hope yall got all of that cheesy, carb-y, delicious mexican food from last week out of your system, because it is time for a super healthy and super delicious recipe. two recipes- one side and one protein. as usual, i'm more interested in the side. so i'll save that for last.

first up: tilapia. i had never (ever) cooked any kind of fish before, so i was kind of nerval. seemed like the easiest and most foolproof way to go about it was baking. i think i was right. (pipe up in the comments if you have an easier and more foolproof way!) i made skinnytaste's baked garlic lemon tilapia. loved it! i bought my tilapia frozen (it was significantly cheaper) and defrosted under running water. the fish defrosted extremely quickly, so i'm glad i went the frozen route.

Baked Garlic Lemon Tilapia

Ingredients: 

• 6 (6 oz each) tilapia filets 
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 2 tbsp butter 
• 2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 
• 4 tsp fresh parsley 
• salt and pepper 
• cooking spray 

Directions: 

Preheat oven to 400°. Melt butter on a low flame in a small sauce pan. Add garlic and saute on low for about 1 minute. Add the lemon juice and shut off flame. Spray the bottom of a baking dish lightly with cooking spray. Place the fish on top and season with salt and pepper. Pour the lemon butter mixture on the fish and top with fresh parsley. Bake at 400° until cooked, about 15 minutes.


the fish came out flaky and with just the right hint of the butter/lemon/garlic flavor. because i've never cooked fish before, i wasn't sure how to check if it was done. Praise be to Google, i figured it out. it passed the flake-test (does the fish flake when you cut into it?) and the opaque-test (is it opaque in the middle of the thickest piece? it shouldn't be. it should be white). please share if you have any other fish done-ness tests.

the other dish, which i have given a sexy little preview of in the above photo, is balsamic roasted brussel sprouts. ::salivates:: when i first moved to austin, i went to an "american pub" here called drink.well. they had the most fabulous, decadent balsamic roasted brussel sprouts with little chunks of bacon. sadly, i don't see them on the menu anymore. happily, they inspired this dish. less decadent and still delicious.

Balsamic Roasted Brussel Sprouts

Ingredients:

• 2- 3 cups brussels sprouts, sliced in half
• dash salt and pepper, to taste
• 3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 3 tbsp olive oil

 

Preparation:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees. Whisk together the vinegar, salt and pepper together in a small bowl. Slowly incorporate the olive oil until a dressing is formed. Place the brussels sprouts in a single layer on a baking sheet. Drizzle the oil and vinegar over the sprouts and gently toss to coat. Bake for 25 minutes, turning once. Sprouts are done when they are lightly browned.





little green balls of heaven. went great with the fish. i paired the meal with my fave, pinot grigio. what label, you ask? the cheapest one. now you probably feel awkward for asking. your fault.


*title refers to rick bragg's book, all over but the shoutin'. great read if you're looking for something southern-like.

little late on this- what else is new? last week some girlfriends of mine came over for a little mid-week potluck dinner. tell ya what. if there's one thing we do well, it's potlucks. also, vacations. also, birthdays. also, daily life. i digress. i'm including all the recipes from our wonderful little dinner. make one! make none! make them all! whatever.

i made chicken tamale casserole. it's less tamale and more cornbread, but it's delicious.

Chicken Tamale Casserole: 

Ingredients

• 1 cup (4 ounces) preshredded 4-cheese Mexican blend cheese, divided
• 1/3 cup fat-free milk 
• 1/4 cup egg substitute
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1 (14 3/4-ounce) can cream-style corn i used frozen sweet corn. not a huge fan of creamed corn.
• 1 (8.5-ounce) box corn muffin mix (such as Martha White) i use jiffy. i always. use. jiffy. 
• 1 (4-ounce) can chopped green chiles, drained
• Cooking spray
• 1 (10-ounce) can red enchilada sauce (such as Old El Paso)
• 2 cups shredded cooked chicken breast
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream

Preparation

1. 1. Preheat oven to 400°.
2. 2. Combine 1/4 cup cheese and next 7 ingredients (through chiles) in a large bowl, stirring just until moist. Pour mixture into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.
3. 3. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until set. Pierce entire surface liberally with a fork; pour enchilada sauce over top. Top with chicken; sprinkle with remaining 3/4 cup cheese. Bake at 400° for 15 minutes or until cheese melts. Remove from oven; let stand 5 minutes. Cut into 8 pieces; top each serving with 1 tablespoon sour cream.

