Salt and Pepper potato chip tuna casserole

It seems like every non standard tuna casserole is referred to as not your mother/mom/mama's whatever. Makes it hard to distinguish between them all.  So this one is different because it has salt and pepper kettle chips on it.  yum.  Inspiration from Eat at home.

Yeah, and I need to turn in my mn card as i say casserole instead of hotdish.

Salt and pepper chip topped tuna casserole

8 cups egg noodles (I cooked up a whole 12 oz bag of ronzoni extra wide smart taste noodles and used slightly less than all of it. eyeball it to your desired noodleness) 

2 cans chunk light tuna in water 4.5oz each (I used a low sodium lemon pepper version)

½ small onion, minced

1 red pepper, diced

2 stalk celery, diced

4 Tbs. butter

4 Tbs. flour

3 cups milk, warmed

1-1 1/2 c frozen mixed veggies (eyeball it to your preference)

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups crushed Kettle - Salt and Pepper Chips

preheat oven to 350. Cook noodles according to package directions. Drain tuna and set aside. Cook onion, green pepper, red pepper, celery in butter in a large skillet till veggies are tender. Whisk in flour. Cook for 1 minute.

Whisk in milk until sauce is well combined. Cook over medium heat until sauce begins to thicken.

Season sauce with salt and pepper. Add frozen veggies, and tuna. stir. add noodles.  Spray 9x13 dish.  pour all that goodness into your pan. top with crushed chips. bake350 for 20-25 min until heated through.

Bang Bang Shrimp or Chicken

BANG BANG SHRIMP or CHICKEN via Damn Delicious
1/2 c veg oil, or more, as needed
1 c buttermilk (I used powdered)
3/4 c flour
1/2 c cornstarch
1 large egg
1 T hot sauce
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 c Panko
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 t garlic powder
1/2 t basil
1/2 t  dried oregano
1 lbmedium shrimp, peeled and deveined, or 1 lb chicken cut into bite size pieces

sauce
1/4 c mayo
2 T sweet chili sauce
1 T honey
1 t rice vinegar

To make sauce, whisk mayonnaise, sweet chili sauce, honey and rice vinegar in a small bowl; set aside. Heat oil in large skillet over med high heat. In large bowl, whisk buttermilk, flour, cornstarch, egg, hot sauce, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside. In another large bowl, combine Panko, onion and garlic powder, basil, oregano, salt and pepper, to taste; set aside. Working one at a time, dip shrimp or chicken into buttermilk mixture, then dredge in Panko mixture, pressing to coat. Working in batches, add shrimp or chicken to skillet and cook until evenly golden and crispy, about 2-3 min. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate.

Avocado Tuna Melt

One of Blockette's least favorite dinners is the tuna melt.  What I normally do is take some ranch dressing, mix it up with tuna, and top it with cheese.  Sometimes I put it over a baked potato instead of a sandwich.  She hates that too.

She must not be part tiger.

via

I asked her what she thought of this recipe from The Kitchen Paper, and she said she was willing to try it.  She thought the avocado would make the tuna taste better. 

When I tasted it I was worried she would turn her nose up at it.  My strange child does not like pickles either.  Even though there is not a lot of pickle relish in it, I thought the pickle flavor was quite strong.  Apparently, avocado is magic. 

She even gave a cheer the day I told her we were having it as leftovers.  Actually, her reaction was more like this:

via

If you want to take any sandwich to the next level, make this multi-grain bread.  It's totally amazeballs.  It may also have had something to do with Blockette's excitement toward tuna sandwich leftovers.

I tripled the recipe so we would have leftovers, but below is a recipe for a single serving.

Avocado Tuna Sandwich from The Kitchen Paper serves 1
1 6-oz can of tuna
2 T mayo
1 T prepared yellow mustard
1-2 T dill pickle relish
1 t lemon juice
1 splash hot sauce
2 T minced onion
salt and pepper to taste
1 slice of bread
¼ avocado
1 slice of cheddar cheese

Drain liquid from tuna, and combine with mayo, mustard, relish, lemon juice, hot sauce, and minced onion, adding more mayo if needed.  Season with salt and pepper. Toast bread, then spread on the avocado. Top with tuna mix, then cheese.  Broil 3-5 min til cheese is melted and browned to your liking.

Baked Coconut Shrimp

Every year for New Year's Eve,  it's tradition to have some sort of shrimp dish.  This year I decided to try baked coconut shrimp from Tastebook.

via

The Orange rum dipping sauce was amazing, but the cooking times for the shrimp was way, way off.

First, we used a much smaller shrimp than the 16-20 count that the recipe called for.  I think it was 24-36 count.  You would think, as the shrimp were smaller and therefore, not as thick, you could bake them for a lot less time, right?  Apparently not.  The recipe says to bake them for 10 minutes.  It was more like 15 min on each side.  I also think that the cooking temp of 375F was incorrect as well.  We wound up cranking the oven up to 400F after the first 10 min.  Even after baking at 400F for an additional 20 min, the coconut was barely golden brown.

The leftovers were much better the next day.  I reheated them in a skillet with no oil. This finally allowed the breading to crisp up, and the coconut to become a darker brown.

While this recipe wound up tasting ok eventually, I wouldn't make it again.  Try it at your own risk.


Coconut Shrimp from tastebook (edited to add my suggested bake times)
1 pound 16-20 count shrimp, peeled and deveined, leave tail on
1/3 c cornstarch
1 t salt
1 T  cumin
pinch of cayenne
1 c flaked sweetened coconut
1/2-3/4 C Panko bread crumbs
3 egg whites, beaten until foamy

Orange Rum Sauce
1/2 C orange marmalade
1 T whole grain Dijon mustard
1 T coconut rum (Malibu)

Preheat oven to 375 F (or 400F). Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray or use a silicon baking mat. Rinse and dry shrimp with paper towels. Mix cornstarch, salt, and spices in a shallow bow; pour coconut flakes and Panko in a separate shallow bowl. Dredge one shrimp at a time in the cornstarch mixture, then dip it in the egg white, and roll in coconut, making sure to coat shrimp well. Place on prepared baking sheet, and repeat with the remaining shrimp. Bake shrimp til they are bright pink on the outside and the meat is no longer transparent in the center and the coconut is browned, about 8-10 minutes (10-15 min on each side). Serve with Orange Rum Sauce.

