I’ve been trying to add more fish to my family’s diet.
Actually about the only fish we ever ate was fish sticks. Raised on mid-western meat and potatoes, fish just wasn’t something that came to mind when I thought about making dinner. But there are a lot of health benefits to eating fish, so I decided we needed to eat more of it.
I’ve been on the hunt for some good fish recipes, and so far I’ve found one that we really like. This Broiled Tilapia Parmesan at All Recipes.
Parmesan, herbs and a touch of mayo make it tasty, and Tilapia has a very mild flavor.
The best thing about this recipe is that I can make it in 20 minutes. Ten minutes to prepare, 10 minutes in the oven and dinner is ready. This is my new go-to meal when I need to get dinner ready fast. I’ve started keeping the ingredients on hand so I can make it at the last minute.
I could use more than one good fish recipe though. My family will probably get tired of this eventually. So do you have any yummy fish dishes to share?
I do love to cook, but when I was pregnant with Wade I stopped doing any that wasn’t absolutely necessary. I was tired, and a lot of the time too nauseous to think about food. Then when he was a newborn, it was still too tired. Now that he’s four months old, I feel like getting back in the kitchen.
I’ve been trying to add some healthier meals to the dinner menu. Friday I made Open-Faced Turkey Apple Sandwiches with Havarti from my Cooking Light recipe book.
The recipe calls for slices of country or peasant bread. I wanted to bake some bread for a few weeks, so I decided to make my own. I used the Rustic White Bread recipe, also from the Cooking Light book. I ended up with this beautiful little loaf.
The recipe for the bread is available online here.
And here is my Open-Faced Turkey Apple Sandwich on the fresh-baked bread.
O.K. so the potato chips? Not so healthy. I just added those for effect when I took the photo. (How sad is it that I’m “styling” my food before I take pictures now? I have to stop reading food blogs.) The recipe for the sandwich is also online. So don’t bother buying the cookbook. I think the entire thing is at myrecipes.com. (I actually won my copy. On a food blog.)
The sandwiches were supposed to have kale on them. I forgot to buy it, so I used lettuce. And I probably put way more cheese on them then you are supposed to. I live by the motto, “You can never have too much cheese.” That probably added a bunch of fat and calories, and made them completely fattening. But, they were delicious.
There was bread left over, and one problem with homemade bread is that it doesn’t keep long since it’s free of preservatives. I wanted to use it up quickly. Since it’s a pretty dense bread, it’s perfect for french toast. That’s what we had for breakfast the next day.
If the cheese the night before didn’t, I’m sure the maple syrup that morning canceled out all the healthy benefits of the sandwich.
Oh, well. It sure was tasty!
I made Toasted Peanut Butter Banana Sandwiches for lunch yesterday. They’re delicious, easy to make and good for you. It’s also a great way to use up bananas that are on the verge of getting over ripe.
Here’s your ingredient list:
Whole Grain Bread
Peanut Butter
Bananas
Margarine (low fat/low cal)
Cooking Spray
Powdered or Granulated Sugar
1. Put a frying pan on the stove to warm over medium/low heat. I like a cast iron pan for this best. Coat it with cooking spray.
2. Spread two pieces of bread with a thin layer of peanut butter.
3. Cut slices, not too thick, from a banana and arrange on one slice of the bread.
4. Put the slices together and butter the top side of the sandwich.
5. Place buttered side down in the pan and quickly butter the other side.
6. Brown the bottom just like you would when making grilled cheese. Flip and brown the other side.
7. Remove from pan and sprinkle top with sugar or powdered sugar. Powdered sugar would be best, but I only had granulated on hand. It was tasty too.
9. Slice in half and enjoy!
You can get in a serving of fruit, whole grain and some protein with the peanut butter. To make it even healthier try using an all-natural peanut butter.
Dave and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary on Saturday.
Well, I use the word celebrated loosely, because I spent the day reclining on the couch, sick with a stomach virus, while Dave kept little David entertained so I could rest.
Sunday I was feeling better, thank goodness, because we had tickets to take David to see Playhouse Disney Live. We went out for lunch before the show, and splurged on an expensive appetizer with our meal in honor of our anniversary.
Do we know how to live it up or what?
Anniversaries are usually pretty low key for us anyway. Unless it’s a milestone like our 10th last year when we went to Chicago for a few days, with no child in tow. Although we usually do manage something a little more romantic than eating pasta with a precocious preschooler and watching Mickey Mouse dance hand-in-hand with Goofy.
But you know, I didn’t mind one bit.
As I sat there watching Disney characters parade by and asking myself why I believed it would be OK to eat Italian the day after an upset stomach, my eyes fell on David’s beaming face. He was mesmerized by all the music, lights and activity on stage. Dave was there next to me just as he has been for the last 11 years. Wade was tucked safe inside my womb waiting to arrive in June.
I began to wander back over a decade, in and out of memories. A lot of good memories. A few difficult times, but mostly good. Then I considered the events of the last two days, and thought, “This is why we got married. All of this.”
To be together. To have a family. To share life’s ups and downs.
Is there anyone else I’d want around while I convalesced all day in my nightgown, hair uncombed, no make-up?
Is there anyone else, who on our anniversary without complaint, would keep a four-year-old occupied for hours so I could rest?
