Oven-Roasted Salmon with Whole-Grain Mustard Vinaigrette

Jacob had some minor oral surgery on Wednesday.  His Mom took the day off to go with him and Hannah and while I was at work, they came home and Val made all of Jacob’s favorite foods that she used to make him when he was younger.  Chicken mole, ramen noodle salad, brownies and chicken noodle soup.  Jacob prefers small shells in his chicken noodle soup.  I was lucky that she made a lot of food, so I had a bowl of chicken soup before heading to work yesterday.  This was basically my breakfast and lunch.  Thanks Val!

I also made a batch of my rosemary sea salt skillet bread and had a hunk of that with my soup.  I am calling brunch 12 smart points.

I was a bit nervous heading into work because I knew I would be teaching a couple of the recipes, and I had never worked with beets before, made crepes, or a very good caramel sauce before.  I did end up watching a couple youtube videos and was glad I did because I cooked the beets ahead of when the guests got there – I had no idea they would take nearly 90 minutes to roast until tender!  These beets looked really pretty – I believe they were called candy beets?

We had a great group of people, and I didn’t really take many pictures at all.  I was happy that Chef Rachel cooked the salmon, another thing I’ve never tried to cook at home, but which I now love.  Tony would be so happy to hear that I love salmon now – he loved it – especially smoked salmon on a bagel with cream cheese and sliced tomato.

I’ve been thinking about Tony a lot now that the Cubs are in the playoffs.  I wonder what he would think and if he’d watch the games only to route against them?  Everyone at the party last night kept checking their phones to see what the score was.

Mom, next time you come over, I am going to make this for us!  Recipe Courtesy of The Chopping Block

Being a mustard lover, I loved loved this vinaigrette.   It made a lot too, so you could use as little or as much as you wanted.  The Chef and I made mini salmon salads over baby spinach for our dinner.

And I have to brag a bit – I’ve actually been pretty happy with my food photography of late.  I do submit my photos to Tastespotting and Foodgawker, but they normally reject all my photos for one reason or another.

But they accepted my breakfast tostada picture!

And Lodge reposted my picture on their Instagram page – over 1300 likes!  Although someone called me out and said there was no way I cooked those tostadas on the skillet because of the drops of sauce on the skillet weren’t sizzling.  Um, any food blogger will know that you almost always have to reheat your food after taking pictures.  The pan had already cooled when I decided to add the sauces for a pop of color.

I am working on the grill patio tonight!  I had to laugh because a chef I’ve only worked with a couple times stopped me earlier this week and wanted to know how comfortable I was around a grill.  Um, pretty comfortable!

It might be a chilly night – around 53 degrees but I think we have space heaters for the guests and the grills will keep us warm.  It should be a fun night.

Hope you have a great weekend!