Hi guys!

Recently, I have been reminded of the fact that I am really blessed to be able to afford nourishing food, and that it is my duty to share the wealth with the less fortunate.

Of course, direct monetary donations to noble charities are always a good option. But sometimes, less conventional methods might be more fun One such method is www.freerice.com, which allows you to play various, multiple-choice games (my favorite is the vocabulary quiz) with the longterm goal of fighting world hunger. For every correct answer, a website sponsor pays for 10 grains of rice to be donated to this cause! As you answer correctly, the difficulty level of the game increases, until you get one wrong (this doesn’t deduct any rice – you just don’t gain any). If you haven’t already, you should spend a few minutes every now and then playing this while you’re waiting, instead of twiddling your thumbs or playing Tetris on your phone for the hundredth time. (But, I should warn you that this method of donating might be highly addictive for super ambitious people… haha).

So, play “free rice” whenever you have some time to kill! ’cause it’s a great cause. But, there are days when you’re just totally strapped for time – and if you’re feeling this way more often than not, then keep reading

By popular demand, I will be featuring one dinner recipe per week that can be prepared in under 5 minutes and that cooks in 30 minutes or less: Let’s Make it Quick! Several new blog readers have specifically requested that I add nutritious recipes that can be prepared very quickly for those who either have very little time to cook or who don’t really fancy spending time in the kitchen. In today’s world and especially in the American culture, a lot of emphasis is placed on food made instantly (think: microwavable dinners). The media have convinced America (and increasingly, the rest of the world) that preparing healthy food is a very laborious and time-consuming process and the food doesn’t taste as great or is not as filling as the processed stuff sold in boxes. This is simply not true. In fact, some nutritious meals don’t require much preparation, taste great, and are guaranteed to give your body more nutrients than Domino’s Pizza. Your body will thank you in rewarding ways.

So, for this first post in “Let’s Make it Quick!”, I decided to prepare Salmon and Pasta with Mushrooms.

Preparation Time: 2 minutes

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Here are the ingredients you’ll need:

• Wild Alaskan Salmon (try to purchase wild salmon instead of farm-raised to avoid chemical contaminants and antibiotics in farm-raised fish) Also, I bought this marinated salmon from Costco. It tastes fine, but has some additives that I’m not that comfortable with, so I don’t really recommend buying it on a regular basis. A better alternative would be wild salmon that is not marinated in anything. All you’d have to add would be olive oil, lime juice and salt & pepper before cooking (if you want to keep it simple).
• organic pasta
• baby bella mushrooms
• a nub of grass-fed butter
• thyme (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Salmon: Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place salmon in baking pan and cover with foil. Set timer for 30 minutes.
2. Pasta: Put desired amount of pasta in pot on stove with enough water to cover it. Boil on medium heat for 7-10 minutes. Drain water.
3. Mushrooms: Chop mushrooms. Add a nub of butter to pot and sauté on medium heat for 3 minutes. I added thyme and black pepper to them, but you can add any spice of your choice.
4. Remove salmon from heat, and put everything on a plate.

Here’s your first quick meal:

So, there you go: alongside a nice salad, this a tasty meal that will add to your body some healthy nutrients like omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins that you won’t get from a Burger King meal. Wouldn’t you agree?