Foiled Fish

I have read about an easy way to cook fish that involves wrapping it in foil. How easy is that? Wrap it up, toss it in the oven, take it out, done. So, I tried it last night and it is just as easy as I thought. And of course fish is healthy as can be, so score there as well!

I forgot to take a picture, but it looked exactly like the picture from the recipe I followed... minus the yummy looking buttery noodles. I served it with rice pilaf and broccoli.

 Ingredients that I used:
Tilapia fillets
Mrs. Dash seasoning
Tomatoes, sliced
Green onions, sliced - Got these from my front yard! They're growing everywhere.
Garlic, minced
Lemon juice
Olive oil
(NOTE: I would add more flavor next time. Not sure how. Probably basil since it was in the original recipe. Recommendations welcome!)

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 450
Foil squares to wrap the fish and veggies
Rub a bit of olive oil on the foil so the fish won’t stick.
Place a tilapia fillet in the middle of the foil. 
Shake some Mrs. Dash seasoning on the fish. 
Layer tomatoes, green onions and garlic on top. 
Shake a bit of lemon juice over it all. 
Wrap the foil around the fish loosely to make a packet. 
Bake at 450 degrees for 20 minutes. 

WW Points: Depends on the size of the fish filet. I estimated 5 points plus for 5 oz fish + oil.

Source: http://eatathomecooks.com/2009/06/tilapia-with-veggies-baked-in-foil-packets.html

House update

If you're on FB, you saw the kitchen updates (yay!). Figured I'd put the master bedroom update here for some social medium variety. We FINALLY finished painting the walls with Cider. It is definitely a strong color, but it also feels very cozy and cabin-like. I'm excited to accessorize it with furniture, shelving, etc.

Here's a sneak peek:

We will be replacing the carpet, closet doors and the ceiling fan/light. As a reminder, this is our bedding (although we didn't buy all of those fancy pillows). It's not what I'd usually go for, but the fabric is SO awesome and the colors felt warm to me, so we went for it.

SO outside of my comfort zone, but I'm confident it will work. Any ideas for accessories are welcome!

We're considering this bedroom set:

We can't wait until all of the rooms are done being fixed up. Then we can just spend all summer gardening and cutting grass. Having a house is work, y'all!!

Chowdah

If you can't have a bowl of cream-heavy clam chowder because you're watching the waistline, this is a yummy alternative. But Gina of Gina's Skinny Recipes needs to realize that raw potato cubes do not cook in 10 minutes.That's just crazy talk.

Servings: 5 • Serving Size: 16 oz • Calories: 305 Points: 6.5 pts

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp flour
• 1 large white onion, chopped fine
• 2 medium russet potatoes, peeled and cubed
• 4 cups 2% milk
• 2 (10 oz) cans clams, drained, juice reserved
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
• kosher salt and fresh pepper
• 1 cup frozen corn

Instructions:
In a large pot, melt butter.  
Add onions, and heat on low heat until onions are translucent.
Add flour and stir.  
Add milk, clam juice, potatoes, bay leaf, thyme and salt & pepper to taste.  
Cook on low until potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.  (Um, yeah...no. I had to cook on medium for 25 minutes before the potatoes were soft... and Mike still commented on how the potatoes could be softer. Not sure...maybe I bought the hardest potatoes in the universe.) 
Remove half of the soup and put in blender. Return to pot.  
Add clams, corn and adjust salt if needed and cook another 5 minutes.  
Serve and garnish with fresh parsley.

I served it up with a couple of pieces of garlic Texas toast. Oooohwee... you gonna like it!

My Attempt at Thai Fried Rice

Gina's Skinny Recipes site (http://www.skinnytaste.com/) makes me drool when I go through it looking for recipes. I love her site because she lists WW PointsPlus for each recipe and includes pictures. Her thai friend rice recipe was no exception to the drool rule. Look at that!

But... I didn't have the necessary ingredients and subbing things in didn't really work. Add the fact that I didn't cook the jasmine rice right (How DO you get rice to be dry and not sticky??) and you get something that turns out suspiciously like the chicken fried rice I made about a month ago. Oh well. I'm willing to try again if I can get my hands on some fish sauce and thai chili peppers and also learn how to make the rice not be so (hate this word) moist.

Here's the recipe anyway as I 'interpreted' it. (Click this link http://www.skinnytaste.com/2008/09/thai-fried-rice-575-pts.html  for the actual recipe that should be followed):

(Yeah, not exactly the same look as Gina's, huh? Why is it so pale?)

