Don’t be afraid of Mahi Mahi.

So this week, fresh caught Mahi Mahi was on sale. I thought, I’ve never cooked it before but what they hey…I’ll give it a shot. I had one pound of mahi mahi and not really a clue on how to cook it. So what does one do? Go on-line and look at recipe’s of course! I found one with an Asian marinade I liked but it was pan cooked and I wanted to bake it. Upon further investigation I found other recipes for baked mahi mahi. I did what any girl would do…I combined and tweaked them into my own creation! Not only did it have an asian marinade, but you then cook the marinade down a little to create a sauce. My son LOVES sauces with his food; apple didn’t fall far from the tree here. There was only one question left, “what veggie should I serve with it?” To the vegetable drawer in my fridge I went, only to discover some cauliflower that needed to be eaten. Plain steamed cauliflower is NOT a veggie my son or I really like, so I decided on smashed cauliflower. It’s kind of like mashed potatoes only healthier.

After putting it on the table my son looked at it and said “I don’t think I’m going to like this”. Well, I gave him a small piece. He finished it in no time and asked for more. He ended up eating 1/2 lb of the fish and asked for more!

I’ll post both recipes under the Recipe tab I’m going to create. Just one word of caution. The recipe uses tamari (gf soy sauce) and balsamic vinegar. It is not recommended to wear white (or off-white) when preparing this marinade. NO, it doesn’t matter how careful you are, you are guaranteed to get some on your white article of clothing….I found out the hard way. What’s for dinner at your house?

Sunday Shopping and WINGS!!!

We have this little tradition, every Sunday we shop together as a family.  Yes, you read that correctly “together as a family”.  When we first moved in together we would sit down on Sunday’s, plan out the weeks meals, write our list (with the weekly circular in front of us) then shop together.  That was 1997! Now I plan the meals with input from my husband, our twins, the weekly circular and our weekly calendar (I affectionately refer to our calendar as our “Life”. If it isn’t on there, it isn’t happening!).  I’m also a huge fan of coupon matching.  If you’re not familiar with it it’s quite simple. In a nutshell, I go to a website (www.livefabuless.com) and go to the Coupons tab. I click the Coupon Matchups and viola!  there’s a list of stores with what’s on sale and where to find a coupon for it.  Pretty cool, huh!  I love this website for more than just coupon stuff, Jodi Furman is the brain child behind it and she is brilliant … check it out!  After the list is finished with everything else we need, I go to a coupon database (on the same website as above) and search for coupons on other items I need.  Check out her section on Un-clipping coupons, genius! 

So, now on to dinner. When I asked my family what they wanted to eat this week my daughter said “breakfast for dinner”, my son said “buffalo wings”.  I said “yes”.  I love wings (as does my husband and son) so I decided that tonight would be wings; I really didn’t feel like cooking and they’re easy enough.  Sadly, I can no longer order wings from the local (and convenient) pizza shop.  Since they cook them in the same oil as the breaded mushrooms/mozzarella sticks/food with gluten, they are not gluten free.  I found this out the hard way 😦  So homemade buffalo wings and homemade blue cheese for dipping was dinner tonight.  Luckily there’s just enough left for me to have for lunch tomorrow! Stay tuned to see what’s on the menu for the rest of the week.  What’s for dinner at your house tonight?

Breakfast for Dinner?!

So Thursday’s activities leave very little time for dinner. I’m sure you have a day like this too.  Kids come home from school, do their homework and there’s barely over an hour to prepare and eat a meal.  In the past I have forgotten that the kids need time to eat their food. I would prepare a delicious dinner (of course they’re all delicious) and then realize that we have to leave, RIGHT NOW to be at practice/Cheernastics/a meeting/insert activity here.  Right now my daugher is taking Cheernastics at the Y.  It starts at 6. This is a VERY inconvenient time for me. We don’t usually eat dinner until around 6:30. If I waited until we were back from Cheernastics I wouldn’t start dinner until after 7. That does not work well with my kids 8pm bedtime.  So, my solution, breakfast for dinner!!! They love this, especially because they get to pick out what they want to eat.  My daughter almost always has cereal (and a yogurt/fruit/cottage cheese) and my son has an egg and cheese sandwich (actually 2 as one is not enough for my growing boy).  The picture above is before they gobbled up their dinner (sorry the quality isn’t quite up to par).  One problem, I can’t eat this early.  I’m just not hungry; mainly because I eat lunch around 2.  Tonights solution, leftovers! I’m going to have the leftover lemon chicken from the other night (lemon chicken will be another blog day, I promise).  Oh, I almost forgot about my husband (just kidding, he’s the easy one).  He really doesn’t care what he eats as long as there’s food to eat.  So tonight, if he doesn’t want lemon chicken, he’ll have his favorite….a peanut butter on toast sandwich! Jealous, aren’t you?!  What’s for dinner at your house?

The best laid plans……sometimes work!

MMMMM!

I usually plan my dinners around what’s on sale, or what I have in the freezer. This along with what we’re doing in the evening is how I come up with “what’s for dinner”. Today, the kids had haircuts at 4:15pm, which meant we’d be back around 5:30. We don’t usually eat until 6:30 but I still needed something easy and delicious. Luckily, eye roasts were on sale this week, so, tonights dinner was eye roast.

I usually season it with salt, pepper and sometimes garlic powder. Today I used a seasoning mix my husband received from a co-worker for Christmas. I could start cooking it right before we left, and it would be ready by 6ish. I put the roast in the oven at 3:55pm and set the timer for it to cook for 14 minutes (7 minutes per pound). The recipe I use has it sit for 2 hours (for a smaller roast). Perfect timing! I served it with sugar snap peas (thank you Birds Eye Steamfresh 🙂 ) and Barilla elbows (which, if you read my About page is one of the few things my daughter eats). She, and my son enjoyed them with sour cream. But that’s another blog post. What’s for dinner at your house?