Broiled Tilapia

This post doesn't feature a fancy recipe or anything too exciting really. We're sharing it to illustrate how to use a little creativity with your meals and utilize what you have. For example in this meal I purchased nothing immediately from the grocery store. We have frozen tilapia fillets in the freezer, lettuce on hand (before our leaves from the garden were producing I would regularly purchase lettuce for salads since they're an easy side that can go with anything), and the couscous was in the pantry. Read on to see how we assembled the meal:

For the tilapia
We actually used the counter convection oven for this since we just needed to broil the tilapia. We placed a little bit of butter on the fillet (halved a small slice and placed on each half of the fish) then sprinkled with a basic seafood seasoning that we found in the pantry. Then continue to broil!

For the couscous
We cooked according to package directions and then added chopped sun-dried tomatoes and goat cheese.

For the salad
To these mixed greens we added a white wine vinegar, olive oil, shaved parmesan, and almonds.

Use your creativity for the "add-on's". If you think it'd be good, try it.

Pork Lo Mein

Recently I've been planning our weekly meals more routinely. This cuts down on my trips to the grocery store and since I cue Patrick in on the meal plan he's able to start meals if I'm working a little later than usual. As I was planning meals for this particular week I was having a little trouble figure out 5 days--it's hard to meal plan for a whole week! Fortunately our latest EatingWell (April 2012) magazine was hanging out on the coffee table. So I browsed it and found this! You can find it online here or below. And I usually incorporate a blog recipe or two in my meal planning since we know how to make it and think it's good!

This is officially called "pork and snap pea lo mein" but I substituted the snap peas for edamame just because I thought it would be good. Patrick altered the preparation a little so I'll note that below.

Pork Lo Mein 4 servings | Active Time: 30 minutes | Total Time: 30 minutes
Ingredients
8 ounces whole-wheat spaghetti (we had soba noodles in the pantry so we used those)
1/3 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 cups snap peas, trimmed (substituted in frozen shelled edamame)
12 ounces boneless pork loin chops or tenderloin, trimmed, cut into thin strips
3 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 scallions, sliced
1 carrots, peeled and thinly chopped* *our addition!

Preparation
   Cook pasta in a large pot of boiling water until just tender, 8 to 10 minutes or according to package directions. Drain.
   Combine soy sauce, rice vinegar, cornstarch and sugar in a small bowl. (Patrick added the pork to this mixture and let it marinade while the veggies sauteed.)
   Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add snap peas (Of course we started with edamame and carrot so you can use whatever you want) and cook, stirring frequently, until beginning to soften, about 2 minutes. Add pork and cook, stirring, until no longer pink on the outside, about 2 minutes. Add garlic (we added the scallions here versus the end because we wanted them incorporated into the saute) and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir the soy sauce mixture, pour into the pan and cook, stirring, until thickened, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Remove from the heat. Add the pasta to the pan and toss to coat with the sauce. Serve topped with scallions.

Pork Lo Mein!

Spaghetti with Shrimp, Lemon, and Chives

Patrick may have mentioned in a previous post that on our last trip to Costco we purchased a large bag of frozen tilapia filets and shrimp! It's been fun experimenting with these two items in some new seafood dishes. This particular recipe is from our Food Made Fast Seafood cookbook. I chose it because it was simple and featured chives. Our chive bucket is getting a little out of control and needs some harvesting. This recipe also reminded us of one of Patrick's favorite dishes: Lemon Spaghetti. This new one might replace that one because this has a few less steps and is equally delicious. We served this with a light salad and sun-dried tomato vinaigrette (recipe follows).

Linguine with Shrimp from Food Made Fast: Seafood
2 lemons
1 cup heavy cream
1 lb small shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 tbsp fresh chives
salt and white pepper
1 lb linguine or fettucine (we used whole-wheat spaghetti)
1 tbsp olive oil

Boil the water and warm the sauce: Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Grate 1 tablespoon zest from the lemons and squeeze 3 tablespoons juice. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine the cream and lemon zest and heat until hot. Remove from the heat if the mixture begins to boil. In a small bowl, combine the shrimp, lemon juice, and chives; set aside.

Cook the pasta and finish the sauce: Add 2 tablespoons salt and the pasta to the boiling water. Cook, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking, until al dente, according to the package directions. When the pasta is within about 3 mintues of being al dente, warm the oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Add the shrimp to the pan and cook, stirring, until they are opaque throughout, about 2 minutes. Add the warm cream to the pan and season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper. Drain the pasta, add to the pan, toss to coat with the sauce, and serve.

