Saturday night eating!

When you're hungry, everything looks like it will taste good.  You know how some people say not to food shop on an empty stomach?  Well, you also shouldn't look up "grill recipes" while hungry either.  You'll end up with a word document with 7 different recipes in it like I did.

That being said, on our menu for the night was:
Grilled Tilapia and Mango Salsa
Grilled Salmon with a soy sauce marinade
Lemon Rice
Salad w/ Strawberries, Mandarin Oranges, Walnuts and a Raspberry Merlot Olive Oil Vinaigrette dressing (I made this one up, it was the best salad ever, heh)

Let's get started with the prep work!

All of these recipes were pretty easy to put together.  I began with the marinade for the salmon, since it had to sit for at least two hours.  Mom seasoned the salmon fillet first with salt, pepper and garlic powder then we put everything in a plastic bag and popped it into the fridge.

The marinating salmon:

Then I made the marinade for the tilapia fillets.  Again, this was pretty easy to do.  Just mix the ingredients, put everything into a ziploc bag and stick it in the fridge!  For the mango salsa I used one mango, 1/4 of a green bell pepper, a red bell pepper and a red onion each.  Actually, I ended up with extra minced veggies, so really, you don't need much when you're making it

The mango salsa:

We put each fillet into a tin foil pouches for grilling (about 15 minutes), which worked out pretty well.  Honestly, we didn't want to try and deal with cookiing the fish right on the grill.  I'm a little too lazy for that, and I didn't want to have to clean it up.  ;-D

Just before the pouches:

Salmon:

Tilapia:

Easy cleanup grillable fish pouches!

On the grill!

We got the rice cooking a few minutes before I put the fish on the grill.  I zested and juiced the lemon, which was actually kind of fun to do, and the only part of the recipe that we changed was the type of rice used.  I used the regular rice that we had in the house and it seems like it worked out just fine.

Rice ingredients:

Finally, the salad! It was super duper easy to make!  One can of mandarin oranges, a few strawberries that I cut into quarters and I topped it off with walnuts and Crasins.  The dressing I used was Bolthouse Farms Raspberry Merlot Olive Oil Vinagarette.  It definitely helped bring together this fruity sweet salad.

Ingredients:

Finished:

Food!!!

Boy, my feet were killing me after a few hours in the kitchen, but the end result was worth it!  The fish turned out great, the tilapia was our favorite.  That's definitely a recipe we'll be making again.  The rice turned out pretty good, it had a bit of a tart (probably from the ton of lemon and ginger I put in it) flavor to it.  I had trouble eating it alone, but with the tilapia it tasted awesome!  I really really liked the salad, and for me, that's saying something.  I don't usually eat salad, but putting the fruit and the raspberry dressing on it made it nice and sweet!  Huzzah for tasty food!!

~Mich

Oreo Fudge Update

I'd like to just give you guys a quick update you on the Oreo Fudge I made with my brother on Saturday.  I did taste it and it wasn't bad!  My personal preference for sweets is a little different typically, so the fact that this wasn't a base of milk or dark chocolate doesn't make it my favorite.  However, it was pretty good!  A nice change, if you will.  If you're a fan of cookies and cream flavored things then this is definitely the recipe for you.  The best way I can think of to describe it is that it's like an Oreo with way more cream filling.

It's actually making me think of other tasty things I can do to my current (and favorite) fudge recipe.  If I have my way, my coworkers are going to hate me this holiday season.  Muahahahahaaaaa!

~Mich

Halibut w/ a parmesan cheese risotto

We went to Mr. Shrimp tonight for dinner and I had the very tasty Tropical Halibut special!  It was Halibut, I believe grilled with a really light chipotle sauce, which had a little bit of heat to it but was good for me because it wasn't "omg hot".  It was also topped with thinly sliced mangoes and zucchini like a little salad.  It was all on top of parmesan cheese risotto.

The whole meal was really tasty.  The halibut was cooked to perfection and the risotto complimented it very well.  I swear, the risotto at Mr. Shrimp is really really good.  So far the two specials that I have had here both topped some kind of risotto were very good.  They could just serve the risotto and I would go for that.  :-)

~Mich

Oreo Fudge

I love fudge and I enjoy making fudge.  Up until tonight I had only really made chocolate fudge, which I have been making since my Mom has allowed me to help her in the kitchen. (Last year.  Heh, kidding.)  My brother came home from college and declared that we needed to make this oreo cookie fudge so we did tonight.