Orange Rum Sauce
Mix marmalade, 1 T mustard and rum. Mix well.  (Tastes best after chills for a few hours in the fridge so the flavors can combine.)

Coconut Rice and Fish

Woah, I just realized I never posted about some of the meatless dishes we ate over Lent. 

I'd been wanting to try this Coconut Tilapia with Apricot Dipping Sauce from  All Recipes for at least a year.  Since fish is not my favorite thing I usually find excuses to make something else for dinner.  I was determined to make it this year.

This was the recipe I mentioned in this post a few weeks ago that called for creole seasoning.

I thought this dish would go well with rice, but I wanted to jazz things up a bit so I made Tropical Rice from Steamy Kitchen.

I really liked the apricot dipping sauce went well with the toasted coconut in the "breading" on the fish.  It also almost nearly masked the fish taste.  It was just fishy enough that I knew I was eating fish, but not enough so to be bothersome.

The heat from the creole seasoning helped balance the sweet from the sauce.  The spice neutralized the sauce from making the dish overly sweet.

As for the rice.  I really liked it.  Blockette and Mrblocko didn't.

The rice gets cooked in coconut milk and stock.  It also has crushed pineapple in it.

Sounds like a great match for the coconut fish doesn't it?

For some reason that rice did not want to cook.  I cooked it 10 min longer than the package suggests and it was still "al dente."

Mrblocko is not a fan of rice to begin with, and hates chewy rice.  I thought adding some chopped slivered almonds might help with the texture.  I thought they tasted great, but not to mrblocko.  I'm wondering if he doesn't care for coconut milk.  There are a few things I've made with coconut milk that he didn't care for either.  I'm just realizing that as I write this, so I should probably keep that in mind for future reference.

Anyhow, we had lots of leftover rice that I happily ate all myself.


Coconut Tilapia with Apricot Sauce from All Recipes
1 c flaked coconut, finely chopped
2 T flour
1 T Creole seasoning
4 (4 ounce) fillets tilapia
1/2 c cornstarch
1 (4 ounce) carton egg substitute (I used 1 egg, beaten with a splash of milk)
1/2 c veg oil

Apricot Dipping Sauce
1/2 c apricot jam
2 t spicy mustard
1 t prepared horseradish

Place conrstarch on rimmed plate. Beat egg with milk on separate rimmed plate.  On another rimmed plate combine coconut, flour and Creole seasoning. Coat fish with cornstarch, then egg. Press fillets in the coconut mixture coating all sides.

Heat canola oil in a frying pan to a temperature of about 350 F (175 degrees C). Fry fillets one or two at a time on both sides until golden brown. Remove to drain on a paper towel. Prepare the apricot dipping sauce by stirring together the jam, mustard, and horseradish in a small bowl. Serve the tilapia accompanied by the dipping sauce.

Tropical Rice from Steamy Kitchen
2 c jasmine rice (I had medium grain rice)
1 1/4 c chicken or veg broth
1 c good, thick coconut milk
1 c crushed pineapple
2 Tsoy sauce (or Tamari on a gluten-free diet)
1 T sesame oil
1 T brown sugar
1/4 c finely chopped green onion (Mine were all wilty when I went to use them so I left it out.)
Optional toppings: macadamia nuts, almonds, toasted coconut flakes

Rinse rice several times until water runs clear. Drain rice. In med pot, add rice, broth and coconut milk. Boil on high. Once boiling, turn heat to low, and cover.  Cook 20 min. Turn off heat and do not open lid. Let sit off the heat 10 min to finish steaming. Fluff rice with fork and add pineapple, soy sauce, sugar and oil. Top with chopped green onion and optional toppings.

Breaded Lemon Cream Tilapia

It's no big secret that fish and I are not friends.  I mean I can be friends with a fish.  Especially if they are cute and squishy.  In other words, to quote the sharks from Finding Nemo, "Fish are friends, not food."

via

Ok, so I like white fish, aka krab.  I mean that stuff tastes like crab, not fish.  So it doesn't even count. 

Tilapia and salmon are edible, if they are smoked on a plank of wood over the grill.  Except our grill doesn't like to heat up when it's windy.  Lately, we've been having sustained 20+mph winds with gusts in the 40mph range.  That grill isn't even going to remain vertical, let alone maintain the proper heat.

So that leaves me with a sad face when my family wants to have fish for dinner over Lent.

Then I found this recipe for Breaded Tilapia and Lemon Cream Sauce from Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake.  

The breading was nice and crispy without having to fry it in copious amounts of oil.  I wound up using half regular breadcrumbs and half panko.  I was mistaken regarding the amount of panko I had in the pantry.  I don't know if using regular breadcrumbs in addition to the panko accounted for this crispy breading, or if it was just luck. It could have been that the fish was dry before it was dredged in egg and crumbs.  Who knows!

Blockette and Mrblocko only used the lemon sauce sparingly, but I drenched my fish in it.  It was so good it covered any fish smell or taste.  I thought the lemon sauce was so yum-a-riffic that I even dipped carrots in the leftovers the next day. 

For the record, I ate my fish with way more sauce than in the picture.  I wanted you to be able to see the fish in the photo.  I added loads more sauce after I took the picture.  One could say the fish was "swimming" in lemon cream sauce.  :::groan:::

We ate our fish with a baked potato.  I didn't feel like messing with chopping or buying special potatoes like the recipe over at Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake suggests.  We had russets already so I used those.  They are topped with Italian Blend seasoning and Italian blend preshredded cheese.  That flavor combo went well with the lemony fish.

