(When I originally wrote this post, I live blogged it and updated it on Twitter as I went along.)
For dinner tonight I'm using one of the recipes in this cookbook. I'll be updating it on Twitter, so you can follow along there if you'd like to. And I'll update photos in this post as I go along, so keep checking back.
Or, if you'd like to cook along (if you haven't planned your evening meal yet), here's the recipe for you:
Sweet and Tangy Scallops
from Weight Watchers in 20 Minutes
Serves 4
2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground ginger
Pinch crushed red pepper
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 cup reduced-sodium vegetable broth
1/4 cup dark raisins
1 T lime juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 pound sea scallops (about 24)
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, ginger, and crushed red pepper. Cook, stirring until the onion is softened, about 3 minutes. Add the bell pepper and cook, stirring occasionally, until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add the broth, raisins, lime juice, and salt; bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer about 5 minutes.
2. Add the scallops to the skillet and simmer, covered, until just opaque in the center, about 5 minutes. Stir in the cilantro.
Per serving (about 6 scallops and 1/2 cup broth with vegetables); 136 Cal, 3 g Fat, 0 g Sat Fat, 0 g Trans Fat, 32 mg Chol, 580 mg Sod, 13 g Carb, 1 g Fib, 14 g Prot, 98 mg Calc. Points value: 3.
~~~
Okay, preparations to begin in oh, ten minutes or so. Right now, it's quality after-work time with Bill...
Okay, fun's over. Bill's playing War with Julia ("I don't want to play "Go Fish, Daddy, I want to play WAR!") and it's time for me to get going on dinner.
Here are the assembled ingredients, prior to my measuring and chopping:
And now, the gallery of prepped ingredients...
The olive oil,
Red pepper, onion, and garlic,
The ground ginger,
The crushed red pepper,
Vegetable broth (sorry, I don't think it's low sodium) -
Dark raisins,
Am I supposed to be hitting "save" after each photo is added? I'm new to this Live-Blogging business...
Okay, hitting "save" now...
Next up, the lime juice,
Salt,
The chopped cilantro,
Oh, yeah, and the scallops.
Okay, I've also got some couscous made and keeping warm, so I think it's time to cook up these scallops. It shouldn't take long at all.
First task - Heat the oil in a large, non-stick skillet. Well, I fail here, because I don't HAVE a large NONSTICK skillet. Just the sticky kind. But I think I can manage.
After the oil is hot, I add in the onion, garlic, ginger and crushed red pepper. I'll be back.
Three minutes later...
The onion is softened. Time to add the chopped red bell pepper.
When the pepper is "crisp-tender" it's time to add the broth, lime juice, raisins, and salt.
Here's the "crisp-tender" peppers -
And then I added the other ingredients...
Now I'm waiting for it all to come to a boil.
Meanwhile, Julia got whacked in the face "on accident" with a toy Alex was playing with, and while I tended her with ice and sympathy, Softie chose my momentary distraction to jump up onto the counter where the scallops were. Fortunately I was able to leap across the kitchen, grab the cat and throw her to the ground before anything bad happened.
Phew!
(Isn't this EXCITING???)
Here's the mixture as it starts to boil...
And after it all has simmered for five minutes.
Yay! Time to add the scallops -
And simmer, covered, til just opaque in the center, about 5 minutes.
Julia's setting the table while the scallops simmer. Sometimes she's such a big help.
Julia is now singing a song that she's making up as she goes along, and Bill is singing backup.
By the way, the scallops are taking a bit longer than five minutes. More like seven. They're BIG scallops.
And here they are - nicely cooked but not over done.
Add in the cilantro, and you're ready to go.
Time to eat!
(This man thinks I'm nuts, by the way.)
But he'll revise that opinion once he eats dinner.
I'll be back later with opinions.
~~~
Okay, time for feedback.
Bill loved it. Pure and simple.
The kids? Well, while I was uploading pictures, and the kids and Bill were digging in, I could hear Julia saying "EEEW!" She'd expressed a similar sentiment when we bought the scallops at Whole Foods earlier today ("I HATE scallops!") but when I asked her "Since when?" she couldn't come up with an answer.
Turned out, she liked the scallop dish and ate most of hers.
(She's saying "yes" in the above picture, not hissing at the camera.)
And my little boy? Well, despite his love of seafood, he came to the conclusion that he still doesn't like scallops.
He did try them, however, which is all we ask. I made him a sandwich of leftover taco meat from last night and he was happy.
And me?
I enjoyed the dish. It was quick to prep, quick to cook, and tasted just fine. There was some sweetness from the raisins, which plumped nicely in the broth, but as for "Tangy" - well, I'd have made a few changes. I might have upped the red pepper (OH - and I just realized I used ground instead of the crushed that was called for. Sorry!) and maybe used some fresh ginger instead of the powder. But that's just me. My opinion aside, it's a nice, simple, healthy and satisfying dish.
I served it with some couscous and a salad. Very good-for-you. I feel rather virtuous. I'll probably spoil that virtuous feeling later somehow, but for now, I feel all sorts of healthy.
And rather jazzed and tired at the same time. Posting, chopping, prepping, cooking, photographing, uploading, and posting like that - it was pretty intense (for what it is). Fun, but not something I'd do every night. But every now and then? Definitely!
Anyway, if you like the sound of this meal, and want to enter the giveaway, head over here to enter!
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