just went to Pinterest to follow your new board and found that because I already follow all your other boards, it had been added to my stream already. Nice. Some of those salads look delicious.

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    1. Fay - I guess Pinterest is trying to make it easy for us ;-)

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  10. I'm always looking for new things to do with salmon. This one with dijon sounds delicious!

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    1. Trish - The salmon recipe is definitely a keeper!

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  11. I love black bean salad - will have to try this one!

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    1. Colleen - I hope you like... black beans are a favorite around here!

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  12. The Apple Pecan Chicken Salad looks so good- I pinned it too!

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    1. Diane - I'll be making that chicken salad all summer!

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  13. Everything looks yummy!! I need to add some new dishes to the rotation.

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    1. Ti - Pinterest sure makes it easy to find new recipes :-)

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  14. I love that you and your family are willing to try anything!! Now, if I can just change my husband a bit!!!

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    1. Staci - Ha ha... good luck with that ;-)

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  15. I make chicken salad (with mayo, pecans, radishes, craisins and tarragon) almost every week and eat it with a whole wheat pita pocket. I never thought to use croissants! Yummmm!!

    We eat salmon just about once a week. I only have two recipes and am anxious to give this one a try. I love Panko!

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    1. Les - I'm going to try chicken salad with your blend of ingredients. The pecan, radish, craisin, tarragon combo sounds so good! Whole wheat pita is definitely a healthier option than croissant, but that really is a nice treat!

      Salmon is on the menu pretty frequently here, too, so I'm always on the lookout for new recipes. Hope you like this one as much as I do :-)

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  16. You have the best luck when it comes to Pinterest recipes. In fact, I just wait for you to make them and then add the recipes to my own boards. ;) I've had very good luck with Skinny Taste's recipes so far and the salad looks yummy--especially with some tortilla chips as a dip? (shhhhh). I know you were reluctant to join Pinterest but it seems to be working out wonderfully for you!

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    1. Trish - It seems like I've been cooking for so long that I can read a recipe and have a pretty good idea if it will be something we like & turn out right. Skinny Taste has become a favorite recipe source.

      I'm really glad you talked me into Pinterest ;-)

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