Salmon with Avocado-Orange Salsa

Certain amazingly awesome things come with adulthood.

Eating a giant bowl of cereal with chocolate chips for dinner. Wearing really high heels. Mojitos.

Yet there are also certain unromantic things that come with adulthood.

Putting away one’s laundry. Paying bills. Spinach. There’s also graduation… Which means a couple of things.

A new dress and quite possibly a new haircut. A fancy dinner with extra leftovers. Extra cash. Not.

It also signifies the start of a completely new chapter in life. Real life. I’ve been talking to my close friends from home about plans after graduation and it stinks… Really stinks. Like, moldy cheese stankay. One is moving to Dallas. Another, quite possibly to New York. I’m heading to the northwest to the cold and moist Seattle. This is such weird talk. Let’s just stop it right now.

It’s negative talk and it’s gotten me all out of whack. I’m all sorts of whacky these days.

This week is all about balancing the scale and putting things in order.  I’m knocking things out, big and small. I’m doing big girl things like cleaning my laundry and eating spinach like a grown-up. I’m ingesting green tea and reading books because I can. I’m even baking salmon in the oven, all proper-like.

Just look at all this health! Omega-6s: check. Fruit: peeled and cut. Greens: present. I’m such a big girl now. This balance makes me feel better. Not the feel-good nature of homemade ice cream, but similarly profound.

This avocado-orange salsa on top of baked salmon is deliciously citrus-y without tasting terribly tart. It’s flavorful and slightly sweet with a hint of savory from the spices and olive oil.

This won’t solve all my problems today, but at least I’ll be okay for the remainder of the night. Real life can wait just a little bit longer.

Salmon with Avocado Orange Salsa

(yields 2 servings)

Ingredients:

For the salmon:

2, 4-oz (1, 8 oz) wild salmon fillets

1 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp basil

pepper and salt, to taste

1 tsp juice of orange

For the avocado-orange salsa:

1 medium orange, sliced in half

1/2 large avocado, cubed

salt, to taste

Preparation:

Heat oven to 450° F and place a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet. Slice orage into two pieces and squeeze the juice from each side into a small bowl. Once juiced, place remaining sections in another small bowl.

Slice 1 large avocado in two, wrapping up one half for later use (this recipe only calls for one half). Using a knife, cube the remaining half of the avocado and add to the bowl holding the orange sections. Toss with sea salt and set salsa in fridge.

Meanwhile, place the wild salmon fillet on top of the foil. Top with 1 tsp olive oil, basil, salt and pepper. Drizzle on 1 teaspoon of the juice from the squeezed orange. Fold foil edges to seal and cook until salmon is pink inside but not translucent, about 15 to 18 minutes.

Once done, carefully open packets. Serve each fillet over a salad of 2 cups baby spinach and top each fillet with 1/4 of the salsa.

Happy noming!

Nutritional information (1, 4-oz salmon, 2 cups spinach, and 1/4 cup salsa): 340 calories, 14.5g fat (3 sat, 8 mono, 3 poly), 17g carbohydrates, 37g protein, 6.5g fiber