Tilapia in Parchment

This is one of those simple, healthy meals you can make during the week that tastes great and is suuuuper quick and easy.  You will be so surprised at how good this tastes with very little effort.  The light butter and lemon make a delicious sauce for the fish.  To go along with it I just roasted some asparagus and some fingerling potatoes tossed in olive oil, sea salt and pepper, also very easy.  Just put the potatoes in about 10 minutes prior to the fish and the asparagus, since they take longer to cook.  The only other thing to mention about this recipe is the parchment paper.  If you don't have it in your house or have never used it, you can use tin foil, but it will not be quite as good.  Parchment can be found in most grocery stores near the foil and plastic wrap.  It may seem a little more expensive, but once you've tried it for baking, you will not mind the price.  I don't think anything in the world will stick to it, so it is amazing for making cookies, candies, cakes, etc.  Just line a cookie sheet with it and there is no clean up!  There is definitely more than one way to use parchment.

 

 

 

Tilapia in Parchment

2 decent sized tilapia fillets (recipe can very easily be doubled or tripled)
10 Cherry or grape tomatoes cut in half
1/2 lemon sliced into 4 thin slices
1 tablespoon low fat butter cut into small pieces  (I like the 50% lower fat version)  or regular butter if you like
1 tablespoon  capers (optional--but worth it)
a few shakes of garlic powder
kosher salt and pepper to taste
2 good size pieces of parchment (enough to wrap fish in a package)
Cookie sheet
preheat oven to 400 degrees

Clean and pat dry fillets.  Place pieces of parchment side by side on cookie sheet.  Put fish down on parchment in the center (making sure there is plenty of parchment to fold up around fish to make package).  Generously salt and pepper each side, as well as sprinkle on a little garlic powder.  Scatter  butter and capers over the top.  Then, divide the tomatoes evenly between the fish and scatter over them.  Last, place the lemons on top, 2 per fish (see first picture above).  Pull parchment up on the long sides and fold down at least 3 times and then roll up and crunch the open sides upward (do not fold underneath or all the liquid will flow out of the parchment when it cooks) Bake in 400 degree  oven for 15 to 20 minutes depending on your oven.  Fish is done when it is moist and flaky.  Serve with roasted potatoes and veggies, some wheat pasta or quinoa.

Valentines Day

 

 
 
So Valentines day is around the corner.  We celebrated early this year in our house due to an upcoming business trip, which worked out ok, turns out, so I can share the menu with you. Just in the event that you left everything until the last minute and you need some ideas. :)  Even if you are spending Valentines solo, there is no reason why you can not treat yourself to a good meal. 

I kept the table pretty simple with a few candles and some dried pomegranates that I already had.  Then I made it special by placing a photo of my husband and I on our wedding day on the table, it looks really cute if you have a nice frame and it gives you something to laugh and reminisce about.  Decorate with what you have laying around, and use candles.  If you have nothing else a simple table cloth, a candle, and some low lights will give you the feel that you are in a cute little restaurant.  Make sure you set the table ahead of time, that way you are not scrambling at the last minute to get it done.

On the menu is baked shrimp scampi with warm crusty baguette and a salad, followed by homemade tiramisu and chocolates.  You could quite easily make some angel hair pasta to go with this as well, this recipe makes plenty of garlic butter sauce to pour over.  This shrimp scampi is the same way they serve it in all the restaurants in France and Belgium.  You will think you have died and gone to heaven.  Drop your diet for the night.  You can start again in the morning.  And I promise to post some light recipes soon!
 
 

 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
                                   
 


















Tiramisu
 
1  8 oz package of mascarpone cheese
1/2 of an 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 cup of whipping cream very cold (chill bowl and beaters or whisk in freezer for 15 minutes)
5 egg yolks
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups of strong coffee, with 1 tablespoon sugar, cooled
6 oz of fresh lady fingers from bakery section of supermarket or the crunchy ones from the international section of your grocery store (either works)
1/8 cup of cocoa powder for dusting the top
heart or other cut out for stencil from scrap paper (if you wish)
medium sized trifle mold or medium glass pie dish

