Category Archives: Entree’

Dinner: Foil Pack Shrimp and Fish

12 Wednesday Aug 2009

Posted by in Entree', Recipes, Seafood

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Looking for a quick, easy and healthy “one dish” meal? Foil packs are always a great way to serve a satisfying dish and the filling options are endless. Tonight, I chose to serve a fish and shrimp meal with rice and vegetables. Combining all of the ingredients into one pack make the need for added oils, butter and salt unnecessary. Even better, it makes for a quick clean up. I use a heavy duty foil, though there are ready made foil packs, if you want to spend the extra money.  Nutritionally, each pack comes out to right at 400 calories.

For the seasoning, I found this wonderful new seafood seasoning made by Weber. The first time I used this seasoning, my teenage daughter said that her fish was “fabulous”. From a teenager, I would say that is the ultimate compliment.

Foil Pack Shrimp, Fish, Rice and Veggies

 Ingredients:

  • 2 cups uncooked instant rice
  • 1 3/4 cups broth
  • 2 – 3 tilapia fillets (about 16 ounces)
  • 1 pound jumbo shrimp
  • 1 pound bag of frozen vegetables (I used a broccoli, onion, pepper…mix)
  • Weber Mango Lime Seafood Seasoning (to taste)
  • 1 medium lemon cut into 1/4 inch slices
  • Heavy duty foil, Cooking Spray, Butter

Directions:

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Spray 5 (18 x 12″) sheets of foil with cooking spray.

Combine the broth and rice in a medium bowl. Let stand about 5 minutes to absorb broth. (This will help the rice to cook completely). Separate tilapia into 5 pieces and place one in the center of each foil piece. Season fish to taste. Spoon rice around each fillet, then top with equal amounts of shrimp.  Divide vegetables among each foil pack and place about 1 tsp of butter in each foil pack (if desired). Fold foil over so the edges meet, seal edges then fold again. Allow some space for ventilation but ensure an airtight closure.

Bake for 15 – 20 minutes or until the shrimp are pink and the fish is white and flakes easily. Place foil packs on plates, serve and enjoy!

Hawaiian Pork Roast

07 Tuesday Jul 2009

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Hawaiian Pork Roast

We are home from camp this week, which means I have the opportunity to prepare dinner for the family. We were heading out to the mall, so I decided on slow cooking a pork roast. It’s a good thing I chose this cooking method, as we totally lost track of time. At 5:30 we were still shopping and we normally eat dinner at 5. This meal was ready when we arrived home. It is always a family favorite.

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BBQ Ribs, Chicken and Fresh Veggies

27 Saturday Jun 2009

Posted by in Chicken, Entree', Recipes

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Ribs

While shopping at Target I couldn’t pass up a deal on St. Louis-style ribs. It was a perfect night to grill also, as my husband was to return from an 8 day class in D.C. I knew it would go great with my fresh picked corn on the cob and green beans. With this I added grilled chicken and baked potatoes.

I wanted “fall off the bone” ribs. Didn’t take me long to settle on this recipe at MyRecipes.com. The rib meat was so moist and tender you didn’t even need a fork to remove it from the bone.

For the beans, we washed and snapped them. Then I sauteed them in a little olive oil for about an hour. If you haven’t tried fresh beans this way, it is really quite wonderful. I pre-boiled the corn, then put on it the grill for the last few minutes. I like grilled corn, but don’t care for the charring that accompanies 45 minutes on a grill.

This was one of those meals that you have to double your gym time on… Everyone deserves one of these meals every once in a while. Check out the recipe for the ribs and enjoy.

Buttermilk Grilled Chicken

06 Saturday Jun 2009

Posted by in Cakes & Pies, Chicken, Entree', From a Mix, Recipes

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This recipe is from MyRecipes. This was their “Dinner Tonight” entree earlier this week. It turned out very good. My husband gave it an 8.5, however he said the “Bean Can Chicken” was his favorite (rating it a 9). Its a good choice if you just want to marinate your chicken and not put sauce on it while grilling. It is also better for you than frying buttermilk chicken.

The only “problem” I had when grilling this, was that I ran out of propane half-way through. I just kept the lid closed and ran to the store for a refill. Crisis was averted, and my chicken still turned out great.

Dinner was served with home made potato salad, grilled marinated vegetables and baked beans. The meal was topped off with Apple Cobbler and Ice Cream. Both recipes are posted below.

