Monday Meals- Baked Tilapia w/ Parmesan Crust

I finally made my first recipe from the cooking class I went to and it was a huge hit! I'm not a big fan of fish, but Blake is and convinces me to make it occasionally because "it's good for me". With that being said, I ate EVERY. SINGLE. BITE of this.

I forgot to take a picture, so this is the one from the cooking class- I promise I didn't make this much for two people. How wasteful would that be?

Here's the recipe:

1/2 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

1/2 Japanese breadcrumbs (panko)

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

2 green onions, very thinly sliced

1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire

1/2 teaspoon hot pepper sauce (such as Tabasco)

1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper

4 (6 ounce) tilapia (about 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick)

Preheat oven to 425. 

In a medium bowl, mix together the cheese, breadcrumbs, butter, mayonnaise, green onions, Worcestershire, hot pepper sauce and lemon juice. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Pat the tilapia completely dry with paper towels; season generously with salt and pepper. Lightly butter a rimmed sheet pan and place each fillet on it. Pour the cheese mixture over the filets and bake until cooked through, about 10-12 minutes.

*** The tilapia can be substituted with any sustainable fish like catfish, whitefish, striped bass, haddock or cod. 

On the side, I served an awesome recipe I pinned the other day for Spicy Broccoli Saute- it was extremely easy and very good. I also made an oldie but goodie that Amy made at a Pinterest party a while back- Sweet corn with Cilantro Lime Butter. I left off the cheese on this because I didn't have any and it's already so good, it really doesn't need it. 

You all need to make this meal immediately- easy and delicious. Perfect for a dinner party when I find friends! ; )

Vail Vacation

We just got back from an awesome trip to Denver and Vail- Amanda's husband's (Rory) family owns an AMAZING house down there with AMAZING views.  We decided to spend a few days there, then head to Denver to visit one of Blake's good friends and his wife, Tori (who is awesome, by the way).  Rory went ahead and invited Jon and Tori down to Vail so everyone could make friends- the trip couldn't have gone any better.  

Remember that view I was telling you about?  Here it is:

We spent quite a bit of time at the house, which was great- so fun and so relaxing.  And cooked a great dinner one night of ribs, roasted corn, cheesy potatoes, and tons of other goodness, including 14 bottles of wine- wow.

We went into Beaver Creek one night planning to go to a 4th of July festival and unfortunately, the rain stopped us so we hung out at a friend of the family's house.  We ended up making it fun!

There was quite a bit of rain while we were there which was great because Colorado needed it so badly.  We went on a hike one day... let's just say that out-of-shape Kristin , the altitude, and hiking didn't mix too well.  It was fun but hard work!

On the way back down from the hike, it started thundering quite a bit... unfortunately, we didn't make it back to the car before the rain hit and we were all running down the mountain getting drenched in rain. We looked like a bunch of drowned rats- too funny.

The next night, Jon, Tori, Blake and I headed back to Denver to spend a night there.  We went to dinner at an awesome restaurant called linger.  I highly recommend it not only for the great view, but the food was delicious.

We were all pretty tired so called it a night pretty early that night.  We woke up the next morning (Saturday) and headed to meet the rest of the crew (who came back from Vail that morning) for a Mimosa breakfast.

We went to a fun brewery after breakfast and heading back to the house and got caught in another downpour... so back to looking like drowned rats.

Blake and I headed to the airport and had the craziest/ most awful flying experience ever.  Our flight left on time despite the rain and we were almost back to Dallas when the captain came on and had a "little announcement"- DFW had shut down so they turned our flight back around to Denver.  We got off the plane and they let us know that we would take off again at 11:00pm.  We hung around at the airport, went to board again when they let us know the flight was canceled for the night and we would leave at 7:30am.  We started looking for a hotel close to the airport then as we were heading out, another passenger let us know that they were giving us hotel rooms.  We went to stand in line to get that, when they decided to fly out AGAIN at around midnight.  After waiting and waiting, our flight finally took off and we got home at 4:00 in the morning.  

Although it wasn't the most pleasant ending to our trip, I can say it was way worth the fun we had!

Our Music Video

Haha... didn't think you would ever see that title on my blog, right?  Well, I can honestly say that I never thought Blake, our friends and myself would be featured in a video... especially one with Blake and me dancing.

We were out celebrating Blake's good friend's (Josh) 30th birthday at this hole in the wall bar in Dallas called Adair's.  Obviously, I was in heaven and have insisted on going back there at least once a month... live country music and a mix between country and city... it was awesome.

Anyway, there was this band playing and after a few drinks, we decided to hit the dance floor and show them who's the boss.  I completely blurred the fact that there was a man going around with a camera and I can't tell you how shocked when someone posted this on facebook:




Autographs later...

4th of July Wreath

I have been quite the slacker in the wreath making department lately.  I haven't found any friends down here that don't make fun of me for crafting and it's not nearly as fun doing it alone- ha.

