Spiced Cod with Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf

I felt like I was on such a roll there for awhile getting my blog updated and caught up on back posts. Then things got crazy. This past week I was completely overwhelmed getting Boy #2's bedroom switched from baby room to big boy room. I never painted when we moved into our house a year ago, and I wanted to get his room painted before his new furniture came, so I spent literally every free moment this past week working on his room. I decided a striped accent wall would be a good idea. It wasn't. His room in our old house had tone on tone stripes (flat and glossy paint in the same color) and it was a BITCH. I knew stripes would be bad, but kind of like childbirth, I'd forgotten just how bad they were. Ugh. I was up until midnight Thursday night measuring and taping. Of course it didn't help that I measured the length of the room wrong the first time. Double ugh. But it's done and looks fantastic and he is now the proud owner of a bunk bed. No more crib for my little guy! Anyway, every aspect of my life was neglected this past week as I got his room ready. Plus my oldest has had swim lessons the past two weeks, so things have been nutty.

I told the husband that one of the things I want to do this weekend is get caught up on my blogs. I have seven posts I want to do for just this blog, so we'll see how far I get. I turned on some cartoons for my kiddos this morning (do you have Boomerang network where you are? Oh my gosh, I love it!! I love letting my kids watch the cartoons I watched on Saturday mornings when I was little.) and it's mostly keeping them entertained, except that they're boys and fight a lot, so I have to keep intervening.

Anyway, I don't even remember when we had this it's been so long ago, but it was tasty and pretty easy, so it's worth posting. I received it in a recipe email I get from Real Simple magazine. I had some cod in the freezer and thought it would be a tasty way to fix it instead of fish and chips. That's all I know to do with cod. Did you know that cod are actually a really mean fish? I had no idea. The husband and I were watching a show on octopus awhile ago, and apparently cod fish eat octopus. Crazy, huh? I tell ya, I'm a wealth of knowledge.

Spiced Cod with Broccoli Quinoa Pilaf
Source: RealSimple.com

3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 small onion, chopped
kosher salt and black pepper
1 cup quinoa, rinsed well
2 cups chopped broccoli
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped
2 scallions, sliced
4 6-ounce pieces skinless cod, halibut, or striped bass fillet
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Heat 1 teaspoon of the oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the onion and season with ¾ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, 3 to 4 minutes.

Add the quinoa and 1½ cups water to the saucepan and bring to a boil; reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer gently until almost all the water has evaporated, 10 to 12 minutes. Fold the broccoli and raisins into the quinoa, cover, and cook until the quinoa and broccoli are tender, 8 to 10 minutes more. Remove from heat and fold in the almonds, scallions, ½ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper.

Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Season the cod with the paprika, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ¼ teaspoon pepper and cook until opaque throughout, 3 to 4 minutes per side. Serve with the pilaf.

Nutritional Information
Per Serving
Calories 464
Fat 16g
Sat Fat 2g
Cholesterol 65mg
Sodium 833mg
Protein 37g
Carbohydrate 44g
Sugar 7g
Fiber 6g
Iron 6mg
Calcium 109mg

*****

I haven't used quinoa very much, but I really liked it. Actually this may have been the first time. I tried to make quinoa stuffed peppers one time, but it didn't go over well, and I don't think they were ever eaten. This time we all really liked it. I love that it's high in protein. Did you know that technically it's a seed, not a grain? See, wealth of knowledge. I didn't have raisins in mine because for some strange reason we were out of them, but honestly raisins in it sounded kind of weird, so I wasn't that upset we skipped them. This dinner came together really quickly which was nice, too. This was a dinner I really liked and would readily make again. Note to self: find more ways to incorporate quinoa into our diet!

Sorry for the lame picture...the husband's iPhone camera was all I had available.

Grilled Whole Trout

We went out of town for the 4th of July weekend with my mom to a cabin up in northern AZ. It was fantastic!! The cabin was right on a pretty big creek, and my boys (including the husband) had a great time playing in it--fishing, shoveling mud, splashing, throwing rocks. It was an amazing, relaxing weekend.

