Well this post has been sitting in my drafts for far too long! I’ve got a backlog of super yummy recipes I’ve made that I cannot find the time to blog, or I find the time but I’m to ADHD to sit still to blog them!  I’m thinking I need to start having my daughter sit at the computer and type my blog posts as I walk around doing a million things at a time, telling her what to type. I’m great at talking and not great at all at sitting down and focusing! Oh boy, now onto the post!

I’ve mentioned before my absolute love for thrift shopping. I am a junk picker at heart and proud of it. My family is clothed in name brand clothes and shoes, often bought for a dollar a piece if it’s dollar day, (even when it’s not dollar day the prices are dirt cheap!) and my house is decorated with random pieces I am constantly finding while thrifting. Perhaps I love thrifting so much because it requires constant moving and picking, it’s never monotonous or boring and it involves spending time in a place that is cluttered with treasures that are dying to get out, kind of like my mind:-) Here are some of the kitchen treasures I found on some of my last thrifting adventures.

Now for the food! What happens when you have a craving for pasta and salmon at the same time? A delicious pasta dish comes together is what happens:-) My typically eager husband who is almost always ready to try my creations hesitated when I told him what I wanted to make, but with reluctance said “suuuure….sounds…good. That’s my hint that he is a little scared. After tasting this dish I am happy to say that although he admitted to being scared and said he wasn’t sure how those two tastes were going to go together, but he loved it! Bill, (my husband who does have a name though I seem to always refer to him as “my husband”) even took part in this meal and offered to smoke the salmon and that was a huge part to making this dish so tasty! He is the grill/smoke master in my book and he did a great job with the salmon! You could also just broil or bake the salmon and I’m sure it would taste just as good, but that smokey flavor was amazing mixed with the creamy Alfredo sauce. Here is what you need to know and have on hand to make this recipe for yourself.

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs salmon filet

approx. (sorry, I never measure, I eye!) 2.5 cups skim milk

1 package of 1/3 less fat cream cheese

5 oz package of fresh Parmesan cheese

1 stick of butter

2 garlic cloves minced

1 tsp crushed red pepper

1 package of frozen broccoli florets

1 small onion diced, sauteed

ground black pepper to taste

1 package of Fettuccine

 

Directions: Prep the salmon as well as the smoker, make sure the smoker is set to the right temperature and ready to go. Set the salmon on a piece of foil and place on the heated smoker. You need to smoke the salmon for at least an hour, but it really needs to be watched closely as it will differ on cooking time depending on thickness of the filet as well as smoker temperature.

Meanwhile dice and saute the onion, set aside. Then prep the fettuccine as directed on package. Also start the Alfredo sauce. Melt the butter and milk together, stirring often. When butter is melted add the Parmesan and cream cheese as well as the garlic and pepper. At this time add the broccoli florets and onion and stir quite often. The broccoli will warm up fairly quickly in the hot cheese mixture.  When the cheese mixture is done and the broccoli is now hot

The salmon filet will flake into nice chunks very easily, so break it into chunks. Place 1/3 of the pasta in a large serving bowl, add some fettuccine sauce and salmon and repeat this until you have used all ingredients. This helps the sauce mixture mix into the pasta at the bottom of the bowl without requiring a lot of stirring which will break up the salmon chunks into smaller pieces than I like. Mix carefully until well blended and enjoy.

I realize I have way way way too many photos on my computer. Between my eBay store photos and my food photos, I have some major cleaning up to do! Because of that the only photos I could locate today were from my iphone. They are alright but my lighting in my kitchen is terrible so they are a little dark, but still make the dish look nice. Don’t be afraid of mixing the salmon with the Alfredo, if you like both, you will love this dish! The smoky taste from the smoke salmon mixed with the creamy cheese sauce is delightful! Also, this is a lower calorie dish than typical Alfredo since I substitute the milk with skim and the use the lower fat cream cheese. Still not great on the hips and waist, but a better choice!