Blockette had been begging for green beans, but Mrblocko does not like cooked green beans.  As a compromise, we ate them raw with bean dip.

I'd make this meal for dinner again, even outside of Lent.

Lemon Cream Breaded Tilapia from Just Get Off Your Butt and Bake
2 T flour
1 t lemon-pepper (I used Penzeys Florida Seasoned Pepper)
1 cup Panko bread Crumbs (I used half regular bread crumbs and half panko)
1 egg
4 tilapia or other white fish fillets (I used 3 frozen, defrosted tilapia as I didn't want leftovers)
4 T vegetable or olive oil for frying

On plate, mix flour and seasoning. On second plate, place bread crumbs. In bowl, beat egg. Pat fish dry.  Coat fish with flour mix. Dip into egg then coat well with bread crumbs. In a large skillet, heat oil. Add fish fillets, and cook 3 min on each side til golden brown.


Lemon Sauce
3 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/2 c milk
1/4 t onion powder
1/4 t sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
juice and zest of 1/2 lemon

On low, melt butter in med pan. Add flour.  Stir in flour.  Cook for 1-2 min so flour develops nutty taste.  Whisk constantly so it doesn't burn.  Slowly add in milk.  Whisk constanly as you are slowly adding the liquid.  This will help prevent lumps from forming.  On med heat, stir til sauce thickens.  Remove from heat. Add lemon zest and juice.

Crab Penne al Telephono

Apparently there is this restaurant in the Philippines called Cibo's.  I'd never heard of it before, 'cause, well it's in the Philippines.   It's not like I can hop in the car for a quick trip or anything like that.

I have seen several blogs that "hack" their Penne al Telephono though.  It sounded mouth watering good.  Then I saw a little blurb at the bottom of one post that said if you want to copy their Rigatoni Alphonso, just add crab sauteed in butter, and swap the penne for rigatoni.  Sign me up for that!

Oh. My. Word.  This dish was KA-Ray-Zee good.

Insane.

I may have peed myself a little it was so good.

Yes, I literally patted myself on the back when I made this.

The recipe I used was from Pepper.ph.  I had to make a few minor changes to the recipe, but nothing majorly flavor altering.

First, they were all out of rigatoni at the store.  I don't get it, but there was zero rigatoni on the shelf.  Maybe everyone was making this recipe?  I don't know!  I figured since the non crab version used penne, I'd settle for that noodle shape.

Next, I discovered that I only had diced tomatoes in my pantry.  The recipe calls for crushed tomatoes, so I threw a can of fire roasted tomatoes into the blender and pulsed it so it was just slightly chunky.

Finally, I used imitation crab meat.  Yes.  I know that some of you are screaming in horror.  I've said it once and I'll say it again: I live in the midwest.  Fresh crab is insanely expensive.  I don't even want to think about it.  So I used the fake stuff.  As we don't live anywhere close to getting fresh from the ocean crab, no one in my family can tell the difference.  If you are lucky to live on the coast, by all means use the real stuff!

One thing I didn't change was the call for cream.  I knew it would make or break this dish.  I rarely use actual cream, so I thought it was time for a little treat.

Blockette wanted to know what made the dish pink and I told her it was the tomatoes and cream.  She eyed me funny and sceptically asked, "What kind of cream?"  I replied, "Cream.  Cream cream."  To which she replied, "No.  What KIND of cream."  Wherein I had to explain that it wasn't sour cream or cream cheese, but cream.  The kind of cream that they make ice cream with."  Never mind that she watched me make dinner and pull the tiny milk carton out of the fridge. 

The ice cream part must have intrigued her because after that, she dug right in.  I swear her eyes rolled to the back of her head.  Now she wants to eat this every week!  I told her that wasn't going to happen, but that I would make the dish again.

Crab Penne al Telephono from Pepper.ph
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp chopped onion
1 tsp garlic
1 regular can crushed tomatoes (I used a 15oz can)
2 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp fine salt (I omitted this as the bouillon was salty enough)
1/8 tsp pepper
1/2 cup water
1/2  chicken bouillon cube (I measured out a cup of boiling water, dissolved the cube and then dumped out half of the broth mixture.)
1 cup  cream
1 package of imitation crab meat
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese (I used a preshredded Italian blend, and it was probably closer to 1 c cheese.  )
1/2 lb uncooked penne pasta

Cook pasta  directed in package. Meanwhile, heat pan and sauté onion and garlic until soft. Add in crushed tomatoes and water. Season with sugar, salt, pepper and chicken broth. Simmer for 20 minutes or until thick. Add crab and cream and simmer for another minute. Add pasta, and then cheese.  Stir for 1-2 min until cheese is melted and stringy.

p.s. It is sadness that this dish isn't nearly as good in leftover form.  I can never seem to get cream based pasta dishes to taste as amazing as they did the first time around.

Cornmeal Crusted Tilapia with Tartar Sauce

I guess a lot of people like to fry fish in cornmeal. Not being all that into fish, I didn't have a clue. This recipe for cornmeal crusted tilapia from The Boho Birdie is a slightly more healthy version as it is baked instead of fried.

Not being all gung ho about fish in the first place, I took a bite and didn't think this recipe was any better or worse than your average fish recipe.  Mrblocko and Blockette loved it, but then again, they both really like fish in general.

Then I tried some with some Tartar Sauce.  Oh. My. Word.  I could just eat the tartar sauce by itself.  It's that good. SERIOUSLY.

I've only ever had the stuff from a jar before.  That stuff is total and utter garbage.  I didn't even know it was garbage until I tried this tartar sauce.  It is the BEST TARTAR SAUCE in the world.

Yes, yes.  I know.  A lot of bloggers say that about the things that they make, but I swear, this really is the best tartar sauce.  Mrblocko doesn't even like tartar sauce, and do you know what he said about this tartar sauce-mana-from-heaven?   "It kicks all the other tartar sauces' butts"

It really truly does.

