Tilapia-Kale Soup

I'm posting a lot today, but I made this for dinner and I had to share, it was absolutely delicious!

It's a little but of chopping, but I think it's worth the work and it cooks lightening quick!

Picture doesn't do it justice, it was delicious!

Tilapia-kale Soup
2 servings, 6P+/serving*

Ingredients
2 tsp avocado oil
1 shallot thinly sliced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
2 garlic clove thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 large leaf green kale, chopped
4 small leaf red kale, chopped
2 sm-med potatoes (7oz), diced
2 cups chicken broth (I made with better than bouillon)
Salt, pepper, cumin to taste
9-10 oz Tilapia, cut in chunks

Heat up a deep pan over medium-high fire add avocado oil and sauteed shallots and celery for a minute or so, add garlic and sauteed until fragrant, add carrots and cook for a minute or two. Add kale (both color) and toss well until slightly wilted. Throw in potatoes, broth, salt, pepper and cumin and bring to a boil. Cover and cook 5 minutes.

Add tilapia chunks and cook another 5 minutes or until the fish is done (I cooked it 5 minutes and it was perfect!).  Adjust seasoning.

Serve hot, could work over grains, but makes a rather large serving so it's not necessary.

*PointsPlus value does not include 0 P+ vegetable in the recipes as I count the recipes by hand.

So there, I'm on a seafood streak! Hang on everybody!

Happy Cooking!

Shrimps and Kale

When I left my meeting yesterday, I decided to run, but after only 1 block I realized that was not going to work. My backpack was too heavy and unbalanced for me to safely run. Drats!

I was walking toward the bus stop and thinking back on what I had heard during the meeting. The idea of thinking back to what I used to do, and eat, kept going around in my head. Lunch time was coming, and I didn't know what to have. What's one lunch that was easy, quick and healthy that I used to do an enjoy? Shrimps and veggies!! I used to have that almost every day. It was either shrimps or scallops! 

I decided to swing around by Whole Foods (I needed a few things anyway) and see what I could find. Greens were on special, Kale was 2 bunch for 3 dollars, so I grabbed a green bunch and a red bunch, colors! I also absentmindedly grabbed a head of garlic and some big shelled raw shrimps.

I got home and got started:

Shrimps and Kale

1 serving 3P+/serving

1small shallot, thinly sliced

2 clove garlic, thinly sliced

2 big leaf each green and red kale, de-veined and chopped

1/4 cup (or so) chicken broth

15 medium-large shrimps

Salt & pepper

Cooking spray

Sauteed shallot until slightly browned add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add the kale, toss well, add a little chicken broth if it gets too smoky in there, cover it all up for a few minutes until the kale is wilted. 

Then I added the shrimps and a bit of chicken broth and cover and cook for 2 minutes or so. Open and turn the shrimps, cook another 2 minutes or until the shrimps are done. 

Shrimps cook really quick so cooking time vary a lot. Cook until not translucent anymore.

It's simple, it's delicious, it's pretty! I served over 1/2 cup of cooked bulgur (2 P+) that I had leftover. See? 

Clean the fridge lunch

Ok, ok I'm lazy sometimes, and my planning skills fail me, or is it my dedication to following my plan?  I was working on a little project of mine, when I realized it's almost noon and I'm hungry. Oops! What do I do?

I looked in the fridge and found bulgur that was leftover from yesterday, a good start, but that's about it really. There's vegetables in the fridge, but the turkey's all gone. I'm out of lobster (got to talk to Mom!) and I'm just not in the mood for beans. Oh, but I have eggs!

Sooo, I decided to do a clean the fridge salad sort of thing. It's 6 P+ but it makes a lot of it!

Cell pic with the food almost gone! Sorry! Thought about it at the last minute.  

Clean the Fridge Salad
1 serving, 6 P+/serving

1/2 cup cooked Bulgur
1 egg and 2 whites
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
1/4 cup flat leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup red bell pepper, chopped
small handful shredded carrots
1/4 cup clover sprouts
1 tsp roasted unsalted sunflower seeds
Salt & pepper

Scramble the egg/egg white with salt and pepper, throw in a bowl with everything else and toss!

It made a huge bowl of food for only 6P+, and it was tasty too! How easy can it be? You don't have to overthink cooking. It can be as simple as "what's left in the fridge that needs to be used?

Happy Cooking!

Scallop and Vegetable Stir-Fry

One of the many things Weight Watchers has always been good at is coming up for ways of making cooking quick and easy. A few years ago, the cookbook "Shortcuts" came out, and my husband and I have used it extensively. Still do!

Those are not Foofy cuisine, but quick and easy satisfying meals for those days when you just don't have time for anything else.

Scallop and Vegetable Stir-Fry

4 servings, 4 P+/serving

Ingredients

2 tsp canola oil

1 1/2 pound sea scallops

1 tsp dark asian (dark) sesame oil

1 12 oz bag assorted fresh vegetable cut for stir-fry

1 TBSP minced, peeled fresh ginger

2 garlic cloves minced

1 1/2 TBSP reduced-sodium soy sauce

1- Heat a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat until a drop of water sizzles on it. Add the canola oil and swirl to coat the pan. Add the scallops and stir-fry just until opaque in the center; about 3 minutes on each side (do not overcook!). Transfer to a plate.

2 Heat the sesame oil in the skillet. Add the vegetables and stir-fry just until tender; about 1 minute. Add the ginger and garlic; stir-fry just until fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in 1/4 cup water and cook, covered, until the vegetables are crisp-tender; about 1 minute. Stir in the scallops and the soy sauce; cook, uncovered, stirring frequently, until heated through, about 30 seconds. Serve at once.

Note: It always cracks me up when a recipe says to serve "at once", I feel like I have to run to the dinning room as soon as I turn off the fire. "Quick, quick! It has to be served AT ONCE!" ;o)

Source: Shortcuts, Weight Watchers, p. 27

Chicken and Broccoli with Black bean sauce

I have so many cookbooks that it takes me some time to work my way through new ones. Last spring we got the Fresh Fabulous, Fast cookbook here at Weight watchers, and I am now working my way through it. Here's my favorite so far:

Chicken and Broccoli with Black bean sauce

4 servings, 6 P+/serving

Ingredients

3/4 pound chicken tenders, cut lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices

4 cup small broccoli florets

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1/2 cup plus 2 TBSP water

2 TBSP black bean sauce

1 tsp sugar

1 (8.8 ounce) package cooked brown rice (about 1 3/4 cups)

1- Spray a large wok or skillet with nonstick spray and set over medium-high heat. Add chicken and stir-fry until browned and just cooked through, 2-3 minutes. Transfer to plate.

2- Add broccoli, bell pepper*, and 1/4 cup of the water to wok; stir-fry until vegetables are crisp-tender, about 3 minutes. Add chicken, black bean sauce, sugar, and remaining 2 TBSP water; stir-fry 1 minute.

3- Heat rice according to package directions for microwave. Serve chicken and vegetables over rice.

* You can add more vegetables to this and bump the volume and the taste!

Source: Fast, Fresh, Fabulous Weight Watchers p. 129.