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What’s For Dinner? Try This Baked Sole

Merri Lou Dobler Correspondent

We all know those three magic words, “I love you.” But around 6 p.m., the three magic words become: “What’s for dinner?”

We should all just admit it. Lots of us are in denial over cooking dinner. We put off thinking about it until late in the day and then we whimper that we don’t have anything to eat. It would be so much easier if we got up in the morning, faced ourselves in the mirror and said out loud: “I’m going to plan dinner today.”

Of course, I’m not any better than you are in this matter. With family and work and after-school activities, our days are full. But it’s precisely on those busy days that a little meditation on dinner will ease the stress.

One evening I posed the question “what’s for dinner?” to parents waiting to pick up their kids at a gymnastics class.

Responses fell into three categories: those who had it all planned out, those settling for fast food, and those who still didn’t have a clue (remember, it’s now 7 p.m. Monday evening).

A mother of three, whose husband was out of town, said she was having leftovers from the Mustard Seed (lucky her!). An organized woman had stew in her crockpot. A defrosted pan of lasagna awaited a mother of four from Mead.

A third woman had eaten chili at Wendy’s, which she said was healthy since it had the emblem of The Heart Institute’s Lite ‘n Hearty program.

“We’re going home and have steak sandwiches with french fries,” another woman said confidently.

“I wish I knew,” said a kindly grandmother.”We might go out to KFC.”

“I don’t know, whatever my husband makes,” said one young woman, who happens to be a newlywed. She laughingly added that it might even be a bowl of cereal.

Well, here’s a little push to get you deciding ahead of time what to eat. And us? We’re having baked sole.

Baked Sole

Adapted from “Company’s Coming, Cooking For Two,” by Jean Pare (Company’s Coming Publishing, 1997).

4 sole fillets, about 6 ounces each

6 fresh medium mushrooms, sliced

3 tablespoons nonfat sour cream

3 tablespoons nonfat mayonnaise

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Lay fish side by side in baking pan. Scatter mushroom slices over top. Mix sour cream, salad dressing, lemon juice and onion powder in small bowl. Spread over mushrooms. Bake uncovered for 15 minutes until fish flakes with fork.

Yield: 4 servings.

Nutrition information per serving: 143 calories, 1 gram fat (6 percent fat calories), 26 grams protein, 6 grams carbohydrate, 2 milligrams cholesterol, 254 sodium.

, DataTimes MEMO: The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen

The goal of Five and Fifteen is to find recipes where you can do the shopping in five minutes and the cooking in 15. Merri Lou Dobler, a registered dietitian and Spokane resident, welcomes ideas from readers. Write to Five and Fifteen, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210.

The following fields overflowed: SUPCAT = COLUMN, RECIPE - Five and Fifteen