One more quick thing before you get to the recipe, we halved the breading as I used 3 thin tilapia fillets from the freezer section.  The fillets in the original recipe are nice and thick, like the kind you might buy fresh from the fish counter.  So unless you are using the thick fresh stuff, half the amount of breading called for in the recipe below.

Also, we didn't have any Old Bay.  Instead we used Bavarian seasoning from Penzeys Spices.  It had bay in it, so I thought it would be a good swap.  The thing was, we could barely taste the seasonings.  Next time we will double the amount of spices

Cornmeal-Crusted Tilapia with Mom Pat’s Tartar Sauce from The Boho Birdie
for the fish:
2 thick tilapia fillets, cut into pieces (cod or sole would work well here, too)
1 c. flour (I used all purpose)
1 c. cornmeal
2 eggs, beaten or 1 c. egg beaters
2 tbsp old bay seasoning, divided, plus more for sprinkling (I used Bavarian Seasoning)
1 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper

preheat oven to 350 F.

Set up an assembly line with 3 bowls for breading the fish. In the first bowl, combine the flour, 1 T old bay seasoning, salt, and pepper, in the second, eggs, and in the third, cornmeal with 1 T old bay and garlic powder.

Cut tilapia into pieces (if needed) and spray a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray.

Dredge tilapia pieces in flour first, egg second, and cornmeal third. Use one hand to coat the fish in the flour and cornmeal and the other hand to coat the fish in the egg. Ensure all sides of the fish are coated in each mixture before moving on to the next. Sprinkle with more old bay.

Place the breaded fish on the greased cookie sheet (or, you could place the fish on a wire rack on a cookie sheet and not have to flip it during cooking). Mist the fish with more spray if you like, this will create more browning during the baking. Cook the fish for approx 15 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork.

Mom Pat’s Tartar Sauce
1/2 c. mayonnaise (I used the kind with olive oil)
1 tsp minced onion (I used onion powder)
1 tsp pickle or lemon juice (I used a tsp of each)
1 tsp pickle relish (we use dill pickle relish)
1 tsp. olives (optional) (We were out of olive so I used another tsp of relish)
Cayenne pepper or paprika to taste and add color

Combine all ingredients in a bowl and drown yourself it it's goodness.

'11 Happy Dance #11 Finally...The Fish Bag

I got this pattern for a Big Mouth Fish Bag by Katie Lane Quilts, exactly 12 million years ago.  OK, so it was more like 5 years ago, but it feels like 12 million years.  I think originally I had intended it to be a book bag of some sort.  Little did I know that Blockette would turn out to be a voracious reader.  A mac truck would be more suitable for her book transportation needs.

This little fishy does make a perfect overnight bag.  We took it with us this weekend when we did Relay for Life.  It fit all her "stuff" perfectly.  This bag is also great because, unlike her school backpack, it is too small to be able to hold more than she can carry on her back comfortably.

The pattern for this bag was very intimidating.  There were plenty of times where I took the pattern out, looked at it and just scratched my head in confusion.  Over the past 5 years I've made several stuffed animals and that helped me understand what I needed to do in order to stitch up this bag.  Really, this bag is just like a stuffed animal without the stuffing.  There were still a few of those "huh?" moments, but after reading the directions and playing with the cut pattern pieces, I was able to figure it out.

Blockette helped me pick out what fabrics she wanted in her bag. The stipulation was that she had to pick from the fabrics I already had.  At first she wanted an all pink bag, but I didn't have enough contrasting pink fabrics.  I told her that if the fabrics looked too much alike, the scales weren't going to show up.  I put all the pink fabrics she liked next to each other and told her to look at them from across the room.  She reluctantly agreed the pink fabrics wouldn't be good for the bag.

I suggested a rainbow fish bag and she thought that was almost as good as a pink one.  She was a little upset that the green is out of color order, but I told her I just didn't have enough purple fabric to make the tail.  Personally, I think the green on the tail and side fin makes a better contrast than purple would.  Then again, what do I know about these things.  I'm just the mom. 

The pattern includes directions for a shoelace closure, but I didn't think that would be a very comfortable way for Blockette to carry the bag. So, I made the drawstring into back pack straps.  I remember having a bag that had a closure like that in Jr High, so I replicated it from my memory of that bag.  Jr high was a long time ago, so I'm not entirely certain that I made it exactly the same way the bag I had was constructed.  I can get so particular sometimes that I had to tell myself it didn't matter, and that the bag was fine, maybe even better, the way it is.

I also thought it would be fun for the bag to have some pockets in it. I wasn't exactly sure how I wanted to make the pockets. Then I found an old pair of Mrblocko's jeans with the holes in the knees. Mrblocko won't wear hole-y jeans or cut offs, so when this happens they become free game for my crafting purposes.  Why make a pocket when you've got one already made for you?!

Originally, I was going to rip out the seam and remove the pocket from the butt of the jeans.  Then, I realized that the grommets at the corners of the pockets would make this impossible.  Plus, that was a lot of work, ripping out a double seam.  Then I thought, why not cut around the pocket and sew that to the inside of the bag?  It's easier AND it creates two pockets instead of one.  The larger pocket isn't the neatest looking thing, but it's on the inside of the bag so big whoop.

I'm so happy to finally have completed this project.  Blockette loves it, and I feel like I accomplished something big by finishing it.  There are several mistakes, but even I have to look really hard to find them, so I'm not going to beat myself up over it.  Now I just have to figure out what project I'm going to start next!

Moroccan Tuna Casserole

Summer is salad weather in our house. Well, it is also grilling weather. It's actually, Mrsblocko doesn't want to use the oven and heat up the house weather, but they are all essentially the same thing. So when I came across Moroccan pasta salad over at Food.com I thought it might be something interesting to try.

As I was assembling the recipe, I found that it needed to be tweaked quite a bit. The original recipe says to use an 8 oz can of corn and 2-3 Tablespoons of olives. I used an entire 15 oz can of corn and one of those short stumpy cans of sliced black olives. This made the salad seem much more substantial.As you can tell from the photo above, I used regular corkscrew noodles instead of the tri-colored. I had oodles of noodles in my pantry and couldn't justify buying another box just to be fancy. I also served this salad over a bed of lettuce. Mrblocko and I agreed that this made the salad seem more like a complete meal. I served it with some fruit on the side and viola, a one dish meal.

