If you read my weight loss blog you know I'm battling a bit of back and neck pain right now. I'm starting to feel a little better but those first few days where rough. Being the head chef of the household, this meant we ordered in a couple of times.
I'm not against eating out or getting dinner delivered here and there, but it pains me when we have a refrigerator and pantry full of good food. So yesterday I decided to drag my butt off the couch and make myself a healthy lunch.
I had some defrosted tilapia fillets from a dinner I was planning a few day prior and the kale has been starring me in the face every time I open the fridge. Both needed to be cooked before they went bad. This is what I came up with.
I must say, kale is slowly becoming a favorite of mine, now that I'm over my initial fear of it. There's just so many easy ways to use and prepare it! Smoothies, salad, chips, soup, wraps, chopped in rice or stuffed peppers. It's such a nutritional powerhouse too!
Oh and it's a cinch to cook! Saute in a pan, add a little liquid and BLAM cooked kale!
So I decided to flavor the kale with some stewed tomatoes, onion and garlic. Then cook the fish right on top. The results were amazing! The fish was perfectly tender, most and delicious. The greens were wonderfully flavorful and the tomatoes added that bit of bite.
I made it for myself but asked the husband to take a bite for his opinion. He's not a greens kind of guy but said the fish was really good. My plan is to just make this for dinner one night with a side of brown rice and let them deal. The more I serve stuff like this the more normal it will become. Right? RIGHT?
Here's what I did…
Ingredients
- 2 tilapia fillets (mine were about 3 oz each)
- Kosher Salt
- ¼ of a onion (I used a red)
- About 10 stalks of kale (enough to cover a non-stick frying pan)
- 1 15oz can of stewed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic (2-3 cloves)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ cup water
- Dried Basil
- Kosher Salt
Ingredients
Season both sides of the raw tilapia with the salt and set aside.
Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and saute the onion with some non-stick spray until it browns a little.
Remove the stems of the kale and chop it into smaller pieces.
Add the kale and toss a few times with a pinch of kosher salt. It will start to deepen in color.
Add the can of stewed tomatoes.
Add the garlic and lemon juice. Toss and let it cook for a minute before adding ½ cup of water. Bring everything to a boil.
Once boiling add the tilapia fillets on top. Pushing them into the kale, tomatoes and liquid a bit.
Cover and cook for about 1 minute. Then uncover and cook another minute.
Gently flip the fish and cook for another 2-3 minute until the thickest part of the fillet is firm.
Remove the fish from the skillet, place on a plate and pile the kale with tomatoes on the side. Sprinkle everything with just a bit of dried basil.
Enjoy!
I'm proud of this one. This meal gives you (according to NutritonData.com) 220% of your vitamin A, almost 200% of your vitamin C, 44% of your iron and 27% of your calcium for the day! It's also a good source of Niacin, Vitamin B12, Phosphorus, Potassium, Copper and Manganese, and a very good source of Protein, Vitamin K and Selenium.
I don't usually go into those kinds of details but I was amazed how nutritionally dense this meal was.
I calculated the points based on nutritional information as I always do. Old points work out. Everything is free except the fish but the fish is about 1 point an ounce so regardless of how you calculate it you get 6. (This is why I like OLD points.) As for PointsPlus, I'm getting 8 when based on nutritional info. Not sure if that is correct. PointsPlus people please chime in and let me know how you'd calculate. I'm still learning.
📖 Recipe
Braised Tilapia with Kale and Stewed Tomatoes
Ingredients
- 2 tilapia fillets mine were about 3 oz each
- Kosher Salt
- ¼ of a onion I used a red
- About 10 stalks of kale enough to cover a non-stick frying pan
- 1 15 oz can of stewed tomatoes
- 1 teaspoon minced garlic 2-3 cloves
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- ½ cup water
- Dried Basil
- Kosher Salt
Instructions
- Season both sides of the raw tilapia with the salt and set aside.2 tilapia fillets, Kosher Salt, Kosher Salt
- Heat a non-stick skillet over medium heat and saute the onion with some non-stick spray until it browns a little.¼ of a onion
- Remove the stems of the kale and chop it into smaller pieces.About 10 stalks of kale
- Add the kale and toss a few times with a pinch of kosher salt. It will start to deepen in color.