Not far from the cabin was a trout farm. The boy and husband have gone fishing at a park near our house quite a few times, but they've never caught anything. We figured taking the boy to the trout farm would be a great way for him to catch his first fish. And it was! He ended up catching three (with the husband's help, of course) and was so pleased with himself for catching dinner for his family. It was so sweet listening to him tell me how it was going to be the best fish ever and how he was so happy he could get dinner for his family. I heart that boy so much!

I haven't cooked much fish (or rather I always stick to the same kinds because I know what I'm doing), so I had to do some Googling to figure out the best way to cook rainbow trout. I found an article on about.com on grilling them whole and then found a very basic recipe on Cooks.com. I hadn't really thought about grilling the fish and how to do it when we were at the grocery store earlier that day, but thankfully we had a lemon and some butter with us at the cabin.

Grilled Whole Trout

Fresh trout, cleaned with heads & tails left on
Butter
Lemon

Place several pats butter and several slices fresh lemon in trout cavity. Spray aluminum foil with non-stick spray. Wrap trout with foil. Grill 8 to 10 minutes on each side, depending on size of fish.

*****

Our trout weren't very big, so we had some cheese hot dogs to go along with this, as there wasn't enough to feed three adults and two children (one of which generally eats the same amount as an adult). Don't judge us. Thankfully the trout farm folks cleaned the fish for us. The husband had figured he'd do it, which was good because that is not in my skillset. My dad used to always clean the fish I caught. I view it as a man's job.

Anyway, this was a really, easy, simple way to prepare a whole fish, and the fish tasted fantastic!! My boy did a great job picking us three tasty fish for dinner. I assume that the only real time I'll be cooking trout is if he takes another trip to the trout farm, but I would definitely use this again! Make sure you spray the foil with non-stick spray. It would be very, very ugly if you didn't, and there's a good chance you wouldn't get a whole lot of meat from your fish.

And now, some pictures.

The first fish!


Fishing is a patience game, you know.


Our three rainbow trout, ready for the grill.


"Mom, can I touch its eye?"


To change things up a bit...a picture of me grilling the fish. Okay, okay, and opening the package of cheese dogs.


The finished product...after I took out the bones and all that. It was actually really easy to do. I was able to pull up on the spine a little and the whole skeleton came out of the fish. Weird and gross, but convenient.


And, the cheese dogs. I wouldn't want them to feel left out.

Easy Sole Meuniere

I'm definitely on a Barefoot Contessa kick lately, as this is another of her recipes. Maybe I should just start cooking my way through all of her books. I was at the grocery store I don't like recently, and they had packages of Dover Sole on manager's special. I rarely see sole in the markets, much less marked down! So, I grabbed two packages because I had remembered seeing this in the Back to Basics cookbook. I already had my meal plan figured out for last week, so I slated it for tonight. I'm so excited to try this!! I got even more excited when last week on Top Chef, one of the sauces they had to prepare was a meuniere sauce.

Easy Sole Meuniere
Copyright 2008, Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, All Rights Reserved

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 fresh sole fillets, 3 to 4 ounces each
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon grated lemon zest
6 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice (3 lemons)
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Have 2 heat-proof dinner plates ready

Combine the flour, 2 teaspoons salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper in a large shallow plate. Pat the sole fillets dry with paper towels and sprinkle one side with salt.

Heat 3 tablespoons of butter in a large (12-inch) saute pan over medium heat until it starts to brown. Dredge 2 sole fillets in the seasoned flour on both sides and place them in the hot butter. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 2 minutes. Turn carefully with a metal spatula and cook for 2 minutes on the other side. While the second side cooks, add 1/2 teaspoon of lemon zest and 3 tablespoons of lemon juice to the pan. Carefully put the fish filets on the ovenproof plates and pour the sauce over them. Keep the cooked fillets warm in the oven while you repeat the process with the remaining 2 fillets. When they're done, add the cooked fillets to the plates in the oven. Sprinkle with the parsley, salt, and pepper and serve immediately.

