Mediterranean Baked Fish

Since becoming a mom of now two little boys, I’m finding that I need faster, simple, kid-friendly, flavourful meals that I can get on the table in a hurry. I developed this recipe because it can be prepped ahead of time (even the night before or whenever you have some spare time in your day) which is a huge time saver when it comes to dinner time. The prep work and the roasting of the tomato and onion mixture can be done well before dinner so all you have to do is cook the fish. Fish is an easy protein for young children to eat because the flesh is so tender and whitefish is really mild, so its a great variety to add into your rotation. All that’s left for you to do is cook a side dish and we really like potatoes, rice, or pasta to pair with this meal.

When I make potatoes for this dish, I often roast them in the oven with oil, vinegar, garlic, rosemary, salt and pepper. Pasta and rice can be kept super simple. Plain buttered noodles or steamed rice pairs well with this flavourful dish.

MEDKTERRANEAN BAKED FISH

Author: Andrea Carpenter, RD

Recipe Type: Entree

Serving: 2-3

INGREDIENTS:

  • 14-16 ounces white fish (haddack, halibut, cod)

  • 1 pint cherry tomatoes (whole) or 3 roma tomatoes (roughly chopped)

  • 1 red onion, thinly sliced

  • 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

  • 2-3 tablespoons olive oil

  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano

  • salt and pepper, to taste

DIRECTIONS:

  1. Remove fish from packaging and allow to air dry in the fridge, for about 4-6 hours, on paper towel, leaving it uncovered. This will help to remove excess moisture from the fish which is especially important if using frozen fish.

  2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

  3. Layer tomatoes, onion, and garlic in a baking dish. Add oregano, salt, pepper, and drizzle with olive oil. Mix everything to combine and then bake in oven for 30-40 minutes. Tomatoes will blister and soften.

  4. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.

  5. Place fish on the tomato and onion mixture, allowing some of the mixture to sit around the fish. Add another drizzle of olive oil and salt and pepper to the flesh of the fish.

  6. Bake fish for 15-20 minutes for haddock, 30-35 minutes for a thicker fish like cod and halibut, and once the internal temperature of the fish reads 145 degrees.

  7. Spoon the fish and tomato and onion mixture onto a plate and serve with rice, potatoes, or pasta.


Mango Creamsicles

It’s only the beginning of summer and so far, it has been HOT! A great way to stay cool and beat the heat with a summer treat is with these creamy, 3-ingredient mango creamsicles. Unlike the store-bought creamsicles, these are sweet without any added sugar, and provide a little protein from the milk. This recipe also takes no time at all to come together. It’s blended up into a silky smooth texture, popped into popsicles molds and then set in the freezer. Make them after your morning smoothie and enjoy them in the afternoon heat.

Mango Creamsicles

Author: Andrea Carpenter, RD

Recipe Type: Smoothies

Serving: 8-10

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup fresh or frozen mango

  • 3/4 cup milk (or milk alternative)

  • 1/2 cup 35% heavy cream (or coconut cream)

Directions:

  1. In a high speed blender, add all ingredients and blend for 1-minute or until thoroughly combined.

  2. Fill popsicle molds and add popsicle sticks as needed. Set in the freezer for 4-8 hours or until frozen solid. If using frozen fruit, the creamsicles will freeze faster.

Vegan Chunky Monkey Smoothie

The name of this smoothie seems fitting, because after Covid-19 is in our past (whenever that will be) I feel like I’m going to emerge from my house as a chunky monkey! Like most people, I have changed my eating habits as schedules have changed (more access to the fridge, stress eating, emotional eating - things many of us are feeling right now) but also because access to food has changed.

For our family, we always start the day with a smoothie, and we’ve been doing this for years! I have always relied on frozen fruit for my smoothies and always kept a variety of different berries, tropical, and local fruit on hand. We very quickly ate up our supply, and within a few weeks into lockdown, were no longer able to access frozen fruit for smoothies like we used to.

Variety is necessary for me (and my toddler) so I didn’t want to make the same old smoothie everyday, so I’m being pushed to create new, nutritious, and still delicious smoothies for our little family of three (soon to be four!). This smoothie recipe was created because bananas were literally the only fruit I had (waiting on that produce delivery) and I was also craving chocolate. I dug deep into my pantry and found a new package of medjool dates, had cocoa powder in my baking drawer, a good supply of seeds, the tail end of a peanut butter jar, and luckily still had some dairy alternatives.

This works for breakfast, for snacks, for desserts, or anytime you have a chocolate craving!

Vegan Chunky Money Smoothie

Author: Andrea Carpenter, RD

Recipe Type: Smoothies

Serving: 2-3

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup unsweetened milk alternative (pea, hemp, almond, coconut, oat)

  • 1/2 cup unsweetened plain yogurt (I use coconut yogurt)

  • 1 large ripe (or overripe) banana (or 2 small bananas, 1 1/2 medium bananas)

  • 3 medjool dates (alternatively could use 1/4 cup raisins soaked in 1 TBSP warm water)

  • 2 TBSP natural peanut butter (can also use almond butter, cashew butter, hazelnut butter)

  • 1 TBSP cocoa powder

  • 3 TBSP hemp hearts

  • 1 tsp each chia seeds and flax seeds

  • 1/2 cup ice

Directions:

  1. Add all ingredients to the blender, in the order listed above.

  2. Start blender at low and gradually increase to maximum (or use a smoothie setting if you have it). Add additional water if too thick, and add additional ice if too thin.

  3. Optional - add toppings of whipped cream/vegan cream, sprinkle of coaoa powder, sprinkle of hemp or other seeds.