My door was starting to look really sad and I ran across the cutest idea on Pinterest so I decided to give it a go.  Here was the finalized look:

It turned out pretty cute, huh?  Here's all I needed:

- Wreath form (I actually got a straw wreath because it was cheaper- I just left the plastic on so I wouldn't have to deal with the straw

- Red, white and blue yarn

- Wooden stars (the original one I saw had white buttons on it, but while looking around Michael's I found a bag of different sized stars, so I decided to pick out the small ones and paint them white)

- Hot glue gun

I don't think I've ever used a hot glue gun without burning myself.

... and I did it again this time.  Fail.

Hope you think it's cute (the wreath, not my arm)!!!  It was SUPER easy... I'm pretty sure Valerie could have done it.

Have fun celebrating the 4th!!!  We are heading out to Vail on Tuesday and staying through Saturday, so I'm super excited to spend the holiday on a beautiful mountain in cooler weather!

My Cooking Class!

So, remember when I moved to Dallas 7 months ago and Blake got me that cooking class?  Well, I finally used it and it was SO MUCH FUN!!!

I was a bit nervous when I walked in the class because it was a few couples, and a few old people.  I chose to team up with the old people and it was a blast.

I'll do a few posts on some of the recipes because there were some HUGE winners, but wanted to tell you about some cooking tips I learned before I forget.  Remember, I've only been cooking for a couple of years, so don't laugh at me if you already know some (or all) of these.
There are three rules for cooking meat:
1.  You should bring ALL meats (except fish) to room temperature before cooking.
2.  A good sear is great for caramelization.
3.  Always let your meat rest before serving.

Now, I never seared my meat unless the recipe called for it.  Not only does it make it so much prettier, but it cooks in the oven so much faster when you do this.  Just pour some oil in a pan over medium high heat, let it get hot, then throw on the meat.  The "caramelization process" is complete when the meat will easily lift up- make sure to not turn it before the process is complete.

OK, that's all I can think of for now.  Recipes to follow soon!  Oh, and if you want to come do a cooking class with me soon, you're ALL invited- what a great girls' night that would be?!

Pioneer Woman's New Cookbook

I can't tell you how excited I was to finally get Pioneer Woman's new cookbook.  I highly recommend it.  It was such a tough decision to decide what would be my first recipe.  After careful consideration, I finally decided it would be...

Drum Roll...

Ranch Style Chicken and Twice-Baked New Potatoes... well, kinda.  But I'll get to that later...  I also did Parmesan Roasted Green Beans- if you haven't made them, you should... so easy and DELICIOUS (thanks for pinning, Emily!).

Blake and I just invested in a new grill, so not only was it the first time for the cookbook, but also the first time for the grill- what a BIG DAY!!!!

The chicken turned out amazing!!!  Make sure you realize you need to marinate it for 2-4 hours... the longer the better!  I almost forgot to do that... oops!

PW hasn't posted the recipe for the potatoes yet, so I will (hope she doesn't mind since we're besties):

12 new potatoes, scrubbed clean

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 ounces cream cheese, softened

1/2 cup sour cream

1.5 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese

1 tablespoon minced chives

1 garlic clove, finely minced

Salt and black pepper to taste

1.  Pre-heat oven to 375.

2.  Drizzle the potatoes with olive oil and toss to coat.

3.  Roast the potatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until the are tender and the skin is slightly crisp.

4.  Halve the potatoes.  Use a spoon or small scoop to remove the insides, leaving a small margin of potato intact.

5.  To the scooped-out potatoes, add the cream cheese, sour cream, monterey jack, chives, garlic, salt, and pepper.

6.  Mash until the potato mixture is totally smooth.  Give it a taste and add more salt if needed.

7.  Scoop the mixture into the potato shells.  At this point, you can cover and refrigerate until dinnertime.

8.  Bake the potatoes for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.

9.  Enjoy!

*** So, you'll notice in the picture that my potatoes don't look like twice-baked potatoes.  Here's what I learned: I chose bigger red potatoes because I thought they would be easier to scoop out than smaller ones.  Since I am blonde, I didn't think "Self, you should cook these longer because they are bigger".  Big mistake... I think I needed to double the time on these.  The flavoring was still great, so I will still highly recommend them... just remember you need to cook them longer than it says!!!

My Recipe Book

So, I try extremely hard to keep my dorky-ness under wraps.  But occasionally, there just seems to be a time that I should share something with you... because even though it might be dorky, you're REALLY missing out if you don't have this.

And that's my recipe book.  

I completely stole this idea from some blog, but I feel like I am about to make it famous.

Here's what you need to get it going:

- A cute binder

- Tabs (I recommend the 8-pack)

- Sheet protectors

- Some really good recipes

I've labeled my tabs the following:

- Appetizers

- Salads

- Main Dishes

- Pasta (even though it's technically a main dish, it deserves it's own tab)

- Soups & Stews

- Sides

- Breakfast

- Desserts

It's really that simple!  

Now, ever since my obsession with Pinterest, I decided I needed to figure out how to incorporate this fantastic website with my recipe book... after numerous "trials and errors", I decided the following idea was the best: I use my laptop to follow the recipe the first time.  If it's good, it is printed and added to my recipe book.  If it's not good, it doesn't.  I know, it's pretty deep.  I can tell you I bet Blake is already tired of hearing "Is it recipe book good?" every time I make a new recipe.  

Hope you love your book as much as I love mine!!!