Is there any better date than spending a day with my guys?
To all those questions the answer is simply no.
As the curtain came down on Mickey and his friends I knew there was no place I’d rather be.
Not for all the quiet dinners and dancing and roses and candlelight in the world.
I’ve been getting a lot of complaints about my cooking lately.
Not from my husband.
No, from David, my four-year-old.
He informed me recently that pancakes are among one of my many culinary failings. “They’re not perfect like Grandma’s, and they’re too brown.” What he meant was my HOMEMADE pancakes are not perfectly round and evenly golden like the FROZEN ones my mother gives him at her house. (Just for the record, the ones I made were not burned.)
When we went to McDonald’s for breakfast a few days later, David pointed at the pancakes we ordered and said, “Look Mommie. That’s how you’re supposed to make pancakes.”
He told me my hamburgers have the same problem, and said that we need to purchase a burger mold he saw advertised on TV. “Your stove doesn’t make them right Mommie. Buy it.” I guess I should be glad he placed the blame on the stove that time.
Last night when I pulled some drop biscuits out of the oven for dinner he looked at them and asked, “Don’t you ever make flat biscuits?” He wanted the ones that come refrigerated in a cardboard tube.
Sometimes for lunch I make him little pizzas on hamburger buns, and he asks for “real” pizza. “Real” pizza comes from Little Caesars.
If I make homemade Mac&Cheese he tells me it’s the wrong kind. The right kind? Kraft of course.
I make dinner most nights, and most of what we eat I make from scratch. I even made a lot of David’s baby food, and I still ended up with a kid who would rather eat food from a box or a drive-thru.
If we went to Mexico for dinner tonight he’d ask where Taco Bell was so he could get a “real” taco.
Who wants an Enchirito?
I did something the other day that I vowed to myself I would NEVER, EVER do as long as I lived in my whole entire life even if the world as we know it ceased to exist.
I bought pre-cooked bacon.
Sshh! Don’t Tell anyone!
I used to pass incredulously by the pre-cooked bacon thinking how profuse and extravagant to spend $3 for 12 measly pieces of bacon when that same price gets you a whole pound of raw. I was not so lazy and slovenly that I couldn’t take the time to cook my own bacon.
But I was tired and I only needed a few slices, I justified.
Checking that no one was looking, I quickly pulled the offending product off the shelf, threw it in the cart and buried it under a bag of chips like it was a dime bag .
At the check out I didn’t make eye contact with the cashier, sure she was judging my indolent purchase.
But you know what?
I LOVE it!
I think I’m hooked.
First I put it on chicken sandwiches with Swiss cheese. If ever God created three foods to be eaten together, it’s those three. So tasty! Who needs Arby’s?
Then I had a couple pieces for breakfast.
You know you can warm that stuff up in the microwave and it’s just as greasy, salty and full of fatty goodness as regular bacon?
Today for lunch I crumbled some and put it on my salad.
D-I-V-I-N-E!
All of that scrumptiousness and non of the greasy, splattery mess.
I have two pieces left. Then I’m gonna have to go by some more.
Oh, the shame.
Here’s another good cold weather recipe. I changed it up a little bit so I could make it in the crock pot.
Crock Pot Beef Stew Recipe
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 pounds beef chuck, cubed
1/4 large onion, finely chopped
6 large potatoes, peeled and diced
1 small bag of cut and peeled carrots
1stalk of celery, finely chopped
3 (10.5 ounce) cans beef broth
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon cold water
In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat. In a Ziploc bag mix together the flour, garlic powder, salt and pepper. Add a small handful of meat at a time and shake until well coated. Brown in hot oil. Remove the browned meat and continue until all the meat is browned.
Lower heat to medium and add onion. Cook until tender. Remove onion and drain any remaining oil. Add onion and meat back into skillet. Add as much broth as you can to the skillet and bring to a boil. Then remove from stove and put all the skillet contents in a crock pot. Add any remaining broth. Stir in potatoes, carrots, and celery. Cook in crock pot on high 6 hours. Just about 30 minutes before serving pour crock pot contents into a large stock pot. Mix together the 3 tablespoons flour and water in a small bowl. Slowly stir mixture into stew. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer until thickened stirring occasionally.
I made some biscuits to go with the stew last night, and I wondered, “What would happen if I added some left over cheddar cheese and some garlic?” Well, nothing except for some really good tasting biscuits! There’s just enough time to make these while the stew is thickening on the stove.
Cheddar Garlic Biscuits
2 cups flour
4 tsp. baking powder
2 Tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
5 Tbs. Butter Flavor Crisco
1 cup milk
1/2 cup cheddar cheese
In a medium size mixing bowl add flour, baking powder, white sugar, salt and garlic powder. Stir together with a whisk. (Easier substitute for sifting.) Cut in Butter Flavor Crisco with a fork or pastry blender. (You could use plain Crisco, but the Butter Flavor really adds to the taste.) Add milk and stir until moistened. Stir in cheese. Dough is thick. You may have to knead the cheese in with your hands.
Drop by large spoonfuls on to a greased cookie sheet. Or line the sheet with parchment paper. The cheese will stick to the pan otherwise. You should end up with 8 to 10 good size biscuits.
Bake at 450 for 12 to 14 minutes.
