Blackened Tilapia

This is a quick and super easy weeknight dinner.  It is also delicious!  This is a regular in our dinner rotation.

Ingredients:
6 - 8 oz tilapia fillets (we make one per person)
1 tbsp butter or margarine, melted
Blackening seasoning (Zataran's or Old Bay are both great!)

Directions:
- Brush the the tilapia with melted butter
- Shake the blackening season on top of the fish
- Flip the fish over and butter and season the other side
- Cook on a very hot skillet for 5 minutes on each side, until blackened to your liking.  (We cook this on our burner on the grill outside.  If you can't do this you will definitely want to open a window/back door in the kitchen.  It can get a little smoky and with the spices, you might end up in a coughing fit.)

I served this with buttered white rice and steamed soy beans.  It was great and was ready in about 20 minutes....a weeknight meal success in my book!  We normally like to give Colin the same meal we are eating but made an exception, as spicy fish is not top baby food....so he had fish sticks, some leftover veggie macaroni, and steamed soybeans.  He was a happy camper...here is a pic of his plate from dinner.

Colin had his 15 month checkup today and he was such a trooper we took him to Sonic after dinner for a special treat.  Luke got a picture of the candy sundae.

And here is little man on the way home...let's just say he was not happy when we took away his ice cream and put him in the car.  Yes, that is ice cream on his forehead...we let him really enjoy it!  He fed himself so he probably really only got a few real bites, which is a-ok with me.

This week

This week has been a very light cooking week.  We have been super busy with life, so here is the quick run down, no recipes needed.


Monday night, my mom was nice enough to give us leftovers and we ate them up, on the couch.  It was that kind of a day.  They were absolutely scrumptious though - grilled chicken sandwiches on fuddrucker's buns w/bacon and cheese, hashbrown casserole, baked beans, and cherry pastry dessert.  Yum!

Tuesday we had leftover chicken pot pie, sorry, no pictures.  We got a big pan of it from church last month and couldn't finish all of it.  I froze it in individual size portions and that is what the 3 of us had for dinner.  Super easy, fast, and delicious!


Wednesday we had veggie stir fry with white rice - that's right, it was a meatless dinner.  I am good with an all veggie meal at least once a week.  Luke has to be bribed, but he enjoyed it too.  There is no recipe really - I used 2 bags frozen stir-fry veggies (no sauce) and heated them in the wok with a little bit of olive oil.  When they were ready I added about 1/3 cup of teriyaki sauce and served the veggies with some white rice.  It was light and delicious - perfect for eating on the patio.

Tonight we were really bad and stopped at Dairy Queen on the way home.  Neither of us had been there in forever but it was pretty tasty and the best part, there were no dishes to clean up!  Colin of course loved the ice cream and threw an insane fit (I have got trouble ahead!) when we threw it away.  The back was arching, tears were streaming...he was not a happy camper. Here is a pic of Luke putting him in the car....just because.

Roasted New Potatoes

These are a super easy side dish but they do take some time to bake. This was the first time I have made these but will probably only save them for the weekends when we have more time.  


Ingredients:
- 1 bag small new potatoes (mine were golf ball size or smaller)
- 1/3 cup olive oil
- 1/3 cup white wine
- kosher salt
- ground black pepper


Directions:
- Rinse and quarter the potatoes.
- Put them on a cookie sheet with a lip and drizzle olive oil and white wine on top.
- Generously sprinkle kosher salt and ground black pepper on top.
- Use tongs to toss around to make sure all potato pieces are covered.
- Cover with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes.
- Remove foil and bake for an additional 20 minutes.


Like I said, super simple and they will be gobbled up in minutes.  We didn't have any leftovers and there were only 3 of us eating!

Roasted Chicken

For starters, I do not like messing with raw chicken, ever.  Especially not a whole fryer of raw chicken....eew!  I wanted to use some of the goods from my new herb garden so I suffered through it.  Well, not really - Luke suffered because I am too grossed out to stuff the chicken, etc.  This is a super easy meal and pretty cheap when you consider how much it costs to buy a package of chicken breasts these days.  The added bonus is there is always meat left over to use in another meal.  Again I did not follow any particular recipe and according to my mother in law you can pretty much stuff whatever you want into the chicken and it will turn out good.  This chicken had a good flavor - it was light and springy.  It turned out delicious according to my husband and my brother; I liked it too.


