Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Um, sorry I'm a slacker? 

Ok, I really love summer. Vegetables everywhere! This was a great way to use up those farmer's market veggies that I keep piling onto my tiny kitchen counter.

Roasted Vegetable Wraps

2 Japanese eggplants

1 medium zucchini

1 medium crookneck squash

olive oil

salt and pepper

roasted red peppers (or make your own!)

fresh spinach

tomato

cheese (optional, great with or without)

large tortillas (I used spinach from Earth Fare)

Southwest Ranch Dressing (recipe below)

Preheat the oven to 400. Prep two cookie sheets with parchment paper - you can also put cooling racks on top of the cookies sheets to raise the vegetables, but it's not necessary. Thinly slice the eggplant, zucchini, and squash lengthwise (use a mandolin if you have one). Brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper and put the veggies on the cookie sheets. Roast for 10 minutes at a time, checking on the tenderness of the veggies each time. Roast until not crunchy at all (mine took about 20 minutes).

Southwest Ranch Dressing
adapted from Budget Bytes

3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt

1/4 cup mayo

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp garlic powder

1 1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin 

dash of hot sauce

To assemble:

Spread the dressing on the tortillas, then layer roasted veggies, spinach, peppers, tomatoes. Roll tightly and enjoy! 

Pancakes with Apple Nut Topping

Pancakes are a frequent meal at our house and I am always looking for different ways to top them. There has not been artificial maple syrup in our house for years. Some of our frequent toppings are:
-REAL maple syrup, in a separate container for dipping because it is pricey
-jam
-yogurt
-yogurt and jam
-apple nut topping

The apple nut is my new favorite and a very proud personal creation.

Apple Nut Topping
3-4 C. Granny smith apples, cored, peeled and sliced
1/2 C.raisins
1/2 C. slivered almonds or other favorite nut
3/4 tsp. nutmeg
3 Tbp. honey
3/4 tsp. cornstarch

Heat the apples in a medium saucepan until tender. Add the nuts, raisins, nutmeg, and honey and cook a few more minutes. In a small measuring cup, mix the cornstarch with enough water that it is dissolved and pourable. Slowly add it to the apple mixture.

Serve it over your favorite pancakes. I like to add it to the pancakes with yogurt on top. Yum! And for those who do not have a favorite pancake recipe, here is a really great basic one.

Pancakes
1 1/2 C. wheat flour
3 1/2 tsp. baking powder (bought fresh or DIY)
1 tsp. salt
1 Tbp. sugar
1 1/4 C milk (soy or almond can easily be substituted for lactose free)
1 egg
3 Tbp. oil

Mix the dry ingredients then add the wet ingredients. Drop the batter on a hot skillet 1/4 C at a time. When bubbles have risen to the top of the pacake you know it is time to flip them.

Go breakfast crazy! Everyone will love it.

Chicken Parmesan

Tonight, I found two chicken parmesan recipes (one was fairly complicated, the other super basic). So, of course I wanted to create a medium level dish. I'd say it turned out pretty well!
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1/4 cup Italian seasoned bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• black pepper
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
• 1 cup chopped green or red bell pepper (recipe called for red, but I used a green one)
• 2 cups pasta sauce (I used tomato and basil)
• approx. 1 to 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• linguine pasta for two

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.  Pound each chicken breast to approx 1/2 inch thickness using a meat mallet. Combine bread crumbs, Parmesan cheese, and a pinch of black pepper into a shallow pan.
2. Dip each breast into the egg wash, then into the breading mixture. Place chicken breasts into a baking dish and bake for 20 minutes.
3. While baking the chicken, saute the chopped bell pepper with 1 teaspoon olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Once sauteed, add 2 cups pasta sauce and stir. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. Remove chicken from oven, pour pasta sauce over chicken and top with mozzarella cheese and cook for additional 10 minutes until cheese is melted.
5. Serve over linguine pasta.

Final result...

Dinner Last Night

Ok, I'm sorry about the lack of pictures, but I have to tell y'all about our dinner last night. Let me give you a hint as to its success rate in our house: MY TWO YEAR OLD ATE BEEF. That's right. You read it. That was maybe the third time in his life he has voluntarily eaten beef. He loved this meal. Well, the beef part anyway.

