Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemon

Not that we do not try to eat healthy all the time but I really like to put an emphasis on it when the hubby has PT test coming up around the corner.  So last night I tried out a new recipe for tilapia, which I really enjoy as a nice light alternative to chicken.

Roasted Tilapia, Potatoes, and Lemons

adapted slightly from Real Simple

Ingredients

1 pound mini red potatoes (about 12), halved
upto 1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 tsp ground thyme
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon olive oil
kosher salt and black pepper
1/2 cup pitted black olives
4 6-ounce skinless tilapia fillets
1/2 teaspoon paprika

Steps

1.  Heat oven to 400° F.
2.  On a large rimmed baking sheet, toss the potatoes, lemon, thyme, 2 tablespoons oil, and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer.
3.  Roast, tossing once, until the potatoes begin to soften, about 20 minutes.
4.  Toss the olives with the potato mixture; nestle the fish in it. Drizzle the fish with the remaining oil and season with paprika and ¼ teaspoon each salt and pepper.
5.  Continue to roast until the potatoes are golden brown and crisp and the fish is opaque throughout, 12 to 15 minutes.

The Finished Product

The fish was nice and light with the paprika giving it a little kick.  The mini red potatoes helped fill our tummies with their starchiness.  The olives provided that little shot of tanginess to complete the meal.  This meal was pretty quick including prep time - we sat down within the hour.  Definitely keeping this recipe around for more fish nights.

Royal Baby

Never thought I would write about pop culture but in this instance it really hits home.  The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge just welcomed their first baby boy into the world.

Congratulations to them!  It gets me excited for Rampage's arrival.  It also gets me riled up a bit.  I really hope they do not choose anything close to the name we have for Rampage.  It's taken months to come up with a name and coming up with JT's name was just as difficult.  I wouldn't want to be one of those people who names their kid because someone famous did it.  Silly nonsense, I know, but I feel strongly about this.  We have already chosen Rampage's name so don't you all think we named it after some royal kid if William and Kate choose the same name.

As a side note, I am pretty sure it is wishful thinking - but I would love to be up and walking (let alone looking that good) the day after Rampage arrives.  A girl can dream right?

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

I really like my go-to Orzo pilaf side with steaks but recently I felt like it needed a little update.  While we lived in Kansas, I took a couple of cooking classes at the local supermarket from this great down to earth chef - Chef Alli.  I recently noticed she had posted a few new recipes on her blog and one in particular using orzo.  So I said what the whooey and gave it a whirl.  Click on the link for her recipe, what I have provided are my adjustments.

Lemon-Thyme Orzo with Green Beans

by Chef Alli

Ingredients

2 cups chicken broth
1 clove garlic, minced
¼ - ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
1 cup water
1 cup orzo pasta
1 package frozen steamer green beans, prepared
splash of lemon juice
½ tsp. dried thyme
½ tsp. kosher salt
½ tsp. black pepper
Freshly shredded Parmesan or Romano cheese

Steps

1.  In a deep skillet, bring broth, garlic, red pepper flakes, and water to a boil over high heat; stir in pasta and reduce heat to medium-low.
2.  Simmer until nearly two-thirds of liquid is absorbed by pasta and orzo is beginning to look creamy, stirring occasionally, for approx. 10-12 minutes.
3.  Stir in green beans, lemon zest, thyme, salt, pepper, and cheese.  Take off heat, allowing mixture to thicken.

My apologies in not have a picture to end with.  The side really hit the spot for us.  Not to mention it added a quick veggie to our meal (since I am always bad about including the veggies).  JT liked it so much - he actually preferred to pick out the green beans to eat first.

Enjoy!

Chicken With Potatoes

We are settling into a routine, so my hubby thought it would be a good time to get back into the Indian food rhythm.  Since we are now in the "baby could arrive whenever he feels like" time frame, I requested something that would not be too spicy.  The hubby wanted to do a bread as well but one that was not so intensive as naan.  So we decided to make Chicken with Potatoes and Paratha.

