Tilapia in blackberry onion sauce

Tilapia is Tilapia... You can pair it with practically anything because it's one of those foods that doesn't have a distinct taste, until you season it of course. I cook a lot of Tilapia because my husband only buys fish and chicken and he is rather fond of this particular fish because of its adaptability.  I like it cause its easy and cooks in minutes! 

For this recipe the secret is all in the sauce! I have to admit that there isn't anything to special about the tilapia it self... I mean Anyone can grill, fry, or bake Tilapia... Its the unique sauce that makes this dish so desirable. And whats better is that it can be used to top a number of meats and different pasta’s!

Now this recipe isn't one of my quick ones... This is one you get up around noon to prepare for dinner! But believe me... its worth it when you take your first bite into this sweet mouth watering sauce.

So heres what you will need:

4 Tilapia Fillets

1/2 cup moscato wine

1/3 white cooking wine

1/3 marsala cooking wine

2-3 cups cold water 

1/4 cup blueberries

5 Large Strawberries

2/3cup blackberries

One small white onion

2 Large Carrots (or 8 baby carrots) 

1 cup of corn starch 

about 1/3 cup chilie powder

Season salt

Sea salt

Lemon Pepper

Cinnamon

Now Lets get started!

1. Pour Moscato, cooking wine, and water in Large bowl or Pot, mix together. 
2. Chop or Slice Onion into small or medium size pieces adding all but a handful into wine mixture.
3. Chop Carrots  or simply add baby carrots to wine mixture as well. 
4. Add blueberries and strawberries to mixture
5. add Lemon Pepper, and sea salt to taste. Add just a pinch of cinnamon
6. Pour in Pot and Heat to a boil
7. add Season salt to taste
8. Reduce heat and add Blackberries
9. Take the four fillets and make sure there are no bones. Heavily cover the fillets with Chile powder making sure that no white is left showing.
10. Place fillets in bowl as flat as possible and add boiled wine mixture
11. Submerge Fish into the wine mixture and refrigerate for 2 hours. 

****Note: If Wine Mixture is not deep enough to submerge the fish entirely add more water and stir*****

1. Heat Electric Skillet, Griddle, or Pan to Medium heat and lightly butter.
2. Add fish to grill and apply the extra onion to each fillet.
3. Drizzle the wine mixture over each fillet as they cook. Cover for about five minutes or until fully cooked. 
4. Remove fish, or in a separate pan pour the wine mixture and heat. Remove strawberries and discard.
5. Heat the mixture until it boils. Add three spoonfuls of cornstarch to cup of cold water and mix until thin. Add the corn starch to the wine mixture and heat and stir until thick. Reduce heat.
6. Serve fish and pour sauce over it before it cools

****NOTE: If Mixture does not thicken continue to add corn starch****

Shrimp and Scallop Pasta

Here we have a yummy seafood spaghetti so to say... I made it off the top of my head one day after impulse buying scallops and not knowing any recipes to cook them in. I looked through my cabinets, pantry and fridge and decided I should do something that involves noodles since I had just bought a jumbo pack of organic wheat spaghetti noodles from Costco and I hadn't gotten around to using much of them. 

So I continued to scrounge through my freshly stocked fridge and found a bag of precooked shrimp and figured... Hey might as well get rid of those too while Im at it. So plopped the partially frozen crustaceans into the sink with some warm water to let them thaw while I continued my search for  things to add to my dish. 

It was then that I decided to make a simple shrimp and scallop pasta. I pulled a few other things from the fridge and began to prepare the meal.  When ever Im making some sort of pasta with out a recipe Carnation evaporated milk is my best friend! I always use it for the base of my sauce's, get used to it... you will be seeing it a lot. 

Anywho... after throwing in a few random veggies I had lying around in the fridge I started to prepare the sauce and realized that the pita bread I bought the other day would go great with this! 

This is by far the best pita bread I have ever purchased, thank you Costco for having that great 3 for $11.00 sale!  I bought this with a big tub of spicy black bean hummus... yum... but thats another story. 

