More Fish!

Last time I posted about fish, it was after I made an awesome lime and garlic tilapia.

Today, I made fish again. Simply, the next two pieces out of a total of 7 we bought. (the next experiment will be 3 pieces instead of 2)

Anyway, I found this recipe online and decided that because it was fish wrapped in BACON, what could go wrong? NOTHING, RIGHT?

Lime Butter Garlic Tilapia

Let's start this off with a picture.

Hubby and I have recently decided to add more fish to our diet. We previously ate zero fish and are going up to at least one fish meal per week.  I was a scaredy cat at first and only bought frozen prepared fish,  but decided to confront my fish-fear and buy fresh fish.

I made a meal tonight which was absolutely beautiful and delicious. Here is the recipe.

One more, since I'm on a roll.

Random food porn:

Same meal, two angles.

Pan grilled pork tenderloin seasoned with Lawry's, rosemary, sage, and thyme, served with a bed of white rice and a salad.

The salad is as follows:

Spring greens
1 mcintosh apple
6 strawberries
1/4 cup roasted pecans
1/4 cup red onion
1 tsp garlic fiesta seasoning

With balsamic dressing on top.

I would've added feta to it. Feta would have made it ultimate. Still, hubby ate it. So, it was a win.

Stew!

Awhile back I made an awesome beef stew using this recipe and a couple modifications.

First modification is I browned the beef in a pan with some olive oil before I added it to the slow cooker.  Second modification is I added more veggies than it called for. Third modification is I waited until halfway through the cooking time before I added the vegetables so it wouldn't be mushy.

Here are some pictures of the process, and at the end, the final product.

We ate our stew with a loaf of rapid-bake cheddar onion bread. So good together.

Meat!

We bought some.

Turkey, Wine, and the Original Social Networking Tool!

For New Years Day I decided we should roast a turkey.  The supermarket had a huge sale on utility turkeys -- only 79 cents per pound.   We brined that sucker (recipe to follow at the end) and noticed, when we were about to throw it on the barbecue rotisserie, that there were no wings.  We got a flightless bird.  Our neighbours, Rob and Cindy, hit the same sale. Their utility turkey had no legs! A lame bird! Still. For 79 cents per pound? No complaints.

Swag!

My husband and his aunt are saints.

First off, hubby got me a Kitchenaid stand mixer. LOVE LOVE LOVE. I haven't used it yet but I think the first thing I'll make in it will be butter tart dough. A neat little way of thanking him ;)

I think I really want the pasta attachment. My breadmaker makes pasta dough and I've always wanted to make my own pasta.


As I mentioned, hubby's aunt Lucy is awesome.  She gave me a mandoline. I've always wanted a mandoline.  Here is the mandoline she bought me. 

I used it on Giftmas day to make salads for my family. Works like a charm.  Here are a couple pictures.

First salad is a spring greens salad with cherry tomatoes, rainbow peppers, cucumbers, and red onion.

Second salad is baby spinach with strawberry, craisins, red onion, cherry tomatoes, and cashews.   I forgot the feta at home. BAD JUPE. But still, tasted good.  I now have a sweet block of feta in my fridge to enjoy in my salads so it's not all for naught.

Rediscovering My Love For Fresh Bread

Years ago, when I moved to Toronto, I bought a breadmaker and I used it fairly frequently.  Life continued and after several moves, I fell out of using it, opting for the more convenient buying of bread from either the bakery or the supermarket.

It was only recently that I picked it up again, and I have found a recipe that I love.


This is a breadmaker recipe, but I actually bake the bread in the oven (350 degrees for an hour) instead of in the breadmaker.

Hearty Multigrain Bread

When the dough was finished mixing in the breadmaker I allowed it to rise for a few hours and then rolled it in seeds for a beautiful roasted crust.

It tastes just like this bread my father in law gets from the Superstore. Absolutely wonderful toasted with butter and a fraction of the price to make.

Wintertime Chili

I must admit, when I first received this Wintertime Chili for Christmas last year, I was pretty skeptical.  Today, however, after having it in my cupboard for 11 months, I decided to gather the ingredients and make it.

Boy, am I ever glad. It was super duper tasty.

The recipe is ridiculously easy to make. All you need to know is how to chop an onion, cut up a pepper, chop a couple cloves of garlic, and brown some ground beef.

Oh, and how to turn your stove on and off and not use it at maximum.  You'd be surprised how many people can't do that.

