Salmon Two Ways

TGIF!!! It's been a very long day and I cannot wait to go to bed in a few minutes. On days like this, we usually find ourselves tempted to go out to dinner. Then we spend $30+ on one meal with innumerable calories and feel miserable for the rest of the evening. Tonight, I wanted to make something easy that was also going to be completely satisfying and relatively healthy. Aaron took a picture with his tablet, but it didn't do the meal justice.

Basically, I purchased a large (4-5 serving) salmon fillet from Kroger. It was in the frozen seafood section. Wild-caught, as always :)  I lined a cookie sheet with tin foil and then greased it lightly with olive oil so that the salmon wouldn't break apart when I served it. I put the whole salmon (frozen) on the cookie sheet and drizzled it with a little extra olive oil. I seasoned each half differently. On one half, I caked it with lemon pepper seasoning and extra lemon pepper. On the other half, I sprinkled it with fresh thyme, herbs de provence, pepper, and garlic powder. I roasted that at 450 for about 35 min. The whole thing was delicious, but especially the lemon pepper side. Looking forward to leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

I also made herbed mashed potatoes. I HATE instant potatoes. Mashed potatoes are so easy to make and there are like 100 ways to make them. Tonight, I used organic russet potatoes (5), washed and cut in fourths. Boiled them for about 15-17 min (from room temp water). While that was going, I heated a small egg skillet over very low heat (3 out of 10) and melted 3 Tbsp butter with the leaves of 3 thyme sprigs, 1 tsp rosemary (dried), lots of pepper, a little salt, and garlic powder. When the potatoes were done, I drained them, added the butter and herb mixture, and started mashing. I added 2% milk until I got the consistency I was looking for.

It was so good! =)