Ingredients:
1 whole fryer chicken (4 - 5 lbs)
1 small onion, cut into quarters
2 lemons, collect 2 tsp lemon zest then cut both into quarters
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves removed and finely chopped
1 spring fresh rosemary, left whole on the stem (to put inside the chicken cavity)
6 lemon balm leaves, finely chopped 
Salt, Pepper, Olive Oil


Directions:
- Make sure to rinse your whole chicken before you do anything else.  In most cases they have the neck and other gross stuff stuffed inside the cavity of the chicken.  Just rinse and turn it upside down and this will fall out.
-Use a grater/zester/microplane (whatever you have) to get about a couple of teaspoons of lemon zest.  Put this in a separate bowl.
-Quarter the onion and 2 lemons and "stuff" the chicken cavity along with one sprig of rosemary.
- Generously salt and pepper the outside of the entire bird.  Then follow with some garlic.
- Use a flavor injector to put some butter under the skin of the bird.  Use as much or as little as you want.  If you don't have a flavor injector but still want to do this you can make tiny slits in the skin and shove a pat of butter underneath.
- Combine the lemon zest, finely chopped rosemary,  finely chopped lemon balm and olive oil.  Use a pastry brush/bbq baster to spread over the outside of the chicken.
-Bake at 375 for 1.5 hours or until your meat thermometer reads 180 degrees.
Note: I did not measure the olive oil, just kept adding until I had enough to cover the outside of the chicken.  This will make the skin nice and crispy with your herbs - yummo!

Guilt Free Berry Smoothie

For some reason this morning I wanted to make a smoothie.  I could not get it out of my head so I started looking through the fridge and I actually had all the necessary ingredients.  It was pretty tasty - not as good as Jamba Juice, but there were also not 1000 calories in the smoothie either. Guess it is a bit of a trade off.  You can use whatever fruit you have on hand and I suppose if you don't have any yogurt you could use ice and milk instead and it would be just as yummy. Anyhow, I didn't follow a recipe, just threw stuff in the blender and wrote it down as I went.

Ingredients:
1 kiwi (peeled and cut into chunks)
12 blackberries
6 strawberries (stems removed)
1/2 banana (because Colin ate the other half)
1.5 cups plain yogurt
Honey to taste


Directions:
Throw all ingredients into the blender and push the button.


It is pretty easy and it tasted good.  I added a little bit of ice to try and thicken it up - using frozen fruit instead of fresh would be good with this to give it a thicker consistency.  Also, make sure and use the honey otherwise it's a little too tart or something.  The honey seems to balance it out.  This recipe made enough for a big glass for me and Luke and we had some leftover for Colin.  This would also be a good recipe for homemade smoothie popsicles....yum!

No dinner last night.

Luke and I went to Freebird's for lunch yesterday and we stuffed our faces so much we were not hungry for dinner, especially not a big ole steak.  So the thawed steak went into the refrigerator and will be dinner tonight instead.  Colin had his favorite turkey dogs and fruit.  It's not very often that we aren't hungry for dinner, so that should tell you how much we stuffed our faces at lunch.  We'll get back on the cooking wagon tonight and I will make sure to post Luke's yummy steak!  :)

The Plan Failed....

So last night we were supposed to have Spinach Lasagna Rolls.  This is a new recipe I have been so excited to try and wouldn't you know I forgot to set out the frozen spinach yesterday.  By the time we got home there was not enough time to let it thaw/drain so instead we rummaged in the pantry/refrigerator.  Luke had leftover chicken enchilada casserole and Colin and I had grilled cheese w/some leftover spaghettio's.  It was actually pretty  nice b/c it took all of 5 minutes to get everything together before we were eating on the patio.  I am also proud of us because in the past we would have just stopped and picked up Pei Wei or some other fast food.  I did actually remember to set the steak out this morning....so looks like we will be back on 'plan' tonight for dinner!  Now I am hungry, again...is it lunch time yet?

