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?

Meal Plans and Spots

I rang in the new year with an apple juice box, a Lifetime movie on demand, and a zonked out husband who had no recollection of the New Year's kiss that I gave to him. 

As a result of all of my food intolerances, sensitivities, and allergies, I've been trying to reclaim my health through my meal plans and nutritional supplements. Call it a new LIFE resolution, if you will. I even went so far as to start seeing a nutritionist at the nearby hospital (best decision ever). 

Anyway, I'm going to focus my efforts on taking my meal plan from healthy to balanced. Luckily for me, my husband is completely on board. In fact, he'd like to start contributing his "recipes" to this here blog. For the record, I've nicknamed him Jeff Boyardee. Cute, I know.

All right, I feel like, for the past few posts, I've tried to provide you with some resourceful links to all sorts of information. Well, I'm about to inundate you with several today: 

If you want some help balancing your meals, ChooseMyPlate.gov is a valuable resource. 

The nutritionist told me about The Fresh 20, which I'd like to try because it has gluten-free menu options (and normal ones, too, so don't worry.)

 Jeff was not a fan that you had to pay for it, so he found Eating Well's gluten-free meal plan.

If you hate that the doctor always sends you off with a bag of pills and you'd rather find a more natural method of healing, the best book that sits on my parents' bookshelf and mine is Prescription for Nutritional Healing. It should be a bookshelf staple for everyone...inmyhumbleopinion. 

I admit that Dr. Oz is awesome (and nice to look at), but Dr. Weil has been around for a long time and doesn't earn nearly enough credit for his knowledge. Advice that he's been giving for what seems like forever is finally becoming mainstream information. He's worth checking out, too.  

And, BAM! I send you off with a handful of links and my outfit.

I tried a new color combination, and I'm a big fan. I hope you are, too. 

It's okay if you're not. I'll probably wear it again anyway. 

 If it weren't frowned upon and mildly unsanitary, I would wear this cardigan every day, but then the other clothes in my closet would feel sad, and I can't have that, now can I?

Outfit Deets: 

Cardigan: LOFT (old but here's a sort of similar one at Old Navy)

Top: The Limited (here's one on the cheap from NY & Co.)

Belt: J.Crew (I think I like this $15 one from Lulu's better.)

Flats: Mod Cloth (these from Nordstrom are cute)

Necklace: NY & Co.

Oh, Jeff made some delicious tuna salad that has a lot of good stuff in it.

Mix together the following ingredients:

2 cans albacore tuna

1 carrot

1 celery stalk

 some mayo to help it mix (we use the kind with olive oil in it)

salt

pepper

parsley

1 avocado (my favorite part)

Whew! I hope you feel mighty educated after reading this post. Actually, if you made it this far, I applaud you.

Oh, and I linked up with The Pleated Poppy, Rolled Up Pretty, and Because Shanna Said So today :)

P.S. Here's to hoping I win that J.Crew giveaway from Here & Now!