Citrus-Soy Fish Fillet with Soba Noodles - 4 or 5 pts

Yay! Jaden over at Steamy Kitchen made a dinner with soba noodles and fish, and oh boy, it looks DELICIOUS (will be making it tonight!). I did a little research on types of fish to use, but I only like two types of fish: tuna and raw. So I looked through for tuna and found there's different types. If you can get skipjack or yellowfin this dish works out to 4 points a serving (16 oz of fish total, or 4 oz per serving), whereas using the fattier bluefin bumps it up to 5 points a serving. Either way you're getting a yummy dish for few points!

Citrus-Soy Fish Fillet with Soba Noodles



4 or 5 points per serving (1/4 batch) using skipjack or bluefin, respectively.
Skipjack: 194 calories, .7g fiber, 1.2g fat
Bluefin: 241 calories, .7g fiber, 5.6g fat

Miso Hungry Mushroom Soup - 2 pts

I spent last night with a friend who made me a fantastic mushroom soup. You're probably thinking of the reconstituted Campbell's variety that was so prevalent in mid-century cooking, but it's not that nasty stuff. Now in all fairness, I refuse to try it, so it could taste good, but the idea is a total turn-off. This recipe is just as easy, a hundred times fresher, and only 2 points for a huge bowl of the stuff. You won't regret this.

The proportions here aren't terribly important, just make it to taste. Does the pound of mushrooms seem a bit much? Use fewer. Don't like onion? Leave it out. You can easily add veggies to this, but the mushroom, garlic, onion and scallions are the "true" miso ingredients (at least according to the bowls I have at Americanized Asian restaurants). I suggested putting a dash of fish sauce in there for a bit of Asian authenticity, but sometimes I leave it out of recipes just because I don't want my pantry to smell like fermented fish for the next week, so I can imagine that would deter some people from putting it in there at all.


Allie's Miso Hungry Mushroom Soup
Adapted from watching Allie make it

1 lb mushrooms
2 cloves garlic
1 onion
1 tsp olive oil
8 c veggie, chicken or beef broth (bouillon works just fine)
1/4 - 1/2 c soy sauce (reduced sodium has fewer calories, but this isn't terribly caloric to begin with)
dash of fish sauce (if available and desired)
6 stalks scallions

Heat up the olive oil in a large pot (it has to hold about 2 quarts of broth alone, let that be a guide). Slice your mushrooms, press your garlic, and slice your onion into thin little rings and strings, then toss them in and sautee for a bit. Once the onion is starting to get translucent, add in your broth.

Now this part is important: first, give it a little taste. Next, add the soy sauce, one tablespoon at a time, until the proportions are to your liking (and the fish sauce too, if that's your thing). NOW you can bring the pot to a light boil. Keep an eye on it, and when your mushrooms are done, your soup is done.

Slice the scallions into those little scallion rings and sprinkle into the soup. Serve and enjoy!


2 points per 2.5 cup serving (1/4 batch): 128 calories, 4.5g fiber, .4g fat

Vietnamese Summer Rolls (Goi Cuon) - 2.5 pts each

These are a special treat for me when I can find them at restaurants. They're often listed as Summer Rolls, but the literal translation is "mix salad roll" (thanks, Wikipedia). Usually I hate the word "salad" unless preceded by "ham," "tuna," "potato," "pasta," or "bacon cheese and roast beef," but I make a special exceptions for the particularly delicious, and that includes these rolls.

The traditional recipe includes pork and peanuts, but they're equally yummy without the extra fat, I promise. Most recipes also include mint and cilantro, but I rarely see basil; I think the basil balances the flavor of the cilantro. I like to put my condiments directly in the wrapper, and they're not really the "appropriate" ones, but they're the ones I always have on hand, and they definitely work. The nice thing about this recipe is that you can throw whatever you want in there for veggies, so this is just a guideline.

Goi Cuon
Adapted from restaurants and stuff

16 sheets rice paper (banh trang)
8 oz rice noodles (banh hoi), cooked
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only
1 lb shrimp, steamed and cut in half lengthwise
1 bunch mint, leaves only
1 bunch basil, leaves only
1 cucumber, sliced into thin sticks, skin-on and seeds removed
1 cup shredded carrot (or use a potato peeler to make thin strands)
Hoison Sauce
Sriracha Sauce
1 head lettuce, cut into 1/2 inch strips (bib lettuce has more flavor, but any will do)
8 oz bean sprouts

Prep all your veggies according to the ingredient list, and create a little assembly line of your ingredients in the prep area because you're going to be moving fast. Lay a clean town down where you'll be rolling the uh, rolls. Now get ready to rock and roll [editor's note: I didn't realize this was a pun until after I was done writing the recipe, so, uh, pun unintended?]

There are a lot of *things* in each roll, so do a test run and try to include very small amounts of everything. Then you can adjust amounts so you know that everything will fit.

Fill a large bowl with warm, not hot, water. Lay a sheet of the rice paper in the bowl, make sure the whole thing gets wet, then place on your towel. The order of the insides doesn't matter much, but you can create a prettier arrangement by starting with four cilantro leaves in the middle of the paper. Behind that, arrange about 5-6 shrimp slices in a row, like they're spooning. Next 4 leaves mint, 2 large basil leaves, a pinch of cucumber sticks, a pinch of carrot shreds, a little squiggle each of sriracha and hoison, some lettuce, about 1/2 oz bean sprouts, then about 1/2 oz rice noodles.

Next, fold in the sides, then starting from the end nearest you, roll away from you. Set onto a plate with the seam of the wrapper down, just to make sure it doesn't spring open on ya. Cuz then it'd be a spring roll.

Repeat 16 times. Serve to your friends and impress the hell out of them.


2 points per roll (1/16 of batch): 119 calories, 1.8g fiber, .8g fat