Chicken with Potatoes

adapted slightly from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
1 inch cube of fresh ginger
1 1/2 pounds of chicken (we used 1 pound of tenderloins)
5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cinnamon stick
1 bay leaf
4 whole cardamom pods
1 tsp of red pepper flakes (I can't remember the exact measurement but it was less than what Jaffrey calls for)
2 whole black peppercorns
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 cup tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt

Steps

1.  Clean the potatoes.  Place in steamer bag and cook in microwave.  Let cool completely.  (Jaffrey says to boil the potatoes, we just found this to be much more convenient)
2.  Blend onion, garlic, and ginger with 5 tbsp water to a smooth paste.
3.  Heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, red pepper, peppercorns, and chicken.  (We use a mortar and pestle to break down the cinnamon, bay leaf, cardamom, and peppercorns prior to heatings.)  Fry chicken until golden brown on all sides.  Remove the chicken and set aside.
4.  Add the paste to the pot and then the turmeric.  Fry for about 3 minutes.
5.  Add the tomato sauce and chicken broth.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes.
6.  Meanwhile, peel and quarter the potatoes.
7.  Add the salt, chicken, and potatoes to the sauce.  Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for 20 - 25 minute or until chicken is tender.

Paratha

from An Invitation to Indian Cooking by Madhur Jaffrey

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1/2 tsp salt
4 tbsp melted butter
1/2 cup whole wheat flour for dusting

Steps

1.  Combine the flour, oil, and salt in a bowl while slowly adding 1/2 cup of water until all the flour adheres together.
2.  Knead for 8 - 10 minutes.
3.  Form into a ball, cover with damp cloth and set aside for 30 minutes.
4.  Divide dough into 8 balls.
5.  For each ball: roll out until it is about 5 inch in diameter.  Brush lightly with the melted butter.  Fold in half.  Brush again with butter.  Fold in half one last time.  You should have a triangular shape.  Roll the triangle so that each side is 5 inch long.
6.  Add butter to a griddle that has been heated over a medium heat.  Place the paratha on the griddle.  Once it is golden brown, add more butter to griddle and flip.  Cook until golder brown.
7.  As each paratha finishes, place on an aluminum sheet and cover tightly.  When ready to eat, preheat oven to 300 and heat covered parathas for 10 minutes.

Finished Product

I really enjoyed this meal.  We served it over some basmati race.  The chicken and potatoes were not spicy at all but had a wonderful smell.  The sauce was nice and thick from the potatoes giving off their starchiness.  This recipe also seemed to move along a lot quicker than some of our other recipe attempts.  A definite keeper especially because I like "Aloo" - Hindi for potato.  We also liked that the bread was not nearly as time intensive as naan.  I enjoy naan a bit more but for the time - parathas are so much easier. I encourage you to try this one out.

Broccoli Concoction

So, last Wednesday evening I was planning on making some lemon pork chops and braised broccoli.  That morning I woke up, with an ugh, I don't want to make braised broccoli.  I really want something cheesey.  So, I came up with this little cheesey broccoli side dish.

Cheesey Broccoli

Ingredients

2 bunches of broccoli
4 oz Velveeta Cheese, cubed
1/4 tsp ground dry mustard
splash of milk
sprinkle of ground black pepper

Steps

1.  Preheat oven to 250 degrees (this will keep dish warm while I finished working on the pork chops).
2.  Cut the broccoli so that you just have the florets.
3.  Steam the florets (I love the Ziploc Zip and Steam bags - fill it up and put your broccoli in for 3 minutes in the microwave.  Perfect!)
4.  In a microwave safe bowl, place cheese, mustard, milk, and pepper.  Place in microwave for 30 second increments up to 3 minutes, stopping to stir and combine ingredients until smooth.
5.  Place steamed broccoli in a small casserole dish.  Pour the cheese mixture over top.  (I added some bread crumbs on top to give it a little crunch.)
6.  If the rest of dinner isn't ready, place in preheated oven to keep warm.

The Finished Product
My apologies in not taking a picture.  It turned out pretty yummy, plus it was quick and easy to make.  Next time, I would consider adding a bit of "heat" - either making an addition of chili powder, paprika, or red pepper flakes.  Pretty sure I can make almost any veggie side become cheesey now!

35 Weeks

Yes, we are in the home stretch!  I am ready to evict Rampage as early as possible.  Well, no, scratch that.  He can be evicted once I do a load or two of newborn clothes, get the bassinet ready, check/sterilize all the bottles and nipples (if breastfeeding doesn't go down so well), wrap up his birth plan, install the car seat base, and pack my hospital bag.

I definitely feel a bit easier this time around - probably because we have all of the stuff and know how to use it.  The only new things we got were a stroller, diaper bag, and an carrier.

