Happy 2024 everyone! Now that the year-end holidays are out of the way, it’s time to get back to healthy eating. Here’s a tasty recipe to start with, Sheet-Pan Roasted Salmon & Vegetables.

Here are the ingredients with my notes on what to change to cut salt content and help in other ways as well:

• 1 pound fingerling potatoes, halved lengthwise (red potatoes are better if you’re worried about sugar and diabetes)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, coarsely chopped
• ½ teaspoon sea salt (omit this, fish has enough of its own salt)
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 4 5 to 6-ounce fresh or frozen skinless salmon fillets
• 2 medium red, yellow and/or orange sweet peppers, cut into rings
• 2 cups cherry tomatoes
• 1 ½ cups chopped fresh parsley (1 bunch)
• ¼ cup pitted kalamata olives, halved (substitute low-salt regular olives to cut salt)
• ¼ cup finely snipped fresh oregano or 1 Tbsp. dried oregano, crushed
• 1 lemon

Directions are fairly straight-forward:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Place potatoes in a large bowl. Drizzle with 1 Tbsp. of the oil and sprinkle with garlic and 1/8 tsp. of the salt and black pepper; toss to coat. Transfer to a 15×10-inch baking pan; cover with foil. Roast 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, thaw salmon, if frozen. Combine, in the same bowl, sweet peppers, tomatoes, parsley, olives, oregano and 1/8 tsp. of the salt and black pepper. Drizzle with remaining 1 Tbsp. oil; toss to coat.
3. Rinse salmon; pat dry. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 tsp. salt and black pepper. Spoon sweet pepper mixture over potatoes and top with salmon. Roast, uncovered, 10 minutes more or just until salmon flakes.
4. Remove zest from lemon. Squeeze juice from lemon over salmon and vegetables. Sprinkle with zest.

Salmon is great if you’re looking for a substitute for red meat main dishes. It has body and flavor to it, and supposedly some of the good fat we’re supposed to eat.

Enjoy and Happy New Year!