MARRIED TO A NON-FOODIE

See I am back on track, two posts within two days - let's see if I can keep it going! Fingers crossed everyone! So as most of you know, I have moved and as you can probably understand most of my spare time goes to organizing, decorating, landscaping, etc so I don't have a lot of free time for my blog. But that will soon change! The house is coming together nicely...mind you it is still a work in progress and probably will be for a while but at least it is somewhat livable! Some of my followers have asked to see pics of the new kitchen and I have that for you tonight! Aren't you proud of me?

So the one thing I learned in taking the billion pics I took of the kitchen last night is that I am a horrible photographer AND it is really hard to take one picture of a kitchen to show it all off! This picture does not do my kitchen justice - I love my new kitchen! The flow works perfectly and I get to look out a ton of windows into the wooded backyard. As I said previously, this is a work in progress and probably will be for a while! I do have some nice curtains for the windows that I haven't hung yet but that will come over time!! And it is hard to tell but there are a bunch of treats on the kitchen counter; dark chocolate peanut butter brownies, j's awesomeness in a ball (which I have totally changed the recipe to make them as healthy as possible - will have to share at a later date) along with fruit and small boxes of raisins in jars. I try to cover all food groups! Although you can't tell from this picture, there is a lot more counter space in between the fridge and the stove AND my pantry is HUGE! I love my pantry! AND thanks to my wonderful husband I have all my appliances in there and will soon have an outlet so things can be used in there without having to take them out! Woo hoo!!! Looking forward to that day!

So anyhoo, on to tonight's post! As you can see, there is no non-foodie rating. I took away his right to weigh in on this meal since he DESTROYED IT! You see, he still says he doesn't eat cooked veggies especially spinach and as you can see from the pic, there was a mound of spinach which he scraped off and put back into the pan I cooked the fish in! I gotta tell you, he missed out! The spinach topping made the fish! Although maybe I am biased because I love ricotta and there is ricotta in the spinach mixture but still I thought it was good. Normally I hate quinoa (and so does he as he took a bite and wouldn't go back to it the past few times I served it) but tonight's quinoa was fabulous! It didn't have that weird quinoa smell and the flavors with the onion, the chicken broth, the herbs and the crunchy toasted pinenuts were delish! Both of us cleared the plate!

I made this dish because I got some fresh salmon from whole foods - I got some wild caught Keta salmon. I have never had Keta salmon before - i have had sockeye, coho and king but never keta. To be honest with you, it is one of my least favorite salmons. Mental note for next time! I can at least say I tried something new! Tonight's recipe came from one of my health magazines and I want to say Women's Health but I could be mistaken. So apologies to the original publisher!

All in all, I thought it was a nice dish and a wonderful way to end the day! I hit the gym on my way home from work and worked out with my new trainer which was quite fun! By the way, I am LOVING my new gym! The new equipment is beautiful and it isn't too crowded which is nice too! Anyhoo, here is the recipe!

Ingredients

1 package frozen spinach (10oz) thawed

2tbsp olive oil

1/4c minced shallots

2tsp minced garlic

5 sundried tomatoes chopped (i used more as mine were quite small)

S&P to taste

1/4tsp red pepper flakes

1/2c ricotta (i used fat free but you can use whole or part skim)

2 pieces of salmon rinsed and patted dry

Quinoa Pilaf with Pine nuts (below)

Preheat oven to 350

Squeeze spinach of all excess liquid and set aside. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add shallots, cook stirring until soft (about 3 minutes.) Add garlic and cook for about a minute more. Add spinach, tomatoes, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes; cook stirring for about 2 minutes more.

Remove from heat and let cool about 15 minutes. Add ricotta and stir to combine. Season with salt and pepper.

Place filets on a baking sheet or in a pan and pack about 1/2c of spinach mixture on top of salmon matching the shape of the fillet. Bake about 15 minutes or until fish is cooked through.

Quinoa Pilaf with Pinenuts

Ingredients

1/2c quinoa

1c low sodium chicken broth

2tsp olive oil

1/2 large onion chopped

2tbsp pine nuts, toasted in a dry skillet over med-hi heat until golden brown

2tbsp parsley chopped

Bring quinoa and broth to a boil in a medium saucepan. Reduce heat to low, cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until broth is absorbed.

Heat oil in a large skillet. Add onion; cook stirring occasionally until onion begins to brown (about 6 mins.)

When quinoa is done, fluff with fork. Stir in onion, pinenuts, and parsley. Season with salt and pepper to your liking! I also threw in some fresh basil and oregano! It was quite delish!

Plate quinoa with salmon on top and enjoy!