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Grilled Buttermilk Chicken

from MyRecipes

Ingredients:

  • 1 quart buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup chopped shallots
  • 2 tablespoons chopped garlic
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 tablespoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon pepper
  • Chicken: I used 5 leg quarters and 8 legs

Directions:

Combine all ingredients (except chicken). Rinse chicken and place in a 9 x 13 x 2″ pan. Pour brine over chicken, cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight. Before grilling, drain chicken and pat dry. Grill until thoroughly cooked. I used a gas grill and place the chicken in the center (indirect heat) with only  the two outer elements on. About 5 minutes before the chicken is done, I brown the chicken over the direct heat. Remove and let chicken stand about 5 minutes then serve.

Easy Apple Cobbler

(adapted from the millions of recipes for dump cake)

Ingredients:

  • 1 can (21 oz) apple pie filling
  • 1 box yellow cake mix (I only used 3/4 of the box), divided
  • 6 tablespoons butter, divided
  • Ice Cream

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 8″ square baking dish with cooking spray and empty can of pie filling evenly in the bottom.

Melt 1/2 of the butter (3 tablespoons) and combine with 1/2 of dry cake mix. You should get a moist crumble. Sprinkle over pie filling. Pour remaining cake mix (about 4 ounces) over the top. Slice remaining 3 tablespoons of butter into squares and place on top of cobbler.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top is brown and crisp. Serve with ice cream. Run 3 miles.

 *I didn’t need an entire dish of cobbler, so I halved the recipe, using slightly more than 1/2 the box of cake mix.

Baked Potato Frittata

24 Sunday May 2009

Posted by in Breakfast, Entree', Recipes

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Saturday morning is our “big breakfast” day. Usually we will have either pancakes, or some type of egg dish. Today I had some baked potatoes (from last night’s dinner) to use up. They were already seasoned and buttered, so I just chopped them and used my hash brown frittata recipe to finish the dish. It’s basic and simple… and it’s gone.

*In addition to using the baked potatoes, I used 7 regular eggs instead of Egg Beaters. Topped it out with sour cream and salsa.

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Farewell dinner – Shrimp, Chicken, Potatoes…

20 Wednesday May 2009

Posted by in Chicken, Entree', Recipes, Salad, Sides

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Hasselback Potatoes

BBQ Chicken

Boil and Peel Shrimp 

My mil is leaving for Arizona tomorrow. She has lived here in FL for 22 years, but due to economic times, she is moving. I prepared one of her favorites for this farewell dinner – shrimp.

The meal itself was easy to prepare. The only drawback I had was grilling in the cold, pouring rain. It still turned out wonderfully.

The chicken was marinated all night in Italian dressing, then slow grilled for a little over an hour. Just before removing, a Honey BBQ glaze was applied. In the meantime, I steamed corn on the cob and prepared Hasselback (aka fan) potatoes. Now these potatoes rocked – and will become a staple for a starch side from now on.  We also had a freshly prepared Caesar Salad and some grilled onion packets. Overall dinner was highly successful.

I prepared the shrimp by boiling them in a lightly seasoned, butter bath and served them with melted butter. They were x-large shrimp and were purchased already deveined… mmmmm….

For dessert I made chunky brownies and served them warm with ice cream. Needles to say they were gone before photos could be taken.

Here is how to prepare the potatoes. It is very easy and well worth it.

Hasselback Potatoes(AKA Accordion, Fan etc…)

Ingredients:

  • Medium Potatoes, I used Red
  • Butter, I used spray, but you could melt some
  • Olive Oil
  • Seasonings, as desired
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Sheet pan coated with cooking spray or with a thin layer of olive oil

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Slice the potatoes about 1/4 thick (as in the picture). To do this, place one potato in the “spoon” part, of a wooden spoon. The potato will rest in the well of the spoon and you can slice all the way through the potato till the spoon stops it. This leaves just enough of the potato attached that you can “fan” them and coat them with the oils and seasonings.

Place the cut potatoes on a microwave safe dish and heat for 6 – 10 minutes – based on the size and number of potatoes. Remove and place on prepared sheet pan. Spray the potatoes with butter, then brush on olive oil. Sprinkle with course sea salt and seasonings as desired. I use Lawry’s Seasoned Salt. Bake for 30 – 45 minutes, coating with additional butter half way through. When the potatoes are soft, remove and serve.

