Balsamic Tilapia and Mushroom Foil Packets

I was gone last week visiting my parents. Now that I'm home I don't have much motivation to meal plan or even cook. I decided to make meals that are quick and easy to make. This recipe was adapted from Coyoty Cooks. Coyoty didn't measure everything out and I just threw stuff together without measuring. So, I'll do my best to estimate measurements. The flavor of this was great! I will definitely make this again.

Coyoty used Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Seasoning but said that you could use whatever seasoning you want. I didn't have the seasoning but I really like all of Prudhomme's seasonings so I figured it was worth it to give this one a try. It was really good in this dish so I'm glad I did.

Ingredients

• 2 Tilapia Fillets
• 8 oz Baby Bella Mushrooms, thinly sliced
• 1-2 Garlic Cloves, minced
• 3 Tablespoons + 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil, separated
• 1 Tablespoon + a couple of splashes of Balsamic Vinegar, separated
• 2 teaspoons (roughly) Prudhomme's Blackened Redfish Seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Cut an 8"x12" foil sheet for each piece of fish.
3. In a bowl, mix together 3 Tablespoons olive oil, 1 Tablespoon Balsamic vinegar, and 1-2 minced garlic cloves. Divide mushroom mixture in two and place each half on each pieces of foil.
4. In a small bowl mix the remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper. Place the tilapia on top of each pile of mushrooms. Brush tilapia with olive oil and balsamic vinegar mixture. Sprinkle Blackening seasoning on each tilapia. 
5. Fold over and press each edge of foil to seal it. Place packets on a cookie sheet. Bake for 15 minutes until fish is cooked through and flakes easily.

Adapted from Coyoty Cooks

Baked Lemon Pasta

I found this recipe for Baked Lemon Pasta on Tasty Kitchen. While it looks really good, it uses 2 cups of sour cream. I decided to use low fat plain yogurt instead to make it a little healthier. I added blanched asparagus. I didn't add any meat but could have. The flavor of this was good. However, I was expecting it to be really light and refreshing and it wasn't. Because it was baked and had cheese in it, the sauce was pretty thick.

Last year I made a recipe for Creamy Garlic Pasta with Shrimp and Asparagus and the sauce was made with low fat plain yogurt and lemon juice. While the flavors of the two dishes are similar, I liked the recipe I made last year better. It's lighter and tastes fresher.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Spaghetti
• 4 Tablespoons Salted Butter
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 cloves Garlic, Minced
• 1 whole Lemon, Juiced And Zested
• 2 cups Low Fat Plain Yogurt
• 1/2 teaspoons Kosher Salt, Or More To Taste
• Grated Parmesan Cheese
• Flat-leaf Parsley, chopped or dried parsley
• Extra Lemon Juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Cook spaghetti until al dente.
2. Meanwhile, blanch the asparagus. Bring water to a boil. Add the asparagus and boil for 2-3 minutes (depending on thickness). Drain them and immediately place them in an ice water bath for about 3 minutes.
3. In a skillet, melt butter with olive oil over low heat. Once the butter has melted, add minced garlic the juice of one lemon into the pan. Turn off heat.
4. Add yogurt and stir mixture together. Add lemon zest and salt. Pour mixture over drained spaghetti and stir together, then pour spaghetti into an oven safe dish.
5. Bake, covered, for 15 minutes. Then remove foil and bake for an additional 7 to 10 minutes.
6. Remove from the oven and squeeze a little more lemon juice over the top. Top generously with Parmesan cheese, then chopped parsley. Give it a final squeeze of lemon juice at the end.

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Brushetta Chicken

I came across this recipe for Grilled Balsamic Bruschetta Chicken on Picky Palate and thought it looked like a great refreshing weeknight meal. I changed it just a little bit. I had some good balsamic vinaigrette that I marinated the chicken in instead of just brushing the chicken with olive oil and balsamic vinegar while cooking. This was so easy, fresh, and delicious. Using fresh mozzarella cheese was the best part of this meal.

I served this with zucchini spears that I tossed with salt, pepper, and olive oil and roasted at 450 degrees for about 15 minutes. The zucchini was really good but I should have taken it out a little earlier.

Ingredients

• 4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, thawed (I use the big Costco bag)
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinaigrette 
• 8 slices fresh mozzarella cheese
• 4 Roma Tomatoes, seeded and diced
• 8 fresh basil leaves, stacked, rolled and thinly sliced into chiffonade
• 3 cloves fresh garlic, minced
• Pinch of salt
• 1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Directions

1. Marinate chicken with balsamic vinaigrette.
2. Preheat a grill pan over medium heat on the stovetop. Spray with cooking spray. Place chicken on grill. Cook for 4-5 minutes and flip chicken. Brush with additional balsamic vinaigrette and cook for an additional 4-5 minutes or until cooked through. During the last 2 minutes of grilling place 2 slices of cheese over top each chicken to melt.
3. In a large bowl combine the tomatoes, basil garlic, salt and balsamic. Toss gently to combine. Place chicken breasts on a serving plate and top with tomato mixture.

Adapted from Picky Palate

Tilapia and Quinoa with Feta and Cucumber

I've never had quinoa before but I've heard it's really good for you. I looked up several recipes and found this one from Martha Stewart. It looked so good, easy, and refreshing. It tasted as good as the recipe sounded. I did add just a little garlic powder to the fish. I didn't expect much from the fish since it was only salt, pepper, paprika, and a pinch of garlic powder. But it ended up tasting so good!

Even though I followed the recipe for the quinoa, I don't think it turned out right. It seemed a bit mushy. But it was pretty good for my first try. I look forward to trying it again. I enjoyed the feta and cucumber in the recipe. The recipe called for 1/3 cup of fresh dill. I felt like that was a little much, personally. I'd scale it down just a little bit next time.

