Citrus Oven Baked Salmon over Arugula Cucumber Salad

This citrus oven baked salmon salad is bright and fresh with crunchy roasted chickpeas and a delightful zesty dressing that is going to have you coming back for more!

This is the recipe that changed our lives!! Our very first week of being totally unpacked in our new place, it was time to get back in the kitchen and cooking again. I’ve felt so out of it with the stress of moving and when our oldest daughter mentioned she really wants to learn to like fish so she can incorporate some healthier foods into her diet, I timidly said yes.

I’ve hated salmon since the day I was born but I do secretly wish seafood wasn’t such a nemesis of mine so I jumped in. In the past I’ve liked it ok, but this citrus baked salmon salad absolutely sold me! It’s all about the flavors so do not substitute other seasonings unless you’re crazy.

I adapted this recipe from Tiffany Angela.

Ingredients for Salmon Salad

I’m going to recommend not substituting any of these ingredients because each one has an important role in bringing all the flavor to your plate! I’ve divided the ingredients into categories – dressing, salmon, chickpeas and the salad. Don’t get overwhelmed! None of the ingredients are weird or har

In a world that tells us to hide away our negative feelings and mental health struggles, what do we have to gain from radical self-acceptance?

One of the great contributing factors to mental illness is the idea that we should be well at all costs and all times. We suffer far more than we should because of how long it can take many of us until we allow ourselves to fall properly and usefully ill.

For many years we may be able to evade our symptoms skilfully, pulling off an accomplished impression of what counts – in our unobservant societies – as a healthy human. We may gain all the accoutrements of so-called success – love, a career, family, prestige – without anyone bothering to note the sickness behind our eyes. We may take care to fill our days with activity so that we can be guaranteed to have no time to deal with any of the sores that blister inside. We can rely on the extraordinary prestige of being busy to avoid the truly hard work of doing nothing other than sit with our minds and their complicated sorrows.

We may be deep into mid-life before the problems finally emerge with clarity. When they do, it is liable to be extremely inconvenient to those around us. We may be unable to get out of bed; we might say the same mysterious sentence again and again. We might still be in our pyjamas at midday and awake and wide-eyed at 2 a.m. We might cry at inopportune moments or shout angrily at people who had always relied on us for docility.

In a crisis, our chances of getting better rely to a significant extent on having the right relationship to our illness; an attitude that is relatively unfrightened by our distress and that isn’t overly in love with the idea of always seeming ‘normal’, which can allow us to be unwell for a while in order one day to reach a more authentic kind of sanity.

It will help us in this quest if the images of mental illness we can draw on do not narrowly imply that our ailment is merely a pitiable possibility; if we can appeal to images that tease out the universal and dignified themes of our state, so that we do not have to fear and hate ourselves for being unwell on top of everything else. We stand to heal much faster if there are fewer associations like those created by the Spanish painter Goya (of madness as the seventh circle of hell) and more of men and women a little like you and me, sitting on the sofa, able to combine our inner wretchedness with other, more temperate and attractive qualities – so that we remain every bit human, despite our terrifying convulsions, absences of mind, catastrophic forebodings, and sense of despair.

The best philosophical background against which to wrestle with mental unwellness is one that conceives of the human animal as intrinsically rather than accidentally flawed; a philosophy that rejects the notion that we could ever be perfect and instead welcomes our griefs and our errors, our stumbles and our follies as no less a part of us than our triumphs and our intelligence.

Japan’s Zen Buddhism boldly expresses such thoughts, with its declaration that life itself is suffering, and its veneration in the visual arts – and by extension in its psychology – of all that is imperfect and unglossy: rainy autumn evenings

Best Donut Shops – Davis and Weber County, Utah

Our family is living in a new city so what better way to become acquainted than to find the absolute best donut shops in town! If you’re looking for the best donuts in Davis County or Weber County Utah, look no further!

Here’s where we went…

Lee’s – there are several location throughout norther Utah, but we went to the one in Ogden, UT

Bowman’s – Kaysville, UT

Tasty’s – Kaysville, UT

Dick’s – Centerville, UT

Banbury Cross – Centerville, UT

Parson’s Bakery – Bountiful, UT

Mountain Donuts – South Ogden, UT

Okay, so this post might have to be ongoing and evolving as we learn of new donut places but here are our findings so far:

Best Overall for Classi

Welcome to the weekend, my friends! I have big big news today. Some of you caught on with last week’s sneak peek – as I can tell by the recent flood of new email subscribers over there we launched a BRAND NEW WEBSITE this past month!