We had:
Mini Meatloaves from allrecipes.com and
Southwest Pasta Salad from Our Best Bites (I LOVE this site. They just published a cookbook that I'm dying to get my hands on)

AMAZING.
Ok, here's what I did differently:
For the Mini Meatloaves, I grated up a medium yellow crookneck squash and added it in, then decreased the amount of cheese (I used sharp cheddar) to 2/3 cup. I have to get veggies in somehow for my boys. You really couldn't even tell, but I think I'll do a zucchini next time instead. I also, instead of just forming them into mini loaves and putting them in a 9x13 pan, put them in a muffin tin I'd sprayed with Pam. I was able to get 12 mini meatloaves, but I did have to put the muffin pan on top of a cookie sheet to keep the sauce from getting all in the bottom of my oven. I also added about 1/2 tsp onion powder. I was too lazy to actually cut up an onion to add. True story. Oh, and the sauce needed a little more mustard, in my opinion.

For the Pasta Salad, I used Monterey Jack cheese, but I don't think I'll use any cheese at all next time. It doesn't need it. I also used macaroni instead  of bow ties because that's what I had. Not that that makes any difference at all. I think the recipe needs double the corn (I didn't thaw the corn, it thaws on its own while the salad chills) and double the green onion. I used cherry tomatoes that I halved and red pepper. It was DELICIOUS. My hubby informed me that I should just throw away all my other pasta salad recipes and just make that one from now on. That's big, people. And please, PLEASE use actual lime zest. Like, from real limes. So stinkin' good.

the best lasagna ever

The title doesn't lie. This really is a delicious lasagna. I believe the word my fiance' used was "incredible!"  My good friend discovered it from this woman: the Pioneer Woman. The great thing about this lasagna was its simplicity. Unfortunately, though, it's not packed with many veggies. I might try to add some next time. Not that it lacked at all in taste, but it never hurts to mix some veggies into a meal. (especially for someone like me who never eats veggies on the side!) Ok, so here it is.

 

INGREDIENTS:

• 1½ lbs. ground beef
• 1 lbs. hot breakfast sausage
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans (14.5 Ounce) whole tomatoes
• 2 cans (6 Ounce) tomato paste
• 4 Tablespoons dried parsley (divided in half)
• 2 Tablespoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoon salt (divided in half)
• 3 cups lowfat cottage cheese
• 2 eggs, beaten
• ½ cup grated (not Shredded) Parmesan cheese
• 1 lbs. sliced mozzarella cheese (approximately)
• 1 package (10 Ounce) lasagna noodles

 

DIRECTIONS:

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. (add 1/2 teaspoon salt to boiling pasta water)
2. Meanwhile, in a large skillet or saucepan, combine ground beef, sausage, and garlic. Cook over medium-high heat until browned. Drain off the fat. Add tomatoes, tomato paste, 2 Tbs. parsley, 2 Tbs. basil and 1 tsp. salt. After adding the tomatoes, the sauce mixture should simmer for approx 30-45 minutes while you are working on the other steps.
3. In a medium bowl, mix cottage cheese, beaten eggs, grated Parmesan, 2 more tablespoons parsley, and 1 more teaspoon salt. Stir together well. Set aside. 
4. Cook lasagna until “al dente”

 

 To assemble:

 1. Arrange cooked lasagna noodles in the bottom of a baking pan, overlapping if necessary. Spoon half the cottage cheese mixture over the noodles. Spread evenly. Cover cottage cheese with a layer of sliced mozzarella cheese. Spoon a little less than half the meat/sauce mixture over the top. 

2. Repeat, ending with meat/sauce mixture. Sprinkle top generously with extra Parmesan.
3. Either freeze, refrigerate for up to two days, or bake immediately: 350-degree oven for 20 to 30 minutes, or until top is hot and bubbly.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

I've made this recipe twice, and the first time it seemed really complicated, but this second time it was pretty quick and easy. I'd say it took about 15-20 mins prep time, and then it bakes for about 30 mins. And you really don't have to bother with any measurements. I combined a few different recipes and tips to come up with this final version, so I'm sorry if it seems a bit disorganized. Here it is...

