Soft things

Tonight's Menu

• sauteed tilapia fillets
  
• buttered egg noodles
  
• steamed broccoli
  

The boy child had four primary molars pulled Wednesday in anticipation of braces, and he's been eating nothing but pudding, applesauce, Jello and the occasional bowl of overcooked pasta ever since, poor kid! I wanted to cook a dinner he could actually EAT that contained a bit of protein and veggie. This worked out great and he was happy to get some real food in his tummy. Who knew a 12 year old could get tired of pudding and ice cream?!

This was also a super easy dinner to make. I just seasoned some tilapia fillets with salt and pepper and sauteed them in a skillet with EVOO -- done! The egg noodles were from a package, just boiled until done and then drained and tossed with some butter. Broccoli was steamed in the microwave. I cooked everything a little longer than usual to yield a softer texture for the boy, but nothing was mushy. Hooray for easy, nutritious, AND soft on the gums!

Fish tacos

Tonight's Menu

• fish tacos, deconstructed or not according to taste
  

Okay, so here's the deal. I made panko-breaded tilapia in the usual way, and also coleslaw (ditto). Then I warmed some flour tortillas in the microwave and set out a bowl of shredded cheese. Diners had the option of filling their tortillas with crispy fish fillets, cheese and coleslaw, or eating any combination of those items separately.

I was surprised to see the kids really going for it, loading up their tacos! The girl ended up not liking hers and took it apart to eat piece-by-piece. The boy opted for just a fish and cheese taco with coleslaw on the side, and didn't eat much, but he's been sick for the past few days so he doesn't have much of an appetite anyway.

I, of course, thought they were delicious.

Eating locally (at least partially)

Tonight's Menu

• sauteed tilapia fillets
  
• red quinoa
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Okay, this was pretty easy. The tilapia fillets were just seasoned with salt and pepper and sauteed in a pan with EVOO. My family has come to prefer the panko-breaded version but it was a long day and I couldn't be arsed. The sauteed version is delicious too, so bite me. (Did I mention it was a long day? Yeah. A REALLY long day.)

The red quinoa is Ancient Harvest brand. It's supposed to be just like regular quinoa, I think, but it tastes different to me and has a slightly different texture (crunchier and a wee bit bitter, to my palate). Frankly, I prefer the traditional ("blonde") version. But this one was okay, too. I tossed my individual portion with a bit of EVOO, salt and pepper and that made it a bit more palatable.

Tonight's salad bar was quite an exciting affair, owing to the fact that we picked up our first CSA share today! I've been wanting to get involved with a CSA for ages, but most of the ones in my area have long waiting lists and/or no distribution points that are convenient to my house (I mean, saving fuel IS part of the point, right?). We finally found one with no waiting list and a relatively close pickup point, so YAY! Fresh, local, organic produce! Can you tell I'm excited about this? (Incidentally, if you're in the Austin area and want the scoop on this particular CSA, feel free to email me at makeyourowndinner AT gmail DOT com.)

Anyway, so tonight's salad bar was mixed salad greens (from the CSA) and diced raw kohlrabi (ditto), along with cucumber, baby carrots, and mixed cherry/pear tomatoes, all of which were from the supermarket. It won't be long until we have lettuce and veggies from our own backyard salad garden, though! Hooray for spring!

Crispy fish, take two

Tonight's Menu

• pan-fried tilapia in panko
  
• coleslaw
  
• green salad "bar"
  

Yeah, this was pretty much a repeat of our dinner from January 23 but with last night's salad bar instead of the warm veggie salad. (And also, I used the food processor to chop the cabbage and shred the carrots tonight.)

No leftovers tonight! The girl had seconds on fish and the boy had thirds on coleslaw!

Crispy fishy

Tonight's Menu

• pan-fried tilapia
  
• coleslaw
  
• leftover warm salad of caramelized veggies and spinach
  

Okay, so I was a little bored with my usual tilapia sauteed in EVOO and decided to try something a little different. It was a bit more time-consuming than usual but not at all difficult (because, you know, I don't DO difficult). Here are the steps as I went through them:

1. Cut some boneless, skinless tilapia fillets in half lengthwise and put them in a shallow dish/pan of milk. Yes, milk. Stay with me here.
2. Take another shallow dish/pan and put in some flour mixed with salt, pepper, dry mustard, dried dill, basically whatever herbs and spices your little heart desires.
   
