Broiled Tilapia and Pulled Pork Tacos

Not together, of course, but these are two separate recipes. Both recipes are courtesy of my college friend Michelle, who also gave me the chicken and salsa recipe, so if you liked that, try these!

Michelle found the tilapia recipe on Ordering Disorder, which is also where I found the bbq chicken recipe that was SO good. Click here to go right to the tilapia recipe, with pictures, or just read on for the same recipe, minus the pics.

1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

1/4 cup butter, softened

3 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice*

1/4 teaspoon dried basil

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/8 teaspoon onion powder

1/8 teaspoon celery salt*

2 pounds tilapia fillets

This is a quick recipe. Fish does not take long to cook at all, so if you are making a side dish you might want that to be almost done before you put your fish into the broiler.

Step One:

Turn your oven on to the BROIL setting. Make sure that you adjust the racks inside your oven. You want the fish to be a few inches away from the broiling burner.

Step Two:

Line the bottom of your broiling pan with tinfoil. Trust me, it is so much easier to clean up this way. You will thank me for this little extra step later. You are welcome in advance.

Step Three:

Arrange the fillets in a single layer on your broiling pan.

Step Four:

Mix together all of the other ingredients in a bowl. Set aside.

If you have anything you need to attend to, go do it now. You will not be leaving your fish again until it is served. Don’t worry this only takes a few minutes. Seriously, I hardly had anytime to take any photos.

Step Five:

Place fish in the oven. Broil for 2-3 minutes. I usually aim for 2 minutes because by the time I find my potholder and get it out of oven, an additional minute has passed.

Step Six:

Flip the fillets over and return them to the broiler for another 2-3 minutes.

Step Seven:

Remove from oven. Cover the fish with the Parmesan cheese mixture you have already prepared.

Step Eight:

Return the fish to the oven and broil for an additional 2 minutes, or until the coating has become slightly brown. You don’t want to overcook the fish. It should flake easily with your fork Tyson

I made 4 (frozen) fillets (that I thawed, of course), and the Parmesan cheese that comes in a can, not actual Parmesan cheese. Next time I think I would try it with real cheese. It was really good. I would have enjoyed it more if I wasn't still coughing up a lung! Darin said he would eat it again and he isn't a huge fish fan. Tyson ate what we put on his plate with few complaints. He did say it was too spicy. Maybe he meant too tangy from the lemon because there isn't anything spicy about this recipe. Jori was her typical self and whined and moaned, but finally ate about 5 bites before we let her stop. I WILL be making this again.

The pulled pork tacos recipe is one that Michelle put in our "Rooks Cooks" cookbook. (My college friends and I lived in Rooks VanDellen our freshman and sophomore years and I am so blessed that most of them still live in the area!)

You will need:
1 pork loin or tenderloin cubed in 1.5 inch pieces (you choose the size of the loin!)
1 medium white or yellow onion
1 TBSP cumin
2 tsp coriander
2 tsp oregano
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp hot sauce (or more if you like spicier things)
2 TBSP soy sauce
2-3 bottles of beer (wheat or dark beer is best, but you can use any)
Flour tortillas
Cilantro
Shredded cheese
Limes

Brown pork over medium-high heat in large dutch over (The first time I made this, I didn't cut the tenderloin up and I didn't brown it, but it still turned out great). Once all sides are browned, add onion and continue sauteing until onions start to look translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add spices and liquids, cumin through beer, use enough beer to cover the meat. (I have already browned, sauteed and added everything BUT the beer and shoved the whole pan in the fridge. I thought I may as well get it started while my kids were occupied!)
Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and cover to cook for 2-3 hours, stirring every 30 minutes or so-if beer seems to be getting low, add more.
About 45 minutes before you want to eat, shred pork-you should be able to do this with a spatula because the pork SHOULD BE falling apart by now. Leave cover off and simmer until it is time to eat-the sauce will cook down.
Serve on warm tortillas topped with cheese, cilantro and a squeeze of lime (Darin likes just cheese, I like how it tastes with all the "extras") and black beans if you like.

Spelling fun

One of the things that Tyson's teacher told us to work on with him was practicing his letters. She said to make sure that it was FUN and not to make it stressful for him. Here is a picture of Tyson having fun:
I was so proud of him! I asked him to write his name, and when he said it was "too hard" I told him to just do his best. He even had the "s" going the right way, which is something that has been a constant struggle for him.

Of course, Jori had to get in on the play dough action too. Here she is with her "basagna":Yum Yum!

Breakfast with Belle

The local Christian High School is putting on the musical "Beauty and the Beast" this weekend. In preparation for that, they had a "Breakfast with Belle" this past Saturday. Originally, Jori and I were supposed to go with Rachel and Jenna, but after Auntie Rachel came down with the dreaded Swine Flu, Uncle Jon came along instead. What a guy!

It was a really fun morning. The cast sang the song "Be our Guest" and then they came around to the tables and brought us our breakfast. They also gave all the kids in attendance a little autograph book. Jori really had no clue what that was all about, but just let people sign her little book. I was glad Jenna was there to take Jori around to meet Belle and the Beast.



Here are some pics of the girls having a wonderful morning!

Matching Princess shirts

They were so excited to meet Belle!
Meeting the Beast

Lumiere-the candlestick

Mrs. Potts

My little Princess posing

It was fun spending time doing something special with Jori. Tyson and Darin have lots of "guy things" that they get to do together, like filling the vending machines, watching the Vikings, and going to the off-road derby in the summer, so it was about time for Jori and me to have our turn!

