The Healthy Tales

I don’t know why it is so damn hard to update this blog and keep it current. I mean, I eat every day, I cook each week, and I half-ass count my Weight Watcher points online. One would think I could post my meals and reviews but apparently I have gotten totally lazy! This is going to change and it will begin tonight since I spent my hour lunch break at work creating my July 2010 menu. I’ve never done this but I’ve read about it all over the internet and have been meaning to do it. Now that I’m not working 12 hours + a day, I can think about planning and being healthier.

So I am hoping to accomplish a few things with this menu planning thing. The first is I hope to cut my calories down by preplanning fun, new recipes and mixing them in with some tried and true favorites. Second, I am hoping Mike and I can cut our grocery shopping list down and save a little money here and there. Fingers crossed!

So if this works right, here is the July 2010 menu. I have added known Weight Watcher points where I could and plan to add points after I make something and can calculate the points. I have linked to recipes that I have posted in the Sunshine Rewards Forum or recipes I found there. Any other recipes are from the Hungry-Girl cookbooks and I’ll post them as I make them. Just yell at me if there is a recipe you want and I haven’t shared it in a timely manner or if you want to skip ahead.

July 2010 Menu Plan

In an effort to be healthier, my husband and I are trying something new. Well, I say new but it is new to us not a new idea. We are going to start incorporating 1 fish meal a week. It is my take on the mediterrean diet once a week and possibly twice a week. Last night was our first attempt and it turned out really well except the hives my husband broke out in after he finished eating the shrimp couscous.

Anywho, if you are looking for a new fish meal to spice things up around your house let me suggest the following:
Fish packet with Asparagus and Lemon
Whole wheat couscous with shrimp, fat free feta, and broccoli

All you need is foil, an aluminum baking sheet, a skillet and a sauce pan.
For the fish:
1 bag of tilapia or cod (any flaky white fish really)
1 lemon
1 teaspoon of garlic
1 teaspoon of parsley
2 tablespoons of butter
1 bunch asparagus

1. Line baking sheet with foil. Wash and trim asparagus. Line bottom of cookie sheet with asparagus.
2. Place fish on top of asparagus (frozen or thawed).
3. Mix butter, garlic, and parsley. Then rub into each fish piece.
4. Cut lemon into slices and put 1-2 slices on each fish.
5. Cover fish with foil forming a packet and cook 10-15 minutes.

For the couscous:
1.5 cups Water, 1 cup whole wheat couscous, 2 tablespoons garlic, 1 tablespoon oil. Bring water and oil to a boil. Remove from heat and add garlic and couscous. Let sit covered for 5 minutes. Add in as much broccoli as you like (defrost the frozen kind) and then add as much crumbled fat free feta as you like. Same with lemon juice.

Crawfish is one of my favorite ingredients to cook with outside of onions. There is just so much you can do with crawfish besides boiling it or shoving it into some yummy etouffee. Crawfish can be used pretty much the same as shrimp – boil it, fry it,throw in pasta, rice, or a salad. This past weekend I decided to try a new crawfish recipe that was more summery than my usual crawfish etouffee. I came up with a Crawfish Casserole recipe from my favorite Louisiana cookbook, A Trim and Terrific Louisiana Kitchen by Holly Clegg. This recipe was fabulous and my husband ranked it a 5 out of 5 and he is pretty stingy with his 5 star rating. We will definitely be eating this on a regular basis. Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Crawfish Casserole

1 tbsp light margarine
1 onion, chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb crawfish tails, rinsed
1 can 99% fat-free cream of XYZ soup
3 cups cooked rice
1.5 tbsp lemon juice
salt & pepper
dash red pepper
1 can chopped tomatoes and green peppers (aka Rotel)
1/2 cup shredded fat free cheddar cheese

In a large pan, coated with nonstick cooking spray, melt margarine. Add onions, green peppers, and garlic. Cook until tender. Stir in crawfish, soup, rice, lemon juice, seasonings, tomatoes and green chilies. Mix well. Turn mixture into a shallow 2-quart casserole dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes.

Makes 6 servings

As prepared: 281 calories, 136mg Cholesterol, 4.8 gms fat, 15.2% Calories from Fat

One of my pet peeves is having mismatched leftovers in the refrigerator. Especially when the toss date is coming up quickly. Today for example, you can find in my refrigerator: cooked edamame, leftover Pei Wei, crockpot diet coke chicken, pineapple tidbits, and bratwurst that needs to be cooked. Since the chicken and the pineapple are the oldest they were my first choice for lunch but I wasn’t quite sure what to do.  Enter an idea!

BBQ Pineapple Chicken Wraps! All I needed were 2 of my low carb wraps and some BBQ sauce to add to four ounces of chicken and a third cup of pineapple tidbits. The results were absolutely delicious and is something I’ll be eating tomorrow to finish up the pineapple and the chicken.  The best part was that everything was already sitting in my refrigerator and is pretty low in Weight Watcher points!

Not too long ago the Hungry-Girl newsletter included a news alert that Yoplait was coming out with a new flavor – Red Velvet Cake. I love the pie flavors as they feel indulgent without all the extra calories that come from eating the real thing. Where else can you have red velvet cake for only 2 Weight Watcher Points?  So of course I had to try the Red Velvet yogurt as soon as it hit the shelves at my local grocery store.

Overall Yoplait did another great job with their flavored fat free yogurts. While I wouldn’t say this is a true red velvet cake taste, it is still very yummy. My husband likens it to the Very Cherry flavor but without the cherry pieces in it. I disagree slightly as it doesn’t have that strong of a cherry flavor but it is there hiding in the background. Between this one and the Banana Creme Pie flavor, I think I am set for life just rotating the two flavors every other day.

I was visiting the Yoplait website and noticed that they are about to release fat free Greek Yogurt. I am interested in trying it as it should have 2x’s the protein of regular yogurt and it has been known to have good health benefits. Hopefully it will be in a store near me really soon.