Baked Tilapia with Broccoli, Apple, Fennel Slaw

Fennel is another one of those veggies I haven't had a long relationship with. I think it was just last year I tried it for the first time. The slaw with this recipe is so so delicious, and the tilapia was simple and very moist. Really almost any white fish could be used in this recipe, the original recipe from Whole Living used trout.

Baked Tilapia with Broccoli, Apple, Fennel Slaw
serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 fillets tilapia
• coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
• extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
• 1 lemon (or lime) thinly sliced
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced
• 1 TB tahini
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest, plus 1 TB lemon juice
• 1 TB  apple sauce
• 2 broccoli stalks, peeled and julienned (about 1 cup)
• 1/3 bulb fennel, thinly sliced
• 1 carrot, peeled and julienned
• 1/2 green apple, peeled, cored and julienned
• 1 TB chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cut 2 pieces of parchment paper to about 12x16 inches.
2. Arrange one fish fillet in the center of each parchment. Season with salt and pepper, top with lemon slices and sliced shallots. Drizzle with olive oil. Fold parchment by joining long sides together and make a few 1/4 inch folds to seal. Fold ends like you're wrapping a gift and tuck underneath. Place on a rimmed baking sheet. Bake until packet is puffed, about 12-14 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. In small bowl, whisk together tahini, lemon zest, juice, applesauce, and 1 TB water. Season with salt.
4. Stir in broccoli stalk, fennel, carrot, apple and parsley until combined. 

This slaw makes a large amount, took up 1/2 of each of our plates! I could see making this slaw by itself again, maybe as a side to black bean burgers. 

Still need to find the julienne attachment for my mandolin or else buy a new one! Lots of small chopping going on here today, good thing this recipe was worth it!

Hearty Broccoli Soup

This is not your rich heavy cream of broccoli soup, but don't let that fool you into thinking it's not thick and filling! Recipe adapted from Whole Living. We had this for a lunch and dinner this past week, it stores well in the fridge and would probably freeze well also.

Hearty Broccoli Soup
makes about 6 cups or 4 servings

Ingredients:

• 1 1b broccoli florets
• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 15oz can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 1 cup water
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 TB pine nuts, toasted

Directions:

1. Steam broccoli until tender and bright green, about 4 minutes. Let cool slightly. Reserve 1/2 cup small florets for serving garnish.
2. Heat oil in a medium pot over medium heat. Saute onion for about 6 minutes until translucent. Add in garlic and saute another minute.
3. Add beans, stock and water and bring to simmer. Simmer for 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and add broccoli.
5. Blend soup in your Vitamix (or use an immersion blender) until smooth.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Garnish each bowl with broccoli florets and toasted pine nuts.

Awareness and Practice

I'm sure I'm not the only one who reads articles, blogs or books for self improvement or personal development. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed by all the messages - so many things to take in and put into practice in my life. I just finished one such book, The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz. The message is simple - yet so huge at the same time - follow these four agreements in your life and you'll find happiness and be at peace with yourself: #1 Be Impeccable with your Word, #2 Don't Take Anything Personally, #3 Don't Make Assumptions, and #4 Always Do Your Best. None of those are so simple to put into practice in everything you do in your real world every day life and as much as we have intentions to do so, it so often doesn't happen.

Well interestingly, today I ran across a blog article that was just about the perfect 'answer' to my personal frustration of being overwhelmed. "Life as a Conscious Practice" . He talked about the first step is simply being aware of what you're doing, and consciously practicing the things we WANT to be practicing. In other words, why practice being angry at your spouse or a friend, when you can practice being compassionate and loving? The concept that life is a practice really struck me as such a parallel to my yoga practice - change doesn't happen overnight. I didn't one day wake up and decide to try wheel or headstand and boom, there it was (although for some people, they might be able to!). It took months of practice, of prep in other poses, of trying step by step - practice enabled me to then be able to do it one day. I'm going to try to look at the Agreements in the same way - practicing them in life, whether perfectly or not doesnt matter, it's the intention of moving in that direction that will transform my way of being. Why practice something else?

So much to learn!

Yoga has opened a whole new world for me, and there is so much to learn and explore. From the physical practice to taking it into my life on a daily basis, it's a constant practice. Today I went to Rasa Yoga in Novi for a class. Not because I'm not happy with my studio - I love Divine and all the teachers - but because I wanted to learn about other styles of yoga. Plus I had a Groupon to use! Rasa is an Anusara studio, which I found to be more spiritually influenced and focused on alignment than Baptiste yoga. My teacher was Marianne, a very friendly and knowledgeable older woman who clearly speaks from her heart. Class was just two of us, so she gave a lot of instruction for me about Anusara's themes and talked a lot about anatomy and alignment. She did hands on adjusting and had each of us watch one another do trikonasana (triangle) and see how she adjusted us to open our shoulder and heart, more of a lifting up and back like in a back bend, rather than just opening back by reaching your arm back and having your upper body follow. I already love this pose, but today it was truly awesome! felt amazing! I learned a lot about putting my thigh bones back into my hips and how it gave me more room in bending forward, more stability in poses. So much to think about. A friend told me Anusara would be a nice complement to Baptiste, that I could take what I learn and apply it to my practice and she was, of course, absolutely right. I have a couple more weeks left on my Groupon so hope to get in there a few more times.

