Tilapia Poached in a Chipotle Mushroom Broth

Listen, I like gourmet foods. I really do. I love eating at fancy restaurants, I love truffles, I love anything foodie. But the thing is, that's about 8% of what I cook at home on a regular basis.

Money is tight for everyone these days. Everyone's talking about budgets and cutting back and doing without some of those luxuries we once indulged in. Even I am looking at ways on cutting back, especially moving from an apartment with a roommate, splitting expenses, to my own abode.

That's why I love this recipe. It's fancy enough to serve to guests, yet cheap enough that you can serve it without feeling guilty about blowing your food budget. This recipe serves 4 and cost less than $10!

And not only is it cost effective, but it's also dead-easy to make. I love poached fish recipes, because they really are almost foolproof! Since the fish is simmering in a flavorful broth, you'd really have to almost go completely out of your way to overcook it. The 2 chipotles give it a bit of a kick, so if you're sensitive to spicy foods, I'd use 1/2 to 1 pepper. Now go ahead and give this simple recipe a try - you'll have dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes!



Tilapia Poached in a Chipotle Mushroom Broth
Serves 4

Broth
2 chipotle peppers (I used the canned ones in adobo sauce)
1/4 c heavy cream
2 cups vegetable stock
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder

4 tilapia fillets
A bit of flour, salt, and pepper
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1/4 c fresh cilantro, minced

In food processor, process chipotle peppers and heavy cream until well combined. Add stock, garlic, cumin, and onion powder, and pulse until mixed. Meanwhile, lightly coat tilapia fillets with flour, seasoned with salt and pepper. Set aside.
In large flat skillet, heat a few tbsp of oil over medium heat. Add mushrooms and saute for 2 minutes. Push mushrooms to the side of the pan and add fillets. Allow to
brown for a minute on each side. Then pour broth over mushrooms and fish and cover pan. Allow to simmer 8-10 minutes, until fish is tender and cooked. Sprinkle fresh cilantro over dish and serve immediately. This would be excellent over rice so not a drop of the broth is wasted.

My kind of bracket competition!

I've never been one for March Madness. I mean, I can sit through a basketball game here or there, but I've never gotten into the frenzy of it all.

During my hiatus from this blog, I received an email from a reader who concocted a bracket out of all of the 28 Cooks' hummus recipes they wanted to try. What a fantastic idea! I'm curious to see who takes the entire thing - I know I would definitely have a hard time picking a winner out of a few of those listed.

And if you're a hummus lover and have yet to check out the 18 hummus recipes on this site, I'd suggest you stroll immediately over to the sidebar and give a few a try.

The First Meal

Wow - where have I been, right? It's been over 2 months since I've last blogged, and to me, it seems like much more than that. But it's not because I haven't wanted to get into the kitchen - I just haven't had the time. In short, in the past 2 months I:
*Finally graduated from college with a new degree
*Started a new job in a brand-new city
*Packed up and moved to new apartment in said city

I'm finally starting to get settled in my new home and am loving the quietness of the woods that my dining room and living room windows face. Although I still have to adjust to the lighting and windows for my photos, I thought I'd post a picture of the first meal I made tonight in my new home.

No recipes just yet, but I promise as soon as I complete the final move this weekend, I'll be back to share some recipes for all of that summer produce that is so plentiful.

For my first meal, I just had to use something fresh, so I decided to grab some lovely green beans and sauteed them in sesame oil with onion, garlic, and a few pinches of salt. I also tried this recipe for a vegetarian meatloaf option, adding more horseradish, as well as crushed red pepper, montreal steak seasoning, chopped fresh serrano peppers, and plenty of fresh garlic. It's not too bad, although I'll have to post my most favorite vegetarian meat loaf recipe sometime soon. Here's a look at the entire meal:



(please excuse the quality of the picture - my real camera is packed somewhere and I had to use my everyday one)

Enjoy the rest of your day and I'll see you on the flipside of the weekend!

