A Saucy Little Salmon

I'm constantly looking for yummy, easy, healthy fish recipes and I recently found this gem for broiled salmon.  It's super easy!

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas, and Pea Shoots
adapted from Bon Appetit, April 2010
serves 6

• 1/4 cup Asian sweet chili sauce [I use Mae Ploy]
• 3 Tablespoons soy sauce, divided
• 2 Tablespoons finely grated (or finely chopped) fresh ginger, divided
• 6 6-ounce salmon fillets, with (or without) skin
• 2 Tablespoons dark sesame oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 8 ounces sugar snap peas (or snowpeas), trimmed
• 1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry
• 3 cups pea tendrils or [pea sprouts] (about 6 ounces)

Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil, and place salmon fillets, skin side down, on the sheet.

Whisk together the chili sauce, 2 Tablespoon soy sauce, and 1 Tablespoon ginger in a small bowl.  Pour over the salmon, and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes.

Preheat broiler.  Spoon any marinade remaining on baking sheet over the salmon.  Broil, without turning, until browned in spots and almost opaque in the center, 6-10 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fillets.

Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a large heavy skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the remaining ginger and the garlic, and stir until aromatic, about 30 seconds.  Add the sugar snap peas and stir, cooking until crisp-tender and brown in spots, 2-3 minutes.  Add the remaining soy sauce, rice wine, and pea tendrils, and cook, stirring constantly, until the tendrils begin to wilt, about 1 minute.  Drizzle with sesame oil.

Place 1 salmon fillet on each plate, and spoon the warm salad over the salmon.  Serve immediately.  I served mine with a bit of steamed rice on the side.

YUMMY!

Getting off the Fast Food Train

We recently stopped at McDonalds on our way to a trade show in Vegas.  The McDonalds had converted rail cars--which is where we sat.  As you can see from the picture, it was kind of fun.  And as you can see from the picture, it was pretty windy.  And my German friend Marcel (also in the picture) was sort of interested in the whole McDonalds/Train Car/Tourist extravaganza.

I know, I know.  I'm furthering the fat girls eat McDonalds stereotype, but I do--very occasionally eat at fast food places.  (As do most people I know--skinny or fat).  I eat a lot less fast food than I used to though.  I have gradually weaned myself off fast food and now will eat it in a pinch.  But now that I eat rarely at fast food places, I find I don't enjoy it very much.

That said, I understand the instant gratification, nom while I'm on the LA freeways for over two hours allure of fast food.  I've always known that fast food isn't the best for me, but when you're working an 16-hour day with a 1+ hour commute each way, it's tempting to pull into the drive through and get a little bag of psudo-food. 

I tackled this the same way I've tackled other issues in my life--a little bit at a time.  As I may have mentioned before, I do not diet.  I do however try to tackle one "food related" habit per month to work on.  And when I started this process years ago, the first habit I tackled was the drive through.  I didn't try to give up fast food altogether at that time.  And I didn't try to deal with every aspect of my eating habits all at once.  For one month, I simply decided not to go to a drive through.  That was it.  That was enough.  Now, years later, I VERY rarely visit a drive through.  And I find that I'm not really even tempted any more.  So instead of trying to change all my health habits at once--which might last maybe a few months, I've tried tackling one health habit at a time--resulting in changes still in place years later.  I'm totally convinced this is the way to go.

A while back, I limited sodas of any kind to meals outside of the house.  I stopped buying soda for home a few years ago.  This month I went cold turkey on sodas and pretend sugar of any kind.  I thought, well this should be easy.  I've already limited soda.  WRONG!  At first the cravings were pretty intense, but as always, the cravings are gradually subsiding.  But clearly, for this month, that's enough.

So how about you?  Do you have ONE food-related health habit you'd like to improve this month?  How about one fish or vegetarian meal per week?  How about eating a good breakfast every day?  Are you ready to cut down on your two-pot-per-day coffee habit?  Drop me a line and let me know how you're doing.  And remember, success comes one step at a time.

Love,
The Fat Chick

What Eliza Can Teach Us.

Spent the day at the horse races at Santa Anita Park.  We had won some tickets to the fancy "Turf Club" at a silent auction at my church.  Everybody was dressed to the nines and I couldn't help thinking about the Ascot scene in My Fair Lady.   [Watch it Here.] I even had my very own Eliza moment as our long odds horse came up from the very back to come in second. 

And as I was watching and sipping champagne and all-around enjoying our very successful and fun day, I kept thinking about what Eliza says in that scene.  C'mon, Dover!  Move your bloomin' arse!  And you know, for all the thousands of pages of advice about how to stay healthy and happy in this world, it does kind of boil down to that, doesn't it?  Just get up, and move your butt!  Sorry if it sounds crude, but that's it.   There are lots of other things that are important for good health, but getting out there and shaking your booty is probably the most important.  Shake your booty--shake up your life.

As much as we'd all like to snap our fingers and have our lives be different--be better, we can't expect our lives to change unless our behavior changes.  One of the very simplest and most direct ways to do this is to get up and move our bodies through space.  Don't worry about how much and how far.  Don't worry about how much other people are shakin' theirs and if shakin' yours is making it any smaller.  Just shake it honey!  Move your bloomin' arse!  Not sure how to begin?  Go ahead and check out the tools in the [Start] page of my website.  Enjoy!

Love,
The Fat Chick

Exercise Superstar!

I realize I've been promising to share some info with you about our big video shoot for weeks now.  Well better late than never, I guess!  In late March, we did a video shoot for a short piece about me and my completely fabulous students and my life as The Fat Chick!  In addition to the photo above, I've got a flikr page here:  [Fat Chick Works Out Video Shoot]  The weather was glorious and we had a fabulous time!  (Although I was a little nervous.)  I can't wait to get through the editing to share the final piece with you.

I love to teach.  I love my students.  I especially love how different they are from one another and what they bring to the class--their energy, their joy and their sense of humor.  If you live in the LA area, and you've been thinking about taking a class with me, I hope you'll just come on over and give it a try.  You can find out more class information here:  [Fat Chick Class Calendar]  Scroll down to the bottom of the page for the calendar.  Come on, and join the fun.  W00t!