Fish And Chips

This recipe makes a delicious meal that is crispy on the outside and tender and flaky on the inside.  Delicious!

Chips:
4 Potatoes, washed and set aside to dry
3 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Tablespoons Malt Vinegar
Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Mix together oil, vinegar, and spices.
• Cut potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl.
• Pour oil mixture over potatoes and toss to coat thoroughly.
• Lay out flat on a foil-lined baking pan that has been spritzed with vegetable spray.
• Bake for 30 minutes, turning half way through.

Fish:

4 Tilapia fillets

4 Tablespoons Butter, melted

4 Tablespoons Dijon Mustard

1 1/2 Tablespoons dried Dill flakes or 2 Tablespoons chopped, fresh Dill

1 cup Panko Bread Crumbs

Salt, Black Pepper, and Cayenne Pepper to taste

• Mix together butter, mustard, and dill and place in a shallow bowl or pie pan.
• Mix together bread crumbs and spices and place in a shallow bowl or pie pan.
• Dredge fish into butter mixture to coat well.  Then, dredge into bread crumbs to coat thoroughly.
• Lay on a hot, foil-lined baking pan that has been spritzed with vegetable spray.
• Bake for about 15-20 minutes, flipping half-way through.

Serve with a spicy ketchup and tartar sauce if you would like.  

Roasted Brussels Sprouts

My sister, Brenda, used to call Brussels Sprouts cabbage balls.  I have found over the years that not everybody is a lover of them but Mike and I both really like them prepared in lots of different ways.  The other day I bought some fresh ones in a package at the grocery store and found a recipe similar to this one.

1 pound fresh Brussels Sprouts
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
3 slices bacon
1/2 small onion
salt and pepper to taste

• Warm oven to 350 degrees.
• Cut each of the Brussels Sprouts in half.

• Dice the onion.
• Place the Sprouts in a sauce pan and steam them for about ten minutes.
• Toss the steamed Sprouts with the Olive Oil and spread out onto a foil-lined baking sheet.
• Place in the oven and roast for about 15 minutes.
• Stir and bake about 15 more minutes.
• While the Sprouts are baking, fry the bacon in a skillet till crisp.
• Remove from grease and toss diced onion pieces into about 2 Tablespoons of the grease.
• Cook till tender.
• Chop bacon and add Brussels Sprouts and chopped bacon to onions and stir till mixed.  
• Season to taste and serve.

Note:  These are also delicious roasted in a grill pan on the grill!

Pioneer Meat Loaf

This is a shot of the meatloaf as soon as I put it in the oven.  

I forgot to photograph any steps or the finished product.  It looked just like Ree's and 

her photography skills are better than mine so look at her blog recipe pictures and pretend they are mine!

I have begun taping Ree Drummond's The Pioneer Woman shown on TV.

Is it still called taping or should I update my vocabulary and refer to it as recording since I am using a digital video recorder?  Is my vocabulary too old fashioned and marking me more as an old woman?

I recently used her recipe called My Favorite Meatloaf as my starting place for making dinner the other night.  I did have to stray just a wee little bit, however.  Here is how my version goes...

Meatloaf Ingredients:
1/2 cup milk
5 slices bread
1 pound ground beef
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 teaspoon seasoned salt
black pepper to taste
2 Tablespoons dried parsley flakes
1 chopped green onion
2 tablespoons minced red bell pepper
2 whole eggs, beaten
6-8 slices bacon

Sauce Ingredients:
1 cup ketchup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon dry mustard
Tabasco to taste

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Tear three slices of bread into pieces and pour milk over the bread.  Set aside for a few minutes.
• Place the ground beef into a large mixing bowl.
• Add Parmesan cheese, salt, black pepper, parsley, onion, and bell pepper to the beef.
• Add milk-soaked bread and beaten eggs.
• With clean hands, smoosh and mix the ingredients together until well combined.
• Line a baking sheet with foil and lay two slices of bread end-to-end.  
• Form meat mixture into a loaf and set it atop the two slices of bread.
• Lay bacon slices over the top, tucking them underneath the meatloaf.
• Mix up the sauce by adding ketchup, brown sugar, dry mustard, and hot sauce in a bowl together and stirring.
• Pour 1/3 of the mixture over the top of the bacon and spread it around.
• Bake for 45 minutes and pour another 1/3 of the sauce over the top.  
• Bake for another 15 minutes.
• Slice and serve with remaining sauce.

Note:  When I make this again, I will probably broil it for about 5-7 minutes to cook the bacon more thoroughly because we like a thicker bacon.  It probably would be okay without the bacon, too.

Note 2:  I WILL be making it again because Mike informed me it was the best meatloaf I had ever made and I am finally starting to cook foods the way he likes them!

Beef and Bean Chimichangas

This is a recipe I adapted using leftovers from one by The Pioneer Woman, Ree Drummond.  I had set up a buffet to build-your-own nachos for Father's Day.  We enjoyed the Loaded Nacho recipe found HERE as a rerun the next day but I wanted something a little different after that and there was still a lot of beef and bean filling left.  So, I adapted this Baked Chimichanga recipe and it turned out to be yummy!

Leftover beef and bean mixture (See further info in the Loaded Nacho recipe link above.)
8 ounces cream cheese
Tortillas (I used Tomato-Basil flavored ones but any will work fine.)
Grated Cheese (I used a Mexican Blend.)
vegetable spray
Pico De Gallo (See further info in the Loaded Nacho recipe link above.)
cheese sauce (I bought one but you could also easily make one.)
sour cream (optional unless you are married to my husband)

• Gently warm the beef and bean mixture in a skillet.

• Add cream cheese and stir as it melts into the beef and bean mixture.

• Take one flour tortilla and add a dollop or two of the beef/bean/cream cheese mixture.

• Top with a spoon full of kernel corn.

• Sprinkle with a little bit of grated cheeses.  

• Gently fold the tortilla in at the top and bottom a little bit and gently fold the sides over the dollop of filling and roll it into a bundle.  (I didn't forget to take a picture of this step but I didn't have enough hands and Toby didn't feel confident serving as photographer!)
• Lay the tortilla bundles (chimichanga) seam-side-down onto a foil lined baking sheet that has been sprayed lightly with vegetable spray.

• Lightly spray the tops of the chimichangas with vegetable spray.  (See how they glisten with the light spritz of oil?)
• Bake 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
• Flip chimichangas and bake an additional 5-10 minutes till the tortilla is crisp and golden.

Serve with rice, Pico De Gallo, cheese sauce, and, if you are my husband, sour cream.

Note:  I froze a couple of these and then sent it to work with Mike a day or two later and he says it tasted just as delicious.

Baked Chimichangas

8 oz. pkg. cream cheese
8 oz. Pepperjack cheese, shredded
1/2 pkg. taco seasoning
1 lb. cooked meat (shredded chicken or loose, browned ground beef is what I have used)
6-8 flour tortillas
vegetable spray
shredded cheddar and mozzarella cheese
green onions
sour cream or guacamole
salsa

• Stir together cream cheese, Pepperjack cheese, and seasoning.
• Fold in meat.
• Divide among flour tortillas.
• tuck in sides of tortillas and roll up each one.
• Cover a cookie sheet with foil and spray generously with vegetable cooking spray.
• Lay, seam side down, onto the foil-lined baking sheet.
• Spray tops of tortillas with vegetable cooking spray.
• Bake at 350 for 15 minutes.
• Turn chimichangas over and bake an additional 15 minutes.
• Serve topped with cheddar and mozzarella cheeses, green onions, sour cream, and salsa.