Beat cream in chilled bowl with chilled beaters or whisk until fluffy, do not over beat or you will make butter!  Set aside.  Beat egg yolks and sugar together until smooth, pale and ribbons form when beater or whisk is lifted from mixture.  Beat in cream cheese, mascarpone and vanilla.  Gently fold in whipping cream.  In the glass dish that you are making the tiramisu, place a single layer of lady fingers covering the entire bottom, then slowly pour the coffee over the fingers until soaked through.  You can tell they are soaked through when they just begin to slow at absorbing the coffee.  If there is any that does not absorb, tilt the dish and turn until it flows around and gets absorbed.  Then, layer half of the marscapone mixture over, covering the lady fingers completely.  Layer one more layer of lady fingers and pour more coffee over them, again slowly (you may not use all of the coffee).  Layer last layer of marscapone cream, cover and place in fridge for at least 3 hours, up to overnight (may be made the night before you plan to eat it).  Once the tiramisu has chilled thoroughly, remove plastic wrap and place stencil where you want it.  Dust on cocoa powder through fine mesh sieve or powdered sugar shaker.  Carefully remove stencil.  Serve.
 

 

 
 

 

 

 

Baked Shrimp Scampi

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of large shrimp, deveined
5 tablespoons of butter cut into pats
4 large or 8 small cloves of garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon of sea salt or kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon of pepper
1 lemon, 1/2 zested and then cut into wedges
1 tablespoon chopped parsley, optional
Baguette and/or  1/2 pound of cooked angel hair to serve
medium sized glass baking dish

Preheat oven to 550 degrees or as hot as yours will go, but not above 550.  Butterfly shrimp by slitting just enough so they will lay more flat in baking dish (see picture above).  In a medium sized baking dish place garlic on bottom.  Add shrimp with the cut side down so they lay semi flat.  Sprinkle over salt, pepper and lemon zest.  Place pats of butter on top. Place in oven for 10 minutes or until all shrimp are pink and butter is completely melted and bubbling.  Top with parsley, serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over the top and crusty bread or angel hair and a simple green salad. Voila!

Decorating the New Living Room

We just moved....again...so I find myself decorating and rearranging everything all over....but honestly I really love it. Once the boxes are all unpacked and its just me with my things again and a blank canvas...its like magic.

This house has a little more space than the last and I have an extra room to decorate.  It's a dining room slash sitting room.  I have decided to really use the french countryside look, think Provencal, in this room.  I have always adored antiques and like to mix different textures and styles.  Even when I was just 21 starting out with my husband in our first little one bedroom apartment, I was decorating with Antiques.  My friends used to make fun of me back then.  Believe it or not my mother in law has a lot to do with my decorating style, yes I actually love my mother in law!  That woman's house is like a damn magazine cover for Country Living.  She has such a way with the placement of things, my husband would say "yeah, she has a way with placing things alright....so they fall whenever you walk by!"  None-the-less she is a great inspiration.

 So on to the dining room slash sitting room.  I got a great deal on a rug at Target, it was marked down by 50% just because it was a repackage (meaning someone took it home and didn't like it so they brought it back and the store had to repackage it).  I am not above buying something that has been repackaged, hell I am not above dumpster diving for decorating finds!  Stores typically do not put those "repackages" and deeply discounted items right next to their perfectly packaged originals, you can usually find them on the ends of the aisles.  Just keep your eyes peeled, you never know what you may find. 

The couch was a hand-me-down from a good friend that was just dressed up with a cheap throw blanket and some throw pillows from either TJ Max, Marshalls or Homegoods--don't really remember which place I got them at, but they all have a good selection.  The little old black and white picture was found at an antique store for like $10 and the larger more ornate one was actually a Hobby Lobby poster that I bought almost 10 years ago when my husband and I were first married, I could never afford to get it framed back then and then forgot about it until recently.  When i was putting this room together it popped into my mind and I knew it would be the perfect way to tie everything together, and it was.  Curtains and rods also Target--on sale.  Coffee table was a Hobby Lobby sale item, and the old candelabra is from a thrift shop in Belgium, but I have seen similar items at antique shops here also.  It is always good to be on the look out.  Yard sales, thrift shops, little antique shops (not the expensive ones--hate those!), estate sales etc.  These are all places to find eclectic items.   A little word on antique stores, the best ones are  those that you have to do a little digging in, that is where you find the best deals and the neatest stuff.   Don't be afraid to dust things off and get a little dirty, that is what they invented showers for! If I walk in to a store and it looks like a museum, the first thing I will do is pick up a small cheesy little item that I know should not be very expensive and do a price check.  If it is outrageous, that's my cue!  The best advice I can give you is if you like it do not be afraid of what any one else thinks.  I have had my husband and his friends and even mine for that matter laugh at many of the things I have decorate with, i.e. old doors, windows, old wire flower boxes indoors, things like that.  If you love it, then don't worry what anyone else thinks of it.  Someone will get it!