Different Tastes

My hometown's county fair is this week, and around here, it's a pretty big deal.  It's the second largest fair in the state of Ohio, second only to the Ohio state fair itself, so that right there should tell you we take fairs pretty seriously in these parts.  No, I don't live on a farm, own a tractor, or have livestock of my own.  And my town isn't mile upon mile of cornfields.  But for some reason or another, this county fair has become a staple of our lives and all other plans cease during fair week.  A picnic?  A movie?  Why would anyone do that when the fair was here?  :o)  That's the mentality you can expect from most of us, and I happen to fall right into the category.  I love the fair.  I don't know exactly what it is, but I've gone to the fair every single year since I was a child - sometimes 3 or 4 times a year. 

And this year was no different.  This is the type of place where diets are ruined.  Good thing I'm not on a diet.  Fairs might ruin diets, but they're not the end of a healthy lifestyle.  I admit - it's not the ideal place for healthy food.  I'm surrounded by elephant ears, pepperoni rolls, steak hoagies and hot sausage sandwiches, fair fries, ice cream, and cinnamon rolls.  It is the home of everything fried - even fried oreos, fried cheesecake, and (disgusting as this is, it's true) fried butter itself. 

I wasn't intimated by this haven of unhealthy foods and have already been there twice so far!  In between checking out the fair animals and the demolition derby, I indulged myself in a couple of my favorites, but I was sure to have a husband, parent, or friend close by to eat the rest of these foods.  Did I need a whole elephant ear?  Absolutely not - but I sure as heck wanted a taste of one if I was at the fair.  So I simply got everyone else on board with the idea and shared it with them to keep my portions under control.  And so it went throughout the fair. 

No, these weren't some of my best days, but throw in some healthy breakfasts and snacks along with my regular workout regimen, and it's not the end of the world.  One thing I've started to discover is that the healthier I eat and the more "clean" foods I eat, the less my body seems able to handle fried, greasy, and processed foods - especially in larger quantities. I end up feeling sluggish, bloated, and kinda gross in general if I over-indulge.  So I was trying to avoid this.  But after visiting the fair two days in a row, I wasn't feeling so hot, and my body was craving something lighter and healthier. 

Back to the cookbooks and kitchen I go!  Unfortunately, I hadn't been to the grocery store in awhile, and out of sheer laziness, a shopping trip was out of the question just to make tonight's dinner.  So my options were a bit limited.  I browsed through my healthy cookbooks and my stash of healthy online recipes to try, and found one I had all the ingredients for.  This particular recipe happened to be one of the recipes I'd saved on a whim in case I was ever feeling adventurous, so I was a little wary going into it.  I'll admit to checking the freezer to see if my husband had stashed a frozen pizza in there - just in case this didn't go well.  (Success!  I can usually count on him to have something like that on hand - so I had a back-up plan for potential failure.)

The recipe I set out to make today was for a glazed salmon over an apple mixture.  Not the kind of thing I'd normally make, but it was intriguing to me.  Here is a link to the recipe: Glaze Salmon with Apples.  It's from one of my favorite recipe sites - Eat Better America - and translates into only 220 calories per serving.


It was super easy to prep - the hardest part was slicing the apples and onions, so you know it isn't bad.  And it only required 20-25 minutes in the oven.  Actually pretty awesome for a weeknight or just a lazy night, I thought.  I think I've mentioned before that my husband is being a real trooper with my attempts at cooking some healthy meals for us.  He might give my pans and mixtures some weird looks or appear a little worried sometimes, but he tries not to shoot things down before he tries them.

Well tonight he happened to still be at work while I was cooking, so he didn't have a chance to give an opinion even if he wanted to.  When it came out of the oven and he walked over to dish some onto his plate, he looked at it in utter horror (I'm exaggerating here - it makes the story better.)  "Are those apples?" he asks me, looking like a sad puppy dog.  I've seen the man eat plenty of apples over the years, but when I told him that they were in fact apples, he looked like he wanted to cry.  Apparently apples as part of a main dishes are different than apples as a snack.  How was I supposed to know that he felt this way about apples?  I couldn't believe I'd known him more than a decade and had never encountered this phenomenon before.  It's true what they say - no matter how long you've known your spouse or significant other, there is always something else to learn.  I guess if I was a better cook, I would have discovered this before now!

He sucked it up and ate the salmon at least, though I noticed the apple part kinda just got pushed around on his plate.  Such a sweetheart.  I offered to make him that pizza in the fridge (thanks goodness for my back-up plan), but he sweetly declined.  It wasn't that bad, he said, but maybe just don't put it on our "favorites" list of recipes to make again.  Hehe :o)  Poor guy. 

I should mention that I actually thought this was pretty good.  I was so skeptical of it, but if you like a mix of sweet and salty flavors (and don't have a strange aversion to apples in your main dish), I think you'd find this pretty pleasant.  I didn't alter the recipe in any way, and I can't say that I have any suggestions for what to change at this point.  Maybe once I get some more experience cooking I'll figure this stuff out!  If you're looking to incorporate more fish into your diet (like I am - it's a great protein and very lean), I would certainly recommend this one - especially with fall coming up and some wonderful apple harvest selections on their way!