Where have I been??

So it's been a crazy few weeks. I am about 3 weeks away from finally graduating from college, and I couldn't be more excited. I haven't spent more than a few minutes in my kitchen lately, so no new recipes or pictures today, but I promise some in the very near future.

I did, however, have a lovely experience at Pure Food and Wine, a raw restaurant in NYC. It was absolutely fantastic! I went with a group of friends, and all 6 of us decided to get the chef's tasting. I have pictures, so look for that post, along with a recipe from their cookbook that I've made.

But today's post is about the Kreativ Blogger award I was nominated for a few weeks ago and completely overlooked. I was nominated by the very lovely Raw Vegan Foodie, a blog that I admire and read frequently. She's got some lovely recipes, so take a minute to peruse her pictures and recipes.

Anyway, being nominated means:
1. I must share with you seven things that I love.
2. I must nominate seven other bloggers for the Award.

So...things I love.

First is definitely my family. I have the most incredible parents, who are always there to provide support and love me consistently, no matter what I'm doing or going through. They also inspire me by their knowledge and also their constant committment to be the best caring individuals they can be.

Second is my friends. I truly think I have some of the greatest friends in the world. Most of us have been friends since we graduated from high school some odd 12 years ago, and they always manage to entertain me and keep me laughing.

Thirdly, I love food. I love everything to do with food. I love to eat it, I love to cook it, I love to photograph it - I just love it. I could literally spend hours combing through cookbooks and recipes, jotting down notes and ideas for new recipes. If I'm feeling incredibly stressed, nothing calms me down quite like cooking.

Fourth, I love my job. I've been working in Child Welfare in the abuse unit, and I haven't loved a job quite like this. There are days that I wonder why I like it so much, but for the most part, I enjoy my part in keeping kids safe.

The fifth thing I love is sun and warm weather. Seriously. I don't know if it's because I was born in California or if I'm just a sun baby, but I absolutely adore the sunshine. I even love those hot muggy days when you walk outside and you almost can't catch you're breath, it's that hot.

Sixth on my list is probably traveling. Having grown up as a missionary kid, I had some wonderful opportunities to live and travel in different countries. As an adult, I still try to use my passport as often as possible.

And the seventh thing that I love is honestly just my life. I turned 31 this year, which wasn't nearly as scary as I thought it may be. I'm blessed with so many different opportunites, and I'm surrounded by some of the greatest people in the world. I don't think I've ever felt as comfortable with myself as I have these past few years.

Alright, and now that I've been sappy enough, it's time to nominate 7 bloggers that inspire me, and this task was probably harder than the 7 things I love! I just checked my bloglines and my food blogs list totals almost 250! So picking out just 7 that inspire me was a tough job.

A blog I've been reading for quite some time is Green and Crunchy. Her family has finally transitioned to all raw vegan, which is incredible given that she has 5 lovely children she also homeschools. She's got some great kid-friendly ideas for feeding your children raw-style.

Raw Epicurean is a beautiful website, and not only has some great recipes, but is also chock-full of great information.

Everybody Likes Sandwiches is a blog that's been on my list for years. She's spunky and has great style and I love reading her blog for fantastic ideas.

Another great blog is Straight from the Farm. It's a blog after my own heart, eating fresh and local produce. Her photography is awesome and it's very inspiring to read.

I must have dozens of recipes printed out from Adventures of Raw Goddess Heathy. Even if you're not a raw foodist, as I aspire to be at some point, she's got some great healthy raw recipes that you shouldn't miss out on.

Rawmazing is another great blog from a raw foodist. She's got some really tasty cracker and bread recipes that are on my list of things to try.

And finally, the Urban Vegan is another one of my must clicks. Great recipes, but also lots of great information about saving money and being green-friendly.

Well, that's all she wrote! This post was supposed to have pictures in it, but my photo software wasn't working at the moment, so I skipped them.

Have a great rest of the weekend!

