June 10, 2008

Healthy Meal: Grilled Swordfish with Couscous and Salad

I haven’t posted a healthy meal in a very long time, mostly because I’m only home two or three days a month lately. The rest of my time is spent in various hotel rooms with no kitchenettes or other cooking methods. However, I am sick and tired of the weight I’m gaining from eating out all the time and asking for steamed veggies and getting them drenched in butter “because I’m not allergic.” So how am I able to cook this meal? With a little inspiration from WikiHow, I’ll show you.

First, a quick list of things I brought from home:
-Cutting board
-George Foreman (I have heard that the hardcore can just bring aluminum foil and then use the hotel iron, but this was my first attempt at hotel cooking so I played it safe)
-Knife (you will need to check a bag when flying in order to bring this, so if you can’t do so, just call down to room service and ask for a steak knife)

Directions:
1. Start by warming up your George Foreman.
2. Measure out 1/3 cup of couscous.

3. Get the ice bucket and tip it upside down to get the grate at the bottom to fall out. Rinse the ice bucket in the bathroom sink just in case it was dirty, then dry it thoroughly with a wash cloth. While you’re in the bathroom, get a cup of water for the coffee maker (the amount doesn’t matter; you’re going to measure later).

4. Pour the water into the coffee maker, make sure there is no filter in, and let her rip.
5. While that’s working, add some salt-free seasoning to your couscous.

6. Your Foreman should be heated up by now, so throw the fish on there and sprinkle on a little more of your seasoning. It’s all-purpose!

7. Now that you have enough hot water, measure out about 1/2 cup of it and put it into a coffee cup with the couscous/spices. Stir it up, put the lid on and just let it sit.

8. Start chopping up your veggies for salad. Begin with the romaine, adding it to the ice bucket as you go. Then add some tomatoes, cucumbers, and green peppers.

9. At some point in there your fish will be done, so take it off the Foreman and put it in the takeout container you saved from lunch. Put the lid on so it keeps the heat in and gets all steamy.

10. Once you’ve finished chopping your veggies, add 1.5 tbsp fat-free cranberry balsamic vinaigrette. (That’s about 7 little plastic teaspooons).


11. Dump the couscous out of the coffee cup and into your takeout container with the fish. If you want a little more flavor (I did after I took the picture), you can add 1/2 tbsp (2 little plastic teaspoons) of the vinaigrette to the couscous as well.

Enjoy!

Nutritional stats:
325 calories for the swordfish (because I didn’t want to waste it and there was nowhere to put the extra so I ate a huge 1/2 pound portion)
220 calories for the couscous
104 calories for the salad and dressing

Review: 3/5
Not bad for my first attempt at hotel cooking, but it was kind of bland (though adding more of the dressing did help). But let’s be honest – it wasn’t even really cooking, as all I did was heat stuff up and put one spice and one (pre-made) dressing on. However, I’m just proud that I’ve figured out how to cook in a hotel! Next time I’m going to attempt grilling on the hotel iron (see WikiHow for details) and you can really call me the cooking MacGyver.

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14 thoughts on “Healthy Meal: Grilled Swordfish with Couscous and Salad”

  1. You should get an electric steamer like this to steam veg and poach fish/chicken. Foreman seems to dry stuff out quite a bit, nothing beats a nice poaching.

    Plus I was reading an article on the carcinogens that accumulate on meat done on non-stick surfaces like the foreman… spooky stuff.

    It takes up a bit of room in the luggage, but offers a more diverse/healthy way to cook.

  2. This is awesome! I love swordfish and couscous. In regards to non-stick pans and carcinogens it should be fine as long as the surface is not peeling (then you need to throw it away…same with non-stick pans.) Another thing that helps is marinade/oil to keep the meat from sticking to the grill.

    Your last remark about grilling reminds of in uni when a guy offered me a massive Coke & Rum and grilled cheese sandwich (yes, weird I know) if I would iron his shirt. This was because he supposedly didn’t know how to iron and a bunch of us were going to an upscale bar. So I obliged and he then proceeded to make the grilled cheese on my iron.

  3. Hey girl! Great to hear from you! Hadn’t read ur blog for a while – so I ‘m so glad u commented on mine to kick my ass into gear! 🙂

    Oh and as far as cheating on the online calorie tracker – who HASN’T been there??? It sucks. I did it, right when I had tasted success – and then I put the weight back on. I was REALLY disheartened, but I’m getting right back on the horse. I gotta do this thing!

    You know what I found helped too? My boyf looks over my shoulder occasionally and reads my entries. It’s not much, he’s usually just interested in how many calories things have in, or how many I have left for the day. But I find it kinda keeps me honest, coz I feel like he’ll know if I dont list everything…

    And we all wanna be perfect infront of our boys!!! LOL (*keep dreamin’ Anjel!*)

    I know he probably doesn’t even read/care what I type in, but it makes me feel like someone else cares about what I eat too.

    Maybs it could work 4 u? Keep workin on it, girl – never say die! Healthy eating is for life – not just for a “diet”. If you stuff up, dust yourself off and just do the best you can at the next meal. And the next. It’s all we can do.

  4. Are you crazy?! Seriously. Are you? I’ve never in my life heard of anyone packing a Foreman grill to take on a business trip, or a vacation for that matter. Unless you consider Michael Scott. I be he does it all the time. He loves his bacon in the morning.

    But again, this is coming from a guy who hardly ever has to travel and makes a pack of instant oatmeal at the office every morning. I freaked out on the office manager guy who said they may pull the machine that dispenses hot water. What, do they expect me to heat my own water somehow? Fools.

  5. Chia: my mom has a steamer at her house, so I’ll give it a try when I’m there and if I like it, maybe get one myself. But I do love my Foreman 🙂

    Anjel: I never “cheat” in terms of not entering foods. I blithely enter everything I eat. Unfortunately, there are a lot of days where my total calories are sky high, and somehow, seeing those numbers just doesn’t bother me like it once did. I need someone to read it and be like “ew you ate HOW many calories?”

    Topher: You did NOT just compare me to Michael. It is ON!

  6. Very nice blog! Innovative and refreshing! A veriutable smorgasbord of choices and topics! Thanks for sharing and being so innovative!

    I’ll be back!

    Oh yeah! Thanks for linking to my humble blog!

  7. Topher and Razz: according to the timestamps on the photos, it took me 20:52 from start to finish to make the meal. And that includes taking the pictures AND writing about half the post. Not bad at all!

  8. Oh yea, I just remembered. As if comparing you to Michael Scott weren’t enough, when I saw the picture of the cut cucumbers it totally reminded me of the Seinfeld episode where Kramer tried saving time by installing a garbage disposal in his shower drain and proceeded to prepare his meals in the shower, followed by doing his dishes in there, too. I’m just sayin’…

  9. That sounds delicious! I had a swordfish kebab a couple weeks ago and I’ve been kind of craving it once in a while. Too bad I don’t trust myself to prepare it!

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