Week 1: Seafood Galore – “The Reality”

Nothing in the world is worth having or doing unless it means effort, pain, difficulty.  I have never in my life envied a human being who led an easy life.  I have envied a great many people who led difficult lives and led them well. – Theodore Roosevelt

Whew – I forgot how much time and effort it takes to meal prep, but with it all said and done I am very happy with what I have made!

I ended up making 4 servings of garlic-lemon scallops with califlower mash (total calories at 383 – under my 400 calories a meal goal) and 3 servings of Barramundi Fish Tacos w/ fresh pico de gallo and roasted broccoli (total calories at 392).

Scallops (Inspiration recipe: Easy Garlic-Lemon Scallops):

• MJ’s Recipe with modifications
  • 1/4 cup Earth Balance Butter (dairy-free and I use the soy free version as well)
  • 4 tablespoon minced garlic
  • 1.5 pounds (24oz) sea scallops
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon pepper
  • 3 tablespoon lemon juice

1. Melt Earth Balance butter into a large skillet over medium to medium-high heat.  Stir in the garlic and cook for a few seconds until fragrant.  Add scallops and cook for several minutes (roughly 3) on one side, then turn them over and continue cooking until firm and opaque.
2. Remove scallops and whisk salt, pepper and lemon juice into butter.  Pour on scallops. Note – I didnt pour all of it onto my scallops to try and save a few calories, but the nutritional information below includes if you pour all of it over the scallops.
3. Ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Cauliflower mash (MJ Original) :

• MJ’s Recipe
  • 2 head califlower
  • 2 tbsp Earth Balance Butter
  • salt and pepper to taste

1. Cut the califlower into florets and steam until it is easy to puncture with a fork.
   • There are several ways to steams califlower
     • Microwave – in a microwave bowl, put roughly 2in of water in the bottom and fill with the califlower florets.  Place the bowl in the microwave and cook for 5 minutes.  Put in for an additional minute if they are not easy tp puncture with a fork.  Note – at about 2min I always check to make sure that there is still water in the bowl, this is what creates the steam.
     • Veggie Steamer – I actually have a free standing veggies steamer that I got for christmas a few years ago that I love but it takes about 30-35min to steam 2 heads of califlower in it, so I normally opt out of this.
     • Stovetop – I have never steamed veggies on a stove top, but I know that it can be done 🙂
2. Once califlower is cooked, place in either a blender or food processor with the earth balance butter.  Blend until smooth.
3. Add salt and pepper to taste.  Blend for an additional 10 seconds to mix the seasoning in.
4. Ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

For the fish tacos, typically I like to use tilapia but I am going to try barramundi.  Homemade pico de gallo, fresh lime juice, and avocado is a must with fish tacos too! There were no good avocados at the store though, so I had to opt out this week!  I was planning on making black beans to go with this, but I changed my mind — I will post my recipe on a future blog though because it is DELICIOUS!

Spicy Barramundi Fish Tacos (Inspiration recipe: Barramundi Fish Tacos):

• MJ’s Recipe with modifications
  • 3 (4oz each) barramundi skinless filets
  • 2 tbsp chile powder
  • 1/2 tsp cumen
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp black pepper
  • 1 medium red onion, diced
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 jalapeño peppers, sliced
  • 2 tbsp olive oil

1. Combine chile powder, cumin, salt, and pepper in a large bowl or ziplock bag.  Place the barramundi filets in the bag and coat with the seasonings.
2. Place 1 tbsp of the olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat.  Add the onion and jalapeño peppers to the skillet.   Sear the veggies for about 4min until the onions are softened.  Remove from skillet and set aside.
3. Add the other tbsp of olive oil to the plan and place the seasoned barramundi filets into the skillet.  Cook for 2 minutes.
4. Flip the fish over carfully to not break the filets apart.  Cook for an additional minute.
5. Add the cooked onions and jalapeño’s  to the fish and gently mix and remove from heat.
6. Ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

Pico de Gallo (Inspiration recipe: Pico de Gallo):

• MJ’s Recipe with modifications
  • 6 roma tomatoes, deseeded (yes, I googled a video to make sure I did this correctly)
  • 1 red onion, diced
  • 3 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro
  • 2 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
  • 1/2 lime, juiced
  • 1/2 tbsp minced garlic

1. Combine all above ingredients into a bowl and stir.  Place in refrigerator for at least 3 hours for the flavors to blend together.
2. Ready to serve. I ate that WHOLE bowl in under 4 days — its DELICIOUS with scrambled eggs too!

Nutritional Information:

Roasted Broccoli (MJ Original):

• MJ’s Recipe with modifications
  • 1 head broccoli
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut the broccoli into florets and place in a ziplock bag (or large bowl) and mix with the olive oil, salt and pepper.
3. Pour the florets onto a baking sheet and cook in the oven for 15min – checking and flipping them with a spatula half-way through.
4. Once they are cooked, remove from oven.
5. Ready to serve.

Nutritional Information:

There you have it – 2 healthy meals…under 400 calories each (per my calculations in MyFitnessPal).  Hope you enjoy them as much as I do!  I would love to hear from you – feel free to comment below!