*****

Sounds simple and delicious!!! I might make a Barefoot Contessa wild rice dish to go with this, but the recipe isn't on the Food Network website, and I'm feeling too lazy to go get the cookbook and type it out. We'll see how I feel about cooking it at dinner time. If I don't make that I think I have a box of Trader Joe's Mushroom Risotto in the pantry I can make, and then some kind of vegetable on the side. Yum! Oooh...I should go put a bottle of white wine in the fridge now so it's ready at dinner time!

Fish Tacos

What a crazy weekend we had! That's why I'm just now posting for the weekend on Monday. I'll have to do a separate post on why our weekend was so crazy--it's because my husband is the best husband ever!! But, I'll post on that next.

Last week the husband had requested fish tacos for dinner one night. I wanted to find a new way of doing them and RecipeZaar.com of course came through for me!


Fish Tacos
Recipe #26516

1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
1 package taco seasoning mix, divided
1 lb cod or white fish fillet, cut into 1 inch pieces (about 4)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 (12 count) package taco shells, warmed or flour tortillas
Toppings (shredded cabbage, chopped tomato, lime juice, taco sauce)

Combine sour cream, mayonnaise, cilantro and 2 tablespoons seasoning mix in small bowl.

Combine fish, vegetable oil, lemon juice and remaining seasoning mix in medium bowl; pour into large skillet. Cook, stirring constantly, over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes or until cod flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Fill taco shells with fish mixture. Top with toppings.

*****

This is my new favorite way to make fish tacos. The sauce was fantastic, although it made way too much. I'll cut it in half next time because I had to throw out a lot of it (I couldn't come up with anything to do with what was left). We all really liked this--even the boy who usually isn't very fond of fish tacos. I had some catfish nuggets in the freezer that needed to be used up, so that was the fish I use. For toppings we had tomatoes and avocados. I was kind of kicking myself because I had just thrown out half a head of cabbage on Saturday because I didn't know what I was going to use it for, and I could have used it last night as a taco topping. Oops!

Honey Ginger Grilled Mahi Mahi

I hope everyone has had a nice holiday weekend! You may have noticed I haven't had to cook since Thursday--it's been a nice break! Friday night some friends invited us over for dinner which ended up being great because I was REALLY off my game in the kitchen. I offered to take dessert; my friend said I didn't need to but if I wanted to I could. I had just bought a huge box of strawberries at Costco, so I figured I'd do something with strawberries. I found a few good sounding cake recipes but didn't have the right ingredients for frosting. Then I thought chocolate covered strawberries. For the life of me I could not get the chocolate to melt right. I have never had as many problems melting chocolate as I did on Friday. So I gave up on that after wasting an entire bag of chocolate chips. Then I found a recipe for cream stuffed strawberries that sounded fantastic, but the filling was disgusting. The husband actually spit out his sample. It tasted like ass--or at least what I would imagine ass to taste like. It tasted bad, we'll leave it at that. So I threw out those. I checked the blog for dessert ideas and saw a recipe for a strawberry pie I had made quite a long time ago. I remembered seeing a pie crust in the freezer, so I got it out...only to find that it was completely broken and not at all salvageable. Sigh. So I decided to scrap the idea of making a dessert. Then last night we went to my mom's for dinner. It was great; she kept the kids during the day and the husband and I went on a day date to a movie and lunch.

Now it's back to normal. I had originally planned on grilling a whole chicken tonight, but I forgot to get it out of the freezer in time, so I needed a new idea. I had some mahi mahi in the freezer, so I got that out and then checked RecipeZaar.com for a recipe. I wanted to cook them on the grill, so once I added that criteria I had 11 recipes to choose from. This one sounded good and easy--a combination I love!


