Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Tilapia for 2

Well its WW day 7, and Im doing my best to have fun with it. So far so good. I felt the familiar urge to cheat, to overeat, to spend all my points on cookies but I overcame them. I had a sweet snack that cost me to only be a half point over budget as opposed to day one, when I was 20 over. I feel this week has been a great success, and the scale peeks i've taken prove it. Matt has lost 9lbs- 7 on his own and 2 on ww as he only signed up saturday afternoon. Good for us!

I've been documenting my foods- not lunches and breakfasts cause its like, eggs, breakfast wraps, cereal, fruit smoothies, salad and weight watchers frozen entrees. I do still try to get creative and put real effort into making and eating breakfast- for me, thats a huge change. I used to wait until I felt sick then eat a pile of cookies to get something fast...then when I get over feeling sick from the cookies I eat some other crap...and then starve until dinner- with crap snacks inbetween.

Last night I made an awesome meal- it should only take about 2 hours (an hour of that is an hour of baking tomato) start to finish but with Miles being a snuggle bug in need of constant mom attention it got pretty hairy. It took me more like 4 because I had to do things in pieces.
Which is why I started 2 hours earlier than I wanted to~

ROAST CHERRY TOMATO TILAPIA
With Parmesan Brussel Sprouts and Lemon Couscous


16 oz raw tilapia, 4, 4oz filets
Flour
1/2 cup chicken broth, low sodium pref
2 1/2 cup(s) grape tomatoes
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried dill
1 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
5 clove(s) garlic clove(s) smacked open
2 Cups Brussel Sprouts, Halved
2 tsp parmesan
1 cup Whole Wheat Couscous
2 cups chicken broth
1 fresh lemon, halved


Toss the Tomatoes in the Olive Oil, balsamic vinegar, dill, oregano and 3/5 garlic cloves. Put in a shallow baking dish and bake at 375 for 45-60mins- until flat and melty. Remove- You can keep it as it is or puree it into a smooth sauce with an immersion blender.

While sauce bakes, Dredge the Filets in flour and set aside. Steam the brussel sprouts until just before fork tender. In a saucepan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and 1 tsp margarine, with the 2 remaining cloves of garlic. as soon as it seems hot and there is the aroma of garlic, add the brussel sprouts and let them saute. When browned to your liking remove and cover with parmesan.

Bring the 2 cups of chicken broth to a boil and add the cousous- lower to a simmer and cover- fluff in about 5 minutes and remove. Add lemon juice from one half.

When all is just about done, cook the filets- using the 1/2c chicken broth to help steam the filets and stop them from getting too brown before they are fully cooked. **Dont add the broth until both sides have browned or there will be no delicious brown crust for you!

When everything is done, put it on a plate together nice nice, with the sauce on the fish- finish with lemon juice.

WW point breakdown
Tilapia with sauce 4 pts per serving
Brussel sprouts 2 pts per 1 cup serving
Couscous- 3 pts per cup cooked

Total Points- 2 Filets each= 13 Points
If you just have one filet then its a yummy 9pts..But we are hungry folk lol

Sunday, September 26, 2010

Farmers Market Institution


Well, incase you may have seen from my very recent blog post- My husband and I have joined weight watchers. Why? Aside from the fact that we are definitely way overweight, I have extra baby weight on me thats become hard to adjust to. We both need to be healthy for our son and children to come. We both need to be able to play with them and keep up with them- expecially the keeping up with them...waddling after an angry two year old running around a mall is something I dont want to do! Not to mention, we want to be there to see them off to college, at their weddings, meet our grandbabies. You know,we want to live.


Ive done weight watchers before, when I was in highschool- ten years ago! It was a great diet but off to college I went AND poof I put it all back on PLUS oh.... another 40 lbs. Now, I have yo yo'd alot...more than anyone should. 30 lbs down, 40 back, over and over. so unhealthy! Weight watchers is the best fit for us and so, we continue forward. We like it because it teaches change of habits, as opposed to dieting. As Jennifer Hudson in her new awesome bod says, "I'm winning with weight watchers'.


I will have to eat a number of the SMARTONES weight watcher frozen meals. If i want to start getting to eat during the day (used to eat alot of cookies) as infants=starvation. But they are actually pretty decent so...


I also went to the farmers market saturday and bought all kinds of beautiful farm fresh things. For 19.50 I bought...


6 ears of sweet corn

16 Gala Apples

2 lbs of Brussel Sprouts

2 large spaghetti squash

1 acorn squash

1 large onion


I also bought pickled beets from a woman who just had breast cancer surgery and lost 4 weeks of market days. They were expensive, 9 dollars a small jar but she's had a rough summer and I wanted to support her best i could. She had sandwiches and soups and jams and jellies of all types.


