Tilapia Croquettes

Ooooh, these were so yummy, hubby requested that I make them again SOON and make MORE. LOL  And it's so easy and fast to make!  20 minutes to prepare and maybe 20 minutes to cook!

Sorry for the lousy pictures though. LOL

This was the first time I made them in the butter the recipe calls for.  The butter burned.

This was the 2nd time I made them, this time i cooked them in olive oil - I suggest the olive oil :)

Ingredients

* Pickle Relish, 1/3 cup
* Kraft Mayo Light Mayonnaise , 2/3 c
* Lime Juice, 1 lime yields
* Tilapia filet, 16 oz  (I'm sure this recipe would work with any flaky fish)
* Bread crumbs, dry, grated, plain, 1.25 cup
* Egg, fresh, 1 large, lightly beaten
* Garlic, 3 cloves
* Butter, unsalted, .25 cup
* 1 tsp lime peel
* 2 tsp. lemon pepper seasoning 

Directions

Stir together mayo & relish to make tartar sauce. Add lime juice and lime peel.

Coat lg skillet with 2 tbs of butter. Cook fish fillets for 5 minutes on each side, or until fish flakes. Flake fish fillets and place in large bowl. Add 1/3 c. tartar sauce mixture, breadcrumbs, egg, garlic and lemon pepper. Shape into 6 patties.

*I actually made 12 patties with this much mixture - I just didn't make them real THICK.

Cook patties in batches in remaining 2 tbls butter over medium high heat 5 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Serve immediately with remaining tartar sauce if desired.

Number of Servings: 6

Technorati Tags: tilapia , recipes , cooking

 

Quote of the day:
Your manuscript is both good and original, but the part that is good is not original and the part that is original is not good. - Samuel Johnson

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nutritional Info

• Servings Per Recipe: 6
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 354.4

• Total Fat: 20.3 g
• Cholesterol: 103.3 mg
• Sodium: 541.8 mg
• Total Carbs: 24.2 g
• Dietary Fiber: 1.2 g
• Protein: 18.5 g

Baked, Stuffed Acorn Squash

As a kid, the only time we really ate squash was at Thanksgiving & Christmas - and it was boiled butternut squash that was then mashed and buttered. It was yummy. However, a few years ago, thanks to our local farmer's market, I became enamored with other kinds of squash as well as different ways to prepare them that didn't involve watering them down by boiling them. This is one I came up with.

Acorn squash is full of good stuff, too!

2 acorn squash, approximately 1 lb each
1 package bulk sausage meat, the kind you use for stuffing (or to make sausage patties for you down there in the south)
Onion powder
garlic salt

Split the acorn squash lengthwise - this allows them to stand upright
Remove the seeds & other icky stuff inside
squeeze out 1/4 of the sausage meat right into the squash cavity
sprinkle with garlic & onion & whatever other spices you might like
cover with aluminum foil
bake in a 350-375° oven for 1-1/2 hours

Makes 4 servings. Obviously, if you have more people, cook more squash LOL
Serve :)

OMG This is so good Apple Pie

We went apple picking this past weekend and now are the proud owners of WAY TOO MANY APPLES! Since the only varieties that were available to pick were Macs and Cortlands, that's what we have. Of course, they are crying out to be made into any kind of apple-y goodness I can think of so I went on the hunt for a good, easy apple pie recipe. I adapted several recipes that I found on the net and made it my own way and it came out simply FABULOUS. Please excuse my messy counter - I have a habit of starting things without thinking ahead LOL

You will need:

• 7 Macintosh apples or other similarly tart apple
  
• 1/2 c. granulated sugar
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbls. butter
  
• 2 Tbls. flour
• 1 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 Ready-to-use pie crust (the kind you unfold)

First things first, I put the bottom pie crust into my glass pie dish and threw it in the oven while I prepared the apples.

Next, I cored the apples (didn't peel them), and then cut them into quarters, and then eighths. In a separate bowl, we combined flour, sugars, cinnamon and salt and mixed.



Next, we layered the apples into the pie dish, being careful because it's hot now. After each layer, we'd sprinkle a GENEROUS helping of the sugar mixture, until we'd used up all the apples.

