This weather is crazy! For instance, yesterday: Blizzarding in the morning, sunny and warm enough to run in half-tights in the afternoon. What the heck?!? We are actually going batty over here- Mother Nature needs to get her act together and get spring going. We mean really, it’s March 27th people! Why is it still snowy and struggling to reach temperatures above freezing? There should be little flower buds and a slightly warmer sun by now!
In an effort to gently encourage spring to come out of it’s shell, we made an early-summer inspired meal for dinner a few nights ago:
Baked Salmon with a Stawberry-Basil Rice Pilaf and Strawberry-Avocado Salsa!
What’s more summer-y than fresh strawberries? They scream early late-June early-July.
Don’t mind the dying asparagus in the background. Asparagus is another veggie that is so reminiscent of the spring time, however we got a little excited about preparing the rest of the meal and sort of forgot that it was in the oven. Woops!
Other than the forsaken asparagus, this meal was like a burst of spring even though there’s still snow on the ground. Strawberry+avocado is an unreal combination (have you ever tried strawberry and avocado grilled cheese? If you haven’t, you definitely should!) and so is strawberry+basil, and they all just go so well with the salmon!
Maybe, if we just boycott winter all together spring will get here faster. Run in shorts and tank-tops, wear strappy sandals…. hmm, maybe we’ll just stick to eating spring/summer-inspired meals!
Here’s to hoping spring comes out of hiding soon!
Baked Salmon with Strawberry Basil Rice Pilaf and Strawberry Avocado Salsa
Prep time: 10min
Cook time: 20min
Serves: 2
Ingredients:
2 filet of salmon
1/2 tsp lemon juice
ground black pepper, to taste
1/2 c. rice + water (amount of water depends on the type of rice you’re using. We used a short-grain brown rice/wild rice mix)
3/4 c. strawberries, chopped
1/2 c. basil, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp lemon juice, divided
1 tbsp dijon mustard, divided
ground black pepper
1/2 c. strawberries, chopped
1/2 avocado, chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice
pinch of sea salt
ground black pepper, to taste
Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 350F.
Sprinkle salmon with lemon juice and pepper and bake for 10min, or until light pink and flakes easily with a fork.
Meanwhile, cook rice according to package directions.
Put chopped strawberries and garlic onto a frying pan and mix with half of the lemon juice and dijon mustard. Cook over medium heat for 3 min, then add the basil. Cook for another 2 minutes or until strawberries have softened. Once the rice is finished cooking, stir the strawberry-basil mixture into the rice, along with the rest of the lemon juice and dijon mustard, and the black pepper.
For the salsa, toss chopped strawberries and avocado with lemon juice, salt and pepper.
To serve, put the rice pilaf on the plate first and place salmon over top. Top with the salsa and serve along side your favourite spring veggies!
~twosaucysisters
What ways are you using to escape this prolonged winter weather?
twosaucysisters 
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In Australia we’ve actually had a prolonged summer and the heat has been too much but if it were cold I’d be wanting it to be warmer! I always seem to want the weather to be the opposite of what it is if its been that way for a while.
So you’re the ones stealing all the sunshine! 😉 Just kidding! We agree though, while we would be perfectly happy if the temperature never fell below 10 degrees, it is nice by the end of the summer when it cools off just s little.