A Jeanne in the Kitchen

Tilapia are mainly freshwater fish inhabiting shallow streams, ponds, rivers, and lakes, and less commonly found living in brackish water. While Tilapia is often raised in fish farms around the globe, the species is native to the Middle East and Africa. Tilapia is the fourth-most consumed fish in the United States dating back to 2002. The popularity of tilapia came about due to its low price, easy preparation, and mild taste. Tilapia is an excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids and protein, both of which are important for good health.

We love all kinds of seafood, and eat quite a bit of it, especially while we are on our diving expeditions and trips to the seashore. Tilapia is one of those fish that finds its way into our menu plans quite frequently too. Because it is a lighter, whitefish, without a heavy “fishy” taste, Larry likes it better than many other types of seafood. I grew up eating seafood of all kinds and I don’t mind that “fishy” taste so much, but I have to say, the whitefishes are some of my favorites too. That being said, we pulled some tilapia out of the freezer, and into the culinary rotation it went. This time, I pan-fried it and served it with a creamy spinach sauce over rice. Tilapia is what we had on hand, but this sauce would go very nicely over any type of whitefish.

Tilapia with Creamy Spinach Sauce

1 lb tilapia, or any other whitefish

3-4 cups baby spinach, stems removed, chopped

1 shallot, chopped fine

1 TBSP garlic

2 TBSP lime juice

1 cup heavy whipping cream

salt & pepper to taste

butter for finishing the sauce

Saute the spinach, garlic and shallots in a hot skillet with olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. You can use either white or black pepper, but I actually prefer the black pepper. I think it add more character.

When the spinach is wilted, removed the mixture from the skillet and add the line juice. Reduce until most of the liquid is gone, then add the cream.

Once the cream and lime juice are thoroughly mixed, re-add the spinach mixture. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer, and continue to cook, stirring constantly, for about 7-10 minutes. Turn off the heat, then add some butter in for the finish and incorporate well.

Lightly coat the the tilapia with salt and pepper and panfry in a hot skillet with a combination of both butter and olive oil until golden brown.

When both the fish and the sauce are done, it is time to serve it up. I served it over some of my leftover lime rice with a medley of summer vegetables. My wine of choice was a crisp, citrusy chardonnay. It was a deliciously light meal, which was just perfect for a summer’s evening out on the deck.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

Just some more pretty flowers from my daily walk-abouts. Seeing the flowers always puts a smile on my face and adds a spring to my step.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Enjoy all the flowers that come your way. We can all use a little more beauty and sunshine in our lives.

We often cook a lot of things up in quantity and then freeze them to pull out at a later time. We had some brisket that we smoked and froze awhile ago and it just made its way into our culinary rotation. What was I going to do with all this brisket. HMMMMM?????? I turned it into an Asian stir-fry with a teriyaki sauce and vegetables that I served over some leftover pasta with some fried potsitckers on the side. Because my dish was a beef dish, I served it with a smooth red blend as my wine choice.

You would think with a name like teriyaki that this sauce originated in Japan. You would only be partially correct though. It can trace its origins to the Japanese shoyu sauce, but teriyaki sauce is actually an American creation, born in Hawai’i, around the early 1960’s, when large amounts of Japanese immigrants were settling into the islands. Teriyaki sauce is a unique marinade that was created using local products such as pineapple juice and brown sugar that were blended together in soy sauce. Today, teriyaki is widely recognized the world over, and is now more or less a way of cooking rather than just a very popular sauce.

Teriyaki Beef and Vegetable Stir-Fry

Stir-fries are as versatile as they come, and you can use any combination of meats, seafoods and vegetables you like. This time I used some red and yellow bell peppers, green beans, mushrooms, green onions, red onions, ginger, garlic and cilantro with my beef brisket.

I started off with what I had left of my store bought teriyaki sauce, then I added to it to make it even better.

1/3 cup teriyaki sauce

1 tsp Chinese 5-Spices

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 heaping TBSP cornstarch

Combine it all together and mix well.

My meat was already cooked, so I just sliced into thin strips and set it aside.

Slice the vegetables and saute together with the garlic and ginger until they are tender. Then add the beef and mix together well.

Add the meat and mix everything together thoroughly, then add the sauce. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the sauce thickens a bit. It is now ready to serve over either pasta or rice and enjoy.

