Good Food Recipe #1 - Maple Dijon Salmon

 

This is one of my favorite recipes. Very quick and easy to make, plus salmon is freaking amazing. Start with a good sized filet of wild caught salmon. Avoid that farm-raised Atlantic salmon crap. They raise those fish in terrible farming conditions and feed them soy and corn pellets while they float in giant tanks of their own crap. Okay enough of that, but seriously - go with a nice wild caught sockeye salmon. Pictured is Copper River which was probably the best damn piece of fish I've had.

What you'll need:

- 6 to 10 oz filet of Wild Caught Salmon
- 4 to 8 medium sized carrots
- Fresh asparagus (I used about half a pound)
- Walden Farms calorie free pancake syrup
- Powdered yellow mustard
- Regular yellow mustard or spicy dijon
- Cayenne, Sea Salt, and Pepper
- A pan
- An oven 
- A food steamer (you can also use the oven)

Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degree fahrenheit

Step 2: Mix 2-3 TBSP of the Walden Farms syrup with 2 TBSP of powdered mustard, a tsp of yellow mustard, 1/2 tsp of cayenne pepper, and salt+pepper to taste. This should create a paste. Taste and adjust seasoning depending on your preference. You can use more spice or more syrup depending on how sweet or how hot you want it.

Step 3: Oil the pan, I use coconut oil or ghee as this type of fat is much more stable under heat to prevent oxidation. 

Step 4: Lay salmon skin side down on pan, and layer on the maple dijon paste. 

Step 5: Line your carrots on the other side of the pan and put some coconut oil to coat, along with a few shakes of salt and a healthy dose of cinnamon.

Step 6: Put that bad boy in the often and roast it for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees. I prefer my salmon a little on the rare side but you can cook it longer if you wish. The fish should flake easily with a fork when it is done. The carrots might need to go back in for a little longer so you can pull the fish out and throw it on your plate then return the carrots to continue roasting for another 5 minutes.

 

Step 7: Asparagus in your food steamer for 12 minutes. OR you can also put this in this oven. I prefer to season the asparagus after roasting, but you can shake garlic powder and salt onto them as well.

Step 8: Plate it all and chow down!!!

Health tips:

1. Wild caught seafood is high in anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids which provide a variety of benefits to the body. Notably improved brain function and hormone production.
2. Asparagus is high in anti-oxidants and a well established precursor to glutiathione. Glutathione is known as the "master anti-oxidant" as it is the most powerful one in the body. This anti-oxidant does many things in the body but most importantly helps the liver with detoxification and supports the immune system.
3. Carrots are a great healthy carbohydrate source. When choosing carbohydrates to refuel or replenish muscle glycogen, you want to choose clean sources with the least amount of toxins and are easiest for our bodies to process. Sugary, in-ground vegetables such as the carrot, sweet potatoes, squash, and beets are perfect examples of such. These veggies contain nearly all glucose, a form of sugar that is readily usable by every cell in the body. This is in comparison to the primary sugar in fruit which is fructose - which can only be metabolized by the liver and either stored as liver glycogen or in adipose (fat) tissue. 

Enjoy good mood food dudes!!!