Roasted Grape and Thyme Salmon

Memorial Day weekend is one that traditionally finds me at the beach with my family, except for this year.  I elected to remain home this weekend to work on a couple of “honey-do” projects that have been piling up while the ladies in my life went to the sand and surf.  <insert Pity-Party here>

Today was an absolutely beautiful day and I thoroughly enjoyed working in the yard, even though I often thought how nice it must be at the beach too.  <Pity-Party is in full swing>  As the day was winding down I had to decide whether to go visit a relatively new eatery that was serving some delicious vegetarian frittata or making dinner for one.

Smelling rather manly and pretty much covered in yard dust I decided to shower and stay home.  A rather great decision it turned out to be!  <Pity Party subsiding> Trying a new recipe I discovered on Facebook, my spirits were quickly lifted – being clean probably helped a great deal too.  Here is a dish that was a spectacular blend of flavors for the taste buds and an attitude lifter.

Ingredients:

2 salmon filets of similar thickness
20-30 red seedless grapes
A few sprigs of fresh thyme (about 30 or so little leaves after prep) Reserve two sprigs for baking with the salmon
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. Olive oil, divided

Salt and pepper

What to do:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and prep thyme by removing the leaves from the stems. (Remember to save a sprig for each filet)

In a small bowl combine garlic, grapes, thyme, 1 Tbsp olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.

Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Coat salmon with remaining olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.
Place salmon on baking sheet and add the grape mixture. 

Top each filet with a sprig of fresh thyme.

Bake at 400 for 20 minutes

Enjoy!

Don’t forget to remember those who gave all to protect and serve our country.

Source

 

Mango & Banana Smoothies

Mangoes and bananas make this ‘clean’ smoothie feel like a tropical breeze just blew in.  Now with under twenty days of school left before the start of summer vacation, I am starting to feel the need for warm sand between my toes, the sun’s rays on my body and an ocean breeze on my face.  Add this Mango Madness smoothie to my glass as I kick back in the beach chair and ahhhh…. Soon…very soon...  Well, enough of my fantasies, let’s see how to make this wonderful and healthful drink from my cookbook, The Everything Eating Clean Cookbook. 

Ingredients:
1 fresh mango, peeled and cored
1 banana, peeled
1 cup almond milk
1 Tbsp. local honey (support your community/state farmers and buy local!)

2 cups of ice

What to do:

Alright, how many of you have ever peeled and cored a mango?  Honestly, this was my first time to do so.  It’s pretty simple.  Using a potato peeler I skinned the entire fruit.  Cut in half; removed the ‘pit/core’.  Then put it in the Ninja/Blender with the peeled banana, almond milk and honey.

Add ½ cup of ice and blend.  Continue to add ice until you reach your desired consistency.  I used the entire two cups, but it may vary.  I topped it with a few blueberries for color and texture to each serving.

The recipe yielded three 8oz. servings approximately 126 calories per serving.  It counts as two servings of fruit too!

A 3oz shot of rum would be nice for the beach chair mix, but those calories are extra and not considered ‘clean’.

 

Enjoy!