Menu #5

Menu Wisdom

Learning to eat right in a toxic food environment isn’t easy—especially if Food Inc is spending $30 billion a year to tempt us with the siren song of factory foods.  In Greek mythology, the song of the sirens caused seamen to abandon reason and leap overboard, where they promptly drowned.  In modern times protection from mind-numbing siren songs is found in the purposeful step of writing a menu before venturing out to sea, or to the supermarket.  A menu, thoughtfully written in the safety of the home, charts a safe dietary course.  This is so important we moved menu writing up to Healthy Change #4.

We have hesitated to share our menus.  First, because this infers that whatever is good for us is good for everyone else.  That’s definitely not true; we’re all different.  Second, it suggests we’re nutritional know-it-alls, and we’re not.  Nutrition is an overwhelming complex subject that no single person can master.   But we do dedicate most of our time to the study of nutrition, and are happy to share what works for us. 

So with this post, we will start sharing our menus.  (This will also force us to not skip any weeks, which we all know can easily happen.)  Each menu post will suggest three to four dinners, you fill in the rest based on family needs and tastes.  The beautiful wife likes to eat out on Fridays (we call it research for the blog), we often have an omelet on Saturday night, and Sunday may be a family dinner.  Three warnings:

1. We eat quite simply, so no fancy dinners.  A healthy dietary need not cost more than the modern American diet (MAD).
2. We also cook simply.  Most meals can be prepared in 30 minutes or so.
3. We focus on plant foods with a sparing amount of meat or meat products.  One goal, for example, is to eat the five daily servings of vegetables per the 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans.

Menu #5

I know this is the first menu, but we number them according to the Healthy Changes.  So we’ll start with #5.  No recipe is posted here without us first trying it out.  Ditto for the menus—typically we’ll have tried them out the prior week.  This week we stayed in a century-old family home in the Wasatch range of Utah, so ate simple, hearty food.

Monday

• Baked sweet potato, with butter and a little brown sugar.
• Spinach salad, with avocado, tomato, and bacon.

Tuesday

• Potato and onion soup, just right for the cold weather.  See the recipe here.  The soup takes about an hour to prepare, but you save time the 2nd night.
• Whole wheat bread.  Usually we bake our own, but in Utah there’s good bread in the store.

Wednesday

• Salmon.  We try for two fish servings weekly—one fish dinner a week and tuna sandwich for lunch.  We poached the salmon in salted water, then finished it under the broiler, with butter and dill.  We grab a lemon off the tree for use at the table.
• Asparagus, steamed.  It seemed early for asparagus but the price was right.

Thursday

• Potato and onion soup—we enjoy leftovers and this soup tastes better the 2^nd day.
• Corn bread, I used the recipe on the box but reduced the sugar and used more corn meal than flour.   It’s important to use fresh corn meal. 

Please comment:  So that’s our first menu.  We usually have a green salad of some sort with most meals but the cold weather turned us to hot dishes.  Actually, it wasn't too cold for a little Rocky Road ice cream.  Please share your favorite ways of eating salmon.

Comments

[Jeannie]

I love your simple meals. Thanks for sharing your menu. I just planned ours out for the whole month of February. Usually, I only do one week at a time, but I'm recovering from surgery and had some extra time on my hands. Plus I wanted to be prepared since I'm also participating in a "spending fast" this month. No eating out means every meal has to be planned ahead lest we fall into temptation!

Thanks for all you do to encourage thrift and healthful eating!

[Rik]

I love that you're also "real" with your posts... not pretending to be perfect with your eating habits.

I have a new way of eating salmon that I just LOVE! I cook just 2 fillets: First place the fillets in a small baking pan. I usually just use a glass pie pan. Spread about 1 tsp. dijon mustard over the tops of the fillets. In a separate bowl, combine panko crumbs, melted butter, italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Just eyeball everything. I typically do a few TB butter to about 1/3 cup panko. Get it to a nice consistency - not too crumbly. I eyeball all the seasonings. Put this mixture on top of the filets to cover the whole thing. Bake it at 400 for about 20 minutes until it's just done - a little flaky. Try it - you'll love it! We eat this with salad and some roasted potatoes. Start the potatoes much earlier than the salmon - but it's at the same temperature, so I just throw the salmon in near the end.

[Kristen]

Wow, seeing your menu made me think "See, it is simple." None of those meals seems too daunting or time consuming. I may actually be able to pull this off! Thank you!

[LC]

This is perfect! Thanks Skip.
I don't know how to cook salmon but I love it so I'm excited to try Rik's version.

[Gerb]

Thank you for this. My favorite way to prepare salmon is to broil it then add a small squeeze of lemon and some salt before eating. Nothing unique, but I love the real flavors of most foods and prefer them lightly seasoned.

[Jamie]

Oh boy, I'm looking forward to all the salmon ideas here!...

I just heard about a book that I think readers might be interested in, it's called French Kids Eat Everything. It's about teaching kids to eat healthy--which can really be a trick when you've got some bad habits!

Here's the link to the author's blog:

http://karenlebillon.com/

Writing a monthly menu was very helpful in getting my picky eaters to start eating, as it turns out. That was my main goal when I started menu writing 2 years ago. I'm excited to add in some salmon meals now!

[Zarah]

I love salmon marinated in soy sauce, lemon juice, and a little honey.

[christie]

Thanks for sharing your menus. I love salmon broiled or put on grill with olive oil, pepper, sea salt and onion powder. Plus I always cook with some sliced red bell peppers or green beans.

[Ann]

A friend gave me this recipe. I don't know where she got it. We use this often, including last Thanksgiving.

