Four days into the new year. Have you made new year’s resolutions? I haven’t. I don’t really believe in New Year’s Resolutions. Don’t get me wrong. I do believe in reflecting on your life and deciding to change things, in setting goals, making plans. But I don’t think this should only be done once a year and particularly on the first of January. Why wait for New Year’s Day to start to change your life?

Unfortunately, many New Year’s Resolutions already falter within a few days. Sometimes even hours. Often, these resolutions are made in the spur of the moment. Or because one feels ‘it’s what you are supposed to do’. Don’t make resolutions because of what society thinks. Don’t make resolutions because ‘everybody does it’. Think it through. What is it that you want to change? Stop smoking? Loose weight? Exercise more? Be a nicer person? If you have figured out what you want to change in your life, start setting goals. What do you want to achieve? Then think about how you want to achieve those goals. But be realistic. You can’t loose 20 kg in three weeks.

Maybe you don’t want to change anything at all. Maybe you are happy with your life as it is. That’s OK too. But if you do want to change something, why wait until the first of January? Think about it: if you want to wait until the first of January, do you actually want to change anything? That might be one of the reasons many New Year’s Resolutions go down the drain so fast…

Well, New Year’s Resolutions or not, if one of your goals is to eat more healthy (or you simply want to balance some of that holiday food), I have a yummy recipe for you. My test panel (a.k.a. hubbie and kiddo’s) all gave the thumbs up for this one. Cleaned the plates and bowl completely!

This dish is low fat, low carb, gluten free and absolutely delicious: Poached Salmon & Pesto Zoodles.

Cooking time is really minimal, but it does require some prep time. You can prep the vegetables beforehand though, and keep them in a sealed bag in the fridge until you are ready to use it. Or, you can buy pre-cut vegetables, makes it even faster.

I started out by cutting two medium leeks and 1 medium carrot into thin strips.

4 from 1 vote

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Poached Salmon & Pesto Zoodles

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Servings 4 people

Author Nicole

Ingredients

• 2 leeks (medium)
• 1 carrot (medium)
• 4 pieces salmon (ca. 125 g each)
• 1 liter fish stock (or chicken stock)
• 2 zucchinis (medium)
• 2 tbsp pesto

Instructions

1. Cut leeks and carrot into thin strips.

   

2. Spiralize zucchinis or cut into thin strips.

   

3. Heat a little bit of (olive) oil in a pan and lightly sauté the leek and carrot strips. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Let simmer until the vegetables are almost done.

   

4. Heat a little bit of (olive) oil in a pan and add the zucchini.

   

5. In the mean time, add the salmon pieces to vegetables/stock and turn down the heat (the stock should not boil any longer!).

   

6. When the zucchini starts to wilt, add the pesto. Stir and turn off the heat.

   

7. After 3 minutes, carefully turn the salmon and let sit for another 3 minutes. If your salmon cuts are thick, let sit for about 8-10 minutes in total. The salmon should not be raw, but just cooked.

8. Carefully take out the salmon and set aside.
   

9. Drain the vegetables and put them on a large plate or serving platter. Layer the salmon on top of the vegetables.

10. Serve with the zoodles.

11. Optional: sprinkle some spring onions or fresh herbs on top.