Tomato Feta Stack and Mustard Glazed Salmon

Day 12 - 2Week Atkins Induction


Dr. Seussesque Tomato Feta Stack with
Mustard Glazed Salmon

Thanks for being patient. I took yesterday off, blog-free. I needed to rest and refuel my engines! But never fear, I still remained a sturdy and stauch Inductioneer. I’m on the downhill side of the most restrictive period of Atkins Induction (and also Phase I of South Beach).

This post is actually about Friday’s nutrition and menus. It was another Fasting Meatless Friday – always a challenge in a home headed by a meat-and-taters guy, and 5 sock monkey boys who also think meat and potatoes (and bananas) hung the moon. No, I can’t forget the bananas for the boys. They have them at every meal and
openly mock that I can’t have bananas on Induction. Brats.



Low Carb Cheese Onion Hotdogs

The only eatin’ being done during the daytime on Friday was by Denny’s hand. I broke down and made him lunch. He looked pretty pitiful and asked, “Am I fasting too?”

I thought a second and relented. He did not make this commitment to God. I did. It is my choice. Not his. So I broke down and whipped out the leftovers.

Gosh, have I told you how much I heart leftovers? I popped out the last two Revolutionary Hotdog Buns (I will be posting that recipe next week!!), and a couple of Boar’s Head, All Natural Beef Frankfurters and a little raw cheddar cheese and let the oven do the talkin’.

All that's left is the shoutin'! Throw on a bit of yellow mustard and a few chopped red onions and you are Queen of the Kitchen. The grape tomatoes on the plate add a little crunch. Who misses greasy fries or chips?

I really don't believe this is diet food. Oh diet, where is thy hunger? Oh diet, where is though sting? Not one second. I have not felt one second of hunger. None. The end.

Pick 'em up with your hands and eat a dog the way
a dog needs to be eaten!

I still marvel at picking these babies up with my hands and being able to eat it like a hotdog should...if I was eating. Which I wasn’t. But Denny agreed they tasted great and hit the spot.

You might be wondering about the Dr. Seuss’ Tomato Feta Stack? I could tell you I just love tall food. But actually, the Roma tomatoes looked beautiful at Sam’s and were cheap.

(Please don’t make me think of GMO and conventional farming practices. Please? I already had that conversation with my head the night I bought them.)

I no sooner brought the Roma's home than started dreaming how cool they would look made in the style of one of the inspiration pins on my Pinterest page.

OMG. Soooo cool! And easy. Cool and easy. We all need a little bit of that in our lives.

As usual, I had to tweak. I used the Fluffy Chix Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette from this recipe. I had some leftover…and added a bit of the mint that needed using, feta and oh hold me back. It was incredibly refreshing! It made my mouth sing. The Dr. Seuss Tomato Feta Stack acted as a perfect side for garlicky green beans and Mustard Crusted Salmon.

Move over Cat In The Hat! There's a new
Seussy Stack in town!

Dr. Seussesque Tomato Feta Stack
Yield – 2
Prep Time – 5 Minutes
Cook Time – Not a minute, not a sec.
Difficulty – Easy

Ingredients
2 Roma or Heirloom Tomatoes
1/2c Feta Cheese
2 Tbsp Chopped Mint
1/4c Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette2 tsp. Olive Oil
1 pinch Sea Salt
Garnish - 2 Mint Tip Sprigs (optional)

Wash and dry tomatoes.

Cut the very 1/16” of tomato off the bottom to allow the tomato to sit straight with balance. Now make 3-4 slices from each tomato. Cut across the tomato to make stacked slices.

Mix feta, mint  and salt with vinaigrette.

Layer the feta vinaigrette with the tomatoes.

Top with a sprig of mint from the tip of a branch.

Mustard Crusted Salmon - Quick and Easy!

Mustard Glazed Salmon
Yield – 6 Servings (2 main servings, 4 leftover servings – smaller in size)
Prep Time – 5 Minutes
Cook Time – 6-10 Minutes
Difficulty – Easy

Ingredients
1-1/3 lb Wild Caught Salmon Filet, with skin
2-3 Tbsp Dijon Mustard, coarse grain
1 Tbsp Parsley, dried
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Powder, granulated
2 tsp Olive Oil
Garnish Lemon Wedges (optional)

Wash and dry salmon. Feel the salmon along the bone line, the vertical line following down the length of the fish. If you feel any bones, remove them using a pair of clean kitchen tweezers.

