Valentines Day

Happy Valentines Day to all!  I believe that our relationships are so important to our well being so be sure to show your love to your friends and family today.  What are the ways you show your love?  Everyone is different and expresses their love in unique ways.  It is a good idea to try to tune into how to best show love to those in your life.  For instance,  nothing says "I love you" to me like a home cooked meal or flowers.  Others might prefer a gift or a massage.  Your children might appreciate extra one on one time or a treat such as movie tickets.  Just taking the time to figure out what that special someone really wants shows your love.

So how is the cardiologist's family celebrating?  Valentines brings lots of chocolates and fancy dinners and our house is no different.  I gave my kids a small amount of chocolate candy, my husband a book and he gave me roses.  Tonight I am cooking brown sugar glazed salmon, garlic pasta, strawberries and pineapple salad with a chocolate pie for dessert.  I was aiming for a mixture of healthy and decadent.  While salmon is heart healthy, it is also a rich and impressive dish.  The strawberries give that red Valentines touch and what would Valentines be without a chocolate dessert?

Here is the recipe for the salmon.  As usual, it couldn't be any easier.  For the garlic pasta, all you do is boil the required amount of pasta per person and while that cooks, sauté as much minced garlic as you want in a large quantity of olive oil, maybe 3 to 4 Tbsp.  When the garlic is lightly brown and fragrant, toss with the cooked pasta and sprinkle with a bit of fresh parmesan and about 1/4 cup of bread crumbs.  Add more olive oil if the pasta is too dry.

Brown Sugar Glazed Salmon
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
4 Tbsp. butter, melted
3 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. white wine
4 to 6 salmon fillets
Mix above ingredients, except fish.  Place salmon fillets in a large zip top bag and add marinade.  Marinate for 3 to 5 hours.  Bake at 375 for 20 minutes or until fish is just done.  Yum!

Remember, Valentines Day comes but once a year but that doesn't let us off the hook the other 364 days.  Work on your relationships every day and the benefits will definitely come back to you.