Ingredients:
1 package of Oreos

Save 1 cup crumbled oreos (for on top)
3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter of margarine
2/3 cup (5 fluid ounce can) Nestle Carnation Evaporated milk
2 cups (12 ounce package) Nestle Toll House Premier Whit Morsels
1 jar (7 ounces) marshmallow creme - Fluffernutter!
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine sugar, butter and evaporated milk in a saucepan. Bring to a full rolling boil, stirring constantly. Boil (while stirring) for at least 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in morsels, Fluffernutter, crushed oreos and vanilla extract. Pour into pan. Sprinkle the crushed oreos onto the top. Refrigerate for 1 hour or until firm.

David putting the last bit of Oreos on the top of the fudge:

The finished fudge!

I would also like to point out that through this whole process my brother was singing Conan the Barbarian: The Musical.  Specifically the line about women lamenting or something like that.  It was pretty funny, hehe.

But I digress, back to the fudge.  Well, the preliminary taste test of it tells me it's going to be tasty.  ;-)  I'll actually know tomorrow though.  We're going to let it set overnight and we'll eat tomorrow.  I'll take pictures of it then.  :-D


~Mich

Cover songs

Oh man a music post!  So this morning I was listening to the radio (Q104.3) and it's Twofer-Tuesday.  Almost every Tuesday when I turn on the radio I think about how cool it would be if they did a special where they would play the original song, then another band's cover of that song.  (There is another radio station that does this but I can't remember the station at the moment.)  That being said, I have put together my own playlist of just that.  ;-D  I know that there are TONS of songs that were covered by other artists, but these are just a few that I can think of off the top of my head.  Also, I could probably go crazy with the Beatles, but I'll try and control myself. ;-)  For your listening pleasure, the playlist is below everything!

1.)  Fly Like An Eagle - Steve Miller Band / Seal
I like the original version, but I love the Seal version.  That's probably because I'm fairly partial to anything Seal, but hey, you like what you like.

2.)  Turn The Page - Bob Segar & The Silver Bullet Band / Metallica
Great song to begin with and Metallica just adds a little more heaviness/edgyness to it.

3.)  Kashmir - Led Zeppelin / Come With Me - Puff Daddy
When I first heard this song I wasn't really into Led Zeppelin, but I knew that it was a band that my Dad enjoyed.  So, in my infinite wisdom, I thought that blasting Puff Daddy's remake of Kashmir would make my Dad happy because in my head it was almost like I was blasting Led Zeppelin.  (I'm a smarty pants obviously.)  I wasn't really into Puff Daddy, but it was the hot new song and it was on the Godzilla soundtrack, which I just so happened to have.  That being said, I enjoy the Led Zeppelin version more, but it's a little difficult not to think of Puff Daddy's version every time I hear it.  ;-)

4.)  I Am The Walrus The Beatles / Styx & The Contemporary Youth Ochestra
I really like this live version of I Am The Walrus that Styx performs with The Contemporary Youth Orchestra.  ;-)  The whole album One With Everything is actually really awesome and they do a great job with this song.

Also, because it cracks me up:
I Am The Walrus - Jim Carrey
He brings a lot of weird character to the song and it's really entertaining.  You can watch the video on YouTube too.  It's half the fun, lol.

5.)  I Can't Stand The Rain - Anne Peebles / Seal
This song is on Seal's album Soul where he does covers of old soul songs.  This is one of my favorites.  I had never heard the original and then I heard Seal perform it live when I saw him in concert.  Definitely love Seal's version more than the original.

6.)  While My Guitar Gently Weeps - The Beatles / Phish
I just really like this song, and Phish does a good job on the cover.

7.)  Yesterday - The Beatles / Boys II Men  
An already beautiful song made more beautiful by Boys II Men.  I love both versions of this song, and Boys II Men singing it acapella gives me chills.  Maybe I'm just partial to songs sung acapella, but it just adds more emotion to it.  (Yes, I know the song in the playlist starts off with Blackbird, it was the only version I could find of Yesterday by The Beatles on Grooveshark and it won't let me upload my own right now.)

8.)  She's Out of My Life - Michael Jackson / 98 Degrees
I personally prefer the 98 Degrees version.  It's a sad song and they do a wonderful job covering it acapella.  Again, another song that gives me chills.

