Salmon Croquettes

Hey, we haven't updated since July!

I, personally, have a good reason - I haven't been cooking. I'll make BLTs and tacos every week, pop a frozen pizza in the oven, or we'll drive down the road to Sonic. This has been going on all summer. Last week I sat down to balance our account and noticed it was a little airer than usual. The only thing that had changed was me not cooking so I put on my big girl panties and tallied up all our meals outside of the house for the entire month of August - $350. I asked a lot of people what was the norm for them and got answers ranging from like $50 to $500, but aside from maybe two people, everyone always added how HORRIBLE it was and how GUILTY they felt.

So why shouldn't I change it?

Right now I'm creating a list of monthly roating meals - BLTs and tacos are staying because we love them. I'm adding pork chops and beef tips and at least one occurence of mashed potatoes because Will loves that stuff. I get shrimp and grits and homemade pizza. I'm also leaving plenty of room to play - there's a ton of recipes I've wanted to try for ages and just haven't done it.

For instance, I had four cans of salmon I bought some time last year to make these croquettes. I bet you don't like canned salmon, but here we go!

Salmon Croquettes

(or: salmon patties)

(or, even better: salmon paddies)

4 small cans of salmon, flaked, drained
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used plain), plus some more which I didn't measure
2 tbsp green onion
oil for frying

Heat your oil on medium. MIX ALL THE INGREDIENTS UP. Sprinkle some more bread crumbs all over your patties. FRY 'EM, two minutesish on each side. Eat them.

I wonder if you would like these? Will did, but I remember he had a great-aunt who made salmon burgers he still won't shut up about. Also, I served them with mashed potatoes, so there's that.

Anyway, I'm just glad I'm blogging here again!

America's Drive-in, America's Laziest Wife?

I was going to blog this morning about last night's meal but of course, while I can read and comment on our blog at work, I can't log in to post, and out of the THREE phone apps I downloaded (and paid for!) exactly ZERO are working, so.

Not sure if I mentioned, but yesterday I had THREE (this is apparently a magic number) cavities filled, all in a row. I felt like a failure. I felt dirty. I felt ashamed. I did not feel like cooking.

After two painful and (painfully) boring hours in the dentist chair, I came home and I was so hungry but I couldn't really open my mouth. I wanted to eat, but didn't know what I wanted. I didn't want to go through too much trouble, but I wanted it to be relatively bad for me.

I settled on my potato salad, but guess what? No red potatoes. That's all I could think about then was potato salad so I eventually flopped on the couch with a big frown.

Will saw that and said "What can you eat at Sonic? How many points you have left?"

I had enough points for a corn dog smothered in mustard and a regular sized tater tot and a diet cherry limeade. I'm not sure how Will knew where to take me, but I'm glad he's not as stupid as I sometimes believe he is. I looked ridiculous trying to open my mouth around the thing and it hurt like shit, but tasted so, so good. I ended up...I don't know, can you side-saddle a corn dog?

(manna from heaven)

Tonight was pretty much a bust. As you know, it's fish on Friday if we plan to eat at home (we usually go out but I didn't even feel like that), and I still don't feel like being real adventurous (damn time change) even though I have a bag of shrimp and some tilapia fillets waiting on me, and a bunch of salmon saved up for salmon patties (I can smell disaster on that one).

Anyway, guess what I found buried deep in my pantry Sunday afternoon as I planned this week's meals?

Do you see the broccoli on the box? I did, too. It's not actually part of the recipe. If you squint real hard, you can see tiny green specks that look like they came between my three rotted, mutinied teeth but essentially we just ate some questionable canned fish with some half-assed noodles and butter. That is what I served my devoted, kind-hearted husband for supper. Even sadder, that's what I served myself for supper.

So now, my house smells like a warm mid-Atlantic tuna boat, rocking gently in the frothy waves (oh shit, I'm going to vomit), and I'm anticipating a 9 PM bowl of cereal for both of us, tucked into while we watch the Soup.

Tomorrow: cravings. (wait, you crave particular foods and not just all of them in general?) Side note: I ALSO LOVE HUMMUS. With Triscuits.

(also: tagging this as box betterfication...I didn't make it better, but it involves a box?)

I made the sweet potato fries

I made the sweet potato fries! I lined my pan with tin foil, and I think mine cooked faster than yours. At 425, it only took them 25 minutes or so to get nice and...well, as crispy as I think you can get them. Which is not crispy, but definitely not soggy! Nice. Very nice. I experimented with the broiler, but pulled them out after a few minutes because they started to burn. Oops! So no broiler for me, the tin foil apparently takes care of that.

Now what I'm doing is looking online for:

1. Tips to make them crispier. I don't necessarily need them crispier, but Shayne would like them better that way. I wish you could hear the sound he made when he tried one the first time. "EUGHhhh! Uh...I mean, that is not what I was expecting." But he put some on his plate, so it wasn't THAT bad, come on now.

2. A perfect dipping sauce. Again, not for me. For Shayne. Because natural vegetable flavor is for girls.

Curt might like them, if he would try one. But he was busy ramming hamburger bun into his face as fast as he could. I think he accidentally got a little bit of veggies and sauce mixed in (I made his sloppy joe with 1/2 sloppy joe meat and 1/2 mixed veggies - surprise, kid!), so I'll accept that as a win.

Overall review: will make again. And again and again and again. And if the boys don't want them, yay more for me.

I served them with sloppy-joes-from-a-can, so that was nothing special. I mean, they were very satisfying, definitely what I was hungry for, but I'll make my own next time. I was reading the ingredients on the can, and not feeling super happy about it. Can anyone even tell me what the hell "Natural Flavor" is? If it's natural, why do you have to add it in? Also, it's heavy on corn syrup. Not great. Can do better. Have been shown the way.

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I believe tonight's lineup will be fish, veggies and potatoes. We love baked tilapia, and it's fast, fast, fast. I rub a little oil in a baking dish, add the fillets in, and hose them down with lemon juice. Then I sprinkle on some dill and a little lemon pepper, and bake it at 375 for 15 minutes. THE END.

I think it goes really well with garlic and herb mashed potatoes (FROM A BOX MIX), but Shayne thinks the potatoes are too dry/plain and need a gravy. There is no gravy that says to me, "serve with fish." No. So tonight I'm going to try a different approach and go with cheesy mashed potatoes (potatoes from a box, but I will mix in sharp cheddar and some seasoning).

Have you ever tried those veggie steamers, that you steam right in the bag in the microwave? They are brilliant. The Wal-Mart brand is just as good as the Green Giant or other brands. They take, like, six minutes to cook, and the vegetables are PERFECT. They are sweet and light and good. We're also going to have some of that, I think.

Saturday morning breakfast, I'm in a quiche kind of mood. Will report back on that, but I'm not sure how I'll be with weekend updating!