Salmon Burger with Kale Chips

Sometimes you just want a burger when you know you shouldn't have one. The craving is something that happens to many people, and in most cases, you'll justify succumbing to the urge to indulge.
"I deserve it!"
"I've eaten healthy all day!"
"If I put lettuce on it, it's like a salad, right?"

...

WRONG!

But, my friends, I have a solution that's delicious and much healthier than a beef burger: salmon burgers! These are pretty simple to make, and while they don't have the same juiciness as beef, they pack a lot of flavor, and go really well with a wide variety of sauces and toppings. For this meal, I made salmon burgers in pita pockets with avocado, lettuce, and tomato with sundried tomato pesto and kale chips.

Tilapia Bahn Mi

Most people think of a sandwich as an American staple. Whether a classic ham and cheese or tuna melt, or something more involved like a meatball sub or Italian hoagie (sub, hoagie, grinder, sandwich, whatever else you want to call it) the sandwich is considered standard American fare. Where this concept of patriotic sandwichism is thrown on it's head is on the menus of Vietnamese restaurants. One of my favorite dishes in Vietnamese cooking is the Bahn Mi (which comes at a close second to Pho soup, but I'll cover that at another time). A bahn mi sandwich is traditionally made with ground pork and pate and an assortment of vegetables such as cucumber, carrots, jalapenos, cilantro, and radish served on a warm, crispy french baguette. I've seen variations on the sandwich that have beef, chicken, fish, or tofu, but the flavors are usually in the same family with spicy chili sauce and peppers, crisp veggies, and salty meat. For dinner recently, I wanted to make my own simple, healthy take on the bahn mi, so I bought some fresh tilapia along with the standard bahn mi vegetables.

Soup and Sandwich? Make it yourself!

Sometimes a simple soup and sandwich is all you want on a Sunday night. While the easy solution would be ordering in or picking the meal up from the store, there is a really easy way to make this meal for yourself so you'll have leftovers for the week and feel like you've actually done something productive with your Sunday. This is an extremely healthy and tasty meal that won't take more than 30 minutes to prep and cook. The soup I decided to make was a potato, carrot, and leek soup, and the sandwich was mushroom, spinach, pepper, and onion with boursin cheese.

Move Over, Burger and Fries

I love a good burger and fries, but often times the fat and grease outweigh the deliciousness of a juicy beef burger and fried potatoes. Enter the turkey burger with roasted cauliflower. Turkey burgers can be tricky to make because they easily dry out, and you really can't undercook them because nobody wants to or should eat rare turkey meat. If done well, turkey burgers are a great alternative to beef.

Is that watermelon in a sandwich??

It sure is! I love the flavor of watermelon in the summer. It's a melon with such a sweet flavor and interesting mouthfeel. Whenever I have some watermelon, I'm instantly transported to somewhere near the beach (figuratively, otherwise I would be eating watermelon non-stop...) Watermelon is normally eaten in wedges or cut up pieces. For this meal, I wanted to use it in an unconventional way. I decided to pair the sweet watermelon with the salty, meatiness of sausages in a sandwich. To go alongside this unconventional sandwich pairing, I decided to make some fried zucchini to make a sandwich and some chips a truly unexpected meal.