Playlist:



I hope you enjoyed the playlist!

~Mich

I can has update? Books!

So apparently I really bite at posting in a timely fashion.  I’ve done a bit of cooking, but mostly just re-dos of what I’ve already told you about.  Well, because I haven’t done any interesting cooking lately, on to book-talk!

Right now I am going through a Terry Pratchett phase.  I can’t help it, his books just make me happy!  I picked up The Color of Magic after a few recommendations from a friend.  “You’ll really like the Discworld series.”  “It’s really good.”  “Seriously, I’m not kidding.”  I every time I mentioned a new book that I had picked up my friend would say “Have you checked out the Discworld series yet?” and I would always reluctantly reply “No, not yet… it’s on the list!”  Then finally I said “what the hell,” looked up the publication order, and grabbed the first book.  The books aren’t numbered so you can pretty much read them in any order you want.

The Color of Magic is about Rincewind; the failed and slightly cowardly wizard, and his misfortunes as he gets wrapped up in travel with an unassuming tourist who owns a pretty awesome piece of anthropomorphic luggage.  I love Rincewind, and feel a little bad for him because really he just wants to live out his existence in relative peace and quiet.  However, my true favorite character of this book is the luggage. 

The luggage is incredibly loyal and protective of its owner and follows him no matter what.  The personality that Pratchett gives the luggage is really amusing.  It’s pretty fantastic.  I want a piece of luggage that will follow me around like that!  I would never have to worry about a lost bag at the airport, because it would always find it’s way back to me, lol.

When I read, if it’s a good story I end up emotionally involved and engrossed in them.  So, if whatever I’m reading is intense or sad it can really screw with my mood.  The humor in Pratchett’s books have allowed me to escape into them and not end up an emotional wreck while reading.  If you’re looking for a fun, whimsical book I definitely recommend you pick this one (or any of his books) up.  They are great entertaining books that also uplift your mood!

Chocolate Chip Pancakes w/ Cherry Compote!

Hi everyone!  Ok, so I know that I mentioned in my last post that this post would be about nachos with a twist, but, you're just going to have to wait for that post.  It took me two tries to make them properly and on the second try I forgot to take a picture!  We were really anxious to eat, and it lasted for about two seconds.  I think if I had asked everyone to wait an extra second I would have lost a limb, lol.  I also need my brother's chili to really make it right, so you may have to wait 3 weeks for this dish.  ;-)

Buuuuut, you don't have to wait three weeks for something tasty!  This morning (ok, so it was closer to this afternoon, but who is keeping track?) I decided that I wanted to try making chocolate chip pancakes with a cherry compote. From Wikipedia, "compote is a dessert originating from 17th century England made of whole or pieces of fruit in sugar syrup. Whole fruits are immersed in water and with sugar and spices added to the dish, over gentle heat."  I think the most difficult part of preparing the cherry compote was pitting the cherries.  We don't have a fancy kitchen tool to help me pit the cherries, sooo I got to get right into it with my knife and fingers.  When I was done my left hand looked like it had been through a battle, lol.

Pitting cherries:

Bowl o' cherries:

I yoinked the compote recipe from this recipe.  

• 4  cups  pitted sweet cherries (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1/4  cup  granulated sugar
• 2  tablespoons  water
• 2  teaspoons  cornstarch
• 1/4  teaspoon  almond extract

You put everything (except the almond extract) together in a pot over medium heat, stirring constantly.  The recipe says to cook for 1 minute then remove from heat but I let it cook for a bit longer so it got a bit more syrupy.  The only thing I changed was the 1/4 teaspoon of almond extract.  We don't have that on hand, so I used vanilla extract and that worked out just fine.  (It smelled so good when I poured it in at the end, mmmm.)  Also, I didn't measure the cherries prior to cutting them, so I think I ended up with more cherries than necessary.  It still turned out tasty, so yay!

Right off the stove:

I didn't do anything fancy with the pancakes.  I just followed the recipe on the back of the Bisquick box and threw some chocolate chips onto them after they were poured on the skillet.  The cherries tasted great on plain pancakes as well as chocolate chip ones!  (Yep, I was a fatty and had a whoooole bunch of pancakes.  It was so worth the stomach ache, lol!)

Plated and delicious!

Overall, this was a really easy and tasty way to jazz up pancakes!


~Mich