Finally, I used tuna in vegetable oil, not olive oil. This was my error at the grocery store. I simply grabbed the wrong can off the shelf. I didn't think it made any difference. I did drain off some of the oil in the can. There just seemed like a lot in there and while dressing on a salad is nice, oily salad is not. I also did not add any extra olive oil. If I was trying to eliminate oil, why would I add more oil?

The salad was simple to prepare and everything, but it didn't knock my socks off. The tuna wasn't overly fishy tasting, but it was lacking something. Maybe it needed more spices? I don't know. Everyone ate the salad without complaint, but we were all glad when the leftovers were gone.

Moroccan Pasta Salad with Tuna from Food.com
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2-1 teaspoon cumin
1/4-1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
8 ounces tri-colored rotini pasta, cooked
1 (3 ounce) can tuna in olive oil, flaked apart
1 (8 ounce) can corn, drained
2 -3 tablespoons sliced black olives

Mix olive oil, mayo, and spices together in a small bowl. Mix other ingredients in a large bowl. Then stir mayo mix in with pasta. Serve cold.

Tuna melt casserole

I am trying to incorporate more fish into my diet. This is particularly difficult for me considering I can't stand the way fish smells. Usually, the smell is so overpowering that all I taste is the smell. So I've got to find a way to work around that.

Canned tuna is hit or miss with me. Sometimes the canned stuff is so super stinky and other times the smell is very mild. I found this recipe in the book "Family Feasts for $75 a week" by Mary Ostyn. This was one of the books I read in February that got me so angry. After making this recipe I still don't understand how this lady only spends $75 a month on groceries. This casserole was not substantial enough the way it was written.

First off, this recipe calls for 10-12 dry croutons. Um..really? That is not enough to soak up the liquids. I increased the croutons and decreased the liquid and it seemed like a better ratio. I reduced the amount of tuna the recipe called for because I worried about the fishy flavors/smells. Next time I will use the 3 cans that the original recipe calls for. I made a bunch of other changes to the original recipe too. I will post my altered recipe below.

One more thing before I do, this casserole is definitely not a stand alone casserole. I felt it needed at least a side salad. We ate that for dinner the first night and Mrblocko and I did not feel satisfied. By 8:00 both of us were raiding the pantry for snacks. So the next day (since I had planned on this feeding us for two meals) in addition to a side salad, I served our casserole portions over shell noodles. I also added some lightly steamed carrots. That did the trick nicely.

My additions and alterations certainly make this dish fall out of the "$75 a week" category, but it tastes better and that's good enough for me.

My altered Tuna Melt Casserole (adapted from "Family Feasts for $75 a week" by Mary Ostyn.)
2-3 cups of croutons (I make mine from leftover bread. I cube it, store it in the freezer and toast them as needed) (There should be enough bread to fill the entire bottom of a 9x13 pan)
3 5-6oz cans of tuna in water, undrained
one medium onion, minced
1 shallot, minced (I happened to have a shallot that needed to be used, if you don't have any shallots, feel free to use garlic. I happen to like garlic so I would use 4 cloves, minced)
2 ribs of celery, minced
3 T butter, melted
1/2 t pepper
heaping 1/2 t curry powder
2 c milk
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 c grated cheese, dealers choice (I used Sharp cheddar and Colby Jack)

Preheat the oven to 400F. Spray a 9x13 dish with cooking spray. Spread bread in dish. In a large bowl combine tuna, onions, shallot, celery, butter, pepper, curry, milk and eggs. Pour tuna mixture over bread. Spread the mixture with a spatula, making sure that all the bread is covered. Top with cheese. Bake until the casserole starts to puff up, and the cheese melts, 25-35 min. To reheat leftovers, preheat oven to 400F and bake for 20 min until heated through and cheese gets melty again.

Tilapia and Survivor Rice

Have any of you been watching Survivor? Hello? Anyone? Well someone has to be watching it besides me because they keep bringing it back season after season. This time around they had someone on that has been on the show before and he was totally running the tribe. Hmm, maybe brainwashed is a better word than "ran" now that I think about it. The season finale was on last night and of course he won the million dollar prize.

Most of the time, the contestants on Survivor, well, survive on a few spoonfulls of rice a day. This season it was revealed that the crispy bits at the bottom of the pan were a highly prized treat. So much so that the one guy from a previous season (Boston Rob) had everyone on his tribe convinced that he would only eat the crispy rice. His fellow tribe members, with the exception of one (Crazy Phillip) gladly obliged him.

I remember watching this insanity and wondering what the big deal was. Well I accidentally found out what "crispy rice" was like. If you would like to replicate this Survivor delicacy, all you need to do is forget you have rice on the stove! Yes it is just that simple! And then, once you notice a weird, almost nutty aroma, give a yelp and immediately take the rice off the burner. Viola, your rice will be brown and crispy all along the pot's edges.

The crispy rice tasted fine, just a bit chewier than regular rice. I can see how it was a prized treat out there in the jungle. Having a different texture, and something you had to actually chew was probably a very nice change of pace from mushy old rice.Now unless you are into malnutrition, you should probably eat something with your crispy rice. We ate ours with easy baked tilapia from How Sweet Eats. I loved how the Parmesan cheese on the fish got all brown and toasty in the oven.

I guess there are people out there in the world who thing that the combination of fish and cheese is an abomination. Well, I'm here to tell those people "plbbbt!" Cause this fish is really tasty! Cheese just makes everything better, even yucky fish. This fish was so good that there were absolutely no leftovers, something that very rarely happens in this house.

