"Gourmet" Salmon

Now, I am all but gourmet but this salmon is SO gourmet... meaning it is SO SO SO delicious!  But oh so simple and quick!  Really, give it 15 minutes to be on your plate.

Ingredients: 

Salmon ( I buy this individually wrapped "steaks")

Fish & Seafood Seasoning I HIGHLY recommend Spade L Ranch. In my area I find it in Smiths or Albertsons 

Sesame Seed Oil (near the asian food in any grocery store) 

Here is a link to find this amazing seasoning in your area. No, I'm not being reimbursed at all for this I just REALLY like every one of their seasonings!  Click here to find it Spade L Ranch Seasonings

 If you are like me, for whatever reason I have a terribly hard time getting my meat out of the freezer in the morning to thaw it out for dinner and always end up doing it the speedy quick "not recommended" way.  With fish you NEVER want to defrost it in the microwave!  Grab a large bowl, place the fish in it and fill it with luke warm to cool water.  Do not use hot water.  The hot water can cook the fish instead of thawing.  You can thaw a chunck of fish in about ten minutes doing it this way... you may want to add new luke warm water a few different times to speed the process up even more.

Season one side of the salmon.  With this seasoning it takes about 1 1/2 Tablespoons.  Really just a guess though.

 Now drizzle about a Tablespoon of Sesame Seed Oil into a frying pan... this oil has loads & loads of flavor so go easy.  If you think you need more while the fish is cooking I would probably use some olive oil.

 Heat the pan on a medium high heat.  Let it get good and hot before you place the fillets in it.  For beauty purposes set the salmon in with the seasoned side up.

 Depending on the thickness you should let these cook for about four minutes on this side before turning.  You can check the ends to see how it's cooking.  As it cooks the meat will become a light/pale pink.  Wait to turn it until it is just more than half way up.

 To make sure it is thoroughly cooked; check the ends once again it should be that pretty pink color throughout.  Also, it should flake when a fork is inserted into it and pulled back a bit with the grain of the meat.  You do not want to over cook fish, stay close!

Serve with this Pecan Rice  and Cheesy Green Beans.

Thanks!

Orange Chicken

Okay, I was standing in my kitchen last night wondering what in the world I was going to make for dinner.  I didn't want one of the usuals that I always make.  I wanted something new I wanted something with fllaaavvoor... I wanted Orange Chicken!
So what did I do?  I got on my favorite recipe website Tasty Kitchen and found me a flavor packed recipe.
And look!  There was a blog link attached to the recipe so CHECK IT OUT... Better Than Takeout Orange Chicken.  I don't know about you but when I think of Asian food it kinda intimidates me, okay okay it really intimidates me.  No need to be scared with this one, it's easy shmeazy!  And it has "normal" ingredients, meaning I had almost everything in my house and what I didn't have I improvised.
I always have ginger seasoning in my spice cupboard but must have ran out.  Cause I didn't have any so I just left it out, I think it's needed though and I'm sure fresh ginger root would be best like the recipe calls for.  I didn't have panko crumbs either, so I used flour instead. The chicken turned out great and even had a good crunch but the panko would have a better crunch.
Now, I have a confession to make... I have a problem... dun dun duuuunnnn...  I tend to add more of my favorite ingredients/spices than recipes call for. I do this all the time and sometimes it gets me into trouble.  I added WAY TO MUCH Orange Zest :-(  My husband couldn't get past my orange flavoring... So I had to confess to him my problem. 
He fixed his plate by putting Worcestershire Sauce on his orange chicken Y U C K uggh, SO weird! (That's how he "fixes" anything he doesn't like.) 
It really wasn't t h a t   b a d but next time I make this recipe, and I will make it again and again and probably again and again I will refrain and just use one tablespoon of orange zest and show my silly husband that YOU DON'T PUT WORCESTER ON ORANGE CHICKEN!