Honey Ginger Grilled Salmon, Swordfish or Mahi Mahi
Recipe #320129

1/3 cup orange juice
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 inch fresh ginger, chopped or 1 teaspoon ground ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced or 1 teaspoon garlic powder
3 green onions, chopped
1 1/2 lbs salmon fillets or mahi mahi or swordfish

Add all ingredients except fish in a large resealable plastic bag and mix well. Add fish and refrigerate to marinate for 15 minutes. Remove salmon from marinade and discard marinade. Grill on a greased grill rack over medium-high heat 5-6 per side for slightly rare salmon or cook until fish flakes easily with a fork.

*****

Some of the reviews suggested marinating the fish for longer than the time specified, so I'll probably let it go just a little longer. I might also use tamari instead of soy sauce. I'm not sure yet what we're going to have with this. I think I saw one last package of Rice A Roni in my pantry I might use up and then steam a vegetable of some sort as well.

*****

This was a really good marinade! I only let it marinate about 30 minutes, and I was glad I did because I think any more would have taken away the fish taste of the mahi mahi. I would use this again on fish or even chicken. We all really liked it! But, I completely forgot to take a picture because I was so excited to eat. Oops!

Orange Roughy in Garlic Butter Recipe

Last night the husband and I decided to do our usual Friday night mini date night where we have dinner after the kids go to bed. We weren't really hungry, and I forgot to get out some chicken to defrost, so we ended up getting Little Ceasar's pizza. See, it is always our universal back-up plan! Today was hairy, to say the least. It was like the boy was replaced with some three year old monster that looked just like my sweet boy. He was in bed at 6:30! Man alive. We had decided earlier today to have another mini date night tonight, so once the baby goes to bed, it's date night time! I got out some orange roughy fillets I had in the freezer for us to have but wasn't sure what to do with them. I found this recipe on RecipeZaar.com and thought it sounded tasty and easy--one of my favorite combinations! (Spell check is saying that 'combinations' isn't a word, but I swear it is, right?!)


Orange Roughy in Garlic Butter
Recipe #83463

1/2 lb orange roughy, cut into fillets
3 tablespoons butter
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon white wine
1/4 cup onion, cut into rings
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 450. Rinse fillets in water, pat dry with paper towels. Set aside. Melt butter in a small saucepan. Add garlic, and white wine, stirring until all is mixed together. Spray a small square glass baking dish with cooking spray. Sprinkle both sides of fish with salt and pepper, and lay fish fillets in the dish. Lay onion rings on top of fish, and pour garlic butter mixture over everything. Bake at 450 for 12-15 minutes, until fish flakes when you pick at it with a fork.

*****

I'm not sure what we're going to have with this. I think I'll see if I have some orzo in the pantry and make creamy parmesan orzo or an orzo feta salad recipe I came across recently. If we don't have orzo then I have no idea and will have to come up with something I guess.

*****

Mmmmmmm...this was some good fish! It was so easy to prepare, and the flavor was really good. I ended up making the parmesan orzo as a side. I should rename this to "dinner in beige" because there was absolutely no color on the plate!

Catfish Sandwiches

I'll come out with it. Potty training is kicking my ass. Actually today seems to be going better, but the past few days have been horrible. It's so frustrating because the boy will sit on the potty and go a little but then 10 minutes later he has an accident and pees all over the place. Sigh. But, so far today there's only been one accident and it was early this morning. I'm resorting to major bribery, so hopefully that gets the job done.

Anyway, I never had a chance to post yesterday what with all the trips to the potty. I was pretty excited for our dinner, and it turned out well. Mostly well anyway. We had catfish sandwiches with homemade tartar sauce, hushpuppies, and coleslaw. I had originally planned on making catfish po'boys, but after looking through a Tom Douglas cookbook, I saw a recipe for homemade tartar sauce and decided to just do fish sandwiches so I could make the tartar sauce. I love Tom Douglas...if you're ever in Seattle you MUST go to one of his restaurants. I'm hoping to cross another one off the list the next time we're up there. There were a ton of good recipes in the cookbook I got, so I'm excited to make more from it, although I will admit that it made me really homesick for Seattle.

