The World's Best Fish Recipe

If your house is like mine, your husband/father/brother/son likes to go out and bring home the bacon...or wild game of some sort. And then you're left scratching your head saying, "What do I do with a dead fish?" Or "how do I prepare elk meat?"

For years Tyler would bring home a fish and expect me to prepare it. And being the doting, loving, submissive wife I am (haha! *snort*), I always obliged. So for years we ate fish seasoned with butter, garlic and dill. Sounds good, right? No. Wrong. It's not good. Wild fish taste like what they eat. What do they eat in a lake or river? A lot of moss and bugs. Yeah. Ew. Butter and dill are great on a salmon or a halibut. But they don't go well with moss.

After that I dreaded Tyler going fishing because I didn't want to have to make whatever he caught. I think he dreaded it too because he didn't want to have to eat it. But then we found a couple of really good recipes, and now we LOVE when he brings home fresh fish!

This is his most recent spoil. Caught from Henry's Lake here in Idaho. Tyler was pretty proud of it. I always look at raw food suspiciously. If it still has scales and fins (or fur or feathers) it's not quite food yet. As soon as it's nicely packaged and sitting on the shelf at the grocery store, then I think of it as food. Anyway, here is the recipe that had no name, so I gave it one:)

The World's Best Fish Recipe

1 salmon fillet (we never catch salmon around here, so we use trout. I'm sure you could buy salmon and use this recipe. And when it says fillet, it's not talking a little chunk of fish, it's talking one half of the fish meat that has been cut away from the scales and bones to make a nice portion of fish.)
2 cups fresh lemon juice (we use concentrated lemon juice, so we only use about a fourth to a half of the called amount)
1 cube butter (yes, it pains me to say that Tyler uses real butter in this recipe. I didn't find this out until last night when he replied, "why do you think you like it so much?")
1 T Fish seasoning of choice (we use Old Bay, but you could use a designated fish seasoning, dill, garlic blend, thyme, a mixture of all kinds of seasonings...)
1/4 cup brown sugar (essential ingredient)
lemon zest (we do without)
black pepper

Preheat the over at 350*.
Make a tin foil bowl (on a cookie sheet) and place the fillet inside. Melt the butter and mix with lemon juice, seasoning, pepper, and brown sugar. Drizzle the butter mixture over the fish.
Once the oven is preheated, switch to broil. Put the fish on the upper rack. Check on the fish after 8 - 9 minutes. Pull the meat using a fork. If the meat is pink and flaky, the fish is done.
Once preheated, switch to broil.

Mmmmm. Look at all that butter! That's liquid gold in our house!


It really is very tasty. It's sweet and tangy and you can't even taste moss:) I hope you get to use this recipe sometime. Pin It

Ranch Chicken with Cheese

1/2 c Hidden Valley Original Ranch Dressing
1 TBSP all-purpose flour
4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound)
1/4 c shredded sharp cheddar cheese
1/4 c grated Parmesan cheese

Combine dressing and flour in a shallow bowl. Coat each chicken breast with dressing mixture. Place on ungreased baking pan. Combine cheddar and Parmesan cheeses; sprinkle on chicken. Bake at 375* for 25 minutes or until chicken is no longer pink in center and juices run clear.

First of all, can I just say YUM!!! I LOVE this recipe. Tyler...not so much. He tolerates it for my sake:) I got it out of a Ranch cookbook. All the recipes include Ranch. Heaven. I'm in heaven. Ok, back to earth. This is one of those recipes I've made so much and I changed so long ago that I really don't know what I do. But let me say this, 1/2 cup of Ranch dressing is NOT enough for 4 chicken breasts. I'd double it at least. Then if you need more you can always make more.


Also, who has shredded Parmesan on hand? Not me. I use the fake powder stuff and mix it in with the Ranch and flour.


You know how I am with coating chicken, I just pour the ingredients over the top, making sure there is enough extra sauce for dipping. Then I cover with cheese. I don't sprinkle. Sprinkling is for weaklings. I cover with cheddar cheese. Then I bake until the cheese is melted and the chicken is done. Absolutely delicious! Pin It

Cheesy Hamburger Hash

1 lb ground beef
1 TBSP butter or margarine
1 bag refrigerated diced potatoes with onions
1 can (14 1/2 oz) diced tomatoes with Italian herbs, undrained
1 TBSP pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning
1 1/2 c shredded pizza cheese blend (mozzarella and cheddar)
2 TBSP fresh parsley

1. Cook beef in 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until brown; drain. Remove beef and drippings from skillet.

