coriander-crusted tilapia with brown rice and vegetables

Hall of Fame.  Again!  That's two in a row.  I felt so fancy after having made this dish.  It was soooooo good.

coriander-crusted tilapia with brown rice and vegetable (slightly adapted from Real Simple Magazine, March 2017)
6 tilapia loins (I buy them at Costco frozen then thaw them)
2 tablespoons ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon salt, divided
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 cup shredded carrots
3 green onions, sliced
1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 cups whole grain jasmine rice, cooked and hot
3 cups loosely packed arugula and spinach

Pat tilapia dry with paper towels.  Combine coriander, pepper and 3/4 teaspoon of the salt in a small bowl.  Season tilapia all over with the mixture.
Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat.  Add tilapia and cook until golden brown and crispy, about 4 minutes.  Flip and cook until opaque, about 1 minute.  
Simultaneously, heat a smaller skillet with 1 tablespoon oil..  Add carrots and green onions and cook until almost tender.  Add broth and lemon juice and cooked rice.  Cook until hot.  Add greens and cook until wilted.  
Serve tilapia with brown rice and vegetables.
 

sheet pan chicken thighs with fennel and shallots

Absolutely delicious.  Hall of Fame meals are infrequent but my husband declared it Hall of Fame.  I agree. This is my new favorite way to eat fennel...and everything else in this salad!

sheet pan chicken thighs with fennel and shallots (Real Simple Magazine, April 2017)
1 large fennel bulb, sliced into 1-inch thick wedges
4 large shallots, quartered (I used 2 onions)
1 medium red bell pepper, cut into 1/2-inch strips (I used red and orange)
2 lemons, halved crosswise
4 tablespoons olive oil, divided (I cut that in half)
1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
1/2 teaspoon black pepper, divided
8 (6 ounce) bone-in, skin on chicken thighs (I used boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips)
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
3 cups loosely packed baby arugula (I used a combination of arugula and spinach)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees with racks in upper and lower thirds.  Toss together fennel, shallots, bell pepper, lemons, 2 tablespoons of the oil, 1/2 teaspoon of the salt and 1/4 teaspoon of the black pepper on a rimmed baking sheet.  On a separate baking sheet, rub chicken thighs with remaining 2 tablespoons oil.  Season with thyme and remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper.
Roast vegetable mixture on top rack and chicken on bottom rack until vegetables are tender and lightly charred, 35 to 40 minutes.  Remove vegetables from oven and transfer chicken to top rack.  Increase heat to broil and cook until chicken is cooked through and golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes more.
Add arugula to baking sheet with vegetables and toss until wilted.  Squeeze 1 roasted lemon half over vegetables; serve with chicken and remaining lemons.

hoppy easter cake

My twelve-year old "beehive" in Young Women's went to mutual last night and made this adorable bunny cake and brought it home.  Previously, she had asked if we could have carrot cake on Easter while our bunny Berkeley munches on carrots but now we certainly don't need another cake- this one takes the cake! :)
Happy Easter weekend!

hoppy easter cake
You'll need two round cakes, baked.  One cake is the face.  The other is the ears and bow tie.
icing
coconut
misc. candy
 

broccoli chicken

Everyone wanted seconds and thirds but there wasn't enough.  That's a good sign.

broccoli chicken
1/2 bag Tyson frozen boneless, skinless chicken thigh strips, thawed (2.7 pound bag)
2 bunches broccoli, separated into florets (I think my store separates whole heads)

sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon ginger powder
1 tablespoon minced garlic
5 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons rice vinegar

Heat 2 tablespoons sesame oil in pan over medium heat.  Add chicken and cook until cooked through.  Add broccoli and sauce.  Stir fry until broccoli is bright green.  Serve with rice.  We like Trader Joe's frozen vegetable fried rice if we need something quick.

baseball cupcakes

It's baseball season.  This is our family's first experience having a player on a team and we are going to embrace it.  We'll start by taking these to practice this evening.  Thank you to my girls for helping with them!  Blue raspberry cupcakes with vanilla icing and stripes.  Yuck to the artificual blue raspberry.  I mean yum (if you're 7)! :)

baseball cupcakes
This is a see-and-do recipe.  I saw them in a magazine years ago and looked forward to the day it would come in handy. 

italian meatloaf cupcakes

I'd seen these all over the internet and wanted to make them for April Fool's Day.  I used my favorite Italian meatloaf recipe and they were quite tasty!  As I piped the potatoes onto the base my son said I was using quite a lot of icing.  When we sat down to dinner one of my daughters toasted two slices of toast- she said she thought cupcakes for dinner sounded weird.  She ended up eating one.

italian meatloaf cupcakes
meatloaf:
2 pounds extra lean ground beef
2 eggs
1/2 cup Italian breadcrumbs
3/4 cup tomato sauce
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

mashed potatoes (homemade or store bought- great use for leftover mashed potatoes!)
gravy (I used leftover gravy from when we had a roast earlier in the week)
bacon bits


Prepare muffin cups by lining each one with a square of foil.  Lightly spray each cup of foil with nonstick cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine ground beef, ground chicken, egg, breadcrumbs, tomato sauce and  oregano.  Make sure the ingredients are mixed well.  Use a round 1/3 cup scoop to scoop up the meat mixture and put one into each cup.
Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  
Warm some mashed potatoes and put them into a sturdy zip-lock bag.  Force the potatoes into one corner.  Snip the corner like a pastry bag and pipe the potatoes onto the "cupcake".  Sprinkle some bacon bits on top and drizzle with gravy.

citrus cream cheese pull apart rolls

HALL OF FAME!  I am re-posting these because they are so extremely fantastic.  We've been making them every 6 months for General Conference for a minimum of 5 years.  Today I used mini chocolate chips instead of cranberries and I think that will be a new tradition.  We love chocolate.  These are truly amazing.

citrus cream cheese pull apart rolls (Your Home Based Mom)
1 package frozen roll dough (25 ounces)
cooking spray
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries (I use chocolate chips today)
1 cup granulated sugar, divided
1 (8 ounce) block 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened
2 tablespoons fresh orange juice
1 large egg
1 tablespoon grated lemon rind
1 tablespoon grated orange rind
1 cup powdered sugar
5 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Thaw roll dough at room temperature.
Cut rolls in half. Place 24 halves, cut sides down, in bottom of each of 2 (9-inch) round cake pans coated with cooking spray. Brush butter evenly over rolls. Cover; let rise in a warm place (85 degrees), free from drafts, 30 minutes. Sprinkle with dried cranberries. Combine 1/4 cup granulated sugar, cream cheese, orange juice and egg; beat at medium speed of a mixer until well-blended. Pour cream cheese mixture evenly over rolls. Combine 3/4 cup granulated sugar, and rinds. Sprinkle evenly over rolls. Cover and let rise 1 hour or until doubled in size.
Note:  Sometimes I stop here and refrigerate the rolls overnight to bake the next day.
Preheat oven to 35o degrees. Bake for 20 minutes. Cover with foil. Bake an additional 5 minutes or until rolls in center are done. Remove from oven; cool 15 minutes. Combine powdered sugar and lemon juice. Drizzle over rolls.