Meg's Meal Planning

salmon

Meal plan for week of July 24th

by 2 Comments

Monday – Asian inspired teriyaki-glazed salmon served over rice noodles.


Tuesday – Mexican chicken and rice skillet. A one pot meal and the left overs are fabulous!



Wednesday – Chicken Fajitas. My trusty favorite Trader Joe’s came to the rescue with this meal. I used half a bag of their frozen peppers and onions, heated it in a skillet, added sliced chicken, and cooked until no longer pink



Thursday – Stuffed peppers with ground beef. Use left over stuffing to make a taco salad for lunch!


Friday – Stuffed chicken with Gorgonzola cheese, dried cranberries, and sage. A restaurant worthy dinner that you won’t believe you cooked!

Teriyaki Glazed Salmon

by Leave a Comment

Asian inspired healthy salmon dish with a flavorful sweet teriyaki sauce. Want it extra spicy? Add red pepper flakes for an extra kick! Served over noodles make it a complete dinner. 

I love experimenting with salmon. One of my favorite ways to enjoy it is on the grill. That smoky char and grill marks gives salmon a great flavor and look. But when grilling isn’t an option, using a cast iron to get an incredible sear is the next best way to prepare salmon. My cast iron has quickly become one of my favorite kitchen tools. There are endless possibilities one can use it for! I’ve made pizza, desserts, pasta dishes, and tacos all in my iron skillet. If you don’t own one, I highly suggest buying one! This is the one I recommend from Lodge.

Teriyaki Glazed Salmon
 
Save Print
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
Asian inspired healthy salmon dish with a flavorful sweet teriyaki sauce
Author:
Recipe type: Dinner
Serves: 2
Ingredients
  • ½ cup low-sodium soy sauce
  • 6 tablespoons orange juice
  • 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • ½ teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 lb salmon
  • ½ box of rice noodles
  • 1 tablespoon cornstarch
  • ½ cup chopped carrots
  • ½ cup frozen edamame
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • Crushed cashew nuts (optional)
  • Red pepper flakes (optional)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Mix first five ingredients in a large bowl, stir together. Place salmon in bowl, cover, and let marinate for 20 minutes in the fridge. Save marinade.
  3. Heat olive oil in cast iron skillet. When hot, sear salmon skin side up for 2-3 minutes, flip over and bake in preheated oven 5-7 minutes or until flaky (depends how thick your salmon piece is). During last 3 minutes, add carrots and edamame to cast iron.
  4. Meanwhile, cook pasta according to package directions.
  5. In small sauce pan, pour the reserved marinade and bring to a boil. Once boiling, add cornstarch and simmer until sauce thickens, stirring frequently.
  6. Once salmon is done cooking, transfer to a plate. Add noodles and sauce to cast iron, stir together.

 

Pin for later

Teriyaki glazed salmon

[This post contains affiliate links, which means if you click on the link and make a purchase, I’ll receive a small commission. Thank you for supporting Meg’s Meal Planning]

Easy Blackened Salmon

by Leave a Comment

Easy, healthy blackened salmon has a powerful taste that will keep you coming back to this recipe! 



It’s official, this is the best way to cook salmon inside.  I’m a big fan of grilled salmon, but when that’s not available, this is a fantastic alternative! The great thing about this recipe is you can make the salmon as spicy as you want it! You can substitute your favorite seasoning and prepare it this way for a kick ass bite every time! The key is you cook it skin side up for a few minutes on the stove, then finish in the oven. 

Easy Blackened Salmon

Ingredients 

  • 1 lb salmon
  • 1 1/2 tsp brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tsp chili powder
  • Salt
  • Olive oil

Steps

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
  2. Season salmon with salt. In a small bowl, wisk together the brown sugar and chili powder. Rub mixture onto salmon.
  3. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a cast iron skillet over medium heat. Sear salmon skin side up for 2-3 minutes (depending on how thick the salmon is). Flip and transfer cast iron into oven and cook for 3 minutes or until salmon is flaky.
 

Week of August 23 – Grill Week!

by Leave a Comment

  
 As the husband of the best meal planner out there, I felt a lot of pressure taking over the blog for the week. Not only do I have big shoes to fill, but it is my last week of summer vacation; school is quickly approaching, and my 8th grade reading classroom won’t set up itself!

