Anyone Can Make This

I know I've been rather silent for awhile again, but between the holidays, and the fast track I'm teaching, I just haven't focused on one thought long enough to actually get it posted.

As I expected, I ate too much during the holidays, and I'm working at taking it off again. I've gotten back into the diet and I've been walking, albeit not as regularly as I'd like, at the wellness center. And I think through the early months of the year, I'll really be able to establish good habits. I just hope we don't have too many snow days. I'm too close to the refrigerator on snow days.

I know some of you were interested in my efforts to pull up the carpet in my living room and dining room. I got the last of the carpet pulled up last week. There are still some tack strips and a few staples left (I got cold and achy down on the floor after awhile), but they'll be easy enough to pull up a bit at a time. Although the living room and dining room are essentially one single room, the floor in the living room has a higher finish. It's sort of weird. I do plan on refinishing them to a certain extent this coming summer, but isn't really going to take much.

Last night, I had Mari over for supper. She was game for playing the guinea pig with a new recipe. I was a bit anxious about it because it could have been a real dog of a recipe. Happily, I can say that it turned out very good. As we talked about it between our groans of pleasure with each bite, I kept on reassuring Mari, who claims to be not much of a cook, that she could easily make this. After saying "Anyone could make this" about 3 times, she suggested that that's the title I should give my cook book Anyone Can Make This. I don't know about the cook book idea, but it's true, if you can read directions, and sensibly make changes, anyone can make most of the dishes.

So anyway, the dish I made was Broiled Tilapia with Frisée-Apple Salad and Mustard-Parsley Sauce found on page 48 in the December 10, 2010 Best of Cooking Light: Fast Healthy Meals in 30 Minutes or Less. I wasn't able to acquire the arugula and frisée. For some reason, greens aren't as well accepted in this part of the country. Considering this is grassland, you'd think it would be a natural. So instead, I substituted my beloved spinach. I'm glad I could find the mint leaves. They made a real difference in the salad. The recipe makes 6 servings, so I halved it. Once we dug into it, we both wished I had made a full recipe.

Ingredients
1 cup water
4 teaspoons salt divided
1 teaspoon sugar
6 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets.
3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
8 cups arugula
6 cups trimmed frisée
1/2 cup mint leaves
2 Gala apples, cored and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 tablespoons sour cream
1 tablespoon whole-grain Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 tablespoon water

Preparation
1. Combine 1 cup water, 1 tablespoon salt, and sugar in a shallow dish. Add fillets; let stand 15 minutes. Remove fillets from brine; pat dry. Discard brine. Brush fillets with 1 tablespoon olive oil. Sprinkle with 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper.
2. Preheat broiler
3. Place fillets on a broiler pan coated with cooking spray; broil 7 minutes or until desired degree of doneness.
4. Combine arugula, frisée, and mint in a large bowl. Combine apple and 1 tablespoon oil; toss well. Add apple mixture and 1/4 teaspoon salt to arugula mixture, and toss gently.
5. Combine remaining 1 tablespoon oil, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt, chopped parsley, and remaining ingredients, stirring with a whisk until blended. Divide arugula mixture evenly among 6 plates; top each with 1 fillet. Drizzle about 1 tablespoon sour cream mixture over each serving.

Yields 6 servings

Nutritional information:
Calories 294
Fat 11.5 grams
Protein 35.4 grams
Carbs 15.2 grams
Fiver 4.1 grams

All of which equals 8 weight watcher points plus value points