Salmon and sweet potatoes

Tonight's Menu

• baked salmon
  
• oven sweet potato fries
  
• green salad "bar"
  

I love salmon but I am pretty much the only one in the family who does, so I don't make it very often. However, last night I made a double batch (er, can you call it a "batch" if it's meat?) of spiced pork tenderloin (broiled for 20 minutes instead of grilled) and decided that anyone who didn't want salmon tonight could have leftover pork. So there!

Anyhoo, the salmon was one of those big fillets, so I just sprinkled it generously with Jane's Krazy Salt and some garlic pepper, then popped it into the oven for about 20 minutes (it was thick -- do 10 minutes per inch) at 450 degrees F. This is my favorite way to make it. I'm not fancy with my fish, as you all know.

Sweet potato fries were made the same way as usual. I took them out of the oven before I cranked it up for the fish.

A couple of people have asked about the salad bar idea, and I explained it in the comments but I'll clarify it here, too. All I do is put the greens/lettuces in a big bowl, then put all the other salad ingredients in separate bowls alongside, kind of like a restaurant salad bar (but on a much smaller scale). That way everyone can mix their salad however they like.

This came about when the boy child, who apparently got tired of picking the stuff he didn't like out of our tossed salads, requested it. It does use up more dishes (and table/counter space) than simply tossing all the salad ingredients together in one large bowl, but aside from that it's really no more trouble to do.

An interesting side effect of this has been that sometimes the kids ignore the lettuce/greens altogether and just pile their plates with the raw chopped veggies/fruits instead. In fact, I think they've both been eating more fruits/veggies at dinner since we started this!