I used a couple reliable foods/recipes to make the week a little less daunting while still experimenting with some new ideas as well. Gotta keep those vegetarians happy on Meatless Monday!

Monday – Tomato and Mozzarella Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Brussels Sprouts

I love mushrooms, but I’ve never had them as the main course of a dinner. The combination of tomatoes and mozzarella (one of our absolute favorites if you couldn’t tell!) goes great, and the Brussels sprouts were awesome on the grill. Feel free to experiment with the spices you add to season them.

Tuesday – Top Sirloin Steaks with Prosciutto-Wrapped Scallops and Grilled Zucchini

When Meg and I celebrated our first Christmas living together in 2012, my parents surprised us with a special delivery from Omaha Steaks. It is a tradition that we could definitely get used to ;o) – Thanks Mom and Dad! We always wait until summer time to open these Christmas presents because they just scream summer time grilling!

The steaks are simple; I just season them with Montreal Steak Seasoning and grill four minutes or so before turning over and grilling for another three minutes or so. I left Meg’s on for an extra minute per side because she likes her steak closer to medium than my medium rare.

It was a crowded grill, but I managed to fit the veggie basket on as well with the zucchini inside. Just drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and grill for roughly 15 minutes, flipping occasionally to get that nice charred look and flavor.

Wednesday – Spicy Maple Sugar Chicken Legs with Tomato Risotto 

I turned to Fire It Up, a grilling cookbook, for this recipe. I prepared a Chile brine and Maple Lacquer for the chicken, which was a new experience for sure. I made sure to use the meat thermometer on this because chicken is difficult to get just right, and I didn’t want to have to be taking it on and off the heat.

Spicy Maple Sugar Chicken Legs

  1. Combine the brine and chicken legs in a zip lock bag and refrigerate for a couple hours.
  2. Pat the chicken dry with a paper towel, season with olive oil, salt, and pepper and set aside.
  3. Cook the chicken on indirect heat for about 40 minutes, which should get the chicken to an internal temperature of about 165 degrees. Put chicken over direct heat for the last 10 minutes or so to brown the chicken and brush with Maple Lacquer during last five minutes.

Chile Brine Ingredients (cut in half since there’s only two of us):

  • 1 cup beer
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1 1/2 tbsp salt
  • 1 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp chili powder
  • 1/4 tsp finely chopped habanero (I used home-grown jalapeno)

Maple Lacquer Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp pepper
  • 1 tbsp butter

Bring all ingredients except butter to boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and mix in butter until melted.

Thursday – Pesto Grilled Salmon with Rice and Broccoli

We love our grilled salmon, so in an effort to spice things up a bit for Grill Week, I decided to put a different twist on things. We have plenty of basil from our garden, so this version of grilled salmon was an obvious choice.

Friday – BBQ Pork Ribs with Corn on the Cob and Tomato Salad

Now, you have to bear with me on the way I cook ribs. I’m hoping someday to have a bad-ass grill, a smoker, etc. – all the necessary equipment to be a BBQ master. At this point, I don’t have said equipment, but the ribs don’t suffer because of a tip I got from my cousin Jamie’s husband. These things are fall-off-the-bone awesome!

BBQ Pork Ribs

Steps for BBQ Pork Ribs:

  1. Preheat oven (yes, the oven) to 350 degrees
  2. Line large baking sheet with single layer of aluminum foil
  3. Lay out second sheet of foil with enough excess to wrap completely around ribs
  4. Season each side generously with salt and pepper and load up on your favorite BBQ sauce (we love Sweet Baby Ray’s!)
  5. Completely wrap ribs in foil and bake for two hours
  6. With grill hot and ready, remove ribs from oven and CAREFULLY remove foil (watch out for the steam!)
  7. Cover the ribs again in BBQ sauce and grill for around three minutes a side.

For the corn on the cob, I leave them in the husks and put them on the grill for about 15-20 minutes, making sure to turn occasionally so the husks become charred all the way around. Season with some salt and pepper if you’d like and roll it in some butter!