Tilapia, Cauliflower & Muffins, Oh My!

This week hasn't been a good one for too many new recipes or treats. I have kinda just been working with what I have had around the apartment. But let me tell you the few things I have tried are pretty delish!

We will start with the Tilapia. I have fallen in love with a fish - crazy. Even more crazy, I had no idea what the entire fish looked like until now, just the delicious prepackaged filets I eat. (cute little bugger!) About two weeks ago, my mom took me grocery shopping to get my spirits up about a minor weight gain. She thought that with her assitance (financially and thoughtfully) she would help me fill my fridge and cupboards with healthy alternatives to what I was snacking on. Well walking by the frozen seafood case at Pick N Save and saw signs 2/$3 of these little seafood packets. There were cod filiets, tilapia, salmon and ?(can't remember). Well the tilapia was lemon herb and salmon was either teriyaki or plain. I chose plain to reduce the sodium intake and grabbed one of each. To my happy surprise, this little tilapia packet had two small slices of tilapia (a total of 4 ounces) in a light sauce. On the back of the packet were direction of about 6 different ways to cook it. I chose the oven method and was very happy with the outcome. 16 minutes later I had light fluffy tilapia to enjoy.

Now the question was what to have with it to stay healthy. I was really craving mashed potatoes but all those carbs were not making me so excited. That's when it hit me, mashed cauliflower. My co-worker Amy that was on Atkins told me about this alternative. So I zoomed over to my computer and thanks to allrecipes.com (my great friend) I had a great recipe. I steamed the broccoli with a garlic herb seasoning for about 15 minutes, drained it, added some of my wholesome spreadable butter - maybe a teaspoon, a tablespoon of weight watchers whipped cream cheese and a little parmesan cheese for taste. I mashed it all up and what I thought was going to be a soggy gross mess, only two minutes later, very much resembled mashed potatoes. (Doesn't it look like it!!!??) I steamed some green beans and was ready to dive in.

The tilapia was seasoned just right - not too much lemon or spice to cover the taste of the fish and it flaked apart wonderfully. I added just a hint of pepper to it to add a little more zest, but I'm definitely hooked and I hope they go on sale again soon. As for the cauliflower, it was amazingly great. Eventho it doesn't resemble the taste of potatoes at all, the texture and creamyness satisfied my needs. It was very yummy. I would not suggest adding anything like milk instead of cream cheese because the cauliflower is so liquidy already. I added just some pepper and a sprinkle more of parmesan and voila - uber yum. Oh and the beans were beans - nothing special done to them. Just something to fill me up.

So while I was still in a cleaning out the cupboards/health mode last night, I finally decided to do something with the bananas on top of my fridge. Banana bread was my first thought, but unfortunately I don't have a 9X5 pan (note to self - get one!). So I decided on muffins instead. It was the first recipe I found on allrecipes.com (I usually go with one of the top ones due to the ratings). This one had no oil or butter in it, so I gave it a shot.

3 over-ripe bananas, mashed

2 eggs, beaten

2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp. baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350 (which means 300 for me and up to 350 when you put them in. A little trick from Bobby Flay that allows muffins, cakes and other treats to brown evenly on top because of that burst of heat when it first goes in!) Blend egg and banana. In separate bowl, mix all dry ingredients. Slowly add dry ingredients to the egg/banana mix. I ended up adding just a tsp. of water to help thin it. Maybe a little more wouldn't have hurt. The recipe said I would only get 10 muffins, but I got 12. Definitely use liners because these are thick, heavy muffins. They took a little longer than the 25 but maybe my oven temp is off. So I tried one just this morning. You defiitely have to spread something on them because they are a drier muffin with no oil, but for only two eggs and 3/4 cup sugar of badness, I think these muffins are pretty dang good. I will definitely bookmark the recipe and possibly add some nuts (chocolate chips!!! shh!) to the recipe to spice it up.

So another successful time of cooking. I'm really waiting for a flop because I haven't had one in quite a while. But lets not pray on the bad and just enjoy the tasty. This weekend, I'm having appetizers and cocktails for my friends so you will definitely hear about those yummy creations next week (if I remember what they tasted like!!!)