Zucchini Wrapped Baked Salmon

ZUCCHINI WRAPPED SALMON

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Its almost that time of year again.... harvest season. That crazy time of year when your friends, family and every neighbor you know is harvesting zucchini from their lovely gardens, and gladly giving it away by the bushel. So what do we do with this squashy vegetable... Yes it can be grilled and steamed and stir-fried, but how about using it as a flavor infused wrap to cook your salmon in? Well, that is exactly what I did! I had a sneaking suspicion that if I mixed its earthly flavors with a bit of lemon it would compliment the salmon perfectly.... and BOY was I right! This NEW Homestead Seasoning Recipe is going onto my "Favorites List" IMMEDIATELY!
Very few ingredients, a little bit of prep and cooking time and you will look like a gourmet chef in front of your family and friends.

INGREDIENTS

1 or 2 Fresh Salmon Fillets (you can use frozen, but they need to be thawed before cooking)
2 or 3 Tablespoons HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS FISH RUB 
1 Medium Lemon sliced
1 Large Green Zucchini Ribbon Sliced
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
Pinch HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS Himalayan Pink Salt (Optional)
Parchment Paper

INSTRUCTIONS

 First you will want to gather a few common kitchen tools, a good veggie peeler or cheese slicer (the cheese slicer works better, but if you are patient either will work just fine) Wash the zucchini and dry it off and then start "peeling" ribbons of zucchini, slowly. Try to get as many uniform ribbon/slices as possible. You will need about 12-15 ribbons per large fillet of salmon, but it never hurts to have a few extra just in case. 

 Once you get as many ribbons as you need set them aside and lay out a large square of parchment paper on the counter. Layer the zucchini, overlapping each piece a bit. I lined up the green edges uniformly so that it would look "really cool" once it was wrapped and cooked around the salmon... (and in case you didn't know I've heard "really cool" is a fancy, technical cooking term ha!)

 All lined up and ready for the next stage... I sprinkled a pinch of Himalayan Pink Salt on the zucchini then carefully laid the salmon fillet in the center of the zucchini strips. Rub fillet with lightly with olive oil, and generously cover with the HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS FISH RUB. It is a beautiful spice blend, filled with all sorts of yummy goodies that bring out the very best flavors of your fish.

Top the seasoned Salmon Fillet with the freshly sliced lemon, and don't be stingy with the lemons! At this point I was getting really excited- mostly because my kitchen smelled amazing and the dish was looking SO pretty!

Around now you will want to go ahead and preheat your oven to 300 degrees, yep 300 degrees...  I like to cook my fish Low and Slow! Now I wont lie to you, this next part was pretty dang fun! Starting at the top- you will begin wrapping the zucchini around the Salmon and Lemons in a braiding-like fashion, overlapping the ends of the zucchini all the way down.

 Once the fillet is completely wrapped, its ready to be cooked. Fold in the short corners of the parchment paper over the ends of the fillet and then wrap the long corners over the middle of the fillet. (like how Subway wraps up their foot-long sandwiches) Place the wrap(s) on a cookie sheet or casserole dish and into the 300 degree oven they go!

For a standard Salmon Fillet you will want to cook it for about 20 minutes, if you are cooking a thicker fillet 25 minutes should do the trick. The fish will be lighter pink and flaky when its cook and ready to eat! When the Salmon is ready let it sit for about 5 minutes before slicing. I used a sharp kitchen knife and sliced the fillet into about 3 inch serving sizes, then served it over penne pasta. It would also be delicious over rice, cous-cous, quinoa or even served just by itself.

 However you serve it, get ready for a real treat~ The zucchini steams the salmon perfectly, keeping it moist, flaky and soaks up the herbs and zingy lemon juice in the process.  I absolutely loved it and went back for seconds (and just between you and me... I had thirds later that night) Which you can do because this meal is Low-Fat, Low Sodium and full of the vitamins that keep your brain and body super happy! Enjoy~

Crazy Crockpot Chicken Thighs

CRAZY CROCKPOT CHICKEN THIGHS

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This recipe was lovingly named by the elder of my two children.

He recently turned 11, and I am loving how much his quirky personality grows and changes each day... its growing and changing ALMOST as fast as he is Ha!      Any-who back to the business of food...

 

So what makes this Chicken "crazy" you ask? 

Well as I was preparing to make dinner, and getting all of my ingredients out- I pulled out our HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS SEAFOOD BLEND –the one with the little orange crab on the front, and set it on the counter by the fresh chicken thighs. He seemed a bit perplexed, looking back and forth between the spice and the chicken and with an all-too-familiar, are you loosing your mind again mom?... look and said “Mom, either you are confused or that meat came from one CRAZY looking crab. I laughed so hard Dr. Pepper almost came out of my nose, but it was worth it because that was the moment Crazy Crockpot Chicken was born!

 

In case you were wondering, I'm not TOTALLY crazy… the wonderful thing about ALL of the HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS Blends and Rubs is that they were created with a specific meat or dish in mind, BUT that doesn’t mean they aren’t amazing when you get a little crazy and mix it up. The seafood blend has a delicious mix of citrus and lemon and dill undertones. Which makes it delicious on seafood, chicken, baked potatoes, grilled veggies and even some cuts of pork. The possibilities are endless!

This recipe is about as easy as it gets. Its what I like to call a simple RUB>COOK>EAT situation and perfect for a crazy weekday meal…just how I like it- barely any prep, very few ingredients and the crockpot will do the rest of the work.

INGREDIENTS

4-5 Large Chicken Thighs, cleaned & trimmed (fresh or frozen will work)

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2-3 Tablespoons HOMESTEAD SEASONINGS SEAFOOD RUB

1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice

¼ cup of water

HIMALAYAN Pink Sea Salt and Pepper to taste (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

Pour ¼ cup of water into bottom of the crockpot, place the Chicken thighs right side up in the crockpot and brush with olive oil. Cover each Chicken Thigh well with the HS Seafood Rub and sprinkle with the lemon juice and salt and pepper if you choose. Set the Crockpot on low and cook for 5-6 hours. At around the 6 hour mark, the meat will be so tender it will fall off the bone! Outstanding!

I love serving this CRAZY chicken with a nice Rice Pilaf or even Parmesean Cous Cous. 

It also goes great with our 

Salt–Free/ Flavor-Full Baked Squash Fries 

 which I will be posting later this week, so check back soon!!

You never know what might happen if you step outside the box, and if you make something crazy at your house with our seasonings we want to hear about it, send us your recipe and a few nice pictures and we might feature you right here on our Homestead Seasoning Blog!