Lemon Garlic Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner

Lemon Garlic Tilapia with Roasted New Potatoes and Vegetables

I've been seeing a lot of posts on social media about sheet pan dinners. The premise is easy and pretty darn smart, if you ask me. You choose a few vegetables, a protein, a fat, a few spices and/or herbs and flavorings and roast it all on one sheet pan. After reading several recipes here's what I came up with, Lemon Garlic Tilapia with New Potatoes and Zucchini. I know, there are green beans on that plate as well. They were actually leftover from a previous dinner, but there is no reason you couldn't roast them along with the rest of the dinner, If you like them well done, you could put them into the oven with the potatoes, for crisp tender, add them when you add the fish and the zucchini. Just be sure to place them in a single layer and add a little oil and salt and pepper to them You could also drizzle a a tablespoon of the Lemon Garlic sauce you made for the fish on them during the 2nd part of cooking if you wanted to.

This dinner is very Weight Watchers friendly too, Meaning low cal and low fat. The fish weighs in at 2 Smart Points for 4 ounces and the small new potatoes are 2 points each. I used a very little bit of butter, 1 T. butter for the entire dish and a little olive oil for the potatoes and zucchini.  My dinner weighed in at 10 points for a big plate of food! Fish plus 3 halved potatoes and plenty of zucchini and green beans. For the record, let me say that the plate shown belongs to my husband, who eats a little heartier than I do!

Try this. It's quick and easy and clean up is a breeze -- only 1 pan to wash along with measuring spoons and a measuring cup, all of which went into the dishwasher. Feeling lazy? Use some non-stick aluminum foil to cover the sheet pan. No clean up!

This could easily be doubled for a larger family, just use a bigger pan.

Lemon Tilapia Sheet Pan Dinner
serves 2

2 Tilapia  filet about 4 oz. each
1 T. butter
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 T. lemon juice
pinch of kosher salt
generous pinch of dried dill
1 large garlic clove, minced (about 1 tsp), divided use

8 new potatoes, scrubbed and dried, sliced in half
2 T. olive oil, divided use
1 small zucchini, washed and sliced into 1/2 inch rounds

Kosher Salt and Fresh Ground Pepper

Make your sauce for the fish. Melt the butter in a microwave-able measuring cup. Stir in 3/4 of the chopped garlic and cook for 20 seconds to heat it through. Add lemon zest, lemon juice and dill or an herb of  your choice. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a medium to large cookie sheet (use one with a good rim) toss the onions in 1 T. of the olive oil. 
Spread them out to cook evenly, cut side down. Like this:

New potatoes, cut side down.

Bake the potatoes for 15 minutes. While potatoes are cooking, toss the zucchini with the other T. of olive oil. After 15 minutes, remove the pan from the oven and turn the potatoes over and push them to one end of the pan. Sprinkle them with the remaining garlic and a little Kosher salt. Add the zucchini to the pan in the middle and the fish at the other end. Drizzle the garlic-lemon butter mixture evenly over the fish. Sprinkle fish and zucchini with a little salt and pepper. If desired, sprinkle a little dill or rosemary over the potatoes. I used dill this time, but since I grow rosemary, I'll probably use that next time. Here's the way mine looked when it was ready for the 2nd trip into the oven:

Dinner prepped and ready for 2nd part of the roasting process. 

Cook for the 2nd time 15 more minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Mine was perfect after that amount of time.  I sprinkled ours with some onion garlic chives from my garden for a little fresh green goodness. Parsley would work also, or leave that out all together. 

Enjoy! 

Gingery Beef Lettuce Wraps

Gingery Beef Lettuce Wraps

Here's another Asian style recipe, quickly adapted from a Weight Watchers recipe that I made for dinner last night. Believe me when I say that eating this feels NOTHING like dieting -- these lettuce wraps are full of flavor, texture and have the elusive "umami" we all hear so much about. I changed the recipe slightly, adding ingredients that upped the flavor. I keep most of these things on hand, because I love cooking this way! (See some more takes on lettuce wraps HERE and also HERE)

Once you've purchased the needed spices and condiments, you can create so many healthy meals. This is not difficult cooking so please don't be intimidated by the  number of ingredients. They are mostly inexpensive and easy to find in a regular grocery store! So here we go -- the only ingredient I added that will add Smart Points to your total -- if you are "counting" -- is the Hoisin Sauce, which adds 1 point to the 3 specified by Weight Watchers. The Hoisin Sauce adds a richness and slight sweetness which interacts nicely with the salty soy sauce and the rice wine vinegar, which I added as well. I've also added Sriracha Hot Sauce, because we like things a little spicy, but leave it out if you don't. Use low sodium selections if you are sensitive to salt or have high blood pressure.

