Fragrant Fish Soup from EatingWell.com

Over the past 10 months or so I have dedicated a lot of time to working out, eating better, and just trying to be healthier in general. There are plenty of times when I fail to stay on track, though, and a lot of times it’s because it just seems like the most satisfying foods are those that are high in calories and fat and deliciousness. Sometimes when I feel stressed out, overwhelmed, ill, or just experiences a moment of weakness I turn to comfort foods and snacks.  Sound familiar? ;-)  I have also noticed that it’s just sooo easy to swing by a fast food joint on the way home or order pizza on the days when putting forth the effort for a home-cooked meal just does NOT seem feasible.

I find that I’m much more likely to stay on track and eat healthier meals throughout the work week when I plan ahead. Last week I discovered a website called EatingWell.com and found several recipes that sounded really yummy, so I printed them out and added the ingredients to my grocery list. EatingWell.com features recipes that are 500 calories or less when you include the main and side dishes. Jackpot!

The first recipe I wanted to try was the Fragrant Fish Soup – my husband and I had a late lunch and weren’t very hungry by dinnertime, and this soup sounded like it would be a nice, light dinner. I have to admit that while I was preparing the soup I wasn’t very excited for it because it seemed maybe too simple and bland. I was also worried that my husband wouldn’t like it because he can sometimes be a picky eater who also tends to prefer stealthier meals over refreshing, light meals like this one.

We both took our first bite of the soup and immediately fell in love with it! The lemon zested jasmine rice gave the soup a very refreshing and unique taste along with the flavorful broth. Tilapia has a hearty texture, and the great thing about it is that it doesn’t smell or taste very “fishy”. The soup has a very Asian-inspired flavor and, despite the few ingredients required to make it, it had such a burst of flavors.

This is probably the best soup I have ever eaten and definitely the easiest soup I have ever made!

Here’s what I did: I cooked the jasmine rice in one pot with the lid on; meanwhile I poured my store-bought broth and shredded carrots into another pot to boil. Once the broth boiled I added in my fillet of Tilapia and boiled it about 5 minutes until it was fully cooked and then removed it from the broth. After removing the Tilapia, I added in some chopped scallions (green onions) and some julienned arugula. Once the rice was done (about 20 minutes) I added the zest and juice from one lemon and gave it a good stir before spooning some rice into my bowl. Then I ladled the broth over the rice and placed a big chunk of fish on top. Viola! Bon appétit!

I strayed slightly from the cooking instructions found on the recipe (for example, I skipped the fresh mint and also added my greens into the boiling broth instead of using them to garnish at the end). I also cooked the carrots in the broth to soften them a little bit.

And the best part is that according to Eating Well.com one serving of this soup is only 239 calories! How perfect is that?!

So anyway, my moral of the story --- along with sharing a delicious recipe with you --- is that one of my favorite things to do is plan ahead and be prepared because it truly helps me stick to a healthier lifestyle. I’m pretty excited to have found this soup because it basically takes care of it all  - It’s DELICIOUS, EASY and FAST. No more excuses for me! :)

If you want to check out the recipe, you can click here!