Day One: Here We Go Folks... Tuna Salad, Ginger Salmon, and Fresh Fruits

Here goes nothing! This harebrained idea was born out of boredom, as I sat on my couch contemplating how to get back into a decent shape after my 3 week long trip in Europe. Throughout this particular vacation, although prior I had cut out starch, refined sugar, dairy and of course the ever-evil gluten, poor planning and a desire to taste the cuisine of real Spain led me down the path of potatoes, rice, and oily dried meats... mmmmmmm!
Coming back to Montreal, I had already resolved to make it a priority to eat clean again, meaning no refined sugar (or really sugar of any kind, including maple syrup, agave and honey), no dairy products (sadly this encompasses my favorite, goat products...), and no starches, which is also to say no grains, even the gluten-free ones.
Hoooooly is this going to be an adjustment! The ultimate question came to mind: how will I stick to this after 3 weeks of salty chips, sugary travel candy, and delicious oil and rice laden paella? Why, start a blog of course! Who better to keep me accountable than the world wide net.

So here it is, post one!

Breakfast (or rather, lunch... it was after 12) consisted of a lovely can of tuna, mixed with some brown mustard, shallots, and pepper and uppended unceremoniously on a bed of greens, sliced cucumber and yummy cherry tomatoes! The dressing may have been a bit of a cheat, as I added just a little (gluten-free) soy sauce to some more mustard, ginger (dried not fresh... I know) and a titch of olive oil. I know I've got to be careful with the tuna intake, as mercury levels are extremely high, and most likely rising as we poison what little is left of the fish stock in the oceans, but I figured once every few weeks shouldn't push me over the edge! As a consolation prize to not being able to have the leftover pizza my roommate left in the fridge instead of salad, I had a fresh Ontario peach, which was admittedly delicious!

A few hours later as a brief snack I grabbed an apple and sprinkled some cinnamon on the slices for some extra zing!

Dinner took longer to prepare, but was really awesome, and comes from a recipe from The Clothes Make the Girl, a really great blog full of delicious looking healthy ideas that I am certain will pop up here more than a few times. You can find the untweaked version here: Morrocan Grilled Salmon.

My version, being a poor Uni student with no grill, involved broiling the salmon for about 5 minutes each side on a baking sheet in my oven, but it still turned out wicked delicious!
        Taking my huge piece of defrosted salmon out of the fridge, I realized that this was going to be perfect for lunch or dinner tomorrow as well! I seasoned the slab with some olive oil, ginger, cumin, pepper, sea salt (just a tad) and some red pepper flakes, and left it to soak in a little for about 30 minutes. I'm sure you could skip this step, but I was really excited to try the recipe, so I started the dish just a little too early... and then realized I didn't want to eat dinner at 3:30 this afternoon!
         As an accompaniment I chose a variety of colourful vegetables that I had procured from the Atwater Market, a great spot that furnishes locals with produce from around the area, which while not always organic, has the advantage of being outside of the supermarket! I picked shallots, 1/2 an orange pepper, and a yellow zucchini as the companions to my Atlantic salmon fillet:

Sliced and Diced Veggies!

I placed these bad boys right next to my seasoned fillet on a sheet of parchement paper (I despise scraping things off of baking sheets... bleagh), and after sprinkling a little pepper on top, I popped the whole thing into the oven and proceeded to forget all about it for about 5 minutes:

Then I flipped the fillet over, took the now loosened skin off and shoved the vegetables around a little, and let it go for another 4-5 minutes. Then I threw together a few green leaves, some cherry tomatoes, and crumbled pecans, topped with a little balsamic and olive oil as a finisher to my meal, and compiled my plate!

I ended up eating barely half of the fillet, but it will be a great addition to a salad tomorrow for dinner, which I have to eat at work!

I'll probably snack on a few strawberries (from Quebec!) or another peach before I'm done for the night, but all in all a pretty good start to my challenge! Getting lots of those good Omega fatty acids for the brain so I'll be a genius at school this semester!