Orange Spinach Salad

Today's lunch was absolutely wonderful. We enjoyed a citrus salad alongside Orange Roughy made up like it was the halibut from Herb the Halibut.

Orange Spinach Salad (73 calories)

2c spinach (13 calories)

1 orange (60 calories)

sprinkle onion granuals

sprinkle garlic granuals

vinegrette dressing (below)

Slice spinach and place in bowl. Cut orange with a knife, taking off all the white part. Save the rinds and set aside. Cut orange into quarters going the same direction as the segments, then turn and slice in half so you get small pieces. Put half of the orange into the spinach. The other half of the orange, squeeze over the spinach just a little bit before you add to the salad. Get the rinds and squeeze the juice from the cut out part of the orange over the top of that (not the oils from the rind, but the juice from the little left over parts in the white part of the orange).

Optional: Add 1T chopped sweet onion.

Liberally sprinkle onion & garlic powder over the salad, add dressing (below), toss with your hands and plate.

Vinegrette Dressing (14 calories)

1T balsamic vinegar (14 calories)

1T Apple Cider vinegar

1/8t chili powder

1/4 packet of powdered sweet leaf stevia

salt & pepper to taste

Mix together, then pour over the salad

Balsamic vinegar, generally speaking, is frowned upon in the world of HCG while on the VLCD portion. However, in comparing 1T of balsamic vinegar with the juice of 1 lemon, I found that they're similar in sugars and in calories.

A quick overview is:

1T balasmic = 14 calories, 2g sugars.

Juice of lemon = 12 calories, 1g sugars.

So, you could go ahead and delete the balsamic vinegar from the dressing recipe and just add a little more Apple Cider vinegar, sparing yourself the 14 calories, if you'd like!

It's a Keeper!

Tonight's menu is featuring Orange Roughy (you gotta change to 100g on that site to see the data about this fish). It's a light flavored fish but is more filling than other white fish on the market. It's also not nearly as fat as even halibut.

Cooking fish is always a tricky business because it's such a delicate flavor. I'm starting tonight with garlic butter. :) WHAT? On Phase 2?? Yep. Garlic butter. Here's the trick to that one:

Garlic Butter (10 calories)

1 clove fresh garlic, minced

1t butter buds (10 calories)

3t water

In small dish, mix the butter buds and water together. Add minced garlic and let stand at least 10 minutes so the flavors mingle together.

It's a Keeper! (86 calories)

100g Orange Roughy (76 calories)

Garlic Butter (10 calories)

1 grissini stick

1t lime juice

salt & pepper to taste

In ramekin, place orange roughy in center. Squirt lime juice over the fish, then top with crunched up grissini stick (not pulverized into a powder - leave some chunks in there, too). Pour garlic butter over the grissini stick, then salt and pepper to taste. Bake at 350* for about 7 minutes or until fish flakes off with a fork.

Orange Roughy

I bet you thought this post was going to be about an orange flavored something, didn't you? :)

It's not.

For lunch today, we (Mom and I) are *very* pleased to bring you the best fish out on the market, Orange Roughy. We kept it simple, because if you do too much with fish, it just overpowers the delicate flavors and ruins it.

Buttery Orange Roughy (76 calories)

100g Orange Roughy (76 calories)

1T lemon juice

2t butter buds

1/2t dill

1/2t salt

In ramekin, place orange roughy in middle. Pour lemon over the top of the fish, then sprinkle butter buds on, followed by dill and salt. Cover ramekin with foil and bake at 350* for 15 minutes.

We chose to eat this with a higher calorie vegetable, because it's so low in caloric value. To get to the half way mark of 250 calories for lunch, we had 1 1/2 cup fresh sliced tomato on the side. Salt and pepper that and it's the perfect afternoon dish. It's light and doesn't make you feel loaded down for the rest of the afternoon.