Seared Salmon

Dinner tonight!

Pan Seared Salmon with tarragon and lemon, organic quinoa, roasted beets and a simple arugula salad!

Recipe? Hmm, here goes nothin' ;)

Salmon (duh!), skin on is fine! Season with sea salt and pepper.

Olive oil

Fresh tarragon

Lemon

Quinoa- I used red and white... Quinoa generally more than doubles when cooked so I used 1/4 cup red and 1/4 cup white (approximately since I never actually measure anything!) and it made just over a cup cooked quinoa.

*Quinoa is considered a superfood and is not technically a grain but is a complete protein! Super yummy, healthy and has the coolest texture!

Beets: I used golden and regular purple!

Arugula: Just a handful! Sprinkle some olive oil and apple cider vinegar on it and you're good to go!

First, gotta roast those beets! Wash them off (rip the leafy green tops off!), throw them in a baking dish. Coat them liberally with olive oil, salt and pepper. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 350ish for thirty mins or so. When you hear them sizzling in there and they are slightly soft to the touch, they're done. Let them cool, peel them, slice into wedges and set them aside.

Next, get your quinoa going... For 1/2 cup of quinoa, you're going to use 1 cup of water. Get your water boiling, add some salt (my culinary instructors used to say make it salty like the ocean!) and dump the quinoa in. Cover and cook for about 20 mins or until the little hulls of the quinoa come off... You'll see a visible change! That can be set aside...

Meanwhile, get a frying pan screaming hot, add about a tablespoon of olive oil... When it gets shimmery like, lay the salmon, skin side DOWN. DON'T TOUCH IT! When it's ready to flip, it will become unstuck from the pan but if you try and move it too early, the skin falls apart and it looks crappy! Flip it when it's ready, squeeze half a lemon in it and add some fresh tarragon leaves. Cook it until its firm when you press on it :)

Plating time!! Quinoa first, salmon second, arugula on top (see how tall you can get it!) and arrange the beets around it all in a pretty pattern! 

Eating pretty food is fun!

That's all I've got tonight folks!

Enjoy!!

Smoothies!

Smoothies are easy to make, yummy, nutritionally balanced and fun! 

Here's some helpful hints: 

*Make sure all your fruit is frozen!! Frozen solid! Like a glacier... The blender WILL blend it up and it will make the smoothie SO much yummier! Room temp blended anything isn't my favorite...

*Buy frozen berries if they're not in season, but otherwise buy fresh fruit and freeze it yourself! It's generally WAY cheaper and tastes SO much better. Frozen fruit tends to be sour and flavorless and certain fruits, such as peaches are just plain nasty frozen! (Frozen bitter cardboard anyone?!) If you buy FRESH, ripe fruit, slice it up, sprinkle some lemon juice on it, lay it out on a baking tray and pop it into your freezer for an hour or so THEN put it in zippy lock bags and freeze forever! Well, not forever, but for a while at least!

*Add dark leafy greens... I know it sounds weird, but you honestly can't taste them, and they have SO many great vitamins and minerals in them! PLUS, then you don't have to cook them and eat them and even your kiddos will suck it down because it TASTES GOOD!

*Frozen bananas give great texture and creaminess to a smoothie, but stick to only using a half per serving because they are very high on the glycemic index!

I learned THAT one from Dr. Heather Hunt :)

*Try using almond milk or coconut milk in place of yogurt for a yummy, neutrally flavored dairy free option... 

*If you like yogurt in your smoothies, use caution with the fruits you choose. Fruits that are high in acid with "curdle" your yogurt (it won't taste bad and isn't bad for you, but it looks disgusting and leaves a weird feeling in your mouth...) Examples I am sure of (from experience!) are pineapple, fresh mango and citrus fruits...

That's all I have on smoothies! 

What's YOUR favorite smoothie combo/ recipe?

Hello!

Ok!!

So, due to popular demand, I started a foodie blog... Let's see if I can actually keep up with this one! I'll post pics and recipes, cool tips and experiments! I'd like to start with the recipe that got people asking for more! Also, please feel free to post questions on here!! 

(Of course you can omit or substitute any of these ingredients, these are just some of my faves!) 

These quantities are approximate for one large stock pot worth...

Organic free range, non grain vegetarian fed chicken (one breast, three thighs) Season with salt and pepper, sear in 2T olive oil on high heat (in a medium saucepan) until skin is crispy and golden brown. Cover 3/4 up the side of pan with water. Cover, simmer until meat is falling off bone, approx 20 min.

Rough chop the following:

4-5 carrots

6-8 ribs celery

3 yellow onions

1 large parsnip

8-10 French fingerling potatoes

5 cloves garlic (or more!!)

1 bunch rainbow chard

1/2 head Savoy cabbage

1 bunch flat leaf parsley

Fresh thyme (to taste... I like a lot!)

Heat 4T olive oil in large stockpot. Add veggies in order of crunchiest to most delicate to stockpot, sautéing for a few minutes between each addition. Cover veggies with water. 

Add salt and pepper... I don't know how much, but a lot lol!

Taste it as you go!!! Constantly!!

Pull meat off bones and throw in stockpot... Discard bones, skin and yucky squishy fat... Pour all that delicious chicken stock into your soup!

Cover and simmer approx 45... It will be fully cooked way before that mark, but the longer it goes, the more the flavor grows!

Enjoy!

Btw, you CAN use veggie oil instead of olive but it's actually a soybean product and soy is evil lol...