Mediterranean fish soup is kind of stew of assorted fish and shellfish plus fennel, potatoes, celery, leek and we also add zucchini to bulk up the vegetable content. We made a lot of this dish and plan on eating it again on Friday. We are going home on Saturday so it is good to have a dinner that is all made and no mess.
Mediterranean fish soup
Okay, back on track. John pan-roasted a couple of boneless, skinless chicken breasts, I pressure cooked rutabagas and prepared green beans with mushrooms and garlic. We also used some of the mushrooms in a packet of chicken gravy. No additional fat in anything.
Pan-roasted chicken with mushroom chicken gravy, pressured cooked mashed rutabagas and green beans with mushrooms and sliced garlic
Monday was just a confluence of unfortunate circumstances. The chicken was defrosted. The rutabagas cut up. The green beans prepared. But the workers doing the plastering did not leave until 8 PM. By then I was tired, didn’t feel like cooking and surrendered to my old self who wanted pizza. So we had a cheese pizza delivered and topped it with mushrooms and onions that we had sauteed.
That’s two pizzas in 10 days. Not good. In reaction to eating badly, my old allergic reaction reared its ugly head and today my lip and cheek swelled up. The whole time I’ve been eating properly this hasn’t happened. Maybe a bad reaction is what I needed to remind me that I need to eat right.
Tonight is the night before weigh-in. That means no GBOF (giant bowl of food) regardless of how low in fat and high in fiber it is. We settled on salmon. We buy it frozen here in St. George. It’s a safer bet. John prepped the salmon and arranged it on a pre-soaked cedar plank.
Salmon ready for the grill
I pressure cooked the cauliflower. When it was done, I toasted some curry and ginger and pureed it. After that I returned it to the pot and cooked it over high heat to drive out excess water.
Cauliflower under pressure
I also prepared some broccoli. The light green chunks are pieces of the peeled stem. The stem is just as tasty as the florets. I cooked the broccoli in a little water and added a few spritz of butter spray.
Broccoli ready for the stove
While I was inside doing the veg, John was outside cooking the salmon.
John cooks the salmon
Uh oh, looks like rain. It actually did rain a little. We had real gully washers the first week we were here but today’s rain was more like the typical Utah rain – raindrops struggling to get down to the ground without evaporating first.
Threatening sky
Dinner!
John marinated and spice rubbed the shrimp with sherry, garlic, Old Bay, chipotle powder and ginger. He put them on two skewers so they wouldn’t twirl around and cooked them on the grill. I added cilantro, chipotle powder, garlic, lime zest, lime juice, roasted red pepper and celery to our leftover brown rice. I cooked the green beans in a little water, soy sauce and a couple of drops of sesame oil. When they were cooked through I added sauteed sliced garlic and slivered almonds that I had prepared earlier.
Skewered spiced shrimp with Caribbean brown rice and green beans
On Friday I made some killer stuffed red bell peppers. Instead of going an Italian route with them we decided to make them Mexican, the better to drink margaritas with. They were stuffed with brown rice, mushrooms, onion, zuchinni, cilantro, chiles, and bell pepper. The sauce was Jack’s salsa. They were so good that we ate them before I realized that I hadn’t taken a picture.
On Saturday, we ate at the club here. First I ordered shrimp creole. It was so salty that I sent it back. And I love salt. The next try was mahi mahi with double vegetables, no whipped potatoes, sauce on the side. This was merely slightly over cooked and needed salt. Oh, Utah, I wish you could cook better.
The grill (and John) worked overtime preparing Wednesday’s dinner. First the peppers needed to be charred. Subsequently I peeled them. Then onto the grill went the partially microwaved potatoes. These were followed by the marinated portobello mushrooms, onions, and the split Roma tomatoes. The mushrooms were served on sandwich rounds (open-faced for me) which were spread with a little goat cheese and topped with some of the roasted red peppers, grilled onions and arugula. I ate the grilled potato with ketchup. It tastes like a French fry this way. The Roma tomatoes were simply salted but I think the next time I make them I’ll add a touch of sugar and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Open-faced portobello mushroom burger with goat cheese, roasted red pepper, grilled onion and arugula plus grilled baking potatoes and grilled Roma tomatoes
How does one eat a lot in a low calorie manner? A ton of vegetables is the answer. Meat is meat but vegetables are so varied. I am always amazed when people say they don’t like vegetables. How boring their meals must be!
Accompanying John’s superb pan roasted chicken on Tuesday, were Incredibly Yummy Brussels Sprouts, roasted butternut squash and green beans with mushrooms. We also made up a packet of gravy.
I’m never bored by Chicken Monday no matter what day of the week it falls on because the vegetables always make it new and exciting.
Pan roasted chicken, green beans and mushrooms, Brussels sprouts and roasted butternut squash
The reason there is no chicken on Chicken Monday is because we bought these lobster tails at Costco on Saturday and they needed to be eaten. And it is not too big a sacrifice to substitute lobster for chicken.
Here’s how we divided up the work and utilized our kitchen space to the best advantage. John steamed the lobster tails in our electric wok. We have one of these woks here in Utah and one of them back home. When stovetop space is at a premium, an electric wok comes in handy. It gets ripping hot and so can be used for stirfrys, steaming, or anything else you would normally do on the cooktop.
John steams the lobster tails in the electric wok
I chunked up a whole head of cauliflower and put it in the pressure cooker. After pressure was achieved, I cooked the cauliflower for about three minutes and then cooled the cooker down immediately to release the pressure. I toasted some curry spices in a frying pan. I combined the drained cauliflower, curry spices and a little faux butter in the pressure cooker pot and mashed it up over heat to insure that it wouldn’t be watery.
Mashed curried cauliflower in the pressure cooker pot
Our green vegetable was small green beans that I get in a large bag at Costco. They are so good but there are a lot of them so we will be eating green beans with every meal for a few days. First I sauteed a bunch of mushrooms and put them to one side. The beans cooked in a small amount of water. When that had evaporated off, I added the mushrooms and a little faux butter and let the beans brown.
Browning the green beans gives them a depth of flavor
Another low fat, low calorie, low WW points dinner that was yummy!
Lobster tail with green beans and mashed curried cauliflower
Friday night we played in a tennis tournament so John had a bean burger and I had a salad. We actually won two matches. Yay, us, we can beat high school kids.
Saturday for lunch we went to the Mongolian BBQ where I had a vegetarian stirfry and a half a cup of rice. It was the first time eating out since our anniversary July 17. Americans eat out an average of 5 times a week. If we eat out 5 times in a non-traveling month, I’d be surprised.
Saturday night we slipped up. Maybe it was the eating out at lunch but I did not feel like cooking dinner. So we ordered pizza. Just a cheese pizza and we sauteed up our own onions and mushrooms. I ate three pieces.
Sunday to atone for our pizza sins, we played two hours of tennis. I had leftover farro with an ounce of chicken. We ate out of plastic containers sitting on the couch watching Olympics. There are no pictures.
Monday, today, it was time to weigh-in. After a perfect dieting week with the exception of the pizza and exercising 6 out of 7 days, I gained three pounds. I’m not happy today.
Omnivore 