Fake doesn't have to mean boring! Imitation crab with seasoned carrots and seasoned rice.

Another beautiful photo. Love it.
Tell me; when you think of imitation crab, what do you think? Stir fry? Rangoon? A cold salad laden with mayo?
Poo on that, I say! Poo!
I decided we would approach out fake crab with a little more flair! And it's a good thing -- it was so delicious, I can't wait to do it again.

Ingredients:
1 package imitation crab
2 or 3 large carrots, peeled and sliced thin
long grain rice
1 lime
sesame seeds
sumac
slivered almonds
cumin
coriander
honey
salt
black pepper

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a skillet to medium heat. Add imitation crab, salt and pepper. Cook to allow some browning on the crab. Finish crab with some butter and sesame seeds.
In a small pot, add a cup of water, the carrots, and the juice of half the lime. Heat over medium heat until carrots are tender. When cooked, drain water. Add juice of remaining half of lime, almonds, cumin, coriander, honey, salt and pepper to taste.
Cook rice according to package instructions. When fully cooked, stir in sumac.

Notes:
Honestly, I didn't even measure out the spices. I just sort of added it and tasted and adjusted and found the best mix that way.
The sumac has a very nice citrusy flavour, but try not to add too much -- it can be fairly overpowering.
Finishing the crab with butter helps to give the crab an extra punch, so don't overlook this step!

Grilled Salmon Burger with Marinated and Grilled Summer Squash

I know I don't normally post the photos this big, but look at that beauty. So beautiful. So delicious. So... summer.
Yes. I made this last summer, and it just never made its way here.
It was really just an experiment. We ended up with salmon burgers because they were on sale. I generally never end up with fish, especially in the summer, because I'm too busy grilling up hunks of land animal (mostly beef) to care about water dwelling creatures. Nonetheless, we ended up with these salmon burgers, and it was my task to figure out what to do with them.
Since it was summer, my thought went to summer squash: both of the zucchini and yellow variety. In the end, I decided to use them kind of like pickles on the sandwich.
The problem with summer squash is that they can really dry up on the grill if you're not careful, so I marinated them with this fantastic balsamic glaze from Market District. I gave them a ten minute soak in the glaze to let them pull the deliciousness in and then set them on the part of the grill not *quite* over the bars. They turned out amazing.

Ingredients:
Salmon burgers
Sandwich buns of choice
Bibb lettuce (or whatever not-Iceberg you prefer)
1 yellow squash, cut in thin rounds
1 zucchini squash, cut in thin rounds
Market District balsamic glaze (or equivalent)

Directions:
Grease grill to prevent sticking. Heat to medium heat.
Cook salmon burgers, ensuring they are fully cooked before removing from grill.
As burgers cook, soak squash in glaze, making sure they are fully coated.
Five minutes before burgers are done, place squash on place on grill not directly over heat. Cook for five minutes, or until they are tender.
Assemble sandwich and drizzle top with more glaze.

Notes:
Admittedly, these could have benefitted from some nice, creamy slices of avocado, but I didn't think of it at the time.
These would be really good served with a light salad, a grilled veggie kebab, or some homemade french fries or chips. Explore the possibilities of flavour!

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I recently became starkly aware that I haven't updated to this in quite some time, which is a darn shame, because some pretty neat things have been happening in my kitchen lately.
So this is the stuffed Portobello. It's a recent concoction, and totally delicious.
I keep reading and hearing all these benefits to going vegetarian, but the reality is that I can't, because bacon and beef are both things. So, I will be a meatasaurus until the end of my days.
That said, this dish can easily convince me to make a higher percentage of my meals vegetarian.

Ingredients:
4 to 8 large Portobello mushrooms, depending on their size
1 cup diced yellow tomato
1 cup diced red tomato
1 cup shredded mozzarella
1 cup Panko breadcrumbs
1/2 cup chopped chives
salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste

Directions:
Preheat broiler.
Remove mushroom stems.
Clean gills out of inside of mushroom.
Cover a baking sheet with aluminum foil and coat lightly with olive oil.
Broil mushrooms, gill side down, for five minutes.
Combine tomatoes, cheese, Panko, and chives in a large bowl and mix well.
Stuff mushrooms with filling, and broil for five minutes, or until cheese is melted.
Serve with light salad, or as a side dish.

Notes:
The gills are kind of a pain to get out of the mushrooms and spooning them out can result in tearing into the flesh, so try to be as gentle as possible.
The mushrooms shrink a LOT in the oven, so account for that when you purchase them. We only bought four and ended up with a lot of stuffing left over. Thankfully, it worked super well in pizza several days later!
If you've never had them before, you should know that yellow tomatoes are really quite sweet. I didn't know this ahead of time, as I'm not much of a tomato person, so I was taken back by the flavour. I think it throws the dish off a bit, so I would probably give them a soak in something savory next time to counteract it, but the sweetness is not a deal breaker, by any means.