Dinners from a Few Weeks back (I'm so Behind!)

If I had to give it a guess, I would day these are the meals I cooked 2 weeks ago.  Things were a little of schedule here (more details in the future), so I haven't actually met my dinner cooking goal since the week I prepared these 2 meals.

First up are these hoisin glazed salmon burgers topped with pickled cucumbers.  Once I saw this picture in Cooking Light, I knew I had to give these a try.  One thing I liked was that these didn't used canned salmon.  I love salmon burgers, but I find that when I use canned salmon they always come out dry.

Confession- I have never pickled anything before.  Another confession- I love pickled veggies!

First, I worked on getting the cucumbers ready.

Once those were in the vinegar and on the stove, I was able to turn my attention elsewhere.

I guess I have another confession- I have never bought hoisin sauce before.  I have eaten it out before, but I have never made anything that uses hoisin sauce, so I have never purchased it.

Both the hoisin sauce and panko are extremely easy to find here in Japan.

For the burgers, I used frozen (thawed) salmon.  It worked really well.  The panko was used as a binder.

Then I shaped it into patties.

Confession- This was the first time I ever used the cast iron skillet we got for our wedding 3 years ago (Ryan has used it though).  I liked that this recipe called for sesame oil as the cooking oil.  The good news is that we already had sesame oil.

Here are my pickled cukes, all ready to go on the burgers.

I used wheat buns (I would say whole wheat, but I can't remember what the bakery label said).

The burgers were awesome, but the pickles really put it over the edge.  So good!

For my second meal of the week I picked something from this cookbook.  One reason I really like this cookbook, aside from it being all vegetarian, is that there is a section on cooking for 2.  

I found this recipe, and, you guessed it, I must confess I have never made manicotti before.  So this seemed to be perfect.

Here are some of my convenience products.  I was really hoping to find a no added salt canned tomato product, but no such luck.  Our last commissary was definitely a lot better when it came to no added salt canned products.

The filling called for low fat cottage cheese, but I used fat free instead.  I eat fat free cottage cheese often, so the taste to me was really good.  It also had a little parmesan and some mozzarella, along with spinach.

After a fun time trying to stuff my manicottis, I was finally able to get them all in the casserole dish.  Let me tell you, manicotti is not easy to make as you would think.  I was glad that I cooked more shells than I needed because some of them broke open.

The corn, chili and tomato mixture was added on top, and then it went into the oven.

Oh yes, this was delicious!  Ryan was a fan too, so we decided this is another must-make-again recipe. I was so glad that both recipes this week were a success.

QUESTIONS:  What do you have planned to cook this week?  Have you ever made manicotti?