3. Take yet ANOTHER dish/pan (incidentally, pie pans and round cake pans work great for stuff like this), crack an egg into it, add about a tablespoon of water, and whisk to combine.
4. Take a fourth dish/pan and pour a bunch of panko into it. (You should be able to find panko at your local market -- look in the Asian/ethnic food section or in the baking section with the bread crumbs and cornmeal and whatnot -- but if not you can order it from Amazon or some other online retailer.)
5. Now you want to get a heavy-bottomed skillet with relatively high sides and pour in enough canola oil to cover the bottom about a half-inch deep. (You COULD do this in a deep-fryer, but deep-frying scares the hell out of me. I am a pan-fry kind of gal.) Heat the oil over medium-high heat for a couple of minutes.
6. Okay, now the fun part! Take a (half) fillet out of the milk, dredge it in the seasoned flour, swish it in the egg mixture, then dredge it in the panko until it's entirely coated. Then oh-so-carefully place it into the hot oil.
7. Repeat with other fillets, working in batches so as not to crowd the pan (that lowers the temperature of the oil and makes everything soggy). Watch fillets closely and turn when golden brown on the bottom (this only takes about 2-3 minutes, tops).
8. Remove from pan when both sides are a nice, golden brown. Place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain.

That's all there is to it! It sounds like a lot of steps, but once you get all your little pans o' stuff ready it's an absolute breeze. The fish comes out moist on the inside and crispy-crunchy outside, not at all greasy, and because you made it from scratch, YOU control how much salt and fat is in this stuff (hello, have you ever read the label on a box of frozen, breaded fish? it ain't pretty, y'all).

Everyone absolutely raved about this fish tonight, and you longtime readers might want to sit down for this one: The girl. Had. SECONDS! The child who lives on cheese and crackers and air actually went back for more of this stuff! You KNOW it has to be good.

We've discussed coleslaw before, right? Just shred up some cabbage with a knife, combine a little mayo with equal parts sugar and white vinegar, maybe throw in a little celery seed, toss and chill? It's like the easiest salad in the world, y'all. I was feeling fancy today and added some grated carrot! WOO! We live on the edge around here.

Enough with the spices?

Tonight's Menu

• tilapia
• spaghetti squash
  
• green salad "bar"
  

A couple of months ago, as you may recall, I discovered (ha! kind of like how Columbus "discovered" America) a recipe for spaghetti squash with Moroccan spices, and that became my favorite way to cook not only spaghetti squash, but tilapia as well. I loved it SO much, in fact, that it became my go-to tilapia meal and I haven't made tilapia or spaghetti squash any other way since.

Well, my family has gently indicated that they'd be a-OK with me giving the Moroccan spices a bit of a rest, so tonight I went a different (more boring, but still yummy) route.

The tilapia was simply seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper, then sauteed in a skillet with EVOO. The girl child blew my mind by actually trying some -- she still only eats maybe 20% of the dinners I make -- and she said it tasted a bit like white meat chicken. But she only ate a piece the size of a dime, and then didn't want any more. WHATEVER. The boy loved it.

I did the spaghetti squash in the microwave this time (as indicated in the Epicurious recipe linked above), mostly due to a lack of advance planning on my part because it takes a while to do in the oven. It came out fine, and after I shredded it into a bowl, I added a knob of butter, some salt and freshly ground pepper, and topped it with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano. Yes, the real $tuff -- I splurged on a little hunk over the holidays. This was really yummy even without all the spices. I GUESS. (No, it was, really!)

Our salad bar this evening featured mixed lettuces (I dunno, I buy them in the package already mixed), sliced cucumbers, sliced baby carrots and chopped snow peas.

Spicy squash

Tonight's Menu

• tilapia and spaghetti squash with Moroccan spices
  
• giant green salad
  

This was way yummy and fairly easy.

I followed this recipe on Epicurious for the spaghetti squash, except that I halved my squash lengthwise and cooked it cut-side down in the oven rather than in the microwave. The oven caramelizes the sugars in a way that that the microwave doesn't, and I like the added flavor. It's way quicker to do it in the microwave, though, so you do whatever.

