Simple Sustainable Scallops

I used to be intimidated by making seafood. I tried pan frying and grilling it but it always ended up being a mess or overcooked. But now I've got a great, simple way to serve perfectly cooked seafood everytime, whether salmon or halibut, or in Tuesday night's case, fresh scallops.

When buying seafood, always try to find a sustainable product that doesn't have bycatch (meaning hundreds or thousands of other types of fish that get killed and thrown away in the process of putting your dinner on the table). The best way to know you're buying from an environmentally friendly source is to head to your farmer's market or if you live in a port city (like I do in Seattle) we have fish markets that we can head to as well and learn about the different fishing operations and their practices. I'm able to get my scallops sustainably through my local grocery store, PCC Natural Markets, and is the top national grocer for sustainable seafood.

Simple Scallops Recipe

For Two People

6-8 1.5 ounce scallops

1/2 Tablespoon Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Fresh Lemon (Optional)

Aluminum Foil

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees fahrenheit and move the top rack up one above what you normally have it at
2. Brush the scallops on all sides with olive oil
3. Season all sides with salt and pepper
4. Get about 2 feet of aluminum foil and fold in half so that it's two layers thick
5. Fold up the sides of the aluminum foil to make a squarish boat
6. Place the scallops into the foil
7. Squeeze lemon over scallops (optional)
8. Place the scallops on the top rack and bake for 10 to 15 minutes
9. Test scallops with a fork which should go in easily or break a piece off and test to make sure it's done enough for you.
10. Serve immediately with your favorite vegetable

Tuesday dinner's final product included scallops with baby bok choy and sweet chili sauce for dipping. Delicious and done in less than 30 minutes too!

The Rest of the Day

Tuesday started out as a typical eating day with my vanilla protein berry oatmeal for breakfast but included a splurge on a coconut cream pie larabar. I had never had one of these bars before but they had samples at the Fremont Fair over the weekend. I was absolutely amazed and thrilled by the ingredients - dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews, and coconut oil - that's it! Fairly tasty though it didn't totally satisfy my sweet tooth like the name was implying to me it would.

As usual lately, my morning snack was a pluot; lunch was tuna and egg salad, Dave's Killer Flourless bread, string cheese, a pluot and a hard boiled egg; and my afternoon snack was a Chobani blueberry greek yogurt.

I push myself on Tuesdays to do at least 1.5 to 2 hours of cardio and after Monday nights dinner I wasn't going to give myself a break. I jogged 3.5 miles up to my Zumba class, danced for 50 minutes and then jogged the 3.5 miles back to work to get my things where my lovely husband, Reilly was waiting to drive me home.

With our scallops and bok choy dinner I also had a vanilla Brown Cow greek yogurt and coconut juice to refuel. Overall a very satisfying and healthy day!