I had this dish for the first time a couple of years ago when it was prepared for me by my friend Kate, who is one of the best cooks I know. I think she got it from a Cooking Light Magazine. Since then this has become one of my "go-to" dishes either when Tilapia is on sale or when I am having company over and I need something quick and delicious. I had Jeff and his daughter Lauren over to my apartment for dinner last night. I felt like I was going out on a bit of a limb making a Thai dish for a 12 year old but she really liked it and so did Jeff. Don't be intimidated by the long ingredient list. This dish comes together in about 15 minutes!
Broiled Tilapia with Thai Coconut Curry Sauce
1 tsp sesame oil, divided
2 tsp minced, peeled fresh ginger
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
1 cup finely chopped green onions
1 tsp curry powder
2 tsp red curry paste
1/2 tsp ground cumin
4 tsp low-sodium soy sauce (you can buy gluten-free soy sauce if needed)
1 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 - 14oz can light coconut milk
2 T fresh, chopped cilantro
4-5 Tilapia fillets
3 cups hot, cooked basmati rice
lime wedges
- Before you do anything with this recipe, you really must pre-chop your veggies, line up your little spice jars and have your teaspoons ready. I don't usually do all my recipe prep ahead of time but this sauce comes together really quickly and you're going to want to have everything handy.
- Preheat broiler
- Heat 1/2 tsp sesame oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the ginger and garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Add red pepper and onions and cook for 1 minute.
- Stir in curry powder, curry paste and cumin; cook 1 minute
- Add soy sauce, sugar, 1/4 tsp salt and coconut milk. Stir. Bring to just a simmer and then remove from heat.
- Brush fish with remaining 1/4 tsp of sesame oil. Sprinkle with 1/4 tsp of salt. Place fish on a baking sheet and broil 7 minutes.
- Serve fish with rice and sauce. Top with cilantro and fresh lime juice.
Most of you know by now that I really love pretty food! Along with being very tasty, this is a beautiful dish with lots of colors.
Hope you enjoy!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
Monday, March 28, 2011
Josie's Chocolate Chip Cookies
When I was a little girl my mom used to take my sister and I to visit an elderly woman in our church named Josie Willoughmy. She was very tall and thin, with long, snow white hair that I only ever saw in a bun. I think she was probably in her 80's and to my little eyes, seemed incredibly old! She lived in Upland, CA and had lived there all her life. She had photo albums of that area when it was only farms and wagons and orange groves. She had a fabulous garden that she tended herself with vegetables and berries and a whole greenhouse for different kinds of orchids. She is the one who taught me to crochet. And she made the most wonderful chocolate chip cookies we had ever had! We would go to her house, visit for a while with her and her little dog, Frisky, and then at the end she would pull out the cookies and some Hawaiian punch and serve them to us on china she had hand-painted herself. As an adult, I wish now that I could go back to those visits and listen a little more closely to all the stories of the rich life she had lead. But as a child, I mostly looked forward to those cookies!
They are made with instant vanilla Jell-O pudding and Josie told us she got this recipe off their box somewhere back in the 1930's or 1940's. After years of visiting her, she finally shared the recipe with us and it has become firmly fixed as a Dieter tradition. I can hardly believe I've been blogging for over a year and haven't put these on here yet. So without further delay, here you go:
Josie's Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 small box Jell-O instant vanilla pudding
Chocolate chips
Nuts, optional
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix dry ingredients and set aside
- Mix butter, Crisco, sugars, vanilla, eggs, and powdered pudding mix until creamy.
- Gradually add in dry ingredients and then chocolate chips (and nuts if desired)
- Bake 8-10 minutes. And here is the key for these cookies: Do NOT overbake them. Start peaking at them around 8 minutes. You want to remove them when the top feels slightly firm to the touch but before they are turning brown. This will cause them to stay wonderfully soft and chewy even after they have cooled.
I shared this recipe with Jeff a couple of months ago and he has started making them for his kids and for friends. He is a new but very enthusiastic cook and this weekend we learned a valuable lesson about communication! The first time I sent him this recipe, I only wrote "1 pkg instant vanilla pudding" and he quite naturally bought the little cups of pre-made pudding and added those to the cookies. When I saw those little cups in his pantry, I corrected him and told him to get the powdered pudding. He did this and then proceeded to make the pudding and then add it to the dough. We got a good laugh out of that this weekend and made the batch above correctly with just the contents of the box of instant pudding.
One more thing, I've never played around with it, but I think it would be fun to try adding a chocolate pudding mix or even a butterscotch pudding mix instead of just vanilla to these to see what other kinds of cookie variations you could get out of it.
Happy Monday!
They are made with instant vanilla Jell-O pudding and Josie told us she got this recipe off their box somewhere back in the 1930's or 1940's. After years of visiting her, she finally shared the recipe with us and it has become firmly fixed as a Dieter tradition. I can hardly believe I've been blogging for over a year and haven't put these on here yet. So without further delay, here you go:
Josie's Chocolate Chip Cookies
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup butter-flavored Crisco
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 small box Jell-O instant vanilla pudding
Chocolate chips
Nuts, optional
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Mix dry ingredients and set aside
- Mix butter, Crisco, sugars, vanilla, eggs, and powdered pudding mix until creamy.