VegetableRecipes.com is up and running and if you are anything like I am, this is exactly what your meal planning needs! 

ON THE BLOG this week: Peaches and cinnamon pair perfectly in this recipe for Baked Peach Oatmeal. Eaten on its own or topped with whipped cream, it’s a hit. Anytime I bake peaches into something it reminds me of my favorite peach cobbler or crisp. What’s not to love?

Cabbage Soup with Sausage is loaded with great flavors and it’s filled with far more vegetables and meat than broth. Today, I’m giving you the first new soup recipe for the fall and I couldn’t be more excited about it – Italian White Bean, Cabbage, and Sausage Soup.

Sweet fresh peaches are baked between layers of brown sugar and oats to form a chewy sweet crust for these irresistible Peach Oatmeal Bars. It only takes a few minutes to stir the crust together and press half of it into the pan. Toss the peaches in sugar and spices and layer them over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining buttery crumbles over the peaches and pop it in the oven.

Sweet Potatoes with Sausage is an easy-as-can-be one pan dinner that my family would willingly eat every night. Weeknight meals especially need to be quick and easy, not only on the prep but the clean-up as well. This easy sheet pan dinner with baked chicken thighs, baby potatoes, and fresh green beans has become a favorite in many of your homes over the past two years.

What I’m CRAVING: I’ve been craving this Mango Corn Salsa ever since I made it. My original plan was to share it with my family, but after the first bite of sweet mango, crunchy corn, and mildly spicy jalapenos, I might as well confess that I stashed the rest of it in the back of the fridge for later snacking. This Watermelon Salsa is on my radar now  as well and I can’t wait to try it.

My FAVORITE THING this week is my new waterpik. This water flosser is so very cool! Put it on your Chr

From challenging circumstances to unexpected traumas, there are times in our lives when we all have had, or will have, to face adversity. Here, columnist Grace Victory explores what it takes to truly get through the hard times, and shares the secrets to cultivating your own form of resilience

The societal focus on ‘resilience’ is often rooted in a somewhat toxic need to always be strong at any given moment.

The ‘strong woman’ trope, which is particularly felt by black women, can diminish softness, vulnerability, and lead to a lack of truth. I, like many of you reading this, have endured so much pain throughout my life that resilience and ‘bouncing back’ feels relatively easy. What other choice do we actually have? But also, at what cost does this resilience come?

Of course, resilience is something that’s needed in order to be OK after we experience something difficult. That’s life, and we can’t run from it. From name calling in the playground to an egotistical boss at your new job, or maybe even a narcissistic parent – all of us go through things that eventually help us to grow, but there is a sadness in having to be tough, too.

Often, resilient behaviours are in who we are, or shown to us subconsciously through at least one healthy relationship or attachment relating to our childhood – but this is something not everyone is fortunate enough to have experienced. As adults, I guess we have to reclaim what resilience looks like to us, and mourn or grieve our childhood experiences that perhaps shaped our bounce back ability (or lack thereof).

Now more than ever, resilience is something we need on a soul level, in order to navigate life with all its ups and downs. From the pandemic, which affected so many of us, to the political climate that, let’s be honest, is a complete and utter sh*t show. From the constant rise in the cost of living, to personal trauma that we are still trying to overcome, being able to carry on through such stress is important and necessary for our survival.

In my opinion, resilience is no longer about constantly being strong, but about making it through the day, the month, or the year. It’s about surrendering to your personal path or journey, and ultimately using your wellbeing tools to carry you through.

Resilience doesn’t need to be fighting an internal war, or stopping yourself from crying because you don’t want to appear weak. Resilience is leaning on your community, practising self-care, and doing more of the things that fill up your cup.

We cannot avoid what life throws at us – that’s something I’ve learnt, particularly in the past two years. Life is unpredictable, but if you do not have strong foundations and aren’t actively working towards them remaining strong, you could falter the moment harsh winds arrive. We can not only survive through the storm, but we can go on to thrive, with due care, self-compassion, and grace.

So, how do we be