Stuffed Trout

POINTS® Value: 4
Servings: 4
We always serve this with couscous, which mixes beautifully with the spinach/parsley "stuffing". I used to stuff whole trout instead of doing the fillets, but recently Whole Foods stopped carrying whole fish! And not everyone likes fish heads.

Ingredients

* 1 pound rainbow trout (2 large fillets)
* 1 cup parsley, from one large bunch
* 3 garlic clove(s)
* 3 1/2 oz spinach
* 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Instructions

In a food processor, pulse the garlic, parsley, spinach, some fresh sorrel or dill if you have it, lemon juice, salt and pepper
Spread the mixture on the bottom of a glass 13x9 baking dish
Lay the trout fillets, skin side down, on top of the spinach mixture
Broil on high heat for about 8 minutes, or until the skin is pulling easily away from the fish
Using a large spatula, turn the fish and spinach mixture over, broil for 3 minutes more.

Green Vegetable Soup

Hub talked with his Mum in Scotland yesterday, and she mentioned she had lost 2 stone on the Weight Watchers plan so far...and her secret was to make homemade vegetable soup. So here's my first stab at it...even Kiddo loved it. I think I'd put in more fresh peas next time, they were delicious little surprise packets of green yumminess. Hub was not crazy about the whole peppercorns, but I enjoyed the occasional blast of pepper in a mouthful.

POINTS® Value: 1
Servings: 16

Ingredients

* 1 Tbsp olive oil
* 1 medium leek(s)
* 10 medium carrot(s)
* 3 stalk broccoli
* 1/2 pound green snap beans
* 1/2 cup peas, raw
* 2 small potato(es)
* 2 tsp kosher salt
* 1 Tbsp peppercorn
* 1 oz fresh oregano
* 2 clove garlic clove(s)
* 12 cup fat-free, reduced-sodium chicken broth

Instructions

Chop garlic; wash and chop leek, white and green parts. Add olive oil to large stockpot and heat, then add garlic and leek and saute briefly.
Add the chicken stock, and then chop and add all the rest of the vegetables. For the broccoli, peel the stalks and add them as well, chopped.
Add salt, peppercorns (not ground) and oregano branches.
Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.

Mediterranean Garden Fagottini

OK, this post may look a little bit weird, but I've finally started a diet. Weight Watchers Online has some cool features such as a "Recipe Builder" where I can add my ingredients and it figures out the points value. And then I can just copy and paste the thing into here! Wish me luck on the diet thing...only two days in and I'm huuuuungry!

POINTS® Value: 5
Servings: 6

Ingredients
18 oz (2 packages) Mediterranean Garden Fagottini - we got it at Harris Teeter. The one I used has 290 calories per serving, 5g fat and 2g dietary fiber -- if you use something with cheese or meat in, it will probably increase the point value.
1/4 pound semisoft goat cheese - I like goat gouda, but feta or chevre will also do
3 medium tomatoes
5 oz mixed baby greens
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

Instructions

Cook the pasta according to directions
Grate the cheese, chop the tomatoes, toss in bowl with 1T of olive oil, balsamic vineger, salt and pepper
Wilt the greens in other 1T of olive oil, add to bowl
Add drained pasta to bowl with 1/2 cup of pasta cooking water, toss and serve

Sunday Night is Party Night!

We are finding that Sundays are great nights to have casual dinner get-togethers with kids. Last night we had the C's and the M's over for the first cook-out of the Spring, since it was 80 degrees yesterday. I tried to keep things simple, but I can't help myself and cooked waaay too much food.

Assorted cheeses and crackers - I tend to keep an assortment on hand, especially a wide range of goat's milk cheeses
Old-fashioned potato salad like my mom used to make, with eggs, pickles, carrots and a little bit of red onion, mayonnaise and mustard and a hint of fresh thyme
Fruit salad
Teriyaki salmon - I got this idea from Bro, who likes to use Soy Vay's Very Teriyaki sauce. Just pour on salmon, let sit for about 30 minutes, then grill
Grilled asparagus - put in tupperware container, squeeze a lemon over, drizzle with olive oil, add salt and pepper, put lid on and shake. Then grill. :)
Turkey burgers with fixings
Brown rice

It was a lovely time, but did mean I didn't get the taxes done like I was supposed to.

Oh, and last week we had another two families plus a neighbor who was in town from China over. I made two lasagnes (one meat and one veggie) and we are still eating the leftovers. That's another bonus to Sunday night cooking -- lots of leftovers to eat throughout the week.

Mustard-Mushroom Pork Chops

I realize it has been awhile. Hopefully this represents a return to normalcy.

1 cup light sour cream
1 can cream of mushroom soup with roasted garlic
2 tsp oregano
1 Tbsp grainy dijon mustard
1/4 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3 Tbsp flour
8 oz sliced mushrooms
1 lb thinly sliced pork loin chops (5)

• Preheat oven to 350


• Combine all ingredients except mushrooms and pork chops in a bowl


• Spread mushrooms evenly on bottom of 13x9 glass baking dish


• Layer pork chops on top of mushrooms, and cover with sauce


• Bake for 30 minutes

Serve with whole wheat rotini and steamed green beans. I think this time, I finally got this right...the sauce, when stirred up after baking, is exactly the right consistency. It was very easy and relatively quick. Hub loves any kind of sauce or gravy, and gave it a big thumbs up.