Fish, Anyone? (4 of 10)

Photo from realsimple.com

To say that I'm NOT an expert at frying food is a gross understatement.  I didn't grow up eating a lot of fried food (thankfully!) so I didn't learn how to properly prepare it, and just about anything I've tried to deep-fry in a skillet has turned out soggy and.... yucky.  Add to that the knowledge of how bad fried food can be for your health, and I'm generally just not interested. Buuuuuuuuut, I saw this recipe and decided to try it next for the food challenge.  (How bad could it really be?)

I assembled my ingredients... and psyched myself up... but when it came to the moment, I couldn't do it!  I just couldn't take our healthy food and throw it into all that FAT!

(~gasp~ Am I finally learning to respect my body?)

So there I was at dinner-preparation time standing in my kitchen, staring at this nice big pile of cleaned sole and it hit me (duh!) that I should oven-bake my fish sticks!

Image from tasteofhome.com

I was able to quickly find this Taste of Home recipe (may I just randomly mention that I really like Taste of Home's favicon?) and truly, they turned out very nice.  The meal didn't wow my socks off, but they weren't objectionable in any way. :)

When you look at the difference in nutrition, the choice is clear:

Fried Sticks: 1 Serving = Calories 552, Fat 27g, Sat Fat 6g, Cholesterol 193mg, Sodium 1,142mg

Baked Sticks: 1 serving = 278 calories, 4 g fat (1 g saturated fat), 129 mg cholesterol, 718 mg sodium

Wow.


The Husband's review: He liked them a lot, especially that they tasted "light and fresh" as opposed to frozen fish sticks.  He said he'd eat them often, too, but to his credit, he gladly eats anything I cook and doesn't care HOW often it's served! :)

Note: I usually prepare my coleslaw with mayo, a little white sugar and a splash of white or apple cider vinegar, but this time I tried the recipe included with the fried fish, and it turned out quite nice.  The mister wished for more salt on his, but overall it was liked.