healthy mediterranean diet meal plan #17

When a recipe becomes part of your repertoire, you know it's foolproof!

Welcome! I am so grateful that you’ve joined me on this healthy journey + a big thanks to all who choose to support my work with a paid subscription. This letter wouldn’t be possible without YOU! Please hit that ❤️ which helps other people discover my work.

This week’s menu features two dishes that sit at the top of my “repeatables” list. Recipes that I don’t even have to think about because I’ve made them so often. They are simply a part of my healthy mealtime repertoire and I’d encourage you to make them part of your “go-to” recipes too. Baked salmon and Buddha bowls.

It’s true that I sometimes switch up the topping for the salmon. Different herbs, different spices (like my favorite pre-packaged spice blend “Tagine”) and different slathers like today’s honey mustard glaze. But no matter what what I’m in the mood for, salmon is still at the heart of it and for good reason.

When it comes to important nutrients for heart and brain health, salmon and other oily fish like mackerel, sardines, anchovies, oysters and herring are right at the top of the list because they are great sustainable sources of omega-3 fatty acids. Tossing some chia and flax seeds on a morning yogurt or enjoying a handful of walnuts as a snack are other ways to include omega-3s in your everyday diet to reduce inflammation and improve joint & skin health.

But back to why this recipe is so often on repeat. I always use my air-fryer because it’s sized to fit a 2-person meal for George and I, uses less energy than my big wall oven, and is a heck of a lot easier to clean (just ask G, the resident dishwasher!). If you prefer to use an oven, the dish can be prepared and staged just as easily on a sheet pan.

Here’s a little snapshot of my process in the air-fryer. While the potatoes are starting to bake, I mix up the glaze. After a few minutes in the fryer, I add the salmon perched on a little wire rack over the potatoes and keep baking while I trim, prep and steam the asparagus just in time to plate it all together. Wash, rinse (the air fryer) and repeat!

At the beginning of today’s newsletter, I mentioned two things I put on repeat and the other is making Buddha bowls for lunch with whatever flavor-combination I’m in the mood for or, as my great friend from Australia, Joey, reminds me, those things in the fridge that holler “use me or lose me!”

This week, I’ve included a very special mix-and-match Buddha bowl chart to use for inspiration so that you can create fresh and flavorful one-bowl meals all season long. If you want a little extra help with it, you can also watch me make some over on my YouTube channel.

So it’s time to pull up a chair, grab a cup or a glass and join me in my Mediterranean kitchen while we work our way from one flavor-packed meal to another.

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