Dinner: A Circus of Citrus

My dinner last night was inspired by citrus fruits. Sunday was about 42 degrees and Monday was 40 degrees. Considering the winter we've had, that felt like spring to me. Rather than making another hot, hearty meal, this little bit of warmth deserved a warm-weather inspired meal.

I used the above fruits to make a salad, broil fish, and squeeze onto dessert.

The meal-

Salad: baby spinach, sections of orange, sections of grapefruit, cucumbers, green and yellow peppers - drizzled with some balsamic vinegar and olive oil. (I also roasted some pecans to throw on top but forgot to add them - that would have been good though!)

Fish: trout broiled at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes, flipped halfway through. Spray pan with cooking spray and squeeze juice of half of lemon onto fish before cooking. Also add fresh ground pepper, garlic powder, and any other spices you feel like. I also sauteed some plum tomatoes and garlic to add on top of the fish when it was done.

Dessert: slices of mango covered in lime juice and sprinkled with cayenne pepper.

Here's the before and after shots of my fish:

I spayed a small skillet with cooking spray and sauteed a sliced plum tomato and one clove of garlic for a few minutes until hot and wilted.

As the fish broiled, I made the salad, sauteed the tomatoes, and sliced my mango.

This whole dinner came together in about 20 minutes, and the colors and taste almost tricked me into thinking winter was over. Almost.

The salad was light and refreshing.

The fish was nice and flaky, and the flavor combination of the lemon, tomato and garlic was delicious.

The mango with lime juice and cayenne pepper was very good - although I think I overestimated my tolerance for spice. Just this amount was very spicy - so next time I'll probably put about half as much as I used here. My brother went to college in New Mexico, and this is a popular treat there (although there they serve the entire mango on a stick and there's much more cayenne added!).

The "spring"-like weather did not last long. I woke up this morning to several inches of fresh snow covering my car. Temperatures are supposed to drop way down the rest of the week, so I guess spring isn't coming quite yet.

This morning I tried another variation of Overnight Oats - I'm calling it Apple Crisp A La Mode!

Last night I put the following in my big mug:

-1/3 cup oats

-1/2 cup water

-several large spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce

-1 tsp cinnamon

This morning I added a large scoop of 0% vanilla Greek yogurt, some more cinnamon, and some chopped walnuts. Delicious!