06 February 2013

Menu Wednesday

Oops! A little late posting this week.  Monday was a bit of a daze after celebrating the Ravens Super Bowl victory.  I'm happy to report that there were LOTS of good eats last week. Enjoy!

Meatless Monday
This should be pretty self-explanatory, oui? Box of pasta + favorite supermarket sauce = Lazy Girls' Meatless Monday FTW.

As underwhelmed as I was by the original picadillo recipe, these peppers were fantastic. Definitely one of the best stuffed pepper recipes I've ever made.  I followed her instructions to make them in the oven. With my commute, unless a crockpot recipe allows for something to cook for 10+ hours, it's not happening. And these would've fallen apart in that amount of time.  M cooked the rice before I got home, so literally all I had to do when I got home was mix the picadillo and the rice, stuff the peppers, and put it in the oven. We're talking 5 minute prep, tops.

Sometimes you just need a creamy, comforting casserole, amiright? The day we had this was a particularly blustery one, so this meal totally hit the spot.  M cooked the rice for this when he made the rice for the peppers, so instead of steaming the broccoli and onions with the rice, I cooked steam-in-the-bag broccoli in the microwave on its own and just added the green onions raw to the mixture.  I baked the whole mixture at 350 for 10 minutes, then added the cheese to the top and broiled for 5 minutes.  A few things I will do differently next time:  First, I had trouble getting the milk/flour mixture to thicken properly.  I would use my favorite homemade cream of chicken soup recipe instead.  Also, I love sour cream and I wouldn't remove it entirely, but I felt like the flavor was a little too pronounced in this.  I would cut it back to maybe only 4oz next time.  

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan {allrecipes.com}
I made lots of changes to this recipe based on the reviews.  I adjusted the serving size to 3 from 8.  I found that I needed about double the topping recipe called for.  I also added some panko crumbs to the topping mixture.  And I seasoned the fish with Old Bay before I started cooking it.  This was a nice change of pace from my usual fish recipes.  It wasn't nearly as rich as I was afraid it would be and 3 tilapia filets were plenty for the 2 of us.  

Proscuitto, Brie, and Apple Paninis
I just kind of made these up out of things we had in the fridge. I used a loaf of rosemary olive oil bread, smear some softened butter and honey on the insides of both pieces of bread, and piled on proscuitto, brie, and sliced apples. We don't have a panini press, so I just cooked these in a cast-iron skillet using our bacon press

I mentioned these in my Meal Planning post and then had a craving for them.  They really are stupidly easy to make {although pulling pork is a tremendous pain in the ass}.  In addition to the cilantro/onion/tomato topping, we added some shredded sharp cheddar and some Mexican-style corn.  I used some of the leftovers with some BBQ sauce and cheese to make quesadillas on Monday night and they were AMAZING.  The rest of the leftovers are stashed in the freezer for one of those inevitable "I don't want to cook" nights.

Bon appétit! 


5 comments:

MHM1314 said...

I have to try cooking tilapia... I've done other fishes/seafood before but they're so pretty. That and filets of sole. May try this one! :) xo

Unknown said...

Per your pulling-pork-pain-in-ass comment... have you seen the trick of throwing the meat in a mixer? Just put the warm meat (chicken, portk, beef.. whatever), and turn your mixer on low. In about a minute or 2, you have shredded meat. Super easy and quick!

LindsB said...

I am amazed at your cooking skills! My husband is lucky if he gets a home cooked meal once a month, but you seem to do it everyday! That is one lucky husband of yours.

I think you deserve a nice Valentines Day present.

Rachel said...

I want those paninis....NOW! Seriously, they sound delicious!

Muffy said...

Proscuitto, Brie, and Apple Paninis??? OMG. YUM.