Recipe: The Best Lasagna

Lasagna recipe over at My Convertible Life.

It's delicious -- trust me, you want this recipe.

Recipe: Marbled Chocolate Treats

If you get this holiday treat from me, pretend you don't know how crazy easy it is to make. Over the years, I've slightly modified this recipe from Kraft -- a tasty and simple treat that makes a pretty gift to share with teachers, friends and neighbors. Assuming, of course, that my husband and children don't eat them all before I get them out of the house.


Marbled Chocolate Treats

Ingredients:

• 10 honey grahams, broken in half (20 squares) 
• 6 squares semi-sweet baking chocolate 
• 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter (optional)
• 3 squares premium white baking chocolate 

Directions:

1. Line 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides of pan. Arrange grahams on bottom of pan, cutting as needed to completely cover bottom of pan; set aside. 
2. Microwave semi-sweet chocolate and peanut butter (optional) in medium microwaveable bowl on HIGH 1-1/2 to 2 min. or until chocolate is completely melted when stirred, stirring every 30 sec. Stir until well blended. Pour over grahams; spread with spatula to cover completely. 
3. Repeat microwave melting steps with the white chocolate. Drop spoonfuls of the white chocolate over chocolate-covered grahams. Immediately cut through the chocolate mixtures with knife several times for tiger-stripe effect. 
4. Refrigerate at least 1 hour or until firm. Use foil handles to remove dessert from pan. Peel off foil. Break dessert into bars. Store in tightly covered container in refrigerator. 

Recipe: Crispy Tilapia

Like most parents, I'm always in search of recipes that are easy, tasty, healthy and popular with the whole family. At our house, one of the favorites in this category is crispy tilapia.

I buy the fish whenever it's on sale at HT and keep it in the freezer -- it's easy to defrost in the fridge a day or two before we use it. I usually cook two filets at a time -- slice each in half, with three halves for the grown ups and one half cut into nuggets for the kids (we call them "special nuggets" to make them more appealing).

What really makes the recipe easy to prepare is that I mix up a ziploc bag of the breading (usually double what's listed here, which gets us through several dinners) so that I can just pull it out of the pantry when we're ready to eat. The only downfall of the recipe is that the leftovers aren't as good, so you're better off just cooking enough for one meal. For sides, I like to steam or stir-fry whatever green veggies are in the fridge, plus some ready-made mashed potatoes.

Crispy Tilapia

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs tilapia fillets, about 10
• 1/3 cup flour, for dusting fish
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
• salt
• pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 tablespoons Old Bay Seasoning
• canola oil, to cover bottom of large pan

Directions:

1. Salt and pepper fish. Dust fillets with 1/3 cup of flour.
2. Mix egg with buttermilk in one bowl.
3. Mix flour, corn meal, baking soda and baking powder, Old Bay in another bowl.
4. Dip all floured fish into egg then flour mixture.
5. Heat oil medium-high in large pan.
6. Fry in three batches, turning after 2 minutes on each side.
7. Salt as soon as you take out of pan.
8. Serve with tartar sauce.

Recipe and photo from recipezaar.com.

Recipe: Pineapple Pork Tenderloin

"New Music Monday" has gone by the wayside now that I'm not on my own on Mondays... Pippi and I spend Monday mornings together while Junius is at preschool, so we often wind up at the grocery store.

So instead of music today, I thought I'd share one of my favorite crockpot recipes, stolen from another blog. What I love about this recipe: it's easy, it's delicious, my kids will eat pork tenderloin and it makes tasty leftovers. Enjoy!

Pineapple Pork Tenderloin CrockPot Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 pound pork tenderloin
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pepper
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 orange bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, seeded and sliced
• 2 tablespoons gluten free soy sauce
• 1/2 cup apple juice
• 16 ounces frozen or canned pineapple

Directions:

1. Combine meat, sugar, spices, and cornstarch in a plastic zipper bag (I add a little extra of the spices). Seal and shake well to coat. Pour contents of bag into crockpot.
2. Add garlic and peppers on top of the meat so that they're not soaking on the bottom.
3. Pour in soy sauce, apple juice, and an entire bag of frozen pineapple. (I add an extra splash of the soy sauce because I like the salty flavor.)
4. Cover and cook on low for 7-9 hours, or on high for 4-6. (The recipe said she cooked hers on high for 2 hours, then on low for another 6.)
5. Serve with rice or pasta. (I like to serve mine over rice.)