Ingredients

• 1 cup extra long grain rice or basmati rice
• 1/2 lime, juice of
• 2 cups water
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
• 3 tsp vegetable oil

Preparation

In a small heavy pot, add rice, water, 1 tsp oil and salt. Boil on high until most of the water evaporates. When the water just skims the top of the rice, reduce to low and cover about 15 minutes. Shut off flame and keep covered an additional 5 minute.

In a medium bowl, combine chopped cilantro, lime juice, rice and remaining oil and toss until completely mixed.

hi all, molly here, basically just FREAKING OUT because a good thing has come to this girl who waited. and waited. then took a break from waiting, and waited some more. i moved to austin after accepting a job i liked, but didn't love. i found out last week that the right job has found its way to me- i've been hired as a marketing coordinator, which is something i have wanted for a very long time. weee! i start tomorrow and i'm nervous, excited, etc. yeh know. all those things.

i had a five day break in between my old and new jobs (including the weekend). my five day summer has been filled with some crazy fun times. i'll always have the fond memories of waiting for the plumber to come figure out why our toilets weren't flushing. oh...and i can't forget getting my state inspection. such a special time. also, there were the errands. oh, errands and i got so close over the last five days. and of course there's me and my girl elliptical. so far we've hung out every day this week! which is my subtle way of saying that i'm completely up to date with training and i am loving it! i've even had a couple days recently where i don't want to stop running. that's new and different.

but it hasn't all been errands and gym-ing. there's also been happy hours, boat times on lake travis, and hanging with kitty. photographic evidence below. 

 i love when i have time to make breakfast. these are corn cakes. litchrully could do a whole post on these suckers. they are pancakes made with cornbread batter, and topped with apple butter. like pancakes? like cornbread? if you answered yes to both of these questions, congratulations- you have a beating human heart. also, you'll like these. i grew up eating these and let's just say they made a lasting impression. the recipe can be found on the side of the Jiffy cornbread mix box.

Welp...research on elliptical marathon has taken a backseat to several far more important things life this week. It has been full of the usual- work, working out, cooking, and spray tans. (duh.) We celebrated my dad's birthday on Sunday by heading out to the ranch, henceforth to be known as Skyview. It was pouring down rain, so mostly my sister and I spent our time at the ranch sliding around in the mud in a four-wheeler and watching my dad spread sodium bentonite in our pond. Welcome to Texas, yall! (We're new to this whole "ranch" thing.) We celebrated again on Wednesday at our favorite Mexican restaurant, Desperado's. I've been a regular at this place since I was about 8 years old and it has only gotten better with age. Go check out their Pollo Santa Rosa- you will not be disappointed.

Speaking of food...and not being disappointed..and...me needing to work on my segues...I made these stuffed bell peppers last night and they were so great! I may be late on this, but I found the Skinnytaste blog this week and so far have six recipes that I am dying to make from her site. Everything is made healthy and wholesome- no subbing "light" this or "fake" that. Recipe is below. I served it with a baby mixed greens/cherry tomato/chopped avocado salad with croutons and a strawberry vinaigrette. You'll also see that I topped each bell pepper with a small amount of sour cream and cilantro to garnish. ::pats self on back::

Turkey Stuffed Peppers
Gina's Weight Watcher Recipes
Servings: 6 servings (1/2 pepper) • Time: 55 minutes • Old Points: 4 • Points+: 5
Calories: 184.7 • Fat: 2.3 g • Protein: 20.8 g • Carb: 20.2 g • Fiber: 1.6 g  

• 1 lb lean chopped turkey meat
• 1 garlic, minced
• 1/4 onion, minced
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cumin powder
• salt to taste
• 3 large sweet red bell peppers, washed
• 1 cup fat free chicken broth
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1 1/2 cups cooked rice
• Olive oil spray
• 1/4 cup reduced fat shredded cheese
  

Heat oven to 400°. Spray a little olive oil spray in a medium size saute pan and heat on a medium flame. Add onion, garlic and cilantro to the pan. Saute about 2 minutes and add ground turkey. Season with salt and garlic powder, and cumin and brown meat for several minutes until meat is completely cooked through. Add 1/4 cup of tomato sauce and 1/2 cup of chicken broth, mix well and simmer on low for about 5 minutes. Combine cooked rice and meat together.

Cut the bell peppers in half lengthwise, and remove all seeds. Place in a baking dish. Spoon the meat mixture into each pepper half and fill it with as much as you can. Place all stuffed pepper halves on the baking dish and pour the remainder of the chicken broth on the bottom of the pan. Cover tight with aluminum foil and bake for about 35 minutes. Top with shredded cheddar cheese and enjoy.



Time to gear up for a(nother) great weekend in Austin...I'm heading down after work. Can't wait!