Gingery Beef Lettuce Wraps
4 servings

1 lb. 93% lean ground beef
1 cup thinly sliced yellow onion
2 Tablespoons peeled and minced fresh ginger
1 Tablespoon minced fresh garlic
2 cups Bok Choy, thinly sliced
2 cups shiitake or white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced, stems chopped
1 medium red pepper, thinly sliced
3 Tablespoons soy sauce
2 Tablespoons Hoisin Sauce
1 Tablespoon Rice Wine Vinegar
Sriracha Sauce (may be omitted if you don't like spicy)
Lime wedges, iceberg or butter lettuce, cucumber pieces and fresh cilantro for serving

Wash 6 - 8 large lettuce leaves and chill in the refrigerator. Dice half a cucumber and cut up a little cilantro to top lettuce wraps. If you don't care for cilantro, use either fresh basil or mint. You  only need a little, the fresh herbs add some extra special flavor on the wraps!

Spray a large non-stick skillet with cooking spray and add the beef over medium high heat. Using a wooden spoon, break the beef apart and crumble it. When it begins to brown add the onion and ginger. Sprinkle over 1 T. of the soy sauce. Cook a 4 - 5 minutes and add the garlic. Saute' briefly to incorporate garlic, then add the red pepper, mushrooms and bok choy. Cook the mixture until the bok choy begins to wilt.  Stir in the remaining soy sauce, Hoisin sauce and rice wine vinegar. Squeeze Sriracha sauce over the top, if using, about 1 - 2 T. Cover the pan, turn down the heat and let cook for 5 minutes.

Gingery beef stir fry mixture

Put a lettuce leaf or two on a plate and top with 1/3 - 1/2 cup of beef mixture. Top with cucumber, herbs and a squeeze of lime. Squeeze on extra Sriracha if you really like spicy -- my husband did! Enjoy!

Seared Sashimi Tuna with Cold Cucumber Noodle Salad

Grilled Sashimi Tuna Steaks with Cold Cucumber Noodle Salad

Looking at my blog recently, you'd think we are on an Asian kick around our house, and to some degree, we are! When you've been cooking a long LONG time, like I have, it's fun to try new dishes, and to that end, I've been working on my Asian repertoire. I'm on a self improvement kick and while I love the local "Chinese" take-out, I KNOW it's loaded with fat and sodium. SO, to still get my fill of what I want to eat and keep it healthy, I've started making take out food at home.

I found this recipe in a Weight Watcher's brochure. It looked so good, I had to try it! I only made one or two adjustments, and none that would affect the overall calorie count, which is quite low. If you are a Weight Watcher, it adds up to just 6 "Smart Points" the current exchange rate on that eating plan. This recipe also has the advantage of being very simple and quick to make. Once you have your ingredients on hand and laid out, it's 30 minutes, tops, start to finish. You will need a non-stick ridged grill pan if you don't plan to cook the tuna on the outdoor grill. It was COLD here last night, so we opted to cook the tuna inside. If you do cook on the outdoor grill, use the olive oil to oil the grill and keep the tuna from sticking. I made this for 2 of us, and put the noodle salad away for lunch later this weekend. The salad was slightly spicy, sweet and sour all at the same time! If you are totally against spicy food, the original recipe only called for 1 tsp. of Sriracha sauce. Mine was only a little bit hot, so don't be afraid! It was so good the first time, but I'll let you know how the noodles hold up! ***Cooks note, several weeks later: I've made this again and saved the leftover noodles both time for lunch later in the week. They held up really well and tasted great! I held them 2 days the first time I made this and 3 days the nest time. The rice noodles were just slightly softer, not much. New, great pasta salad recipe! 

I'll be making this again soon, I promise!

Seared Sashimi Tuna with Cold Cucumber Noodle Salad
serves 4

3 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 1/2 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons rice  wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon Sriracha sauce
3 tsp. Kikkoman Soy Sauce, divided use
a pinch or two of Kosher salt
1/2 c. hot water
4 oz Annie Chun's Pad Thai Rice Noodles (thin)
6 radishes, scrubbed and thinly sliced
1/2 English (seedless) cucumber, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced
1/4 red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 c. loosely packed cilantro leaves
4 Sashimi grade Tuna steaks, about 5 oz. each
1 tsp. olive oil
pinch of fresh ground black pepper
Lime wedges for garnish

1. Put a large pot half full of water on to boil for the rice noodles.
2. In a medium size non-reactive bowl, whisk together lime juice, sugar, vinegar, Sriracha sauce, 1 tsp. soy sauce, a pinch of Kosher salt and hot water.
3. Add the cucumbers into the salad dressing mixture.
4. When the water begins to boil, add the rice noodles and cook for 4 - 5 minutes.
5. Drain the noodles and rinse well with cold water. Drain the cold water off shaking the colander to make sure they aren't watery. Take your clean kitchen shears, and snip the noodles in a few places. The noodles I bought came in one long strand, so I wanted to make them easier to toss and to serve.
6.While the noodles drain, preheat a non-stick ridged grill pan over high heat.
7. Add the drained noodles, radishes, onion and salt to the salad dressing. Toss well to combine.

