Pecan Crusted Tilapia with Israeli Couscous

I've written about tilapia before.  Perhaps my children are in a minority because they eat seafood, but I'd also bet that if a kid is willing to try fish, tilapia is your best hope.  It is mild and takes on sauces and crusty stuff so well you can really make the dish taste like anything. 

I groaned when I saw this on my meal plan but I pulled it together and got it on the table in less than 30 minutes with lots of interruption from the three angry young men in my house.

In cuisinart:
Candied Pecans
Cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
mustard powder

coat fillets in evoo, then in the nut mixture

bake at 350 for about 8 minutes on first side and 5 minutes on the flip side.

Israeli couscous - I use a box from Trader Joes.  I use vegetable broth instead of water and it adds a bit of taste.  Kids loved it, so did the Roomba.

Padron Pepper Corn Cakes, Chantenay Carrots, and Mixed Green Salad with Bacon Fat Dressing

Let me introduce you to a delicious, light, vegetarian (minus the bacon fat dressing) late summer dinner.

Jalepeno Corn Cakes from Sunset Magazine.  I substituted some CSA padron peppers I had on hand and unnecessarily doubled the recipe for my family of 5, lots of extra batter for another day.

Chantenay Carrots from our CSA.  Two biggies cut in slices and sauteed lightly in evoo salt, pepper and honey.

Mixed greens and mushrooms tossed with with Bacon Fat Vinaigrette.

Enjoy a lovely white wine while making this meal.

Granola Bars and Such

Sampled one of these today and was delighted.  I think we spend half our monthly income on granola bars and seems a bit ridiculous when they should be pretty simple to make.  Please add more recipes or links to your favorite Bars.

http://www.damyhealth.com/2011/03/how-to-make-homemade-lara-bars/

http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/09/12/grain-free-granola-bars/

*credit to Karen for the links and the sample of Cherry Pie!

Mexican Hot Chocolate Ice Cream (with coconut milk)

whisk 4 egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar
add 2 cans coconut milk
place over low heat whisking frequently/constantly
add 3/4 cup of baking cocoa
mix in one 10oz jar of fudge sauce (i used trader joe's)
whisk whisk whisk
stir in 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper and 1 tblsp cinnamon (adjust to taste)

put in fridge overnight

pour in ice cream maker next day - 25 minutes

Karen P's Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream

This creative, inspiring, sedative of an ice cream came from the kitchen of a very newly minted Mother of Three Boys.  I'm thinking at this point with my third baby I was catching on to pre-heating the oven for our frozen pizza dinners and here is this lady whipping up her own creative ice creams.

Born from her newborn's intolerance of dairy, this friend has turned to coconut milk.  Coconut milk/cream is something with which I am slowly familiarizing myself, partly thanks to another lovely lady I know who is queen of coconut as far as I am concerned.

So, that's a lot of back story, let's get on with the next thing you HAVE to make:

whisk 4 egg yolks with 1/2 cup sugar. turn on mixer to low.
add 2 cans of full fat coconut milk.  (this time i actually only had 1 1/2 cans so I snuck in some 1/2 and 1/2 cow stuff)
pour into pot, put over low heat
then I melted a 4 oz dark hazelnut chocolate bar and 1/2 cup chocolate chips, mix in to custard mixture
mixed till it got thicker and added another 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
add 2 tbsp vanilla

when steaming but not too boil-ee, put in fridge.  let sit overnight.

poor into ice cream maker.  as that runs, mix 1 cup peanut butter with 1/2 cup powdered sugar.  5 minutes before ice cream is finished, drop peanut butter in to mixture in lumps.

Did you say Ice Cream??

No?  Just the echo of my near constant thoughts?  Ok.  Were I a better blogger with a bit more uninterrupted time, I'd figure out a way to make a WHOLE ICE CREAM Section.  Like a whole Ice Cream parlor wing to a house, that's what I'd do.

Ok, well I know a few people out there who have more homemade ice cream miles under their belt than I, but I find it hard to imagine anyone has more ice cream calories under their waste band than I.  This has been The Summer of Ice Cream for our household...er, well mostly me.

Please do share.  Next up I will be sharing my interpretation of Karen P.'s Chocolate Peanut Butter Coconut Ice Cream.

Carrot and potato mascarpone whip

this was a side dish born of urgency, both because dinner needed to get made fast and because these ingredients needed to make a graceful and timely exit from my kitchen.

it is a light but savory side.

this was about right for 3 adults, i wish i had more.

3 small potatoes
half a bag of baby carrots
(the portions came out to maybe 2/3 carrots, 1/3 potatoes)

boil these in salty water

when all's soft and smoosh-able, drain and dump in to a mixing bowl with about 4oz mascarpone
whip, add generous amount of dried minced onion, salt and pepper.