Enjoy or otherwise stated, Eigo o tanoshimu.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We have been seeing an awful lot of dragonflies all around lately. This is a good thing though, not only because they are beautiful and a bit exotic, but also because they eat all the mosquitoes. For me being a mosquito magnet, this is GREAT NEWS. One single dragonfly can eat anywhere between 30-100’s of mosquitoes per day. The more mosquitos the dragonflies eat, the less the mosquitoes will eat me. I say eat away dragonflies, eat away. Though mosquitoes are a personal favorite of the dragonflies, they also like to eat the flies and other insects too. They are a natural sort of pest control. Seeing a lot of dragonflies flying around is a sign of a good, healthy ecosystem. Many gardeners welcome them into their yards because they kill off a lot of the pests and other insects that love to feast in the gardens.

Dragonflies and their cousins, the damselflies, have long been thought to represent change, transformation, adaptability, and self-realization. The change that is often referred to has its source in mental and emotional maturity and understanding the deeper meaning of life. In some cultures, dragonflies represent good luck or prosperity. So make a wish when you see a dragonfly and it’ll come true. … Plenty of dragonflies meant there were plenty of fish around. If a dragonfly hovered near the fisherman, he took it as a good luck sign. The Bible even says that seeing dragonflies is the bringer of light in the darkness of people’s hearts (2nd Corinthians 4:6). Who knew?

There are roughly 5,000 different varieties of dragonflies flying around the world today. Each one has a lifespan of roughly 6 months. We don’t have all 5,000 varieties here in my backyard, but we do have quite a few. They have been very difficult to get pictures of, but yesterday, I got lucky.

Dragonflies

And Damselflies

Enjoy your day. Make the most of it. Today is the gift and tomorrow is never promised.

Beauty is definitely in the eye of the beholder. There is no doubt about that. But beauty can definitely be found in all things, and in the most unexpected places. With this Flower a Day Challenge, I have been focusing on all kinds of flowers. All of them are beautiful in their own way; all of them are very different.

Weeds are something that most of us complain about because they are a general nuisance and pain in the neck. But they can also be quite beautiful too. Take the sunflower for instance. It is technically considered a weed, though the flowers are gorgeous. I LOVE sunflowers. And did you know dandelions are actually part of the same family as sunflowers? They are, and they too can be quite beautiful as well, if you get beyond the fact that they grow, well, like weeds. 🙂 Today, I am going to show you some of our “beautiful dandelion weeds”.

They just look like beautiful, colorful flowers to me. This bee is quite happy with the dandelion. Even bears love dandelions. When bears come out of hibernation, they look for the dandelions. They are a great nutrient for them and are full of the fat they need after a long winter’s nap. Plus they give them a nice little buzz as well. So see, even weeds have a purpose.

Look for the beauty wherever you can. We all need a more beauty in our lives, even if they come from the most unexpected sources.

I love cherries and I love how they are so versatile too. You can eat them one after another by just popping them in your mouth, or you can bake them into to breads or desserts, or you can prepare savory dishes with them too. Any which way you prepare them, they are always going to turn our great. They add so much flavor to any dish.

Cherries are what are known as stone fruits, or fruits that have a flesh or pulp enclosing a stone, such as a peach, plum, or cherry. They are also known as drupes. The pit is often referred to as the stone or the pit too. Cherries are very healthy and are loaded with Vitamin C and fiber. Cherries are grown all over the world and are used for many different foods, but the top cherry producing areas are Turkey, the United States, Iran, Spain, and Italy. In the United States, some of the important sweet cherry cultivars are Rainier, Bing, Ulster, Tulare, Brooks, and King. I love all the cherries, but I think the Bings are my favorite.

I have been in a cherry mood lately. As you know, I just made a whole bunch of mini cherry scones for my church coffee cart. Mini Cherry Scones They were a huge success. I served them with a bunch of other nibblies, and by the end of our church gathering, all that was left on my try were just a few tiny morsels. Everything else was graciously devoured. I also made some cherry brownies not to long ago as well that I gave to our new neighbors, that were yet another huge success. Being Neighborly And most recently, I turned my cherries into a delicious savory meal as well, by using them as a sauce with pork chops.

I love the combination of cherries and lime. They have such a unique flavor. I love them both on their own, and I also love them when combined together. For my sauce, that is exactly what I did too. I combined cherries, lime juice, cilantro, green and red onions and my hot and spicy honey. Our taste buds were most definitely doing the happy dance with this one.

We almost always buy a big pork loin and then slice our own pork chops form it, leaving a large portion as a pork loin too. This way, we can make our pork chops nice and thick, just how we like them. Once again, Costco, only my favorite place to shop. 🙂

Pork Chops with Cherry Lime Sauce

2 lbs thick-cut pork chops

1 TBSP garlic

1/4 red onion, sliced very thin

1/4 cup green onions, sliced thin

1-2 cup cups cherries, cut in half and pitted

1/3 cup lime juice

1- 2 tsp lime peel, optional

1 TBSP hot and spicy honey

3 TBSP lime olive oil, or just plain olive oil

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped fine

Combine everything together and use as a marinade for the pork. Let it marinade for at least 3-4 hours before cooking, making sure to turn the pork over after about 2 hours.

