Tilapia

Last night I made a very delicious fish recipe! I haven't had a lot of luck with fish recipes before but this one I will make again. I found it on allrecipes.com. Andy & I both really enjoyed the fish.

Marinade:
2 shallots, minced --I just used 2t minced dried onion
2 T chopped garlic
2 T fresh oregano --I just used 2t dried oregano
2 T while sugar -- I used splenda instead
2 T olive oil
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T lime juice
2 T tequila - optional --I omitted
1 t salt
1 t pepper
4 tilapia fillets

Directions:
1. Comine all the ingredients except tilapia in a gallon sized ziploc bag. Shake to combine. Add the tilapia and store in the refrigerator for 2-4 hours, turning every 30 minutes.--I marinated ours for about an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 450. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
3. Arrange fish on foil and discard remaining marinade.
4. Bake for about 10 minutes, until fish flakes easily with a fork.

In a rut...

So. I've been in a cooking rut for a couple months. Haven't really been trying new recipes. I thought it was due to the end of school and craziness. But so far this summer I haven't wanted to menu plan. I haven't wanted to cook. Nothing sounds good. No fun when cooking was my hobby! Hopefully it will pass...you would think with it being summer time that I would be spending more time cooking. But I just don't want to. I'm making myself cook easy dinners, plan the menu, and grocery shop. Just keeping it simple.

Boring stuff...menu planning etc!

Just wanted to give fair warning - some of you may not be interested in this post at all! People ask how I cook dinner with a busy life so here is how.

Sunday night I plan the menu for the week. I have a document on the computer with a table that has 1 row and 7 columns, 1 for each day of the week. I write in the dinner plan for each night of the week. I always plan two meals that will last us for 2 dinners. So whatever I make on Monday we also eat on Wednesday night. Same with two other nights in the week. I do try to space them out when I can so that we don't have to eat the same dinner 2 nights in a row. Before I had kids I hated leftovers. Now I am thankful for leftover nights. Often I will make a new veggie or side to go with the leftovers so that there is a little bit of a change.

As I plan the menu for the week I have my grocery list going at the same time. I have a grocery list saved on my computer. It is organized by aisle for the grocery Andy shops at in the order that he goes through the store. He organized that part of the list! The stuff we buy regularly is already on the list when I print it every week. If we don't need them on a set week I just cross them off. As I plan the menu I add the stuff we need to the list.

Generally we stick to the menu planning but some nights if what I have listed on the menu doesn't sound good I will swap it for something on the menu for another night. So the menu is flexible though if we have a t-ball game or Wednesday night church I try to have those night's be leftover night. As far as shopping at the grocery Andy is better than me about only buying what is on the list. So you won't come to my house and find a well stocked pantry. Towards the end of the week our fridge is getting empty. I don't stock anything really other that frozen chicken breasts and baking goods. I am rarely every to open a cookbook and make something not on my menu with the ingredients I have on hand.

I'm a planner but not always the most organized person. This seems to help me know what I'm making ahead of time. I'm not the type of person that can go through the day not knowing what I'm making for dinner that night. I do best having a plan since life is so busy! Maybe some of these tips will help! Here is a sample menu from last week:

Monday- Andy and I ate out w/ Ty b/c the other two boys were at a birthday party. Kind of like a date night!
Tuesday- Spaghetti, veggie tray (the last two weeks I've made a big veggie tray with a variety of veggies. It has been so convenient to pull out at dinner or while I am making dinner for everyone to have a healthy snack and get more veggies in.)
Wednesday- leftovers
Thursday- Buttermilk pancakes, sausage, strawberries
Friday- hamburgers and fries, veggie tray
Saturday- was supposed to be homemade pizza but Andy is the pizza maker and he was busy with other projects around the house. Ended up being Pizza hut.
Sunday- greek salad w/ grilled chicken

Veggie tray week 1- broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, sugar snap peas
week 2- broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, red pepper, cucumber

My Little Chef

Wilson LOVES to help cook. He helps me make dinner almost every night. Tonight, we were making Maw and Paw's famous Chicken Veggie Pasta. One of my longtime favorites! Wilson peeled all of the carrots for me! He did a really great job too! He is all the time saying I can do such and such now that I am 4. He has even tried chewing gum, and didn't swallow it! After peeling the carrots he proceeded to eat many pieces of raw carrot and broccoli. He is such a good eater!
Poor Luke, he still doesn't feel good. He's had a rough day with not feeling well. He is pitiful. Still the awful cough and now a runny nose to go with it. Hang in there Lukie! This week is a 5 day week at school. Not so sure I'm going to make it!

