Dinner – Blackened Swordfish and Creamy S’mac & Cheese

• 1) Fresh steak of swordfish from local market or shop
• 2) Smoked paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder
• 3) Olive Oil

• Heat up pan with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and pat swordfish down with seasoning that will help create a smoky, charcoal taste. I used smoked paprika, salt, pepper and garlic powder
• Depending on how thick your steak is, grill for 4-5 minutes on one side and flip
• If your steak starts to get too black before the inside is thoroughly cooked through, turn down heat and let it sit there for a few more minutes

• 1) 2/3 cup avocado oil or light olive oil
• 2) 1 pastured egg
• 3) 1 tsp lemon juice
• 4) 1 tsp salt
• 5) 1 tsp garlic powder
• 6) 1 tsp onion powder
• 7) 1/2 tsp pepper
• 8) 1 cup sweet potato, peeled and cooked
• 9) 1/4 cup full fat unsweetened coconut milk
• 10) 1/4 cup nutritional yeast
• 11) Broccoli florets
• 12) (at least) 2 zucchini

• 1. Make sauce like mayo. Add egg, lemon juice, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder to the food processor or blender. Pulse. Slowly drizzle 2/3 cup oil in while constantly pulsing.
• 2. Once emulsified, add cooked sweet potato, coconut milk and nutritional yeast to food processor or blender. Blend it in until smooth creamy sauce. *if sauce is too thick, add coconut milk 1 tbsp at a time
• 3. Serve sauce over zoodles and mix in broccoli. Enjoy!

• I became interested in the paleo diet as a friend of mine was trying the whole30 challenge (whole30.com) and said she’s never felt better. The recipes and lifestyle is fairly similar to my current diet; a lot of protein, vegetables, minimal carbs. I figured it would be something cool to look into. Not to mention, my own diet consists of a lot of artificial ingredients (splenda, pam spray, flavored stevia) which I realize is bad for me so I wanted to try and cut out the bad and add some new exciting recipes.
• My friend posted this whole30 dinner on her instagram and the combination of a blackened fish with a fake mac and cheese stood out as something I would love. She helped me along with multiple questions over text and the fish actually turned out quite perfectly. I used olive oil (something I’m not used to as I fear the calories will make me gain weight in comparison to 0 cal pam spray…) but I learned on this diet there are a lot of healthy fats that our body need and thrive off of and my friend assured me they are fine. Without sticking the the pan and then crumbling up and turning into a scrambled mess, the fish cooked perfectly and was a great pair with the zucchini noodle pasta side dish.
• After reading http://planksloveandguacamole.blogspot.com, I realized even more benefits of the paleo diet and contemplated going for the whole30 challenge. In the end I decided I would try various recipes and try to stick to paleo for dinners, but not go 100%. I love my cottage cheese, greek yogurt, and splashes of milk in my coffee, it keeps me sane. I opted for doing paleo every now and then while trying to limit the unhealthy parts of my current diet (sweeteners, pam spray, etc).
• I encourage you to read her ‘About Me’ and sample some recipes. It really helped explain the benefits of the diet and she has some great ideas that will make the transition to either full or partially paleo worth it!

Planksloveandquacamole.com