Then we cut the butter up into small chunks and placed it around the apples.


Next, we placed the top crust on to the pie, pinching the pie crust closed along the edges. We cut a couple of ventilation holes on top and then rimmed the edge of the crust with aluminum foil to prevent it from burning. I also swiped a bit more butter on the crust to help it brown. I'd suggest milk, though.

Into the 375 degree oven (on a cookie sheet to prevent messy, burning spills).

I baked ours from
to


So, roughly 40 minutes. Essentially, you just want to make sure the apples are done.

The finished product. So you're saying "Ok, but you said this is CARAMEL apple pie - where's the caramel, Dawn?"

I'm not a big fan of caramel but hubby is and I do love to make him happy, so I dug this out of the fridge:

Scooped some out into a microwave safe measuring cup and microwaved it for 30 seconds.

Then I brushed it on:


Voila!


A generous portion of french vanilla on top, sprinkled a little cinnamon on and OMG This is SO GOOD Apple Pie!

Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia w/angel hair pasta

In July, hubby & I celebrated our anniversary by ordering dinner to go and having a nice dinner at home without the hassle of trying to keep 3 kids quiet in a restaurant. I decided to order something totally different than my usual prime rib, and decided to go with their Parmesan Encrusted Tilapia, which was served with spaghetti & garlic bread. It was fabulous! Since then, I've been thinking about it and wanting it again, but not wanting to spend the kind of money it requires to feed 5 at the 99 Restaurant.

Today, while futzing around in my freezer trying to figure out what was for dinner, I came across some tilapia that I'd bought recently and put that out to defrost. I had planned on our usual (another recipe for another day), but then at the lats minute, decided to try my hand at the yummy thing that the 99 had done. The results were excellent!

4 tilapia filets, roughly 1 lb.
2/3 c. Progresso Panko Crispy Bread Crumbs, Italian Flavor
1/3 c. Great Value (walmart) brand Parmesan cheese
2 eggs, beaten
1/4 c. flour
12 oz. spaghetti, cooked (more or less, depending on how many you're serving)
pasta sauce (my recipe is below)

First off, if you've never used Panko bread crumbs, you simply MUST buy them. They're chunkier than regular bread crumbs and hold up really well to the egg/flour mixture.

So, I always check my fish to make sure there's no bones - so they're wet already. I dipped each one individually in the flour first. Then I dredged them in the EGG MIXTURE (LOL Sorry I left this out originally) and finally, each one individually went into a large freezer storage bag where I'd mixed the bread crumbs and cheese. I shook the bag gently, making sure the fish was completely coated. Onto a foil lined pan sprayed with cooking spray, and into a 425 degree oven it went. Your time may vary, of course, so check to make sure it's done (pick it with a fork - if it is flaky, it's done.)

For the sauce, I was in a bit of a hurry, but rather than use a jar sauce and ruin the flavor of the fish, I went with this quickie recipe:

1 28oz can of crushed tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic crushed
several fresh basil leaves, cut into ribbons
garlic powder, salt & pepper to taste

I browned the garlic in the 2 quart sauce pan with some olive oil. Then added the tomatoes, seasonings and let this bubble and cook down while the fish was prepared and cooked. At the same time, I put on the water for the angel hair pasta. Normally, I like a well cooked sauce, but the freshness really went well with the fish. Just as I was taking the fish out of the oven, I tossed the basil into the sauce, stirred it. I served some sauce over both the fish and the pasta and as I said, it was fabulous.

Please let me know if you make this recipe and how you like it. I would suggest using fresh parmesan, as the fake stuff really doesn't have much CHEESE flavor, imo. I will do that the next time. Also, my husband inquired "Where's the mozzarella" because anything that has sauce on it in my house REQUIRES mozzarella too. LOL So that's an option as well. Here was the finished product.

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Lunchtime!

While talking with Elizabeth over at Table for 5 and MomCooks.net, she mentioned she was going to be doing a post about her kids favorite lunchbox lunches. Since my kids are homeschooled, we don't have lunchboxes, but it does open up a bigger avenue for lunches for them. Here is one of their new favorites.

