Archive for Fantastic Fish

Another Quickie: Quinoa with Wild Salmon and Oregano Zucchini

August 27, 2012 A New You, Anti-Inflammatory Life, Beans and Lentils, Eat Your Veggies!, Fantastic Fish, Fertility Foods, Great Grains, Raising Healthy Kids, Recipes, Recipes & Articles, Weigh Loss, Workout Fuel No comments

That’s right, a salmon and quinoa dinner made in under 20 minutes. And with just 6 ingredients! Three power foods, prepared fast, tasty and easy; This meal is also easily adjusted to your own personal needs.

  • 2 zucchini
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil, cold-pressed
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • Earthly Choice Easy Quinoa
  • Canned wild salmon, boneless and skinless
  • 1/2 can white beans
  1. Boil water and quinoa according to package directions.
  2. While quinoa cooks, dice and sauté zucchini in olive oil.
  3. Sprinkle zucchini with oregano.
  4. Drain canned white beans and canned wild salmon.
  5. When quinoa is cooked, mix quinoa, zucchini, salmon and beans together.
  6. Season with salt and pepper as desired.
  7. Serve 1 1/2 cups with a colorful salad.

Balance Your Own Plate

One of my favorite concepts for healthy eating is to balance your plate. Fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables and the other half with high-fiber carbohydrate and healthy protein or fat.

To balance my plate I served this Quinoa, Salmon and Oregano Zucchini with an arugula and tomato salad because this recipe is a bit light on veggies. If you’d like this to be a stand alone meal or if you are trying to eat more vegetables or if you are trying to lose weight, use 3 zucchinis and add 2 bell peppers. If you are eating a higher protein and lower carbohydrate diet, use more vegetables and 2 cans of salmon. If you are active and eating a higher carbohydrate diet, use the whole can of white beans. By increasing and decreasing the different components of this meal, you can adjust it to meet your own nutritional needs.

Nutrition Details

Gluten-free, dairy-free, vegetarian, vegan (use tofu cubes instead of salmon)

Getting ready for the week

January 25, 2012 A New You, Beans and Lentils, Fantastic Fish, Nutrition Notes, Raising Healthy Kids, Recipes & Articles One comment

I really do practice what I preach.  I make a menu for the week with a corresponding grocery list, then I shop and I come home and organize.  And, ideally, I prep some foods on the weekend to save time during the week.  Preparing foods ahead of time is a luxury, not a necessity.  However, in our life right now, it’s becoming more of a necessity.

My friend and I have started running after work on Wednesdays.  This change in my schedule has created the need for crock pot meals because there is no way that I can run after work and then cook dinner.  Well, I could, but that would create utter chaos in our house.  While I just get crabby and short-tempered when I am hungry, 2 year old and 6 month old little girls simply won’t stand for late dinners.  The ease of coming home to a dinner that’s pretty much ready to serve is so wonderful on Wednesdays that I have a renewed commitment to cooking on the weekend for the week.

You’ve got to plan ahead and be well equipped to do this.  My Christmas present this year from Mom was a massive supply of Pyrex.  I had to reorganize my pantry to hold it!

Thanks Mom!

Here’s my “container shelf”.  That’s about 1/2 full, the rest are in the dishwasher. But you see, I still have enough to prep, cook and store food for the week without having to do dishes.  Perfect!

With my list of recipes for the week in hand, I go through and think about what I could do on the weekend to save time.

What’s on my menu this week?

What can be prepared ahead of time?

  • Marinate the salmon and chicken.  I used coriander, cumin, vegetable broth, and a little honey.
  • “Bake” the sweet potatoes in the microwave and then heat them in the oven for the baked feeling on the day you plan to eat them.  BTW–sweet potatoes were Dena’s fourth food this week!  She loved ‘em!
  • Make the “creamed” spinach, which is basically blending tofu, lemon and garlic and pouring over frozen spinach.  I used frozen spinach instead of fresh.
  • To cook the salmon, chicken, sweet potatoes and spinach, just throw it all a 375 degree oven and bake until done.  About 15 minutes for the chicken, fish and spinach, and 30 minutes for the spinach.
  • Cut up veggies for salad. This week we had broccoli, carrots, celery, jicama and cabbage
  • Make the lasagna.  Just bake it when you need it.  You could also make two and freeze one for future use.
  • Make the lentils.  I did this last night because we are having them tonight.  I made a note on my menu plan to remind myself that I need to do that.
  • Make the sauce for the braised beef.  Cover the beef roast with the sauce and then freeze.  Take it out the day before you need it.  I am putting it in the slow cooker rather than the cook method described in the recipe.
  • I have brown rice in the freezer that I will pull out to use this week.  This could be done the night before or on the weekend if you don’t have any frozen.

