This is the new dish I tried this week called called poached salmon with cucumber.
Normally I start my articles by bragging about how well my week was or by introducing my topic, but this week things are different. For the first time since I started on this weight loss journey I gained weight. Granted it was only a pound, but a gain is a gain. It has definitely made me think about what went wrong this week and I can honestly say that nothing was really different except the fact that I didn’t work out as much as I normally would. I need to get off of my butt and start moving more.
This week I started to experiment more with food and focus more on salad. Every day, usually for lunch, I have a very large salad. Since fruits and vegetables are free points on Weight Watchers, I can eat as much of them as I desire. I like to eat in bulk and a nice large salad helps that. In the morning, I put a lot of lettuce, carrots, cabbage, cucumbers, spinach and any other vegetables that I have in the refrigerator into a large Tupperware container. Then in small bags or containers, I put a serving of cheese (3 points), almond slices (3 points), and low-fat dressing (2 points). Usually my salad is about 8 points and it is rather filling. If I have any left-over meat, especially chicken, I will also throw that in the salad as well taking the point value up to 11 points. With the extra added protein though, I find that I am full for a longer period of time. I have taken to making this type of salad at least once a day, which easily helps me to get in at least two to three servings of vegetables in one sitting.
This is my salad bowl with a spinach salad prepped and ready to go. Normally I would have more in it, but since I wasn’t that hungry the bowl is only about half full.
Over the weekend I finally found time to try making a new dish that I was very curious about: poached salmon. I love salmon and since it is in season right now, it is a perfect fish to eat. I have my old stand by recipes, but I get bored of them and I felt that this was the time to try something new. This is a recipe from one of my Weight Watcher’s cook books that I have modified to my liking. I have included a picture, ingredients, and the recipe below. After trying the dish, it is definitely one that I will add to my ever growing list of recipes.
Ingredients
2 cups chicken broth (I used low sodium, 99% fat free)
½ cup white wine
½ cucumber, peeled and sliced
2 tablespoons fresh dill
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons lemon zest
1 cup precooked white or brown rice
1 pound of salmon, deskinned and cut into four pieces
- Boil the broth and wine and then add in the cucumber and lemon zest. Once it boils for about two minutes, making the cucumber soft, and then put in the dill, pepper, and rice. Stir together and bring back to a boil.
- Add the salmon to the mixture and cover, cooking for 4 to 6 minutes, until center is opaque.
This provides for 4 servings with ¾ cup of rice mixture and one filet of fish. On the Weight Watcher’s point scale this is an 8 point meal. When plating it, I put the main dish on one half of my plate and filled the rest of my plate with a salad, making sure that I got enough volume with only two added points for dressing. A 10 point meal that is filling, tastes good, and is easy to make is one that I will definitely return to again and again.
With my weight gain this week, I am reminded of a quote that I continuously hear from my leader, “Don’t be willing to give up what you really want, for what you only want right now.” I have to remember to stay on the correct path, exercise more, and remember what is more important to me in the long run.