Detox Day 4

Today is Day 4 of doing the Whole Living Magazine 2012 detox. So far the recipes have been great! All except for a couple green smoothies that were very heavy on the green, a kale salad today that just did not hold us from lunch til dinner - even with a delicious stuffed pistachio dates snack in the afternoon, both our tummies were rumbling by the time I got home at 6:30 tonight, so emergency clementines were in order if I were to make it through cooking dinner! Currently making beet soup that will be tomorrow's dinner, but not sure how we'll get by on the 1 serving=1cup portion (and nothing else). On the plus side, I feel great and have a good amount of energy, and just feel lighter. Which tells me that we definitely have been eating too large of portions for awhile now. Hopefully this will be the jumpstart I needed to get those last pounds off! Thad has also stuck to it (which makes me very happy!) and even suggested continuing it more longterm.

Avocado with Bell Pepper and Tomatoes

This was our Day 2 detox lunch and might be my favorite! Recipe from Whole Living Magazine.

Avocado with Bell Pepper and Tomatoes
serves 2

Ingredients:

• 2 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 1 lime
• 2 small cloves garlic, minced
• 2 pinches cayenne pepper
• coarse salt
• 2 ripe avocados, halved, pits removed
• 1 yellow bell pepper, stem and seed removed, diced
• 12 cherry tomatoes, halved (or quartered depending on size)
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 2 TB fresh cilantro, chopped

Directions:

1. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, lime juice, garlic, cayenne. Season with salt.
2. Scoop out and dice avocado fruit. Transfer to a bowl and add bell pepper, tomatoes, green onions, and cilantro.
3. Drizzle with dressing, season with salt. Gently stir to combine. Spoon into avocado shells.

Sweet Potato, Celery & Apple Salad

Today starts our first day doing the Whole Living 21 day detox. I have planned and shopped for the first week. Lunch today was delicious - but I was skeptical as I chopped and julienned a raw sweet potato. I will say this salad took me 45 minutes to chop everything for it, but as I ate, I was thankful for taking the time to do it! Recipe followed exactly, then added a sprinkle of Hemp Seeds on top before serving for some extra protein.

Sweet Potato, Celery & Apple Salad
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 2 TB lemon juice
• 1 TB freshly grated ginger
• 2 TB extra virgin olive oil
• coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and finely julienned (2 cups)
• 1 tart apple (I used Granny Smith), cored and finely julienned
• 1 stalk celery, thinly sliced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced
• 3 radishes, finely julienned
• 3 TB toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro, chopped
• 2 TB hemp seeds

Directions:

1. In a small bowl whisk lemon juice, ginger, olive oil. Season with salt and pepper.
2. In a medium bowl, combine sweet potato, apple, celery, green onions, radishes, sesame seeds and cilantro.
3. Drizzle dressing over salad and mix well. Divine onto 4 plates, sprinkle hemp seeds. Season with salt and pepper.

Basement yoga

We didn't want to be gone too long since it was Thad's mom's last night with us before heading back to CA. So, basement yoga it was tonight! Thad had practiced earlier today so this gave him some practice teaching experience too. I have a hard time not interrupting and giving him feedback and acting like a student. He says it was helpful but I don't want to be discouraging in any way! I'm excited for him!

I did have him help me with practicing kicking to handstand. Feels a long way off by I know that's why I need to keep at it - it will happen!

New Year's Day Soup

I had never had Black eyed peas until today! I can't say they seemed to have much taste themselves, but they added a nice texture and of course great fiber and vitamins. After reading articles online about New Years food traditions of black eyed peas being good luck and greens meaning money, I thought it would be a good way to start the new year! This recipe is from Vegetarian Times, January 2009. Lots of flavor, we all enjoyed it and will have it for lunch tomorrow too.

New Year's Day Soup
Serves 8 (2 cups/serving)

Ingredients:

• 2 TB olive oil
• 1 large leek, quartered, white and light green parts chopped (2 cups)
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 TB poultry seasoning
• 1 large bunch kale, stems removed, torn into 2 inch pieces
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes with green chiles
• 3/4 cup dried black eyed peas
• 1 quart low sodium vegetable broth
• 3/4 cup small pasta (bowties, fusilli, etc)

Directions:

1. Heat oil in large pot over medium heat. Add leek and saute 5-7 minutes, or until soft. Add garlic and poultry seasoning, saute 1 minute. Stir in kale, cook 5-7 minutes, until leaves are wilted, tossing occasionally.
2. Add diced tomatoes, diced tomatoes with chiles, black eyed peas, vegetable broth, and 7 cups water. Season with salt and pepper. Cover, reduced heat to medium-low, and simmer for 40-45 minutes. Stir in pasta, and cook 7-10 minutes more, until pasta is al dente and black eyed peas are tender. 

Nutrition:

per serving: 161 calories, 6g protein, 4g fat, 27g carbs, 6g fiber, 5g sugar

New Years Eve Jarlsberg Dip

We loved this dip so much at a friend's party in November that we had to have the recipe! I knew it would be the perfect yummy dip to bring to a New Years Eve get together. And it is so easy too. This dip recipe is from the Holiday Market in Royal Oak, MI.

Jarlsberg Dip

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded Jarlsberg Lite Swiss Cheese
• 2 cups chopped onion, yellow or sweet
• 1 cup mayo

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a medium bowl
2. Place in a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (I used 3 ramekins)
3. Serve warm with your favorite cracker or baguette