BBQ chicken and sweet potato fries

So tonight I tried a couple new recipes. I had quite a bit of leftover chicken from our dinner last night that I wanted to use up, so I looked around for a recipe that it would work in. What I ended up making was a BBQ chicken sandwich. I got the recipe off of blog called Ordering Disorder (well, kind of a blog, just Google Ordering Disorder, Chris Johnson, and it will come up). This is what you need:

2 cups of cooked chicken (I just used what we had left)
1/2 cup bbq sauce (I misread this as 1/2 a bottle, and it was still delish)
1/2 cup grated carrot (I very finely grated one medium sized carrot. I do not know if this serves an actual purpose or is just to sneak a veggie in, but it was good).
Loaf of french bread or other "hard" bread (I had a 4 pack of rolls. Hamburger buns would be too soft-you want something that isn't going to get all soggy)
Monterey Jack cheese (I am guessing you could use another kind of cheese, but I did not. I used shredded cheese, not slices)

Heat the first 3 ingredients in a saucepan.
Cut your bread in half and spoon some chicken on one side. Top with cheese. Broil both sides of the bread (with and without chicken and cheese) DO NOT OVER BROIL, Eat.

We all thought these sandwiches were GREAT and I will definitely be making them again.

I also tried out a new recipe from Torie, a friend from church. I think sweet potatoes are great, so I was excited to try this:

Ingredients:

Sweet Potato Fries:
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled or unpeeled, cut into 4-inch long and
1/4 to 1/2-inch thick fries
2 tablespoons olive oil, or more as needed
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
Avocado Dip:
1 avocado, see Cook's Note*
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup cream cheese
1 jalapeno, seeded and chopped.
2 scallions, white and light green part only, chopped
1 lime, juiced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum
foil and set aside.

Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil until
the sweet potatoes are coated. Add the paprika, chili powder,
coriander, salt, and pepper; toss to distribute evenly.

Arrange the coated fries in a single layer on the prepared pan. Bake
for 20 minutes on the lower rack until the sweet potatoes soften.
Transfer the pan to the upper rack of the oven and bake 10 minutes
longer, until fries are crispy. Serve with Avocado Dip.

Place the avocado, mayonnaise, cream cheese, jalapeno, scallions, and
lime juice into a blender or small food processor. Blend for 1 minute
or until you have a smooth paste. Season with salt and pepper, to
taste. Serve as a dip for the Sweet Potato Oven Fries.

I really liked the sweet potatoes and the dip. I would love to have them again. However, my family was not as excited as I was. Tyson tried the dip and then wanted us to scrape it off his plate. He did not like the sweet potatoes either. Jori threw her fry back on the dish. I did make them both eat one, but they were not happy. Darin does not like sweet potatoes, but he said if they had been crunchier he might have been more into them, so maybe if I cut them smaller???

So if you like sweet potatoes and avocado, you should try this out. The fries would be good by themselves too without any dip, but they would need some salt. I told Darin we WILL be having sweet potatoes again in some form, because I do think that kids (and adults) can learn to enjoy different foods.

Crockpot Chicken and Salsa

Here is another super easy and tasty meal. BOTH kids ate two tortillas full! My friend from college, Michelle, gave me this recipe. She just told me about a tilapia recipe I might be trying soon. I will wait for her review though before I try it out on my fam.

Open jar of salsa, spoon 1/4-1/2 cup in bottom of crock pot - add 4-6 frozen chicken breasts. Pour on rest of salsa. Set crockpot on low if cooking all day, or high if cooking in 3-4 hours. 30 minutes before you eat, shred chicken with fork and return to crock pot. Serve in tortillas, with chips or over rice and topped with cheese.

Optional additions: 1 can of corn, 1 can of black beans. Sometimes I make rice and stir it into the crock pot after I shred the chicken.

I bought salsa with corn and black beans in it and it was good. I think I used 5 breasts, the one full jar and another 1/4 jar that was just hanging out in the fridge. It was really THAT easy!

Flip Flops in November!

So, I thought it was only possible in South Africa, but today I wore FLIP FLOPS in Michigan in November! We have had two close to perfect days. I say close, because we have an overabundance of lady bugs around our house. We spent so much time outside today. The kids and I walked down the path, saw some people flying a huge kite (or as Jori kept calling it a big flag), played in the rocks down by the water and quacked at a family of ducks.

After we came home from our walk, Darin came out to play. The kids were having fun making chalk creations. Here's what Tyson made:A big old 5 and a 2! Good job buddy. Jori needed a little help finishing her mega game of hopscotch and Daddy was happy to help out:
Finally, for your viewing pleasure, the kids and daddy play hopscotch:


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Yes, that is me snorting as I laugh, but admit it, you probably snorted too as you watched!

Chicken, stuffing and swiss

I asked for recipes and some of you have answered. I am hoping more people (assuming that there are more people that read my blog) will add a recipe to the comment section of the last post. I'll try them out and let you know what our family thinks.

Tonight we had a fantastic meal thanks to Tami, my dear friend from California!! It was great. Tyson had 4 helpings, Darin wanted to know why we had never had it before (um, because since I've known you you've been anti stuffing), I thought it was super easy and super good. Jori was not a fan, but she doesn't like a lot of things that I make, so ignore her opinion!

Here's the recipe!

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
8 slices of swiss cheese (the Kraft brand swiss cheese is NOT good/flavorful in this recipe though)
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 box of chicken stove top stuffing
1/3 cup melted butter

Lay chicken breasts in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover chicken entirely with the swiss cheese (usually takes about 2 of the slices to cover each chicken breast). Spread cream of chicken soup over the cheese (do NOT add milk to the soup). Sprinkle dry stuffing over the soup and then drizzle melted butter over the stuffing. Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes or until chicken is fully cooked. Then uncover and cook for about 10 more minutes to get the stuffing a little crispy. Enjoy!