Salmon salad is something you can enjoy anytime on bread or by itself. And it can be made deliciously without mayonnaise, in case you’re not a fan. Or if you want to try a different healthy way like this version on an open face toast… toast to that!
And any way you prefer, it’s a great protein snack or meal. Especially for lunch for all ages. As salmon salad is universal and can be eaten anywhere unlike an egg salad (…where I still remember a classmate’s bag lunch).
Cooked salmon has no fish aroma that your companions next to you can detect, (and that can make you feel self-conscious about your lunch).
It also has a more subtle fish taste. So it could be the new tuna salad sandwich… if it isn’t already on your menu!
…This also reminds me of my days as a teen working in a deli where it was all about the scoops. But the scoop wasn’t an ice cream scoop… it was tuna, chicken, or shrimp salad… and served like this salmon salad one on the plate that fits in a 4 oz cup (recipe below 👇).
In the deli, it was served on the side of a bed of lettuce or grapes, or on a sandwich.
And you can smear this salmon salad like butter.
But without butter. I personally like my dinner salmon with a béarnaise sauce, with a French Mediterranean vibe (no butter).
And this version for lunch.
For variety and fresh healthy ways, you can also serve your salmon salad with or without mustard, like Dijon mustard.
And if mustard is what you’re craving, you can substitute the horseradish or add ontop of the salmon salad.
It’s also delicious with crackers, multigrain, rye bread, or sourdough.
And what makes this one different is the lightness. Unlike heavy duty mayo (as in full fat), this version is salad light.
It uses yogurt, so you can hold the mayo. And no eggs.
But you could make an egg salad layer (if you want) for a Smorgastorta effect, or sandwich cake to go with your salmon salad.
That goes hand-in-hand with these 2 Swedish concepts I can get behind:
Fika is a Swedish concept for a coffee break with pastries and while you’re on yours, you can enjoy a Swedish finger sandwich or smorgastorta. This concept is kinda like afternoon English tea or an American brunching on the weekend (one of my fun things to do!).
And a salmon salad is perfect fit for a brunch. It’s light and protein-full. And if you want to give it a building-an-autumn-fire tasting vibe 🍁, you can add fiery orange color turmeric-spice that has ember burning smokey flavors… in case you didn’t know what the turmeric taste is like.
Black pepper and turmeric are a healthy spice combo so it makes sense too.
You can also substitute with Spanish smoked paprika that’s sometimes harder to find. Now that you have some good ideas, maybe it’s time to make your salmon salad sandwich! 🥪 You can make it today and eat tomorrow.
I bake the salmon and then decide!
A good tip is to decide what you will do with the salmon when it is still warm cooked or baked 🐟 . Because it will finely crumble easier when it’s warm and soft.
Drizzled with olive oil and a little salt and pepper, on 350°F/180°C it’s to my baked doneness liking in 3o-40 minutes depending on the fish filet thickness.
You can also cook on the stovetop if that’s your preference. But don’t add too much EVOO if you plan to make it into a salad, as it leaves the salmon more oily. Vs. baking that will dry out and soak in the oil quicker.
But no worries, you can’t go wrong…and all who love salmon will love. 😋
Malt loaf bread is comfy country bread that I could eat regularly as in weekly. It’s hearty, comfort food like a raisin bread. And this similar molasses cake (yes, you heard right!) recipe needs no proofing.
Learn more below 👇
Recipe below 🧡
Molasses is one of the star ingredients in this loaf or cake (depending on how you want to look at it) and one of my favorite sweet ingredients. ⭐️
Watching the slow as molasses dark glossy liquid glide down the jar to the opening is joyful.
And when it does and makes contact with its destination, it comes with multi-dimensional tastes.
…I like to call it dark caramel and one that Grandma’s from the south grew up with. (That’s also the common household molasses brand most of us know).
It’s got the old-fashioned flavors mixed in…
Along with regular molasses comes a bit of sweet, bitter, and black licorice tastes that gives gingerbread cookies its distinct flavor.