Even more exciting, I walk in for my OB appointment to hear that the office just got a brand spanking new 3D Ultrasound machine.  After getting all my vitals done, the doctor comes in and says - do you want an ultrasound today?  I say sure, we haven't seen baby in while.  The doctor replied - you'll be the first baby that I get to do a 3D on - with a great big grin.  Happy doctors make for good appointments.  :o)

Here you see a face frontal - upper left is Rampage's eye, and the black spot in the center is his mouth all wide open.  He was just getting ready to stick his hand (yeah those are fingers to the right of black center) in his mouth.

I like this one even better!  Side view of his face and cute little nose.  Guess what - already sucking on his fingers.

We took a bunch of measurements as well.  To be honest, my biggest worry so far has been whether or not Rampage will have a low birth weight/size like JT did.  Well, he is measuring in between 35 and 36 weeks.  He is 50th percentile for head and femur.  Rampage is already weighing in at a whopping 5 lbs 9 oz.  Incredible!

So now I look forward to taking the next few weeks easy, with the exception of getting those things I mentioned at the top of the blog completed.  Plus, I am trying to get in all the sleep I can.  The pregnancy has been brutally hard on me with lack of sleep.  So I will continue to prioritize and only do the things that most desperately need to get done - you know like making dinner in the evenings.  Everything else can wait.

Hopefully it will continue this way until our scheduled eviction date - August 12, 2013.  8/12/13 seems a good birthday right?

Foreign Cultures and Languages

As you may recall, the reasoning behind our big move is for the hubby to attend language school.  In particular, he will be immersing himself in one of the harder languages - Hindi.

When we learned this, I decided that my gateway to India would be through food.  But low and behold Baby 2.0 made it impossible for me to handle any really strong spice smells.  So the hubby took over cooking the Indian food.  With all the moving, packing, and unpacking, I hope to get back into testing out some new Indian recipes in the near future.

So I have been trying to acclimate myself to Indian culture and Hindi through other means - history and learning the language.

We all know that history is not exactly my strong suit.  I have never really been able to make that sort of information stick in my head.  In support of this new job, I have taken the plunge into India After Ghandi: The History of the World's Largest Democracy.  It is a tome - weighing in at over 800 pages.  I began reading it nearly 6 months ago and I am still not done yet.  It discusses Indian history from Independence (1947, and a little earlier) onward.  While I have a difficult time with it (historical writing in general), I am making progress - I reading about the 1960's and am about halfway complete with the book.  I also purchased In Spite of the Gods at the same time - I am hoping that all this in depth reading will make this shorter book fly.

If we all thought my issues with history were rough, learning a language pales in comparison.  Sometimes I have a hard enough time with english (partially because I know these babies are taking all of my good-hardworking braincells).  I stayed away from spoken languages in high school and college, opting for the very dead Latin.  It served me well in avoiding having to provide conversational proficiency.  But here I am stuck.  I definitely need to obtain a working knowledge of Hindi.

So, we got Rosetta Stone.  Pregnancy and Rosetta Stone do not mix well.  After sitting through the first couple of lessons, I had an emotional breakdown.  My brain couldn't seem to keep straight the differences for boy, girl, man, woman, eat, and drink.  I was beyond frustrated and left a trail of tissues all around my computer.  So I have taken a break from Rosetta Stone for the time being.

In the meantime, I know I work well independently - just me and a textbook.  So I have picked up Elementary Hindi along with it's corresponding workbook.  I plan on cracking this open (yeah right - like I have time to crack any book open once Rampage arrives) on I complete my history reading (shouldn't take more than...6 more months right?).  I also picked up several workbooks geared towards children (cause that is my working level right now) on the alphabet, writing, vocabulary, and grammar.

For JT and Rampage, I picked up some children's books of which there do not seem to be many.  Bindi Baby covers numbers and animals in Hindi, as well as, several other linguistic states in India.  I also picked out Aamoo the Mango, which has stories with simple sentences that introduce colors, counting, food, shapes, etc.

But I am making the most progress with, of all things, Dino Lingo.  Oddly enough, my brain really seems to have taken to this language learning system for children.  After just a couple of viewings, I have my numbers through 10, colors, a bunch of animals, and some foods in my vocabulary. (As a mathematician, or well I used to be, it irks me that they do not provide the word for zero as it happens to be a construct attributed to the Indian number system.)  I also understand the short conversations and am starting to pick up on the grammar and genders of words (gender not being something I think they intend children to consciously pick up on).  There are 5 episodes - the last seeming to contain most of the information that Rosetta Stone throws at you in the first 10 lessons.  I did not walk away from the final episode teary-eyed, which made me feel a lot better.

