Herbed Tilapia with Mixed Veggies and Fingerling Potatoes

There is nothing better than coming home after a hard day at the office and fixing dinner.  It doesn't have to be complicated and you don't have to kill yourself to put out killer results. As is typical, my buddies at fresh & easy helped with some off the shelf parts.

You have to love finding ready to cook, herbed and breaded Tilapia in the seafood section. Not having to created the breading and dredge the fillets through it is absolutely priceless. Straight into the pan with EVOO - three minutes on each side and your entree is done.

The Mediterranean veggies are another fun find from the produce department. At $3.50, you cannot beat the pre-sliced tomatoes, peppers, red onions, squash, and zucchini. Grill them in the pan or, as I did tonight, toss into a 375 degree oven.

The potatoes were easy - wash, toss onto a baking sheet (I have a perfectly sized stoneware one I used) and put into a 450 degree oven for 30 minutes. Done like this, they will come out fork tender...

No, I Do Not Want to Fix Dinner Tonight...

To say that today was a crappy day would be a bit of a misstatement. It wasn't really that crappy maybe it was just my reaction to it. Better put, today was a "challenging" day - in the end I will be better for it but, in this moment I feel just beat up. It was late (read as 8pm) by the time I could pack it in from my offsite meeting and call Rose to let her know I was finally headed home.  One of her first questions, "do you feel like cooking?" could have, understandably, been answered in the negative.  I surprised myself when I answered with, "yes, I'll cook." I've been on a kick to actually do menu planning for the week. As such, I had pre-planned to grill and the downpour was not going to keep me away.

In the interests of disclosure, Rose helped tonight and preheated the grill and made the potatoes.  We had a couple of large red potatoes that we needed to use up so she sliced them up and tossed into a pot of boiling water. I walked through the door and tossed the mild chicken Italian sausages on the grill and the steamed veggies were another microwave cheat from fresh & easy (green veggie mix with herb butter - three minutes in the box).  You could steam some veggies but, I wasn't in the mood for that stuff so a "cheat" it is (though is it really a cheat if you can pronounce all the ingredients?).

Boys and girls, here's a lesson from your buddy Tim - chicken sausage doesn't cook the same on the grill.  Lower your flame to low-medium and be sure to turn often.  You cannot do the whole "set and forget" like you would with a beef or pork sausage - the fat content is too low and this will just char up into rubberized charcoal.

Plate it all up and you are good to go - bonus points awarded for ending a negative day on a positive note. Besides, a few more beers and it may just not matter, right?

Garlic Basil Chicken with Mediterranean Veggies and Parmesan Potatoes

For tonight think, Chicken Kabobs - minus the skewers. The thing that is going to take the longest time is the potatoes. 

Fire Up the Oven...

Tonight, we used large red potatoes. Slice into 1/8" thick slices. lightly coat with EVOO, sprinkle with salt, and shredded Parmesan cheese. Place into a preheated 425 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Tim's tip - put down a layer of parchment paper - don't rely on a coating of EVOO on the baking sheet.

The veggies are a fresh & easy cheat - the Mediterranean veggies. The instruction suggest that you grill these but, I was trying to avoid the zillion degree heat so I didn't venture outside to turn on the grill. I stuck them in the 425 degree oven, with the potatoes, for about 10 minutes. They've already seasoned them so, this is a pretty low level involvement dish.

Cooking the Chicken

The chicken was bit of another cheat, I used the shredded chicken breast. You could use a unshredded one but, that would involve some level of cooking on the grill (which I wanted to avoid). I heated some EVOO in a skillet, added two Dorat cubes of garlic and basil. Once you add the chicken and sprinkle poultry seasoning over the chicken breast pieces. Cook until done (165 degrees)...

As alluded to at the start, the end result is something like chicken kabobs (minus the skewer). Bottom line is that this is another 15 minute meal that contains ingredients that you can actually pronounce. Sure you will sweat a bit over a hot stove, but you will enjoy a fresh dinner at the end - and isn't that worth a bit of effort?

The Finished Product...

The Five Minute Breakfast

Leftovers Made Up 2/3 of this Breakfast

It is said that breakfast is the most important meal of the day yet, it is also the meal that many Americans tend to skip. When we do stop to have breakfast, then we typically opt for cold cereal - which can be problematic.  I suppose that pouring a splash of milk over your corn flakes or sugar coated choco smacks is better than nothing...but, we can do better and with just a few more minutes of time.

This morning was the start of a work-from-home day for me. As such, I wanted to pause before settling in and enjoy a nice hot meal. Typically, this is eggs (scrambled, poached, sunny-side up) and bacon or sausage (turkey or pork). There was a kink in my plan - plenty of fresh eggs but not a single strip of bacon or sausage. I did have a leftover hamburger and fresh fruit salad from the Fourth of July cookout. A five minute breakfast was born...

