Spicy Peanut-Encrusted Catfish

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Fully intending to cook catfish for dinner last night, I'd set the frozen fillets on the counter to defrost as I left the house to do some grocery shopping. Life being what it sometimes is, I didn't get home until way after dark - not due to anything dire, just out in the "shopping zone" where one path can lead to another - and, needless to say, the fish didn't get cooked. Because even though we're both guilty of eating dinner as late as 10 PM, I couldn't bring myself to start cooking at 10:30 so back into the fridge they went.
At noon today, there they were, all defrosted and ready to go and I'm sure unable to withstand another day uncooked. Thinking outside the "catfish is for dinner" box, I cooked them up for a quick, protein-rich lunch, guided by organic, dry-roasted, salt-free peanuts and George Stella's Blackening Spice. Yum. So very good and it took just 15 minutes to make.
Spicy Peanut-encrusted Catfish
Ingredients:
3 catfish fillets
1 cup dry-roasted, salt-free peanuts, chopped fine
2 tablespoons blackening spice
2 tablespoons olive oil or peanut oil
2 eggs, lightly beaten
Preparation:
Pre-heat oven to 400-degrees and have a baking sheet ready.
Blot fillets with paper towels until thoroughly dry. Set aside.
With a chef's knife, chop the peanuts until they're in very fine pieces. You could use a small food processor but I like to chop such a small amount with my knife, avoiding the possibility of turning them into peanut butter.
Combine the chopped peanuts and the blackening spice and place on a flat plate.
Pour the beaten eggs into a wide bowl.
Heat a cast iron skillet to medium and add the oil. The oil should just shimmer in the pan, not smoke, or you could burn the peanuts (hmmm, how do I know that...?).
Dip a fillet into the eggs to coat, then into the peanut mixture, coating both sides and pressing lightly to make the peanut pieces adhere. Repeat with the remaining fillets.
Place in the hot skillet and, keeping them from crowding each other, saute for about 5 minutes on one side then flip and saute the other side for another 5 minutes.
Remove fillets to a baking sheet and place in a 400 degree oven to finish - about 5 minutes more.

The fish was warmly spicy with a delicious peanut crunch on the outside and meltingly tender and juicy on the inside. For a perfect low-carb meal, pair this with a tomato and cucumber salad for lunch and add a vegetable or two if you're making it for dinner.
And for good measure, because herbs are used in the blackening spice (even though they're dried and not summer fresh as they should be this time of year), this will be my entry for Kalyn's Weekend Herb Blogging #39. Do pay a visit to her blog for delicious, beautifully photographed, low carb recipes, gardening delights, blogging information and informative writing.

Losing Weight the Low Carb Way #4

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YAY! 135 pounds!

I don't believe I've ever had such a difficult time losing so little weight. But here I am, at 135 pounds - halfway to my goal of 128. Can I? Should I? Celebrate? Not in the eat-what-you-want-for-a-day manner that you might expect. Nooooo. We're leaving on a jet plane tomorrow. I do know when I'll be back again and, at most, it will be carrying the same poundage I'm carrying now and not one ounce more - and if there really is a weight-loss goddess with kindness in her heart, when I return I will have lost even a few more (ounces, pounds, I'm not picky.) No, I'm going to celebrate by getting a new pedicure, manicure and massage, during which I will be brought cups of steaming, aromatic green tea followed by a chilled glass of dry white wine with a large, lusciously red strawberry floating in it.

Beginning at 142 lbs
I started on this weight-loss journey by deciding to cook recipes from George Stella's book, "Eating Stella Style: Low Carb Recipes for Healthy Living". And I did, and I lost a few pounds but then got stuck until I realized that I needed to lower my consumption of fat. George loves his fat, and if that works for him I say, "You go!" Sadly, it does not work for me.

Then I decided that I had to leave George and his book for a while so I could tackle this thing on my own, promising George that I would be back, baby!

Then at 139

So how am I doing this?

V e r y

s l o w l y

b y

e a t i n g

l o w e r

c a r b,

l o w e r

g l y c e m i c,

l o w f a t

f o o d s,

s o m e t i m e s

f o r g e t t i n g,

t h e n

g i v i n g

a

b i g

s i g h

a n d

b e g i n n i n g

a g a i n.

It's the forgetting part that's the deal killer. These are hard-won pounds, people. Let's hear a standing ovation for all those people trying to lose weight, having set-backs, but somehow in the end persevering and MAKING IT.

I haven't made it yet, but half-way there is some incentive, huh?

Here are a few links so you can review my journey thus far while I'm gone:

Confessions
Losing Weight the Low Carb Way #1
Losing Weight the Low Carb Way #2
Losing Weight the Low Carb Way #3
Low Carb Sides
Blackened Chicken Breasts

See you in two svelt weeks, dahlings.