In addition to lots of cleaning around here, I’ve been doing lots of cooking for our crew during quarantine. You, too?? Raise your hand if you’re with me — I make breakfast, then breakfast 2, then snacks 1 and 2, then lunch, then post-lunch 1, then snacks 3 and 4, and then! Dinner. Finally. 😉 Alrightalright, the girls aren’t snacking quite that much, but man, it sure felt like that during the first two weeks. It seemed like they were hungry every time I turned around, so I upped my breakfast, snacks, and lunch game, and we’ve normalized (phew). Our dinners, on the other hand, have stayed pretty close to those from our pre-quarantine life. I was making one of our favorite dishes last week – this salmon and broccolini number below – and since 1) I always have to dig through Instagram to find the instructions for this recipe (I always forget the oven temp!) and 2) we eat it so often and we love it, I pulled out my big camera and snapped a few pics of the process + finished product in order to give this real good food a permanent place on le blog. My friend, Hailey, originally shared the salmon recipe here, and I’ve thanked her for sharing it before, but I’ll sure thank her again — thank you, Hails, for giving us some gold with this one! The salmon takes 5 minutes to prep and 25 to bake and you’ll wish for 50 minutes of eating time, it’s that good…
Here’s the recipe (according to me; I’ve adapted it just a little; OG recipe here):
LEMON PEPPER BAKED SALMON
Ingredients
– Salmon filet(s)! I’ve used both a 1 lb portion of salmon from Trader Joe’s and a 2 lb filet from Costco – the size of your salmon doesn’t matter. You just need some salmon. 🙂 When I get the 2 lb filet from Costco, we have half of the filet left over for the next day; TJ’s’ 1 lb filet is topped off the night of.
– Plain Greek yogurt. Make sure you use plain greek yogurt! Unsweetened, tangy greek yogurt.
– Lemon pepper. I like Trader Joe’s’ lemon pepper grinder. It creates a coarse spice and the flavor blend is spot on. A little adaptation here — if you don’t like lemon pepper, I’ve also made this with Garlic Salt (also via garlic salt grinder from Trader Joe’s). Ryan and I both think that both spices are super yummy, so take your pic!
Instructions
– Set oven to 400 degrees
– Line baking sheet with tin foil; dab salmon with paper towel to remove excess moisture; set salmon filet on baking sheet
– Cover salmon filet with greek yogurt (I’ve learned that my girls don’t eat this as well when I layer the greek yogurt on too thick, so don’t get too crazy here!)
– Generously sprinkle/grind lemon pepper all over filet. And I mean it – be generous!
– Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until internal temp is at least 145 degrees
– Voila! Your salmon is served.
But wait!! Not without a little roasted broccolini to go with it! 🙂 Baby broccoli is a favorite around here, too (I don’t know why, but it tastes sweeter than regular broccoli), and I always pair our salmon above with our roasted broccolini. The cooking gist here is simple: wash your florets; place them on a tin-foil lined baking sheet; coat the florets in extra virgin olive oil; generously salt. Toss them in the oven while you’re cooking the salmon, and just watch them — pull them out when the florets are crispy and they still look green. My oven is hot and usually cooks these yummy babies up in about 10 minutes.
Okay now dinner is served. 🙂
That’s it! Sometimes – when I’m feeling extra fancy – I make brown rice to go with this meal, too, but I wasn’t feeling fancy last week so that shot above is literally Ryan’s dinner plate, haha. Oh, I should add that half of my girls love this meal. 2/4 will eat the salmon no problem while the other 2 cover theirs in ketchup, which is no skin off my nose. As long as they’re getting salmon in their little bodies, I’m good (salmon is a powerhouse food)!
Happy cooking, friends. Happy quarantining!! We’re making it. <3
