What A Nice Sister

As you all know I love to cook. I hadn't made dinner for my family in a while because I have been busy with my own stuff, so Monday I made my brothers dinner (my parents were working and going to a wine tasting, so they were not home for dinner). This was the dinner I had made for the butts (yes I call my brother butts as they call me debby =]).

Parmesan Crusted Fish with Broccoli and Lemon Garlic Pasta
(I wasn't able to get a picture of a finished plate because they just pile it on and eat)

For the fish:
4 tilapia filets
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 teaspoons garlic powder (less if you aren't a big garlic lover)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Spray a pan with nonstick spray.

Mix the cheese, garlic, pepper, and basil.

Place fish on pan. Top with the cheese mix,

then drizzle with some oil. Place the pan in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, until the cheese browns.

For the pasta and sauce:
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 teaspoon oil
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 cup white wine
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup veggie broth (or chicken)
1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water
1/4 teaspoon dried basil (if you have fresh a few leaves would be nice)
pasta of choice

Heat a pan with oil.

Add garlic and allow to brown add the pepper.

Add in the wine, let it bubble for 2 minutes.

Add in the lemon juice and broth, allow that to simmer for 2 minutes.

Then add the cornstarch slurry and allow sauce to thicken. Add in the basil. Once the pasta is done, cook it to aldente because it will continue to cook with the sauce.

Drain the pasta, then add it to the sauce and put sauce on low heat.

For the broccoli:
I just bring water to a boil, add the broccoli then allow the water to just come back to a boil, then turn if off the heat and allow it to sit for 5 minutes to become tender. After I browned the garlic I poured off the excess oil and saved it, it was now delicious garlic oil, and I added it to the drained broccoli.

My brother and mom have also been pestering me to bake them a cake. A while ago my mom bought cake mixes (so she could make it, but I am against mixes, if you have all of the ingredients why not just use them to make it yourself??) so I whipped one up for them. Chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. I wanted to make a layer cake, so I pulled out my two 8 inch pans and made the cake.

During assembly one of the cakes was too domed for me to place the top layer cake on it, so I trimmed it up. And then I had some left over cake. What to do with that?? I made cake truffles. Which are a spin off of cake pops that I have heard oh so much about. You crumble the cake, mix it with frosting, form them into balls, and dip into melted chocolate or melted candy. Wow-la cake truffles. My mom, brother, and mom's coworkers raved about them. So I will now have to try them in vegan form. Yummy!

What's For Dinner?
Monday, January 24th

Salad-spinach, roasted corn-asparagus-mushrooms, tomatoes, black olives, yellow peppers, with roasted red pepper dressing. I was surprised but I really liked this salad.

Tuesday, January 25th

Yet again another salad- spinach, pear, jicama, cucumbers, dried cranberries, and toasted almonds, with ginger dressing.

Wednesday, January 26th
Roasted veggie and parsley salad, but instead of cashews, this time I added carrots.

New are yet to come...promise!

I would still love some suggestions!!