The finished product

All in all, I think I was in the kitchen for about 3 hours.  But I did have my little helpers, some breaks to play and feed the kiddos.  On my own it would have taken about half that time.  The time investment was well worth it.  I would much rather take my time and play in the kitchen and cooking on the weekend affords me that luxury.  So this week, my stress level is down and we’ve had time to come home and play with the neighbors and sit outside for a bit before dinner.  Let’s see if I can keep it up!

Too many snacks? Portions too big at dinner? Look at lunch.

January 18, 2012 A New You, Anti-Inflammatory Life, Beans and Lentils, Eat Your Veggies!, Fantastic Fish, Great Grains, Nutrition Notes, Recipes, Recipes & Articles, Super Snacks 3 comments

Is lunch less than satisfying?

Do you struggle to find afternoon snacks that are satisfying?  Does your energy drop mid-afternoon?  Are you ravenously hungry by dinnertime and consequently overeat or make poor choices?

Late afternoon and dinnertime are common trouble-zones when you may find yourself making poor food choices or overeating.  How can you fix these unhealthy patterns?  Redirect your attention away from your snack and dinner challenges and reconsider lunch.

Lunch is often overlooked.  It gets skipped or is eaten in a rush and distractedly at your desk.  Or, perhaps you overeat at lunch, sending your blood glucose on a roller coaster ride leaving you craving something and tired in the afternoon.  Or, in efforts of controlling calories you don’t eat enough at lunch.  In all of these scenarios, the downstream effect is poor food choices in the late afternoon and at dinner.

Pack your lunch to get control

Some days it may be as simple as packing a sandwich.  Save even more time and pack leftovers.  Experiment with new foods to make lunch exciting.  Whatever you bring, think ahead and make a plan.  This will save you time and money and encourage balanced and satisfying meals.

Sandwiches and wraps are definite options, as long you choose quality ingredients.  My KVOA segment tomorrow at 4:30 pm will talk about quality sandwich ingredients, so stay tuned.

Since there are really no suitable 100% whole grain gluten-free breads or wraps, my lunch ideas skip the standard sandwich lunch suggestions.  For those who do eat gluten, a sandwich or wrap can be convenient and filling, but we all need variety and whole grains and beans are more healthful sources of carbohydrate.

Think outside of your lunchbox and try one of these tasty-lunch ideas

  1. Quinoa salad with dried organic apricots and sunflower seeds, seasoned with olive oil, pepper and cumin. Use leftover cooked quinoa and either leftover-diced cooked chicken or canned wild salmon.  Layer everything on organic spinach and enjoy as a cold or hot salad (just steam the mix in microwave).
  2. Sweet potato stuffed with cottage cheese and steamed broccoli.
  3. Wild salmon mixed with canola oil mayo, mustard, diced celery and onion on top of organic salad greens or stuffed into organic celery or zucchini “boats” with an organic sliced pear or apple.  Or try Curry Apple Salmon Salad on mixed greens.
  4. Bean and corn salad with black beans, corn, organic edamame, diced avocado, organic tomatoes and organic bell pepper, seasoned with canola oil, lime juice and oregano.  Served with tortilla chips.
  5. “Everything” salad with a variety of tasty ingredients from the fridge and pantry.
    • Start with a big glass Pyrex storage container.  Layer organic greens in the bottom of the container.
    •  Top with veggies.  Use veggies that you chopped on the weekend, or leftover steamed, sauteed or roasted vegetables.
    • Then add fruit.  Use dried unsweetened raisins, cherries, blueberries, or dried apricots.  Or use fresh or frozen fruit.
    • Next is some type of high fiber carbohydrate.  Any variety of bean or lentil will do.  Canned is fine, and Eden brand with a BPA free liner is best.  Leftover cooked rice, quinoa, and winter squash are also delicious toppings.
    • For protein, emphasize plant proteins so that you can use less animal protein.  Use leftover chicken or fish.  Marinate tofu cubes and sprinkle on edamame.  Canned salmon and cottage cheese are both handy.
    • Drizzle with a tasty canola oil or olive oil based dressing.  Skip the fat free stuff; get one that tastes good and use sparingly.

These meals have a basic structure in common.

  • Protein from plant-foods and lean animal-foods, such as beans, lentils, grains, vegetables, fish and poultry
  • Fiber and carbohydrate from intact grains, legumes, fruit and veggies
  • Flavor from veggies, fruits, nuts, seeds, healthy oils, spices and herbs
  • Fat from healthy oils, nuts, seeds and fish.

Use this as a framework for your lunches to ensure satisfaction and balance so that you curb afternoon snacks and stay on track at dinner.