Easy Baked Parmesan Tilapia From How Sweet it is makes 4 tilapia filets
4 tilapia filets (I used fresh, but I think frozen should work too)
3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature
1/4 cup grated/shredded parmesan cheese
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 teaspoon thyme
salt and pepper to taste
lemon slices for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.Pat tilapia dry (if frozen, it should be thawed first) with a paper towel and season with salt and pepper. Lay on a baking sheet sprayed with non-stick spray and bake for 10-12 minutes. While fish is baking, mix butter with garlic, thyme and parmesan cheese.

Remove fish from oven and gently flip. Spread about 1/2 tablespoons of butter mixture on the fish, and heat the broiler in your oven. Set fish under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes, or until cheese gets golden and bubbly. Serve with lemon.

Crockpot Orange Tilapia

Fish in the crockpot? Mrblocko was very skeptical about that concept. He was certain that it would make the entire house reak of fish for a week or two. I thought otherwise and told him he could say "I told you so" as I sprayed Fabreeze over every surface from here to Timbuktu.

I also had a lot of confidence in this recipe because it came from the blog A Year of Slow Cooking. I've never had a recipe from there that I didn't absolutely love. Well...until now.

The dish looked OK. The little mandarin oranges look mighty cute sitting there don't they. Amazingly, it didn't make the house smell like fish. The house did smell like warm balsamic vinegar though, which, truth be told, is not any better than fish.


Blockette did not fail to comment on how stinky the kitchen was all throughout dinner. I finally had to tell her that I knew it didn't smell good and that if she kept bringing it up I was going to count her to a time out. After that I only had to count her to 2(3 gets you a time out)...sigh.

I was really hoping that the since the dish didn't smell fishy, it wouldn't taste fishy. Grilling fish on cedar planks has ruined me on fish that isn't covered in a mountain of cheese. (Cheese makes just about anything edible.) The fish tasted fishy, not citrusy like I expected. This is fine and dandy if you are a person who likes fish. Unfortunately, I am not that person.

After discovering the fishy taste, I ate enough of it to set a good example for Blockette. With all the complaining she did about the smell, she ate her dinner just fine. I sent the leftovers to work with Mrblocko the next day. It couldn't have been too horrible because he ate it all.

If you love fish and are looking for an easy way to make it, head on over to A Year of Slow Cooking to get the recipe for orange honey tilapia in the slow cooker.
4 tilapia filets (frozen is just fine)
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon honey
1 (10-ounce) can mandarin oranges, drained
aluminum foil
salt and pepper to taste at the table

Use a 6-quart slow cooker. Lay a length of foil on your countertop and place the fish directly in the middle. Dribble balsamic vinegar and honey over the top of each fillet, and place a handful of drained mandarin oranges on top (my kids like to drink the juice!). Fold over foil and crimp the edges to form a packet. Put the foil packet into your slow cooker, and put the lid on (if you'd prefer to have one fish fillet per packet for serving, divide the sauce and the oranges). Cook on high for two hours, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. If your fish was frozen, it may take another 30 minutes or so, but you should still check it after two hours. Season to taste with some salt and pepper at the table.

Grilled Citrus Tilapia

Here's another fish recipe courtesy of Fire and Flavor cedar grill planks. Num! Yeah I said "num" about fish. Mrblocko is making a convert out of me. So far, the fish we've made on the cedar planks does not taste fishy. It has a nice smokey earthy flavor that either eliminates or masks that fish flavor I dislike so much. I don't care either way. I'm eating more fish and that's all that matters in my book.

Aside from the smokey flavor from the planks, the fish has a fresh and citrus-y flavor from the lime and cilantro. Two more great flavors that helps hide the fish taste from your tongue.

This recipe is an all around winner. I served it with rice, black beans, grilled onions and salsa on the side. Blockette liked it so much she even ate her black beans. I think that's like getting 5 stars from Gordon Ramsey.

Grilled Citrus Fish from Fire and Flavor

3 T fresh Lime or Orange Juice (I used Lime)

1/4 c olive oil

3 T fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 T ground cumin

up to 1 1/2 lbs of fish (I used 3 small fillets of Tilapia cause I still think leftover fish is icky poo poo)

1 cedar grilling plank, soaked for at least an hour.

Preheat grill to medium low heat, about 350 F. While the grill is preheating, mix the first 4 ingredients in a bowl along with salt and pepper to taste. Add fish and marinade to a plastic zip bag to marinate at room temp for about 10 min. Remove fish from bag and discard marinade. Place soaked plank on the grill and heat for 3 min. Flip the plank and place the fish on the heated side of the plank. Grill with the lid closed for 12-15 min.

Orange Glazed Cedar Plank Salmon

Slowly but surely, I'm starting to find fish not so disgusting. I would go so far as to say the grilled salmon my husband made was even delicious. He got some cedar grill planks for Christmas and this was the first time the planks got used.

I forgot to take a picture of the salmon off the grill. The recipe was from the packaging on the Fire and Flavor grill planks. There was even a picture of the salmon on the front of the packaging, so I took a picture of the packaging to give you an idea of what the finished fish dish looked like.

There was hardly any fishy taste to this at all. The cedar plank does a good job of covering that up. We'll definitely be making this again over the summer.

Fire and Flavor's Orange glazed salmon
3 T Dijon mustard
3 T maple syrup (the real stuff, or it won't caramelize properly)
1 T balsamic vinegar
2 tsp orange zest
4 6oz salmon fillets
1 cedar plank soaked for 1 hour

Preheat grill to medium-low heat, about 350F. Combine mustard, syrup, vinegar and zest in a small bowl. Season salmon with salt and pepper. Brush fish with glaze. Place soaked plank on grill. Close lid and heat for 3 min. Flip plank with tongs and place salmon on heated side of plank. Close lid and grill for 12-15 minutes until fish is cooked to your liking. Remove plank from grill and serve.

A very un-Swedish Swedish meal

I'm pretty sure that I've joked about what we considered a Swedish meal when I was growing up. It was always something devoid of color, and often times flavor. When I served up this meal of fish, cauliflower and buttered noodles, Mrblocko looked at me and said, "Having a Swedish meal tonight, are we?"