2. Melt butter in same skillet. Add potatoes. Cover and cook over medium heat 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender. Stir in beef, tomatoes, and pizza seasoning. Cook, stirring occasionally, until thoroughly heated.

3. Sprinkle with cheese and parsley. Cover and heat until cheese is melted.

I got this recipe from a quick and easy cook book. Want to know why it's quick and easy? Because the ingredients are already prepared! Ok, so that makes it quick and easy, but it also makes it pricey. I am not about to buy frozen potatoes when I live in potato country. (Tyler raises his eyebrows at me when I buy frozen seasoned fries, but he's learned to live with it.) I don't buy a can of diced tomatoes, I dice my own. And I don't buy shredded cheese. I just use a little elbow grease and shred it myself.


Here's how I do it: I brown the hamburger. Then I throw in the potatoes - into the same skillet with the beef. If I'm not in a hurry I'll pull out the meat and drain off the grease, brown the potatoes and then throw the meat back in. But if I'm in a crunch, the potatoes go in with the meat (once the meet is cooked). I season heavily with garlic powder, onion powder, and Mrs. Dash. I use Mrs. Dash religiously. So if you're not a Mrs. Dash kind of person, just use some sort of seasoning you think would go well on fried potatoes. You can use pizza seasoning or Italian seasoning if you want/have it. I just never have.


Voila. The meal is complete. It's pretty much just frying meat and potatoes. I dish out the hash, sprinkle it with cheese and top it off with diced tomatoes if I have them. If I don't I do without. Salsa might also be pretty good on this. Try it out and let me know.


PS. I fry potatoes all the time, but you may be new to this. When I fry potatoes I first melt butter in a skillet. I chop my potatoes small because the smaller they are the faster they will cook. Once the butter is melted, I pour in the potato chunks. Then I LEAVE THEM ALONE until I hear them start to sizzle and I can see the edges darkening (you can see the potato cook). I season them and stir them up to fry the other side. They are done when they are soft, but I love my crispy, so I cook mine until they crunch on the outside. Mmmmmm. Pin It

SUSHI!!

Look me in the eye and tell me you've never wanted to try/make sushi. We are a big sushi family, but it is SO expensive. Well, here is a "relatively" cheap way to make sushi. I say relatively because the ingredients are pricey, but you can make many rolls of sushi with the ingredients.

This is a basic recipe.

You will need:
sea weed paper (I am not a huge fan of the sea weed. It's fine, but I prefer a soy paper. It has less flavor and it's not as chewy.)
Rice
shrimp (precooked, de-veined, shelled)
imitation crab
avocado
cream cheese
other possible ingredients: cucumber, tuna, carrots, etc.

This is a cool little tool that has a name that I don't know. It's a sushi roller. It helps me keep my sushi together as I roll it. You could probably survive without it, but it sure is handy.

First step is to cook the rice. You can use regular rice. Tyler and I found sushi rice on sale for a dollar at the local grocery store. So we use that. When your rice is cooked, you can season it a little with rice vinegar or just leave it plain.

Rinse and thaw your shrimp and crab.

Lay a piece of nori (the seaweed paper or soy paper) on the sushi roller. Now you need a row of rice. Make sure it's evenly distributed including at the ends.

Now you just have fun with the other stuffings. We love shrimp and cream cheese,

crab and avocado.
We really pile it on. I promise it won't be too big. You'll see once you roll it up. Which is the next step.

Turn the sushi roller so the filling is closest to you. This part can be kind of tricky. You need to hold in the filling while rolling the sushi. Make sure you roll tightly or else everything will fall out when you cut it.

Now you get to slice and enjoy. Use a very sharp knife to slice so that you're not tearing. I didn't measure, but these slices are, I dunno, half an inch to an inch thick.

Voila. Yummy, "healthy" sushi.
Try it out and let me know what you think! Feel free to add or subtract to make your sushi delicious. Tyler and I ate four rolls between the four of us. But we were really hungry:) Pin It

Marbled Chocolate - Banana Bread

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (about 3 bananas)
1/2 cup egg substitute (2 eggs)
1/3 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt, stirring with a whisk. Place sugar and butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well blended (about 1 minute). Add banana, egg substitute, and yogurt; beat until blended. Add flour mixture; beat at low speed just until moist. Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave-safe bowl, and microwave at HIGH 1 minute or until almost melted, stirring until smooth. Cool slightly. Add 1 cup batter to chocolate, stirring until well combined.

