Daily Mish Mash

I’m such a lazy person cook.  If the dish involves too many steps or too many ingredients, I’m not inclined to try it.

That is why I was so excited to see the theme of this week’s Works for me Wednesday is Five Ingredients or Less Cooking. 

The first recipe that came to mind for me was My Famous Easy Fish Dish.  (It isn’t actually famous in the being followed by paparazzi sense, but it sure is a favorite in our house.)

This is so simple to make and very yummy!

Here are the ingredients:

• 1 lb Fish of your choice (Flounder, salmon, tilapia, mahi-mahi, rockfish, -whatever you like)
• Italian Dressing (enough to cover fish in bowl)
• 1/2 cup Mushrooms (sliced)
• 1/2-1 cup Cheddar Jack Cheese 

Directions:

1.  Clean fish and put in a bowl.  Pour enough italian dressing over fish to cover.  Place in refrigerator for 30 minutes to marinate.

2.  In the meantime, slice mushrooms and grate cheese (if necessary).

3.  Preheat grill to medium-high heat.

4.  Place fish on foil. (You may want to use some sort of non-stick spray.)  Top with mushrooms.  (See photo)

5. Grill for 10 minutes or until fish flakes easily with fork.

6.  Top with cheese and grill until melted (usuallly about another minute or so).

That’s it.  We usually serve  wild rice,peas and salad with this. 

Now I’m not saying this is the healthiest option, but it does beat fast food.  Plus, if you buy organic salad dressing, fat-free organic cheese, etc.. it would help to make it a bit more healthy. 

Click here to see more great, simple recipes.

If you haven’t yet entered the Movie Madness giveaway or taken part in the Movie Madness Carnival there is still time.  If you love movies, you’ll definitely want to head on over.

This week is going to look a lot like last week because for some reason or another we skipped a few of the meals.  (I blame McDonalds for practically giving away their Southern Chicken Sandwich on Thursday.  It was free with a purchase of a drink.   After trying it I can see why they needed to give it away.  If I wanted a chicken sandwich that tasted like Chick-Fil-A then I would just go to Chick-Fil-A!  I don’t even like Chick-Fil-A that much anyway, so I’m annoyed that they tricked me into eating their knock-off.)

There were two new recipes that we did try last week that were AWESOME!!  The first one was a new stirfry recipe from Allrecipe.  The chicken was so moist and I know the secret is coating it with cornstarch.  Please don’t tell me that it is unhealthy because I really liked this and I don’t want to feel a bunch of guilt when I make it again. Oh yeah, this one will definitely be repeated often around here.  

Another recipe that we tried that was really easy and everyone loved was the Mexican Turkey Skillet. It was so good that I thought I’d share the recipe with you. 

**I printed this recipe months ago and it didn’t have the name of the website where I found it, so I can’t give a credit.  If you are the cooking genius that invented this delicious concoction, I’d love to know you and hug you and tell you how much I love you for your recipe writing skills.  How is that for a credit?**

Mexican Turkey Skillet

8 oz. shell pasta (cooked accord. to pkg. directions)
1 lb ground turkey
1 can diced tomatoes (undrained)
1 can corn (undrained)
1 pkg. taco seasoning (I used Mild. - It also has lower sodium!)
2 T. cilantro (from tube)
1 T. chopped garlic
salt and pepper to taste   

Mexican Cheese (1cup shredded)

Brown turkey in skillet coated with nonstick spray. Add the rest of the ingredients.  Heat for 5 minutes.  Top with some Mexican cheese and cook five more minutes or until melted.  Enjoy!

Here is my menu for this week:

Monday:  Ham, Cabbage, Potatoes, Green Beans

Tuesday: Tangy Chicken Fajitas, Spanish rice, corn

Wednesday:  Pork BBQ Sandwiches, spinach, mac n cheese

Thursday:  Pizza Casserole, salad, broccoli

Friday-Sunday:  Memorial weekend fun–no cooking at home!!

To view more menus for this week and to join in on the fun, head on over to Organizing Junkie.

Last week I caught Jenna Fischer (aka Pam Beasley from The Office) on The Tonight Show.  First, can I just say how much I love her.   She’s just so cute and down to earth whenever I see her doing interviews.  I just know we’d be BFFs if we ever met in real life. 

When I was looking for a picture of her to post I ran across this ADORABLE one of her and John Krasinski at the Emmy’s a few years ago.  How did I not see this.  Pam and Jim are the cutest tv couple ever!!

One of the things she talked about on Leno was a recipe that she found online for 88 calorie brownies.  A guilt-free chocolate dessert-now that’s what I’m talkin’ about.