Once you are ready to cook the pork, put it on a hot grill and grill it to perfection.

While the pork is cooking, cook down the sauce on the stove. Bring it to a boil then reduce the heat to a simmer and continue to cook down, stirring occasionally, for about 10-15 minutes.

When both the pork and the sauce are ready, it is time to serve it up. I served it over lime rice with asparagus on the side. I completed the meal with a cool, crisp chardonnay. (This is some of the wines I bought when I was in Idaho, back in April. Hitting the Caldwell Wine Trail) It was so colorful and tasty and a perfect summer meal.

Stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

We see hummingbirds flitting around quite frequently, but they are so hard to get pictures of because they rarely slow down. But this time, I got very lucky. We were dining out on our beloved deck and I spied a wee little bird high up in the trees. Fortunately I had my camera with me, and I zoomed in as much as I could. And to my surprise, I got him. I got a few shots of him before he was off flitting about once more.

This is a little Calliope Hummingbird. At most he is only between 3-4 inches long. These are definitely some very lucky shots.

Sometimes you just have to take a chance and go for it. Sometimes, you just might get lucky.

Flowers come in all shapes and forms, from many different plants. They grow from the ground, they grow on trees and they are the beginnings of delicious vegetables. Some even come from various different types of succulents too. The flowering cacti are just as beautiful as all the other flowers, though they may be a bit more prickly.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Enjoy all the flowers from all their sources. They are all beautiful in their own way.

We love Mexican food and eat it quite often, in many different ways, at our house. Fajitas are always a quick and easy favorite of ours. Fajitas are a Tex-Mex creation, that came about from when the Mexican ranch workers were living in West Texas along the Rio Grande in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Money was tight for everyone, so often times, the workers were paid in meat. Fajitas are any combination of thinly stripped meats and/or vegetables that are usually grilled and combined with peppers and onions and Mexican spices and are eaten with either corn or flour tortillas. Once meat became more readily available, the fajita craze traveled and became popular all over the South Western parts of the United States as well as California. Today, they are a staple in just about any Mexican restaurant anywhere you go.

And now, fajitas cane be made into salads as well. When I make my fajitas, I make them with a lot of vegetables and Mexican spices and seasonings. The other day, I used up the leftover rotisserie chicken as my meat, but made the fajitas as I normally do, then turned it all into a delicious salad. I made a creamy cilantro dressing to top it all.

For the fajitas, as usual, there is no ONE way to make them, so I will not even try to say there is. But here is the way I made them this time. I thinly sliced some red, green and yellow bell peppers, red onions, and mushrooms, that I sauteed together with garlic, thyme, cumin and oregano in olive oil and my new Lime Olive oil as well. My chicken was already cooked, so I just shredded it and tossed it with cilantro. Then I fried up the thinly sliced tortilla strips until they were golden brown. When the vegetables were tender, I added the chicken and cilantro just to heat them up.

Creamy Lime Cilantro Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

3 TBSP lime juice

3 TBSP fresh cilantro, chopped fine

1 TBSP lime olive oil (optional)

2-3 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP garlic

Mix everything together well and chill until ready to use.

For the fajitas, I wanted them warm so as soon as they were cooked, I layered them onto a bed of mixed baby greens, and then topped everything with the dressing and tortilla strips. In addition, Larry’s salad had two kinds of cheese, both cheddar and Cotija cheese, which is a Mexican cheese similar to goat cheese, and my salad had some avocado slices. !Esta muy deliciozo! !Que Bueno!

Make the most of your day and stay safe and stay well Everyone. ‘Til next time.

There are still lots more flowers coming your way. I look for them everywhere I go. Sometimes you have to look down, and sometimes, you have to look up, and sometimes you have to look all around, but they are there, just waiting to be noticed. These purple beauties are more tree flowers from my neighbor’s yard.

http://viewfromtheback.com/2021/08/03/cees-flower-of-the-day-130/

Challenge rules, why not join in?

1.Feel free to post every day or whenever you you feel like it.  You can either post new flower photos or dig back into your archives.

2. Depending on the time of year, you can post any of these types of things for your FOTD.

• Single flowers
• Buds
• Multiple flowers
• Bouquet
• Flower fields
• Wildflowers
• Tree or bush blossoms
• Autumn leaves
• Spring leaves
• Decorative Cabbage
• Berries
• Still life
• Fake or Silk Flowers

Just keep your eyes opened. You never know what you will see or where you will see it.