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

Chicken Enchilada Casserole

I got this recipe from my sister in law a couple of years ago and we have been eating on a regular basis ever since.  It is super easy, especially when you already have the chicken cooked and shredded and waiting for you in your fridge or freezer, not to mention so yummy.  I normally make a 9x13 pan and we eat on the leftovers for lunch during the week.  This is a cheap, easy weeknight meal that freezes well too.  Enough jabber, here is a picture and the recipe:

It doesn't really photograph well but I think you can get the idea of the cheesey, ooey goodness from this one. 

Ingredients:

-2 -3 chicken breasts, cooked and shredded

- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

-1 can green enchilada sauce

- 2 cups shredded cheese (any kind of cheese is good in my opinion but I normally use monterrey jack)

-cumin (to taste)

-cayenne pepper (to taste)

-corn tortillas, torn into 4 pieces ( I probably used 12 - 15 tortillas )

Directions:

-          Layer the bottom of your 9x13 pan with torn corn tortillas.  For the bottom layer I try to cover as much as possible.

-          Spread a layer of shredded chicken on top of the tortillas

-          Spoon black beans, then enchilada sauce on top.

-          Sprinkle cumin and cayenne pepper over the dish

-          Add 1/3 of your cheese

-          Repeat the layers until you run out of ingredients or space.

-          Bake at 350 for 25 – 30 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.

*Chicken Note: This week I used leftover salsa chicken in the casserole.  You can cook the chicken however you like.  I normally cook it on the stove with a bottle of salsa but you can do whatever you like.  Grilled, boiled, baked…I like to add some salsa to give it some flavor and it’s the lazy girl’s way to do it!  It is definitely better to prep the chicken ahead of time otherwise this recipe becomes not so quick.  

Chicken, Pineapple, and Peppers w/Rice

So we ended up leaving work pretty late today and got home an hour and a half later than normal.  Once we got home I remembered we were out of propane so I could not use the grill for our meal.  Rather than take the time to drive to the nearest Walgreens (literally about 2 - 3 minutes away) I just decided to throw everything in the pan on the stove.  It was still pretty tasty but I almost always prefer the grill to stove top cooking.  Luke and I both cleaned our plates though, if that tells you anything.  :)  I don't really have a recipe, but here goes.

Ingredients:
- 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks
- 1 red belpepper, cut into chunks
- 1 small onion, cut into chunks
- 1 can pineapple chunks (in juice, not syrup)
- 1/3 cup teriyaki sauce
- 1 or 2 tbsp soy sauce
- Cooked white rice


Directions:
- Marinate the chunks of chicken breast in the 1/3 cup of teriyaki sauce.  I normally do this the night before but since I didn't prepare last night the chicken only marinated for about 20 minutes tonight.  
- While the chicken is marinating, splash a tbsp or two of soy sauce into a hot saucepan (you need a pretty big one) and toss in the belpepper and onion.  Simmer for a couple of minutes.
- Add the chicken to the pan and simmer on  medium high heat for about 20 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Add the pineapple chunks (some of the juice will inevitably still be in the can but that is ok) and stir.
-Put the lid on the pan and simmer on low heat for another 5 minutes or so.
- Serve with white rice

Like I said, I normally prefer this meal cooked on the grill on skewers because I like my veggies nice and crunchy.  This method of cooking it was almost like a stir fry but it was pretty tasty. We are all taking leftovers for lunch tomorrow too.  


Source: my original recipe (if you can call it that!)

Meal Plan for the Week

I am a planner, I can’t help it. If I try not to plan out the meals for the week I go crazy and what is even worse is that we rarely stick to the plan, but it makes me feel better to have one. I also use the weekly meal plan to make my grocery lists because as much as I love grocery shopping (I really do!), I don’t want to go more than once a week so I am a stickler about the grocery list. Anyhoo, here is our meal plan for this week. My plan (there I go again!) is to blog each night after dinner to keep up – let’s see if that happens.
Monday: Grilled Chicken, Pineapple & Peppers with Rice
Tuesday: Chicken Enchilada Casserole
Wednesday: Steak, Roasted Potatoes, Steamed Veggies
Thursday: Spinach Lasagna Rolls
Friday: Out for dinner!
Saturday: Roasted Chicken, Mashed Potatoes, Steamed Green Beans
Ok, now I am hungry. See you tonight, at least that is the plan!