Don't get me wrong, I love salad. Nothing like a crisp refreshing crunch salad for lunch or even for dinner. How many times have you had a nice seared Tuna over crisp fresh greens with a full bodied soy based sesame dressing and felt so content that it was a good meal. Many times I'm sure. I know I have. But every extra that you throw on adds calories. When your trying to lower your calories, less is obviously more.
The craziest thing when dieting is the word Salad itself. You're out to a meal with some friends and everyone is ordering a burger, or a big sandwich and you say, I'm going to have a salad. "I'm watching myself". Ah the magic words. "I'm watching myself, I'll have a salad". Then you order a cobb salad. You might be having more calories than your friends with the burger. But its a salad right? I see all that lettuce right there. It's a big bowl of lettuce right? see it? It's right under the two whole eggs, mound of chopped bacon and pile of blue cheese. Looks a little dry, better add that Ranch dressing.
For three months now, my main meal for lunch and dinner has been a salad that consists of just lettuce, tomato and cucumber and a protein. That protein could be grilled chicken breast, grilled or baked fish, or even a can of Tuna. Plus a serving of dressing. Having that for lunch and dinner for months on end can wear on you. So you gotta change it up a bit. But I want to really get to my goal so how do I eat sensibly and get filled up on something other than cold salad? It's all in educating yourself on what to have and what not to have.
I've always loved fish and this recent changing in eating has enabled me to embrace fish again. I probably eat 5 portions of fish a week minimum. Mostly over salad. Now that it's getting cold here in the Northeast, having a warm meal is something I want to have more when I sit down for dinner.
One of my favorite pieces of fish is Cod. It's mild, flaky, meaty and just plain good. I like to have full tasting food and nothing is ever too spicy for me. The key is how to control the fatty lubricant so the meat doesn't stick to the vessel it's cooked on. Grilling is always great because when anything reaches it's optimal seared exterior, it just flips easily. But Cod is not good for the grill. So I prefer to bake it. I have discovered that oil, whether it be olive, canola or vegetable, it's still about 125 calories per tablespoon. That's a lot. Especially when I'm used to pouring on about 10 tablespoons on anything before I season it. So I've embraced the spray not stick solution. PAM. So here is my recipe for you.
Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
Spray your baking dish with some PAM or any other non stick spray.
Mix up 1 tablespoon of minced garlic with 1 tablespoon or Sriracha sauce.
Squeeze the juice of one lemon onto the piece of fish. Coat both sides of the fish with the garlic paste.
Bake for about 7-9 minutes until the fish flakes.
When it's done, add another splash of lemon and add with steamed Brussell Sprouts. ( I just split and steamed them)
Then you have this:
That meal right there was probably 400 calories total. And it was delicious. Yes, there is no starch and no bread. And the spouts serving is rather large. Personally I love Brussell Sprout so that is no big deal for me. But it was hot and fulfilling.
It's very easy and you can put a spin on it any way you want with spices. Experiment and let me know how you like to prepare this dish.
