Easy One Pot Spicy Steamed Salmon with Rice and Sugar Snap Peas Recipe

Tonight's dinner is Spicy Salmon, Rice and Vegetables and to make this even more attractive to all those 'rushed off their feet' people out there this has practically no preparation required and is all cooked in one pot with NO EFFORT - and is really, really tasty - the fat content is about 15g which you can cut down to practically zero if you really wish with just a few simple tweaks.

Again it's cold outside - hasn't managed to get above -3ºC all day here, that might be because we live opposite some large lakes and open land but it's worth it for the views and wildlife that we get. My brain's in need of a boost so I think all that healthy fish oil in the salmon is going to make my brain cells run around and keep warm. So here is the food I chose for today:

2 Unwaxed Lemons

2 Unwaxed Limes

1 pint of Water

½ oz. Powdered Gelatin

¼ cup Splenda or Tate & Lyle Light Sugar

• Zest the lemons and limes.

• Using a sharp knife remove the pith/white part.

• Cut out the segments so that they are totally peeled, this is quite an easy process to do just don't cut yourself in the process as the juice will really, really sting - yes this is something I did once and do not want to ever repeat.

• Remove any pips.

• Place everything in a saucepan with the pint of water and boil gently for about 30 minutes until the pulp and rind are tender.

• Add the Splenda/Light Sugar and Gelatin.

• Remove from the heat and leave to cool for about 10 minutes.

• Carefully pour it into sterilized glass preserve jars and leave till cold and set.

Breakfast

2 Slices of Co-operative Oat Bread, thinly spread with Flora Light and low sugar Lemon & Lime Marmalade.

2 tangerines.

Comment: This is really lovely bread, very soft and tasty, if you're toasting this you will need to leave for a minute or two so that it crisps slightly - and it's great used in sandwiches. Oats are really good for you, slow burning energy givers, leaving you feeling satisfied for longer periods of time. Love this marmalade, very cheap to make and deliciously zesty to wake you up in the morning, it was adapted from a very old Diabetic recipe that I had years ago and I hope you like it.

Of course you can buy low-sugar marmalade in most of the supermarkets, in the U.K. Waitrose do a very tasty Orange Marmalade Waitrose Reduced Sugar Orange Marmalade which is high in fruit, low in sugar and almost fat free, and at only 24 cals per tablespoon and tasty it's perfect on your toast and bread in the morning.

Lunch - Eileen's Special Lamb Sandwich

This is soooo delicious I hope you try it it's one of my favourites, I made this using the Co-operative Oat Bread. The inspiration for this sandwich was leftover Sunday Roast and a jar of the sweetest semi-dried Sundried Tomatoes sitting in the fridge saying "what are you going to do with me?" it may have been a couple of leftovers at one point but it became so, so much more than that once I put it all together. I hope you enjoy it!

• Take 2 teaspoons of Hellman's Lighter Than Light Mayonnaise and mix with 4-5 finely chopped semi-dried Sundried Tomatoes, spread this on the 2 slices of Oat Bread.

• Add wafer-thin slices of Roast Lamb.

• Add 4-5 baby Italian Plum Tomatoes, sliced or halved.

• Add a pile of your favourite lettuce leaves.

• And eat!

Comment: Now what can I say about this sandwich - it's great, I haven't met anyone yet who hasn't loved it. That mayonnaise mixed with those juicy sun-dried tomatoes goes so well with that juicy roast lamb, thinly sliced, soft and pink in the middle and crisply roasted on the edges and the baby plum tomatoes so sweet - oooo I think I want another one.

DINNER - SPICY STEAMED SALMON WITH RICE AND SUGAR SNAP PEAS

I just love salmon it's one of my favourite little fishy-wishies, I've recently been watching a programme in the U.K. on Channel 4 called The Food Hospital and through this I have come to realise that some illnesses are actually related to our diet, or rather the lack of certain foods in our diets, it is my opinion that Salmon is one of a range of Superfoods and should certainly be on our weekly food list. When we think of salmon we automatically think about the Omega-3 fatty acids which help lower our risk of chronic disease, Cancer and Arthritis, these acids also improve our cognitive functions i.e. memory and brain performance. In this cold weather we need to eat things that will give us an overall boost so if you are showing symptoms of from fatigue, poor memory, dry skin, mood swings, depression or poor circulation upping your intake of oily fish may be exactly what your body is needing.

More information on this wonderful health-benefiting fish can be found at www.livestrong.com.

Ingredients to serve 3:

1 portion of Salmon per person

1 Pat of Chilli Butter per piece of Salmon (see recipe below).

1 cup of Long Grain Rice

2 cups of Boiling Water

Lots of lovely Sugar Snap Peas

Some Lurpak Light Butter

Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce

Method:

• Take some softened Lurpak Light Butter and mix it with Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce - I use the Blue Dragon Sweet Chilli Dipping Sauce which is spicy and sweet without being too hot, and there's no fat in the Chilli Sauce and only 20 calories per tablespoon. You can add other ingredients to this, tonight I added some finely chopped Coriander to the butter.

• In a Iidded shallow saute dish, sprinkle a small amount of salt.

• Add 1 cup of long grain rice.

• Add 2 cups of boiled hot water.

• Place the lid on and bring to the boil, turn the heat down and continue simmering for 7 minutes.

• Turn off the heat and remove the lid.

• Now place your salmon on top of the rice with a pat of butter on each piece.

• Add your sugar snap peas around the salmon and on top of the rice, you can also do this with mangetout, steaming them this way retains all of the nutrients and leaves them tender on the inside and crisp and juicy to bite into.

• Now replace the lid, turn the heat back on for a minute to create a little steam and turn it off immediately.

• Now is the time to go and relax for a little while, there really is nothing more for you to do, please leave the lid on and no peaking, you want the steam and heat to remain inside the pan.

• Leave for 12-14 minutes. Obviously the thicker your salmon fillets are the longer you may have to leave it too cook all the way through, but so far I've only ever had to cook this for 15 minutes at the most.

• Believe it or not - your dinner is now ready, all the water will have evaporated and the rice, salmon and vegetables will be perfectly cooked, no fuss, no mess - how easy was that!

Comment: This is one of the easiest and quickest meals I have ever cooked, AND it is also incredibly delicious, I always cook an extra portion of this so that someone can have a very scrumptious packable lunch the next day. The fact that this cooks quicker than most of the readymade meals available on the market is incredible, AND you know exactly what's gone into your food and with hardly any effort - this is what to cook when you don't want to cook.

It definitely gets top marks in my book. I would love to hear from you when you've tried this to let me know what you think.