There is a poster at the cabin with a picture of a sleepy, grinning pig and a caption that reads - Those who Indulge Bulge. I confess. I have indulged, I bulge.
You may have noticed that I love to cook, I love to eat and I love to socialize. Because of these facts, I have fought the weight battle for years. Fortunately, I also love to exercise. During my 30s and 40s, I taught dance aerobics, step aerobics, even funk aerobics. I also earned a certification in personal training which actually came in very handy during parenting. I have read just about every self-help book from Edgar Cayce to Stephen Covey to Dr. Oz. And I can tell you that I know the TRUE secret to successful weight loss. This may come as a shock, but the TRUE secret to successful weight loss is -- to use up more calories than you take in.
Sometimes the simplest truths are the hardest ones to achieve.
There are some pretty crazy diets out there folks. Cabbage diets, low carb diets. All kinds of diets. Carol was telling me about a four day diet where you eat 10 boiled eggs, 10 bananas and 10 hot dogs every day. These diets may work for some people, but they do not work for me. For one thing, I am very rebellious. I do not like to think that I have to eat something or that I am restricted from something. The second thing is that I like to cook and I like to eat a variety of things. Many of which are fried.
I do like healthy foods as well. One of the last remnants of the holidays is when we squeeze our last Ruby Red Grapefruit. Each December, we get a case of fresh Ruby Red grapefruits which are the absolute best in the world. We pull out the old juicer that we have had for 23 years and we ration the grapefruits so they will last as long as possible. There is nothing better than fresh squeezed Ruby Red grapefruit juice for breakfast. This morning we had one grapefruit left and we both had our last wonderful glass until next Christmas.
But back to bulging. The only time I have been successful at weight loss is when I step up my exercise and reduce my calories to about 1200-1500 per day. I do not restrict what types of things I eat or drink, but I do count the calories.
So, this week I have committed myself to reining in the calories and stepping up the exercise. The calorie part is a challenge, but exercise is fun and easy for me. I have started taking a tap dancing class with my dance teaching neighbor Beth and two other fun co-horts who will remain nameless. We agreed that we wanted to take a class for fun and exercise, but we don't want to have to perform. So far so good on that one. We are having a blast.
Tennis will start up soon, so even though doubles isn't very strenuous, at least when I have a racquet in one hand, I can't be holding a cheeseburger and fries in the other. Carol and I have moved from the slow pace of the walking track at the Y (which is great for our mental health, but doesn't burn alot of calories) to treadmills with a faster speed and higher inclines. We try to get treadmills side by side so we can continue to solve the world's problems and also figure out what's for dinner.
Which brings me to salmon patties. Friday, while on the treadmill, I told Carol that I had just had a conversation with Mom and Dad about salmon patties. Or salmon balls as Nishie called them. We NEVER called them salmon cakes or salmon croquettes.
I love salmon. So does most of my family. Libby, Mem and I meet now and then at Pleasant City Grill for a salad with grilled salmon. Everyone who works there knows what we want when we walk in the door. One day recently, we had a new waitress. When she took our order Libby surprised us by ordering shrimp on her salad instead of salmon. We noticed some discussion going on in the kitchen when finally Chris, the owner, walked out of the kitchen to our table. He had a quizzical look on his face and asked, "Did you really order Shrimp? We just want to make sure your waitress didn't misunderstand you." That's why we love Pleasant City Grill.
I could eat fish every day for every meal. So could Mama. Mama Crowder too. She used to have salt fish for breakfast. But I especially love salmon - fresh, baked, broiled, grilled, and even right out of the can. Daddy taught me to make a little salmon salad with just canned salmon, chopped onion and a few drops of cider vinegar. You wouldn't believe how good that is.
But salmon patties are especially good. Because they are fried. And also because they are fast and easy to make. Fortunately they are good for you too, with calcium, protein and those Omega 3 fatty acids. The good kind of fat. Gotta love a fat that's good for you.
The other day I called Mom and Dad and with both of them on the phone asked them to refresh my memory about making salmon patties. True to form, they had differing opinions on a recipe. They agreed on many things including using 1 can with the juice and all of the other things in there. This may seem counter to Mama's don't put anything in you wouldn't want to eat rule , but once you stir things around a little you'll be okay. Trust me. And Dad says the bones and things are part of what makes it so healthy. They also agreed that you should cook them fairly slowly over med high heat to make the crispiest crust. They said to use crumbled crackers, not bread crumbs and not to roll them in extra crackers, just put the crackers in and mix.
From there they begin to differ, Daddy likes to use onions, but Mama can take or leave them. Mama says to use one egg and Daddy says two or three eggs. Daddy likes alot of crackers and Mama likes a minimum. I had to go with Mama on egg and crackers because as she said, "Do you want it to taste like salmon? or eggs and crackers?" I definitely want it to taste like salmon.
So I made salmon patties Friday afternoon, put on my armor and took some out to Lattimore for a critique. I am happy to report that they passed the test. So here is the recipe that I came up with. I ciphered a bit and decided that each patty has roughly 100 calories. Perfect diet food for me.
Salmon Patties
1 can Wild Alaska pink salmon with juice and bones
1 egg
9 crackers (we think Zesta Whole Wheat are the best crackers)
1/4 tsp cider vinegar
about 2-3 tablespoons chopped onion (Dad said to saute onions, but I didn't)
Salt and pepper to taste - more pepper than salt, there's salt in the salmon
Mix everything together and form into patties. They will be slightly moist. You should get eight patties out of this recipe.
Here's a trick I learned from the Fresh Market. When making crabcakes, salmon patties, hamburgers or meatballs, they will stay together better during cooking if they are cold.
So after making the salmon patties I put them in the freezor for 15 minutes to solidify before frying. You can also put them in the fridge for an hour or so which is nice for making things ahead of time.
Heat Wesson oil in a cast iron frying pan to medium high. I use enough Wesson oil to come about halfway up the salmon patty, not cover them. The oil should bubble when you put the patty in. I fry four at a time for four minutes and turn to the other side. Fry four more minutes. They weren't quite crusty enough so after frying four minutes on each side, I turned and fried another minute or two on each side. Remove and drain on paper towels to soak away excess oil.
In Lattimore, we had salmon patties with dried beans like great northerns or pintos, Nishie's slaw (recipe April 11, 2010) and Mama's Cornbread (recipe April 25, 2010). Since I was counting calories, I skipped the beans, slaw and cornbread this time. Two salmon patties and fresh squeezed grapefruit juice - my kind of diet food!
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