Vegetable Quiche To Go

I often struggle with eating breakfast in the morning. It's not that I don't have the time, it's just that I usually forget or don't put the effort into it. Then of course I'm starving by 9:30 and scrounging through the office looking for something to eat.

I discovered these in a South Beach Diet cookbook, but they really are quite fantastic for anyone's breakfast. One batch makes enough for almost a week's worth of meals, and they store well in the fridge. They're exceptionally easy to make and only take about 35 minutes from start to finish. They also freeze well, so you can easily have these on hand to pop into the microwave on those busy mornings. I used mushrooms, onion, and spinach, but you could easily substitute whatever veggies you have on hand - green peppers, tomatoes, asparagus, etc. Here are some tasty variations:

Feeling Greek? Throw in spinach, feta, and mushrooms.
Feeling Mexican? Try adding some salsa, green peppers, and some mexican spices.
Feeling Fancy? Try smoked salmon, chopped red onion, and capers.

The possibilites are virtually endless. So go ahead and give this quick breakfast a try!



Vegetable Quiche To Go
Makes 6 servings

2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 c chopped onion
1 c chopped mushrooms
1 c chopped fresh spinach leaves
1 c shredded cheese
2 cups Egg Beaters (or equivalent in real eggs)
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 to 1 tsp of your favorite seasoning salt
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes (optional)
Pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350. In saucepan, heat oil over medium high heat. Add onion and mushroom, and saute until tender, about 3 minutes. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from heat. Place foil muffin liners in a 12-cup muffin pan. Place 1 tbsp of vegetable mixture in each cup. Top with a pinch of cheese. In a large bowl, whisk egg beaters with seasonings and evenly divide into muffin cups. Place into oven and bake for 20 minutes, or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool and remove liners. Store in refrigerator or freezer.

Winners!

Alright - so the time has come to pick the winners. I'm very excited to be giving 5 copies of this delicious book to some very lucky readers. So without further ado, the winners, as chosen by Random.org, along with their most favorite baked goods, are:

1 - Carrie, who says, "Cinnamon buns! I like to make them because they seem extra special, but they're not that difficult. And they taste so gooey and good."

2 - Ashley, who has a penchant for "Moist, savory quickbreads. Mmmmm."

3 - DS, who says that their "favorite baked dessert is Rhubarb Crunch from the Mennonite Cook Book."

4 - Katie Nell likes "most baked goods, but probably my favorite is coffeecake, of any kind!"

and 5 - Kickpleat, who loves a good "coconut and raspberry jam bar. mmm."

Congratulations, winners! Please contact me at 28 cooks AT gmail DOT com so that I can mail off your cookbook!

Back from Jamaica with a Cookbook Giveaway!

So I'm back to business here at 28Cooks. And during my absence, I actually took a much-needed vacation to Jamaica. It was absolutely incredible! We stayed at a newer resort in Runaway Bay, the Gran Bahia Principe, which I highly recommend. It was huge with over 860 rooms, but it never felt crowded. The food was actually pretty good, considering it was an all-inclusive, and we only stood in 1 line for about 5 minutes for dinner one night. We also got the chance to climb the Dunn's River Waterfalls, which were beautiful and amazing, as well as take a Jeep tour down through a few towns and then up into the mountains. All in all, it was a fantastic trip.

And when I returned, I found a box of cookbooks awaiting me. A publishing company had offered to send me 1, but actually sent me 6! So their mistake is your gain! I'm giving away 5 copies of Baking Unplugged.



This book is specifically taking baking back to the basics and starting from scratch. There are plenty of good old recipes, such as Sour Cream Crumb Cake, Blueberry Muffins, and Moist Vanilla Pound Cake.

And all you have to do is simply leave me a comment and tell me what your favorite baked good is, whether it is to bake it or to eat it. That's it! Simply leave your comment by March 14th and I'll pick a winner at random and post on the 15th.

Good Luck! And now I'm off to adjust to the cold weather...