A new year is a fresh start – a chance to set new goals, change your lifestyle and adapt to the new normal in a peri-pandemic world.
The past two years have changed so many of our lifestyles, some moderately and others drastically. Suddenly, working from home has us moving and traveling significantly less than we previously did. Ordering takeout is easier than ever, and we don’t even need to walk those extra steps anymore to park and walk inside a store with the convenience of delivery direct to our cars. As much as this is needed to prevent the spread of COVID, the downside is that it has created other health issues such as an uptick in Type 2 diabetes and unhealthy weight gain in both adults and children alike, just to name a few.
Having fought and beat cancer over this past year, I decided to dig deeper and pursue several certifications as a nutrition and wellness coach in addition to my personal chef business. One of my goals is to shift the focus of my clients off of what they can’t have to what they can have.
Whether you have goals to incorporate more clean foods into your diet or lose a few pounds, we can all agree that salmon is one of the most clean, absorbable and true-to-nature sources of Omega-3 fatty acids, which have a lot of heart-related benefits – a much needed addition to anyone’s diet. There are many other excellent food sources to choose from as well
as other fish, nuts, olives, avocados and good olive oil in homemade salad dressings or drizzled on roasted vegetables. Here is a great recipe to get those Omegas in!
I won’t lie: This salmon recipe is seriously one of the best. I would love to take the credit, but my nephew made this last week for a surprise date night with his girlfriend. It sounded amazing, so after several jaw-dropping photos and texts of his before-and-after photos, he graciously brought me a generous leftover portion the next day, and I was stunned! Literally. I am not a fan of leftover fish, but if it tasted this good the next day, I was imagining how awesome it would be right out of the oven. So, I made it myself. Unbelievably delicious! It is so rewarding to see the love of cooking run in my family.
I forgot to mention this is an easy, quick, sheet-pan meal. It’s done in 30 minutes start to finish, with only 12 minutes of cook time. I am using my nephew’s recipe, which he found via, “The Novice Chef” with a few adaptations. So here we go…
Sun-Dried Tomato Parmesan Crusted Salmon
DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Combine bread crumbs, parmesan, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, salt and pepper in a food processor. Process, slowly drizzling in 1 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil until well combined.
Note: if you do not have a food processor, a blender will do. You may need to scrape down sides and mix in between pulses.
Place salmon on the baking sheet. Season liberally with salt and pepper. Press the sun-dried tomato mixture all over salmon so the entire filet is coated. Scatter green beans around the salmon on baking sheet and drizzle with remaining 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.
Bake for 12 minutes until salmon is cooked through and beans are just starting to brown. Remove from the oven. Serve with green beans with any leftover sun-dried tomato/parmesan mixture.
