Lemon Halibut with Quinoa

Lemon Halibut with Wild Rice (Quinoa)

1 lb halibut fillets, 1-inch thick
1 lemon, for juice and zest
1 Tbsp wine, white
1 medium shallot, minced
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
2 tsp parsley, chopped
3 cups cooked wild rice (Quinoa)

Instructions:

Preheat broiler.

Place fish in a small, shallow baking dish. Over halibut, squeeze juice from half the lemon and pour wine.  Sprinkle with 1 tsp freshly grated lemon zest, shallot, salt and pepper.

Broil until just cooked through, about 7 minutes.  Sprinkle with parsley and serve with rice.  Yields about 3 ounces fish and 3/4 cup rice per serving.

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I decided that since Richard wasn't home for Tuesday that I would make something for dinner on Wednesday as well.  I decided on halibut and found this Lemon Halibut with Wild Rice Weight Watchers recipe to try out.  I was in a bit of a hurry so I chopped the shallots as fine as I could quickly and skipped on mincing them.  And I don't have fresh parsley and didn't figure it would add enough it was worth going and getting some.  I sprinkled a little black pepper on Richard's halibut and left mine pepperless, on the joy of allergies.

I wanted to try out the quinoa that some people in my weight watchers meeting had recommended so I replaced the wild rice with that.  I cooked the quinoa up with low sodium chicken broth, it was interesting but quite yummy with the fish.  I don't think I would want to eat it all by itself, but it is very good paired with something else.  As best I could tell from the difference in wild rice and quinoa points online, I think it adds a point to the dinner.

I paired it with a mixed baby green salad with the champaine pear vinaigrette from Trader Joe's, very yummy and all in all another good "Tuesday" dinner.  I'm enjoying the new meals, not sure if I'll be able to do much the next couple weeks with the holidays but I'll be back on the new recipes starting in the new year for sure!

All together the entire dinner including the salad was 7 points.  If you make  recipe with the wild rice the recipe is 5 points + a point for the salad dressing. 

Roasted Chicken Patty and Salad

Todays dinner wasn't exactly a new recipe as it didn't really require much cooking, but it was something new to eat.  Last week at the WW meeting we had label day, meaning people brought in labels with things that they have been eating to help keep us from getting bored with the same thing day in and day out.  I went by Trader Joes tonight and picked up a few of the things that my leader had recommended to try sometime.  Tonight I made a roast chicken burger and a salad that had apple cut up in it with a pear vinaigrette. 

The burger consisted of of a whole wheat sandwich thin (1), a Trader Joe's roasted chicken patty (3), a slice of tomato, lettuce and some honey mustard:  it was good but I'm not certain it will ever be a staple in my diet.  I have a slight texture issue with the chicken patty, but then I have a texture issue with most processed chicken. 

The salad was mixed baby greens with two slices of apple cut up and then 2 Tbsp of Trader Joe's Champagne Pear Vinaigrette (1): I LOVED this salad dressing!  It is a bit powerful so you don't want to over do it, but so yummy and it goes amazingly well with the apple slices.

All in all dinner was only 5 points!  And it was a pretty decently sized dinner for that.  So few points that I intend to have a WW giant fudge bar for dessert, they are only one point so it's not like a huge splurge there, but they are so yummy!

Tomorrow I will be cooking up some halibut, I haven't decided on a recipe yet but it's defrosting in the fridge so I'll have to come up with something.  I figured since Richard wasn't home for tonights dinner that I should make something tomorrow for the both of us.

Saucy Chicken Marsala

I finally decided that Tuesdays will be the day I make my new recipe of the week (unless Richard has hockey in which case I'll cook on Wednesday). 

Tonight was my first recipe and I decided to make Saucy Chicken Marsala with whole wheat linguini and Green Giant Baby Vegetable Medley (these are super easy frozen veggies you microwave, I love them for my dinner veggies and there are quite a few varieties to choose from!).  The whole dinner equaled out to 7 points  (5 for the chicken, 2 for the linguini and the veggies were free)... not bad at all!

Saucy Chicken Marsala (from WW Comfort Classics cookbook)
prep. 10 min - cook 15 min - serves 4

4 (5-ounce) skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
12 ounces sliced mushrooms
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup dry Marsala wine
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme

1.  Sprinkle the chicken with 1/4 tsp of salt and the pepper.  Heat 1 tsp of the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the chicken and cook until browned and cooked through, 3-4 minutes on each side.  Transfer to a plate.

2. Heat the remaining 1 tsp oil in the skillet.  Add the mushrooms and remaining 1/4 tsp salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until the mushrooms are slightly browned, 3-4 minutes.  Add the shallot adn garlic and cook, stirring often, until the shallots begin to soften, 2 minutes.

3.  Add the Marsala and broth and cook until the sauce thickens slightly, about 1 minute.  Return the chicken to the skillet and cook until heated through, 2 minutes.  Remove from the heat and stir in the thyme.
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So... my first dinner went well, it tasted great.  I will have to work on my cooking of chicken (or any meat for that matter).  I very rarely actually cook meat myself, I normally just opt to not have it if it requires me to cook it.  I'm going to have to work on that.  I'm not sure how in the world you would cook the chicken in the time it says I should, it took me MUCH longer but it did eventually cook (and it was just a little burnt on the outside in a few spots. but you couldn't taste it to much).  This was a very safe dinner for Richard and I to try for something new as I knew we liked everything in it.  It turned out great and we have quite a bit left over for Richard for the next night or two.  I'll try to remember to cut the recipe in half next time so we don't have quite so much left over, they don't always get eatten and I hate to see the food go to waste. 

I even cleaned the kitchen and all the dishes after dinner, who knew it was possible?

New blog repost so it will show up as the oldest post!

I decided to start my new blog (10/27/10) and I'm super excited about it. I have another blog that is more like a journal where I've been posting the recipes, most people can't see that blog so I decided that it's about time I made a blog for all to enjoy.  Most of the recipes really are too good not to share.  I'll be adding in the posts from my other blog as well (hence this isn't the "oldest post"  Though I do believe I'll post this twice... once for today and once for the oldest date.  Either way, enjoy the recipes!