Week 1, Recipe 1

The first recipe was roasted tilapia, potatoes, and lemons. The Mr. prepared the meal tonight (lucky me!) since I was working (12 hour shifts never make me want to cook dinner). He said the recipe was fairly simple, the only long part was the roasting lengths. He sorta halved the recipe using 2 tilapia fillets instead of 4 and stated if he had also halved the amount of potatoes, "I would still be really hungry right now." Which I agreed was true but maybe we needed something green next time :)


Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons (serves 4)
Prep: 10 min, Total with roasting: 45 minutes

1 lb baby potatoes (12), halved
1 lemon, thinly sliced
8 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon olive oil
Salt & Pepper
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
4 6-0z skinless tilapia fillets (or do as we did and only use 2)
1/2 teaspoon paprika

1. Heat oven to 400. On a large rimmed baking sheet (ours is always lined with a silicone baking mat for easy clean up), toss potatoes, lemon, and thyme, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt & pepper; arrange in a single layer. Roast, tossing once, until potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.

2. Toss the olives with the potatoes; nestle fish in the potato mixture. Drizzle fish with a teaspoon of olive oil and season with paprika and 1/4 teaspoon of salt & pepper. Continue to roast until potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

The only addition we made was freshly grated parmesan cheese on top. yum.

Getting Our Cooking On

First and foremost I would just like to take a second and thank everyone for making our wedding AMAZING. It was completely everything we hoped for and we have you all to thank. Thank you to those who had long commutes (and LONG plane delays) and those who were in town and lent a helping hand. Thanks to those who gave such wonderful toasts and those who shook their booty all night long with us. It is certainly a day I will remember for the rest of my life.

The Mr. & I had an awesome honeymoon in Asheville, NC. We can't wait to share pictures! We are just now getting back into the swing of things (1o loads of laundry later, gasp!) As most of you already know one of our favorite things to do together is cook/try new recipes. After being away from our kitchen for 2 weeks AND finally getting the chance to enjoy all our new gadgets we can't wait to start cooking again. Unfortunately we have grown tired of our normal go-to recipes (which became a routine staple a good month before the wedding). Fate must have known this because they sent me this month's Real Simple (for free since the MOG bought me one of their wedding editions) and lucky for us it has a complete month's worth of easy, yummy recipes we cannot wait to try.

"no thought required"...yes please!

Week 1 Recipes:
#1 roasted tilapia, potatoes, and lemons
#2 penne with tomatoes, eggplant, and mozzarella
#3 turkey burgers with creamy romaine slaw
#4 pork cutlets with spicy noodles
#5 steak with roasted carrots and onions

Complete with Shopping Lists. Bonus.

I am going to try and post some of our favorite dishes throughout the week... or you could just pick up this month's Real Simple and cook along with us!

I Hope You are Hungry...

One of the top reasons everyone should be booking flights to visit us in Memphis is the delicious BBQ.

We have two favorite local joints: The Bar-B-Q Shop and Central BBQ. Whenever the BBQ craving comes along (much more often for P) it is very hard choosing between the two. Not surprising since we have never had a bad meal at either one. Although our selections at both never change, the form of BBQ is quite different. Whenever we are craving your typical pulled pork sandwich we know that The Bar-B-Q Shop is the only place to go, but it's the BBQ nachos that keep us in the long lines of Central BBQ. Yup, you heard me right...BBQ nachos are where it's at.

So book your flights now and see us turn this:

(BBQ Nachos - Central BBQ)

into this:

(Yes the size of this bad boy is so big we share it)

BBQ Nachos include: Chips, pulled pork, nacho Cheese, BBQ sauce, BBQ seasoning, cheese, coleslaw, and jalapenos :)

Friday Flowers

What can you do with $9.00? Well I can make a bea-U-tiful bouquet.


1 Dozen Roses = $5.00
Bunch of Alstromeria = $3.99
Total: $8.99!
Thank you very much Whole Foods.


And of course a picture with my favorite model...Lucy.