Calling Cards

The Hubby's move to a functional area - Foreign Area Officer (FAO, pronounced "fay-o") - has brought along a load a new learning experiences for the both of us.  It has put a new spin on the Army experience.

For me, it means a couple of things (learning a language(s), upping my game in conversation settings, etc.) but I really only want to focus on one aspect of courtesy and protocol - the Calling Card.

In this day and age, literally everyone has a cellular device.  I find it easiest to just add a person/business contact right to my phone as I meet them.  I know I won't forget it if it is on my phone already.

Thus far in our army experience, I have had very few encounters with people using calling cards.  The spouses club at Fort Riley had cards made up for the board members. I rarely used mine but I did hand a few out or use them to jot other useful information down for people (webaddresses, etc since I was the webmistress for two years).

We attended a mock embassy reception as part of the introduction course.  This was the first event that I have gone to where the calling card really got put to use.  For nearly two hours, I did not see a cellular device out at all (okay, I snuck mine out of my purse to check a text from our babysitter).  There was a lot of mingling and I noticed a lot of exchanging of cards, well more so than I usually do at a military event.  I even received a few cards from spouses and I felt rather behind the times because I had no cards.

I feel the need to rectify this situation but I am somewhat at a loss.  What exactly do I put on my personal calling card?  Clearly, my name but what about other information?  I do not have a home business (which I think would make this much easier to deal with), I am not volunteering, and I am no longer actively working as a licensed teacher (although my license is still valid for a few more years).  I work hard at home with my son, well soon to be, sons.  Having a relatively blank card with just my name is somewhat ridiculous and I don't feel adding "Stay-at-home mom" or "Homemaker" really makes the situation any better.  I feel I should put some method of contact - be it phone or email - on the card but I am uncomfortable just giving that information out unless I have had some in depth conversation with a person.  Maybe I should create a separate email address just for my calling card to keep my FAO acquaintances in area that won't overlap with my personal/family correspondence.  If you have any tips, I would appreciate them. Or I might just have to go with the blank, name-only style calling card.

Prepping for Rampage

With the hubbub of moving coming to an end, I have the chance to start preparing for the  onslaught that is Rampage, baby 2.0.

On the stuff side of preparedness, the major relief is that Rampage is still indeed a boy.  There is no need to run around buying a whole new baby wardrobe for little miss thang. Being able to pull out all of JT's old clothes has been a comfort after all the traveling and spending money to reset our home.  We also have all the bottles and my pump - they just need to go through some sterilizing.  We tons of burp clothes thanks to JT's consistent spit up for the first 9 - 12 months of life.  We have the bassinet and the pack-n-play.  I hope to transition JT to a big boy bed when Rampage does the move from bassinet to a crib.  We have the infant car seat and 2 bases - it doesn't matter which vehicle we are driving.

But there are/were three big things I really felt I would like for Rampage.  The first was a new (re: larger) diaper bag.  JT is to the point where we do not have to change him every five seconds but we still need to have some back up diapers to carry around.  But the kid loves his food - so I need something to carry around num-nums and his sippy - not to mention his cars and blanket.  But I know I will need something will accommodate his needs plus Rampage - his set of diapers, burp clothes, extra clothes, and any bottles.  I just recently scored a sale pattern of the Make a Change Baby Bag along with a $20 off coupon.  I am impressed with it's size and feel confident that it will meet our needs - well maybe not Hubby's needs for it to look more manly (I did get a blue pattern!).

Second on my list is a double stroller.  I love my BOB single stroller.  JT is not big enough to be out walking on his own (have a little stroller tag along strap for when he hits that point) while I walk.  Oh, and I want to walk.  It is too beautiful here to not take a walk everyday.  That is the plan - Rampage arrives and we go out for a family walk every day.  So I have been looking into getting a BOB duallie stroller with a car seat attachment.  I felt bad missing the boat for the REI garage sale - just a few minutes to late to score a refurbished one for really cheap.  I then noticed that Amazon is running a sale on the Revolution SE Duallie - at near 25% off, plus Prime membership means no shipping fees.  So I snagged one up along with the car seat adapter and the handlebar console (I love putting my water bottle, keys, and phone somewhere accessible) all for less than the regular price of the Duallie. I think that deserves a pat on the back.