Well, I was a little skeptical of celebrity diet and exercise recommendations since my attempt at Kundalini Yoga.  However, we are talking about brownies.  There would be no panting and stretching.  Just eating.  And it’s chocolate, so I’m kind of thinking this is foolproof. 

I did some digging and found the recipe.  These perfect little bites of heaven are the result of the genius Chef Devin Alexander.  She has her own show on Discovery Health Channel called “Healthy Decadence”.  Sounds like something to add to my tivo.  Do I even have Discovery Health Channel?

The recipe was so easy to make that I even took pictures.  I almost dropped the camera in the batter a few times but it was worth it to bring you these step by step directions. 

The finished product was really good.  At first I wasn’t sure if I was going to love them because they were really soft, but I put them in the fridge and after a few hours they were yummy.  It seemed like each day they got better and better.  This is the perfect snack for tonight’s Office season finale.  Don’t you think?    

***Disclaimer–The nutritional information below is for one brownie, not eight.  Eating the brownie with a bowl of ice cream (YUM) will add calories and fat.  As will eating the rest of the bag of chocolate chips.***

88 Calorie Brownies

Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
Butter-flavored cooking spray

1.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8 inch non-stick cake pan with spray.

2.  In a medium mixing bowl, using a sturdy whisk or spatula, mix the applesauce, vanilla, egg whites and sugar until they are well combined.

3.  Add the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder, baking powder, and salt. Stir the mixture until it is just combined and no lumps remain.

4.  Pour it into the prepared pan. Sprinkle the chips evenly over the top.

5.  Bake the brownies for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay).  Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to cool 5 minutes.

6.  Cut into 12 equal brownies. Makes 12 (1 brownie) servings.

Each brownie has: 88 calories, 2 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, less than 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 133 mg sodium

Traditional Double Chocolate Brownies have: 260 calories, 3 g protein, 37 g carbohydrates, 12 g fat, 3 g saturated fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 165 mg sodium

If you want a copy of the recipe to print (without pics) go here.  To find more tried and true recipes, head on over to the Pumpkin Patch for Tasy Thursdays or Saturday Stirrings at It Coulda’ Been Worse.

I’m over at McMommy’s place today to help her celebrate the big 3-0.  Happy Birthday!!

She asked us to bring our favorite dish and post the recipe on our blog, and the first thing that I thought of was my Mango Black Bean Salsa recipe  (it isn’t actually mine since I got it from a friend who probably got it from some recipe website, but whatever).  It is so good and pretty easy to make (if you don’t mind cutting things up). 

This is a great recipe for the summer months because it is light and refreshing.  I think it is pretty healthy too, but we can forgive that since it tastes so darn good.  Oh and it tastes great with a Margarita.  Doesn’t everything??!!

Mango Black Bean Salsa
 
1 fresh mango peeled and chopped
1 large tomato - chopped
1 red bell pepper - chopped (or yellow, green or orange)
1/4 C. finely chopped red onion
1 can black beans - rinsed & drained
 
Combine all ingredients.  Add to mixture below.
 
1 TBSP rasberry wine vinegar
1 TBSP olive oil
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
Juice of 1/2 - 1 lime to taste
chopped cilantro to taste
 
If preparing in advance, chill in fridge before adding oil/vinegar mixture.  Add mixture about 1 hour prior to serving.
 
Serve w/ “scoops”.  Also works on chicken or fish.

Go get your party shoes on and head over to McMommy’s.  Here are mine.  I’m not modeling them because I need a serious pedicure, but you can get the idea.  These are my black patent leather peep-toe pumps.  They look cuter in person. 

I really didn’t intend on this blog being all about food, but now here it is day 2 and I’m yapping about what I’m going to eat again.  Well, I looked at my weekly menu from yesterday and saw that I was to have Marinated Grilled Pork Chops tonight.  When I went to the pantry to see if I had one of those 20 minute marinade (ie Lawry’s, McCormicks, Mrs. Dash) I came up empty.  So I had to do one of my least favorite things–go to the grocery store.  After plopping down $2.50 for a bottle of Mrs. Dash’s Zest Garlic Herb marinade it hit me that it would be much more cost effective to make my own marinades from scratch.  I’m pretty sure it would be a lot more healthy as well. 

Off to the internet I went to look for some good homemade marinade recipes.  Here is what I came up with:

A Marinade to Die For  This one has steak sauce, lemon-lime soda, brown sugar, butter and a few other ingredients you most likely have around the house.

The Perfect Marinade Italian dressing is the main component of this one, but it also contains soy sauce, lemon juice and few other ingredients.

Amazing Chicken Marinade This one is mainly for chicken, but does indeed sound amazingly good.

Spiced Herb Marinade for Fish I’m always looking for a new way to cook my fish, so I’ll definitely be trying this one soon.