Really fast Tilapia in Parchment…

Okay, I could have gotten really fancy there and told you that I made Tilapia en Papilotte, which I did but I really want you to try this and figure this title might not intimidate you and you could see how truly easy this recipe is! I am submitting this recipe to Marye at The Restless Chipotle who is helping to change the way people think about fast food.? It DOES NOT need to come from a box to be fast food!? To see what she is trying to do and to check out all of the the wonderful entries from her last round of Real Food….. Real Quick up head to her site ! In total I think this took me about 5 minutes to pull together and that included going outside and cutting the herbs for it. Tilapia in Parchment adapted from and inspired by Heart homecooked 4 Tilapia fillets 4 sprigs each of thyme, oregano (1 sprig of each for each pouch) 1/4 cup packed basil leaves, thinly sliced 8 slices of thinly sliced lemon, 2 for each pouch 4 tsp of butter, 1 tsp for each pouch coarse salt and ground black pepper to taste Directions: Preheat oven to 425F. Wash fillets and pat dry with paper towels. Season well with salt and pepper. Place fillets on top of cut parchment paper ( ehow.com and latimes.com have excellent “en papillote” step by step instructions) and top with butter, lemon wheel and herbs. Seal the pouch and cook for 10 minutes. ***you can skip the butter if you are watching your weight.? I added about 1 tsp of olive oil to mine instead of the butter and it is a 4 Point recipe based on a 6 oz. piece of fish. ?

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Really fast Tilapia in Parchment…

In a hurry? Homemade Baked Chicken Fingers

So you all know by now that we are a pretty busy household right?? Between ice skating lessons, karate classes and BMX races and practices you must wonder how we do all of that stuff and still eat home cooked, real food meals, right?? This recipe for baked chicken fingers is one of my favorite go to recipes for a busy weeknight.? From start to finish it takes just 15 minutes for me to bread them and bake them and have them on the table for the kids.? Almost as fast as going to McDonald’s and getting the chicken nuggets and bringing them home for dinner… Baked Chicken Fingers Ingredients: 1 lb boneless skinless chicken breast halves 1 egg, beaten 1 cup AP Flour 1 teaspoon garlic powder 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon black pepper 2 cups Italian breadcrumbs Directions: Preheat oven to 400F Cut chicken breasts into thin strips, about one inch wide. Longer sections can be cut in half to have uniform pieces. Mix flour and seasonings (garlic, salt, and pepper) well in a bowl. Dip chicken pieces into flour mixture. then egg mixture, and then finally in the Italian breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet sprayed with cooking spray. 6 Bake at for 9-11 minutes, until crispy on outside and lightly browned. ***The girls like these dipped in Ranch Dressing, ketchup, BBQ Sauce or even Honey Mustard. ****To have these ready in 15 minutes I have to cut the chicken into thin strips earlier in the day.? Another time saver is to bread them and refrigerate them until ready to use and then just plop them in a preheated oven.? See you can eat well even when as busy as we are!!!

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In a hurry? Homemade Baked Chicken Fingers

Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

My goal each and every day is to feed my family a healthy lunch and dinner.? Oh how I have been lax at meeting that daily goal!? Turning a new page and starting off on the right foot and all here is my attempt to get it all back together.? The meals that I cook have to either be crock pot, slow cooked or else pre cooked that we can heat up after, between or before whatever extra curricular event we have happening on that night.? I don’t use packaged or prepared foods at all so everything that I do is from scratch, just to make it more challenging huh? Between karate 2 days, skating 2 or 3 days and BMX 2 or 3 days you can just imagine that it is a little hectic around here.? One thing though that we ALWAYS make sure that we do it to eat together.? There is none of this grabbing and eating on your own here.? We sit down to a family meal each and every single night.? Is it easy?? No way, but we do it. One of my big problems though is that we get pretty bored with all of the fast things that I can make and it has been way too hot for a slow cooked or crock pot meal.? So this is what I came up with yesterday and it is going to be added into the rotation. Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas I was able to make the black bean mixture, cut up all of the cilantro, jalapenos and crumble the goat cheese ahead of time.? When we got home I heated the bean mixture and got the griddle going.? These were assembled, cooked and on the table in 10 minutes.? I served sautéed zucchini along side and it was really the perfect meal! Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadilla (inspired by Fine Cooking ) 2 Tbs. olive oil 1 lg yellow onion, finely chopped 3 cloves of garlic, minced 24-oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained 2 tsp. ground cumin 1 Tbsp. chili powder 1/2 tsp oregano Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper 1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro 1 jalapeno, chopped 4 oz. fresh goat cheese, crumbled 6 flour tortillas, Burrito size (we used 2 whole ones for T and I and 1 each for the girls) In a medium skillet, heat the oil over medium heat until hot. Add the onion and garlic and sauté, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the beans, cumin, chili powder, oregano and 1/2 cup water and cook, stirring occasionally, until almost all the water has evaporated, 5 to 7 minutes. Take the pan off the heat. With the back of a fork, break up the beans to make a chunky mash. Stir in half of the cilantro and season with salt and pepper. Spread the black bean mixture over the tortilla and crumble the goat cheese, sprinkle with jalapeno and some cilantro top with another tortilla.? Cook on a heated and oiled griddle until nice and golden brown.? Repeat with the remaining ingredients and slice up and serve. **We served these with chopped up avocado, salsa and sour cream.? This was a delicious and quick week night meal! This would also be a great idea for an appetizer for your next party or pot luck.? Cut into smaller wedges these would be perfect! As Always… Happy Entertaining!!! Judy www.nofearentertaining.com

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Black Bean and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Tilapia with Cilantro and Lime

Loved this fish dish and yes I do eat my peas raw… Cilantro and lime has proven to be one of my favorite flavor combinations. Something about the crispness and freshness of the two flavors together and how they bring something new out in each of them. This quick and easy recipe highlights all of the things I love and just shines on the tilapia! I stumbled across this recipe but it was used on salmon and seeing as I didn’t have any salmon on hand I rummaged through my freezer and came up with 4 tilapia filets. I try to always keep some on hand for a quick and easy week night meal. It worked out perfect for us this time and the tilapia went perfect with the herb and citrus and was on the table in less than 30 minutes . Now that’s my kind of meal!!! Tilapia with Cilantro and Lime …adapted from One Perfect Bite Ingredients: 4 (6 to 8-oz.) Tilapia fillets (thawed if frozen) 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped 1 tablespoon olive oil 1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic 1/2 teaspoon salt 2 tablespoons fresh lime juice Directions: 1) Combine cilantro, oil, garlic and salt(do not add the lime juice. It will toughen up the fish). Set 2 tablespoons aside. 2) Pour remainder over fish in bowl. Let stand, covered, 10 minutes. 3) Meanwhile, preheat broiler. Spray broiler rack with nonstick cooking spray. Place salmon on rack. Brush with 1 tablespoon of marinade. Then broil 4 inches from heat for 7 to 8 minutes, or until fish flakes when pierced with a fork. Brush with remaining tablespoon marinade and top with the lime. Transfer to a serving platter. As Always… Happy Entertaining!!! Judy www.nofearentertaining.com

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Tilapia with Cilantro and Lime

Stir, Laugh, Repeat

I’ve had several people ask about my cookbook Stir, Laugh, Repeat and how I came about writing it so I thought I would respond with a short history. It all started when one of my daughters said that if I did nothing else would I please write down my Banana Pudding recipe before I died. That started me thinking about working up a cookbook for my kids. I, like most women my age learned to cook the same way my mother did, without measuring, so most of my recipes were stuck in my head. As time went on I began measuring my ingredients and started filling up the pages of my notebook. I’ve always enjoyed creating my own recipes and changing others but being single I had to find someone to sample my creations. I started with my best friend Dusty. I would work up a new dish and take part of it to her. She became my 1st “Food Tester.” When she wasn’t home I started going to another friend’s house to share my creations. Before long I had half of the neighbors in my condos serving as “Food Testers.” My pages were filling up and I was ready to start typing the recipes into the computer. Dusty…