Tuna Macaroni Salad - I know - it's so simple! But we enjoy using different kinds/shapes of macaroni and I enjoy the simplicity of it. Here's our latest combination.



1 - 12 oz. package of Wacky Mac (if you don't have these, they're pasta made with veggies, which gives them their color!)
approximately 2 tbls. finely chopped onion (I used green onion today)
1 carrot, which I first shaved with my vegetable peeler, and then chopped with the knife, basically to hide it from both the kids and myself LOL
1/2 c. light mayo
2 cans chunk white tuna



While the pasta is cooking (approximately 10 minutes), I mix the tuna(drained) and mayo, adding in onion & carrot. Once the pasta is cooked, I rinse it under cold water and drain it well. Then, just toss (gently) with the tuna mixture. IT's really that simple!



Just be careful of these:



Yeah, found that in the can of tuna! Anyway, what's your kids' favorite lunchtime meals?

Carnival of the Recipes - Crockpot Edition Yum!

I simply LOVE my crockpot. I don't know what I ever did without one, and I insist that anyone that doesn't' have one, go and get one! Right now - I'll wait.

Got one?

Good.

Is it nice and big? Does it have multiple heat settings? GOOD!

We're good to go.

Presenting.............

Dawn's Too Lazy to Cook Chicken in a Crockpot Recipe :)

Now, one of my most favorite recipes for the crockpot I made up by accident - as usual, I'd realized that I had NOTHING in mind for dinner, so I looked in the freezer for inspiration. I had a package of frozen chicken thighs. Ok, that'll work.

So I tossed the 2-3 lb package of frozen chicken thighs into the crockpot, still frozen hard as a rock. I then sprinkled Lawry's garlic salt on both sides. I put the cover on and set it on low (or if it's near noon, I put it on high) and left it alone THE ENTIRE DAY.

No water, nothing.

Just chicken and garlic salt.

Around 4pm, I follow my nose and go check out the crockpot - omg it smells heavenly! There's now a whole bunch of juices in there that've come from the chicken and so I toss in approximately 1 cup of instant rice (or minute rice or whatever) and cover it again.

At 5pm,w hen we eat dinner, it's ready. It's fabulous. The meat falls off the bone, the rice tastes wonderful from the chicken drippings. It's just fab-u-lous!

So there's Dawn's too lazy to cook Chicken in a Crock pot Recipe :)

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This recipe was submitted as part of Carnival of the Recipes - Crockpot Edition, hosted by Slowcooker recipes (had you guessing there for a minute, didn't I?)

Carnival of Recipes - Christmas in July!

As the holiday season approaches every year, virtually every member of my family is thinking about one thing.

STUFFING!

My mother & I both make the same stuffing that my grandmother made, that her mother made, and so on and so on. The recipe doesn't change, probably because it means so much to us. It means family. It means another meal that we share TOGETHER.

Sausage & Bread Dressing/Stuffing

1 1lb roll sausage meat (I use Jonesboro)
1 lg onion, chopped
3 loaves white bread, pulled apart into 1 inch pieces
a kettle of hot water
bells' seasoning
salt & pepper

First, you pull the bread apart. If you have kids, this is their job - and you have to make sure you remind them that the bread can't be too big, even if they've done it 100 million times.

While they're doing that, you can chop the onions - make sure they're not too big, because no one wants a big honking piece of onion in their mouth.

Now hurry the kids up.

Finally, the bread is ready - put it into a BIG stock pot - and then gradually add in the onions. Now, it's time for the sausage. You'll do this yourself, since it's raw meat - pull apart the same size pieces as the bread - not too big - you want it to blend well!

The next part is tricky, and completely up to you and your own taste. Pouring in the water. No one can tell you how much is ENOUGH - it's just a feeling. An intuition. But be sure you stir gently as you pour, making sure that each piece of bread is incorporated. Now, the next tricky part is the seasoning. Because this too is completely by intuition. Some people like it VERY seasoned (me), some don't (my mom). So sprinkle some in. Mix it up (but don't make SOUP out of it, for cryin out loud!) - now, I'm NOT suggesting you try the RAW MEAT mixture (although my mother's done it for 72 years without a problem, she'll tell you)- but you know - somehow, figure out how much seasoning is good for you. I'm guessing I use about 1-2 teaspoons of bell's seasoning. I then sprinkle the top with salt & pepper.