Noodle salad, flavors melding, before the cilantro is added. 

8. Sprinkle the tuna with the remaining soy sauce and a little salt and pepper. Add the olive oil to the grill pan or oil the outdoor grill.
9. Place it in the pan, on an angle over the ridges and press it lightly into the pan.You want the tuna to make good contact with the ridged grill for a good sear.  Don't move it for 1 minute. After 1 minute, rotate it to "cross hatch" the grill marks (if you feel like it, I enjoy a challenge), pressing it down again to make good contact with the pan. Turn if over after 1 additional minute. It should look like this:

Grill marks on the tuna, it only stuck a little! 

10. Cook on the other side for 1 minutes, again pressing the tuna down, for rare, 2 minutes for medium rare. I wouldn't take it farther than that, as the tuna is delicate and may dry out.
11. Add the cilantro to the noodle salad, tossing well. Using a slotted spoon, to drain the excess dressing, divide the noodle salad evenly between 4 plates. Or do half of it between 2 if it's dinner for for 2!
12 Place the tuna on the plates next to the salad, and thinly slice the tuna. Garnish with limes if desired. We squeezed some over the dish, but I forgot the limes as garnish for the pictures! It just looked and smelled so darn good! Enjoy!

Umami! Yum! 

Shrimp Pesto Pasta

This is a dinner I made by raiding the pantry and the refrigerator. It was totally unplanned. All I knew early in the day was that dinner would contain shrimp and pasta. The rest of it came together as the meal progressed. I buy big bags of frozen raw shrimp when they are on sale. It's great to have them in the freezer anytime we feel like seafood for dinner. Other things I keep in the pantry, like pesto sauce and evaporated canned milk. In the summer, I can step outside my kitchen door and pick basil if I want pesto. I freeze a good amount of it but  usually run out around January. SO, a jar or 2 of pesto sauce in the pantry is the way to go. Evaporated canned milk is a great shelf stable sub for cream, and it's lower in fat as well. Cherry tomatoes and fresh garlic are always on our weekly shopping list, so we've always got them on hand.

This entire dinner came together in about 30 minutes. The pasta and shrimp both cook up quickly and the sauce goes together in a flash. I've given measurements for 2 hearty portions, but it can easily be doubled. This amount made a plate full for each of us plus a small bowl for lunch then next day. AND my husband said, "Don't scrimp on the shrimp!"

Here's what I came up with, using what I had around:

Shrimp Pesto Pasta
Wish I'd had a fresh basil leaf for garnish!!

Shrimp Pesto Pasta with Roasted Tomatoes and Garlic
2 servings

16 LARGE shrimp peeled and deveined, tails off

Pesto Sauce and Evaporated Milk
Pantry Staples

4 cloves of garlic peeled and halved
8 cherry tomatoes 
2 T. Classico Pesto Sauce                                                          
3 T. evaporated skim milk (from a can) or equal amount cream
2 T. dry white wine
6 - 8 oz. vermicelli
Olive Oil
Kosher Salt
Freshly ground black pepper

Preheat your oven to 300 degrees. Toss the tomatoes and garlic in a little olive oil and put them into a small baking dish. I like to use stoneware for this.

Cherry tomtaoes and garlic for roasting

While the veggies are roasting, place the shrimp in a single layer on a layer or two of paper towels to dry them in preparation for searing. They need to be fairly dry. 

Fill a large pot with water and bring it to a boil for the pasta.

While the water is heating, preheat a non-stick skillet until it is hot. Add a few drops of olive oil and sear the shrimp off a few at a time, making sure not to crowd them or over cook them. Sprinkle them lightly with kosher salt while they are searing. Cook them 2 - 3 minutes on each side. Remove them to a bowl to add back into the sauce later.

They should be just pink and slightly crispy on the edges as shown above.

In the same pan, add the pesto sauce, the evaporated milk and the white wine. Stir over low heat to combine. Don't let the sauce boil, just simmer gently until warmed through.

Cover it and keep warm until the pasta is cooked to al dente'.   Drain the pasta well, and add it back into the hot pot you cooked it in. Add the tomatoes and garlic and the sauce you made. Toss to combine. Add the shrimp and cover the mixture. Heat on low a few minutes and serve with grated Parmesan.

Enjoy!