- Add the can of stewed tomatoes.1 15 oz can of stewed tomatoes
- Add the garlic and lemon juice. Toss and let it cook for a minute before adding ½ cup of water. Bring everything to a boil.1 teaspoon minced garlic, 1 teaspoon lemon juice, ½ cup water
- Once boiling add the tilapia fillets on top. Pushing them into the kale, tomatoes and liquid a bit.
- Cover and cook for about 1 minute. Then uncover and cook another minute.
- Gently flip the fish and cook for another 2-3 minute until the thickest part of the fillet is firm.
- Remove the fish from the skillet, place on a plate and pile the kale with tomatoes on the side. Sprinkle everything with just a bit of dried basil.Dried Basil
Zach
Came across this recipe while trying to figure out what to do with some Tilapia and a bag of chopped mixed greens (mustard, etc...) that needed to be used tonight. Very good! I don't know if maybe the greens exude more water than kale, but I'd probably halve, or even eliminate the water next time. Otherwise, I found the proportions to be spot on.
sandra
Just made this tonight, so tasty!
Megan
I made this tonight with a can of Italian stewed tomatoes. It was very good. I may have to make this one again. Oh, and I made it into 2 servings instead of 1.
Jama
I'm with the others . . . I'm a naughty little WW, but I would not count the kale or the tomatoes. I've been managing it this way since the change to PointsPlus and I lost my last 15 pounds (the hardest to lose!), so it obviously is not an issue. I agree that its not intuitive, however, I was one of those people that WW was targeting because I NEVER ate fruit (because I refused to spend points on it) and I would never eat more than a cup of vegetables (like carrots) because I wouldnt spend a point on that either. So, just to put in a "pro" for the new system - it has made me a fruit and veggie fanatic. So, all that just to say that I'd only count the fish 🙂
roni
I totally agree. It's just not intuitive enough in my opinion. For the record the can of stewed tomatoes I used was 35 cals a servings and I think there's 3.5 in the can. It's really not that much!
Andrea
Just for fun, I tried running the recipe through my WWPP recipe builder--however,in real life, for something like this I'd usually just count the fish and call the rest "free".
Shockingly (is that a word?) it was the stewed tomatoes that really ratcheted up the points. AND, it depended on whether I used the entry for stewed tomatoes (9 PP per can) or canned stewed tomatoes (3 PP per can). It appears to me that you used the liquid from the tomatoes--so maybe my counting those as FREE is a bit generous--but half a can of stewed tomatoes at 4.5 points plus? That is just CRAZY. But then again, I didn't see the nutritional values on your can of stewed tomatoes--maybe they had some added sugar?
Other than that--even a large red onion will only get you about a half point for a quarter of it and 2 cups of kale (my guesstimate from your picture) will get you another 2 points for the entire recipe.
Enough of the boring stuff--as Caron says--ya gotta go with what works--but it makes it tough for people who are struggling to find what works.
Deanna
With points plus 4oz of tilapia is 3pts. 🙂 In case anyone was curious. Sounds so yummy! I can't wait to try this!
Thanks for the recipe!
Caron
I also love kale and have a bunch in the fridge right now. As for counting points, I've been doing it since 2002 and I still prefer to let veggies be free. I will use the recipe builder in etools (now free for us lifetimers at goal) but I will leave out things like tomatoes and kale. I suppose Weight Watchers would frown on that but it works for me. I'm happily maintaining on 29 points a day with no weekly points and no exercise points. 🙂
roni
All great ideas Dottie. Thanks! I did remove the stems it's in the steps and I purposely used stewed tomatoes to add flavor but yes, the flavored diced mixes would be wonderful! I love the idea of the lemons too. I just don't typically have lemons on hand, that's why I used a squirt of lemon juice.
Dottie
Hi, I have been coking fish like this for years, and I agree, it's delicious. Some variations might be:
Add sliced mushrooms to the vegs.
Put (nutritious, it turns out) sliced washed lemons on the top of the fish during steaming. eat them or not. Adds flavor.
Sear the fish first and it lightly carmelizies, adding tons of flavor.
Use diced tomatoes with basil and garlic for built in flavor.
Use spinach or other greens as an alternate.
Do you remove the tough stems of the kale first? FYI, though I like the taste, tilapia is not the cleanest of farm-raised fish. I also use flounder, cod, etc as a substitute.
I'm glad you're feeling better. I went through similar ailments when my 3 were little.
Even though I'm twice your age now, I still struggle with my weight, and you are an inspiration to me.
Dottie