The recommendation from Rose Mary Istre’s seminar on the Anti-Inflammatory diet to have 5 fish meals a week presents quite a challenge for most of us.  This is made ever more challenging by the fact that the fish needs to be from cold waters and wild caught, so that it has the least amount of toxins and unhealthy fats as possible.  Here are some of the recipes I’ve used to spread salmon throughout my week as frugally as possible.  Unless fresh salmon is on sale, we almost never buy it.  But you can get excellent quality frozen, canned and smoked at quite a few markets. I am not including salmon dinner recipes here because those are easy to find.

Lox and Bagels, With an Anti-Inflammatory Twist

Whole wheat, multi-seed bagels, cut in half

Pacific/Alaskan wildcaught lox

reduced fat cream cheese

organic spinach

organic red onions, thinly sliced

avocados, thinly sliced

tomatoes

Toast bagel; lightly spread cream cheese on both halves; layer spinach, avocado, tomatoes and onions and lox.  Eat open faced or like a sandwich.

Salmon Salad and Salmon Sandwiches on the Cheap!

Many grocery stores are beginning to sell canned wildcaught Alaskan/Pacific salmon.  Use this kind of salmon to top a salad or to make a salmon salad sandwich, just as you would a tuna salad sandwich.

Pomegranate Juice Made More Affordable

If you are looking to up your antioxidant load you’ve probably already discovered how expensive pomegranate juice is!  It is also very strong and tart!  So to save money and spare my taste buds, I cut in half with water every time I pour myself a glass.

Salmon Scramble

1 T. olive oil

1/4 C.  finely chopped red onion

1/2 tsp of minced garlic

1 C. of chopped fresh spinach

5 eggs, beaten

1/2 C. of canned salmon

1/4 C. grated cheese (monterey         

    jack, feta, swiss)

Sauté onions along with garlic for about 3 minutes in a bit of olive oil; then add a handful of chopped spinach; stir for about one minute.  Then pour in beaten eggs and immediately add canned salmon.  Cook until desired texture is achieved. 

Serves a family of four.

Salmon Eggs Benedict

whole wheat english muffins

finely sliced red onion (optional)

fresh spinach leaves

finely sliced tomato

poached egg

reduced fat cream cheese

Poach egg.  Toast english muffins and lightly spread with cream cheese; layer spinach leaves, tomato slices, red onion slices and poached egg.

Anti-Inflammatory Oatmeal/Pancakes with Fresh Fruits

I make large batches  of oatmeal so that I have enough left over to make pancakes with the next day.

1 C. of whole oats (not quick cooking) or any whole grain hot cereal mix

1/2 C. of flax seed meal

1 C. of chopped walnuts

**3-4 small pieces of candied ginger, finely chopped

1 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. nutmeg

about 2 1/2 cups of water

1-2 chopped pears

3/4C. blueberries

Put grains, nuts and candied ginger, spices and water into a microwave bowl and cook on high for about 5 minutes.  Rotate bowl and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the desired consistency is achieved.  Add fresh fruit after the cooking is done.  (If apples are used in place of pears, go ahead and cook them with the grains.)

**Important hint:  Candied ginger does not chop easily! So I put it and whole walnuts into my food processor together and pulse them until they are the size I want, which is fairly fine.

Leftovers get made into pancakes or waffles the next day!

Antioxidant Trail Mix

Use your imagination and mix any kind of unroasted seeds, nuts, dried fruits, etc.

My favorite mix is: Pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, walnuts, dark chocolate covered goji berries, dark chocolate covered almonds, dried blueberries and/or dried orange flavored cranberries (available at Trader Joe’s); I have not tried cocoa nibs yet, but I may add them to my next trail mix experiment!

Bran Flax Muffins

(found on the back of a package of Bob’s Red Mill  Golden Flaxseed Meal and slightly adapted)

3/4 C. unbleached white flour

3/4 C. whole wheat flour

3/4 C. flaxseed meal

3/4 C. oat bran

3/4 C. brown sugar

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 1/2 C. shredded carrots

1 1/2 C. shredded granny smith apples with the skin still on

1/2 C. golden raisins (optional)

1 C. chopped walnuts

3/4 C. milk or pomegranate juice

2 beaten eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

Mix together flour, flaxseed meal, oat bran, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder salt and cinnamon in a large bowl.  Stir in carrots, apples, raisins and nuts.  Separately mix eggs, milk (or pomegranate juice) and vanilla. Add liquid mixture to dry mix.  Stir until ingredients are moistened.  Do not over mix.  Fill muffin cups 3/4 full.  Bake at 350º for 16-20 minutes.

For a list of high antioxidant foods check out this link:  http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/nutri/overview-of-antioxidants5.asp