Salmon with Dill Cream and Sauteed Spinach

....And the salmon obsession continues. I'm sorry for posting so many salmon recipes...but my taste buds just can't help it. They need salmon......and salmon needs them....................................................................................................

Umm...Just try this recipe. It's yummy!

Salmon with Dill Cream and Sauteed Spinach
Serves: 1


Ingredients:
1 salmon fillet
1/4 cup light sour cream
a few sprigs fresh dill, roughly chopped
1/2 fresh squeezed lemon juice
2 garlic cloves, sliced
4-5 cups spinach (or as much as you want)
Olive oil
Salt & Pepper


1. Heat olive oil in saute pan on medium heat; Season the salmon with salt and pepper

2. Cook the salmon, skin side down for 5 minutes
3. While the salmon is cooking, combine the sour cream, dill, lemon juice, salt, & pepper. Add as much dill as you like!
4. Flip salmon and cook on the other side for 4-5 minutes.
5. Heat 1 tblsp olive oil in another saute pan over medium heat and add the sliced garlic.

6. After garlic is heated, add a small amount of spinach, gradually adding more as the spinach welts. Add salt and pepper and cook until all of the spinach is welted.

7.Pour dill sauce over the salmon and serve with spinach.
8. Enjoy!

Salmon BLT's

Yesterday was the mark of one week on our diet competition. As the rules stated, the person who lost the least body weight percentage had to cook for the other person. Needless to say, Josefine lost. Or so I thought. We texted each other in the morning with our final weight and body percentage lost. I had won (woo!). It wasn't until we were eating the dinner that Josefine had already prepared that we decided to recalculate our percentage and realized that I actually had lost the competition the first week. Oops. Oh well, Josefine still cooked an amazzzzzzzing dinner. I'll probably be having dreams about it for the next week....or two. Thank god for Josefine losing the competition. Sort of.
Anyway, we saw this recipe at Publix a week ago and both have been drooling over it so here it is! I hope you get the chance to try this. It hit every spot.

Salmon BLT's
Serves: 2


Ingredients
1 medium tomato, sliced
a few sprigs fresh dill
1/2 tsp capers, finely chopped
4 slices whole wheat bread, toasted
2 tblsp light mayonnaise
2 salmon fillets (she used sockeye salmon)
4 slices bacon (she used turkey bacon)
1 cup fresh baby spinach
Salt & Pepper


1. Combine dill, capers, mayonnaise, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper; set aside.
2. Season fish with salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper.
3. Wrap two slices of turkey bacon around each salmon filet (wash hands).
4. Preheat large sauté pan on medium-high 2–3 minutes.
5. Place salmon in pan; cook 4–5 minutes on each side or until bacon is crisp and salmon is cooked.
6. Spread 2 teaspoons mayonnaise mixture on each bread slice; top with spinach and tomato.
7. Add salmon and assemble sandwiches

8. Serve and Enjoy!

Now onto week two! Making progress and feeling sooo much more healthy and energetic!

Raspberry Glazed Salmon with Cucumber Salad

I've recently been on a salmon kick. I eat, sleep, and dream salmon. I can't get it out of my mind. Creepy, no? It's become one of my favorite foods to eat as well as cook. Salmon is so super easy to cook and it tastes good served with almost anything. Since I am also on a health kick right now, I made this super healthy super easy recipe and it turned out perfect! I think it might be one of my favorite meals to date. It's also fairly easy on the wallet and requires very few ingredients that you probably already have stored somewhere in the back of your fridge. Anyway, enough teasing.

Raspberry Glazed Salmon with Cucumber Salad

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

1 pound of salmon (or two large fillets cut in half)

1 cup raspberry jam

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

2 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

2 tblsp Dijon mustard

salt & pepper

For the cucumber salad:

Four small sized cucumbers,diced

1 large tomato,diced

A few springs of basil, chopped

1 tblsp extra virgin olive oil

3/4 cup balsamic vinegar

salt & pepper

Directions:

1. Season the salmon fillets with salt and pepper

2. Combine the raspberry jam, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and dijon mustard in a shallow dish or plastic bag and let salmon marinate for an hour.

3. Meanwhile, make the cucumber salad by combining all of the ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Add as much balsamic vinegar as you feel is necessary! I believe you can never have too much.
4. Once the salmon is marinated, grill or pan fry for about 3 minutes on each side, leaving the skin on.
5. Once it's cooked, spread some more of the marinade over the top and broil in the oven on high for 1-2 minutes until it because sticky and yummy!
6. Serve and enjoy!