Servings: 4 • Serving Size: 1/4th • Points+: 8 pts
Calories: 320.8 • Fat: 7.0 g • Carb: 43.9 g • Fiber: 2.5 g • Protein: 20.2 g
Ingredients:

• 8 oz chicken breast, cut in small cubes
• 3 cups jasmine rice, cooked
  
• 1/2 large onion, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 scallions, chopped
• 3 egg whites, scrambled
• 1 whole egg, scrambled
  
• 2 tomatoes, sliced
• 4 tsp vegetable oil
• 4 tsp soy sauce (or more to taste)
  
• 2 tsp fish stir fry sauce (found at the seafood counter where Old Bay is found)
• Dash of lemon juice (I read that this plus soy sauce mimics fish sauce taste)
• salt and pepper

Instructions:
Prepare rice ahead of time according to package instructions. Gina says that it's best if it's made slightly on the dry side, but not sure how to make that happen.

Heat a wok on a high flame. Meanwhile, season chicken with salt and pepper. When the wok is very hot, add 2 tsp oil. When the oil gets hot, add the chicken and cook on high a few minutes, tossing so that its browns all over. (Oops, didn't brown it) Remove chicken from wok and set aside, add the eggs and salt and cook a minute or two until done. Set aside.

Add the remaining oil to the wok and add the onion, scallions and garlic. Saute 1 minute, add tomatoes and stir in all the rice. Add soy sauce, lemon juice and fish stir fry sauce and stir to mix all the ingredients. Keep stirring a few minutes, then add egg and chicken back to the wok. Adjust soy sauce if needed and stir well another 30 seconds.

Quick house progress update

We're working on painting some rooms. Here are some pics.

Master: Valspar Cider

Before:

After (so far):

The color is off since we used semi-gloss and it is too shiny. We got a new gallon in satin finish and plan to finish up the painting this weekend. Unless Mike is finishing sanding the drywall patches (from where we took down the chair rail) and painting today while he honors US Presidents (pfft) and has the day off, but it's raining so I doubt it will be done. But we're so close!

Kitchen: Valspar Dolphin Cove

One wall down, three more to go. We love the color. It's a nice, soft gray that works with the purple, gray and blue countertops. I am just so glad that I found a color that worked that wasn't purple. Purple walls just aren't our scene.

Before:

After (again, so far):

WW Beef & Ricotta Lasagna

10 points per square for this one. The square sizes are substantial, so that seems fair. It was good, but two things would be great, but not possible since it's a WW recipe: 1) The reduced-fat mozzarella tasted reduced-fat-y to both Mike and I, and 2) there wasn't enough sauce. I would also have added fresh basil. But, it was tasty despite those small issues.
 
The recipe came from my new WW cookbook - Just 5 (125 Recipes with 5 Ingredients)

Ingredients:
1.5 lb lean ground beef
4 c no-salt added marinara sauce
1 box (8 oz) no-boil lasagna noodles
2.5 c fat-free ricotta cheese
1 1/4 c shredded reduced fat mozzarella cheese

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees
Spray 9x13 pan with PAM
Spray non-stick skillet with PAM and put over medium heat
Brown ground beef. Drain fat.

Spread 1c marinara on bottom of baking pan
Layers in order: 4 lasagna noodles, 1/2 of the meat, 1 1/4 c ricotta, 1 c sauce, 4 noodles, rest of beef, rest of ricotta, 1 c sauce, 4 noodles, remaining sauce, mozzarella cheese.
Spread sheet of foil with PAM, cover pan, and bake for 30 minutes
After 30 minutes, uncover and cook an additional 15 minutes
Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes & cut into 8 squares

Master confusion

Mike and I have a MAJOR case of confusion in regards to choosing the paint color for our Master bedroom. We're *this* close to making a decision, but I'd love to get opinions from you. I know I've already asked most of you about this and I know that those people are groaning LOUD right now, but you love me so deal with it. :)

Send me a comment with your choice. 

Here's our new bedding:

Choice #1: Cider by Valspar - Picture of it painted on a section of the wall (along with a big ray of sunshine over in the left side of the pic). We LOOOVE it, but is it too dark? The room isn't huge, but it gets lots of natural light.

Choice #2 -Bamboo Reed by Valspar - Safe choice. We painted a sample, but I forgot to take a pic. It looks pretty similar to the online sample below.

Both colors can be found within the bedding somewhere. Oh, and we aren't into doing one accent wall and three colors on the other walls.

Thanks!