Ingredients

• 1 cup quinoa
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 1/2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 pound boneless, skinless tilapia fillets, divided into 8 pieces
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1 cup English cucumber (6 ounces), diced small
• 1/3 cup roughly chopped fresh dill
• 1/3 cup feta, crumbled
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a small saucepan, bring quinoa, 2 cups water, and 1 teaspoon salt to a boil over high. Reduce to a medium simmer and cook until water evaporates, about 15 minutes. Transfer quinoa to a medium bowl and let cool 5 minutes.
2. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 1/2 teaspoons oil over medium-high. Pat fish dry and season with salt and pepper; sprinkle with paprika. Cook fillets until opaque throughout, about 4 minutes, flipping halfway through. Stir cucumber, dill, feta, 1 teaspoon oil, and lemon juice into quinoa. Season with salt and pepper. Divide quinoa among four plates and top with fish.

Source: Martha Stewart

Balsamic BBQ Chicken

I found this recipe on Perry's Plate. Given my obsession with balsamic vinegar, I had to give this a try. The bbq sauce was really easy to make and the flavor was really good! I will definitely be making it again. I cooked the chicken on an indoor grill but I know it would be even better on an outdoor grill.

Ingredients

• 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breasts (I used tenders)
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 cup balsamic vinegar
• 8 oz can of tomato sauce
• 3 T brown sugar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 T Worcesterchire sauce
• 1 T Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper

Directions

1. Combine all of the BBQ sauce ingredients into a small saucepan. Whisk until thoroughly combined, then simmer over medium heat until it's reduced by about a third. If it starts to stick to the bottom of the pan, reduce heat to medium-low. It'll take 15-25 minutes for the sauce to thicken up and coat the back of a spoon.
2. Meanwhile, preheat a stove-top grill pan or outdoor grill to medium heat. Season the chicken with salt and pepper.
3. Transfer 1/2 cup of the finished BBQ sauce to a small bowl. Place the chicken on the grill for about 10 minutes per side, brushing chicken with the 1/2 cup (or more) BBQ sauce for the last 2-3 minute of cooking.
4. Transfer chicken to a serving platter and serve with remaining BBQ sauce.

Sources: Perry's Plate; originally from Giada De Laurentiis

Green Bean, Corn, and Tomato Salad

This salad made a great side dish for the Balsamic BBQ Chicken I made. It was very light and fresh and felt summery. The original recipe called for malt vinegar but I decided to use balsamic to tie it in with the chicken. One thing I would recommend is to definitely make the dressing separately and add it slowly so you don't add too much. I felt like I added too much and the balsamic vinegar was kind of overpowering.

Ingredients

• 1 pound green beans, trimmed into 1-2 inch pieces
• 3-4 ears of corn
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
• Handful of fresh basil leaves, cut into thin strips (chiffonade)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil plus more for corn
• 3 to 4 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with foil. Cut corn kernels off the cob and place on cookie sheet. Add a small amount of oil, salt, and pepper to corn and toss to coat. Spread into a single layer on cookie sheet. Bake for 5-10 minutes, stirring several times, until corn is lightly browned.
2. Meanwhile, blanch the green beans. Bring water to a boil. Add the beans and boil for 3 minutes, then drain them and immediately place them in an ice water bath for about 3 minutes.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together the 2 tablespoons olive oil, 3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar, salt, 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder.
4. Place all the vegetables in a bowl and pour over the oil and vinegar mixture slowly according to your taste. Stir to combine.

Source: A Couple Cooks

Chicken, Spinach, and Rice Casserole

I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen. The original recipe called for artichokes too but I'm not a huge fan of artichokes so I omitted them. This tasted good but pretty simple. It's a good week night meal but I don't know that it's a having company over meal. The original recipe called for onion flakes which I have a feeling was used to save time and work. It tasted good as is but next time I might try some sauteed onions or shallots instead. The only other change I made was the amount of yogurt used. The recipe called for 4 ounces. My container of yogurt was 6 ounces and I just used the whole container. I'm glad I did. I think it may have been too dry using any less.

Ingredients

• 1 pound Chicken, cooked And Diced
• 2 cups Brown Rice
• 1 bag (6 Oz. Bag) Baby Spinach
• 3/4 cups Fat Free Greek Yogurt
• 2 pieces Laughing Cow Light Cheese
• 1/4 cups Minced Onion
• 1/2 cups Parmesan Cheese. Shredded, Divided
• 1/2 teaspoons Black Pepper
• 1/2 teaspoons Garlic Powder

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cook the rice according to package directions.
3. In a large bowl, combine the hot rice and the spinach. Stir until the spinach wilts. Add the rest of the ingredients except 1/4 cup of the parmesan cheese, stir well and place in a 9 x 12 greased pan. Top with the remaining parmesan cheese.
4. Bake for 30 minutes until hot and bubbly. 

Adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Pasta with Tomatoes and Corn

Last week I was really wanting corn. I found this recipe and it sounded pretty good and fairly healthy. It tasted really fresh and was really easy to make. The original recipe called for red wine vinegar but I used balsamic vinegar and I'm glad I did. Next time I might add more corn.

 Ingredients

• 8 ounces whole wheat pasta
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup whole corn kernels, cooked
• 4 tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• salt to taste
• ground black pepper to taste
• 1+ tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. In a large pot with boiling salted water cook pasta until al dente. Drain.
2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl whisk together the olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and basil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the tomatoes, corn kernels, and scallions. Let sit for 5 to 10 minutes.
3. Toss pasta with tomato mixture. Sprinkle with grated parmesan cheese. 

Adapted from Allrecipes.com