This was one of those recipes that came out of random experimentation and ended up being easy, delicious and filling.  Wild swordfish was looking fresh and delicious at Sprouts this past week and was determined to find a way to enjoy it beyond just plain grilling it. If you’ve been following my recipes you have seen the appearance of artichokes – due to my regular cooking of Greek Style Baked Chicken I always have jars of artichokes in the pantry.  This savory dish is very satisfying and definitely one of my repeat recipes.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Six ounce wild caught swordfish steaks
• 1 jar quartered marinated artichokes
• 2 plum tomatoes rough chopped
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup chopped white onion
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup beer (optional)
• Sea salt & black pepper
• 1 tbsp parmasean cheese

Directions:

Season swordfish with salt, pepper and drizzle with (or brush on) olive oil.  Set aside and heat up your grill or have grill pan ready to go.  In a deep pan, heat oil and garlic until it becomes fragrant.  Add onions and saute until they start to become translucent.  Add tomatoes, jar of artichokes (remove half the marinade from the jar first if you plan on not using beer), beer, and simmer uncovered stirring occasionally.  After mixture reduces, add a few chopped basil leaves, black pepper and let simmer on low.  Put swordfish on the grill and flip after a few minutes.  It cooks quickly so stay close and be ready to remove it. Add spinach to your pan in the last minute of cooking and cover to wilt. Stir to combine.

Plate fish and top with tomato mixture.  Garnish with parmesan cheese.

Tomatoes are in season and what better way to enjoy them than roasted.  Roasting tomatoes enhances their flavor and sweetness, adding flavorful dynamics to dishes.  Not only are they delicious prepared this way but also make a great homemade tomato sauce when blended up.  I used tricolor tomatoes but any small tomatoes would work. Garlic and parmesan make this all super delicious healthy and light.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups cherry tomatoes (or small tomatoes – tricolor or heirloom are super pretty!)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 cups spinach
• 2-4 chicken breasts, split*
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 1/2 lemon, sliced
• 4 tbsp olive oil
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a small bowl whisk together 2 tbsp olive oil, lemon juice, 2 cloves of garlic, salt, pepper and parsley.
2. Wash the tomatoes, place on a baking sheet, and pat dry. Drizzle with 1 tablespoon of the oil. Roast for 10 minutes, gently turn the tomatoes, and repeat until the tomatoes are browned, about 30 minutes. I turned the heat up to 450 at the end to get more browning to happen.
3. In a separate glass baking dish, place chicken breasts in a single layer and dump oil and lemon juice mixture on top. Cook with the tomatoes for about 25-30 min or until cooked through.
4. Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons oil in a large heavy pan. Add the last bit of garlic and sauté gently until fragrant, but do not brown, it’ll be bitter if you do. When the garlic becomes fragrant, add spinach and turn off the heat. You should be able to just keep stirring the spinach around for a minute and it will wilt and reduce in size. Transfer to a bowl and set aside.
5. To assemble, top chicken breast with spinach and roasted tomatoes, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese!

*As a cheat for this dinner I used chicken already cooked from the previous night  – Greek Style Baked Chicken is a great recipe to cook in bulk and reuse for the week.

I had never poached anything in my life up until a few months ago when I perfected poaching eggs. Poaching chicken though? I had to give it a try.  Sounded like a really easy way to prepare a dinner for my whole family without too much trouble. The recipe is one from a book called  Cook. Nourish. Glow. that I adapted to fit my needs and yours. You can batch cook this dish too so you have leftovers for days. Enjoy!

Dressing Ingredients:

• 10 almonds chopped finely (preferably soaked in water first)
• 2 springs of rosemary, basil, parsley and thyme, leaves removed, stalks set aside
• 1 clove of garlic
• sea salt
• 1/2 cup olive oil

Chop herbs and almonds together until mixed well.  Combine in a bowl with oil and salt. (You can use whatever herbs you like here – fresh is better for this type of recipe if you can swing it.)

Chicken Ingredients:

• 2 or 3 x 5 ounce chicken breasts
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tsp sea salt
• Herb stems from dressing

Place chicken breasts in a pan of cold water.  Add stalks and stems from herbs, garlic clove and salt to the water. Bring water to a simmer , turn off the heat and immediately cover the pan.  Allow chicken to sit in the hot liquid for 20 minutes or until cooked through.  Remove chicken from poaching liquid and slice thin.  Drizzle herb dressing and serve with extra.

I made this with some grilled zucchini.  The original recipe (adapted from one of my nutritionist idols Amelia Freer) called for blanched green beans and roasted tomatoes, fennel and carrots. That sounds amazing, however if you need to preserve some time a couple grilled veggies worked perfectly.