Genetically Modified Salmon

December 21, 2011 Anti-Inflammatory Life, Fantastic Fish, Recipes & Articles 2 comments

I’m an advocate for eating salmon. It’s high in omega 3-fatty acids, which are anti-inflammatory and therefore promote good physical and mental health.  Omega-3 fatty acids are hard to come by in most foods and salmon is a uniquely rich  source of these health-promoting fats.  I recommend that people try to eat salmon 1-2 times per week.

I also specify wild salmon over farmed salmon; farmed salmon is often labeled Atlantic salmon.  Wild salmon is higher in omega-3 fatty acids and is not contaminated with carcinogens, such as dioxins and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB’s) that lace the feed of farmed salmon.  Wild salmon in not administered antibiotics, nor is wild salmon administered food dye to enhance it’s eye appeal.  Wild salmon is naturally a rich pink-red color.

As good-for-you as salmon is, overfishing is a very real threat to regular consumption of all fish.  If we all follow my advice to eat wild salmon 1-2 times per week, would there be enough salmon to go around?  Perhaps not.  Environmental problems and customer demand is threatening the bountifulness of salmon in our rivers and oceans.  Genetically modified salmon may provide a solution to this problem, but is that the solution we want?

How do you feel about genetically modified salmon?

An AquAdvantage salmon behind a non-transgenic Atlantic salmon sibling of the same age. From NPR.

The AquAdvantage variety of genetically modified salmon that is currently under review by the FDA is a fast growing salmon that could potentially put more salmon on our plates.  While I am in favor of more salmon, I am not ready to embrace genetically modified salmon for both ethical and health reasons.  I am not comfortable with messing with the genes of plants, let alone the genes of an animal.  Nor am I convinced that we really understand the long term health implications of genetically modified foods.  Additionally, genetically modified salmon would likely continue to be higher in dioxins, PCB’s and antibiotics compared to wild salmon.

Plus, this fast growing salmon will require more calories, and those calories will most likely come from genetically-modified soybean oil rather than fish oil.  Remember that salmon are meat-eaters, which means their feed is a mix of fish meal and fish oil.  Soybean oil is high in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids, whereas fish oil is high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.  When soybean oil displaces fish oil in salmon’s diet, this will lead to a reduction in beneficial omega-3 fatty acids and an increase in inflammatory omega-6 fatty acids.

This is a tricky situation.

What kind of salmon should we eat in order to safely consume this variety of fish without depleting this natural resource?  Fortunately, the Monterey Bay Aquarium and Environmental Defense Fund have resources to guide our salmon choices. Choose wild Alaskan salmon or canned wild salmon most often; wild salmon from California or Oregon are eco-friendly alternatives to Alaskan.  Avoid farmed salmon and be aware that if approved by the FDA, we will be seeing genetically modified salmon in our grocery stores.  And since food companies are not required to disclose to consumers when food contains genetically-modified ingredients, we likely won’t know if the farmed fish has been genetically modified.

Read more:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/09/us/farmed-salmon-have-more-contaminants-than-wild-ones-study-finds.html?pagewanted=all

http://www.ewg.org/reports/farmedpcbs

http://www.albany.edu/ihe/salmonstudy/contaminants.html

http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,2015134,00.html

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thesalt/2011/12/12/143588609/safety-concerns-linger-around-genetically-modified-salmon

Curry Salmon Salad with Apples

October 6, 2011 Anti-Inflammatory Life, Eat to Beat Cancer, Fantastic Fish, Recipes, Recipes & Articles, Workout Fuel 4 comments

Kick inflammation with this curry salmon salad!  Whether you are working to reduce pain, improve exercise recovery, prevent disease or just look your best, lowering inflammation is the way to go.

Salmon, canola mayo, radishes and apples are all anti-inflammatory.

Since deli meats are full of preservatives (unless you get nitrate-free deli meat), find alternative sandwich fillers like tuna, or even better salmon, salad. Compared to tuna, salmon is higher in omega 3 fatty acids and is not contaminated with mercury.

Curry Salmon Salad with Apples

  • 1 celery stalk, diced
  • 4 radishes, diced
  • 1/4 cup diced onion
  • 1/2 apple, diced
  • 1 6-oz can wild salmon, boneless, skinless
  • 1/2 cup plain yogurt
  • 1/2 cup canola mayonnaise
  • 1 tablespoon curry powder
  1. Mix all ingredients together and enjoy!
  2. Serve on spinach or other salad greens or stuff into whole wheat pita.
Nutrition Details:
Gluten-free, vegetarian
Makes 2 servings, per serving:
460 calories, 33 grams fat, 4 grams saturated fat, 288 mg sodium, 14 grams carbohydrate, 3 grams fiber, 23 grams protein