Colorwise, this meal may have been monochromatic, but in the flavor department? Man, it was kaleidoscopic. Kapow!

The fish was spicy tilapia from Florida Coastal cooking. The recipe says to use 2 fillets, but I used 3 and increased the spice blend by half to account for the extra fillet. I used all that spice blend on the 3 fillets. Um...that was a bit much for Blockette and myself. Had I read the recipe correctly I would have realized that you only use half of the spice blend on the fish.

I scraped off most of the spice blend on our fish. Of course Mrblocko thought the spice was just right. My throat was quite raw at the time from a cold and the capsaicin from the spices felt like someone ripped off my skin and stuck it over an open flame. The flavor was good though. Next time I'll make the spice blend and use it a tad more sparingly.

The Cauliflower was actually Roasted Cauliflower with paprika and cocoa from the blog Karen Cooks. I'm sure with a blog title like that she is a lovely person who is practically perfect in every way...just like Mary Poppins. I really liked this dish. I liked it a lot. Mrblocko and Blockette...well, they thought it was just ok.

Mrblocko is not a lover of cauliflower. I always forget this. He did say that he would eat this particular preparation of the veggie in tandem with the fish and noodles again. He said it wasn't bad if he ate the meat, veggie and noodles all together. I can work with that.

This was the first time I'd used smoked paprika. I went out and bought it specifically for this dish. I only wish that I had gone and done that sooner. Anytime a recipe called for smoked paprika, I just used the plain kind. No more. People I am telling you, smoked paprika is the bomb. It has rocked my little world.

The next time I make the roasted cauliflower I'll use less cocoa and paprika. The recipe called for a tablespoon of each. I don't know if I got a itty bitty cauliflower or what, but the spices coated the veggie so much they were a dark reddish brown. If you look at the original photo on the Karen Cooks blog it's dark more from the roasting than the spices.

Also the recipe said to cook the cauliflower for 30 minutes. Maybe because I cut my florets into bite size pieces, they cooked much faster. After 20 minutes in the oven, they had lost almost all of their crunch. I like my veggies al dente, so they have a bit of a bite to them. 15 minutes might be a better cook time for my tastes.

Spicy Tilapia from Florida Coastal Cooking
1 Tbsp EVOO
1 Tbsp light butter (I used Land O' Lakes light butter with canola oil)
2 tilapia fillets

Spice Mix:(You will have a little left over, but it's good so use it on your eggs or something.)
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon ground red pepper
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Juice of 1/2 lime (optional)

Preheat broiler and mix your spice mix together in a small bowl. Melt butter and oil in microwave for 25 sec til liquidy. Dip fish fillets in and rub both sides with about 1/2 to 3/4 spice mix. Spray a baking pan with EVOO spray and place fillets in. Broil 5 min, flip and broil another 5 min. (Keep an eye on them because depending on how far your fish is from the heating element it will cook faster or slower accordingly.) Remove from broiler, and pour lime juice over fillets.

Roasted Cauliflower with smoked paprika and cocoa powder from Karen Cooks
1 Head Cauliflower
few T olive oil to coat veggies
1 T smoked Paprika
1 T Cocoa powder

Cut cauliflower into medium florets and seasoned with salt and pepper. Put on a baking sheet and tossed them w olive oil. Sprinkle smoked paprika and cocoa powder over cauliflower. Bake 425F for 30 min.

Baked Parmesan Tilapia

Hey I'm on a roll with fish here. I think this is the third recipe using fish that I've tried. Amazingly, I've actually liked all the fish recipes I've tried. Maybe I'm starting to like fish?

I came across this recipe for Baked Parmesan Tilapia through the blog "Dine and Dish." She found the recipe on RecipeZaar, but that recipe is based on a dish from Mama's Restaurant in Minocqua. WI. The comments on RecipeZaar of those who have eaten at Mama's say the recipe is a great facsimile.

The weird thing about this recipe was that it stated it served 4. Fish fillets are one thing I cannot stomach as a leftover. Reheating fish just grosses me out. A rubber band might be more tasty, and easier to chew. The recipe calls for 2 pounds of fillets. The Tilapia I buy comes frozen in a 1 pound bag. That amounts to around 6 fillets. I liked this recipe, but I wouldn't want to eat more than one piece of fish at a time. Mrblocko agreed, and he really really likes fish.

I halved the recipe and there was still a lot of sauce for just the three fillets. The amounts of the seasonings just don't allow for me to quarter the recipe. I also screwed up and added the lemon juice to the sauce when it was supposed to be added to the fish first. I think that added to the soupy-ness of the topping. Next time, I will make the recipe as follows:


Baked Parmesan Tilapia for 3
3 tilapia fillets
A squeeze of lemon juice
1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese (don't use the powdered stuff, It won't melt properly)
1 T Butter, room temperature
1 T mayo
1 1/2 T finely chopped green onions
1/8 teaspoon seasoned salt (like Old Bay) (I think I used Bacon salt, I don't remember)
1/8 teaspoon basil
a few grinds of black pepper
1 big dash of hot sauce

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking dish with Pam. You want a dish that will hold the fillets in a single layer. Squirt the top of the fish with lemon juice. Bake about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, combine cheese, butter, mayonnaise, onions and seasonings in a small bowl Spread baked fish with the cheese mixture, and place under the broiler until the cheese begins to brown.

Pecan Tilapia and Wild Rice Corn

Fish, why does it always have to taste so...fishy. I'd probably like it a whole lot more if it wasn't so stinky. I like other stinky food, like blue cheese and garlic. To me, blue cheese and garlic are a good stinky, kind of like cookies baking in the oven is a good stinky. Although, the idea of garlic and blue cheese cookies is not an appetizing one. Go figure.

I made my first leap into the stinky a few weeks ago with Tuna noodle hotdish. I actually liked that, but I wasn't sure if that was because it was so terribly bad for me. Things that are horrible for you always seem to be the most delicious. That's probably why cats like antifreeze so much.