The acidity in the ingredient also helps to activate the cake rise if you use a common household ingredient like baking soda (that’s usually stored in the fridge for other purposes).
Also, unlike white table sugar as a sweetener, amazingly molasses has anti-inflammatory effects. If you’re a food science nerd like me then you get excited about these nuances in daily sustenance that affect the body! 🎉 …and whether the ingredient will be used.
Not as common is blackstrap molasses that comes out after the third boiling, so most of the sugar has dissolved like Houdini. It has a lower glycemic index and polyphenols compared to regular molasses. PLUS it has minerals and Vitamin B-6.
With the dark flavor, the dark color matches.
It’s perfect for the cooler months and warming inside if you think of a warm fireplace playing jazzy tunes. 🎶
…And just in time for holiday baking season.
Malt loaf was a challenge on the The Great British Bake Off where I heard of the cakey bread.
And I don’t know anyone who doesn’t love a cakey bread because that means no proofing, but is Prue-fitting, as in Judge Prue Leith who sent the loaf popularity waves across the pond… and into my sound waves vicinity.
…And what makes this loaf so out-of-the-ordinary great is the plumped up raisins from the Earl Grey tea.
It’s a strong brisk black tea that is what you expect for an afternoon high tea. 🫖
I had first heard of the intriguing “raisin plumping” idea in a food class where I collaborated with dieticians.
I loved the idea then… and loved it even more when I added them to this recipe.
You can see how bold and dramatic the raisins become. Who knew raisins could grow and not more wrinkly old? 😁
And to top off this breakfast dessert, you can add a glaze if you wanna shine! ✨
But I like the rustic and plain… like the simple raisin bread. But with bananas, this one is even BETTER.
Not needing butter.
And however you bake your cake or bread, you can make this in one bowl or even in the same baking pan it will end up in! That’s what happened here…
I mean, it doesn’t get much easier than this for fall foods, breads, and baked goods. That makes a malt loaf like this so easy to FALL for! 🍂
A moist malt loaf that has molasses as a star ingredient.
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy LIfe Secrets
Ingredients
1tbspEarly Grey tea, brewed
1tbspraisins (plumped up from tea)
1/3cupcurrants, chopped dates, or additional raisins
1cupmashed bananas
1tbspcoconut oil (in addition to coating the pan)
1/3cupmolasses
2eggs, room temperature
1/4cupalmond milk or milk of choice or more
1/2tspbaking soda
1/2tspground cinnamon
1/2tspsalt
1cupflour of choice
walnuts, chopped (optional)
Instructions
Coat your baking vessel with coconut oil that helps to give a nice thin outer crust and help prevent sticking to the pan. If you prefer less crust, then you can use a light dusting of flour to coat your pan or use a non-stick baking spray.
Brew hot tea and add raisins to the tea. While you're waiting for the tea to steep and raisins to plump up, make the loaf.
Mix the wet and dry ingredients together. Easy tip: you can do this in one bowl and even the same baking pan/vessel that you will use to bake the loaf! This is/should be a very liquid-y batter (like pancake) depending on the flour(s) you use tthat will come out moist. Bake on 350°F for 65-80 minutes until outside is the brown color preferred.
Banana walnut bread with cinnamon and raisin is a simple baked bread I celebrate and you can too just because it’s autumn-fall season or you’re looking for a warming everyday hearty bread like this star bread with a rustic cap to fall in love with. ⭐️ 🍞
Walnut raisin bread is another name for Pan co’Santi that’s an All Saints Day bread. Add in your bananas for a banana bread that most people go bananas over.
And you can douse in some cinnamon to celebrate National Cinnamon Day on November 1.
Anything bread happy goes these days!
And you can turn a joy-filled banana walnut bread into a fruit cake bread filled with raisins, dates, cranberries… and cherries too?
