Baked Tilapia with Parmesan Mayo and Lemon Sauce

We don’t eat a whole lot of fish other then Tilapia (or Salmon), and this happens to be one of most favorite ways to prepare it!  It’s quick, SO so easy, and so tasty, my whole family loves it!  It takes less then 20 minutes from start to finish, and by “finish” I mean ready to eat!  Serve this with a complimentary rice side dish (plain is fine too) or a hearty salad.

p.s. this tastes FANTASTIC on salmon as well!!  I add just a little extra lemon and put the sauce on a little earlier to keep the salmon from drying out.

Baked Tilapia with Parmesan Mayo and Lemon Sauce (serves 6-8)

• 8 tilapia filets, thawed
• 1-2 TBLS of melted butter
• 2 TBLS sliced green onion OR regular white onion
• 1/3 cup fresh shredded Parmesan cheese-packed
• 3 TBLS Hellmans or Best Foods mayonnaise
• 1 TBLS lemon juice
• 1 tsp Italian Seasoning or dried basil
• salt and pepper to taste (I use about 1/4 tsp of Emeril seasoning salt)
• a few dashes of hot sauce (optional)

Directions:

1. pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Line a large cookie sheet with foil, then place the tilapia fillets on to it, without overlapping.  Place the cookie sheet in the oven for about 10-12 minutes.
3. In the meantime, mix all other ingredients in a bowl.
4. Fish should just about be done, it should be a uniform solid (opaque) white color.  If the center of the fillets still look a little pinkish or transparent, give it another 2-3 minutes.
5. When fish looks just done, take the pan out and spread the sauce on top of all the fillets.
6. Place the pan on the TOP rack and BROIL at 400 degrees for 1-2 minutes, or until sauce is nice and bubbly.
7. Serve while hot.

An Easy & Quick Handmade Journal

Since joining swap-bot I’ve discovered that I really like journaling!  I find it to be fun, enlightening, and just something I can really lose myself in and express exactly how I feel.   The problem is, I’m left-handed and broke, lol.  Being left-handed means 95% of the journals out there are not very comfortable for me to write in, as the spine always gets in the way.  Being broke means I can’t afford to spend too much on pretty journals!  So, to solve both problems, I decided to MAKE my own journals.  I don’t know anything about book binding or journal making, or any type of special stitch, etc….but I did find something easy that works for me and takes almost no skill at all!

All you need is a paper cutter, hole puncher, narrow ribbon, 2 sheets of scrapbook paper, and plain sheets of paper for writing on.  Simply cut the pages to your desired size, then punch out evenly spaced holes, roughly every 1.25 inches or so.

Because I’m left handed, it’s easiest for me to write on the pages BEFORE the journal is put together.  Plus I think it keeps the journal nice and pages un-creased, all spiffy and new for the recipient!

Once you are ready to put the journal together, simply line up the holes and follow the steps below.

1. Cut a piece of ribbon that is 5 times the height of your journal.  Then lace it thru the BOTTOM hole, leaving an even amount of ribbon on each side.

2. Starting with the top ribbon, start circling it upward, lacing it thru the holes from back to front.  In other words: take the tip of the ribbon, go under the journal, poke it thru the 2nd hole, pull it all the way out thru the front, then repeat the steps until you get to the top.  Leave it there for now.

3. Do the same steps for the back ribbon, but this time you are going from front to back.  So take the tip of the ribbon, go over the front of the journal, poke it thru the 2nd hole, pull it all the way out thru the back, then repeat the steps until you get to the top.

4. Once you are done lacing both sides you can either tie a simple bow, or sometimes I like to repeatedly knot the ribbon tightly for a couple of inches and then leave the ribbon loose.

Strawberry Margarita Ice Cream Cake

After our recent trip to the strawberry patch I just had to find some strawberry recipes!  I decided upon Strawberry Margarita Pie, as it’s served cold and just needs chilling time, so real easy.  I of course left the alcohol out, as I wanted it to be family-friendly….and the other change was more of an accident, lol.  The recipe calls for cool whip and I just *assumed* it was meant as a topping, which I didn’t have on hand and figured I would just go without.  So I forged ahead, mixing everything up, then came to the part that said “….fold 1 tub of cool whip into the mixture…”, oh dear.  I guess it wasn’t a topping after all and the local grocery store was already closed, as it was after 7pm.  Well drats, I wasn’t about to waste all of my luscious ingredients!  So my younger daughter, who just happen to be eating a bowl of ice cream, said “use vanilla ice cream!”.  Sounded good to me and what other choice did I have?  I tried looking up recipes for homemade cool whip, but I didn’t have all of the ingredients on hand for that either, lol.

The verdict?  DELISH!  My oldest daughter is actually gone for the weekend, but she had a slice before leaving and said “hide it from the others so I can have more when I get back!” lol.  No really, it’s good, and no need to turn on the hot oven either!  It is cool and creamy, tangy and sweet, fruity with just a hint of salt and so refreshing

Though in my picture you see strawberry chunks and sliced on top, I would recommend blending the strawberries and omitting the slices, as it made it harder to eat.  Oh, and definitely use the crushed pretzels, don’t replace it with graham crackers!  The original recipe is called Strawberry Margarita Pie, my version and changes are below.  One day I do plan on trying the original version though, as I KNOW that will be good too!