Catfish Sandwiches
1 lb. catfish nuggets
2 Tbsp milk
1/4 cup corn meal
1/4 cup flour
1 Tbsp Cajun seasoning
Oil for frying
French rolls

Combine milk and catfish in a bowl, tossing gently to coat. Remove fish from bowl; shake off excess milk. Combine cornmeal, flour, and Cajun seasoning in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag. Seal and shake to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

Serve with tartar sauce, lettuce, and tomatoes on French rolls.

*****

I did the catfish the same way as if I was making the po'boys but just changed the sandwich toppings. These were super good. I think I like them better this way than the regular Catfish Po'Boys I make. Or I like the toppings I used better anyway. The tartar sauce recipe is coming next!

Blackened Fish Tacos

We're home from another birthday party. I don't know what exactly was going on in April/May/June 2005, but the boy sure does have a lot of friends with birthdays between December and March. I think we've had one birthday party every weekend for the last six weeks. Hopefully the boy takes a good nap after this party because the husband is off playing golf this afternoon, and I'd much rather have a well-rested three year old to deal with on my own instead of a tired, grumpy one.

So, at the grocery store a couple weeks ago I picked up some tilapia on Manager's Special. I'm always excited when I find meat/fish on special like that. Plus I hadn't bought fish in a long time. I'm excited it's Lent right now because that means the stores will be having fish on sale for the next few weeks. Woo hoo! In reviewing my fish/tilapia recipes there were a couple I had made and liked, so I'm excited to get to have them again. The husband said he'd like to have fish once a week, so now that it's going to be cheap for awhile I can build up a nice store of it in the freezer.

These tacos sounded good to me, and we haven't had them in a long time. Plus avocados were on sale this past week, so all the pieces seemed to come together for this.

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

I don't think I bought cilantro at the store, but maybe I already have some. I don't know off the top of my head. I also don't have corn tortillas, so we'll be using whole wheat. I found whole wheat tortillas that I really like--low in fat, high in fiber, and relatively inexpensive. I think the brand is something like Guerrero? I don't know, but they're my new tortilla of choice (my "old" tortillas were Mission reduced fat, which were good, but I like these a lot better). I think I'm going to make Jen B.'s pinto beans as a side dish. I just love 'em. Last time I made them the husband told me the only kind of beans he likes are refried. Apparently he was unaware that refried beans are pinto beans. So, I'll keep mine whole and just mash his up for him so he thinks they're official refried beans...because I'm just sneaky like that.

Blackened Fish Tacos

I came across some tilapia in my freezer recently that I had forgotten about. I think I came across it when I was rummaging for more chicken breasts. I thought of the tilapia when I was making up my menu for this week and thought I'd fix these fish tacos. We've only had them a couple times, but we've really liked them each time. Plus I had a lot of chicken meals, so I wanted to add in some fish and/or vegetarian meals as well to appease the husband.

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

I'm excited for these. They're tasty and filling but light. I'm going to make Jen B's pinto beans to go with it. Last time I made them, I overcooked them a little. They were still good, just more the consistency of refried beans instead of whole beans. I heart them a lot, so I'm excited for them.

Had I thought about it, I would have picked up some tortilla chips at the store to have as well and used the remaining half of the avocado for some homemade guacamole. Oh well.

Catfish Po'Boys

I was going through the tags of my blog trying to find this recipe because I could have sworn I'd posted it on here, but it wasn't under "fish" nor was it under "sandwiches" so I must not have made it since my blog's been going. I could have SWORN I had because I remember buying three packages of catfish at the store, one plain and two Cajun seasoned. No, I know I've made this because the recipe calls for broccoli slaw, and I actually used it last time I made it whereas I normally use regular cole slaw mix.

Found it. It's like the one entry that didn't have any tags! At least I know I'm not going crazy! Much easier if I can copy the recipe from a previous blog entry instead of having to find it online. This was originally from Cooking Light.

