My Favorite Salmon!

I LOVE this amazing king salmon from Vital Choice.  These filets make for such a quick, easy, nutritious dinner.  I pre-heated my cast iron pan in the oven at 450 degrees. The fish was thawed in a bowl of cold water for 20 minutes while I steamed and sliced these beets for the salad.   I coated the fish in a couple drops of olive oil and caraway and fennel seeds, then, turning the broiler on to 500 degrees with the rack at the highest setting, I quickly retrieved the hot pan and {sizzle!} popped the filet into it and under the broiler for a scant 3 minutes.  The salmon was perfectly medium-rare to my liking.  You could cook it a little longer if you like or leave it in the pan on the counter for a bit afterward since it'll continue to cook.  I squeezed a little lemon on the fish and salad -- 23 minutes from freezer to plate, and there was even some waiting time in there where I could have made more food if needed.

I never mention companies or products that I haven't tried, and I don't see the point in mentioning anything that doesn't knock my socks off and make life better for #spoonies like me.  I am happy to endorse Vital Choice because it has been a huge part of my wellness these last few years (and the products are delicious!). I consider my flash-frozen fish to be a valuable part of my "pantry staples" -- healthy food that is always on hand so I don't have to resort to junk food in a moment of weakness. By ordering in large quantities, I take advantage of better pricing, and also qualify for free shipping.  More than insurance against junk food, though, this fish is better than what you'd find at fine restaurants!  I'm not exaggerating.

My doctor recommended Vital Choice to me several years ago and the quality of the products and the customer service are exemplary. Wild-caught and frozen on the dock, the freshness and nutrition of these filets are superior to fish that has never been frozen.  The fish is sustainably sourced and Vital Choice's website is an excellent resource for recipes and cooking tutorials. Referrals from these links on "A Midlife Regeneration" will help to support this blog.  I thank you in advance and hope you enjoy your fish!

Elements of Macrobiotics

Through my long journey with mainstream, Integrative and Functional Medicines, I've applied self-taught dietary precepts with input from the doctors.  Somewhere in my vegan years I learned a lot about Macrobiotics.  A fully macrobiotic diet wasn't accessible for me for many reasons, but the yin/yang energies of foods and the spiritual parallels with our bodies' meridians did resonate.  Also, since I was raised in the Wisdom of the Edgar Cayce Readings, much of the information on food combinations in macrobiotics rang true to me.

In macrobiotics, combining all parts of a plant is considered the best way to fully integrate the nutrients and energies of it into the body.  The upward growing leaves are the yin of the plant (aspiring, expanding, upper chakras) and the roots of the plant are the yang (dense, contracting, grounding, steadying, lower chakras).  My personality tends to live in the yin, which helps my outlook, but my sometimes air-headed nature is an obvious detriment, so I could use some grounding. 

When I found the loveliest bunch of beets the other day, the idea of combining all parts of the food immediately came to mind.  It was a huge bunch, and I didn't think I'd be able to eat it all at once, so I used a couple of the beets in a roasted vegetable melange for dinner last night, including sweet potatoes, garlic, shallots and dried apricots. 

This morning, I cleaned up the leaves and stems of the beets, and fried them in duck fat, along with the cold leftovers of the garnet-tinged root veggies.  Finally, realizing I'd probably never be able to eat the whole panful at one sitting, I topped it all off with a fried egg, figuring it would be enough to have leftover-leftovers (a third meal).  Well, I did eat the whole thing at one sitting -- mindfully, slowly, over the course of 45 minutes or so.  I will say that the yang-ish shift is palpable.  I'm feeling pretty steady now and able to think.  I'd better get to work before it wears off! 

Oh -- and this was really delicious!