My personal favorite. Salmon.

I love salmon. As a product of the great Northwest, I believe it's ingrained in our minds that salmon must be perfect. You eat certain kinds of salmons and that's it. So whenever I see salmon on the menu, I must ask, "Where is your salmon from?" and if the answer is Atlantic...I cringe. Copper River Salmon (King, Sockeye and Coho) is the best salmon in the world. It was like a treat to have it in my house. My mom cooks the best salmon in the world. She knows the exact time and look of the salmon when it's perfect to eat. She would cooks it with dill and lemon juice. Simple and straight forward.
Last night we had Atlantic salmon. A cardinal sin. It was painful to admit I ate but I will say...it was delicious. Still had that wild salmon taste but juicy!

Ingredients
8 oz salmon fillet
Lemon Juice
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp of fat free balsamic vinaigrette 

Directions
Preheat oven to 350
Sprinkle lemon juice all over the fillet along with salt and pepper. Wrap salmon in aluminum foil so that it is covered completely. Place in a baking pan and cook as is for 20 minutes.
Remove and uncover salmon. Pour your balsamic vinaigrette over the salmon and spread evenly. Cover salmon again and place back in the oven for 10-15 minutes more.

4 oz serving- 200 calories
It's a great alternative to ground beef or turkey. One serving of this and you have your entire daily requirement of Vitamin D! Plus it's rich in Omega-3 fats that are the "good fats".

To find out more about Copper River Salmon, here is the link: Copper River Salmon

Roasting Eggplant...easy peasy.

Looking for something different...try oven roasting!
Preheat your oven to 400.
Cut eggplant in half and score the eggplant in a X pattern.

Depending on the size of your eggplant, you will rub in salt to all the crevasses. The salt must be inside of the eggplant in order to dehydrate the plant. Let it sit for a minimum of 30 minutes. When you notice a puddle of juice under the eggplant you are ready to squeeze out the water from the eggplant. It's important to get ALL of the water out of the eggplant.

Next, brush on olive oil with any seasoning you desire. I chose garlic, thyme, salt and pepper.

Cook for 45 to 60 minutes and VOILA you have a delicious side dish that will fill you up with about 53 calories for 1 oz.

Sorry for all the emo photos. I just love this app on my phone.

Cook What You Got

And I have eggplant, zucchini, whole pizza dough, and mozzarella. It's been far to long since my last post. I have been eating these veggie burgers from Trader Joe's that are to DIE FOR but I needed to use these veggies before they went bad. I have never been one for zucchini or eggplant but since I'm trying my best to eat more vegetables, fruits, and all natural meats, I decided to give it shot. However, it must taste good in order to lose weight. If food does not taste good, why would you eat. Well, we need it to stay alive. But more than that, food should be an experience and nourish our souls. Not just our bodies. I need to eat food that is grown naturally without the help of hormones or processing. I lost 40 pounds in France due to walking every where and a healthy all natural diet. Let's not confuse natural and organic. Organic food is still processed, but with very few chemicals. When I say natural, I want cows that only eat grass and chickens that only eat seed from the earth. Of course it's not completely possible for me to cut out all processed food so YES I will turn to organic because it's lower in chemicals. It's really important to keep this in mind when choosing foods. I love Trader Joe's Market for that reason. Lot's of organic and natural choices. In this meal, the most processed thing in this meal is the dough.
I had lunch with my dear friend Leslie and she showed a recipe for zucchini pizza so I stole the idea and came up with my own idea.

Ingredients
Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Pizza Dough
1/2 Eggplant, sliced
1/2 Yellow Zuchinni, sliced, peeled
1/2 Green Zuchinni, sliced, peeled
3 tbs fat free balsamic vinaigrette
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper
Red pepper flakes
Four for rolling the dough

Directions

Preheat oven to 425

On low to medium heat, cook eggplant and zuchinni in balsamic vinaigrette and garlic. Move zucchini around the pan so not to burn. Cook eggplant about 4 minutes on each side. You may need to add more EOV to make sure the vinaigrette doesn't start to burn. Remove from heat once veggies are cooked through. Set aside.

On a flat counter, cover area with flour and cover rolling pin with flour. Spread out dough as desired.

Layer eggplant first, then mozzarella, then zucchini, then mozzarella. Season with red pepper flakes as desired.

Cook for 15 minutes MAX. And BAM. There you go...delicious vegetarian dish.

If you're feeding 8 people, it's about 210 calories a slice. Hope you enjoy!

On a side note, my brother wants me to give a shout out o myfitnesspal.com. It's true. They are fantastic and SO EASY to use. They have every food possible!!!! If you have a smart phone, I highly suggest their app!