Tilapia and Green Beans...

Now, that doesn't sound like a fun title, but it was tasty that's for sure.

And as I was eating I realized my camera was still downstairs so no pictures again today. Sorry! Maybe someday I will actually remember the camera!

This meal was light, fast, and doesn't require a lot of thinking. Which is good, because my brain was about dead from reading research journals and articles all day looking for sources for a paper due at the end of the month. I found everything I need though I have to go back through them and actually pick out the information I want to include in the paper.

I just keep telling myself that the semester is almost over...

But finally, here is the food.

Cajun Tilapia with Dill Sauce

-Tilapia fillets
-Cajun seasoning to taste (I actually used some of Emeril's Essence)
-1 Lemon thinly sliced

-1/4 C mayonnaise
-1/2 C sour cream
-1/4 tsp garlic powder
-1 tbl lemon juice
-fresh dill to taste

1) Preheat oven to 350 and spray a baking dish with nonstick spray.

2) Season the tilapia with the cajun seasoning. Place the fillets in the pan and place the lemon slices on top. (Mine were the perfect size to have 2 slices per fillet)

3)Bake uncovered for 15-20 minutes or until fish flakes easily with a fork.

4) While the fish is baking, mix the mayo, sour cream, garlic powder, lemon juice, and dill in a small bowl. Serve with the fish.

Sauteed Green Beans

-2 tbl butter
-1/2 lb fresh green beans, trimmed
-1/2 a medium onion, diced
-3 cloves minced garlic

1) Melt 1 tbl butter over medium heat. Add onions and garlic and saute until translucent and soft.

2) Melt the other 1 tbl butter in the pan. Add the green beans.

3) Cook, covered, until the beans are tender crisp, about 10 minutes.

The dangerous Vegetable Soup...

So for dinner tonight I am making a vegetable soup in the crock pot. It is actually very favorable (I find many crock pot recipes bland), full of vegetables, and a great starter recipe. So, why did I title this "dangerous vegetable soup"? Because cabbage hates me I think.

You see, I was slicing the cabbage, the last vegetable to be prepped, and I missed... and cut myself. It's pretty bad, but I won't go into details because wounds and food do not go well together. Needless to say, it hurt, a lot, and is still very painful. Luckily it is on my left thumb, so I don't need to use it while it heals. I just got too excited slicing the cabbage and I wasn't careful. My fault.

Oh well, I will still eat the soup... and by doing so get my revenge on that cabbage!

"Dangerous" Vegetable Soup
1 med onion, chopped
1C sliced carrots
1C sliced celery
1C sliced cabbage
1C frozen corn
1C frozen green beans
6 oz can tomato paste
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
2-3 C beef broth (or as much as you want)
2 bay leaves
black pepper to taste

1. Combine the onion, carrots, celery, and cabbage in slow cooker.
2. Combine broth, tomato paste, and worcestershire sauce in a measuring cup. When blended, pour into the slow cooker and stir. Add the bay leaves and black pepper.
4. Cover and cook on high for 3 hours.
5. Add the corn and green beans. Stir. Cover and cook on high for another hour.

Note: This recipe to wonderful because you can add or subtract any sorts of vegetables. Add raw vegetables at the start and the frozen for the last hour. I also sometimes make this with ground beef and/or kidney beans to make it more filling.

Balsamic Salmon and Rice Pilaf

So, as promised, here is a meal from last week to tide people over until I get going here again. This meal was a real hit and pretty healthy. We also had potato rolls with it since I had bought some for the BBQ chicken tonight and needed to use the rest.

Salmon
Salmon Fillets
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 Tbl chicken stock
1 Tbl honey
1/3 C balsamic vinegar
4 tsp Dijon mustard
chopped fresh oregano

- Preheat the over to 400
- Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with a non-stick cooking spray. Place salmon on the baking sheet.
- Mix together the garlic, stock, honey, vinegar, and mustard in a small pan. Heat and simmer, uncovered, until the mixture thickens and reduces.
- Brush the glaze on the salmon and sprinkle with the chopped oregano
- Bake salmon for about 14 minutes or until it flakes. When done, remove from over and brush some more glaze on before serving.

Spring Vegetable Rice Pilaf
2 Tbl butter
1/2 C orzo
1 Tbl olive oil
1 bunch asparagus, trimmed and chopped into 1 inch pieces
1 carrot cut into matchsticks
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2.5 C of chicken stock
1 C long grain white rice
1 Tbl lemon zest
1 Tbl fresh thyme
1 C of spinach
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Parmesan cheese

- Melt the butter is a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the orzo and cook until a golden brown. Remove the orzo from the pan.
-Add the olive oil to the pan, then the asparagus, carrots, shallots, and garlic. Cover and cook until vegetables just start to soften, about 5 minutes.
-Stir in the stock, rice, lemon zest, thyme, and orzo and bring to a boil. Cover, turn down the heat, and simmer until rice is tender, about 16 minutes.
-Fold in the spinach, then stir in the lemon juice and Parmesan.

The month to come

So, I couldn't get SPSS to download. Well actually I got it to download, install, and then it wasn't allowing me the free trial. This means I will have to head to campus tomorrow early to try and get this data analyzed. I am hoping an hour and a half will be enough to run a handful of regressions and correlations. Then I can finish the paper Tuesday at the boyfriend's.