- Gradually add in dry ingredients and then chocolate chips (and nuts if desired)
- Bake 8-10 minutes. And here is the key for these cookies: Do NOT overbake them. Start peaking at them around 8 minutes. You want to remove them when the top feels slightly firm to the touch but before they are turning brown. This will cause them to stay wonderfully soft and chewy even after they have cooled.
I shared this recipe with Jeff a couple of months ago and he has started making them for his kids and for friends. He is a new but very enthusiastic cook and this weekend we learned a valuable lesson about communication! The first time I sent him this recipe, I only wrote "1 pkg instant vanilla pudding" and he quite naturally bought the little cups of pre-made pudding and added those to the cookies. When I saw those little cups in his pantry, I corrected him and told him to get the powdered pudding. He did this and then proceeded to make the pudding and then add it to the dough. We got a good laugh out of that this weekend and made the batch above correctly with just the contents of the box of instant pudding.
One more thing, I've never played around with it, but I think it would be fun to try adding a chocolate pudding mix or even a butterscotch pudding mix instead of just vanilla to these to see what other kinds of cookie variations you could get out of it.
Happy Monday!
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
Little Cutie-Pie turns 1 year old!
Hey! My blog has been woefully lacking in pictures recently. I've got to get better at that! But since my little cutie-pies are much more fun to look at than food, I thought I'd sneak in a couple from Ben's 1st birthday a few weeks ago.
(I would like for you to pay special attention to the cheeks on this kid! I think they might be the most scrumptious thing to ever to appear on this blog!)
(Yep, that is a bright orange cast... He took a little tumble out of his crib and broke his arm. But I think he actually looks rather proud in this pic)
(Gettin' busy with his first ever cupcake!)
Big Sister Cutie-Pie getting in a little cuddle time with me.
(Bekah's first toe-painting with Mommy & Auntie Jenny, a key experience in any female's life!)
Happy Wednesday!
(I would like for you to pay special attention to the cheeks on this kid! I think they might be the most scrumptious thing to ever to appear on this blog!)
(Yep, that is a bright orange cast... He took a little tumble out of his crib and broke his arm. But I think he actually looks rather proud in this pic)
(Gettin' busy with his first ever cupcake!)
Big Sister Cutie-Pie getting in a little cuddle time with me.
(Bekah's first toe-painting with Mommy & Auntie Jenny, a key experience in any female's life!)
Happy Wednesday!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Attack of the exploding BBQ sauce bottle...
A few nights ago I was moseying along, pulling some dinner together for Jeff and I and enjoying the evening. Just about 5 minutes before dinner was set to be ready, I was setting my table and decided to shake my bottle of barbeque sauce, since it hasn't been used in several months. Can you guess what happened??
Yep! The top was not screwed on and barbeque sauce exploded all over me and the light gray carpet in my little dining room!
And what happened next demonstrates exactly why Jeff is good for me. I squealed and stressed and sort of froze up because I didn't know what to do about all that sauce on the carpet. Jeff, on the other hand, just calmly went to my laptop and Google'd "how to get barbeque sauce out of carpet". Up came the instructions and he went to work while I fluttered uselessly around the kitchen. 10 minutes later, there was not a spot to be seen on my carpet! It was actually pretty amazing.
So in case your bottle of barbeque sauce ever gets put away without the lid screwed on and you happen to shake it over light gray carpet, here is what you do:
1. Use the dull edge of a butter knife to lightly scrape the excess sauce off the top of the carpet.
2. Add about a 1/4 tsp of laundry detergent (or just a quick quirt) to about 1 liter of cold water and stir.
3. Moisten a paper towel with the cleaning liquid and lay it over the stain.
4. Use the bottom of a spoon to gently press down on the paper towel. Gradually work your way all over the towel, starting on the outside and working your way toward the center in a spiral to prevent spreading the stain. This process works the solution into the carpet without rubbing the stain in or damaging the carpet fibers.
5. Dab some clean water over the stain and blot (NOT rub) with a clean dry towel to remove any remaining liquid.
Voila!
Yep! The top was not screwed on and barbeque sauce exploded all over me and the light gray carpet in my little dining room!
And what happened next demonstrates exactly why Jeff is good for me. I squealed and stressed and sort of froze up because I didn't know what to do about all that sauce on the carpet. Jeff, on the other hand, just calmly went to my laptop and Google'd "how to get barbeque sauce out of carpet". Up came the instructions and he went to work while I fluttered uselessly around the kitchen. 10 minutes later, there was not a spot to be seen on my carpet! It was actually pretty amazing.
So in case your bottle of barbeque sauce ever gets put away without the lid screwed on and you happen to shake it over light gray carpet, here is what you do:
1. Use the dull edge of a butter knife to lightly scrape the excess sauce off the top of the carpet.
2. Add about a 1/4 tsp of laundry detergent (or just a quick quirt) to about 1 liter of cold water and stir.
3. Moisten a paper towel with the cleaning liquid and lay it over the stain.
4. Use the bottom of a spoon to gently press down on the paper towel. Gradually work your way all over the towel, starting on the outside and working your way toward the center in a spiral to prevent spreading the stain. This process works the solution into the carpet without rubbing the stain in or damaging the carpet fibers.
