Dinner for One

It's not often I have the time or energy to cook a full on meal for myself during the week... I am either heating up an Amy's frozen meal, or  boiling some brown rice noodles with pasta sauce...But last night, I knew I was due for some quiet time at my condo with my dog Jojo enjoying some good food.  I decided I wanted to cook something familiar, something my mother used to make, along with something of a protein.  

I decided on a cool endive salad, with heart of palm, avocado, fresh mozzarella, and basil...This was finished so simply (as my mother used to make) with good olive oil and a dash of salt and pepper.   I knew my body was  craving veggies, so this hit the spot.  Endives are a surprisingly enjoyable alternative to your normal spinach salad, or butter lettuce salad.  They have a bitter crunch, which hits a taste bud we don't often hit.  Endives are also full of iron, amino acids, calcium and magnesium. Heart of palm is another food my mother turned me on to as a child...I remember eating these things right out of the can.  They have a soft, almost sweet-ish taste and carry a number of beneficial vitamins and minerals. Heart of palm have zinc, riboflavin, protein, fiber and vitamin C...AND, they are low, low, low in calories and fill you up!  This salad tasted so fresh and honestly, with the protein in the heart of palm and the oils in the avocado, and creamy mozzarella...I could have enjoyed this salad alone and been satisfied.  I had JUST purchased a beautiful fillet of salmon and didn't want it to go to waste.

I  knew I needed some good protein since I have recently started a new boot-camp...Relentless Boot-camp.   I went for the wild sokeye salmon, marinated in red miso, with a side of roasted Japanese sweet potato ( my new favorite starch ).   Normally, I wouldn't recommend eating the sweet potatoes this late in the day ( I try to keep these types of starches for morning or lunch ), but I couldn't resist.  I wanted  a carb, and I wanted to use this little sweet potato before the weekend (because I normally go out to eat during the weekend).  Anyways,  this meal took no time at all to prepare, I baked the salmon and sweet potatoes together for about 8-10 minutes and voila! It was such a nice treat to have an elegant meal with a nice glass of wine...prepared and ready to eat by 8 PM.   I highly recommend you busy movers and shakers to plan a relaxing evening by yourself or with your loved one or roommate and put your feet up for the evening.  I don't know about you, but I feel like it is "rush, rush, rush" every day, every hour...we need to learn to turn it off...at least for a few hours :)  Be good to your bodies, be good to your mind.  Learn it is okay to be "lazy" for an evening.   Chat soon!

Ty