I should also mention a new "thing" for me. I have decided that every month must include a recipe from both my Food Network Magazine and my Rachel Ray magazine for that month. I find myself using a lot of online recipes and ignoring all these wonderful ones that I have sitting around! Time to put those subscriptions to work!

Since I had a bit of time today that I had not counted on, I am going to post my menu for the month.

And the meals can always change. We may be having company at some point this month and I might end up changing a few things around to accommodate for them (cooking for 4 versus 2 for example).

So, my calendar for April.
4/3: BBQ Chicken, potato/onion/carrot grill packets, potato rolls
4/4: Slow cooker vegetable soup and grilled cheese
4/6: Cottage Pie
4/8: Baked Tilapia with Dill Sauce, Green beans
4/10: Grilled steaks, baked potatoes, creamed spinach (for me), salad (for mom)
4/13: White Chicken Chili with a Corn Bread Crust
4/15: The Marlboro Man Sandwich, Fries, Fruit Salad
4/17: Teriyaki Pork Chops, Carrots/Onion/Potato grill packets, rolls
4/20: Baked Shrimp Scampi, Green Beans, Red Lobster Biscuits
4/22 Ribeye Steaks in Red Wine Sauce, Garlic Mashed Potatoes, creamed spinach, salad
4/24: Easter- Baked Ham, Southern Green Beans, Deviled Eggs, Rolls, and more
4/27: Breakfast: Eggs, Ham, Skillet Potatoes, Toast
4/29: Pasta Fresca with Parmesan Chicken, Garlic Bread

When I have time I will post recipes again. I may actually post a few I missed in my absence tonight. May as well... stupid SPSS...

I'm baaaack!

Well, at least that is the plan.

School has been kicking my behind lately and will continue to do so until the end of the month. Then I will hopefully get a bit of rest and relaxation in before next semester.

However, when talking to a friend online the other day, he suggested I pick my blog back up. He was excited about the idea of sharing recipes and thought this would be a great way for me to post mine. Well, duh, that is what I was doing already... but I got busy and a bit lazy about it.

So I am charging my camera as we speak. It'll be another couple of days before I have a new recipes for everyone (I have a paper to finish writing so meals are super easy the next few days), but I hope to get back into the swing of things soon.

So many plans...

... so little time.

I am really excited about spring coming. Hopefully we won't see some freak snow storm from here on out, though I most likely just jinked us. The reason I am excited of the idea of spring is because I have so many huge plans for this spring and summer.

1) We are going to clear out the garden and build our own planter boxes. This will hopefully help our garden and allow us to do better this yea then last. We are currently planning on tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, sweet peppers, hot peppers, and some herbs. Not sure if this will be our final list or if we will add to it.

2) Lots of new grilling recipes to be made this year! We are also looking into getting a new gas grill to take the place of our poor dying charcoal grill.

3) We are going to clean out the garage to make room for shelving and a freezer. We have found we really need to get a freezer of some sort. Our current one (the one attached to the fridge) is just too small for our needs.

and so much more!

Also, school has been kicking me in the behind recently which is why I have been slow in updating. Hopefully I will be back soon with new recipes and ideas for you all!

Fried Chicken... YUM!

Fried Chicken is amazing... or should I say, good fried chicken is amazing. I have not had much luck in the past with fried chicken recipes. The chicken is either dry and overcooked or the coating is burned before the chicken is fully cooked.

Then I met the Pioneer Woman... and she has saved me from any more fried chicken disasters. There are a couple keys to this recipe that make it so wonderful. First is the buttermilk
"bath" that the chicken takes overnight. Second is the milk/buttermilk that is put into the flour mixture that causes the coating to be extra crunchy. Finally, by frying it until brown and then baking it to finish the cooking, it really keeps it from drying out the chicken or over browning the coating.

I made this with corn on the cob and biscuits with honey butter.

Pioneer Woman's Buttermilk Fried Chicken

2 cut-up fryer chickens
1 quart plus 1/4 cup buttermilk
5 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons seasoned salt (like Lawry’s)
2 teaspoons black pepper
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons paprika
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 cup milk
canola or vegetable oil for frying

1. In a large bowl (or 2 freezer bags) add the chicken with 1 quart buttermilk. Refrigerate overnight. When ready to fry, remove chicken from bowl and let sit on counter for 30 minutes to take chill off.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. Stir together the flour, seasoned salt, pepper, thyme, paprika and cayenne in a very large bowl. In a small bowl combine the 1/4 cup buttermilk and the milk. Pour the milk mixture into the flour and use a fork to mix until little lumps throughout.

3. Heat 1 1/2 inches of oil in a deep skillet or dutch oven over medium high heat to 365F. Working in batches, thoroughly coat each buttermilk-soaked chicken piece with the breading, pressing to adhere the breading. Add the chicken to the oil 3-4 pieces at a time. Cover pan and fry 5-7 minutes, checking to make sure chicken isn’t getting too brown. Turn, cover and cook additional 3-5 minutes more. Monitor temperature of oil to make sure chicken doesn’t burn. Keep in mind chicken will finish cooking in oven.

4. Place chicken on baking sheet and continue frying rest of chicken. When done, bake the chicken for 10-15 minutes, until chicken cooked through.