I added extra chili powder, extra cayenne pepper, and some red chili pepper flakes because I used 19oz cans of beans instead of 15. The flavours were all there! Definitely a good meal.

I sliced up some flour tortillas to eat with the chili. Perfection.

Here's a picture:

Adventures in Cake Pops

I love to bake. I love to bake new things. I love cake. I love baking cake. I do not really like making cake pops, but they are -delicious-.

I bought a package of Wilton's orange candy melts with intent to make pumpkin cake pops to give to the kids around the neighbourhood that I know.  Sadly, I melted the candy at too high a temperature, and had no more orange chocolate.  Sadness.

So, Halloween came and Halloween went and in my freezer sat 50-some lonely, naked, freezing cake pops just begging to be dipped in delicious warm chocolate. What better way to end quickly?

I had a spare package of light cocoa candy melts in my drawer so I decided I'd give it a go again today.

This time, I used the stovetop instead of the microwave.  I heated it slowly, gradually. The chocolate was never too hot to touch.  When it was melted, I still found it too thick, so I added a bit of vegetable oil, a bit at a time, until it was the right consistency -- dippable.

Then, so began the dipping. We had a few casualties of war:

Poor bastards. I'll give them a good home, later.

But all in all, I finished a good solid, (but seriously fugly), chocolate cakepops.

They don't look like much, but they certainly are tasty.


Oh, and for those who are curious as to what I might've done with my ruined melted orange chocolate?

Chocolate flowers.  Hey, the Behemoth loves them.


Cake pops: let it be known! With time, I shall conquor you!

I should've posted this before

FOOD PORN.

Total food porn.

Alex did these up on the rotisserie about a month ago.

Stuffed with apple and onion, then rubbed with assorted spices from the cupboard.

We love our bbq.

Viva Mexico!

My husband is turning 32 and so, for his birthday, I decided to do a Mexican theme.  For dessert, I made margarita cupcakes, and for dinner will be burritos with homemade guacamole.  For drinks I've opted a non alcoholic watermelon iced tea (bought from David's Tea) and mojitos! (recipe to follow in a later post)

Burritos will have a couple of available options:

Black beans with corn

Pinto beans

(both bean selections will  be appropriately seasoned with chili powder and a bit of garlic)

Cilantro lime rice (recipe to follow in a later post)

Rainbow peppers with red onion (salt and pepper)

Guacamole (recipe at the bottom of this post)

Chicken or steak (marinated in lime, pepper, and cilantro)

all the fixings (like cheese, lettuce, salsa, etc)

 

Here is are some pictures of ingredients:

Up next: Guacamole recipe!

Chicken Kiev

Well, hubby  broke the news that he'll be late coming home, so I figured I'd spend a few extra minutes to try a recipe I've wanted to try for a very long time but never got around to doing.  I had some fresh Italian parsley in the fridge from the neighbour's garden and since the recipe called for fresh parsley, it seemed to be the logical thing to make.

The only thing I didn't have was buttermilk, so I made it. Milk, Vinegar, and five minutes. Good enough to coat the chicken before breading.  Took less time and made less mess than my standard flour/egg/breadcrumb mix. I also substituted breadcrumbs for corn flakes. Delicious.

Anyway, I cut down the cooking time by five minutes because I hate dry chicken. It's all moist and white inside without a hint of pinkness and it tastes fantastic. That's what matters, yes?

Anyway, here's the pic:

Forgive the already half eaten picture. I dug in before I even thought about taking a picture of it... but at least you get to see what the inside looks like.

Here is the recipe, if you're interested.

Pulled Pork

This has got to be the most retardedly easy recipe in the whole wide world.

Happy Birthday to Me!

As a sort of warm up for my son's third birthday in June I decided to make myself a birthday cake. Today is my birthday,  so I sort of cut it close.

Now, just for the record, I'm something of a novice cake maker. I'm by no means professional, as anyone could tell by my gawd-awful piping, but I had fun with gum paste and some leftover icing from the last cake I made.

My husband gave me a hand in the kitchen last night in baking the cakes as I've had a sore back due to pregnancy, and together, with my neighbour's Kitchenaid stand up mixer, we got the job done quickly, efficiently, and with little to no problems.

I decided that since I had mostly blue icing I'd make an underwater/ocean cake.  The decals are gum paste and the rest is just plain buttercream icing.

The actual cake is yellow with lemon. Yum! Two nine inch cakes stacked on top of each other with buttercream in the middle.

We'll taste it tonight but I think it'll be yummy enough.

And now... Pictures!