New Year, new habits

Today is the second day of my last semester of college (yay!). It's also the start of getting more fit and healthy and it is also the start of a competition I have going with one of my friends to lose [winter] weight and get toned! I fortunately didn't gain any weight while I was on vacation in England for a month. None. Zero. I actually even lost a pound. That's right. A whole month of eating meat, potatoes, cheeses, fish & chips, alcohol, pastries, cakes, chocolate and I lost a pound. How is this possible?! I did do a lot of walking and traveling but I am pretty sure that the Cornish pasties cancelled that out.

So even though I actually lost a pound on my vacation, I don't feel healthy at all. It's time to get healthy again! 

My and my friend, Josefine, have started a competition. Basically whoever loses the most percentage of their weight each week wins and the other person has to cook dinner for that week. I know that sounds a little bit intense but we're only aiming to lose 1-2 pounds every week. We won't be starving ourselves! I, personally, am going to cut down on carbs but not cut them out completely or else I will lose weight too fast and won't be able to stick with it. I am going to drink an 8oz glass of vegetable juice every morning and cut out all sweets! I already eat all whole grains so that won't be hard but I am going to eat a lot more fruit and a lot less cheese. I have switched to greek yogurt instead of regular because it has about 3 times the amount of protein. I also am going to start cooking a lot more fish because its lean, has a lot of vitamins, and tastes so.......o good! I also bought a belly dancing DVD so I'm mostly excited about that(ha!).

Here is my plan: 

My goal is to lose 10 pounds. No more, no less. In the process I will obviously gain a little bit of weight because I will also be working out 6 days a week (or at least that's what I'm telling myself!). Hopefully at the end I'll be able to share my progess. I'm not going to say how much I weigh just yet but I will say that I am 5'6" and my BMI is 21.6. You do the math ;)


Just to give you a little preview of how my diet is going, here's what I had for dinner last night...

That's dedication, people!

I got on the scale when I got home from dinner and had gained FOUR POUNDS! How do I shove four pounds of food in my mouth in less than two hours?! Well, this morning I woke up and I was 0.4 pounds less than what I was in the previous morning. Which means that I lost 4.4 pounds overnight. Now, THAT is dedication, people!

Is anyone else dieting for the new year?Any other creative ways of going about it?

Sunday

I never thought I could miss something so badly. Three more days and I get to see this little nugget!

Note: Those are not my legs

Paris...

I am in love. 

La ville de l'amour

Tomorrow I will be en route to the City of Love! Today I am spending the day indoors being nerdy and making detailed itineraries. Tonight we are having a traditional English Roast for dinner and then an early bed time because we are off  to London at 4am and will be in Paris by 10am. I don't know if I'll be able to sleep!

image via Pinterest

2012 Resolutions

So far my 2012 has been very relaxing. Yesterday I went to the spa with Peter, his mum, and sister. It was actually a very interesting experience. After spending a little bit in the jacuzzi pool, I went to the hot beds and just as I was falling asleep the fire alarm went off! So everyone in the spa (100+ people) were forced outside in the bitter English cold weather, wet and in bathing suits only covered by robes. Luckily there was a bar close so we all stuffed in there and were given free coffee and drinks. Apparently there actually was a fire and we had to wait for the fire brigade to come. After about 45 minutes of standing in damp robes, we were allowed to go back and relax again. They warned that there was still smoke in the building but we were still allowed to resume our naps. All in all, it was a lovely day and we got everything (including lunch) for free! If anyone lives near Reading in England I recommend it! http://www.nirvanaspa.co.uk/

While I was relaxing for 5+ hours, I had plenty of time to formulate my new years resolutions. So here they are. Happy 2012!

1. Read at least one book every month: Most of my reading comes from textbooks, thanks to college. I feel like I never have time to read except for at nighttime just before bed and whenever I try that, I usually fall asleep within 15 minutes. I have some that I really want to read but I still need ideas of good books to add to the list so if anybody has suggestions, feel free to comment :) .
2. Be more organized: I usually keep a planner for about a month and then I lose it somehow and my life turns into an unorganized mess. This year is very important to me, so hopefully I can find an easier way to organize it.
3. Exercise 4-6 days each week: I am the worst when it comes to working out. I have a condition with my heart (nothing serious) that has prohibited me from working my body too hard. Usually when I get an episode, it makes me really mad and I just stop working out for months at a time. I hope that I can find someway to build up my heart and get it used to a consistent routine four-six days every week.
4. Eat healthier: Whole grains, vegetables, lean meats, fruits, nuts, and less amounts of dairy. I don't want to lose any weight but just be comfortable with my health and what goes in my body.
5. Cook more: I used to cook almost every night. And then senior year hit me and I was living on toast and bananas. I hope this semester, even though it's my last, will be less stressful and I can enjoy doing what I love!
6. Relax: I struggle with this. I hope this year brings less stresses and I am able to have more time to myself.