Fish w/ Spicy Rice

Ingredients:

2 Tilapia Fillets
1 Handful of Baby Carrots
1 Can of Green Beans
1 Can of Black Beans
1 Cup of Rice
Mojo
Olive Oil Spray (or PAM or what ever preferred)
Season Salt Breading Mix
Crushed Red Pepper
Pepper

How I did it?

First preheat the oven to 400. (I used my toaster oven for this.) Then drain most of the water from the can of green beans. After that place it and the baby carrots into a small baking dish, and mix them together.
Next take 1 cup of rice, 2 cups of water, some crushed red pepper and combine them into the rice cooker. (If you don't have a rice cooker you can place it on a stove on low using tin foil with a couple of small wholes for the lid.) For the red crushed pepper I used about 1/3 tablespoon, but if you adverse to not liking spicy food less is more for you.
After the rice is on the stove then place the green beans and carrots in the oven. Keep an eye on this while it cooks, because if there wasn't enough can juices left then you will need to add some water or it will dry out.
The next thing to do is place the canned black beans in a small pot and place it on the stove with the burner on low. These beans come fully cooked so this is only warm them for the meal.
Then spray some olive oil onto a pan and turn the stove to medium. Place the Tilapia into pan and begin watching it. I like to play with it in the pan to make sure that it doesn't start to stick to the pan. One way to counter act this is to place some water in the pan as well. The water will evaporate and you don't lose much. Once the fish looks cooked half way through I flip it over and add in some Mojo. I am liberal with Mojo, because it will evaporate out of the pan as well. (Mojo is tangy so use to a level of your own taste.)
While the fish receives its finishing touches, take the vegetables out of the oven and sprinkle season salt breading mix on them. I use just enough to have sprinkles across the whole top.
Once the fish is done stir the vegetables once more and serve. Then simply enjoy.

Cottage Pie

Ingredients:

1-1/2 Potatoes
1/2 Head of Cauliflower
1 lb. Ground Turkey
1 Frozen Bag of 'Mixed Vegetables'
Season Salt
Italian Seasoning
1 Handful of Pealed Garlic
1 Packet of Taco Seasoning
Small Dab of Butter

How I did it?

First cut the potatoes into cubes and place them into water to boil. (You may want to skin the potatoes for texturing, but I like the skin so I don't.) Then cut a head of cauliflower in half and trim the large stalk and leaves off of it. (basically anything not white) Then place the the cauliflower in a pot for steaming and leave the stove on high.
Once those two things are on the stove, pre-heat the oven to 400. Then pull the mixed vegetables out of the freezer and place them on the counter. After that mince the pealed garlic and put aside for later use.
Once this is done put the ground turkey into a large pan and place the stove on medium-high. As the turkey begins to cook make sure to break it up into small pieces so the meat is spread out instead of in large chunks. Then add very little Season Salt to taste and a couple of dashes of Italian Seasoning.
When the turkey is about 3/4 cooked add in the garlic, taco seasoning and the frozen vegetables. (Ground turkey doesn't hold a lot of flavoring, so you can flavor at your descreation.) Then continue to stir this until both the turkey is fully cooked and the vegetables are mostly thawed.
By the time all of this has taken place the cauliflower and the potatoes should be finished steaming/boiling. These are both done when a fork can easily pass through them. At this point strain the potatoes and put them back in the pot, and take the cauliflower out of the steamer and place it in with the potatoes. Then place a small dab of butter into the pot and mix using a mixer or a hand masher.
Then place the meat/vegetable mix into a baking dish and spread it out so it is evenly dispersed through the dish. After that place the potato/cauliflower mix on top of it and spread it out evenly as well. If you want use a fork to create peaks in the top mix to create browning on the tops and a nicer look.
This will go into the Oven for about 20 minutes. The way to tell that it is finished cooking is the tops or top will start to brown. Then just Eat and Enjoy!

Butternut Squash

Ingredients

2 Steaks
1 Bundle of Broccoli
1 Butternut Squash
1 Handful of Fresh Peeled Garlic
Pepper
Olive Oil

How I did it?

First I set the oven on 450 degrees. Then I Peel the skin off of the butternut squash. While this seems easy butternut squash is really really hard. So when working with it use a really sharp knife so it is only kind of hard to work with. Once the skin is peeled then cut the squash in half long ways. This will give a spoon like shape.
After that use a spoon to scoop out the inside string like stuff and seeds. Then proceed to cut up the squash into small cubes. Once this is done put it into a a baking dish.
Now it is time to mince the garlic. Once the garlic is cut nice and small add to the squash. Now sprinkle some pepper on top of the dish.
The next step is kind of tricky and will take a couple of tries to get exactly right. Now poor on just enough olive oil to coat the ingredients. This uses a lot less then someone would expect, so my suggestion is to use 1/3 what you think it will take and go from there. Once the oil is poured on then mix all the ingredients together by hand, and place the dish in the oven. This will take 60-75 minutes to cook depending on how hot your oven is.
When there is about 30 minutes left, I turned on the grill. I then chopped the broccoli and threw it in a pot to steam it. On my stove broccoli normally takes about 20 minutes to steam, and I like my steak rare so that takes me about 15 minutes.
Once everything then place on plates and serve. When it comes to the squash, it should turn from a light orange to a dark orange when it is fully cooked. You can also add some parmesan cheese on top of it when there is 10 minutes left if you so desire.
Enjoy!

Tilapacualinoa or Lazy Man's Dish

Ingredients:

1 Head of Cauliflower
2 Tilapia Fillets
1/2 Cup of Quinoa
Fresh Grated Mozzarella Cheese
Salt and Pepper to Taste
Splash of Lemon Juice (Fresh is always better)
Olive Oil

How I did it?

This meal came about with a severe feeling of wanting to be lazy. First prep the quinoa. (You can find how to do this in my other posts. I will soon be making posting that is a how to on common ingredients that I use.)
Then trim all of the greenery off of the cauliflower. Cut up it up and toss it in a large frying pan. After that place some water into the pan, throw it on the stove on high. (Note you can leave the stems but get rid of the large stalk.)
While the cauliflower cooks on the stove place the tilapia in a small bowl. Put a splash a lemon juice and some pepper on top of each tilapia. What I like to do is put the first fillet in the bowl, then put a little bit of lemon juice and pepper on one side. I then flip it over and do the same to the other side, then place the other piece on top and repeat. This is just to give it some flavoring, and when using fresh lemon juice it will actually start cooking the fish.
Watch the cauliflower as it cooks in the pan, as it will probably be necessary to add more water once or twice to the pan. Cook the cauliflower alone in the pan until it is tender and easily falls apart.
Then add the tilapia into the pan with a small amount of water. At this point it will be necessary to continually stir the food in the pan. As the tilapia cooks it will begin flaking apart and mixing throughly throughout the cauliflower. Once all of the tilapia is cooked, add in the quinoa and a small amount of olive oil.
Continually stir the mixture as the all the water evaporates out and the oil starts to brown the food. Once it is "fried" to a nice golden brown turn off the burner and mix the grated mozzarella into the mix.
This isn't the fanciest meal or most astetically pleasing meal to cook, but it is fast easy and I normally cook it with left over quinoa. Most of my recipes call for 1 cup of quinoa because that is 2 servings worth, but in reality a 1/2 cup goes a long ways. This makes the meal a really easy quick meal, that is still healthy. Just make sure not to go overboard with the oil, that is the enemy in this meal.
Enjoy.

It Has Been Awhile

I haven't been posting, but I have been cooking. Look for new recipes starting tomorrow :)