Mrs. Paul's Fish Dinner

Mrs. Paul's Roasted Garlic Tilapia

Husband, hesitantly, trying not to start any trouble even though he knows what he's about to say easily could: I like having fish for dinner, but I just don't want to get burned-out.


Wife, perplexed: When we have it cooked differently every time, how are you going to get tired of it?


Husband, treading lightly: I don't know, but you're feeding it to me every Friday. I just don't want to eat so much of it that I don't want to eat fish anymore.


Wife, knowing exactly what he's getting at: Do you want to have fish sticks while I have baked fish?


Husband, suddenly enthusiastic: Yes! That sounds good. Let's have fish for dinner.

Minty Coffee-Infused Protein Shake

Camera phone = bad photos

My good friend, truth be told best friend from grad school, A, and I took our capstone lunch breaks on the lawn of our very expensive private college. There was a serious heat wave (at least for the Northeast) that summer, and we'd sit under the biggest tree we could find, even if it meant fighting off tent caterpillars the enter hour we were out there. (If you don't know about tent caterpillars, you aren't missing much; I will spare you the details.)

We ate light lunches we packed from home: turkey sandwiches, fruit, caffeine, simple stuff. Sometimes A would crack me up and bring just a 99-cent bag of chips and a coke. She'd often finish her "meal" by telling me: "Alright. I'm going to turn the bag up now."

That was her way of saying her flavored corn chips were so dang good she was going to tilt her had back and get every last crumb she could.

I miss those special moments, A.

Pumpkin-Spice Coffee Brownies

For weeks we had a bag of mostly empty Godiva coffee hanging out in the back of our fridge. Every time I would open the fridge to shuffle things around - especially when trying to make room for all of those Thanksgiving ingredients - I had to move that bag to another shelf. The husband offered to throw it in the coffee maker one morning, allowing us to wake up with just one more taste of fall. I told him to leave it. 

The bag only contained about three tablespoons of coffee, but I wasn't ready to use it up.

A couple of months ago I had a slight dilemma and asked for suggestions as to what I should make for a bake sale at work. The husband voted for oatmeal cookies, saying pumpkin-y coffee-flavored brownies might not go over well with the masses. But Little Big Brother (who I actually think should be referred to as Big Little Brother from here on out) was all about the coffee brownies. The only issue was that he was miles and miles away and wouldn't be able to test my recipe. 

What'd Thanksgiving mean for me, besides pink stuff and showing off a brand-new apron I sewed for myself (and one for Momma)?

Big Little Brother would be here.

Keepin' Things Light and Easy With Alfredo Pasta Sauce

Some nights just call for super-easy dinners that don't require standing at the stove whisking milk and cheese until it turns into sauce. Some nights, all I want to do is throw a few ingredients together in a casserole dish, eat a hot dinner and not worry about the dishes.

Chicken, mushrooms, Alfredo sauce from a jar and a little sprinkle of mozzarella on top can make me a happy girl.

And on nights like that, the husband is content to eat a pre-made pizza crust. He'll happily pile it with chicken, Alfredo sauce, pepperoni, cheese and more cheese. He especially likes it when I let him put whatever he wants on top. (Translation: I don't make him eat any vegetables.) 

High-Protein Godiva Pumpkin Spice Iced Coffee Bliss

I love getting mail. Coming home to a box on the front porch, wondering whose name is on the return address label ... the anticipation of what's inside just about kills me. Even if I know I ordered something, and I know it's just a used book, I'm still super excited. So imagine how exciting I find it when I pull into the driveway and see that the mail lady has left me a brown box I wasn't expecting.

That's exactly what happened a couple of weeks ago.

The weather was turning a little cool. We'd turned off the AC and were enjoying mornings with the windows open. It was starting to feel like fall and, lover of summer that I am, I was slowly embracing the change. I still wanted to wear sandals to work every day, but visions of Thanksgiving were starting to dance in my head. Wool sweaters, pie and stuffing, oh, how I love thee. But I wasn't ready to say goodbye to skirts and fresh local watermelon just yet. 

And then I got a package in the mail.

Crisco Olive Oil Dipping Sauce

When Little Big Brother was still smaller than me he would sit on my step-daddy's lap at the kitchen table and eat olives. Little Big Brother wouldn't just eat olives, though, he'd stick one on each of his fingers and eat them off one by one. And he didn't have to be with his dad to do this, either. The little man was more than willing to sit on our Mimi's lap and eat olives or even pal around with our cousin A at the table, laughing and eating olives like two peas in a pod. (If you ask them, they must be more related than Little Big Brother and I are because they're funny; I'm not one bit funny. But that's another story.)

When I'm cooking with olive oil I don't usually think much about where it came from or the many olives that had to be picked to make the beautiful oil. But I do think about where I come from and the people who helped me become the person I am today. 


With Little Big Brother off at his first day of college today, tonight seemed like a perfect night to enjoy some olive oil with dinner. It was like a sign from the heavens that I received a box full of olive oil sent by the sweet people from the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program.

Voila! Make Dinner Simple

It's true there are Sunday afternoons in which I'll happily put on my apron, heat up the kitchen with a hot oven, and spend hours and hours seeing how many dishes I can dirty just to make the husband some fancy dessert (e.g., cannoli) or a nice loaf of homemade beer bread. But I don't always want to spend a lot of time on dinner, especially if I've been out of the house all day. I love rice that'll cook itself in the steamer while I prep and bake chicken, and I'll always be a huge fan of frozen vegetables that are already cut up and ready to be cooked on the stovetop.

Seriously, can dinner get any easier than that?

Oh, yes, it can.