Catfish Po'Boys
2 tablespoons fat-free milk
1 pound catfish fillets, cut into 2 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning (such as McCormick)
2 teaspoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise
1 tablespoon fat-free sour cream
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
Dash of crushed red pepper
2 cups bagged broccoli coleslaw
4 (2 1/2-ounce) hoagie rolls with sesame seeds, toasted

Combine milk and catfish in a large bowl, tossing gently to coat. Remove fish from bowl; shake off excess milk. Sprinkle fish with salt. Combine cornmeal and Cajun seasoning in a large zip-top plastic bag. Add fish to bag. Seal and shake to coat.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; cook 3 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork.

While fish cooks, combine vinegar and next 4 ingredients (vinegar through pepper) in a medium bowl. Add broccoli coleslaw; toss well to coat. Spoon 1/2 cup slaw mixture onto bottom half of each roll. Arrange fish evenly over each serving, and top with top halves of rolls.

*****

The husband got really excited when I told him this is what we were having. I knew he'd like it, and today was his first day at a new job, so I wanted something he'd enjoy. What can I say, I'm a good wife. :)

Like I said above, I use regular cole slaw mix, not broccoli slaw. I tried it once with the broccoli and didn't like it. I've also used a baguette for the roll instead of sandwich rolls, but I kind of forgot that when I was at the grocery store this morning.

Now to make sure I tag this one...

Pan-Fried Tilapia with White Wine and Capers

I've fallen behind again...what else is new. The husband and I have had a date weekend...grandma kept the boy starting Friday afternoon through yesterday evening! It was awesome. I didn't cook Friday night or last night, this was our dinner on Thursday. It's a Weight Watchers recipe since we're still trying to each drop a few pounds. I copied it off the WW website before I quit my membership.

Pan-Fried Tilapia with White Wine and Capers
1/4 cup white wine, dry
1/4 cup tomato(es), seeded and chopped
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp capers, drained
1 medium garlic clove(s), minced
1/2 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 pound raw tilapia, four 6-oz pieces
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 sprays cooking spray
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp light butter
2 Tbsp parsley, chopped
1 medium lemon(s), cut in wedges (optional)

Combine first 6 ingredients, stirring well with a whisk; set aside. Sprinkle fillets with salt and pepper. Dredge fillets lightly in flour, and coat both sides of fillets with cooking spray. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fillets; cook 3 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; turn fillets, and cook 3 minutes or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork. Remove from pan. Add wine mixture to pan; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter until melted. Spoon wine mixture over fillets; sprinkle with parsley. Serve with lemon wedges, if desired. Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 fillet and 2 tablespoons sauce).

*****

This was pretty good. I love tilapia because it's a really mild fish, and it's super easy to cook. I liked the sauce for this, but I think next time I'd reduce the amount of capers. The flavor of them kind of overpowered the other components of the sauce. It's one I'd make again. We have tilapia pretty often, so I like to have a good rotation of recipes for it.

Pan-Seared Tilapia with Citrus Vinaigrette

Once again I've fallen behind in my posts! This was our dinner on Tuesday night. My friend Jen B. recommended it to me after she made it a few weeks ago. It was from the January issue of Cooking Light. The vinaigrette sauce was sooooo good!!

Pan-Seared Tilapia with Citrus
Cooking spray
4 (6-ounce) tilapia fillets
1/2 teaspoon salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/2 cup white wine
2 tablespoons finely chopped shallots
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
4 teaspoons extravirgin olive oil
2 teaspoons sherry vinegar

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Sprinkle fish evenly with 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add 2 fillets to pan; cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Remove from pan; keep warm. Repeat procedure with remaining fillets.

Add white wine to pan; cook 30 seconds or until liquid almost evaporates. Combine shallots and remaining ingredients, stirring well with a whisk; stir in remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and remaining 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Add shallot mixture to pan; sauté 1 minute or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently. Place 1 fillet on each of 4 plates; top each serving with about 3 tablespoons sauce.