Throwing the already cooked hamburger into a small skillet, let's start warming that up now (typically a couple of minutes each side). Next spoon out some of the fresh fruit salad (I'll create a post on that another day) or other fresh fruit (orange for example) onto your plate.  While the hamburger is warming, cook your egg(s).  This morning, I opted for sunny side up but, to each their own.  I won't tell you how to cook an egg but, I will encourage you to be sure to season it with a dash of pepper. Once your egg is cooked to the level you want, it goes on the plate with the hamburger...

There you go, a five minute hot breakfast - I'm off to the store now to get some more turkey bacon for Saturday (as I am now out of hamburgers).

Breaded Tilapia with Green Veggies and Seasoned Polenta

I've written about Tilapia before - and I will say it again, this is a blank canvas of a fish. If you are one of those that doesn't like fish, then I would suggest that you take a piece of tilapia and prepare it the same way you like your chicken - you might be surprised with the results.

We are still pan frying (3 minutes on each side in EVOO) so let's focus on the breading.  I like to use plain packaged bread crumbs. Pour into a small shallow pan (just enough to cover the bottom). Since bread crumbs are pretty tasteless - I strongly recommend that you add seasoning. At the very least salt and pepper but, you can use just about anything. I mixed in a dash of salt, a bit red pepper, and garlic (not too much) to the bread crumbs. Lightly coat the fish fillets in oil and dredge through your seasoned bread crumbs.

Polenta is a relatively discovery for me and, I feel, another blank canvas. I am sure that there are about a million ways to fix this but, I simply slice it up from the tube it comes in and place into a medium hot pan of oil. Season with pepper and cook until slightly golden brown.  I might try grilling it next time.

Veggies are the simple fresh & easy cheat - simply zap in the microwave for 3 minutes. They package it with a herb butter mix so I only wind up adding a pinch of salt after I plate it.

Grilled Seasoned Chicken with Mixed Veggies and Brown Rice

From fridge to plate in 15 minutes...

Maybe like me, the hardest night to cook at home is Monday night. Let's face it, the last thing most of us really want to do after slogging through a, "case of the Mondays (there is your Office Space reference for the evening) is cook dinner. Dinner does not need to be complicated and cooking dinner should not have to take forever. 

Tonight's dinner was fresh and sure, it involved a couple of "cheats" - courtesy of fresh & easy (if you have one near you, I suggest checking them out).  Here's what you will need...

Grilled Seasoned Chicken with Mixed Veggies and Brown Rice

• Boneless, skinless chicken breast
• Extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• Poultry seasoning
• Mixed veggies (the cheat, I used one of the "ready to cook" vegetable sides) 
• Brown rice (the cheat, a package of zap in the bag brown rice)

Preheat grill - since I use propane, I do not count the time it takes to do this as part of the 15 minutes it takes to fix this dinner (seriously, it took me longer to type this sentence than it did to turn on the gas and press the ignite button). While your choice of fire is coming up to temperature, lightly coat the chicken with EVOO. Then sprinkle the poultry seasoning on each side.  Place chicken on grill, turning frequently until cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degrees. By the way, if you do not have a digital thermometer, why not.  Go and get one you cheap...

Since I shop at fresh & easy, I opted to use a couple of their store brand "cheats" to create the sides. For my friends outside of their market service areas, I am sure that you can find something similar in a store near you. Just stay away from the frozen section - stick with stuff that you can find in the produce section and that has ingredients listed on the label that you can actually pronounce.  If you want to avoid the "cheats" then factor in time to slice and steam the veggies and cook the brown rice.

I am not going to get into the whole brown versus white rice debate, what I will say is that, once you get used to the mild, nutty flavor, I think you will pick it over white rice just about any day. Other than the taste, the only difference is that the husk of the rice is the only thing that is removed during the milling, With the bran intact, brown rice retains more fiber, iron, potassium, phosphorus, and zinc than white rice. If you need more vitamin E in your diet then you should note that brown rice is the only grain that contains this antioxidant.

There it is, a fifteen minute, fresh, Monday night dinner...

Simple, Refreshing Lunch

Where I live (Phoenix area) temperatures are now hitting the 100+ degree mark on a regular basis. As a result, I don't typically go for a "hot" lunch (trust me, the last thing you want is more heat when you live on the surface of the sun).

If I have learned nothing from this new job, I have learned that you cannot count on having bandwidth to get out of the office for lunch. In the summer, I often get stuck with sandwiches or salads - which can get a bit boring after a while.

They don't have to be though and my lunch the other day is an example of thinking outside of the (lunch) box.  This was as simple as a sandwich, not as complicated as a full-on salad, and very satisfying.

Watermelon and Feta Salad

• Cube watermelon
• Cube firm feta (crumbles will not work)

You can stop there or opt to add some fresh mint or drizzle some balsamic into it.  There you go, that simple (perfect way to jump-start this blog after months away with work and travel life happening).