"Emjoy Gavino eats like a bird," said NO ONE, EVER.

It is a new year, y'all. And this blog, much like the casting associates of "Celebrity" Apprentice, needs to step up the game. So I am taking my 52 new recipes in one year and adding specific challenges each month.  And because in December I seemed to only digest cheese and booze, this month I've decided to explore PALEO RECIPES!

Yeah, yeah, I know what you're thinking.  But I didn't say I was actually adopting the paleo lifestyle - eating only meat, fish, vegetables and fruits, avoiding cheese, grains, caffeine and alcohol, and you know, probably crying a lot.  No. I'm not going Paleo.  But I will make a few recipes using those restrictions just to try something new.  

Recipe #1: Mahi Mahi with Pineapple Salsa

Choice of libation: Water with lemon. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

Choice of music: "Another Run Around the Sun" by Ben Taylor, which is terrific.  Ben is the son of James Taylor and Carly Simon and you can totally hear that in his voice and his guitar riffs. Acoustic rock, slightly 70's, it's an easy album to chill to.

Truthfully, I started with this recipe because it was cold and I didn't feel like leaving the house and we happened to have all the ingredients in our kitchen already.  

I realized the other day, I never made one dish with seafood in it last year.  That's silly. I love fish. I do miss living in Seattle where I wasn't wary of where the seafood I was eating came from. And these mahi mahi filets from Trader Joe's frozen section weren't ideal, but what can you do?  Well. Rub a crap ton of spices on them, for one thing.

This only takes a little more than 10 minutes to cook!  THIS IS SO EASY!

Rainbow in a bowl. Is not what they called me in high school.  But this is a really delicious salsa.

Yes. That IS brown rice under that fish, which ISN'T paleo, but that wasn't part of the recipe, 

so I will allow it. Also I will allow it because IT IS MY BLOG, DANGIT.  

It did feel a little weird eating a dish that is probably more suited to summer time when you could see your breath outside, but it was really flavorful, and with the ginger and pepper, there was a little bit of a kick to it. We both finished our plates and I didn't even put any cheese on it.

stolen and adapted from juliasalbum.com

2 cups pineapple, chopped in small cubes

1 cup tomato, chopped in small cubes

1/4 cup red onion, minced

1/4 cup cilantro, chopped finely

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

(I also added 3 tablespoons grated ginger)

Salt and pepper to taste

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 pound white fish (black cod, halibut, tilapia, mahi mahi)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon cumin

Mix all chopped ingredients for tropical fruit salsa in a large bowl, add lime juice, add salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to let the juices combine together.

To prepare seasoning for the fish, mix salt, pepper, paprika, oregano, cumin in a small bowl.

Heat large skillet on high heat. Season fish on non-skin side with salt & pepper and other spices generously. Add oil to the hot skillet: the oil should sizzle. Add fish to the skillet non-skin side down (skin side up) and sear for 4 minutes, moving the fish around the skillet to make sure oil coats the surface of the fish and that the fish is not sticking to the pan while searing.

After these 4 minutes, turn the fish over to the skin side and sear for another 3 minutes on high heat. After searing on the skin side, you can actually remove salmon skin easily at this point and discard, if you don’t like to eat it.