Great breaded tilapia

Bought this tilapia from Costco. Best bet is to cook at 375deg for about 15 minutes flip and cook other side for 15 minutes or until browned and cooked thoroughly.

The tartar sauce is the best. 2 tbsp lite mayo, 1 tbsp polish mustard, 1 tspn ground pepper and 1 tspn of sweet pickle relish. Really good with a light fish like tilapia. Enjoy.

Burgers with the works

1/4 lb ground sirloin
1 cup sautéed onions
Old Bay Seasoning
Chopped cherry peppers
Mayo to taste
Cut lettuce

Sauté onions and cook burgers, season to taste.

Spread mayo on the top of the buns, spread chopped red cherry peppers on the mayo, place lettuce on the peppers. Build your burger and enjoy. So good and so easy to make.

Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet & Sticking to It

Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet & Sticking to It

Garlic resource

I will keep this short and sweet. Found a website that has some great info regarding garlic, the health benefits, how to prepare and use in food, etc. Garlic is such a great spice/root. I love it and use it often. Enjoy.

http:/www.garlic-central.com/garlic-101.html

JC's Hearty Chili

This is a recipe that I changed somewhat from an Epicurious.com recipe. It is real easy to make with a large crockpot. I have added much more spice to make this hearty and full of flavor.

Ingredients:
2 lb. lean ground beef, sirloin is awesome in this.
1 large diced onion
2 cups diced red, orange, green peppers (use what you like, or what is cheapest)
1/2 cup diced smoked jalapeno peppers
2 tbsp chili powder (I use 3 in mine)
1 tbsp cayenne pepper
1 tbsp cumin
1 tbsp paprika
3 tbsp garlic
1 tbsp black pepper
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups water
1/4 cup brown sugar
dash or two of cinnamon

Ok here we go, this is too easy if you use a large crock pot

Brown the beef in a pot or pan with the diced onion.
At the same time, combine all the other in the crockpot on high heat.

When cooked thoroughly and browned to your taste, drain liquid completely as possible and add to crockpot. Cook in crockpot on high heat for about 2 hours.

With a dash of sour cream, this is the best. Reasonable burn, but no pain, lots of flavor, and not horribly bad for you. I have added a can of rinsed black beans to this with good results. Serves a lot :-)

Enjoy.

My new favorite spices

I've been trying to do some experimenting with spices for the past year or so. My goal is to determine how spices affect food taste. I think of myself as a cooking chemist, attempting to find interesting combinations of spices and foods. These are just some of the preliminary findings and please keep in mind these are MY OPINIONS based on my eating habits, my unsophisticated palette, and my quest for low fat/low carb foods to eat. OK, let's go.....

Paprika

The smokiness of paprika really intrigues my taste buds. Paprika has a slight bite to it but I have never found it to be overbearing. It also adds great color to food as well.

I would recommend using paprika in recipes that feature eggs, chicken, fish, and even in creamy dressings.

Garlic and onion

Mixing garlic and onion and browning onions is one of the most delicious combinations on the planet, bar none. If you are looking for a topping for a burger, salmon, even shrimp...try this...brown diced onions in olive oil, and then add in and stir in crushed garlic to taste. Oh my God!!!!

You can also dump this into your favorite salsa to give it a burst of flavor. (May store bought salsas are quite bland, except for Jack's Special Salsa found at Costco, it's out of this world great.)

Onions and garlic are great for you as well, eat as much of these as you can for good health.

Cayenne pepper or Curry powder

To test your palette, use cayenne or curry in eggs, on potatoes (in limited doses), on meats....especially if topping these foods with a good cheddar cheese. These peppers can make you sweat a little but are chock full of flavor. I don't understand the chemistry yet, but it is a flavor enhancer in these foods and is much better for you than salt. I love it.

Black pepper and salt

Believe it or not, black pepper is a wonderful way to make a dull food exciting. And you can call me a 'pepper snob' but in using plain pepper, you have to pay up for good black pepper, do not go cheap. I am as cheap as anyone but I have to tell you all that good black pepper is well worth it, and the more expensive black peppers are not THAT much more expensive. And expensive black pepper is less expensive than other spices, so if you are looking for flavor and don't want to spend a lot, high quality black pepper could be for you.

This is just a start for me. I am also looking at many other spices and will report as I gather more information to recommend for foods and recipes. If you have any ideas for spice/food combinations, please share with me.

Happy eating.

Great Broccoli Cheese Soup

This is a quick and easy recipe that I tweaked to make it the soup that it is. Leftovers of this stuff are the very best.

Ingredients:
32 oz of chicken broth
2-4 cups of cheese - I prefer cheddar, but use your favorites and play with it to suit your taste
1 cup of half and half
1 cup of finely minced onion
1/2 cup of all purpose flour
2-3 tsp of black pepper
1 tsp of red pepper or cayenne pepper
1 tsp paprika
4-6 cups of finely chopped broccoli

Combine all the ingredients and stir to mix in the flour. Heat to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer.

While heating, chop up your broccoli and mix. I like to put a lot of the little broccoli stems in the soup along with a little larger pieces to provide some texture.

Let cook for 15-30 minutes on simmer, again play with the time it to make the broccoli as soft as you prefer it, stirring occasionally.