These are all great pairing ingredients for a banana bread. 🍌
And adding walnuts to make a banana walnut bread loaf reminds us of home baking. It does for me as I remember taking a loaf to school my mom had baked. She didn’t bake often but I remember my teacher asking for the recipe that of course I didn’t have and my mom didn’t either (cooking and baking by heart like so many moms from earlier generations and oversees cultures).
…But this banana bread is EVEN better… it’s heavenly and has landed on the plate like a meteor in the shape of the sun. ☀️ You can see the whitish chopped walnut contrasting the dark purple raisins.
Or it’s a shooting star under the sun. 🌠 …either way, it’s earthly food that was sliced in half to enjoy and you can make today.
…Like bread that fell from the sky like a gift during Biblical Ezekiel’s era. It was sent daily from above with love. 💌🌤️
And you can have the same experience from your miracle oven.
Bread afterall is life.
And LIFE is a gift.
Where we can appreciate the present as in now (and 🎁).
And for the blessing of our daily bread, like this banana walnut bread. 🍞
Bread used to be a food category on its own as one of the four basic food groups when I was growing up. And food is one of the 4 basic needs of survival, so that makes bread a need for us (and this one needs no knead 😊).
These days, since our lives are more complex and we have more healthy food options, we get to choose. Bread is one option in the broader acceptable grain category for healthy living.
Flipped bottom side up, you can see the bread’s hearty glow from the sunlight, next to the flower and moon. 🌻🌕
You can make your celestial or favorite grounded shapes with your baking pans and molds that you use for making bread, cake, and donuts.
Because of how moist and sweet it comes out piping hot from the oven is why I call it cake bread.
…Part of that comes from the nature of adding ripe bananas that are wet.
That’s one way this recipe is super simple.
Another way is there’s no need for yeast, proofing, or proofing time.
And a third way is you won’t need a mixer as you can do this all by hand with little effort.
…So maybe I got your attention now. 😊
And to lean in on easy recipes, I like to mix using a regular metal kitchen spoon instead of a whisk because the batter can get sticky and you end up losing a big part of the batter that way… and that could be the reason for a low-rise bread (as there’s less batter).
Mixing is also why this is more like a cake recipe, but turns out like a bread in the magical oven.
The baking secret is to use use enough flour so that the cake bread can stand almost firm on its own. That will better ensure a bread with homemade bread holes.
We don’t want too dense of a bread (like a gluten-free flour would make), but we want a moist bread that will rise with a little dome, and not look flat in the end.
And if you’re like me, you probably like to see the ingredients first to see if you have them and want to use or eat them at the end. 😋
So here’s the banana walnut bread (or Pan co’Santi bread) easy ingredient list:
mashed bananas
healthy oil
maple syrup
eggs
yogurt liquid (or milk)
flour
baking soda/powder
salt
ground cinnamon
optional: walnuts, dates, raisins, craisins
And that’s it!… go Pan co’Santi bananas and welcome in the new season weather and time changes!
Tip: If you don’t have baking powder on hand, you can omit that. Your loaf will be not be as leavened (risen), but you will still get a little rise with the baking soda activated with the maple syrup and yogurt liquid if using (or you can sub in buttermilk, or ACV with milk as other options).
Fruit roll up is a happy memory from when I was a kid. 💭
They were a sweet and light snack from the grocery store that melted in the mouth.
It was (and is) a cross between fruit + candy.
They came wrapped up in their own packaging and were attached to cellophane that I liked to play make things with when I was young. They were rolled up like scrolls.
Almost like the Dead Sea Scroll minus the ancient writing.
…And not that far back, my young days was when posters were the rage so anything rolled up meant happy entertainment or enjoyment.
Playing around, I haven’t had a fruit roll up like those until now as an adult. 😋
Decades later and these parchment paper looking treats are naturally preserved…
These were like the ones that ruined me to never want any other fruit roll up wannabes. 😅
These are the REAL DEAL.
