Winter Vegetable & Fish Soup

With the weather suddenly turning cooler, I had a craving for soup. This soup was really, really easy to make and it tasted yummy. I actually doubled the recipe below, so that's why the pot looks extra full!

Here's the leeks in low-sodium chicken broth.


Adding in the broccoli.....

Adding in the zucchini (these were leftover from our summer garden):

Adding the fish......

Adding in the spinach and spices....

And we're done! Enjoy!

Winter Vegetable & Fish Soup
~serves 2 generous bowls, 221 calories, 8g fat, 1 g saturated fat, 0 trans fat, 48mg cholesterol, 646 mg sodium, 10 total carbohydrates, 1 g dietary fiber, 3 g sugar, 28 g protein, 3 mg iron.

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 2 14-0z cans low-sodium chicken broth
• 1 cup fresh/frozen broccoli, chopped
• 1 small zucchini, diced
• 8 oz frozen halibut fillets, cut into bite-sized pieces (you can use any whitefish; I used orange roughy)
• 1 cup baby spinach
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tsp dried oregano

1. Heat oil over medium heat in a large saucepan; add leek and saute for 2 minutes. Stir in broth and bring to a boil.
2. Add broccoli and zucchini and simmer for 3 minutes.
3. Add fish and simmer until it turns opaque, approximately 3 more minutes.
4. Add spinach and seasonings and simmer for 2 more minutes. Serve. Enjoy!

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Lunch & a Green Monster!

I decided to put on my creative kitchen hat and make myself a healthy lunch. Something that I might not usually eat. This is what I came up with:

It's a bowl of spinach with water-packed salmon, artichoke hearts (love these!), kalamata olives, feta cheese and walnuts. Nope, no dressing. I've really don't care for many dressings, so when I'm at home I just skip them. This salad was pretty good, but it was definitely missing something. (And no, not dressing!) I think I needed one more ingredient to finish it off but I just can't figure it out. Either way, it was still a fairly filling salad and I'm inclined to make it again.

And I just have to mention that it's in my favorite dish. My grandmother had this set and everytime I use it, it reminds me of all the Christmas Eve dinners we had at her house. Those dishes always make me smile.

Moving on.

I've been reading Angela's blog for some time now. She has a great outlook on fitness, health and life in general. Although she's a vegetarian and I'm most definitely not, I still really enjoy reading about her recipes. One of her daily staples is a green monster.

Now, I'm not going to lie here. The first time I saw that glass full of green weirdness, I wanted to close my computer screen. It caused me to revert back to my childhood where I shirked away from anything that was green. I could hardly believe that someone was choosing to drink something so.......GREEN! But slowly, as I kept reading her blog, the green monster intrigued me. And it didn't seem quite so horrible as the days went by. And then I think it challenged me. Yes, I could hear the green monster taunting me, teasing me for being such a foodie wimp.

So I bit the bullet and I made one.

And it wasn't so bad. In fact, dare I say it........was a little tasty. It had a smoothie texture and a fruity flavor. I mostly tasted the banana and not really the spinach at all. I probably should've blended mine a little more, but I got too excited about the whole experience.

And I'm a little impatient.

But I think I will definitely make this again! It will be a great after workout shake by simply adding some protein powder to the mix. But I guess you want to know what's in the mix anyway. Here goes:

• 1 cup spinach leaves
• 1 cup Almond Breeze (original)
• 1 Tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1 ripe banana
• 1/2 cup blueberries (pretty much all I had left

I think that next time I'll use a frozen banana to give it even more of a smoothie feel. Overall, I liked it!

And that is how it came to pass that Stephanie defeated the Green Monster.

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Moroccan Couscous with Seven Vegetables

This might be my favorite recipe yet. It turned out so, so yummy! It's not very spicy at all and spells delicious. The downside? It takes a long time to make. It would be a great Sunday thing to make and then eat throughout the week.

Sauteing the Ras El Hanout, garlic & olive oil:

Adding in the first few veggies and water:

Putting the pureed veggies back into the dish:

I have no idea why the picture is sideways because it's correct on my computer! ???

