Baked Salmon with Arugula Asiago Pesto

Hiiiiiiii, friends!! I hope you all had an amazing Thanksgiving holiday and that you are recovered from the food coma that came with it. I know J and I ate way more turkey and fixins than we wish we had. And the scale made sure to tell us so. That jerk.

Anywho...we had already made plans to start a 24-Day Challenge after Thanksgiving weekend, and we were more than ready. We are on day 5 of the cleanse phase currently and I'm already down 4 pounds! Wooohooo!! And the beauty of it, is that we don't really have to make any drastic changes to the way we eat, since we already eat pretty healthy most of the time. Like this lovely little salmon, for example.

Now, this meal was made pre-challenge, so the little wine glass accompaniment would be the only part we couldn't have right now. But the salmon, asparagus, couscous (not pictured) are all perfect healthy and acceptable. Sure, no alcohol and no sugar, but those are small things to cut out when you consider all the good food we are still "allowed" to eat. I don't know about you, but I don't do well with being told I "can't" do or have things. I tend to get that defiant and rebellious streak that makes me only want to do/have those specific things 24/7. Am I alone in this??

I will admit that it's a little harder during the holiday season to do a challenge like this, with all the holiday parties, etc. leading up to Christmas. I've had to turn down some invitations to events I do annually because...lead me not into temptation, right?

The small sacrifices will be worth the big results in 19 more days though, no doubt. And, as I mentioned before, we still get to eat great food!! Not only is salmon chock full of omega-3's, but this particular dish has a pesto made of arugula(!), walnuts, garlic, and Asiago cheese. Uh. Yum. Oh, and it's marinated in this pesto plus some white wine. Mmm. Wine.

But I digress. 

Simple ingredients, easy preparation, and quick cooking time. You can have a full, healthy meal on your table in less than 20 minutes!! What more can you ask for, folks? And this one comes at an especially good time since we all just indulged ourselves half to death a week ago. A nice light meal is exactly what most of us need.

Baked Salmon with Arugula Asiago Pesto

As seen on Everyday Dishes

Ingredients

• 3 cups fresh baby arugula
• 2 cloves garlic
• ¾ cup shredded Asiago cheese
• ½ cup olive oil
• ¼ cup walnuts
• ¼ cup white wine
• 4 salmon fillets (6 oz each)
• salt and pepper, to taste

Preparation

1. Combine arugula, garlic, cheese, olive oil, and walnuts in a food processor and pulse until smooth. Set aside ½ cup of pesto for later use.
2. Mix the remaining pesto and the wine in a large resealable plastic bag, add the salmon, seal and turn to make sure salmon is sufficiently covered with the marinade. Refrigerate for 1 hour. 
3. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with foil and set aside. 
4. Remove the salmon from the marinade and place on the prepared baking sheet, skin-side down. Season with salt and pepper, and bake for 10-12 minutes, depending on thickness, or until salmon is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. 
5. Serve salmon with the reserved marinade spooned over the top and your favorite sides. We had asparagus and couscous with ours.