This is it, people…
August ends today! Which means this is the LAST DAY OF MY 30 31 DAY SUGAR FREE CHALLENGE!
I’m super proud to report that I held strong the whole time!
I haven’t even had so much as one tiny little grain of sugar, I made really sure of that. Scrutinized every single label, was very careful with my choices when eating out and didn’t eat ANYTHING that I suspected MIGHT have contained sugar or any other form of sweeteners.
Not even whey protein powder with stevia in it…
Not even a piece of bread with honey as the second to last ingredient in it…
Not even sriracha, for it does contain sugar (how shocking!)
And you know what?
I feel friggin FAN-TA-STIC! Seriously considering turning this into a lifestyle!
I will, however, be a little less drastic with this lifestyle thing than I have been with the challenge, in the sense that I will allow dried fruits and the occasional use of sweeteners such as stevia, honey, black strap molasses and maple syrup.
This means you can expect MANY more sugar free recipes to come this way…
YAY?
So anyway, enough talk about sugar, already… this post is supposed to be about fish, for crying out loud… FISH!
And what a glorious fish dish I have in store for you today!
You see, in addition to cutting back on sugar, I’ve also decided that I needed to include more protein to my diet. Now, considering the fact that I am not too big on the idea of eating animal flesh, that’s not so easy for me to do.
I will be doing more chicken, incorporate a little bit more lean beef, wild game whenever I can get my hands on it, and of course, I also will be doing lots more fish!
For fish, you see, is something I find I don’t do often enough.
Well, not at home anyway.
Oh, I do eat fish a couple of times a week, but I tend to have someone else cook it for me, as in I tend to have it mostly when I eat out… And that, you might be shocked to hear, I happen to do very often, like several times a week!
The thing with restaurants though, is that they tend to always cover white fish in some sort of batter and either pan or deep fry it. So I pretty much always opt for grilled salmon or swordfish… or tuna.
But white fish doesn’t happen often enough.
I think it’s because you can’t really grill it and, well, apart from pan frying it, the only other option would be poaching it… And poached fish isn’t necessarily all that sexy. In fact, it usually looks kind of boring and bland.
I say usually, because this recipe here is everything BUT that!
It’s soooo unbelievably juicy and tasty, and the addition of the insanely delicious and ridiculously easy to make tomato and green olive salsa on top of it instantly turns the dish into a meal fit for a king.
And the best part is, the whole thing is so easy to put together, a kid could do it. And you really don’t need to have a lot of time ahead of you… 15-20 minutes should suffice!
This dish is so quick and easy to make, is extremely low in calories, high in protein and SO PRETTY!
What’s there not to like?
It definitely is a new favorite, AND regular, of mine!
INGREDIENTS
- 2 ripe tomatoes, cut into small cubes
- 12 large green olives, pitted and coarsely chopped
- ½ medium onion, finely chopped
- 2-3 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
- The juice of half a lime
- ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 - 200g freshwater bass fillets (or any other firm white flesh fish. You could also use 4 smaller fillets)
- The juice of 1 lemon
- ½ cup water
- ½ onion, thinly sliced
- ¼ tsp Himalayan salt
- ¼ tsp freshly cracked black pepper
INSTRUCTIONS
- Place your fish fillets in a non heated large non-stick pan. Cover with lemon juice, water, onion, salt and pepper.
- Place over high heat and bring to a simmer. Cover your pan loosely with a plate or pizza pan, lower heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes, depending on size of your fillets. The fillets will become completely opaque when cooked.
- While the fillets are simmering away, chop your tomatoes, olives, onions and fresh basil and add to a medium mixing bowl.
- Add lime juice, salt and pepper and gently toss until evenly distributed. Set aside.
- When fish is ready, transfer the fillets to serving plates and top with tomato salsa.
- Garnish with fresh basil leaves and serve immediately with a side of greens.
Am softly laughing: Sydney > Quebec < Sydney on a swimming expedition! Seriously, I love fish, and out of my four small meals a day, at least one and oft two do contain it! I usally grill or poach: but before poaching I almost always marinate or dry-rub to get a flavour base. This is a lovely classic recipe appetizingly plated! Yum! Now, being way behind all my neighbours I bought a tabletop Eurolab oven a few weeks back – one may not feel like heating up a full oven for a single person meal, but this acquisition will make me look at all my 'old' baked fish dishes and try them again. Oh, did I Lebanese dryrubbed turkey leg with sweet potatoes and Lebanese salad for lunch: yum for that mode!! Can't wait to attempt fish!!
Eha, you never fail to put a smile on my face with your comments! Thank you so much for constantly brightening up my mornings… Love the idea of a dry rub before poaching / grilling fish. Will definitely have to try that next time!
That looks so lovely and fresh! I applaud you for sticking to the no sugar thing for an entire month. Well done!! Not sure if I would have been able to resist the urge for so long!
Thank you Simone! To be honest, it was tough and it wasn’t at the same time. It totally inspired me to turn this into a lifestyle. The benefits are truly undeniable. Plus, being “sugar free” makes it so much easier to resist sweet things!