The final thing on my list is a new carrier.  I really like the ERGO Baby carrier.  I have a Moby which is good for around the house but I hate having to tie and retie the thing when we are out and about.  I want to snap and go with Rampage.  I have not found any at a reduced price yet but I am still looking.  I do know that I want to get it in the next few weeks so that I am prepared for Rampage.

Outside of the "stuff",  I can not tell if I am mentally prepared for Rampage.  Thankfully, I have no commitments (volunteer/otherwise) to really worry about.  Just need to find a balance of keeping Rampage, JT, Hubby, and Myself happy - on what will probably be very little sleep.  Good thing I don't get much of that now, right?  I think I am prepared for the hospital part - it can't be any worse than what happened for JT's arrival - although JT's arrival always seems to blindside me at the most inopportune time.  But for now at least, I am healthy and Rampage is healthy (and kicking like a maniac).  So I can't ask for much more than that.

Relearning How To Cook

The moving process gives you a chance to really take a good look at the things you have in your home.  There is quite a bit of assessing and reassessing the value and condition of all of your items.  Is it coming with us, should we drop it at the Goodwill, or has the item run hit the end of its lifetime?

When it came to my pots and pans, well, we need those to cook and not eat out every meal of the day.  So there was no question in my mind that they would be making the trek to our new home.  But upon arrival, I took a good long look at them.

The cookware set is as old as we have been married.  It has been a very reliable set over the years.  I have gotten used to knowing just how quickly it will take for them to heat up  and cook different types of meat.  As I pulled them out of the packing paper, the nonstick coating jumped out at me.  Almost literally.  My more heavily loved pans were showing signs of scraping and peeling.  I wasn't planning on serving my dinner with a side of Teflon.  Yuck.

So, I was on the hunt for a new set of pots and pans.  Not that I really wanted to - but I guess the day had come for our wedding set to hit the road.  I began thinking about what type I would like now.  If I get a similar set, I will probably be having the same dialogue again in a few years.  We enjoy making meals at home (besides the fact that it saves us a bit of money instead of eating out).  I want pans that will have a longer lifetime than 5 years and be able to stand up to our everyday use.

It really only left me with one choice - stainless steel.  We would be taking a big wallet hit in the beginning but if we took good care - we could have them for 20 + years.  No need to worry about the nonstick coating peeling off into my cooking.  My other issue was I know need to readjust how I cook.  I have always been scared of stainless steel.  Everyone warns you about the sticking and the pans warping on high heat.  Do I trust myself to not do anything dumb to seriously ruin this investment in our cooking?

After taking a look at a couple of sets, asking some questions (the one salesperson said they are still using the set they bought 28 years ago), and debating it over lunch, we took the plunge.  We got a 10 piece All Clad Stainless Steel set.

And seeing as we went all in, why not test my skills doing our favorite - spaghetti and meatballs!  I create the sauce in a Le Creuset stock pot but I would be frying up the meatballs in a brandy new and super shiny fry pan.  I don't know when I have been more nervous.

As per the salesperson's instructions, I placed the pan on the stove and set the heat (we have gas in our new home that is a whole other challenge to get used to after having electric) to medium/medium high to warm the pan.  Once I could feel the warmth from the pan, I lowered the heat to medium-low and poured in some oil.  Once I saw the oil shimmering, I said a little prayer and dropped my meatballs in the pan.

And then I waited.  I heard the sizzling and got excited.  I got a hold of my emotions and remembered - "Do not flip the meat early, it will not brown, and you'll probably be left with a sticky burnt mess."  So I waited a bit more.  This was Christmas-opening-presents level of anticipation here.  I honestly did not know what to do with myself.  When I just couldn't take the pressure any longer, I caved and started flipping those balls.

Ugh!  Not as nice crispy brown as I normally liked but I did not have any issues flipping.  So it was partially a success.  Next time, I know to leave them for longer.  It is still something I keep telling myself over the past weeks.

But you know what, I am really happy with these new pans.  I am also glad that my hubby agreed to take the plunge.  It may be taking us a bit longer to make our meals while we adjust but there are no more worries about "Hey, I didn't add pepper to this dish!"