Sun Dried Tomato Salmon

My wife and I celebrated our 29th anniversary this week, by taking a trip to the beach. She is a big fan of lighthouses, so we went to the Bald Head Island and Oak Island lighthouses on the North Carolina coast. We have been to most of the other North Carolina lighthouses. The day turned out to be gorgeous 70's and sunny. We got to have seafood for lunch and dinner, if you follow me on Twitter or Facebook you saw the food pictures.

Here is a salmon dish I made last weekend. I hope you enjoy it, as much as we did.

Sun Dried Tomato Salmon
1 salmon filet, about 8 oz

1 tbs sun dried tomato oil
3 tbs sun dried tomatoes, chopped
4 oz mushrooms, finely chopped
6 oz spinach leaves
Brown rice, 1/2 cup per person

Cook the brown rice according to directions. About 10 minutes before done start salmon.

Add oil to pan and heat to medium high. Add salmon. Cook for 3 or 4 minutes then add the mushrooms. Cook for 4 more minutes. Add the sun dried tomatoes and then spread the spinach over top of the whole thing. Cook until spinach is wilted.

To plate put the rice on the plate and spread out on the plate. Then add a layer of the spinach. Top with 1/2 of the salmon. Pour the sun dried tomatoes, mushrooms and any oil left over the whole thing.

Roasted Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato & White Bean Soup

As the weather cools down and fall slowly creeps up on us our food thought turn to foods like soups. Why it dropped all the way down to the mid 80's this week.  My wife got out her insulated underwear. Although I am not really sure she ever put it away, I have never seen anybody who is as cold as she is. She wears a hoodie to the grocery store because she has to go in the refrigerated section.

Here is a a very simple soup I came up with that features pantry items Roasted red peppers, sun dried tomatoes, white beans and pasta. You can make this in 20 minutes.

Roasted Red Pepper, Sun Dried Tomato and White Bean Soup
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes finely chopped
1 tbs of oil from sun dried tomatoes (you can use olive oil)
1/2 jar (15 oz) jar Red Peppers, finely chopped (about 3 whole peppers)
1/3 cup of small pasta, like orzo
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
Fresh basil

Heat a pot with the oil in it. Add the garlic and heat until fragrant. Add the broth and the sun dried tomatoes. Let the broth come to a boil and leave it for a couple of minutes. Add the peppers and the pasta. Let it cook until the pasta is al dente. Put in bowl and heavily garnish with basil cut into ribbons. I originally just put some basil on as a garnish but we liked it so much that I added additional basil to the soup.