Whole 30 Baked Salmon and Roasted Broccolini

So one thing you will learn about me is that the meals I make are usually pretty simple and do not take a lot of time to prep or cook. Being over five months pregnant and caring for two young kids (AKA being constantly side-tracked) doesn't allow me much time to dabble in the art of cooking.  However occasionally the stars do line up (you know, the husband is watching the kids or one kid is napping), and I get to play! Yay!

Tonight is Friday (yay!) so tonight's dinner will be fish: wild-caught sockeye salmon. I try to save my fish or seafood dishes for Friday/the weekends so that my husband isn't "that guy" at work that stinks up the office kitchen when he reheats fish. On another note, if you noticed my emphasis on "wild-caught," it's because a while ago I watched a Ted Talk about farm-raised fish practices. After watching that episode I stopped buying "farm-raised" fishes and sadly, one of my favorite fishes: tilapia. It is one of the most highly farm-raised fishes, and the tilapia available to me is always labeled as "farm-raised." I'll still eat it occasionally since it is very commonly used in Asian dishes but now I only look for fish with the "wild-caught" labels.

Tonight's Dinner:
Baked Salmon and Roasted Broccolini
Base recipe: http://www.skinnytaste.com/2012/03/grilled-garlic-dijon-herb-salmon.html

This is how I plan on modifying the recipe:

Ingredients:
Salmon
Coconut Oil
Sea Salt
Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
Minced Garlic
Dried Parsley
Lemon Wedges

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut a sheet of foil (big enough for you to enclose the fish into a foil pack).
3. Spread some melted coconut oil on the foil then the lay fish skin-side down on foil.
4. Season the fish with sea salt. Pat the minced garlic onto the meat of the fish. Then add fresh cracked pepper. Generously sprinkle the dried parsley. Fold the foil together to create a closed pack.

4. Cook foil pack. I had to cook mine for about 15 minutes because I was using a whole fillet (time depends on how much you're cooking). You don't want it to be completely done, but close.
5. Unfold foil to open pack and broil for another 3-5 minutes and serve with lemon wedges.

Roasted Broccolini:

Ingredients:
Broccolini
Coconut Oil
Kosher Salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. I started my broccolini first before fish since it takes a little longer to cook than the fish.
2. Rinse broccolini and spread them out on a sheet of foil on top of a cookie sheet.
3.Sprinkle kosher salt all over.
4. Drizzle all over with melted coconut oil.
5. Cook for about 20 minutes.

Whole 30 Bacon Wrapped Chicken Breast Stuffed with Veggies

One way to make Whole 30 easier is to make extra portions of whatever you're making for dinner so you have enough as leftovers for lunch the next day!  I highly recommend doing this because it will truly make your life easier during Whole 30.  The times I don't make enough for lunch, I find myself scavenging for whatever is available... which is not good because most of what is available is not Whole 30.

Tonight's dinner:

Bacon-Wrapped Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Veggies

http://thehealthyfoodie.com/bacon-wrapped-chicken-breasts/

I used this as a base for my recipe but modified the ingredients based on what I had on hand. Also, I'm not a "measuring" type of person so I apologize but there won't be any measurements of how much spice or seasoning to use. I tend to over-season or over-spice mine because that's how I like it. Just go with what you know or what you like. Here's my modified recipe:

Ingredients:

Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts

Sea Salt

Garlic Powder

Onion Powder

Bacon (I get mine from PCC - Rustic Country Uncured Bacon)

Stuffing:

Spinach & Kale mix (the Power Blend package from Costco)

Diced Baby Portabella Mushrooms

Minced Shallot

Minced Garlic

Chopped Almonds

Sea Salt

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

2. Mix the Stuffing ingredients together in a bowl. Remember that the greens will shrink, so it's best to make more than less. Also, if you do have any stuffing left over, you can saute it in a pan and enjoy with dinner. 

2. Butterfly the breasts in half (and just in case, "butterfly" means they should not be completely separated apart), then season both sides with sea salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.

3. Fill each breasts with a handful of the stuffing and then cover the stuffing with the other half of the breast.

4. Wrap your breasts with bacon. Use toothpicks to hold the bacon down if necessary. (Unfortunately, we had some bacon for breakfast so I didn't have enough to wrap each breast. Instead, I just laid a piece over each breast.)

Sorry for the bad pictures!

5. Bake for 40 minutes. The breasts I used were pretty thick so I had to cook them a little longer. You can also broil for the last 3-5 minutes to brown the chicken and make the bacon crispy (I didn't do this).

6. You can use the drippings and drizzle some over the chicken (and your sauteed stuffing if you had any left over).

Necessities for Whole 30

So this is our third go-around on the Whole 30, but my first blog ever so please bear with me as I learn the art of blogging. I thought it would probably be good for me to start with a list of the bare necessities. When we first started Whole 30, we went out and bought many of the recommended ingredients/supplies but I found that we either rarely used some of them because we either didn't like them or didn't know what to really do with them. So here is a list of some of the ingredients that I use all the time, and you may find this helpful in your Whole 30 quest.

Oils/Liquids: (preferably organic)
Coconut Oil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
White Vinegar
Apple Cider Vinegar
Coconut Aminos
Coconut Milk (do NOT get the lite versions)

Seasonings:
Sea Salt
Kosher Salt
Granulated Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Black Peppercorns (for fresh ground pepper)
Cumin
Chile Powder
Paprika
Ground Ginger
Cinnamon (ground and sticks)

Note: I preferred individual spices so I knew exactly what was in them, but you can get some spice blends, just be sure all the ingredients are compliant.

Dried Herbs:
Rosemary
Thyme
Oregano
Parsley
Basil

Fresh Herbs (I usually always have these in stock even if I haven't actually planned it for a meal):
Cilantro
Green Onions
Garlic
Ginger

Misc. (some of these I don't use all the time, but once you buy a package, it should be sufficient for the whole 30 days and more):
Coconut Flour
Shredded Coconut
Almond Flour


Sorry, it's late now but if I think of more, I'll be sure to come back and add them.