Smear salmon liberally with coarse grain Dijon mustard. Country Style Dijon rocks!

Sprinkle heavily with garlic powder and add a couple of pinches of coarse sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Sprinkle with dried parsley flakes.

Drizzle each side of salmon with a teaspoon of olive oil.

Heat pan on high heat and place salmon skin side down. (Note – I like cooking this in a pan on the outside propane grill! No fish smells linger in the house when you cook it outside!) Immediately reduce heat to medium.

Mustard Crusted Salmon dinner.
Under 30 minutes fridge to table!

Cook salmon for 4-5 minutes, skin side down. The goal is to cook the salmon ¾ of the way through with the skin side down. You can see this from the “cook line” when you view the fish from the side. It will look cooked about ¾ of the way up from the bottom with a raw top! Time to turn!

Carefully turn fish over and allow it to finish cooking another 2-3 minutes. Remove the skin and remove any grey fatty residue on the top layer just underneath the skin.

When the salmon is done, place a plate over the cooking pan and flip so that plate is on the bottom and the fish is on the plate.

Allow fish to rest 5 minutes prior to serving.

Portion salmon and plate. Garnish with an optional lemon wedge.

(Note – If eating the salmon skin, return the removed piece of skin to the pan, “gooey” side down. Turn heat up to high and fry salmon skin as you would a piece of bacon. A bacon press comes in handy for cooking the skin!) Remove from heat and shape as desired or break up skin into segments and serve. Just keep in mind, many of the toxins, chemicals and pesticides from the water and environment are concentrated in the fat found in the skin and in the first layer between the skin and fish flesh.)

Susie T’s Notes –
I’m sure you can guess how many stars I gave dinner! Haha. Yep, 4 Forks.

It’s easy, cheap, takes less than 30 minutes from fridge to table and looks like a gourmet made it. You’ll feel like you are eating at a high end restaurant.

Gourmet Fast Food for less than the price of a
combo meal!

Wait did I say cheap? But I paid $12.48/lb for that wild caught sockeye salmon! How do you call that cheap? That’s not cheap! But au contraire, mon frère! Let’s do some advanced math!

Take off your shoes. Mine are already off.

The salmon cost $12.48/lb and I bought 1-1/3lbs for $16.60 total. Yikes! For a dinner at home!?!

Well, no. Not just dinner. If you consider we got 6 meals from that 1-1/3lbs of fish, it’s about $2.77/serving. It doesn’t really matter that the serving size is different, this is just a bit of rough calculation.

Here’s how it happened:
Dinner – 2 portions ($2.77/serv x 2serv = $5.54)
4 oz – Susie T.
5 oz – Denny

Lunch – Day 13 ($2.77/serv x 2serv = $5.54)
2 oz – Susie
2 oz – Denny

Breakfast – Day 14 ($2.77/serv x 2serv = $5.54)
2 oz – Susie
2 oz – Denny

I can't believe this is diet and budget food!

The rest of the ingredients cost less than $2.50 for each meal serving 2 people. So for less than you would pay for 2 Combo meals from Brand X Fast Food restaurant we got lovely, wild caught salmon and had enough to feed Denny and me 3 different meals! Score!

Now that’s why I went to school. Gotta love that math!


Day 13 Poopy Report
Weight – 230.8lbs
FBG – Out of Strips
Pain – 5
Mood – 6 (Tired and hurting)
Walking – No




Day 13 Totals and Menu

Click image to enlarge.

Fasting Friday
Decaf black coffee, unsweetened

Dinner
4 oz Salmon Filet
1 Tbsp Coarse Dijon Mustard
1 Roma Tomato
¼ c Feta Cheese
1 Tbsp Mint, fresh
2 Tbsp Lemon Garlic Vinaigrette
1/2c Haricot Verts
1 clove Garlic
1 Tbsp Olive Oil

Dessert
½ c SF Orange Jello
2 Tbsp Sour Cream
1 Tbsp SF Vanilla DaVinci Syrup