For the salad: we use chopped buttercrunch lettuce, sliced avocado, and almonds
For the vinaigrette: in a small food processor we combined sun-dried tomatoes (~1/4 cup), balsamic vinegar (2-3 tbsp), olive oil (~1/4 cup), small dash of sugar, basil, salt and pepper; pulse until smooth. Continue to add ingredients until the ratio of the vinaigrette is to your liking.

Vanilla Cream Fruit Tart

I know you've been waiting for this dessert recipe! It complemented our spring potluck meal perfectly. This recipe came to me through my mom and one of our dear family friends, Sissy. I've had this recipe in my little cookbook for quite some time waiting for the perfect event to make it. I tested it out here and can't wait to make it again for a summer cookout.

Vanilla Cream Fruit Tart

3/4 c butter or margarine, softened

1/2 c confectioners sugar

1 1/2 c all-purpose flour

1 - 10 oz pkg vanilla chips, melted and cooled

1/4 c whipping cream

1 - 8 oz pkg cream cheese, softened

1 pint fresh strawberries, sliced

1 c fresh blueberries (the grocery store was out of blueberries when I was shopping; kiwi made a great substitute/addition)

1 c fresh raspberries

1/2 c pineapple juice

1/4 c sugar

1 tbsp cornstarch

1/2 tsp lemon juice

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in flour (mixture will be crumbly). 

Pat into bottom of a greased 12-in pizza pan. 

Bake at 300F for 25-28 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. In another mixing bowl, beat melted chips and cream. Add cream cheese and beat until smooth. Spread over crust. 

Chill for 30 minutes. Arrange berries over filling. In a saucepan combine pineapple juice, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice; bring to a boil over medium heat. Boil for 2 minutes or until thickened, stirring constantly. Cool; brush over fruit. Chill 1 hour before serving. Store in the refrigerator.

My first sprig of mint!

I've harvested my first sprig of mint! I was enjoying a relaxing afternoon off and thought I'd like some tea with mint. So I cut off a mint sprig, washed it, and put it in my tumbler, like so...

Then I put some ice cubes into the tumbler (about 5-6). I placed my hand over the tumbler and shook it so the ice cubes would bruise the mint leaves and release its extract. While I was doing this I was brewing some black tea. Once your tea is brewed, put in your preference of sweetener to your liking, and then pour over the ice cubes and mint sprig, like so...

And here is your perfect summer afternoon refresher!

Here's a funny story about Patrick choosing our Tervis Tumblers:
I'm sure some of you wonder about the dynamics of our relationship; being that Patrick is a Blue Devil and I am a Tar Heel. Let's just say there are a guaranteed two nights a year one of us will be really upset and the other really happy (and we hope it's only two basketball games; luckily we didn't have any tournament meetings this season). We were enjoying a nice stroll through Macy's one weekend and decided it was finally time we invested in Tervis tumblers. As I was browsing through housewares I told Patrick to go pick us out some. Patrick comes back with one tumbler and of course it's a Duke one. When I asked him "where mine was?" he courteously turned around to get one for me... he came back with a second Duke one!!! Silly Patrick, I gave him a little look and traded that Duke tumbler for the better blue. And now we're each represented in the cabinet.

Deck Drinks

Patrick and I have taken to enjoying a "deck drink" on our back patio after work. The weather is so nice. We define a deck drink as any cool liquid consumed while sitting in the lawn chairs. On this particular evening I blended a frozen concentrate limeade with ice and added a sprig of mint.

We like watching the birds and hearing them chirp. However as you can see here sometimes the ducks invade!

Our first lettuce harvest

This isn't a particularly exciting meal since we just marinated some salmon and had a salad. But it's on the blog becauseee... it's our first lettuce harvest! As you can imagine this is from the plants that we bought at the Durham Farmers Market and transplanted into our container garden.

Isn't it pretty?!

Inspired by our fresh green leaves we decided to make a fancy salad. This was right after we had visited home and Granny shared some freshly picked local strawberries with us.

For the fancy salad we added a little arugula to our harvested lettuce and topped it with sliced strawberries, chopped pecans, and shaved parmesan. The salad was dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

The salad was served next to salmon marinated in a lemon pepper marinade. Of course you can prep your fancy salad while your salmon roasts and this meal is ready in less than 30 minutes!