New Camera!

I am super excited to report that we now have a brand spankin' new camera. My old camera can rest in peace knowing that this new one (name yet to be determined) can take awesome photos. For example...a fish eye lens feature:

Makes an already ridiculous cute kitten look even cuter. (But I just might be biased)

The Daring Cook's Challenge: Brunswick Stew

The 2010 April Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den. She chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make Brunswick Stew. Wolf chose recipes for her challenge from The Lee Bros. Southern Cookbook by Matt Lee and Ted Lee, and from the Callaway, Virginia Ruritan Club.

The host gave some background about Brunswick stew that I found quite interesting. Apparently Brunswick, GA and Brunswick, VA both claim that they made the first Brunswick stew. An annual "stew-off" is held in Georgia to see which city can out-stew the other.

I am familiar with Brunswick, GA as my Dad lives about an hour away from it, but I had never heard of the associated stew, and thus clearly never eaten it.

There were two different recipes to choose from, obviously I chose the easier throw it all in a pot one. Legends say the Brunswick stew is complete when "the paddle stands up in the middle" of the pot. The challenge was set before us to make a proper Brunswick stew, paddle standing up and all. And that we did (well, sorta).

(Cook's Trick to spoon sticking up: Take photo fast)

Brunswick Stew

Recipe Two, The Short Way-
This version goes on the assumption that you already have cooked your meats and have broth on hand.

Serves about 10

2 ½ lb TOTAL diced stewed chicken, turkey, and ham, with broth - yes, all three meats
3 medium diced potatoes
2 medium ripe crushed tomatoes
2 medium diced onions
3 cups frozen corn
1 ½ cups frozen lima beans
4-5 strips crumbled bacon
4 tablespoons of butter
1 Tablespoon sugar
1 Tablespoon ‘Poultry Seasoning’
Dash of red pepper
2 diced carrots (optional)
Tomato juice

Directions-

In large stock pot or Dutch Oven, mix all ingredients, heat until bubbly and hot. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add tomato juice as desired. Cook until all vegetables are tender. Serve hot.

(I quickly renamed it Rainbow Stew)

Quick and easy to make and very tasty! It definitely had an "earthy" taste to it, but only in the good ways. (Not like eating dirt...Pica friendly!)

This is a recipe P & I are sure to repeat when it gets cold again. Hopefully I will soon get the liquid portion of recipes figured out...until then we will continue to eat soupy-risotto and soupy-stews.

The Daring Baker's Challenge: Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

An Orange What!? Yep, that was exactly what I was thinking when I read what the March dessert was going to be. That and it is going to take a lot of convincing that these challenges are even worth it.

I knew I wasn't going to start my argument with the preparation time...just look at that list:
Preparation time:
- Pate Sablee: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to rest, 15 minutes to roll out, 20 minutes to bake
- Marmalade: 20 minutes to make, 30 minutes to blanch
- Orange segments: 20 minutes, overnight to sit
- Caramel: 15 minutes, overnight to sit
- Whipped Cream: 15 minutes
- Assembling: 20 minutes
- Freezer to Set: 10 minutes

Blah, Blah, Yikes! Even in my not so busy life I still felt this dessert was a little too "needy". I kept thinking to myself this dish better be good...or we've got some problems Daring Kitchen.


Thank goodness it was excellent! It was the perfect first-week-of-spring dessert. The only thing I would change about the dessert was the fact that I couldn't find Florida oranges in our grocery store...so I had to settle for a Texas one. I guess it was for the best, I'm sure eating a Florida orange would send me into a deep home(state)-sick depression.

P & I enjoyed this dessert all week long as it was kept frozen until ready to be eaten each night. I don't think I will be making this one again in a long time, unless it's someone's birthday and they beg, a lot. I am very happy I am expanding my kitchen skills and our bellies each month with the Daring Kitchen, I cannot wait to see what next month's challenge will be.