Marinade:
6 cloves garlic, finely minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup lemon juice
3 Tbsp honey
1/3 cup sliced olives
1 Tbsp dried basil
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp red chili flakes

Combine all ingredients. Place 2 pounds salmon in baking dish. Pour all but 1/4 cup of the marinade over the top. marinade salmon for 15-60 minutes. Broil until top caramelizes. Lower temperature to 300 degrees and cook for 10-15 minutes, until flakes easily. Sprinkle with 2 tsp orange zest and 2 tsp lemon zest.

[Rachael C]

I love salmon simply but sometimes I like to jazz it up too with some homemade pesto to make a delicious pesto-crusted salmon. (What's nice about pesto too is that you can make a few batches at a time and freeze it).

Our pesto typically includes olive oil, pine nuts (or toasted almonds), basil (or cilantro), garlic, breadcrumbs, and salt and pepper.

[Brooke]

We love this recipe from Everyday Food...
http://www.marthastewart.com/312658/seared-salmon-and-greens

Salmon with a quick saute of bok choy and garlic, served with brown rice. It has this really delicious mixture of soy sauce, ginger and lime that you pour on top (I don't include the agave). Even the kids love it.. We have a little fresh pineapple for dessert.

[Holly J]

I like the flavor of salmon as it is so I grill it with minimal prep. I simply rub the filet with a little bit of olive oil to prevent sticking and do a light sprinkle of Spike brand seasoning (be sure to read the ingredient list of your favorite seasoning salt! You'd be amazed where trans-fats and additives lurk!) I think the secret is to not overcook the fish. I usually grill my salmon for 15 to 20 minutes realizing it will continue to cook once removed from the heat source. If I feel fancy I'll squeeze a little lemon over it at the table.

[Amy]

We put a salmon fillet on top of a piece of tin foil, sprinkle seasoning on it (sometime lemon pepper, sometimes cajun, sometimes just salt and pepper) then top it with slices of lemon, onion, and some dill if I have it. Wrap up the foil into packets and grill or throw into the oven until flaky. Super yummy!

[Meredith]

I just discovered pan frying salmon in a cast iron skillet. Loved it! Salt and pepper with a bit of lemon juice on top. Thanks for the menu. I'm working on one now.

[Lindsey]

In response to Holly's comment: I used to be a big fan of Spike seasoning until I realized the first ingredient is hydrolyzed soy protein, which from what I understand is similar to and just as harmful as MSG. I was so frustrated when i realized this, especially because Spike is marketed as a health food product.

[Holly J]

Lindsey, thanks for bringing the hydrolyzed soy protein to my attention. I guess I need to heed my own advice, to read ingredient lists and understand what those ingredients are.

Is anyone aware of a store-bought seasoning mix that you have 100% confidence in the ingredients? Or maybe a home made recipe?

[Sarah J]

Thanks for this post. I am already looking forward to next weeks menu. Dinner can be simple. Our favorite way to serve salmon is also with pesto on top, brown rice and veggies on the side.

[Con]

Thanks for the menu suggestions, plain and simple just what I like. I've never tried baked sweet potato so that will definitely be something for next week.

[Ellie]

Hi Skip,
Why is it important to use fresh cornmeal? And what do you mean by using more corn meal than flour? Can you sub it in equal parts? I'm just curious.

The salmon recipe that I grew up with is the BEST I've ever had. I won't use another recipe (it's that good). I'm not sure what the originally source was, but here's the recipe:

Grilled Citrus Salmon

1.5 T lemon juice
2 T olive oil
1 T Butter
1 T Dijon Mustard
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 dashes cayenne pepper
2 dashes salt
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried dill
2 tsp capers

3 pounds salmon fillets

Combine all ingredients (except for salmon) in a small pan over med heat, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes.

Place the salmon skin side down on a piece of heavy duty foil or double regular foil. Fold edges up and form in the shape of a pan (e.g. cookie sheet). Pour or brush the sauce evenly over the fish.

Place on a medium hot grill and close the lid for 10 to 15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets. Fish will be flakey and light pink in color when cooked.

As an alternative, wrap fish in foil and bake in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes.

[skip hellewell]

Ellie, you asked why it's important to use fresh flour. The germ of every grain contains omega-3 fats vital to our health. Once the grain is ground into flour the fats are exposed to oxygen and begin to turn rancid. The omega-3 fats are very reactive, a beneficial property when we eat them. But if they are oxidized or rancid when consumed they're not healthy for us.

Modern mills remove the germ in order to give a long shelf life to their product. It's good for the shelf life but bad for us customers. If you buy whole grains in the form of flour there may be a freshness issue. You can tell by smelling; the nose is sensitive to the rancid odor. There's also a bitter taste.

This is an issue when you buy whole grain flours. The big suppliers, Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur, haven't been open with their customers about this problem. Because most flours are six months old when purchased, I have stopped buying them. Right now I grind my own wheat. I buy corn meal stone ground from the bin in the health food store, and store it in my freezer.

The corn meal sold in packages, like Albers, is degermed. Degerming removes the healthy nutrients of the germ so gives a longer shelf life. Albers doesn't put an expiration date on their flour but if you keep it long enough, it will acquire an off odor and a bitter taste. You may not notice this because the white flour and sugar in the recipe are sweet and mask the bad taste.

The best answer: Stores should provide on-site grinders for point-of-sale freshness. This is the future—they do it for coffee beans. This is better than requiring every consumer to buy a grinder. Most cornbread recipes call for equal amounts of corn meal and white flour. I use 3/4 meal and 1/4 flour because it tastes better. I'd put in whole wheat flour rather than white flour but the beautiful wife doesn't like the taste as much. We're all a little hooked on sweetness over flavor. Best to you