The Spring Festivus worked!
{ Even my blog seems to have imported without a hitch! }

Warm temperatures have begun melting snow, streets are becoming a slushy mess.. and everyone is basking in the welcome sunshine!

Not that I have anything against the color white.
White is a calm, clean, warm color, one that reminds me of white sand beaches.

But there’s nothing like the vibrant signature colors of spring.

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Take food for instance…

Bear with me a moment..
Once one becomes “a certain age”, one must submit oneself to new and ever-evolving medical cancer screening tests. My particular test necessitated a low-fiber diet for four days leading up to it, in addition to 1-1/2 days of fasting. I actually found it a struggle to remember how to eat a low-fiber diet.

Think 1960’s… white rice, white pasta, plain yogurt, thin white slices of bread, jello, and so on.
Not that I have anything against such a diet, but it is so bland and, well, white!

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I am delighted to announce that Smidge “passed” that test with flying colors.. probably because of the healthy and colorful diet our family regularly eats!  I am so grateful to the Forzani and MacPhail Screening Center Clinic and the expertise of the nurses and doctors. Eating bland food notwithstanding, the staff made the whole experience so effortless.

Please, please, promise me you will all keep up with all of your regular cancer screening tests, they could save your life!

♥

My first lunch (after fasting for 1 1/2 days) on the way home was a sandwich made from two thick wedges of nutty, multi-grain bread from the The Lazy Loaf and Kettle… with a latte, of course. They are always jam-packed over the lunch hour because they’ve been making their hearty Kettle Bread with 9 grains, no dairy, eggs or fat for years in Calgary.

I.Was.In.Heaven.

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Back to those signature colors of spring… as you can imagine, I was still quite starving by dinner time!

I made the Bartolini Kitchen’s Salsa Verde and just loved its piquant flavor. I can’t wait to try it on a Panini sandwich tomorrow! It was like a taste of Spring in every mouthful!

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We paired it with a Crunchy Pecan Salmon and spree’s Kale Salad.. which had my family happily munching like bunnies, saying over and over that “This is the best kale salad ever!” And it definitely was. If that isn’t enough reason for you to try kale, to quote spree, “kale even blocks the growth of cancer cells”.

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The Crunchy Pecan Salmon recipe was a new one for us, a little more on the sweet side so it was in a bit of a conflict with the tart of the salsa verde, but sweet with sour can be surprisingly good. If I made it again, I would simply pair it with John’s grilled swordfish steaks as instructed.
(When will Smidge ever listen?)

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This can be one of those “no measuring” recipes.
So, feel free to change the portions of butter, Dijon and honey. I was, more or less, winging the recipe after Jane described it to me. I found our Dijon quite overpowering so added more honey. You might want to begin with the butter and go from there. It mixes into a nice creamy sauce that brushes over the salmon. The sprinkled pecan mixture bakes and the pecans bake until they are crunchy and a little candied.. a very pleasant change-up from my other salmon recipes!

Best of all.. this entire meal whipped up in only 30 minutes (including the salmon cooking time) (ok, I had to run around the kitchen a little bit)!

Who said it’s difficult to eat healthy?

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Jane’s Crunchy Pecan Salmon, Salsa Verde and a Kale Salad

 

Print

Cook time

20 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Ingredients

• 1 large fillet of salmon
• 2 tbsp butter, softened
• 2 1/2 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 3-4 tbsp honey (sweetened to taste)
• 1/4 cup pecans, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs
• small handful cilantro, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°
2. Rinse and pat salmon fillet dry and lay in a foil lined baking pan.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the butter, Dijon mustard and honey. Spread over the fillet.
4. In another small bowl, stir together the pecans, bread crumbs and cilantro. Sprinkle and pat into the Dijon topped fillets.
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the center of the salmon is cooked through and flaky but still moist.

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3.5.3251

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ps If you’re still here.. that means we’ve made it to the “other side”!! Thank you from the bottom of my little Smidge heart for still following me! xx

pps I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention my sincere and heartfelt thanks to Bam at Bam’s Kitchen and Tandy at Lavender and Lime  for their words of advice through the blog transfer process. Just check out Bam’s Asian Spiced Pears… (click on the photos)

and Tandy’s Chocolate Fudge Brownie Parcels

And you’ll know these bloggers know their stuff!

Keeping these women’s act of kindness in mind, I’ll be happy to “pay it forward” to anyone who wants to know the details and the “how to” of blog transfer. I think the biggest “surprise” for me, was that the transfer of your blog can take up to 72 hours after they transfer it to go on-line. Who knew? xx