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Stir, Laugh, Repeat

Garbage Nachos

At least that’s what we call them. Sounds funny huh? We pretty much call fully loaded anything “garbage”. We have garbage pizza…when you put everything on it that you can think of that would go with your dough and then we have garbage nachos. These are the best! To top these nachos I used: Taco seasoned beef (I make my own- recipe here ) refried beans sharp cheddar fresh jalapenos onions black olives sour cream cilantro (added once cooked) Directions: Heat the refried beans and make your taco meat. Start chopping your jalapenos, onions, black olives and cilantro. Also grate your cheese. Arrange the chips on parchment paper and preheat your oven to 400 degrees. On top of the chips layer the beans and taco meat. Add the cheese, jalapenos and olives. Bake until hot and bubbly. Top with cilantro and sour cream. This is a delicious, casual weekend meal for us. Usually on Saturday when I don’t want to cook or clean up too much. It also works out well for us because everyone can have their favorite toppings on their own! Please try making your own taco seasoning! Not only will you save money but there is less sodium and unpronounceable additives! As Always… Happy Entertaining!!! Judy www.nofearentertaining.com

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Garbage Nachos

Marie’s Thrifty Thursdays

Welcome to my Thrifty Thursday post. I wanted to talk about saving money on your groceries again this week. I have talked before about clipping coupons, buying in bulk and avoiding pre-cooked ready meals, but this week I wanted to talk about something a bit different. I want to talk about planning your meals around certain types of food or recipes, recipes which have always been known to be thrifty and economical. One of the first things we must always do when trying to economize is to make weekly menus and plan our shopping lists around those and then when we do go to the shops, to buy only what’s on the list and not to be tempted by other things that we might see as we are wandering up and down the aisles. (Hard to do I know!) I think I would save money if I sent Todd all on …

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Marie’s Thrifty Thursdays

My new favorite way to cook whole chicken legs!

A couple of weeks ago I spatchcocked my first chicken. Since then I have definitely revisited the procedure. I also found that I love the method of cooking that I have been using and thought I needed to try it out on some chicken legs. I have been getting whole legs (thighs and drums attached) for $1.65 a lb at, get this, Whole Foods!!! I ended up using the exact same method using my cast iron skillet as I did for the spatchcocked chicken. Clementine’s, fresh ginger, head of garlic all thrown into the cast iron skillet in the oven. To read more about the method I use read it here . If you have a cast iron skillet and want to try something different. Please give this a try. We served it with some roasted herbed potatoes and a salad. I swear to you that I had dinner on the table within 45 minutes of getting home! As Always… Happy Entertaining!!! Judy www.nofearentertaining.com

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My new favorite way to cook whole chicken legs!

Man loses 100 pounds eating fast food

Think you have to avoid fast food restaurants if you’re trying to lose weight? Adam Clatsoff would disagree with you, he lost 100 pounds eating at fast food chains. “I dieted myself to about 400 pounds. You know, you lose, you gain, and I suddenly realized I had to have a life change,” explained Adam Clatsoff. The life change for Clatsoff was turning to fast food for most of his meals. “I realized you can walk into a fast food restaurant and you do not have to order a 1600 calorie meal,” he said. Clatsoff says over a two year period, he lost more than 100 pounds. [From Author loses 100 lbs on fast food diet : News : WEYI NBC25 ] And you thought they were off limits! © Jerry D. Russell and Cooking… by the seat of my Pants!.com , 2009. | Permalink

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Man loses 100 pounds eating fast food