*****

So I felt pretty dumb the day after I made this. I thought I had cooking sherry to use, but when I looked in the fridge I couldn't find it. I had no idea what to substitute for it, so I went with white wine vinegar. The next morning the magazine was still sitting open on the counter and it flat out said "Sherry vinegar is mildly acidic. If you can't find it, substitute white wine vinegar." Way to be a thorough reader, Claire!

We had a really yummy couscous along side the fish that was in the magazine, but it wasn't an "official" recipe. It was basically couscous with some dried cranberries, slivered almonds, flat leaf parsley, and olive oil mixed in. Quite tasty!

Tuscan Style Grilled Tuna Steaks

So I found a recipe close to the one I'd been looking for, but then when I went to dice up my mano, it was bad. Don't you hate when you buy something and it's bad when you get home?! I'm too lazy to go back to the store and fight over $1. Instead I found a different tuna steak recipe. The one I'd seen was sesame crusted tuna and a mango salsa. Sounds good, doesn't it? Well, the one I ended up finding was pretty good. We both liked it, Will didn't really eat it.

Tuscan Style Grilled Tuna Steaks
4 fresh tuna steaks, 8 ounces each, 1-inch thick
1 lemon, zested
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, about 2 tablespoons leaves stripped from stem
Handful flat leaf parsley
3 cloves garlic, crushed
Coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning
Extra-virgin olive oil, for cooking

Rinse and pat tuna steaks dry. Place zest on top of cutting board. Pile rosemary and parsley leaves on top of zest. Pile garlic and some coarse salt and black pepper or grill seasoning on top of herbs. Finely chop the garlic, herbs, and spices. Drizzle the olive oil over the tuna steaks just enough to coat each side. Rub herb and garlic mixture into fish, coating pieces evenly on each side. Let stand 10 minutes.
Grill tuna steaks 6 minutes on each side or 4 minutes on each side, if you prefer pink tuna at the center. Cook steaks over: high setting on indoor electric grill, medium high heat on outdoor gas grill or, 6 inches from hot, prepared charcoal.

*****

It was really yummy, like I said. And a totally easy way to prepare it also. I only seared ours for about two minutes per side for pink in the center. We had Creamy Parmesan Orzo and some peas with it. All in all, a super yummy dinner!

Blackened Fish Tacos

Now I'm officially caught up! I had bought tilapia a few weeks ago on Manager's Special at the store. They always have tilapia on Manager's Special...not sure why, but it means I get it for cheap which I like. I was trying to use up some stuff we had on hand and eat healthy this week after our food-fest in Seattle, and I remembered seeing this recipe on my blog awhile back when I was scrolling through looking at old recipes. This is one I probably would have forgotten about entirely had it not been for my blog! Just giving myself a little pat on the back. :) We really liked it when we had it before, so I'm looking forward to having it again tonight.

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

I think the only thing I'm changing is that I'm using regular cole slaw mix, not broccoli slaw mix. And I didn't buy radishes because I don't think the husband likes them. And we don't like corn tortillas, so I'm using flour.

Marinated Ahi Tuna

Hey guys!! Hope you all had a good weekend, even though it's Wednesday. We had a great time in Vegas, and my best friend's wedding was AWESOME. She looked so beautiful! We were definitely ready to come home yesterday--four days in Vegas is about a day and a half too long.

I'm kind of taking the easy way out for dinner tonight becausse I wasn't going to have time to go grocery shopping today, so it had to be something I already had on hand. Luckily I picked up some more of those yummy marinated ahi tuna steaks when I was at Trader Joe's last week. I can't wait to have them--they were so good last time! With it, we're having mushroom risotto...also a TJ's product. I'm on a risotto kick, I don't know what it is. I had it twice in Vegas!

So dinner preparation should be pretty easy--sear tuna, heat risotto. I hope no one was expecting some grand meal on our first day home. ;) I don't remember what's on the list for tomorrow night, but I worked up a menu for the next week while sitting in the car yesterday. We're actually leaving again next Wednesday, so I'm using up a lot of things we have on hand so I don't have to buy a bunch of groceries and then leave again.

