Tuesday, April 29, 2008

White Fish with tomatoes, olives and feta

I made a really yummy dinner last night-- white fish with tomatoes, olives and feta. First, I scrubbed a medium red potato and sliced it 1/8" thick. I divided the resulting slices in half and layered each on an 11x18 piece of aluminum foil. I laid a 6 oz. filet of fish (about 3/4" thick; I used red snapper this time) on top of each and sprayed it with olive oil spray. Next, I sprinkled the top with a little citrus herb seasoning, then sliced a small roma tomato and put the slices on top of the fish. I added five halved olives to each filet (I used green olives, but kalamata would also be good). I topped this with 1 oz. reduced fat feta cheese and 1 tsp. lemon juice. I rolled the foil into packets and cooked them in a 450°F oven for 15 minutes. Yum!

We planted two trees in our front yard on Sunday. Tonight, I'm going to steak them down so they don't tilt in the wind. Yesterday and today were very nice, but tomorrow the weather is supposed to take a turn for the worse. I sure wish mother nature would make up her mind!

Things are going well. All the pets are happy. My house isn't clean yet, but I'm getting there! :) Also, since my parents and brother have moved out, I've been able to concentrate more on my diet. No more potato chips or ice cream cones around the house to tempt me. I'm just not that strong all the time! I also started my workout routine again-- but Denise Austin isn't on Lifetime anymore to record. Instead, I've been picking a couple of workouts from the Cardio Blast DVD and the Target Toner DVD to mix things up. I also take Ralfie for a 30 minute walk every night after work. It's good for both of us.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Long time no see! (Greek Salad)

My goodness it's been a while! Things have been great, but really busy. Mom, Dad and Ryan are still with us, but are in the moving stage. Most of their belongings are in the garage of their new home-- just waiting for the hardwood and tiled floors to be sealed one more time before officially moving in. We should be lugging things in this weekend. I'm excited for them, but sad at the same time. It will be very different not having as many people around.

The pets are doing well. We got a surprise the Saturday before last. I took Charlie in for his annual checkup and found out that he had FORLs. That means that his immune system started attacking his teeth and they were rotting from the inside out. He had to go into surgery and have all his teeth removed with the exception of his bottom fangs and the very front teeth on the top and bottom. They gave him a pain patch along with droppers containing pain medication and antibiotics to be administered every 12 hours. We took the pain patch off last night and he is doing very well. He really likes getting canned cat food every day, but isn't so keen on the dropper medicines.

I started a new thing at work-- Ladies Friday Lunch. A group of six of us get together every Friday and we take turns making lunch. The only stipulation we have is that the lunch must be healthy. So far, I've made Greek salad and Lynn made some wonderful corn curry (indian food). I can't wait to see what everyone else will make! Here's the recipe for my greek salad:

1 head romaine, chopped
1 cucumber, peeled and chopped
1 tomato, cored and chopped
10 kalamata olives, halved
6 pepperonchinis, seeded and cut in half
1 small can artichoke hearts in oil, drained with oil reserved
4 oz. fat free feta cheese

Dressing:
3T. oil from artichoke hearts
Juice of half a lemon
1/2t. dried oregano
1/4t. pepper

Directions:
Place dressing ingredients in a jar and shake. Place all salad ingredients in a large bowl and pour the dressing over it. Toss well to coat everything with the dressing and serve immediately.