Thursday, March 11, 2010

Cranberry Spice Handmade Soap Etsy Feature

Guys I am too excited, I just got out of a meeting and had a post to my FB FanPage (www.facebook.com/kkfans) and discovered that my Cranberry Spice soap (http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=38780031) was featured on the frontpage. Came to the front page and it had already disappeared so I went to http://www.craftcult.com/etsyfeatured.php to verify it and sure enough it is true. This was a first for me YEAH!

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Thoughts on Almond-Crusted Tilapia

Okay, as promised. I said I would come back and give my thoughts on the Almond-Crusted Tilapia recipe that I posted yesterday from allrecipes.com. It is delicious. I finished dinner right before 6 so I didn’t feel guilty sampling the fish since I am suppose to stop eating at 6. Anyway, I made a few changes. Instead of using Parmasean (which I thought I had in the fridge) I used low fat cheddar cheese. Since I cooked 8 fillets I ran out of the almond cheese mixture, so I used Italian seasoned bread crumbs for the last 3 or so fillets. Also after sautéing the first 4 fillets in the pan, the butter disappeared. So for the rest of the fillets I used 3 tablespoons of olive oil. The next time I make this I will either crush the almonds to a fine powder or save time and use the bread crumbs. I loved the almonds however my youngest son didn’t care for it. I will also use either all egg whites or one egg and one egg white. In addition, I will use whole wheat flour instead of white flour. For my side dishes I prepared brown rice and a medley of vegetables (zucchini, squash, carrots and cauliflower). Tonight I plan to prepare a low-fat chicken lasagna recipe and I hope I can locate a good recipe.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Almond-Crusted Tilapia

Okay, many of you know that I had a bundle of joy on 1/4/10. Prior to her arrival I was on a serious healthy living kick (which is probably how I got pregnant, eggs that where dormant came to life…lol). I was working out and eating right. Well now that little Ms. Wynter is here I am trying to pick up where I left off. I have eliminated red meat from my diet (the Baconator from Wendy’s was my best friend during pregnancy). I only eat fish, chicken and turkey that is broiled, grilled or baked. I double and often times triple my vegetable servings and aim for much smaller portions all while eating frequently. In addition I am exercising at least 45 minutes 3 days a week (my favorite exercise right now is walking on the treadmill because I can hold my baby while I walk). Anyway back to my eating habits. Instead of having a good portion for breakfast, lunch and dinner, I break my meals up to the point that I am eating 5 small meals a day and 2 snacks. You know how the saying goes, eat breakfast like a king, lunch like a prince(ss) and dinner like you’re deprived. I also make my own snacks instead of buying things like cereal bars, trail mixes, etc. This to me is just like making soap I can control what I put in it, which I love.

Eating just fish, chicken and turkey can become real boring very fast for some people and I happen to be part of the some. Therefore I am always on a quest to find different things to do with my meats of choice. So today I found a recipe that sounded wonderful on allrecipes.com (submitted by Michelle Woolf) called Almond-Crusted Tilapia. I am preparing this for dinner, which my family will eat but I will take it for lunch tomorrow…forgot to mention that I cut my eating off at 6:00. I will hopefully post tomorrow my thoughts on this recipe that received great reviews. Here it is

Ingredients
2 eggs
1 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 teaspoon garlic pepper
1 cup ground almonds
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 (6 ounce) tilapia fillets
1/4 cup all-purpose flour for dusting
6 tablespoons butter
salt to taste
1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
8 sprigs parsley
8 lemon wedges

Directions
1. Beat the eggs with the lemon pepper and garlic pepper until blended; set aside. Stir together ground almonds with 1 cup of Parmesan cheese in a shallow dish until combined; set aside. Dust the tilapia fillets with flour, and shake off excess. Dip the tilapia in egg, then press into the almond mixture.
2. Melt butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook tilapia in melted butter until golden brown on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side. Reduce heat to medium, and season fillets with salt if desired. Sprinkle the tilapia with the remaining Parmesan cheese, cover, and continue cooking until the Parmesan cheese has melted, about 5 minutes.
3. Transfer the tilapia to a serving dish, and garnish with parsley springs and lemon wedges to serve.

Monday, March 8, 2010

Back to work cont'd

Today was my first day back to work from maternity leave. I must say the day went a lot better than I thought it would. Even though I did some work from home while on maternity leave it was much better doing it from my desk at work. I had very little distraction and it felt good to be able to get out of the house and interact with some adults even though I was working.

I did not do much business related stuff today however I did manage to unpack an order that had been sitting in my foyer since Saturday. I got a load of fragrances in some old and some new. The two new ones that I think will be favorites are Honeysuckle Grapefruit and Stress Relief. Honeysuckle Grapefruit is very nice and the grapefruit has a very strong presence. The honeysuckle doesn’t come through as much however it does mellow the grapefruit out so that it is not as tart, kind of hard to explain this complex fragrance that would be very nice for the summer. Stress Relief in my opinion doesn’t really live up to its name. When I think of a stress reliever I think of something that would have me melting at the moment I smell it. Even though this is a very nice fragrance it is just not the wow I was looking for. It is a balanced soft floral scent.