I've been hesitant to try another fish dish because I was afraid I wouldn't like it. I am afraid that if I don't like a food that is new to me, Blockette will follow suit and say she doesn't like it just because I don't. I'm trying to be a good example for her...at least most of the time I am.

I saw a recipe for Pecan Crusted Catfish in the Dec 2009 issue of Woman's day(see bottom of post for recipe), and thought the flavor and aroma of the cooked pecans might minimize the fishy ish that is fish. I showed the recipe to Mrblocko and he agreed, only he suggested Tilapia. He said it is a less stinky fish and I would be more inclined to like it. Wouldn't you know it, the next week frozen tilapia was on sale.

Was I ever pleasantly surprised. The fish was only mildly fishy, but not so much that I couldn't tolerate it. We did have a problem because the fish was not completely defrosted by the time it was cooked. We had to cook the fish a bit longer than the suggested time. There's no picture of the fish because it got a bit mangled in the checking for done-ness process. Next time I'll take the fish out to defrost at least overnight. The 6-8 hours the package suggested was definitely not enough time.

The Pecan fish was paired with Pioneer Woman's fresh corn with wild rice. Wow! They made a great combo. Mrblocko is not a big fan of rice but he will eat it. He does seem to like wild rice a bit better than the plain white stuff though. Even he thought it was delicious. I halved the recipe and it still made bunches. I also substituted frozen corn instead of the fresh. I don't know about you, but it is next to impossible to find fresh corn at the end of November.


I don't know how I managed to pair up a dish I thought I might not like with a dish I thought Mrblocko might not like. Must have been my subconscious saying, "Well if you're not going to be happy with this meal you won't be alone." Lucky for both of us everything turned out so tasty.

Pecan Crusted Fish from Dec 2009 issue of Woman's Day
4 fillets (6-8 oz each) tilapia or catfish
2 tsp honey mustard
1 c pecans or walnuts

Preheat oven to 450. line rimmed baking pan with foil. fine chop pecans. spread on wax paper. put honey mustard in small cup stir in 2 tsp water. brush one side of fillets with mustard mix, then press in to the chopped pecans. place on baking pan. bake 10-14 min til pecans are lightly toasted and fish is just cooked through.

Tuna Noodle Hotdish (Casserole) Happiness

My mom used to make Tuna Noodle Something or another when I was a kid. I have such fond memories of picking out both the tuna and the peas. There is a special talent in picking out flaky bits of tuna from your meal. I should have gotten some sort of medal. The only other thing I remember about this meal, besides not liking it, was that my mom used tiny ring shaped pasta. I would always try to see how many rings of pasta I could stack on each tine of the fork. I know it drove her bonkers when I did that. There is no question where Blockette got her mealtime stall tactics.

I wasn't surprised that Blockette didn't like this dish. She ate it though, even if it was under extreme duress. She wanted cookies for dessert. That was motivation enough for her. I never fell for that parental tactic. If I didn't like something, there was no way on God's green earth anyone was going to get me to eat it. How lucky am I that Blockette isn't that picky? I must have done something good to reverse all years of bad dinner table karma.

Whether Blockette liked this or not is completely beside the point. The point is, I liked this. Maybe it's because there aren't any slimy canned peas in this version?

Mrblocko wants to start incorporating fish into our diet. I greatly dislike fish, but I know it is good for us. This hotdish (or casserole for those of you who are weirdos outside of the Midwest) was my first stepping stone into fish cuisine. I know it's only canned tuna, but I'm still a picky eater. We're taking baby steps here.

I found this recipe for Tuna Noodle Casserole from Food.People.Want. It originally came from a cookbook called San Francisco A La Carte. This cookbook got 4.5 stars on Amazon.com. If the other recipes are even half as good as this one, there is no question why it got such a high rating.

As usual I made a few changes to the recipe. The biggest 2 being I roasted the red peppers, and increased the amount of tuna. I did all the prep work the night before, so the meal came together lickety split.

Not My Mother's Tuna Noodle Hotdish
6 oz egg noodles, (half a package) cooked al dente, drained
1 T fresh thyme leaves (1 t dried)
1 10 oz can cream of celery soup
1/2 c milk
3 five oz cans of tuna in water, drained and flaked
1 c finely chopped celery
1 roasted red pepper, finely chopped (about 1/3 c)
1/3 c chopped green onions, white and green parts
1/2 c mayo
3/4 c cheese (I used sharp cheddar and monterey jack) + additional 2 T or so for topping
black and cayenne pepper to taste
heaping 1/4 c chopped toasted almonds

(I did the following the night before to save time, but you can easily do this the same day.) Preheat the broiler. Half the red pepper and remove the guts. Smash the pepper so it lays flat on a cookie sheet or broiler pan. Broil until it is blackened to your preference. I cooked mine for 8 min on each side. Remove pepper from the oven and place in a ziploc bag for 10 minutes. This will allow you to easily peel the skin off. Once the pepper is cool, finely chop. In a medium size storage container, mix peppers, celery, onion, mayo, cheese and black and cayenne pepper to taste. Store in fridge until you are ready to use.

In the mean time, toast your almonds in a small pan on the stove top, stirring frequently until they turn a light golden brown. Once the almonds are cool, place them in a storage bag.

When you are ready to bake the hotdish, preheat the oven to 425. Boil water and cook noodles per package directions. While the noodles are cooking, heat the soup and milk in a medium saucepan over medium low heat. Stir to make sure the soup doesn't burn. Once the soup is smooth, add in tuna and the veggie mayo mix. Heat through on low until the noodles are ready. Drain the noodles and place them back into the pot you cooked them in. Stir in the thyme. Add the veggie cheesy sauce and mix until the noodles are coated. Place the contents in 2 qt casserole dish. Top with toasted almonds, remaining cheese and more cayenne pepper if desired. Bake 20 minutes until bubbly and brown on top. Let sit for 10 minutes before serving.