Next, it goes into a cooking-sprayed pyrex bowl or aluminum foil pan if you don't feel like washing it. Cook it until the top is good and crisp. You really can't OVERcook it unless, you know, you totally forget you were cooking it in the first place (shup heather).

My mother also uses this in her turkey - but I don't like the stuffing in a turkey (the bones, the BONES!) - but that's up to you (again, with the 72 years thing).

The thing is, ENJOY this - it is made with alot of love.

This recipe is submitted to the Carnival of Recipes for this week's theme of Christmas in July, hosted over at Christmas Recipes.

Mmmmm BBQ!

After my brief stint of living in the south, and spending mostly all of it pregnant, I became enamored with a phenomenon of Pulled Pork Sammiches. O M G I love pulled pork sammiches. And after having spent a week shy of 12 years with a transplanted Tennessean, it was in my best interest to find a *good* bbq pulled pork recipe.

I've since LOST THE DAMNED THING. I went low-fat, and then ultimately, low-carb and LOST THE DAMNED RECIPE! LOL

However, this one is close enough LOL

Dawn's "Close Enough" BBQ Pulled Pork

I buy a pork butt or pork roast that's at least 4-6 lbs. I put in the crockpot by itself - nothing but maybe some salt & pepper and cook it on low for ohhh. . . the whole day. LOL

About 30 minutes before it's done, or my husband has driving me crazy with his whining about whether it's done or not, I make the sauce.

*1 teaspoon vegetable oil
* 1/2 medium onion, minced
* 2 medium garlic cloves, minced
* 1/2 cup cider vinegar
* 1/2 cup Worcestershire sauce
* 1 tablespoon dry mustard
* 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
* 1 tablespoon paprika
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 cup ketchup

Heat oil in 2-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; saute until softened, 4-5 minutes. Stir in all the remaining ingredients except ketchup; bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, then add ketchup. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 15 minutes.

While this is simmering, I'm shredding the pork with a fork and piling it into a bowl. When the sauce is done, I pour it over the pork, making sure that everything is good and slathered. Then, it's onto some nice soft buns, or maybe just the plate. Or if he has his way, out of the bowl LOL

Yum - I think we have to make this this week!

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I'm hosting the Carnival of the Recipes this week and our theme is BBQ. Visit me here to check out the rest of the round up!

A+ Southwest Grilled Chicken Salad

Ok, so I did go ahead and use the leftover chicken from the Southwest Grilled Chicken and here's the nutritional info for my salad.


Southwest Grilled chicken salad

Ingredients

* Romaine Lettuce (salad), 1.5 cup, shredded
* Spinach, fresh, 1.5 cup
* Ranch dressing, 2 tbsp
* Red Ripe Tomatoes, 1 slice, medium (1/4" thick)
* Feta Cheese, .25 cup, crumbled
* Southwest Grilled Chicken Breast, no skin, 0.5 breast,

toss your lettuce & spinach with the salad dressing first, coating all the leaves.

add in the chicken breast, shredded

finally, toss with feta and add the tomato. Enjoy!

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 1
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 395.1
* Total Fat: 23.9 g
* Cholesterol: 111.8 mg
* Sodium: 769.3 mg
* Total Carbs: 8.1 g
* Dietary Fiber: 2.6 g
* Protein: 36.4 g

Low-Carb Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

Everyone's used to stuffed tomato recipes including some sort of salad inside it - chicken salad, tuna, egg - something. But this is totally different and was a great side to go along with the southwest chicken recipe I made to go with it. I totally forgot, though, to take a pic of the finished product LOL



Low Carb Baked Stuffed Tomatoes

Ingredients

* Red Ripe Tomatoes, 3 plum tomato - cut in half, insides scooped out
* Spinach, fresh, 20 leaf (chopped fine)
* Garlic, 3 cloves (crushed)
* Olive Oil, 2 tbsp
* Parmesan Cheese, 4 tbsp
* 4C Low-Carb Breadcrumbs, .75 cup
*red pepper flakes, 1/4 tsp

Preheat oven to 400. Combine spinach, breadcrumbs, garlic & red pepper flakes in a small bowl - set aside.

