HALF a pound to go & EASY Tilapia "kid-approved" Tilapia recipe

After almost a month of gaining and losing the same TWO (2) pounds over and over again, I've finally gotten over the hump and I'm 1/2 a pound away from my Memorial Day goal! I am trying to hit it by this Friday morning, actually, because once we leave for the beach, I am not going to count points or step on a scale until we get home. I am not going to go crazy and I do plan to eat sensibly, but vacation is vacation, people. You gotta live!

I have been MIA for a while. Hubby was out of town (and I don't cook when he is gone) and we've had insane evening hour schedules as all the kids' school and extracurricular activities are winding up. We grilled burgers Sunday night and last night I made spaghetti, which is the first week I've cooked since May 11th, I think!

Tonight is my youngest daughter's choice for dinner. She chose breakfast- pancakes specifically...and scrambled eggs. Love her. Oldest daughter gets to chose Wednesday and she wants her "favorite tilapia recipe", which is actually a very basic (and LOW points) recipe- Baked Tilapia, which I don't think I've posted on this blog before. The recipe doesn't mention measurement amounts, so I just eyeball it!

Baked Tilapia

3 ounce tilapia filets

Pam (olive oil flavor)

salt

pepper

garlic powder

minced garlic

Preheat oven to 450°.

In glass baking dish, spray Pam. Lightly coat the top of filets with Pam,

Season well with salt, pepper, garlic powder and minced garlic.

Bake for 20 minutes.

Points = 1 point per ounce of tilapia and that is it!

 

 

Thursday night is "clean out the frig" night, so leftovers or whatever we can find is what is for dinner! Then its off to the beach.  I will not be posting again until early June. 

 

Fire up the Grill - Honey Chicken Kabobs

I've had this particular recipe on the dinner menu for months and FINALLY it got made. OH MY GOODNESS! SOOOOO good! Make this tonight- fire up the grill and enjoy! Its easy and so good. It tastes like summer!  After a disappointing start to the week with a new recipe fail, I was so hoping this one would work out! HOME RUN!

This is MY photo of these beautiful babies. I added the zuccinni as "end caps" for some color and I am so glad I did. I had to keep myself away from the leftovers all night and debated having cold, leftover vegies for breakfast:

I cut the recipe in HALF  (1 lb. of chicken, 1 yellow bell pepper and 1 orange bell pepper and 1 large onion) and calculated the total points for the entire thing to be 24, but MOST of that is the SAUCE, which you only end up using a PORTION of. I made 5 kabobs and gave each kabob 5 points, even though that MIGHT be high or it might be right on target. I served it with a sweet potato, peas (for my youngest) and a fruit salad. It was a very colorful (& easy) dinner. Next time I will make the FULL recipe and freeze 1/2 in the marinade (before putting them on the sticks!) and I will add a red bell pepper to the mix, as well.

Honey Chicken Kabobs
recipe from AllRecipes

1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
8 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into 1 inch cubes
2 cloves garlic
5 small onions, cut into 2 inch pieces
2-3 bell peppers in any color, cut into 2 inch pieces
10-12 skewers

In a large bowl, whisk together oil, honey, soy sauce, and pepper. Before adding chicken, reserve a small amount of marinade to brush onto kabobs while cooking. Place the chicken, garlic, onions and peppers in the bowl, and marinate in the refrigerator at least 2 hours (the longer the better).

Preheat the grill for high heat.
Soak wooden skewers in water for at least 10 minutes.
Drain marinade from the chicken and vegetables, and discard marinade.Thread chicken and vegetables alternately onto the skewers.

Lightly oil the grill grate. Place the skewers on the grill. Cook for 12 to 15 minutes, until chicken juices run clear. Turn and brush with reserved marinade frequently.

Epic Dinner Fail....sort of....

You constantly read all over the internet from food bloogers about these great dinner recipes and how everything is so wonderful, but you never read about the failed recipes. Well,  here goes.

Last night's dinner was an EPIC FAIL on so many levels...sort of.  I had this new 7 point tilapia recipe, courtesy of Pinterst, that looked so wonderful....Sauteed Tilapia w/ Lemon Butter Peppercorn Pan Sauce. YUM, right?  Um....no.  The recipe was for 2 tilapia fillets, so considering I was cooking 4, I doubled the recipe. The Tilapia, WITHOUT the sauce, was really good...my 10 year old loved it....she had seconds in fact. However, once you added the sauce, it was AWFUL. Ok, maybe not AWFUL, but barely edible. The lemon was SOOOO overpowering. And I love lemon. But yuck.

To top of that, I had picked out these beautiful vegie kabobs at Kroger and thought they'd make a lovely 0 point side item to the fish dish and asked hubby to grill them.Which took forever...and ever (battling rain and a grill that wouldn't start)....and they still weren't done, so I popped them into the oven to quickly roast....and by the time the fish was done, the vegies STILL were not. So, we had 1/2 grilled/roasted/raw vegie kabobs with the yucky lemon fish! Quite a disaster. At least the fruit salad was good. :-)

I am not going to post the entire Tilapia recipe WITH the sauce, but I am going to post just the sauteed tilapia part, as my oldest daughter loved it and declared it the best ever (fyi - she didn't have sauce on hers). I'm sure it was the fact that it was sauteed in butter! :-) I have no idea what the points value of this is....the points I had were for the entire recipe with included the sauce and 2 more tspns of butter. It should be very easy to figure, though.