Making these fruit roll ups bring me joy (...and maybe for you too?) because they resembled packaged old-fashioned fruit roll ups that you would buy at the store… minus additional sugar that’s not needed for these.
As thin as they are like sheets of music, these stack up nicely! 🪵…
Thin as paper and pretty as rice paper too.
They’re as durable as leather.
Technically they fall in the leather fruit category but are as smooth and supple as suede.
My mom was a dressmaker, so she played a role in influencing my fabric choices where I learned lighter materials are usually higher quality.
And I’d agree about that with this light leather fruit material…
These feel light and feathery (not leathery) and are very apple healthy! 🍏
Plus, they last for weeks at room temperature.
Made with apple they are a great fall snack that can be made year round.
It’s almost like wrapping paper… or maybe it’s an old map or a key to hieroglyphic history. However you want to call it, it’s a SWEEET fruit roll up.
Oh, and kidding aside, the BEST part is (…can you tell I’m getting excited that it just gets better? 😊)…
You can make these in your home oven in one hour and 20 minutes with just 5 minutes of prep time.
How’s that for predictability?
…Seriously it’s that easy!
They are fun (and dare I say relaxing) to make and everyone of all ages will love them! 💕
They make a great sweet snack without any artificial ingredients.
And actually just 2 sweet and natural ingredients that make a perfect duo. 🍏🍯
Using applesauce, you don’t even have to turn the stove on to cook down apples and de-core them… and they will turn out even better. Because for one, the apple fruit roll up will be more even.
…The first time you make them, don’t freak out because they turn transparent on a baking sheet.
Don’t worry, it’s there. 😀
…I tried that once with Aquafaba because I heard you could make meringues that way… and POOF! I wish I could say that was magic, but it was more like a trick. 🪄
They dissolved into thin oven air… but I digress.
These fruit roll ups will turn out… I promise.
These are the proof…
I’m so happy to share these with you through the screen. And I hope they make your day like they did for me the first time I made them. 🍥
(And maybe this will keep the kiddos staying happy and cavity-free as low-sugar goodies with plenty of sweetness… that are substitutable for a certain candy holiday 🎃).
And if you’re into experimenting (like I am gladly doing with sweets), you can try other flavors.
Keep in mind they will take longer to bake with more complex ingredients.
You will know when you touch or look at the baked fruit roll up whether it’s dry and done, or half-baked and almost there….
In this one, you can see here that the dry section is on the upper right area and the rest of the fruit roll up is not done… simply pop it back into the oven.
Change the time but don’t mess with the temperature.
This one took another 20-25 minutes to finish… and was worth the wait. ⏲️
These are no fuss-no muss apple fruit roll ups you can bake in under 2 hours. This will make 4 - 4 inch roll ups that are about 9 inches long.
Course Snack
Cuisine American
Author Brandy @ Healthy Happy Life Secrets
Equipment
Silpat silicone baking mat on sheet pan
Ingredients
24 ounceapplesauce cups, unsweetened
2tbspraw honey (high quality)
Instructions
Thoroughly combine apple sauce in a bowl and add honey. Tip: use a high quality honey with a smooth consistency.
Smear the mixture into a thin layer on a Silpat (silicone sheet) laid out on a baking pan. Tip: Use different light to check that there are no "holes" that show up with shadows.
Bake on 200°F/100°C for 80 minutes. Tip: if you add or experiment with other more vibrant colors and flavors, they can take significantly longer. You'll know it's completely done, when the fruit roll up is one uniform color and dry throughout to the touch.
Let cool completely and then start to peel at one corner and then slowly peel up the entire fruit roll up. Roll up, slice, and enjoy!
Fall pizza is easy to fall for because you can use almost any type of flour to make a heart crust. You can love the comfort bread crust and home pizza toppings! 😋 And call it a pie.
I think bread flour is the best pizza flour to use for a softer pizza crust in any shape. You decide how thick you want your pizza crust to be.
