Tag Archives: cooking

Easy and Healthy Baked Coconut Salmon Cakes

03/31/2016 R.C. Liley 2 Comments

Do you find yourself stuck in a rut of eating the same thing day in and day out for weeks? If you answered “Yes”, you’re not alone. But I make it a point to change things up when I can. As long as it’s tasty, healthy, and relatively quick to make, it’s fair game! Or should I say fair fish? See what I did there?

Enter these delicious salmon cakes that are both healthy and easy to make. Using canned salmon (tuna or crab would work too) makes these a convenient weeknight main course and are perfect to make extra for the next day.

So, make a double batch of these to have dinner with the family and to take to work (or just have the next day if you stay at home like me) for a healthy and delicious lunch.

Baked Coconut Salmon Cakes

Ingredients

2 (5oz) cans wild salmon in water, drained (canned tuna or crab works too)
1/2 cup Coconut Flour (If you don’t have this, rolled oats also work well)
1 tsp each of cumin, garlic powder, and onion powder
1/2 tsp cayenne
2 T Dijon mustard
2 eggs or 3 egg whites or 3 flax/chia eggs
4 T Of your favorite salsa
1 T each dried basil and dill
Pepper to taste

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees
Add all ingredients in a bowl and mix well to incorporate. You can also mix everything in a food processor if desired. If mixture seems too runny, add oats or coconut flour 1 tablespoon at a time until thick enough to hold together.
Scoop the mix into a lightly oiled 12 cup muffin pan (I filled 9 of the 12 cups) and bake in pre-heated oven for 25 -30 minutes, depending how toasted you want the top. It should have a crispy golden crust on top.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for 5 to 10 minutes.
Top each cake with your favorite mustard, salsa, or even a yogurt sauce like Tzatziki; I like them plain too. Serve with steamed veggies and maybe a tasty side of quinoa curry salad.

If you love crab cakes, this is an easy and more affordable alternative to make at home. Unless you use imitation crab, but let’s not go down that road, I’ll save it for another post. 🙂

What’s your favorite seafood?

Would you like it baked into a cake like this?

Food, Going Healthy

Protein-Packed Spicy Black Bean Burger Recipe

03/16/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

These spicy black bean burgers were created by accident. I intended to make them more of a cake (think crab cakes without the crab), but ended up with more of a flat, burger-like patty.

Do you ever do that; set out to make one thing, and wind up with something else? I guess that’s how a lot of great things have come into existence…..the slinky, microwave, Post-it notes, and even chocolate chip cookies, to name a few.

I mixed everything together, thought it was too runny, so I added more dry ingredients. Then a little more dry ingredients. You know, just to be safe.

Apparently, the addition of dry ingredients was just a little too much. Instead of a moist and tender bean cake, I wound up with a slightly crispy and tasty black bean burger.

Meh, I’m still eating them like a cake and leaving out the bun! These would’ve great formed into rectangles for a fun kid-friendly finger food you could use with cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or just mustard as delicious dips.

Remember when I mentioned these on my last Meatless Monday post? Well, here’s the recipe as promised. This recipe is one delectable mistake that I’ll be making again; on purpose this time. Try it for yourself and let me know how you like it or what you did different.

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

black bean burger, cake, recipe, healthy, vegetarian, cooking — Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Shittake Mushrooms take the…errr…um…cake?

by RC Liley

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 50 min

Ingredients (Serves 4 – 6)

1 cup dried black beans, soaked overnight or 2 (15oz) cans of black beans, rinsed and drained
6oz of your favorite salsa; the amount varies, just eyeball it and add more towards the end if needed
1 medium onion, chopped
2 bell peppers (any color); chopped
4 cloves garlic; crushed and minced
4 tablespoons spicy brown mustard
2 whole eggs or 3 egg whites; you can use 1/4 cup ground flaxseed or chia seeds to make this vegan
3/4 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup unflavored protein powder; can use more coconut flour as a substitute
1/4 cup rolled oats
2 teaspoons cumin
Ground black pepper to taste; no need for salt as there should be enough in the salsa and mustard
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
3 tablespoons dried cilantro

Instructions

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees.
Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat, sweat onion, bell peppers, and garlic; add beans, cilantro, and spices and cover to let simmer for 20 – 30 minutes.
Remove beans from heat and transfer to large bowl to let cool; you don’t want to cook the eggs!
Using a large fork or potato masher, mash most of the beans leaving a few ones intact for texture.
Add remaining wet ingredients to bowl and mix well. Sift dry ingredients in small bowl and slowly mix into wet.
With a large spoon, scoop the mix onto a parchment lined baking sheet, form into patties or whatever shape you want, and bake in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes, and then flip over and cook another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven (should have a crispy brown crust) and let cool on pan for 5 to 10 minutes.
Top each cake with salsa, plain yogurt, cottage cheese, or mustard and any of your favorite toppings. Serve with a big side of steamed veggies.

Food, Going Green, Going Healthy

Why Meat Lovers Should Partake in Meatless Monday

03/14/2016 R.C. Liley Leave a comment

Remember when the USDA retracted its statement referencing “Meatless Monday”? Yeah, the Cattlemen’s Beef Association flexed its “beefy” bicep when the Ag Dept posted a message to its employees about helping to reduce the environmental impact of eating meat by skipping it one day of the week.

I know very little on the inner-workings of lobbying and getting messages out to the public, but I figure money is the biggest concern; not public health. When I see/hear any sort of “this is good for you” promotion from the government or any big business, I raise my brow and take what’s being pushed with a grain of salt.

Just ask yourself these 2 questions when you see claims on packages, the television, magazines, billboards, etc:

Who or What will reap the most benefits of this statement? – It says it’s healthy, but the 50 ingredients in this pretty package don’t seem very good or natural.

How much money was spent so people like me can see this claim? – Only the big industries have great power to push their products for all to see. Small, local companies producing small batch, whole food goods, don’t have the funding to really advertise as well.

I like all types of meat and fish, but I eat red meat sparingly and only grass-fed…preferably local too. The economic cost of producing beef is just not worth it to me. Just think of all the cheap, junky beef products fast food chains are rolling out to so many people each day; it’s crazy! Sure, the $1 menu “deals” seem appealing to those who are ignorant to health and are short on cash; sadly, this is a common correlation.

Costs associated to produce a quarter pound of beef.

But consider other costs; the cost to get the meat wrapped in a paper package and handed to you through the window of a drive-thru…mmm. Producing just a half pound of beef requires 7.40 pounds of CO2, that’s equivalent to driving 9.81 miles. Now take into account that in 2009 the U.S. consumed 14 million tons of beef; and 72 million tons for the world. That’s a lot of gas! (Source for this info.)

meatless monday spicy black bean burger

I will happily choose a couple meatless meals per week to help reduce emissions just a little bit. If we all did this, our little changes will have a big impact on the health of our economy and bodies. So give the USDA and Beef Industry the finger a carrot, and enjoy a meal with the spicy black bean burger in the pic above instead! Recipe coming soon.

Check out wannaveg.com for a list of 10 reasons to go vegetarian one day each week.

I wonder what what the CAFO supporting beef industry would do if more people helped the health of the Earth and their bodies by abstaining from meat for one day? They’d be as mad as cows for sure, so I would assume their well-paid lobbyists made sure the posting was removed. And it was……only hours after being posted.

I would never ask anyone who loves meat to go vegetarian (I’m certainly not!), but please reduce the consumption of meat, especially from fast food or the cheap store-bought kind, and reap the benefits on cost, healthy, and experiencing new food!