I made the spiced butter in a heavy skillet and then, after pouring it all over the squash and tossing to coat, stuck my tilapia fillets in the same skillet to cook them. They picked up some of the spice and were SO good! The boy child had two helpings!

Chowderific!

Tonight's Menu

• fish chowder
  
• leftover herb bread
  

I've been indulging in a lot of cooking "experiments" lately, and most of them haven't worked out so well, which is why I haven't been posting much. I mean, there's only so much public humiliation I can take. Tonight's chowder, though, was an experiment that worked out wonderfully. Here's how I made it, to the best of my recollection. This was totally one of those "use what you have" type recipes, so if the specific ingredients sound a little weird, that's why.

Okay, first I chopped up some baby carrots and tiny red potatoes and simmered them in some veggie broth just until tender. While that was going, I cut up half a sweet onion and about 5-6 slices of pre-cooked bacon. I tossed the bacon into a big pot over medium high heat, just to crisp it up a bit, then reduced the heat to medium and added 3 Tbs. butter and the onions. I cooked and stirred them until the onions had gone translucent, then I added 3 Tbs. flour and stirred until it turned golden. Then I slowly stirred in some milk (I have no idea how much -- 4 cups, maybe?) and brought that to a gentle boil, stirring all the while so it wouldn't scorch on the bottom. Once it started bubbling, I added two large tilapia fillets which I had cut into bite-sized pieces, plus I drained the potatoes and carrots and added those in as well. I tossed in a bunch of dried thyme and parsley, a little dried basil, some salt and pepper and brought the whole thing back up to a boil. Then I reduced the heat to low and let it simmer about 15-20 minutes, just enough to cook the fish through and meld all the flavors.

The broth thickened a bit while it was cooking, and it was SO yummy and flavorful. I debated whether to add dill, but I really don't like dill with creamy sauces/broth. I'm weird, I know. The thyme was awesome, though.

The herb bread was left over from a few nights ago when I made an (unsuccessful) attempt at beef stew. A little tip from me to you -- don't use crappy beer in your stew. Take it from me, y'all.

Cooking disasters: haste makes waste

Tonight's Menu

• grilled tilapia fillets
  
• citrus salsa
  
• big-ass green salad
  

Oh dudes. When will I ever learn?

Tonight's dinner went wrong in a number of ways, not the least of which had to do with timing. Like I realized at 6:00, when I was just beginning dinner prep, that we were getting together with our neighbors at 7:00. Which did not allow a lot of time for sectioning citrus fruits (two Rio Grande grapefruits, two Valencia oranges, and one ill-advised lime). I ended up just tossing the sections with some sliced green onion and chopped cilantro, doing absolutely NOTHING to cut the acidity of the citrus, and it was, shall we say, VERY TANGY. Ugh.

And also, I don't know why I keep trying to grill stuff like tilapia. I have never managed to grill skinless, lean (i.e. non-oily) fish fillets with any degree of competency whatsoever, so why do I keep trying? Give me some tuna steaks or skin-on snapper fillets and I'm fine, but tilapia? Um, no. It turns to mush. I'm a moron.

Everything TASTED okay, except for the overly acidic salsa, but still. Bleh. That's what I get for rushing, I guess.

DON'T try this at home!

Rain rain go away

Tonight's Menu

• sauteed tilapia fillets
  
• grilled romaine salad
  

The neverending rain here in Central Texas (not West Texas! I don't live there, despite what the New York Times might think!) is putting a serious crimp in my summer grilling plans, y'all. So tonight's dinner was an indoor affair.

The tilapia was the usual deal, pan-sauteed in EVOO and then seasoned with salt and pepper. Dead easy.

For the salad, I took some romaine hearts (you can buy these already packaged up at the grocery store), cut them in half lengthwise, brushed them with EVOO and slapped them on the grill pan. When they were still crisp-tender with sexy little grill marks I removed them from the pan, gave them a rough chop, and tossed them in a bowl. Then I cut a bunch of cherry tomatoes (from the garden!) in half and put them cut-side down on the grill pan for about 30 seconds before chucking them in with the lettuce. Toss with a bit of EVOO and really good balsamic vinegar, season with salt and pepper, and hey presto, you've got a nice warm salad to go with the fish! I thought it was pretty damn tasty. I don't think DH was crazy about it, though. (More for me!)