Pizza is the perfect comfort food for a cozy fall meal and all year round. And they can be made hearty and healthy if you like!
Unlike bread making that needs a higher protein or gluten flour 🍞 for a higher rise, a pizza crust can work well for gluten-free people too. You don’t always need to use gluten bread (or 00) flour.
Especially flat bread pizzas that are more like cracker crusts, where the toppings are the stars.
Goes to show you, you can make a nice crust from just about anything. 😀… maybe not sawdust, but you know where I’m going.
That confidence came from practicing and making pizzas as one of my first loves (and from my food service work journey where I sniffed food all day).
But my humble beginnings were in a busy pizza shop as a teen. That’s a throw back to when we sported our baseball caps that was part of our work uniform that we called our clown suits.
And us clowns banded together, so we were used to our daily attire 🤡
Who knew caps would become such popular wear?
And maybe that’s why I still like to sport a baseball cap (decades later) when I’m baking or near the kitchen.
Decades later still sporting a baseball cap for pizza 🍕
Those pizza making shop days were so much FUN and I ended up staying on there for 4 years before I was rushed off to college.
The shop was like a second home to me before then. During fall football season 🏈, we were busy pizza making bees lined up on the make line. 🐝 🐝 🐝
And as busy bee pizza makers, we were not watching any TV.
We worked as a team under fun pressure to crank out pizzas as fast as we could… 30 minutes fast to be precise… that was the expectation from order taking to door delivery.
So that boiled down to about one-and-a-half minutes to make and prep each pizza from dough to toppings, and then into the magical baking oven.
That reminds me of an I Love Lucy chocolate factory episode 📺
But we weren’t in a losing game most of the time… occasionally, when the line was backed up or an oven broke down, production came to a halt… it was people (and not machine production run) so we didn’t have to scarf down pizza ingredients to keep up.
…We just chilled out during those times.
And when back on track, our heads were down during the rush (that often was during a football rush). But if you weren’t a pizza ingredient or pizza-in-the-making in front of our eyes, we didn’t have time to look up.
Translated: if Travis Kelce had proposed to Taylor Swift on the field or they came into our shop, those moments would be missed.
…Our fall pizza makeline (production line) took priority no matter what.
And was worth it because making pizzas was a one-of-a-kind experience. Those franchise booming years were a recorded phenomenon…
It was history in the making as business college text books I read even had case studies on the 30-minute guarantee I knew firsthand.
And in the shop organized chaos hoopla, while breathing in pizzas, I learned the trick to consistent pizza crusts.
The shop dough would rest in the cold walk-in cooler overnight and get hand sprayed with water to keep from drying out.
It was such a critically important job that only the managers who were the kings of the shop made sure to treat the dough like babies.
They gave the dough some TLC and the proper rest needed that dough babies need to rise on game day.
And when game time was ON, the dough slapper would crank out dough crust, one after another with quick speed, tossing them in the air like frisbee footballs to the next team member…
Sometimes I was the receiver. And that’s where my play was.
If you were assigned the next role, you could catch the frisbee-shaped dough with your two fists and knuckles. Then you would flip out the dough on a pizza screen so they would lay flat and taut without wrinkles.
There’s a lot of dough gymnastic action going on. 🤸♀️
Or they were already set on a screen as the dough slapper’s choice. You could say they’re the Quarterbacks calling the plays.
And then after center screen placement, the pizza sauce is added. That’s a 10-second or so second position, that I was told was the second most important position too.
There’s no dilly-dally time to waste during the busy hours.
Saucing takes a little smooth surfing action 🏄 to evenly spread the sauce… stopping right at the crust like a professional skier at the bottom of a hill. ⛷️
During the slow hours, saucing was a skill that I got to learn, perfect, and throw the ladle in the sauce bucket without it splashing to show I was “a professional”… and I wish I could say that skill has paid off as a useful one, but all I can say is it was FUN. 😀
And today, that’s still the sauce technique I use at home under no pressure where all I do is imperfectly slow bake and prep.