Any way lets get to the recipe shall we? 

What You will need:

1/2 lb of shrimp (raw or precooked, its your choice.)

1/2 lb scallops

4 Oz Cream Cheese

Wheat noodles ( I used spaghetti)

1 (4) oz can evaporated milk

1 cup chopped spinach

2 tbsp chopped onion

2tbsp butter

2 cups shredded cheese

Lets get started! 

1. 1. Star by boiling a pot of water and adding a bit of olive oil to prevent noodles from sticking.
3. 
   
4. Once water starts bubbling add noodles. When noodles are done boiling, strain and set aside until needed.
5. On cutting board begin to chop onions and spinach. take about a handful of spinach leaves and and roll into a “log”. Slice down the center of “log” and chop from there. Once you have the required amount of spinach and onions set aside.
6. Heat skillet on Medium heat and melt the butter. Drain all water from scallops and shrimp and then lightly add to skillet. Cook for about a minute and then lightly season with lemon pepper. 
7.  
8. Cover and let simmer for 3-5 minutes turning every so often.
9. Heat to boiling and sprinkle with white pepper. When butter and water begin to bubble let simmer for 1-2 minutes.
10. Remove scallops and shrimp and set aside, leave juice in skillet. Add onion and spinach
11. .  
12. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer for 2 minutes. Add cream cheese. Break cheese into chunks and mix in. Add salt and remove from heat.
13.  
14. Get pot and fill with enough water to cover to bottom and set on medium heat. Add noodles, seafood, milk,and remaining seasonings and mix.
15.  
16. Once pasta is well mixed add the cheese and mix together until sticky. 
17. Serve with warmed Pita bread if desired.

Porky! AKA Flat Bread Melt

Alright everyone I know I have been out of commission for a little bit now. But my life has finally decided to calm down a little bit. Today I'm posting the recipe for my "porky" as my quirky husband calls them. I came up with this after an experience with Frozen entree's. One day I was grocery shopping in my local smith's and I meandered over into the frozen food aisle. As I peered into the frosty glass doors I saw a couple microwavable dishes that looked super good. One Brand (who name I forget at the moment) had microwavable panini's and flatbread melts. First off as soon as I saw the word panini that door swung wind open... I love those things. So I looked at the two boxes trying to decide which one to get since I was running late and wouldn't have time to make anything for lunch before I headed to another meeting. I decided to get both of them so I could decide later. I had the Panini for lunch and a couple days later I had the flatbread melt. The melt was... ok... it lacked something and wasn't anything I would every buy again unless I was running late again. But the next day while I was at Costco (my all time favorite grocery store!) I was trying the various samples and they had some flavored hummus with Pita bread on sale. After trying a few flavors and savoring the yummy bread I bought some and headed home. While trying to decide what to make for dinner it hit me... hey, this pita bread is practically the same bread that was used in that melt I had the other day. So I whipped out a package of pork chops and diced the meat and searched my fridge for anything else that would go good. It took about five minutes to make and has become a quick favorite of my family and friends. The recipe is posted below, I hope you enjoy!

To start off heres what you will need for 2 servings:

2 pieces of Pita Bread

1 lean pork chop

1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese ( add more of less as needed)

chives (optional)

1/4 cup chopped spinach

seasoning of choice

cooking spray

Lets get started!

1. Start by removing any fat and then chopping your pork chop into bite size hunks. Season to taste.
2. Chop spinach and set aside.
3. Heat skillet on Medium heat and cook pork chop.
4. When fully cooked add spinach. Remove pork and spinach from heat and clean skillet for reuse.
5. Coat pan with cooking spray or butter. Place pita bread in microwave for 30 sec while skillets heats up. Place warmed bread in skillet, after 30 seconds flip.
6. Cover the bread with cheese and add chicken and spinach to half of bread.
7. Fold bread in half over meat and press down with spatula. Flip and press down with spatula again until cheese is fully melted.