Fastest Recipe Ever

I’ve been at this whole “working mom” thing for four years now. It has taken my husband and me about that long to figure out how to get dinner on the table for our family of four.

But let me tell you, I nailed it with a recipe that’s easy, delicious and affordable. The coolest part is that my daughter, who is 4 years old, not only helped me make it, she actually ate it. I wouldn’t call her picky, but she’s not all that adventurous when it comes to food.



What you need
• A membership to a wholesale grocery store like Costco or Sam’s Club.
• Giant package of fresh salmon filets. The one I bought was roughly $20.
• Basting brush
• Microwave steamer bags (I’m leery of microwaving in plastic, so I did a little research. These steamer bags have no phthalates or BPA, according to a Good Housekeeping article.)
• Olive oil (I don’t measure stuff, so sorry for you perfectionists out there who need precision with your measurements.)
• Salt
• Pepper
• Dill

What to do
• Place the salmon fillets on a cutting board.
• Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper and dill.
• Rub the oil and spices into the salmon fillets – or let your child do it.
• Cut the fillets into individual-sized portions.
• Place each portion into a steamer bag. (For smaller portions, I put two per bag.)
• Label the bags with the day.
• Throw them in the freezer. (The steamer bags aren’t necessarily meant to be in the freezer, so don’t leave them frozen too long.)
• Take them out as you want to serve them.
• Follow the instructions on the bag regarding microwave times for fish.

A few other things to note
• The salmon fillets that I bought yielded about four adult servings and four toddler/preschooler-sized servings.
• My husband and I divide the dinner chores this way: I prepare most of the food in advance. He cooks it and puts the finishing touches on it. On salmon nights, all he has to do is take the salmon bags out of the freezer and microwave it for two minutes.
• We also use the steamer bags for vegetables like spinach, asparagus and broccoli. My kids don’t eat those as easily, but that’s for another blog post. I pack the veggies ahead of time with spices and a teeny bit of butter.

I have to give a shout out to another Texas Health coworker who gave me this idea over lunch one day. Thanks Suzy Miller!

Melanie Medina is a Senior Communications Specialist at Texas Health Resources.