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Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label salmon. Show all posts

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Healthy Restaurant Review: Café Nordstrom

I am always looking for healthy eating options, and here is one place that does not disappoint.  Another added benefit is that you don’t have to leave much tip.  This place is a little more casual than a sit down restaurant because you order at the registers and then find a place to sit, but the food quality and the atmosphere are top notch given the prices.  Nordstrom is also available in most major cities, and their café is a great choice when you are by the mall shopping (or really you shouldn't be), grabbing lunch during work, or looking for a low to mid priced dinner (even when you are in an unfamiliar city).

What I dig about Café Nordstrom (or at least one dish I dig and order often).

Herb Roast Salmon.

Ingredients include herb and dijon roasted salmon, red bliss potatoes, rustic vegetables (seasonal but usually includes carrots, fennel, zucchini, yellow squash or some similar mix). 

Why I like it?
This colorful plate is a beauty.  The salmon is nicely seasoned, and the vegetables really make this a stand out dish from other options.  Rarely do you get a plate of vegetables at a restaurant that are simply prepared and pretty healthy --  I would say these veggies are probably grilled or broiled, drizzled with oil.  The salmon is simply prepared as well, and is nicely complemented by the vegetables.  In my opinion, I would say this dish is pretty healthy.  And, it is one of my regular options when dining out.
 

Tuesday, December 28, 2010

The Essentials of Wild Salmon

Salmon has really come to popularity with more available sushi and the push for more omega-3’s in our diet.  Omega 3’s help our heart and brain function as well as inflammation, circulation, memory, thought, and blood sugar control.  Great, you say, but what about wild salmon versus farm raised?  Should it matter?

Yes, it does matter.  One big difference between wild and farm raised as one author puts (Jonny Bowden) is what farm raised salmon eat.  They are what they eat.  Farm raised salmon usually eat lots and lots of grain whereas wild salmon eat real things in the ocean.  Unfortunately (or fortunately), there are no corn rows in the sea.  There is reason.  Grain diet salmon produce very little omega-3’s.  Farm raised is just not what we bargain for. 

Not to mention the disease and contaminations prone to tightly packed salmon farms.  And the color that they use to pretty up the “colorless” farm raised salmon.    Farmers pick from a color wheel (called the SalmoFan, link below) to figure out what color they want their “product” to be.  Now, that should be concerning...

I like wild red sockeye salmon.  There are all sorts of ways to prepare it.  However, for those who run out of time – here is a quickie I like to do.  The salmon sandwich.

Ingredients:
  • I buy wild salmon patties from Costco.  Great to keep on hand.  And, not that expensive.  I like to cook it in a toaster oven since I try to avoid the microwave.  Pour the juices on your sandwich, don’t throw it away.
  • One or two slices of toasted bread (I like open face sandwiches, personally.  I think I may be secretly French when it comes to certain foods). 
  • One fried egg (fry on a skillet)
  • Avocado and/or tomato
  • A little mayo

Assemble the sandwich.  Consume and enjoy. 


Link to information on SalmoFan: http://www.smithandlowney.com/salmon/