Sautéed Tilapia

Yield: 2 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and 2 tablespoons sauce)

Recipe Time

Cook Time: 12 Minutes
Prep Time: 10 Minutes

 Ingredients

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

2 (6-ounce) tilapia or sole fillets

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

Melt 1 teaspoon of butter with oil in a large nonstick skillet over low heat.

While butter melts, sprinkle fish fillets with salt and black pepper. Place the flour in a shallow dish. Dredge fillets in flour; shake off excess flour.

Increase heat to medium-high; heat 2 minutes or until butter turns golden brown. Add fillets to pan; sauté 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove fillets from pan.

Crazy overindulgence & Cinco De Mayo Mexican Chicken recipe

What a crazy weekend!  We spent it in Alabama with some friends celebrating the Kentucky Derby (I know...I know...wrong state!).

 

The boys call it "meatfest" and grill entirely too much food, on top of scrumptous appetizers, dips and brownies. Yeah....I gained two pounds. I TRIED to be good and honestly, it was the first time I REALLY cheated during my entire WW diet this time. Friday night- Chick-fil-A...complete with a cookie milk shake (I only drank half...that has to count for something, right?). Saturday was just a trainwreck, even though I had a chopped salad (from Subway) for lunch. Sunday, the trainwreck continued with Cracker Barrel for lunch and O'Charley's for dinner...and Dairy Queen for my mom's birthday. TRAIN WRECK. I was impressed that I only gained 2 pounds. However, in one day, I have already lost one of those two pounds, so yeah! :-)

And just for the record, eating healthy not only helps you lose weight and maintain a healthy weight, it helps you just FEEL better overall. I can tell you, I haven't felt this BAD in 4 months. Tired, sluggish and an upset tummy. (and no, its not a hangover. I didn't consume but 2 small glasses of wine all weekend). I'm convinced it was my somewhat poor choices diet all weekend.

So, Monday, it was 100% back on the wagon and in honor of Cinco De Mayo (one day late), I made 6 point Mexican Chicken.....I liked the flavor and it was pretty yummy. That being said, I think I might have liked it more NOT being cut into "cubes" and left as whole chicken breasts. It might have tricked my brain into thinking I was getting more food. The servings felt very SMALL, although a serving is equivalent to one chicken breast. Hubby and I ate this on the fly, so there was no sit down meal with it, but if I had, I would have probably served it with black beans...maybe corn on the cob....and a green vegetable. And don't omit the green onions. They really help make this dish!

MEXICAN CHICKEN

6 points per serving

Ingredients:
1 pound boneless chicken breasts
1 teaspoon Seasoning for Tacos
Salt, to taste
1/2 cup enchilada sauce
4 ounces cheddar cheese, shredded
3 green onions, chopped

Instructions:

Sprinkle the chicken on both sides with taco seasoning; grill or sauté. Cut the chicken into cubes and place in a greased 8x8" baking dish; season with salt to taste. Add the enchilada sauce and toss to coat the chicken. Sprinkle the cheese over the chicken and bake at 350º for 10-20 minutes, until hot and bubbly. Scatter the green onions over the top.

Makes 4 servings
Can be frozen

Per Serving: 266 Calories; 12g Fat; 33g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 3g Net Carbs

Blackened Tilapia - a keeper for sure!

I made Blackened Tilapia on Wednesday night. I've made a version of this before for tilapia tacos, but I think I like this recipe MUCH better. Next time I will cut down the oregano, though. I thought it was somewhat overpowering. Hubby says its his fave fish recipe I've made. I really liked it too! I served it with roasted asparagus, zuccini and red pepper and a fruit salad. The lime on top of the tilapia is a must, as well...don't skimp!

Blackened Tilapia

Ingredients

·        1-1/2 teaspoons paprika

·        1-1/2 teaspoons light brown sugar

·        1 teaspoon dried oregano

·        3/4 teaspoon garlic powder

·        1/2 teaspoon cumin

·        1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper

·        1 teaspoon salt

·        4 six-ounce tilapia fillets

·        1 lime, cut into wedges (optional, for serving)

·        Olive oil, for cooking

Instructions

1.    Combine the paprika, brown sugar, oregano, garlic powder, cumin, cayenne pepper and salt in a small bowl; mix until well combined (use your fingers to break up the lumps of brown sugar). Sprinkle the spice rub evenly over both sides of the tilapia fillets.

2.    Heat two tablespoons of oil over medium-high heat in a large non-stick pan. Cook the fillets for 2-3 minutes on each side until reddish-brown on the outside and flaky on the inside. Serve immediately with lime wedges.

 On a side note- I'm still stuck at 20 lbs. I've actually gained 1 lb, although I have absolutely no idea how or why. About 85% of all my size 10 pants and shorts fit now. Like I said - 3-4 more lbs and I'll be exactly where I want to be. 4 more weeks to do it!