5. Dab some clean water over the stain and blot (NOT rub) with a clean dry towel to remove any remaining liquid.
Voila!
Sunday, March 13, 2011
Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille w/ Chicken Basil Sausage
Something interesting has been happening to my tastebuds over the last couple weeks... Somewhere between the removal of sugar and all refined carbs from my diet and my doctor's strict instructions to chew my food more thoroughly (apparently this is much more crucial to healthy digestion than most people know), my sense of taste seems to be sharpening. I am becoming increasingly sensitized to flavors and textures and I am starting to enjoy certain foods that I used to blow right past.
Here is my theory. I think perhaps we were hard-wired to enjoy eating. Perhaps this is one of the gifts the Lord gave us when he knit our little baby bodies together. Although my food choices are incredibly restricted right now, my tastes are shifting to accommodate and I am beginning to seriously enjoy really simple ordinary foods like vegetables and nuts or a good apple.
The recipe below is an example of this to me. I've never before been a huge fan of zucchini squash or yellow summer squash and I've never in my life even attempted to prepare an eggplant. The only way I would eat zucchini as a child was in sweet bread or if my mom would slice it in 1/2, smother it in jack cheese and broil it. But then, you could smother almost anything in jack cheese and it would be probably be pretty tasty. But I digress...
This Ratatouille recipe is what we prepared a few weeks ago in the cooking class I volunteer with and I was shocked at how delicious it tasted to me. I went home and prepared it myself, adding in some Chicken Basil sausage for protein. I've been eating it either plain or over some brown rice. In our class, the students ate it over Couscous. I think it would be pretty tasty over some pasta as well. Here you go!
Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille
1 small red onion
1 small eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
3 T canola oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 - 14oz cans diced tomatoes
Fresh pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Dice onion, zucchini, yellow squash and egg plant. (I really liked a fairly small dice on this. So aim for pieces that are about 1/2 inch squares).
- In a small dish, mix canola oil and herbs. Add to veggies and toss to coat.
- Roast in a 9x13in baking dish for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add garlic and tomatoes (with liquid).
- Stir and roast for another 20 minutes until all veggies are tender.
*If you want to add some sausage, brown it in a pan ahead of time, but don't cook it all the way through. Then add to the veggies just after tossing them with the oil and herbs.
For being such a simple dish, I thought this was completely wonderful! I'm on my 4th day of leftovers and I'm not tired of it yet!
And if any of you are interested, you can read about the Cooking Matters program HERE. I have totally loved getting involved with them over the last 9 months and they have chapters in quite a few major cities. They are a program that teaches basic cooking, nutrition and food budgeting/shopping skills in low income populations. Super fun!!
Happy Sunday to all of you!
Here is my theory. I think perhaps we were hard-wired to enjoy eating. Perhaps this is one of the gifts the Lord gave us when he knit our little baby bodies together. Although my food choices are incredibly restricted right now, my tastes are shifting to accommodate and I am beginning to seriously enjoy really simple ordinary foods like vegetables and nuts or a good apple.
The recipe below is an example of this to me. I've never before been a huge fan of zucchini squash or yellow summer squash and I've never in my life even attempted to prepare an eggplant. The only way I would eat zucchini as a child was in sweet bread or if my mom would slice it in 1/2, smother it in jack cheese and broil it. But then, you could smother almost anything in jack cheese and it would be probably be pretty tasty. But I digress...
This Ratatouille recipe is what we prepared a few weeks ago in the cooking class I volunteer with and I was shocked at how delicious it tasted to me. I went home and prepared it myself, adding in some Chicken Basil sausage for protein. I've been eating it either plain or over some brown rice. In our class, the students ate it over Couscous. I think it would be pretty tasty over some pasta as well. Here you go!
Roasted Vegetable Ratatouille
1 small red onion
1 small eggplant
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
3 T canola oil
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
2 medium garlic cloves, minced
2 - 14oz cans diced tomatoes
Fresh pepper to taste
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Dice onion, zucchini, yellow squash and egg plant. (I really liked a fairly small dice on this. So aim for pieces that are about 1/2 inch squares).
- In a small dish, mix canola oil and herbs. Add to veggies and toss to coat.
- Roast in a 9x13in baking dish for 20 minutes.
- Remove from oven and add garlic and tomatoes (with liquid).
- Stir and roast for another 20 minutes until all veggies are tender.
*If you want to add some sausage, brown it in a pan ahead of time, but don't cook it all the way through. Then add to the veggies just after tossing them with the oil and herbs.
For being such a simple dish, I thought this was completely wonderful! I'm on my 4th day of leftovers and I'm not tired of it yet!
And if any of you are interested, you can read about the Cooking Matters program HERE. I have totally loved getting involved with them over the last 9 months and they have chapters in quite a few major cities. They are a program that teaches basic cooking, nutrition and food budgeting/shopping skills in low income populations. Super fun!!
Happy Sunday to all of you!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