 

What does one do with an abundance of locally picked peaches? Make peach salsa of course.  But how do you eat it? With a white flaky fish for the perfect summer dinner meal.  I had forgotten how charming a peach farm can be, and how quickly they can turn once you get them home. I love peaches but there is only so many you can eat without getting creative. Peaches are packed with vitamin C, A, B12, and Potassium which all help keep you energized, support immune function, and the antioxidant factor helps ward off weight related health issues and cancer.  Beside all that, they are in season right now and are in delicious abundance!

Salsa Ingredients:

• 3 ripe peaches, diced to 1/4 inch cubes
• 1 small tomato, roughly chopped
• ½ jalepeno, seeds removed, finely diced
• ½ small purple onion, finely diced
• ¼ cup cilantro rough chopped
• 1 lime, juiced
• zest of 1 lime
• sea salt
• fresh ground black pepper

Combine in a large bowl, tossing gently.  Store in an air tight glass container in the fridge.  Will keep for 3-5 days.

Ingredients for fish:

• 2, 4 ounce wild caught cod filets
• 1 lemon
• 1/2 fresh orange
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme (or dried)
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• salt & pepper

Directions: In a baking dish with a lid, place cod fillets in, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper.  Juice lemon and orange over fish and sprinkle in thyme.  Cover fish with a tight sealed lid and shake gently.  (This works with a zip lock bag too.) Let sit in citrus juices for 10-20 minutes in the fridge, swirling every 5 minutes.

On a hot grill or oven set to 350 degrees, cook fish for 7-10 minutes. I put the fish in a tin foil packet on a hot grill, but this wil work in the oven too.  Just keep an eye on it.   Fish should be tender and not dry.  Remove form heat and serve with peach salsa. Garnish with fresh cilantro and limes.

 

I adapted a recipe from a new cookbook this week for a side dish and it turned out so delicious I had to share. This would make an amazing side dish for grilled meat or fish and certainly would be fun to bring to a gathering as a healthy option.  The dressing is a little out there on the ingredient spectrum but the ingredient you buy for this will be featured in some of my future recipes so they are things that will be used again!  Nutritional yeast is something new I’ve learned about and the reasons to add these flakes to your recipes are abundant.  It is a vegetarian source of Vitamin b12, is protein packed with 9 grams of protein for 2 tablespoons, is a good source of folic acid, high in fiber and gluten free. It’s ok to sprinkle on salads, in baking, and is amazing in salad dressings and sauces. Have at it!

Ingredients for Lemon Tahini Goddess Dressing:

• 1 large clove of garlic
• 1/4 cup tahini
• 1/2 cup lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
• 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp honey
• salt and black pepper to taste

Add all ingredients to a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  Makes extra so store in an airtight glass container in the fridge.

Ingredients for potatoes:

• 2 large sweet potatoes, cut into equal size pieces (half moons or cubes about 1-1/2 inches)
• 1/2 shallot, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• black pepper
• Chopped green onion and/or fresh cilantro

In a large skillet, add oil, shallots and garlic and cook until fragrant.  Add potatoes and mix well, turn heat on low and cover to simmer. Cook until potatoes are tender.  Remove from heat to cool slightly.  Toss with Goddess dressing until lightly coated.  Top with fresh chopped cilantro and/or chopped green onion.

Enjoy!

 

 

What?! What the?! Surely you’re reading this wrong…. I’m posting a recipe for chocolate spread? Yes I am.  For those who don’t know me I am nutrition obsessed. I love finding ways to make the foods I love into foods I can enjoy when I want to without diving headfirst into an energy crash.  Sure I indulge from time to time but when possible I look for ways to stay on track and still enjoy.  I have never touched Nutella nor will I ever – -and I’m not condemning it (but seriously that stuff is NOT healthy I don’t care what they say) – but simply because it’s probably really good and I believe that if I don’t know what I’m missing I’m better off.  But, my kids have had it and I stumbled on a recipe published by one of my nutritionist idols and had to try it out.  I whipped this up in minutes and we enjoyed it with fruit.  But you could use it on toast, in your morning coffee, in plain yogurt or with a sliced up banana for a super charged energy breakfast.  Only 4 ingredients but they are all powerhouse foods loaded with antioxidants, magnesium, b vitamins, phytonutrients, omega 3 and 6 – not to mention hemp seeds are a brain superfood.  I’d say that’s far better than the junk in Nutella including processed everything and preservatives and sugar galore.  So whip this up to spread on your protein pancakes this weekend!

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup hemp hearts
• ⅓ cup raw cacao powder
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 2 tbsp raw honey
• pinch of sea salt
• (optional elaborations) cinnamon, nutmeg, cayenne pepper

Directions:

Place all ingredients into a food processor and blend until smooth.

Makes 8 two tablespoon servings: 114 calories, 9g fat, 7g carb, 2g protein and tons of nutrition.