Oh, and before you begin, you'll want to invest in one of these... (I tried using just a regular hammer the first time, and it didn't work so well)

Serves: 2
Ingredients:
- 1 to 2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (the first time I used a whole chicken breast for each one, and they were huge! This time I cut one breast in half, and they were definitely smaller, but when you add some side items to the meal it was enough to fill us up.)
- 1 egg white
- salt
- pepper
- bread crumbs (I used Italian seasoned)
- Paprika
- Mozzarella cheese, sliced
- ham, sliced
-1 Tablespoon butter

Ingredients for the cream sauce on top:
- 1/2 can cream of chicken soup
- approx. 1/ 8 cups sour cream
- 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and spray a baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Beat the chicken breast with a meat tenderizer to approx. 1/4 inch thickness.
3. Sprinkle both sides with salt and pepper.  Dip chicken breasts in egg whites, and then sprinkle both sides with bread crumbs and paprika. Make sure to cover all surfaces of the chicken breast with bread crumbs.
4. Place 1 slice of mozzarella cheese and 1 slice of ham on each chicken breast.
5. Roll up the chicken breast and secure with toothpicks. Place 1/2 tablespoon of butter on top of each breast.
6. Place in baking dish and bake at 400 degrees for 25 mins.
7. Remove from oven and add about a 1/4 slice of cheese on top and return to oven for approx 5 mins until melted.
8. Serve with cream sauce on top.

Before:

After:

Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo

Here is a fettuccine recipe that is straight from scratch.  It is delicious!  The original recipe can be found here:  Chicken Fettuccine Alfredo  It serves 8. The version typed below is for 4.  Use the calculator on the website to adjust it to however much you need.


Ingredients:

• 3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (cut into cubes)
• 3 tablespoons butter, divided
• 2 cloves garlic, minced, divided in half
• 1-1/2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1/2 pound fettuccini pasta
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/2 (8 ounce) package sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour  (this measurement is weird when you cut the recipe in half)
• 1-1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1-1/2 cups milk
• 1/2 cup half-and-half
• 1/4 cup and 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese (another weird measurement)
• 1/4 pound shredded Colby-Monterey Jack cheese
• 1-1/2 roma tomatoes, diced
• 1/4 cup sour cream

Directions:

1. In a large skillet over medium heat combine chicken, 1 tablespoon butter, 1 tablespoon garlic, and Italian seasoning. Cook until chicken is no longer pink inside. Remove from skillet and set aside.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add pasta and cook for until al dente; drain.
3. Meanwhile, melt 2 tablespoons butter in the skillet. Saute the onion, 1 tablespoons garlic and mushrooms until onions are transparent. Stir in flour, salt and pepper; cook approx. 2 minutes. Slowly add milk and half-and-half, stirring until smooth and creamy. Stir in Parmesan and Colby-Monterey Jack cheeses; stir until cheese is melted. Stir in chicken mixture, tomatoes and sour cream. Serve over cooked fettuccini.

And here's the finished product...

Dinner Tonight

Not very often lately, but sometimes, I just want to cook all day. Today was one of those days. This is a really rough post, but it's late at night. I just want to remember what I did, so sorry if it's a little confusing :) 

Stuffed Peppers and Creamy Corn

Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp

Stuffed Peppers
*I'm really sorry, but I really stink at quantities for stuff. I'll go back and do this again and measure everything sometime, but right now I just want to get it all down.

three large green bell peppers
cooked brown rice
canned black beans, drained and rinsed
canned diced tomatoes
grated monterey jack cheese
green onions, chopped
garlic powder
chili powder
black pepper
seasoned salt
paprika
cilantro

Slice the top off of the green peppers and take out all seeds and ribs. Mix stuffing ingredients (everything else) together and stuff the peppers. Bake at 375 for about 35 minutes. Delicious.
*There are several different fillings you can do for stuffed peppers - you don't have to have cheese in them (steph! :) ). Another way I have done them is to cook bulgar wheat, diced carrots, chopped red bell peppers, onions, and italian herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary) and stuff it with those. It would also be good to do cooked turkey sausage, brown rice, zucchini, spinach, and stuffing spices (thyme, celery salt, rubbed sage, etc) inside the peppers. They're such a versatile dish.


Creamy Corn

16 oz frozen corn (don't need to thaw)
1/2 yellow onion, chopped
2 green onions, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
1 medium carrot, grated
1 can cream of celery soup
4 oz reduced fat cream cheese
1/4 cup milk
black pepper
*needed some garlic powder and chives. would also be good with some parmesan cheese added*

Add corn, onions, zucchini, and carrot to a small-ish crock pot (I think mine is a 3 quart?) and stir to mix. In a medium bowl, whisk together soup, cream cheese, milk, and seasonings. Pour over the vegetables in crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours, then stir well and cook for another half hour to an hour.


Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp


ok, I used Ina Garten's recipe here  for this, but I did make some changes:

- i didn't have any orange juice, so I omitted both lemon and orange juices
- i only had dried lemon and orange zest, so i added about 1/2 tsp of both
- i only used about 1/4 cup sugar in the filling
- i also added about 1/8-1/4 cup of AP flour to the filling
- i used a mixture of golden delicious, granny smith, and fuji apples
- i used quick cooking oats in the topping, but i recommend using old fashioned instead
- i also recommend only using about 3/4 cup of flour. her 1 &1/2 is way too much
- i didn't add salt to the topping, but i did use salted butter
- i cooked it for about an hour and a half instead of an hour

all in all, it was delicious, especially with vanilla ice cream. my two year old son was a big fan :)

Vegetable Ribbon Pasta

Confession: I posted this on my personal cooking blog forever ago. Life with two kids = I have a hard time cooking and then taking a picture. Or cooking anything worth blogging about. So here's something to get us through the break between posts :)

Vegetable Ribbon Pasta (adapted from Great Taste, Low Fat)

2 small zucchini

2 small yellow summer squash

2 tbsp olive oil

1 yellow or sweet onion, sliced thin

1 clove garlic, minced (or 1/2 tsp garlic powder)

1 green bell pepper, cut into thin strips

1 yellow bell pepper, cut into thin strips (i just did two green bell peppers)

1/2 pound baby portabello mushrooms

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 cup bottled Italian dressing

1/2 cup chicken broth (reduced-sodium is a good idea)

8 oz fettuccine

2 oz Neufchatel cheese (reduced fat cream cheese), cut into small pieces

2 tbsp milk

2 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp black pepper

salt to taste

Place the chicken breasts and Italian dressing in a plastic ziploc bag and put in refrigerator for about two hours to marinate. When ready to start cooking, saute mushrooms in a large, deep skillet in 1 tbsp olive oil until softened and browned. Set aside. Remove the chicken breasts from the bag and slice into 1/2 inch thick strips. Cook in the same skillet until done through. Set aside. With a vegetable peeler, cut the zucchini and yellow squash lengthwise into ribbons. Set aside. In the skillet, heat the oil until hot but not smoking over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring frequently, until onion is softened, about 5-8 minutes. Stir in peppers and broth and cook until peppers are softened, about 6 minutes more. Meanwhile, in a large pot of boiling water, cook the pasta until just tender (al dente). Drain well. Add the zucchini and yellow squash to the skillet and cook until the squash are tender, about 3 minutes. Stir in the cream cheese, milk, Parmesan, and black pepper and cook until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes longer. Add the pasta and toss to coat. Serve hot.

Enjoy! It's delicious.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

I definitely improvised this recipe tonight; I was wanting to cook something, and I couldn't find a stuffed chicken breast recipe that I liked. This seems like a very flexible recipe, and you could add just about anything to it :) The measurements I have listed are all guesses, because I didn't actually measure anything, so adjust according to taste!

Oven to 400

Ingredients:
2 Chicken breasts, thawed
3 Tablespoons of cream cheese, softened
1 Tablespoon of Pesto (or more, to taste) OR if you do not have pesto, add some parmesan cheese, dried basil, olive oil, and garlic to a food processor with the cream cheese and blend
1 egg white
1 teaspoon of water
Bread crumbs
2 teaspoons of olive oil

Combine the cream cheese and pesto (I used a food processor, but I am sure mixing by hand would work just find). Slice the chicken breasts almost touching the other side of the breast so you have a nice opening. Stuff the cream cheese mix into the chicken breast, and press it firmly to close it. Combine the egg white and water in a bowl. Holding the chicken breast closed, dip it in the egg white mixture, and then dip it in the bread crumbs. Put the olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Put the chicken breasts in the skillet until golden brown on one side (about two minutes) and then put them into a casserole dish for baking, brown side up. Bake for 20-25 minutes (until the pink is gone!)

Enjoy!

Thai Style Peanut Butter Noodles

Please excuse the messy bowl. I was in a hurry to eat these...

