Tasty Tuesday: Spinach Spread & Barramundi

I bet you're beginning to wonder if all of our meals resemble baby food. 

What better way to get your servings of vegetables than through an experimental vegetable puree?

I have been doing a lot of research on the anti-inflammatory diet. Spinach, fish (except the cold water variety), and walnuts all have anti-inflammatory properties according to the four books that I bought. 

If you want a quick little segment about the anti-inflammatory diet (from the guru himself), then check out this short video. 

(source)

My Dad has been talking up Dr. Weil for years. I think I was in high school (so, at least ten years now) when he really got into what Dr. Weil had to say. I'm a big fan of him, too. 

Anyway, here's what our dish looked like (not baby food, I swear):

We retrieved the spinach dip recipe from one of my anti-inflammatory books, The Inflammation Free Diet Plan, by Monica Reinagel. (Buy it here.)
Overall, it's a pretty helpful book, but I haven't tried all of the recipes. I can't give you a full book review.

For the barramundi, Jeff did the following:

Ingredients--

* frozen barramundi (we find ours at Giant or Martin's)

* thyme

* basil

* salt

* pepper

Procedures--

1. Pan sear those bad boys until they're fully cooked (about 8-10 minutes on medium heat.)

2. After you put on the spinach spread, top with walnuts.

For the spinach "spread" (actually meant to be a dip), we did the following:

Ingredients--

* 2 tsp canola oil 

* 1 cup chopped leeks (calls for onions, but I can only tolerate leeks)

* 2 cloves garlic, minced

* One 10-ounce package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed (calls for two, we had only one, and it worked just fine)

* 1/2 cup water

* 1 cup low-fat cottage cheese (it's equal to two of those lunch cups)

* 1 ounce Parmesan cheese, grated

* 1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

* 1/2 tsp pepper

* 1/8 tsp nutmeg

* salt to taste

Procedures--

1. While you pan sear the fish, heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add leeks and garlic, and cook 6 to 7 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender.

2. Add spinach and water, and cook until heated through.

3. Transfer the mixture to a food processor and add cottage cheese, lemon juice, Parmesan cheese, lemon zest, pepper, nutmeg, and salt. Puree until smooth.

4. It tells you to refrigerate at least four hours and up to 24 hours before serving, but we wanted it hot to put on the fish (not use as an actual spread). We refrigerated it afterward and now have it as a dip. 

Anyone else experimenting with the anti-inflammatory diet or a huge fan of Dr. Weil?