My goal for the week is to take all the beautiful farmers market foods and create beautiful low point, healthy dinners with them. I also have lots of veggies left over from my Grandmothers birthday party- So I will use them up to. Waste not want not- My wallet really wants me to learn that lesson.


I plan to blog all my new recipe attempts as blogging, writing, and keeping track of everything is the best thing to help me from my usual afternoon *MUST EAT EVERYTHING IN SIGHT* freakouts.


My ideas for this are-


Tomato Soup with Corn Fritters


Spaghetti Squash Marinara with Chicken


Parmesan Brussel Sprouts


Steak with Roasted Corn and Black beans


Roasted Grape Tomatoes and Tilapia


Roasted Zucchini
Baked brown Sugar Apples


Matt will really appreciate this as he works night, and its been sandwiches and granola bars for 2 weeks and hes gonna lose it soon lol. What can I say, Babies take up alot of time and if he is in a bad mood, my kitchen has to fall to the wayside.


Wish us luck!





A letter to my Fat molecules

Dear Baby Weight,


I acknowledge the concept that all women gain weight during pregnancy. However, I must respectfully decline your attempts to move in to my neighbourhood permanently. While I do appreciate you opting not to show your face around while I was pregnant, you bold move to pile in 30+ lbs as soon as my son was born was both insulting and annoying. While over the years we have been decent frenemies, I just cant stand you anymore. Please meet my new friend Weight Watchers, she's here to take your place, and kick your ass to the curb. infact, in the 4 days I have known her, she has already managed to shed 3lbs of you. While I am at it, I will be adding your cousins- college and teen weight out on their asses as well. I hope you all have a nice dominion of hell to go to together.

Much unlove,

Angie

PS- please inform Matt's sympathy weight that WW if coming for it too- Incase they are wondering where that 7lbs of them disappeared to.

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Sweet and Delicious Lemonade

NEW INTERNET! DECENT INTERNET!

The possibility to blog and it not take 3 hours an update = <3>

Lately I have had a real sweet n sour tooth. What can be considered a delicious summer (or given the time of year, end of summer) drink? LEMONADE!

Not only delicious to make for yourself, it's awesome for guests. Its something thats both fast and easy and says "I want to treat you real nice" without blood sweat and tears.

one of the so called cardinal rules of lemonade is to always use fresh lemons. But you know what? Ain't nothing wrong with mixing ready to go lemon juice with some fresh lemons. Like when for example? Like when you realize you only have 2 lemons left but have a full bottle of Realemon. Booyah!

Lemonade tip #1- 1 large lemon contains roughly 1/4 cup of juice.

Lemonade tip #2- pink lemonade is simply lemonade with Grenadine. Easily added, easily left out.

Lovely Lovely Lemonade





* 8 lemons and 1 more for decor
* 1 cup of sugar
* A splash or two of grenadine syrup
* 1 pinch of salt
* Lots of cool, clear water
* Lots of ice cubes

Start by taking out the pitcher you plan to use to store and serve this refreshing deliciousness. I use a 2 quart stone or plastic pitcher- you can do this with a punch bowl for larger parties too. (In fact, I started making lemonade because I had a beautiful pitcher and was getting aggravated trying to figure out when to use it)

The first time I made this recipe I zested all the lemons and it made for a chunky drink. DONT ZEST THEM ALL- keep it to a minimum, 2 or 3 maybe. Zest is for maximum fragrance and strong lemon flavour so do the math.

1. using a small bowl zest SOME lemons. Juice the living life out of 8 of the lemons, reserving the 9th. If you dont have that many- refer back to helpful tip #1.

2. Whisk in the sugar and salt. They won’t dissolve perfectly in the juice but will in the water.

3. Fill a two-quart pitcher halfway with ice cubes. Add the lemon syrup and top up with cold water. Stir in grenadine syrup until you like the color, or leave it out.

4. Slice up the reserved lemon thinly and place in the water for visual effect- and just a pinch more lemon flavour!

The recipe I had said to serve immediately. I have made it ahead just before guest arrive and then kept the leftover in the fridge. It tastes fine to me the next day. But then your ice is melted. If you need to make it ahead I would suggest either just doing the lemon bit and adding the sugar and water upon serving time or make the sugar and keep it in the fridge. I dont suggest making it the day before, to be safe.

ENJOY! This recipe is short and sweet (n sour ha) so dont be fooled by my huge bloggy jargin of over explanation. I hope you like this recipe as much as me, and I hope when my son is old enough to do the lemonade stand thing, I can whip this up for the neighbourhood.