Fast, fabulous & filling!

Want a quick & healthy recipe for those days where you have little to no energy to cook up dinner?  This is definitely one of my favorite recipes for days when I’m short on time or motivation (like today after studying all day).  It’s great because it’s very few ingredients and also uses few dishes for prep so clean up is a breeze.  Within 30 minutes you’re in and out of the kitchen with a fabulous, healthy meal to boot!

Balsamic Tilapia with Brown Rice


Ingredients:

• 1 cup instant brown rice
• 2/3 cup water
• 2 tilapia fillets (any white flaky fish would work)
• 1+ cup of fresh spinach leaves
• 1/8 cup balsamic vinaigrette dressing
• 14.5 oz. can of diced tomatoes (Italian seasoned are my favorite)
• 1 Tbsp. grated parmesan cheese

Directions:


Heat oven to 375.

Assemble 2 sheets of heavy duty aluminum foil on a baking sheet with the sides slightly turned up (into a shallow bowl).  Pour 1/2 cup of brown rice into center of each foil. Pour 1/3 cup of water over each mound of rice. 

Spoon 1/4 of can of tomatoes on top of rice and then place tilapia on top of rice and tomatoes.

Drizzle balsamic vinaigrette dressing onto each fillet, then top with remaining tomatoes (including the juice).  Finally, pile high with plenty of fresh spinach. 

Doesn’t that look delicious?!


Once assembled, bring up foil sides.  Fold ends and sides up to seal (allow a little room for heat circulation).
Bake 25 minutes.  Cut several slits in the top of foil when you take out of oven in order to let steam escape.  Sprinkle with parmesan & enjoy!
 
I know this isn’t the most appetizing picture, but I promise you that it’s amazing & super simple!

What’s your favorite 30 minute and under meal?

Wine, Cheese, Chatter: Dinner party?

Thanksgiving has came and went in a flash this year!  All the preparation paid off and the day went smoothly and lots of food was enjoyed by all.  By the time the big day rolled around, I had most everything done aside from throwing the bird in and baking a couple things last minute.  I  used the Michigander Way for the turkey, which was nice and easy for a first timer like myself.

Right before I popped her in!

The turkey turned out fabulous; nice and juicy and tons of flavor.  It did cook a lot quicker than planned so that through a bit of a wrench into my timing of all the other things that had to be put in the oven too, but we worked it out and got everything done in time.  Phew!

My in-laws were pretty thrilled to walk in and smell all the food in the oven and see me sporting the apron they bought us (Ryan has a "Mr." of his own).

The afternoon before I made one of my favorite things: Pineapple Cake!  This is one of the easiest and an amazing dessert (my mom is the one that introduced me to this recipe).  I love, love, love the frosting and pineapple is one of my favorites so it's a winner in my book.  The recipe is as follows:

• 1 3/4 c. flour
•  2 eggs
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 c. sugar
• 1 can crushed pineapple and juice
• 1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all ingredients together and pour into a greased 9 x 13 inch pan.  Bake for 25-30 minutes or until inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Frosting:

• 2 c. confectioners sugar
• 1 stick butter
• 8 oz. cream cheese 
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix with handmixer until smooth and slather on cake once cake has cooled!

Gets nice and browned on top.

My favorite! Usually I share but I was home alone so it was all mine!

It's long gone now!

Considering it was the first time hosting a holiday for family it went really well!  We really would love to host more parties and are really thinking of having a dinner party of some sort with friends.  We'd like to have some sort of theme so I'm wracking my brain for ideas.  Anyone have any interesting dinner party ideas?  Real Simple has these invites that I love, in particular the wine, cheese and chatter one:

Is this not the cutest and most clever idea?