Enjoyer of Grace

Thursday, March 7

TILAPIA WITH BLACK BEAN SAUCE

Tilapia is one of my favorite proteins to cook when I'm short on time. It takes only 5 minutes to defrost in warm water and cooks up super fast. Typically I resort to my oven baked panko crusted tilapia recipe, but this week I decided to change it up. I found a tasty recipe by FineCooking.com and tried it with a few adaptations.

Ingredients
Marinade/Sauce
2 T Chinese black bean garlic sauce
4-6 thin slices of fresh ginger
1 T oyster sauce
1 tsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1/2 tsp rice vinegar
1/2 tsp sesame oil

1 lb. tilapia filets (~4 pieces), cut each filet into four chunks
1 T grape seed oil + 1/2 T grape seed oil

optional greens* - baby spinach, romaine lettuce, nappa cabbage, green string beans, etc.

Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, mix all the marinade ingredients together. Set aside 1/4 of the marinade to make some drizzling sauce later.

Add in the filet chunks and coat well with the marinade. Leave aside for about 20 minutes.

Heat 1 T of oil in a large saute pan over medium high heat. Remove the ginger chunks from the fish. Once the oil starts sizzling, carefully place in all the fish. Cook about 3-5 minutes on each side (depending on the thickness of your fish).

Meanwhile in a small sauce pan, heat 1/2 T of oil over medium heat. Once it starts sizzling, remove from heat and immediately add in the remaining marinade that was set aside. Add a one or two teaspoons of water and stir well. Drizzle this sauce over the fish.

I served the fish over a bed of sauteed baby spinach (with a tiny bit of oil and kosher salt). However any greens should go pretty well with this dish. :)

Any of you have a favorite tilapia recipe that you'd like to share?? :D

Tuesday, March 5

STUFFED ZUCCHINI

Yesterday I was craving for some stuffed zucchinis and decided to make some for dinner. Unfortunately a lot of the recipes that I came across involved tons of tomato sauce and cheese. As much as our family love both, I wanted to make a lighter version since most of us were still getting over being sick. After getting a basic idea of the filling, I came up with my own version that we all ended up loving. My homemade tomatillo sauce at the end gave it just the right kick! :)

Ingredients

1/2 lb ground beef

1/8 C bread crumbs

1 tsp Lawry's seasoned salt

1/4 tsp ground pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 crimini mushroom (sliced)

1 egg, beaten

3 zucchinis (cut lengthwise with seeds scooped out, reserve the seeds from 2)

1/2 T grape seed oil + a little extra for drizzling

salt & pepper & paprika

Directions

Step 1 - Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Mix together the ground beef, bread crumbs, seasoned salt, ground pepper and red pepper flakes. Next add in the mushroom, seeds and egg. Mix until everything's well blended.

(Side note: I'm going to try mixing in the egg after browning the meat next time. I noticed that the meat didn't hold together very well when it was done baking. If this isn't a big deal for you, then don't worry because it still tasted great!)

Step 2 - Place 1/2 T of oil in pan and brown the meat.

Step 3 - Place the zucchini halves in a foiled baking dish. Lightly drizzle on some grape seed oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Step 4 - Fill the halves with the meat mixture. Sprinkle with a little paprika over the top of the meat.

Step 5 - Bake for 30 minutes. Serve with tomatillo sauce (recipe here) and enjoy!

Saturday, March 2

FRIDAY (SATURDAY) TREATS + MARY

Apologies again for this very late post! E finally got over being sick (thank you, Lord). Unfortunately he passed the bug on to my husband and I - and gosh did we get hit with it hard these last two days. :( I don't think we've ever been sick at the same time before - it's pretty miserable. At least it's the weekend right...? :)

Before we head off to bed, here are a few of my favorite finds from this week: