A recipe and a Love affair...Oh my

Last night I made a dinner that I shall share with those in the world who read my blog, I did not plan this dinner but I am glad that I made it because I do believe that I have a new favorite meal. I cooked Tilapia with summer squash, zucchini and peppers over rice with a small garden salad on the side and my guesstimating on seasonings and cook times was spot on this time around so into the bag of tricks this recipe goes. The best part about this meal is the price and the fact that all of the veggies were fresh from the garden! 2 small summer squash, the very large zucchini and the peppers were a mere hour old fresh picked so the flavor was fantastic! (did I just use the word fantastic?) seasoned with fresh crushed garlic, black pepper and sauteed in a very light splash of olive oil they came out great. The fish was lightly seasoned and I cooked it in a pan with barely enough olive oil to keep them from sticking or burning and there was no fish left after dinner because it was perfect if I do say so myself, Have a look at this delightful meal, I snapped some pictures for the blog.

Seasoned Tilapia fillets right before they went into the pan.

The finished product, all for 475 calories.

I hear people say "it cost too much to eat healthy" or "you have to eat bland food and small portions to lose weight" and to both of those statements I say Awe Horse pucky! (one of my grandfathers favorite sayings) I estimate that this meal cost between $8 and $10 to feed a family of four AND a small piece of fish that went to Wifys step dad, so if $8 to $10 is expensive well then yes it is expensive to eat good food while losing weight! bland and small portions? if 3/4 cup of rice, 6oz of sauteed veggies and a 4oz piece of fish is small then I suppose those people are correct and I won't even touch bland because that was one of the tastiest meals that I have had in a while. A total of 475 calories (including the olive oil) for that entire plate of goodness is awesome too! so a 475 calorie meal that taste great, is good for you and is economical? how could I complain? indeed I am in love with this flavor combo and am going out this afternoon to grab a few more Tilapia fillets.

Here is a look at my menu from yesterday, I had a green salad with that meal that did not make the photo and 2 more oz of the fish so a total of 6oz.

Breakfast
7:30 AM
2 cups honey comb cereal 220
1 cup 1% milk 110

Lunch
12:45 PM
3.5oz ground turkey 140
1 flax & oat pita bread 60

1:30 PM
1 banana 105

2:30 PM
2 dannon light and fit yogurts 160

Dinner
6:45 PM
6oz tilapia 200
3/4 cup white rice 150
6oz sauteed zucchini & summer squash 75
1 T light olive oil vinaigrette dressing 30
small green salad 35
olive oil 50

8:45 AM
8oz 1% milk 110
1 scoop whey protein powder 130

Grand total of 1575 calories for the day and that whey protein shake at 8:45 was only because I didn't want to end the day with my calories that low. For exercise I went out on a bike ride, per usual I hammered the entire ride and noticed something on my bike computer, I am going the same distance in less time which means that I either need to find a more challenging section to ride (not likely as where I ride is extremely hilly) or add distance. Adding distance is the route that I will go because I am not going to slow my pace down and finding bigger hills to ride though is possible (there is a killer that I had to stop while riding up it last week) I don't think that its a better idea than adding distance right now so distance it is, I need to keep pushing myself to go further faster and as my ability grows the plan is to make my waistline shrink.

Tomorrow is weigh in day and I am hoping to break that 333 mark once again but that remains to be seen and if I don't make it this week there is always next week, and with that I leave you with a quote today which will be my philosophy for riding my bike from here on out.

"It doesn't get easier, you just go faster"
~Greg Lemond~

As Ever
Me