Home Alone

Tonight finds Pops and me at home alone! ( Sound like we like it, doesn't it??) I'll admit...it is kinda' nice not to have anything to do or anybody to interact with. The Lord send so many people our way, and we absolutely LOVE it, but tonight, we needed a quiet night. It's the beginning of the Labor Day weekend, and we feel as if we're on vacation. I made dinner; we ate in the sunroom where my man was enjoying watching the Braves game on TV, and everything tasted so GOOD, I just have to share my recipes!

First, I cooked fresh salmon, purchased at Publix a few weeks ago (I froze it). Here is the recipe, which I got from wwww.allrecipes.com:

Ingredients

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup soy sauce

2 teaspoons lemon pepper

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

4 (6 ounce) salmon fillets

Directions

Whisk together the brown sugar, olive oil, soy sauce, lemon pepper, thyme, basil, parsley, and garlic powder in a bowl, and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the salmon fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, turning occasionally.

Preheat an outdoor grill for medium heat, and lightly oil the grate. Remove the salmon from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade.

Grill the salmon on the preheated grill until browned and the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 5 minutes on each side.

Note: since I didn't want to fire the grill for a small piece of salmon, I used the oven. I set it a little hot, about 400 degrees, and the sugar on the fish caramelized around it—yummy. I also hardly ever measure, so there were probably more spices in the recipe than called for. Just go for it—you can't lose, if you like salmon!

Then I put together the best tasting salad! I must share it with you:

I mixed Baby Romaine lettuce (buy-one-get-one-free at Winn-Dixie) with some marinated goat cheese (also purchased at W-D), threw in some Kalamata olives, marinated artichoke hearts (in a jar), and the crowning touch...fresh grape tomatoes and cucumbers given to us by our new friends from Athens, GA, that we just met last weekend on a Lay Witness Mission at their church in Athens. I used my own olive oil-balsamic vinegar dressing, and it was YUM-IE!!!

There's not a lot of spiritual depth to this post. I guess the point is that, after 41 years of marriage, I enjoy serving my man and letting him relax more than I did years ago when I was in the throes of child-rearing, and needed his help to settle the guys for bedtime. Those years, I resented his relaxing at night because I couldn't. Things have changed. He now realizes how much his presence means to me, regardless of the task, and I've come to realize how much I need him. We both realize how much we enjoy taking care of each other!

We also enjoy the same menu...and a quiet weekend!

Happy Labor Day, Everybody!!!!