And in that spirit, you can bake your own sporty no-stress pizza at home in about 35 minutes (and in less time than it takes to order out).
Once you know the basics you can apply this to any type of healthy pizza, fall pizza recipe, or crust style that fits your fancy.
Pizza Making 101 (For Regular Home Pizza Crusts)
You need 4 ingredients for pizza: flour, salt, water, and yeast.
Sound familiar…maybe?
It’s the same 4 ingredients you need for bread making.
(Tip: try using semolina flour for your bench flour underneath your pizza for a nice crunch and to make your pizza experience special compared to bread making).
Semolina flour good for pizza bottoms feel like coarser desert sand and is more uniform than sugar or salt. It’s not fine like most all-purpose flours like we used in the shop.
Other simple tips for fall pizza include skipping the brown charring of the crust. Regular baked crusts are even easier to make.
Those are like the regular crusts we had in the pizza shop or when you order a pizza.
…where you simply mix the 4 ingredients, knead the dough, let the dough proof for a couple hours, shape and flatten the dough except for the crust, and then bake on 350°F for about 20 minutes.
From there, I then add the toppings that are already pre-cooked. I do that part separately as different toppings need different cook times in a regular oven. And from bake start to finish, a pizza is done in 30-35 golden minutes. That’s still a magical number today.
In the pizza shop ovens, we always added the uncooked flat meats and veggies first, and then the lumpy items.
They were timed to perfection because through the conveyor belt, the heat was distributed specifically for the needs of pizzas. They only needed 8-10 minutes of baking time.
In the shop, they also weren’t experimenting with new toppings. But they did have pre-made thin crusts (like a cracker crust) and pan pizza crusts that were baked in different ovens.
But the regular crust was the one that most people loved…
Like I did with this sea creature pizza 🦑..which btw, you don’t have to be Jacques Cousteau adventurous to come up with your own unusual creations… like squid here that has a tougher texture. And I made a whole wheat flour crust.
And if you’re a more traditional pizza fan, I GET it… I used to hate anchovies and now I love ’em. I also found a Hawaiian pineapple and ham (sweet and sour) combination delicious… but some don’t like that adventure. You decide!
And besides traditional mushrooms that I’ve always loved, onions make for great toppings on traditional fall pizzas.
Onions (and mushrooms 🍄) are great for boosting your immunity during cold and flu season. Red onions are more mild tasting than Vidalia or white onions. 🧅 And you can mix and match.
In the spirit of veggie fall pizza, you can have fun with your rings.
For more savory and simple delicious ideas, you could add za’atar spices to your fall pizza… or even pair with crunchy za’atar crackers. Crumble on top for some extra crunch. Why not?
Optional: cheese, mushrooms, and toppings of choice.
Instructions
Make dough ball: Use 00 flour if you want a more chewy crust like you find in regular crusts and frozen pizzas. Use bread flour if you want a softer, more bread-like crust. Proof dough for at least 30 minutes to 2 hours if you want a pizza crust rise or more airy holes inside. Tip: use a silicone Silpat baking sheet so the crust doesn't stick to your baking pan.
Make the home pizza crust: Add bench flour (semolina flour or any flour) and then shape crust with a roller and/or with your hands. Stretch the dough with your palms prints on dough, avoiding the crust edge. Turn the pizza 90° to go around the circle with your palm.Soften the edges from your finger shapes by massaging the dough edges back and forth with your fingers.
Bake pizza on 350°F/180°C for 20 minutes and then pull out of the oven. Add sauce, cheese, and toppings and bake for another 15-25 minutes until edges have a hint of warm golden brown. Your toppings or layers of toppings, and ingredient wetness will decide how long the entire pizza will need to bake. Bake raw meat, wet, or lumpy food items separately. If toppings dry out (or to prevent drying out), add a little olive oil. For food items that are already cooked the way you want, add them on your pizza 5 minutes before end of baking time.