Spoon chocolate batter alternately with plain batter into an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Swirl batters together using a knife. Bake at 350° for 1 hour and 15 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

I made this last night. It was SO good!! Oh my gosh. I am not a banana bread fan, but I sure do love chocolate:) This is definitely a keeper recipe. It's pretty easy (hey, even I could make it!) and it'll impress your friends:) This recipe is for one loaf.


I did follow all the directions except I used milk chocolate chips (though I've had it with semi-sweet and it's delicious as well) and I didn't measure them. I just poured in a bowl until I thought I had enough:)



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Thai Chicken Wraps with Peanut Sauce

4 chicken breasts
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 t. pepper
1 t. salt
4 t. sugar

Combine ingredients and rub onto chicken breasts. Broil until done. Cut into thin strips.

1 red onion, cut into thin wedges (we used regular onion)
2 t. oil
1 c. shredded cabbage
1 c. shredded carrots
4 green onions, sliced (I didn't have these on hand, so I left them out)
1 T. grated ginger root (or 1/2-1 t. ginger powder)
2 cloves garlic, minced

Saute the veggies, garlic and ginger until tender.

1/4 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. sugar
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 T. soy sauce
3 T. water
2 T. oil

Heat peanut butter and sugar until sugar is melted. Add garlic, soy sauce, water, and oil.

3 cups warm, cooked rice
6 large flour tortillas

Assemble wraps with rice, cooked veggies, chicken strips, and peanut sauce. Yummy!

This is a recipe from my brother and sister-in-law. The notes off to the side are theirs. I don't have anything to add except I don't broil my chicken, I bake it. Pin It

Pita Bread

1 pkg (2 1/4 tsp) yeast
1 1/4 c luke warm water
3 c flour
2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 500*.

Dissolve yeast in luke warm water. Stir in flour and salt. Stir into a rough ball. Knead on floured surface until smooth, adding flour as necessary.

Divide into 6 balls and knead each until smooth and round.

With a rolling pin, flatten each until 1/4'' thick and 4-5'' diameter.

Arrange rounds upside down on baking sheets.

Bake in a very hot over (500*) for 5 min or until puffed in the center.

Once finished, cut pitas in half. This creates the pocket.

If they are starting to burn and are not puffing, just pull them out and cut a slit in the pita to make the pocket. We fill ours with chicken salad, but you can also use regular sandwich fixings and lettuce. Very easy. Company will be impressed that you made home-made pitas. If your pitas are not puffing, try using almost hot water to dissolve the yeast. It seams to help. Pin It

Easy Pizza Dough

1 TB yeast
1 tsp sugar
2 TB oil
1 c warm water
1/4 tsp salt
2 c flour

Mix the yeast with half the flour (1 cup), sugar and salt. Add really warm water and oil. Mix, adding flour, until velvety. Let raise (in a bowl covered with a towel) and punch down. Roll out onto pizza pan or cookie sheet.

This is definitely a family favorite! We cook our pizza on a cookie sheet, but if you have a pizza pan or if you want to do smaller pizzas for "personal pizzas" that's fine too. Once you roll out the dough, cover it with spaghetti, marinara, tomato, ranch or pizza sauce. Then top with cheese (we usually use cheddar because that's what we have on hand) and fixings. Our personal favorites are pepperoni, sausage, breakfast bacon, or chicken. We use ranch and chicken to make a yummy pizza. I'm not a veggie person, but if I were I would add peppers, olives, artichoke hearts, onions and the like.

Bake at 400* for ten minutes.

Enjoy! Pin It

Cabbage Salad

1/2 - 1 head cabbage
2 TB slivered almonds
2 green onions
1 pkg Teriyaki chicken Raman noodes
2 TB sesame seeds or slivered almonds

Dressing:
1 pkg Raman seasoning
1 TB sugar
1/4 c. oil
1/2 tsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp pepper
3 TB vinegar
1/2 tsp Accent
water - enough to make 1/2 c after dressing ingredients are mixed

Shred cabbage (or chop or whatever), mix in almonds, onions, Raman noodles, and sesame seeds/slivered almonds. Toss in dressing.

We make the dressing before hand by at least an hour and let it sit to mix the flavoring. If you can't find Teriyaki chicken, you can use regular chicken, it will just have a different flavor.


We usually double the dressing recipe, but if you leave it the way it is it will be fine. It'll just have a lighter flavor. Pin It