*Note about the microwaving – the idea is to have them slightly cooked so they don’t scortch in the oven…just a nice crispy brown. I was hesitant about microwaving, but I am glad I did. The potatoes turned out perfectly.

Mexican Night, Blueberry Angel Dessert

18 Monday May 2009

Posted by in Cakes & Pies, Entree', Recipes

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Chicken Enchiladas

Dinner tonight was shared with relatives from Arizona. If you want to have real Mexican food, get a native Arizonan to bring dinner. They actually live about 15 miles from the border… I guess that’s about the closest you can get without living in Mexico. And when they visit, at least one of our dinner’s includes this “feast”.

On tap for dinner tonight was: Beef Enchiladas, Chicken Enchiladas, Tamales and good ole’ Tacos with fresh fried Corn Tortillas. We had enough food for an army. Thankfully, (portion wise) I talked them out of making the Chili Rellenos. This was good, because there were more leftover’s than actual food consumed.

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Blueberry Angel Dessert

For dessert we had…ok this is totally not Mexican, Blueberry Angel Dessert. It turned out to be a great night of food and fellowship.

This is a Taste of Home recipe that I have been making for several years. Here is the easy, 5 ingredient recipe:

Blueberry Angel Dessert

Ingredients:

  • 1 angel food cake, cut into 1″ cubes
  • 1 cup powdered sugar
  • 1 (8oz) block cream cheese, softened
  • 1 (8oz) container Cool Whip, thawed
  • 1 Can Comstock Blueberry Pie Filling

Directions:

Combine the sugar and cream cheese until well blended, then stir in cool whip. Fold in cake pieces and place in a 9 x 13″ pan. Top with pie filling and refrigerate for at least two hours. I have also made this in a trifle bowl, layering the cake mixture and blueberries. I use 1 1/2 – 2 cans of pie filling for the trifle.

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And as for the Enchiladas, I would say this is a very, very simple recipe. The taste is not “simple”, it is quite good! For the beef, I used half of the ground beef that we cooked up for the tacos.

Beef (and Chicken) Enchiladas

  • 1 pound ground beef
  • 1 small onion (vidalia)
  • Desired Taco Seasoning (I used a packet)
  • 3 – 4 cups shredded cheese, Mexican blend
  • 2 packs Mission Tortilla Shells (10″)
  • 2 – 4 cans Enchilada sauce, (green is milder)

Pre-heat the oven to 350. Saute onion then add ground beef (or chicken) and seasoning. In a 9 x 13″ pan (or larger), spoon a layer of sauce and top with a tortilla, top the tortilla with sauce then ground beef (about 3 tablespoons) and cheese. Roll up and repeat with remaining tortillas. Once the pan is filled, spread some additional sauce on top of rolls and top with more cheese. Bake uncovered for about 15 minutes, or until cheese is fully melted. We sliced them in half and served.

Slip slidin away ~ Sliders for dinner

21 Tuesday Apr 2009

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Sliders are popping up everywhere. On the internet, in cooking magazine, on cooking shows… There are also many variations on how to prepare them. Well, while surfing the net this morning I came across this post on Trim The Fat and decided that this would be a quick, easy and satisfying choice for dinner tonight. I decided on the bake in pan version which consists of preparing the ground beef, but instead of rolling a bunch of individual burgers, you flatten it into a pan. As you can see, it creates a thin burger – almost, “White Castle or Krystal’s” like. It went over great for dinner and I look forward to trying some other variations as well.

*I prepared the yeast rolls and baked them prior to working on the burgers.

**I used simple seasonings: salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, but did not measure them

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“Hamburger” Sliders

Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
  • Seasonings (use your burger preferences)**
  • 18 (at least) yeast rolls or dinner rolls*
  • Cheese
  • Lettuce, tomato, onion, condiments (optional)

Directions:

Heat oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare ground beef as desired and flatten into a lightly greased jelly roll pan (11 x 17″). I used gloved hands to press across the pan, but you could use a rolling pin etc…

Bake for 10 – 12 minutes. The beef should be browned, but have a little pink to them – they will finish cooking in the next step. Remove and let stand a couple of minutes. There was some grease in the pan. I poured it out, then patted the ground beef with a towel to reduce the grease. Slice the burger into squares. Adjust the size according to the size of your rolls. Slice each roll in the center, keep one side attached. Place a square on each roll, but do not top (or close) the burger. If desired, place a piece of cheese on top of the beef. Place the entire roll, cut sides up, on a large baking sheet and place in oven to brown bread and melt the cheese. Remove, top and serve with desired condiments.