Virgin Strawberry Margarita Ice Cream Cake-9 large portions

Crust

• 1 1/4 cups pretzel crumbs
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1/4 cup sugar

Filling

• 1 1/2 cups strawberries,pureed or mashed well
• 14 ounces sweetened condensed milk
• 1/3 cup lime juice, freshly squeezed (I only had 1 lime on hand and used lemon juice as well)
• 3 large scoops of vanilla ice cream-softened

Directions:

• Combine pretzel crumbs, butter, and sugar and mix well.
• Press crust mixture firmly into the bottom of an 8×8 pan.  I placed a sheet of saran wrap on top before pressing my hands into the crumb mixture, it’s a lot cleaner and the crust ends up nicer.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the condensed milk, lime juice, strawberries, and soft ice cream and blend well.
• Pour the mixture right on top of the crust, then freeze for at least 6 hours.
• To serve: take the pan out of the freezer and allow it to sit for a few minutes before cutting into it.  I find that using a flat-edges spatula works best.

Our Trip to the Strawberry Patch!

I LOVE strawberry anything!  I like in in desserts, salads, flavored candy, smoothies, you name it.  So this year we decided to go strawberry picking at a locally owned and operated strawberry patch that is just 10 miles down the road (www.strawberrypatchmn.com).  Now, I’ve never been picking before and wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was actually a lot of fun!  the time FLIES by as you grab one handful of plump and juicy strawberries after another, and quite to my chagrin, it was hard to quit!  I mean, really…isn’t 9 buckets enough??  But then a beautiful bunch of strawberries catches you eye, and you just CAN’T leave them there, can you?!?  Well, and that’s how an hour and a half later my husband, son and I walked away with 50 pounds of berries, lol.

We took them home, cleaned them up, rinsed them, sugared them, then ran them through the smoothie maker to blend.  We then used the spout attachment to pour the strawberries into individual baggies and freeze them for future smoothies and desserts, I may even try jam this year.  Once you get a rhythm down it goes pretty fast!

Here are the boys, hard at work!  We are definitely going to be doing this again next year and hopefully the girls can come, imagine how many pounds we’ll get then!

3 x 5 and 2 x 2 Envelope Templates

I LOVE making my own envelopes and at times it’s a bit obsessive, lol.  I find it rather relaxing plus I get to use pretty papers in all sorts of different colors….and just having a box full of them makes me happy   I try to include a couple with most of my swaps on swap-bot and have gotten a couple requests for the templates I use.  These are the 2 main ones I use, created by me though I’m sure there are tons out there exactly like them!

Though not shown in my templates, I do use a scalloped circle punch to take a “bite” out of the opening, which makes inserting and removing the note card easier.  For the 2 x 2 the “bite” is on both sides equally (punched at the same time), for the 3 x 5 it’s only on the backside, as it has a flap closure.

Happy paper crafting!

3×5 and 2×2 Envelope Templates

If You Are Looking For a Liitle “Crafty” Inspiration….

I’ve always loved crafting, though I’m not very good at being creative!  But with so many crafting blogs, tutorials and “how-to’s” out there, I’ve got enough to keep me busy for years!!  So I thought I’d pass along a few good ones that I recently discovered, just in case you were looking for a little inspiration

How About Orange is a great site with a variety of crafts and superb pictures.  Jessica, the one who writes the blog, also links to many other tutorials and projects that she finds on the net.

Designing Moms has some great  and easy whimsical projects geared towards children and families, like the “I’m not a boy braided hat” and “washi tape decor”.  It even has yummy recipes!

Mel Stampz is a HAVEN for paper crafting, especially card-making!  If you have a weakness for paper crafts and are prone to running out to stock up on stamps…perhaps this is not the place for you….  She makes the most beautiful cards and has hundreds of paper templates for all sorts of things, from envelopes to purses, coffin boxes to gorgeous seed packets!

Let Them Eat CAKE…with Homemade Coconut-Pecan Frosting!

I have to admit, I’m not a huge cake and frosting fan, but my hubby and oldest daughter LOVE German Chocolate cake and always request it for their birthday. So 2-3 years ago I found a recipe on how to make it homemade, and I have to say, it was VERY good but a bit time intensive. In all honestly it’s the homemade frosting that I thought was the highlight, so I semi-cheat by using boxed cake mix (using milk instead of water) and slathering it with the homemade Coconut-Pecan frosting, YUM!!! I load mine up with toasted coconut and pecan pieces, so much so that it’s more of a chutney then a frosting, as it doesn’t spread very easily, lol. But of course you can adjust the amount of coconut and nuts you add in to your liking!

The cake and frosting recipe can actually be found on the same page, it is called German Chocolate Cake with Coconut Pecan Frosting. I used only 1 stick of butter for the frosting and toasted the coconut and nuts before adding it into the pot. Also, make sure to bring the heat up on the frosting VERY slowly, I kept mine on low for at least 6-8 minutes, or else you will end up cooking the egg yolks and tiny yellow pieces will be floating around in your frosting. And of course whisk often! Lastly, my frosting takes at least 20 minutes to cook on the stove to my desired thickness, so don’t be alarmed if it seems to be taking forever….I think once it took me 30 minutes even. But it’s a simple recipe and just needs to be stirred frequently in the beginning, after that you can let it simmer fairly un-attended. Trust me, this frosting is just divine and the sweetness level is perfect.