Cut tomatoes in half lengthwise and remove seeds & juice. Using a spoon, fill with bread crumb mixture. Place in a shallow baking dish. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt & pepper. Cover with aluminum foil.

Bake 30 minutes. Remove from oven, uncover and top with Parmesan cheese. Broil 1 or 2 minutes more until lightly browned.

Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 3
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 231.1
* Total Fat: 12.4 g
* Cholesterol: 6.7 mg
* Sodium: 501.7 mg
* Total Carbs: 13.8 g
* Dietary Fiber: 6.4 g
* Protein: 17.8 g

A+ Southwest Chicken, courtesy of Pediascribe

I made such a delicious dinner last night, and it was SO HEALTHY! This recipe came from Karen over at Pediascribe.com and really was excellent. Even the kids liked it, and they're always so IFFY about things. Just a note to Karen - I did do things slightly different, i.e. the ziplock thing & making the paste but still - YUM :)



Anyways, here's how it goes:

A+ Southwest Grilled Chicken

Ingredients

4 Boneless, skinless chicken breasts
2 Tbs olive oil
1 tsp each cumin, oregano & chili powder
3 cloves garlic, crushed
salt & pepper to taste

Mix the spices in a bowl together with the oil. In a ziplock-type bag, place chicken breasts and spice mixture. Mush together so that each breast is coated. I let mine sit for about 10 minutes while the grill heated up.

Grill the chicken approximately 10 minutes on one side, flip and another 5 on the other.

If you have leftovers, (which you probably won't!), throw it in a salad the next day - YUM!


Nutritional Info

* Servings Per Recipe: 4
* Amount Per Serving
* Calories: 266.1

* Total Fat: 3.1 g
* Cholesterol: 136.9 mg
* Sodium: 154.7 mg
* Total Carbs: 1.2 g
* Dietary Fiber: 0.3 g
* Protein: 54.8 g

I served this along with This and it was a huge hit!

Eggplant & Chicken Stew

Ingredients

* Eggplant, fresh, 637 grams (1 lb 6oz) - cut into 2" chunks
* Zucchini, 303 grams (10.7 oz) - sliced
* Summer Squash, 2 medium (13.1 oz)-sliced
* Garlic, 4 cloves - crushed
* Onions, raw, 139 grams (1 med 4.9oz) - chopped
* Great Value Petite Diced Tomatoes, 1.75 cup (1 can)
* Olive Oil, 1 tbsp
* Chicken Breast, no skin, 14 ounces - cut into bite-sized pieces

Nutritional Info

Fat: 3.5g
Carbohydrates: 15.6g (5.1 fiber)
Calories:165.2
Protein: 18.4g

Begin by chopping your eggplant into 2" chunks. I peeled my eggplant, but you can leave it unpeeled if you want.

Slice the zucchini & summer squash - I used 1/4" slices. Chop the onion, crush the garlic.

In a stew pot, brown the garlic & onion in the olive oil. Add

Next, add the can of tomatoes and bring to a bubble over medium heat.

Add the eggplant and reduce heat to low. Cook for 45 minutes.

Add the zucchini and squash and cook an addition 30 minutes, or until vegetables are to your desired tenderness.

The original recipe suggested adding mushrooms & chickpeas, but I didn't so it's not in this recipe. Her original recipe, by Revasean, is simply named Eggplant Stew, and is the basis of this recipe.

I would say this makes 6 good sized servings and would be great served with a nice salad.

Number of Servings: 6

I'm Back!

Hi guys! All 2 of you that visit, anyways. Hey, I'm struggling my way back to some sort of healthy living/eating, and so I'm going to be trying to post some yummy recipes for you again. I hope you'll let me know when you try them and what you think of them!

:)