For the side item, I took leftover baked potatoes from Sunday and diced into squares and place in one layer on a large flat pan. I sprayed them lightly with olive oil and sprinkled them with seasoned salt. I baked them at 400 for about 10 minutes…till they were warm and beginning to crisp.

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These pictures give you an “idea” of what size the sliders are.

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A Foolish Dinner…

01 Wednesday Apr 2009

Posted by in Cakes & Pies, Entree', Recipes

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I spent the last week or so searching for April Fool’s pranks. Now, I cannot stand pranks that cause damage to people’s property, or worse, injury. I just wanted something fun to create a fun memory. I found a few things at the Family Fun website, one of which I thought would be perfect. The other, I have no idea where I saw it. I did so much searching, I lost track of things. The whole meal turned out great. Both for taste and for effect. Judging by the pictures… you get the gist.

The main course, as pictured above, was actually dessert. This was so fun to create. It is simply vanilla yogurt with a peach half inserted, and pound cake that I toasted in a warm skillet. I completely had them fooled on this one!

Ok, cute huh. But now for the real main course (a.k.a. dessert):

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Cupcakes for Dinner!

Darn, these aren’t cupcakes, they’re meatloaf singles frosted with colored mashed potatoes!!!

 

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Ok, simple enough. Just prepare your favorite meatloaf recipe, and instead of making a whole loaf, roll it into a ball, insert it into a cupcake wraper, and cook it. To frost it, prepare your mashed potatoes, color them if you choose, and pipe them onto the “meatloaf cupcake”. Serve warm and enjoy!

My kids really thought these were cupcakes. Even when I told them what they were… it took them cutting into them to believe me. Thankfully, my kids love meatloaf…otherwise, I would have been searching for other recipes. Oh, and on the Family Fun website, they also have a meatloaf recipe that “bakes” this into a pie crust.

I hope you all had a miserable day…(April Fool’s of course – lame I know). Thanks for stopping by!

Sunday Dinner

29 Sunday Mar 2009

Posted by in Chicken, Entree', Recipes, Salad, Savory Breads

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Italian Grilled Chicken

Why is it that Sunday seems to be the only day that we eat “dinner” at lunchtime. Tradition? Timing? Does it really matter? For my family growing up, Sunday dinner was a time when the whole family got together, usually after church, and had probably the most formal meal of the week. Time and tradition now has replaced that dinner with eating out, or something quick (that and growing families). We did however enjoy one of those dinners today.

Whole roasting chickens have been on sale for .79 cents a pound… a deal difficult to pass up. As a matter of fact, I bought several. This recipe doesn’t get more simple or cost effective. I took a whole chicken and cut it into pieces, then basted it in Italian dressing. Then wrapped the chicken in foil and grilled it for about an hour. The dressing, along with the juices in the chicken kept even the white meat deliciously moist and flavorful.

I served the chicken with a Caesar salad and macaroni and cheese (for the kids ok?). One more little tidbit. When preparing the salad, I realized that I was out of croutons… so I made my own. I have included that recipe below too. We finished dinner off with some friendship bread that I had frozen a few weeks back.

Italian Grilled Chicken

Ingredients:

Directions:

Cut the chicken into pieces, separating by breast, wing and the leg/thigh. Place chicken in foil, larger pieces on the bottom, and pour dressing over the chicken. Wrap tightly with foil and let marinate in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes. Place foil package on hot grill until the chicken reaches at least 165 degrees internally. For the final few minutes of cooking, remove the chicken from the packet and place on grill to brown the skin. Remove and serve. I satisfied 5 respectively with no leftovers.

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Homemade Croutons

Ingredients:

  • 5 – 6 slices of day old bread (any variety – I used white and wheat)
  • Olive oil Cooking Spray
  • Mrs. Dash Original seasoning
  • Grated Parmesan Cheese

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed cookie sheet with foil and coat with olive oil cooking spray.

Slice the bread into squares and place in a single layer on cookie sheet and spray generously with olive oil spray. Sprinkle with seasoning and Parmesan. Place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges of the bread slices begins to brown. Remove pan and turn slices over, coating again with spray and light seasonings. Return to oven and bake until crisp, about another 10 minutes.

You could use any seasoning blend or cheese. You could also use regular olive oil in place of the cooking spray, I was just trying to keep them relatively healthy.