Baked Tilapia

Okay, once again I'm late in posting. This was because I had no idea what to make for dinner until about 4:45 when I called my husband and asked if he wanted lasagna or fish. After our binge weekend we're both trying to drop a couple pounds that we gained, so we went with the fish. I had bought some tilapia a few weeks ago at the grocery and had it in the freezer. I found an easy recipe for it and dinner was set! This was our first time having tilapia, and it was pretty good.

Baked Tilapia
1 sprays cooking spray
20 oz raw tilapia, four 5 oz fillets
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp black pepper, freshly ground
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
2 tsp garlic herb seasoning, salt-free

Preheat broiler. Coat a shallow roasting pan with cooking spray. Season both sides of fish with salt and pepper. Transfer fish to prepared pan and drizzle with lemon juice; sprinkle garlic herb seasoning over top. Broil until fish is fork-tender, about 5 minutes.

*****

Now, I'm not even really sure why I'm posting this recipe because I did it totally different. It's hot in Phoenix in the summer. My house gets hot in the summer. I don't like using the broiler in the summer in Phoenix because it's hot. Have I emphasized enough that it's hot? So I did it in a skillet on top of the stove. I used a little olive oil instead of the cooking spray. Sprinkled the fish with salt and pepper and also added a little spice blend I have from Pasta & Co that's basically like Italian seasoning. After my pan was hot, I put the fish in, seasoned side down, and cooked it for probably 5 minutes per side. I forgot all about the lemon juice, but since I really wasn't following the recipe in the first place, I figured that wasn't a big deal. Although the husband did say some lemon on it would have been nice. Oh well, next time.

With it we had that creamy parmesan orzo I made awhile back, only I was out of parmesan so I used mozzarella instead. And instead of basil I used the same seasoning I put on the fish. I have to say, I liked it better this way. So, all in all, it was a really good dinner. The boy didn't really like the fish, but he's 18 months old so I didn't really expect him to.

Blackened Fish Tacos

Man, today sure did get away from me! I was getting out my recipe to see when I needed to start dinner and realized I had never posted it today! This is another new recipe, this time from a Pampered Chef cookbook. The finished product in the picture looks good, so we'll see how it turns out!

Blackened Fish Tacos
Slaw:
1/4 cup sliced green onions with tops
2 Tbsp snipped fresh cilantro
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp vegetable oil
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
2 cups broccoli slaw mix

Fish:
1 pound tilapia or catfish fillets
1 Tbsp Cajun or blackened fish seasoning
1 avocado, seeded and sliced
8 (6-inch) corn tortillas, warmed
3 medium radishes
Additional snipped fresh cilantro (optional)

For slaw, combine green onions, cilantro, lime juice, oil, garlic, sugar, and Cajun seasoning. Whisk until blended. Add slaw mix; toss to coat. Cover; refrigerate until ready to serve.

Heat grill pan over medium heat 5 minutes. Moisten fish fillets with water and sprinkle with Cajun seasoning. Lightly spray pan with vegetable oil. Place fillets in pan; cook over medium heat 10-12 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork, carefully turning once. Remove from heat. Flake fish into bite-size pieces.

Cut avocado in half lengthwise; remove seed and cut flesh away from skin. Cut one avocado half into slices. Reserve remaining half for another use. Warm tortillas in microwave or oven. Once heated, top tortillas evenly with slaw mixture and fish. Grate radisehs evenly over fish. Top with avocado slices and sprinkle with additional cilantro.

*****

We're having catfish in our tacos because I got some on "Manager's Special" at the grocery a few weeks ago and stuck it in the freezer. And I'm using regular cole slaw mix because I bought it for something else and didn't use it. Oh, and for Cajun seasoning, I like Tony Chachere's. We use it on everything. Seriously...everything. Oh, and I don't like corn tortillas, so we're using flour.

So there you have it! I'll let you know how it turns out...I'm hoping better than the tofu fried rice! :)