I have decided to start including fish in my diet as I work to put my post baby body back together. I have started with Tilapia since it is really mild. I looked up a few recipes to try and also found a box of Cajun fish fry on clearance last week.
I tried it last night along with some mashed potatoes and gravy. It was super yummy! Like an adult fish stick. James found it too spicy but as we are preparing to go to Mexico, I think it wise to build up our spice tolerance. I really liked it!

Last night James and I tried some new recipes. It is so great to be experimenting in the kitchen again!!
 I made Indian Pakora, a deep fried appetizer.

 Par boil chunks of peeled potatoes.

Chopped onion, cauliflower, and shredded cabbage. Doesn't need to be cooked first.

 I didn't have chick pea flour as the recipe called for, and ended up using half wheat/half white. I would really like to try the chick pea next time to get the full Indian effect.

After manually mixing the flour, oil and spices, you blend them for 5 minutes to make the batter fluffy.

Add the veggies into the batter and coat well.

Fry in boiling olive oil.

Drain on paper towels and serve immediately. We ate them with ketchup, but next time I want to try something a little more authentic. They were a big hit for the whole family!

Our cherry tree produced enough cherries for one batch of pie filling.

I washed, seeded and chopped the cherries and cooked them with sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice. As James is our resident pastry expert, I left the dough making to him.

It turned out beautifully of course. James has perfected the art of pie making. I especially love the sprinkled brown sugar and cinnamon on top that gets all caramelized. Yum!

St. Patty's Cookies

Princess "O"-- my daughter-- and I decided to do a fun project for St. Patty's while little boy slept.
I found some paper plates at Joanne's for half price and I took advantage of Maceys' one day deal yesterday to get huge bags of Skittles and Starbursts for just .99 each.
The recipes I used are from my cooking class in high school. They turned out so freakin yummy that I will be including them for your baking enjoyment.

The Princess did most of the dry ingredients.

She helped with the wet ingredients but I did most of it. Holy BUTTER!!! This recipe is NOT for the diet conscious. It called for 4 sticks of butter just for the batter. Butter sure does make for yummy treats though!

Cleaning off the paddle to change to another one that would be suitable for adding in the dry ingredients.

Adding green food coloring to the batter!

 The Princess and the cookies.

Green cream cheese frosting. Seriously the BEST frosting I have EVER eaten!! I know that's a big claim, make it yourself and you will see what I mean!

 Frosting the cooled cookies.

Getting ready to plate them for a few neighbors.

Princess and Little Boy with the cookies they decorated and ate.

Daddies and Mommies need yummy, colorful treats too!!!

Recipes

Sugar Cookies

4 c flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 C butter, softened

1 1/2 C granulated sugar

1 egg

1/2 C dairy sour cream

1 tsp vanilla

Sift flour with baking powder, soda, salt and nutmeg. Set aside. In large bowl, beat butter, sugar and egg until light and fluffy. At low speed, beat in sour cream and vanilla until smooth. 

Gradually add flour mixture, beating after each addition until well combined. Here I added the green food coloring. Form dough into a ball, wrap in waxed paper or foil, refrigerated several hours or overnight. I omitted the cooling. Still worked great!

Divide dough into 4 parts. Preheat oven to 375. I did 350 on mine as it bakes hot.

Lightly grease cookie sheets. On well floured surface, roll dough one part at a time to 1/4" thickness. Cut with cutter and using spatula, move cookie to cookie sheets. I didn't bother rolling the dough out. Instead, I sprayed Pam on my hands and made balls of dough and then slightly flattened them.

Bake 10-12 minutes. I did 9 minutes for mine. You may have a great oven and not have to mess with the called for times or temps but don't be sad if you have to experiment a bit. I feel your pain. ;)

Cream Cheese Frosting 

I had to double this recipe to cover all of my cookies. The cookie recipe makes LOTS of cookies!

 3 T butter, softened

1 1/2 C powdered sugar

2 tsp lemon juice

1/4 C Cream cheese, softened

1 tsp vanilla 

Beat butter until fluffy. Add powdered sugar, lemon juice and cream cheese, beating until smooth. Stir in vanilla. Here's where I added the food coloring. Frosts 12-14 cupcakes or one 9-inch cake. Or about half the above cookie recipe.

Enjoy!!!

Please let me know if you try this recipe out and how you like it!!!

Taco Pizza

 I remembered my ex-husband bringing home a Taco Pizza from Pizza Hut once upon a time and was thinking I would like to have that for dinner last night. I found a few different recipes online and did a variation on all of them.

I started with a boxed pizza crust mix and baked it for half the listed time.

 After it had baked...

I spread refried beans

Then topped it with cooked ground beef and cheese.
It baked again for the second half of the listed baking time.

For toppings, I had shredded romaine lettuce, chopped green onions, sliced black olives, and diced tomatoes.

Here's the finished product, topped with salsa and ranch.

Easy to make and yummy to eat. :)

Beef Pot Pie

James baked up the most delicious Beef Pot Pie to enjoy during the Super Bowl. He used canned beef, canned potatoes, beef broth, corn, green beans, and frozen broccoli. He made the crust from scratch. Super duper yummy!

Beef Roast

 I made a roast in the slow cooker the other day. I thought it turned out nice but then my husband told me that night that it was the best roast I have ever made. Now I wish I had taken a picture to show you, but at least I can tell you what I did.
I used a boneless beef butt roast I had pulled from my freezer. With it in the slow cooker, I added:
1 can Beef Broth
2 T refrigerated Minced Garlic
2 T Ketchup
After cooking it on high for about 4 hours, I flipped the chunk of meat, topped it with another 2 T of ketchup, and then cooked it on low for about 4 more hours. It was quite yummy. We ate it in tacos. I have some leftover that I think I will either use for tostadas or burritos. I love when things just come together. :)

Quick Wheat Pizza Crust

 I have used this pizza dough recipe before and we like it at my house. It's easy and it's quick and I have adapted it to use half wheat flour to make it a bit healthier.

 Here it is ready to go in the oven. I had left over chicken from the slow cooker so we used bbq sauce because it just goes so nicely with chicken. Other toppings: Olives, pineapple, Tillamook cheese.

Quick Wheat Pizza Crust

1 (.25 oz) package Pizza Yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 C warm water

1 1/2 C White flour

1 C Wheat flour

2 T olive oil

1 tsp salt

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Dissolve yeast and sugar in warm water. Let stand 5 minutes. (10 minutes if you aren't using Pizza specific yeast)

2. In mixing bowl, combine flour, salt and oil. Add yeast mixture, beat until smooth. Let rest 5 minutes.

3. Roll dough into a round. Transfer crust to a lightly greased pizza pan dusted with cornmeal. Bake 5 minutes.

4. Add sauce and toppings. Bake 8 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

 I also used the same recipe to make bread sticks. 

I brushed it with butter and added garlic salt, parmesan cheese and a cheddar monterray jack mix.

They turned out okay but I want to figure out how to make them lighter and fluffier like the stuff you get at the pizza place. I will have to experiment a bit with this.