Finally, enjoying the final product with some cilantro on top:

And the breakdown:

Ingredients:

• 3 tsp olive oil
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp Ras El Hanout (see below)
• 1 large sweet potato, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 2 small turnips, peeled and diced into 1-inch pieces
• 1 medium zucchini, diced into 1-inch pieces
• 2 carrots (10 oz), peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/4 head cabbage (about 1/2 lb), cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 red bell pepper, cut into chunks (I used the whole thing)
  
• 1/2 cup green beans (about 2 oz), cut into thirds (didn't use because I was out)
  
• 1/2 to 1 tsp Harissa or any chile paste or hot sauce (I used 1 tsp Cholula)
  
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/4 cup raisins, soaked in 2 or 3 Tbsp warm water for 10 minutes, drained
• 3/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 16 oz white fish (tilapia, haddock or sole), cut into chunks (I used Tilapia)
  
• 1 1/3 cup whole-wheat couscous
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro, chopped, divided

Instructions:

1. Heat oil in large stockpot over medium heat, add garlic and Ras El Hanout. Quickly stir until brown, about 1 minute. Then add next 5 ingredients. Pour in enough water to cover vegetables. Cover and cook for 25 to 30 minutes, until vegetables are soft but not fully cooked. Add pepper, beans, Harissa and salt. Cook for another 10 to 15 minutes, until tender.
2. Ladle out 3 cups of broth and vegetables (1 1/2 cups each). Puree in blender until thick. Add back to stew.
3. Mix in raisins and chickpeas. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and place fish on top of mixture (don't mix in, or fish will break up). Cook, covered, for 10 to 15 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork. Fish will steam on top.
4. While fish is cooking, boil 1 1/3 cups water in a saucepan over high heat. Take off heat, add couscous and cover. Set aside for 5 minutes. Fluff with fork. To serve, place 1/2 cup couscous in bowl. Pour 1 cup vegetable-fish mixture over top and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp cilantro.

Steps 1 & 2 can be completed up to 2 days in advance. Keep mixture in an airtight container in the refrigerator until you're ready to continue.

Ras El Hanout (Makes 2 Tbsp)

• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 tsp turmeric (careful! this stuff stains!!)
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander

Mix all ingredients in a small bowl until well blended. Seal in an airtight container and store in a dark, dry spot in the pantry; it will keep for up to a year.

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Grilled Sweet Chili Lime Salmon Fillets

On Monday, I decided that Jason & I should try to eat more fish. Eating chicken all the time is getting so boring and besides, we actually like seafood! I bought some frozen wild-caught salmon fillets, but I couldn't figure out what to do with them. We're fine with eating them plain, but I wanted a way to jazz it up a bit. Who do I call? Mom, of course!

I asked her if dill went with Salmon and she said she thought so. She told me to look up dill sauce on the Internet and try it from there. She usually blackens her salmon, but I didn't have the Cajun seasoning for it. I looked up several recipes online for dill & salmon and decided on one. I went downstairs to pull out the ingredients and......

.....I didn't have any freaking dill. Seriously. Back to square one!

So, I turned over the package that the salmon came in and found this recipe. I even had all the ingredients! So here you go:

Grilled Sweet Chili Lime Salmon Fillets

1/2 Tbsp Kosher Salt
1/2 Tbsp Black Pepper
1 Tbsp Sugar
1/2 Tbsp Chili Powder
2 Tbsp Fresh chopped cilantro
1 Fresh Lime

Mix all ingredients expect the lime onto a flat plate. Coat both sides of the salmon fillets with the mixture. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.

The limes were my lame attempt at garnishing. I'm no Hyper Homemaker, so that's all that can be expected of me. We really liked this recipe, except next time we'll leave the sugar out. I didn't like the sweet/spicy combination, but it's up to you. Even Jason, who doesn't really like overpowering cilantro, thought this was good! And I didn't grill it like the original recipe called for because we don't own a grill. But they were still good in the oven. One final bit of advice:

Don't mess with the cook!!!

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