So, I’ve been trying to photograph my meals ever since I decided to go pescatarian. Well, the creative and delicious meals, that is. And be warned, when I say “photograph” I’m referring to the camera in my iPhone. I’m absolutely no photographer. ANYWAY. I’ve decided to present this series to you in chronological order to show my progress, as well as the creativity [I feel] I’ve developed over the last few weeks. And because this is my blog and I’ll do what I want.

my boyfriend is a carnivore

He just … has to have beef in his diet. Which is what has made this diet choice difficult in the past for me. But having a start and end point to my commitment has made it much easier. That way, if 40 days rolls around and I’m tired of not eating meat, I won’t feel bad about adding it back into my diet.

So, at the start of Lent, we went to Costco [which means my bank account totally and completely hated me that day because really? Who can go to Costco and leave without spending less than $150? Not me, that's who] and bought a big four-pack of rib eyes [for Brad] and a big four-pack of stuffed salmon [for me]. Brad hates salmon, so I figured I would be super glad to get to eat it more often. We froze everything into separate baggies for go-to meals. It was good, but there have been two problems so far.

it’s a big ass piece of fish

That, coupled with the fattening stuffing, didn’t really jive with my whole mission to eat healthier. I found myself wasting the leftovers [because lets face it, reheated salmon? blech]. But the bigger problem?

i got tired of salmon. real. quick.

And I’m pretty sure there’s still one more in my freezer. One of the things I’ve learned in my many years of trying to eat healthy is that I need variety. I’ll get bored too quickly and look for something less healthy. Plus, the salmon I bought was already “decorated” in a way, so it’s not like I had many options on how to dress it up. So, mental note: don’t buy specialty main dishes in bulk.

here are the ways i “dressed it up,” while brad ate steak:

stuffed salmon with bell pepper/tomato whole wheat pasta (and wine)

stuffed salmon with mixed grilled veggies (i luurve grilled veggies, and you can use whatever is in the fridge. featured here: bell pepper, onion, asparagus)

stuffed salmon with grilled asparagus (we had gotten asparagus at costco, too ...)

It’s thrilling, I know. But in all reality, something like this stuffed salmon is a nice standby to have for those evenings that I just don’t care, or have the time/energy to put into a nice and interesting dinner. Next time, I do this, I’ll probably opt to have a package of plain, undecorated fish that I can get creative with.