I love peanut butter. Have I mentioned that before? I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER. Thankfully, my boys do as well. It was the only source of protein I could get down my son for the longest time. We’ve had more than our fair share of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in the past year, that is for sure. But sometimes, I think peanut butter gets stuck in the “sweets” category. I know it’s stuck there for my husband. He is not a fan of this dish. Like, not at all. Won’t touch it. Ever again. But the little bug and me? Oh, we can devour this stuff. I love peanut butter used in savory applications. It goes SO WELL with Thai flavors. And put it on noodles, my other favorite type of food? Mm. Mm-mm.

This is pretty much what I do for this dish. I have a hard time paying attention to quantity when I play with a recipe. I usually end up adjusting things a couple of times before I’m satisfied, so you may need to play around with this one until it tastes good to you. Just remember – go easy on the sugar! This is supposed to be mostly savory.

Thai Style Peanut Butter Noodles

Adapted from Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave

½ cup peanut butter (creamy or chunky)

½ cup chicken broth

3+ tbsp low sodium soy sauce (depending on your taste buds)

3 tbsp lime juice

2 tsp brown sugar

1 clove minced garlic (or ¼ tsp garlic powder)

1 tbsp minced fresh ginger (or ¼ - ½ tsp ground ginger)

2 tbsp chili sauce (see note below)

1 ½ tbsp toasted sesame oil

1 scallion, chopped

Combine all ingredients into a small bowl (I usually do a cereal bowl, honestly). Mix well. If the peanut butter is not mixing with the other ingredients, microwave on high for 15-20 seconds, then stir vigorously. Serve over cooked whole wheat pasta – I like angel hair, myself.

*This is super quick and easy, and you probably have most of this stuff already. The toasted sesame oil is great for Asian dishes, so if you don’t have it already, go get some! Totally worth it. And the toasted has such a nice flavor. It’s hard to find just straight up sesame oil that doesn’t have canola oil mixed in with it, so just go ahead and buy the toasted sesame oil. Be careful, though – it does not have a high smoke point like vegetable or canola oil, so NEVER try to stir fry or cook with it over anything higher than low heat. Trust me. Also, the chili sauce might not be something you have. The brand I buy is cheapest at Whole Foods; it’s called “Roland Ginger Chili Sauce” and it has a yellowish label with skinny green lizardy dragons on it. Good stuff, again with pretty much any Asian dish.

Just to make it worth your while to go out and buy the toasted sesame oil, I’ll post a couple more recipes that use it soon J

Chantrelle Mushroom Tacos

Ahh, Oregon mushroom season. I do love you so! Mushrooms are so versitile and nutritious, how can you go wrong?


-high in vitamins and fiber
-dried, ground mushrooms can add flavor to sauces and make good rubs
-they are so tasty!







Currently, chantrelle mushrooms are out in force. We have been eating them in everything. **We pick them wild ourselves but I never recommend that unless you are POSITIVE they are edible. Some will make you very sick or very dead.


Chantrelle mushrooms are very meaty like portabellos. So you can substitute other meaty mushrooms in this recipe.


Chantrelle Tacos

Ingredients
1 Tbsp. vegetable or olive oil
1 poblano chili, seeded and thinly sliced
1/2 red onion, sliced
3 C diced Chantrelle mushrooms
1 package taco seasoning
Taco sized tortillas (corn or flour)
Favorite taco topping


Directions
Heat 1 Tbsp. oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add poblano, onion, and mushrooms. Saute 5 minutes. Add taco seasoning to taste.


Add the mushroom mixtue to heated tortillas and top with your favorite taco toppings!

BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb)
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth (approx 2 cans)
• 1 yellow onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 1 1/3 cups BBQ sauce (I used Bull's Eye-Hickory Smoked)
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• hot pepper sauce
• salt and pepper
• 6 sandwich buns
• shredded cheese (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

1. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and place in a deep pot (I used a stockpot) with the onion, garlic, and just enough chicken broth to cover. Add the BBQ sauce, vinegar and a few drops of hot sauce and bring to a boil.
2. Reduce heat and simmer unit the chicken is cooked through (approx. 15-20 mins).
3. Remove chicken from the sauce and shred with two forks. While you're working on this, bring the sauce back to a boil, and boil uncovered, until reduced by half (approx 15 mins).
4. Season with pepper, and add the shredded chicken back into the pot and heat through.
5. Spoon the mixture onto some sandwich buns and enjoy. May also add some shredded cheese, if you choose.
   

