Healthy Living Spring Challenge

Did you ever used to watch the game show Supermarket Sweep? Or Guy’s Grocery Games on Food Network?  Last Tuesday I had the opportunity to be a part of something similar at the Healthy Living Market in Wilton Mall.

The goal? Make a delicious springtime dinner for 4 with just $30. We had 15 minutes to go through the store and get our ingredients with the hope that we’d find $1 Easter Eggs through the store to help or use the previously provided coupons.

I can’t tell you just how excited I was to get the email to have the opportunity to run through a grocery store, putting things in my cart with the hope that I somehow got it under the $30 limit. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to be on the show Supermarket Sweep and more recently, Guy’s Grocery Games so, cheesy or not, it was a dream come true.

I had $30 and I got: quinoa, spinach, garlic, salmon, red peppers and a basil plant. We were given our “pantry” for free so I didn’t need to get the olive oil, salt or pepper than I needed (thank goodness). My overall price was just a tad over $30 but thanks to the $1 Easter Egg, I made it! I decided to make a salt and pepper rubbed salmon with some garlic spinach and red pepper basil quinoa.

The whole time, I had my GoPro on my head, want to see what it was like from my point of view? Take a look!

The best part of this recipe is that it’s not only cheap, but super easy and can be done in any order but I cooked the salmon last. Each of these ingredients, if you have leftovers, could be used in other things too. Plus, aside from the pan used to boil water/make quinoa, I only used one pan so my flavors were incorporated throughout each piece of my dish.

QUINOA: Make quinoa from box directions. Boil 2 cups of water for each 1 cup of quinoa. When water comes to a boil, add quinoa and put heat on low until water has cooked out.

SPINACH: I put some oil in the pan and added the diced garlic (as you like it) to flavor it. I had a big frying pan so I threw in the entire bag of spinach (it cooks down really fast). You’ll notice the spinach go from overflowing the pan to a more mushy consistency. Careful not to burn the garlic.

RED PEPPER: First, I roasted the red pepper. Put the pepper on your lit stove, turning every so often until skin is black and able to be easily peeled off. Or (what I did this time) is put the pepper in the oven. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, put the red pepper in the over until skin is darker and easily peeled off. Peel off all the skin (it should come off really easily) and cut it how you like, I julienned it.

BASIL: Add quinoa, red pepper and basil to a pan to reheat for a few minutes. Not too long, just enough to put the basil flavoring in the rest of the ingredients (5-7 minutes on a lower heat)

SALMON: I love cooking fish because fish tells you when it’s done. I put the whole piece in the pan (with skin) and coated with salt and pepper. Cook on one side until lightly brown and flip, do until each side is the same color. WARNING: like meat, salmon continues to cook even though the protein is off of the heat so it may seem perfectly cooked in the pan but 10 minutes sitting and your salmon is overcooked. I checked the middle of the salmon and left it a little raw so when it sit, it was cooked to the perfect moist texture.