And the preparations continue.....

I had a very productive day today.  I went to see Mom but she was getting her hair washed and set and her nails painted so I will swing by there again tomorrow while I am out and about.  I went and picked up all of the gifts for the Santa party next weekend and they are all wrapped and ready to go.  I also found a dress for our choir concert, now I just need shoes.

Tomorrow, before we go see Mom, I will stop at the post office and send packages to the greats who live in California.  I also need to stop at the library and order up my book for Cook the Books and my movie for Food n Flix.  I will also work on my weekly menu as well as the menu for Mom's birthday/Santa party on Saturday.

Then when Frank got home we started pulling down the Christmas stuff.  We bought new lights for the tree, 2000....yes that is two thousand....of them.  Now we have started removing all the old lamps so that we can replace them all with new lamps.  It is a crummy, tedious job.  Luckily we have had the tree for 7 yrs and this is the first time we have had to do this.

For dinner tonight we are celebrating Fish Friday with Salmon wrapped in Puff Pastry.  I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and chose it because not only did it sound delicious but it used up a sheet of Puff Pastry I had left from appetizers that I made for Thanksgiving day.  I was originally going to make Vegetable Rice Pilaf to go with the Puff Pastry Salmon but I got busy with the tree and did not get the rice on so I grabbed the couscous from the cupboard and some mixed vegetables from the freezer and made a vegetable couscous instead.

Thaw the puff pastry and roll out the seams.

Top it with spinach that has been squeezed dry and left out to dry some more.

Place a salmon fillet on top of the spinach and season with salt, onion powder and garlic powder.

Top the salmon fillet with a couple Tablespoons of Pesto.

I used homemade that I had frozen over the summer but you can you prepared pesto from the grocer.

Seal the seams by dampening with water and pinching shut.

Then flip the packets over so they are seam side down.

I had an extra piece of Salmon that I baked along with it and will use for lunch one day.

Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator while the oven preheats to 375*, 20-30 minutes.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the pastry is golden brown and the fish is cooked through.

I quickly cooked the couscous and vegetables during the last 5 minutes of baking time on the fish.

Opening the packet you found the salmon moist and flaky.

Surrounded by spinach and pesto and wrapped in a beautiful puff pastry package.

Puff Pastry Salmon

adapted from Danigirl at Allrecipes.com

2 boneless, skinless salmon fillets

salt, onion powder and garlic powder to taste

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed

4 T. pesto

1/2 (16 oz) pkg frozen chopped spinach, defrosted and squeezed very dry.

Roll out puff pastry to remove seams.  Cut in half lengthwise. Place a mound of spinach onto each pastry half.  Top with Salmon fillet and season with salt, onion powder and garlic powder.  Top each fillet with 2 T. of pesto.  Fold the pastry into a package and seal seams by dampening with water and pinching shut.  Place onto a parchment lined baking sheet seam side down and place in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.

While pastry chills, preheat oven to 375*.  Remove baking sheet from refrigerator and place directly into the preheated oven.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, until pastry is golden brown and salmon is cooked trhough.  Print Recipe

Vegetable Couscous

1 c. frozen mixed vegetables

1 1/2 c. water

1 T. butter

1 dash salt 

1 c. couscous

Place vegetables, water, butter and salt into a med saucepan and bring to a boil.  Add couscous and stir briefly.  Cover and remove from heat.  Let sit for 5 minutes until water is absorbed. Fluff with a fork and serve.  Print Recipe