Meatloaf

I wanted to make dinner tonight for myself and Greg (my sweet boyfriend!). He has raved about his mama's meatloaf to me in the past, and since I've never made meatloaf before I wanted to give it a shot. I got this recipe from my sister, who I believe got it from her dear friend who is an amazing cook. It was a huge hit at the dinner table tonight :) I served it with twice-baked potatoes (which I also just posted). I would imagine you could sneak a few more veggies into this dish. Just decrease the portions of each, and finely dice them.

Servings: 4
Cook time: 1 hour 15 mins
INGREDIENTS:

• 2 lbs ground beef
• 18 saltine crackers, crushed
  
• 1/2 green bell pepper, diced
  
• 1/2 small onion, diced
  
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
  
• 1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tsp. yellow mustard
• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar (divided into [2] 1/4c. portions)
• 1/2 cup ketchup

DIRECTIONS:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the beef, crackers, bell pepper, onion, eggs, Worcestershire sauce, mustard and 1/4 cup of brown sugar into a large bowl and mix well. (You gotta get down and dirty with this one and use your hands, but WASH THEM FIRST, please! I'm a nurse, what can I say...)
2. Place into a greased baking dish forming the mixture into a loaf shape. (I used an 8x8 dish, and formed a square). Bake for 1 hour.
3. Remove from oven and drain off the grease, being careful not to dump the loaf out of the dish!
4. Stir the remaining 1/4 cup brown sugar and ketchup together and pour on top. Bake for an additional 15 mins. If you have a meat thermometer, you want to make sure the thickest portion of the loaf reaches at least 150 degrees.
5. Remove from oven again, and let stand for approx 10-15 mins. Serve and enjoy!

Fish is Delish

I love fish. I love bread. I love slaw. I really love tartar sauce. Put them all together and what have you got?

Fish Po-Boys with Red Cabbage Slaw

I really would have liked this sandwich better with an oil and vinegar slaw instead of a sour cream based slaw. That's how I'll make it next time. You could also skip the slaw and just saute up some bell peppers, onions, and garlic to top the fish.

I got the original recipe from a Martha Stewart cookbook, but I'm going to post the recipe as I think it should be.

Oh, and I'm really sorry, but I rarely write down the actual quantity of seasonings I use. I rarely measure. So you'll just have to guess. Cooking is all about playing with your food :)

Fish Po-Boys with Red Cabbage Slaw

For the Slaw:

1/4 to 1/3 cup sour cream

3 tbsp lime juice

salt and pepper

approx 10 ounces red cabbage, very thinly shredded

4 scallions, thinly sliced

1/2 jalapeno pepper, minced

In a large bowl, combine the sour cream, lime juice, and salt and pepper. Toss in cabbage, scallions, and jalapeno. Chill for about an hour before serving.

For the fish:

1 pound firm white fish (I used tilapia)

1/2 cup all purpose flour

seasoned salt and pepper

chili powder

garlic powder

paprika

1 egg

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/3 cup cornmeal

4-5 tbsp canola oil (enough to create a thin coating on the bottom of your skillet)

Cut fish into 1 inch strips, pat dry. Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat until slightly sizzling. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt and pepper, chili powder, garlic powder, and paprika. In a small bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk. In a second small bowl, add cornmeal. First, dip fish in flour bowl. Next, dip into egg mixture. Last, dip in cornmeal, then add to skillet. Cook one side 5 minutes or so, then flip and cook other side (I tend to overcook fish due to plain old paranoia, so you may need to play with the time. Martha says 7 minutes total for both sides. I say that's bunk). Place on paper towels when done to soak up extra oil.

For the tartar sauce:

1/2 cup mayo

several dashes hot sauce (we're big fans of Chalula brand over here)

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (or about 1/2 tsp dried)

2 tbsp mustard

2 tbsp chopped pickles (sweet or dill are good here)

Combine and chill at least 30 minutes before serving.

To serve:

4 sourdough sandwich rolls

Slice sandwich rolls in half lengthwise. Slather each side with tartar sauce. Put your portion of fish on the bottom half. Top with slaw (or sauteed peppers and onions). Smush together. Devour. Serves 3-4, depending on how hungry you are.