Night #2 without supper

Luke refused to eat dinner again tonight. It was taco lasagna, corn, and tortilla chips. Wilson ate it right up. Another night of crying, trying to get him to take a bite, and guilt. Although I know we're doing the right thing. It is hard for me to stand firm but with Andy's encouragement we aren't giving in. The plate is ready and waiting in case he changes his mind before bedtime. How many nights of this will it take before he gives up and eats dinner?

He will, won't he??

* Check out my friend Tricia's new blog here!

Stubborn: It runs in the family!

Oh, I'm having some parenting guilt right now. Both of the boys are in bed. One with a full tummy, one without a full tummy. Luke would not eat his dinner. I made a delicious Turkey Pot Pie with some leftover thanksgiving turkey. Andy, Wilson and I all enjoyed the dinner. Luke just kept saying "no way". Dinner went something like this: I shoved a bite in his mouth. He spit it out. He screamed and cried. Andy took him to time out. He came back crying. I held him and pushed a carrot in his mouth. He cried and spit it out. He wouldn't even try it. So he didn't get anything else other than his milk. I left it out in case he became hungry but he didn't. He never fussed about not eating and I know it is okay to do this, the doctor has told us and I've read it, and my mom has said it's ok but oh it is bothering me now! It was really hard to not give in and make him something that I know he likes. Andy and I just don't want to teach them they can have a fit and get what they want. But it is hard to be just as stubborn back. Even though Andy is stubborn. I am stubborn. Wilson is stubborn. But it was hard for me to be stubborn tonight. I didn't like it at all. Any ideas? I am not willing to fix two dinners every night - Luke will learn to eat what we have, right? Wilson has and he does well eating a good variety. Being the parent is HARD. As you can see, the rest of us really enjoyed dinner!

Pancakes, Pancakes!

So funny, had to tell you about it! Wilson was sitting at the desk this afternoon and my cookbook was out from planning this week's menu. He flipped it open and said "Hmm.. what's for dinner tonight?" He flipped through some pages "pancakes or (something else can't remember), let's have pancakes for dinner!" I had actually planned tortilla soup - but whatever! So right now Andy and Wilson are making a delicious pancake dinner with sausage. I did help. I cut up a melon from our last farm fresh veggie basket! My boys ALL love pancakes. I enjoy pancakes every now and then. But I usually have to be talked into having breakfast for dinner. I just said ok and thanked Wilson for helping plan tonight's dinner!

New recipe!

Well after much deliberation (on Andy's part) I was able to convince him to let me try a new recipe. It was for salmon patties which I found here, at Jenn's cousin's blog. I never liked salmon croquettes when I was growing up. I remember my mom made them occasionally and I HATED that meal! But, I ate it because that was what was for dinner. Andy has similar memories tied to his mom's salmon croquettes (When did we change the name from croquettes to patties? Much prefer patties!). His memory involves something with sneaking his salmon into the trashcan... So why did I want to make these?? They looked good and the recipe sounded good! Salmon is good for you!

Anyway, he really didn't want me to make them but I really did so I persisted. We ate them tonight. They were super fast to make and Andy liked them. Wilson liked them, Luke liked them, and guess what?! I even liked them! Score! I did add cheese in them as the recipe suggests as an option, used less oil to fry them in, and dipped 'em in ketchup. I just keep expanding Andy's food horizon. I'm so proud of my wife-y qualities!! (hahaha) It worked out well because we were able to visit with Ted and Cynthia which was nice. This was just my second time to meet Ted's new wife and she seems really nice! Wilson (after showing off for a while) sat down near Cynthia and kept talking to her about his cars. So cute! As they were leaving we had a medical person come out to our house as part of our life insurance application. Then we made our quick, delicious dinner and rushed off to church. It was a busy Wednesday!

Me vs. The Roast

Well, one of my goals this year is to make 1 meal in the crockpot each week. Today was my first time to try it this school year. I've used my crockpot over the years but I have never used it for pot roast until today. I've always been afraid to make a pot roast because I didn't know how. It was easy! I found a recipe on the internet and voila! But, if you had seen me with the roast this morning, you probably would have been laughing at me. You see, I have issues with meat. Not everyone knows this about me. I did great getting the carrots, potatoes, water, soup mix into the pot. Then came time for the meat. I have never bought a roast before. Andy bought this one and I hadn't seen it until this morning. It was huge. I don't even like to deal with raw chicken. This was pushing it. I had to use tongs to get it out of the package- difficult, since the meat was so big. Then trying to dredge it in flour was hard using only tongs. So, I had to cover my other hand with a baggie, then I was able to turn it over. I really didn't know if I was going to be able to eat it. Thankfully many hours passed and when I came home from work the house smelled delicious. I ate dinner, meat and all, and it was wonderful. The meat was juicy, not overcooked or dry. The carrots and potatoes were just right, and we had biscuits (with honey) to go with it. It was great! Maybe next time Andy can put the meat in for me. It still gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it.