I need some checkered pants, STAT

Tonight's Menu

• beer-battered tilapia
  
• leftover peach-mango salsa
  
• steamed broccoli
  
• leftover green salad
  

NEVER work with hot oil while wearing shorts. You'd think I would have learned that by the ripe old age of 40, but you'd be wrong, because I am a dumbass. I burned the FUCK out of my leg tonight when a piece of tilapia slipped off the fork I was using to transfer it from batter to pan and splashed into a pool of hot oil. I'm going to have a hell of a humongous blister (followed by a hell of a humongous scar, most likely).

Anyway.

We got sick of boring old SAFE sauteed tilapia, so I modified a recipe from Eating Well's website based on what I had in the pantry (and, of course, I used my own salsa that I made the other day). Flour, cornmeal, cumin, salt, cayenne and beer, whisked together to form a thin batter. Then I dredged some tilapia fillets (halved lengthwise, like the recipe says) in it, heated some oil (a tablespoon or so, which turned out to be a little TOO MUCH oil) in a skillet, and fried those suckers off.

They were actually really delicious, but not worth the second-degree burn.

Ouch.

Spring has sprung, apparently

Tonight's Menu

• tilapia with mango salsa
  
• leftover quinoa
  
• leftover big-ass salad
  

The ataulfo mangoes have arrived at my local supermarket, and that means one thing: MANGO SALSA. Oh HELL yeah, bitches.

2 mangoes (ataulfo if you can find them, but the regular ones will do), diced
1/2 small red onion, diced
2 serrano peppers, minced (seeded or not, depending on how hot you like it)
fresh cilantro
lime juice

Combine the mangoes, onion and peppers in a non-reactive bowl. Snip some fresh cilantro into the mix (how much is up to you because some people love it and some people hate it -- I use maybe a tablespoon) and sprinkle on a bit of fresh lime juice (the juice from one small lime should do it). Toss to mix and refrigerate for a couple of hours to let the flavors blend before serving.

(Incidentally, if you've never worked with fresh mango there is an easy way to dice it. Just cut it in half vertically, working around the thin but wide pit in the center, so that you have two halves. Discard the center section with the pit. Then take each half and cut a crosshatch pattern through the flesh but NOT through the peel. Run a spoon between the peel and flesh and it should scoop right out in nice little cubes. Sometimes it takes a bit of practice, but it's about a thousand times easier than trying to PEEL a mango and then cut it up.)

It's weird -- I don't like mango by itself, but I LOVE mango salsa. In addition to tortilla chips, it goes great with grilled chicken, pork or fish. Tonight's fish was just seasoned with salt and pepper and then sauteed in EVOO (SO quick and easy!), but that worked fine with it, too.

Vinho Verde was a great accompaniment to this meal!

Day 19*

Adult Menu**

• tilapia fillets, sauteed in EVOO and seasoned with salt and pepper
  
• baby spinach, also sauteed in EVOO with a little balsamic vinegar in addition to salt and pepper
  
• leftover quinoa pilaf from the other night
• rather a lot of Gassier Coteaux Varois rosé (I don't know from wine but this one is FABULOUS, by the way -- definitely my rosé of choice since I discovered it)(it's easy to spot because it has flip-flops on the label)(yes, the shoes)
  

Girl Child
Had leftover frozen pizza from last night along with some raw baby carrots.

Boy Child
Had the same thing as the girl child.

* Last night we had frozen pizza. I KNOW. I'd really rather not talk about it.
** The adult in this case would be me, because DH worked late and didn't make it home for dinner.

Day One

Adult Menu

• tilapia, pan-sauteed in olive oil and seasoned with salt and pepper (finished with seasoned sea salt, for those who like it)
• Uncle Ben's garlic butter rice (one of those instant thingies in a package)
• steamed broccoli

Girl Child
She agreed to try the fish, so I put some on her plate but then she didn't try it after all. For her protein, she had some deli turkey slices. She ate some rice and broccoli.

Boy Child
While the fish was cooking he said he'd try it, but when it came time to fill his plate he wanted nothing to do with any of it. He made himself half of a peanut butter sandwich and ate a handful of raw baby carrots. We told him that wasn't enough to get dessert, so he made and ate another half of a peanut butter sandwich.