this diet diary

Grilled Chicken with Mango + Red Bell Pepper “salsa” and a delicious ARTICHOKE!

My boyfriend made this for dinner a few days ago - he boiled the artichoke with bay leaves, lemon & black pepper and it was amazing. The “salsa” is simply diced bell pepper & mango with some cilantro - served over grilled chicken. The chicken was seasoned lightly with garlic, lemon & black pepper.

Easy, inexpensive and tasty. I can’t remember the last time I had artichoke and I spent 15 minutes after this meal Googling the health benefits of artichokes … and then patting myself on the back for eating one.

Artichokes aren’t that tricky to prepare, here’s the article he used to make this: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/how_to_cook_and_eat_an_artichoke/

Now, I’ve just got to plan tonight’s dinner…

Happy Wednesday! I wanted to follow up on my tilapia & veggies dinner with a post that gives more detail so you can whip this on your own!

Here’s what I used to make 2 servings:

• VEGGIES! Use fresh veggies, whatever looks good! My go-to veggies include zucchini, yellow squash, carrots, red bell peppers and broccoli.
• Coconut Oil
• 2 Tilapia Fillets (you can use any protein - tofu, shrimp, chicken, etc)
• Cayenne Pepper, Rice Vinegar, Ground (or fresh) Ginger
• Red Cabbage & 1-2 Radishes
• Teriyaki Marinade

To prepare a dish like this, I start by washing my veggies and cutting them up. You can use whatever vegetables you want - they will most likely taste great together. Meanwhile, I have a skillet on the stove with about 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil getting hot. 

While I’m waiting on the oil to heat up, I marinated my tilapia fillets in a teriyaki sauce by letting them soak in a tupperware. I used gluten-free Annie Chung’s teriyaki marinade. - it has 25 calories, 5g carbs, 4gs sugar, 330 mg sodium & 1g protein per tablespoon. You don’t need more than 2 tablespoons for this entire dish. I also added a drop of rice wine vinegar to this marinade.

Back on the stove - once the coconut oil is completely liquified and hot, I add the veggies to the skillet and slowly cook them at a medium heat, using a wooden spoon to toss them. I added a light sprinkle of cayenne pepper and ground ginger. If you prefer super seasoned veggies, this won’t do it for you - add some marinade (very very light amount) to the skillet if you want more flavor.

Once the veggies are cooked, I set them aside. DO not cook them to the point that they are fully done, as the heat & steam will continue to cook them, so take them off heat when they are close but not yet there. We don’t want soggy veggies deprived of ALL of their nutrients, right?

Next, use the same skillet to cook the tilapia. I added a half teaspoon of coconut oil to the skillet and cook the tilapia for about 4.5 minutes, flip it, cook another 4.5 minutes and you’re done with you get that nice flakey white fish to look picture perfect.

I serve the veggies and tilapia on a bed of red cabbage - it’s a nice, fresh texture. I put a few slices of fresh radishes on top of all of it … it just makes for a colorful, fun and healthy dish with a variety of fresh veggies but it’s not necessary or culinarily cohesive by any means.

Tilapia is a great fish to cook with! It’s very inexpensive, I got both fillets for a total of $4.26 at Sprouts and the piece in the picture is only about 1/2 of a fillet. I didn’t go to the market looking  specifically for tilapia, I got it because the fillets were very fresh. The fish market is usually a gamble - you never know exactly what is available, go for whatever is freshest! 

I don’t usually follow recipes exactly as they are written verbatim, I make my own variations and learn by trial and error. I use recipes as inspiration and a guide for great meals. You should too! Go with your gut when you’re shopping - get fresh ingredients and you’re bound to make an amazing dish.

I love this recipe is because it (1) is very easy (2) is incredibly inexpensive (3) can be applied to virtually any protein or veggie interchangeably (4) can be customized by you by simply replacing the marinade with other seasonings and (5) it’s not too time consuming - it takes less than 25 minutes to prep + cook this.

LENGTHY post is lengthy because I don’t usually write out recipes…but I wanted to provide it since I had a few messages asking how. I hope this helps!

Happy Cooking!

last night’s dinner: teriyaki tilapia with fresh veggies (broccoli, red bell peppers, red cabbage, radishes, zucchini, squash & carrots)

YUM.

coconut oil is quite possibly the best way to cook veggies, yum.

Chloraseptic sprays and cough drops pale in comparison to the healing powers of real, live foods. This juice blend has TONS of lemon and ginger + celery, red bell pepper, spinach, kale, apples, carrots and cucumber.

some recent eats:

- salmon & veggie + rice yums (sidenote: I was kinda hesitant in purchasing this packaged farm-raised salmon from TJ’s and it was one of the only things I’ve ever purchased from Trader Joes that I was disappointed with! I would probably not get seafood there again.)

- green beans + mushrooms = easy leftover lunch at work

- best yellow pepper soup ever from Herb Box - followed by the best lentil “meatballs” with spaghetti squash, ricotta, pesto & kale chips!

- woooo: teppanyaki @ Sapporo for a birthday with 13 awesome ladies