Red Beans and Rice

I love red beans and rice.  It's a comfort food to me and one of those dishes that are perfect to eat when it's raining or cold outside.  It's also a really hardy meal.  Now that school is back in session my daily commute has doubled, which means I have less time to cook dinner.  It's has made me look at different meals and different ways to prepare those meals. This has led me to the crock-pot.

I was really happy with how this meal came together.  I prepped all of my veggies the night before, put them in a storage container, and threw everything in the crock pot the next morning.  11 hours later I got home from work, threw my rice on the stove, and dinner was served!  If you're looking for an easy week night dinner try this out.  I also think this would freeze well.

Red Beans & Rice:(adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:
1 pound dried red beans (I used kidney beans)
7 cups water
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 white onion, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped (including leaves)
4 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
3 tablespoons Old Bay seasoning
1 teaspoon blackening seasoning
Salt to taste
Hot cooked rice

Directions:
Place all of the ingredients, except for the rice in a crock pot.  Cook on LOW for 10+ hours or on HIGH for 7 hours.

When ready to eat, serve over hot rice with cornbread.

This would also be great with sausage, which is traditional.

Crispy Lemon Tilapia

Tilapia was on sale this week. (It seems like I use that sentence a lot, oh well)  I was on a quest to try a different preparation of a household classic.

I found this recipe on Tasty Kitchen and decided to give it a shot.  Most of the ingredients are all things that I keep in the house almost all of the time.














Crispy Lemon Tilapia:
(adapted from Tasty Kitchen)

Ingredients:
1 pound Tilapia Fillets
¼ teaspoons Kosher Salt
⅛ teaspoons Black Pepper
3 Tablespoons Flour
1 Tablespoon Old Bay
1 whole Lemon, Zest And Juice
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
1/2 Tablespoons Butter
1 Tablespoon Fresh Parsley

Directions:

Lightly season both sides of the tilapia fillets with kosher salt and pepper to taste.  On a separate plate, mix the flour, seasoning and lemon zest.  Lightly dredge each tilapia fillet in the flour mixture, coating each side and pressing coating onto flesh so that it sticks.

In a large non-stick skillet, heat olive oil and butter over medium-high heat. Place the coated fish in the skillet and let it cook, for 2 minutes. Flip the fish and cook for 2 more minutes on the other side.

Remove the fish, squeeze the lemon juice over the fish. Serve immediately.

Sweet Corn Bread

I made BBQ Beef the other night and decided that it would be nice to have some cornbread to go with it.  I like sweet cornbread and since I was making it I decided to go with that!  (So there!)

In my quest to find some good cornbread recipes I ended up on the Tasty Kitchen website, which is run by the The Pioneer Woman.  This was easy to make and the only thing I had to buy was the can of creamed corn.  I call that a win.  Mr. T enjoyed it too (as you can see by the missing corner).

Sweet Cornbread:
(Tasty Kitchen- asweetpeachef)

Ingredients:
1 cup All-purpose Flour
1 cup Yellow Cornmeal
½ cup Granulated Sugar
1 Tablespoon Brown Sugar
2-½ teaspoons Baking Powder
1 teaspoon Kosher Salt
1 whole Egg
1 cup Milk
1/3 cup Vegetable Oil
½ cup Creamed Corn


Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Butter and flour a 9-inch round cake pan and set aside.

Combine dry ingredients (flour, cornmeal, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder and salt) in a large mixing bowl. In a separate, smaller mixing bowl, combine the wet ingredients (egg, milk, oil and creamed corn). Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well. Be careful not to over-mix.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick or knife to the center of the cornbread comes out clean.