Catfish Cakes

I really like crab cakes. But crab meat is expensive. Solution: catfish cakes! These taste so close to the real thing, and they weren't even that hard to make (for some reason I had built up crab cakes in my head to be a labor-intesive and difficult food)!

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
1 pound catfish filets (I used the frozen kind - three big filets!)
1 small onion, chopped
1 teaspoon prepared yellow mustard (I used spicy brown mustard)
1 tablespoon creamy salad dressing (I used Mayo w/ olive oil)
1 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper (I'm not sure how much of this I really used... I just dumped it in there)
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder (again, not sure exactly how much I used)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups coarsely crushed buttery round crackers (I used Club crackers)
1 egg
1 cup vegetable oil (for frying)

Directions:
1. Boil catfish in water for about 5 minutes, or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Drain the fish, and mash it up with a fork. (You could also bake the fish and then mash it)
2. Stir the onion, mustard, seasonings, crushed crackers, and salad dressing into the mashed fish.
3. Add the egg and mix until evenly blended.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Form the fish mixture into patties.
5. Take each patty and dip both sides in flour. Then, put into the oil. Fry on each side, and drain on paper towels.

Now for the explanatory photographs:

I think I left my catfish boiling a little too long. It flaked with a fork WAY too easily when I tried to get it out of the water!

Here's my catfish post-fork-mashing.

Chopped onions! (anyone else's eye's get watery just looking at this? Oh, classical conditioning.)

The best way to crush crackers is to stick them in a freezer-duty bag and then hit it with your fists until you're feeling totally stress-free!

Here's the mixture with everything added in...

Dipping the patties in flour...

Mmmm, fried food! If you're like me and you haven't fried anything in a while, you should make this recipe. I so enjoyed the sizzling on the stove!

Ta-da!

We ate them just by themselves with green beans, but some sort of tartar sauce would be yummy with them!

Enjoy!!

Oatmeal Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Or, "Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies" (if you leave out the walnuts!).

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 1/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

3 cups quick cooking oats (I used the old-fashioned, not quick-cooking kind, and it was fine)

1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

2. Cream together the butter and both sugars until smooth.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

4. Add in the flour, baking soda, and salt. Stir until just blended.

5. Mix in the oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. 

6. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet sprayed with cooking spray.

7. Bake for 12ish minutes. Cool on wire racks.

8. Eat with a glass of milk! Mmmm!

These were a favorite at law school as well... hopefully you'll enjoy them too! Happy baking!

Spinach-Artichoke Chicken Things

Wow. I should come up with a better name for these. Seriously. Who wants to make "Spinach Artichoke Chicken Things?"

But you do want to make them, I promise. These are soooo good! This recipe's on my top ten list for this year. I think. Yum, yum, and yum. It might have something to do with my love for crescent rolls. Maybe.

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts cut into little strips/cubes
1 package frozen spinach
1 can drained artichoke hearts
8 oz sour cream
1 1/4 cups shredded Parmesan cheese
3/4 tsp Garlic Powder
A few pinches of salt
2 cans of crescent rolls
2 tbsp olive oil

Directions:
1. Heat olive oil in a skillet and cook chicken strips on medium heat for 5ish minutes on each side (or until done).
2. Add in frozen spinach and drained artichokes and cook for 7ish more minutes. (I mashed the artichoke hearts with a spoon after a couple minutes so they would be in smaller pieces)
3. Add in sour cream, 1 cup of the Parmesan cheese (save the other 1/4 cup!), garlic powder, and salt.
4. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Open up crescent rolls and unroll. Put a small amount of the chicken mixture on each one, and fold up (I folded the two big corners around the sides, and pulled the pointy corner over the top).
5. Sprinkle the rest of the Parmesan cheese over the tops of the rolls, and cook 10-12 minutes (or until crescent rolls are lightly browned).

And to make this recipe even better.... you'll probably end up with a little leftover chicken mixture, and you can stick it between two tortillas and cook it and a frying pan to make a GREAT quesadilla lunch!

Enjoy!

Coconut Cookies

If you like coconut, go buy some RightNowThisInstant. Because you are so going to want to bake these cookies!

Okay so this is an awful picture. But trust me, just bake these. They're good. 

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups flaked or shredded coconut (I used the sweetened kind)

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees
2. Cream together the butter and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the egg and vanilla until light and fluffy.
3. Gradually add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix well.
4. Mix in the coconut.
5. Refrigerate dough for 15 minutes or more.
6. Shape dough into tablespoon-sized balls and place on cookie sheet sprayed with Pam.
7. Bake 10ish minutes, or until coconut is lightly toasted. Cool on wire racks.

Using rounded-tablespoon-ish-sized cookies, I got about 4 dozen out of this recipe! So yummy.

The law students devoured these, so your friends will probably like them too. Happy baking!

Apple Dip

I've been trying to eat "healthy snacks" instead of things like cookies. It's hard. I'm having lots of success with green apples though.

Or I was having success with green apples, until I remembered this recipe from my childhood: apple dip. Those healthy apples aren't quite as healthy when paired with this. But they taste so, so good!!

Apple Dip:

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 8oz package cream cheese, very softened

Mix it all together. Make sure you mix up all the brown sugar clumps. Refrigerate. Eat.

Serve in a cute little bowl with apples arranged in a cute little row.

(It tastes even better that way)

Sweet and Sour Chicken!

Look! A "real food" recipe! I didn't want you all to think that I just bake all the time and don't ever cook real stuff. So here you go. Sweet and sour chicken. :)

Recipe adapted from here.

Chicken:
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 cup cornstarch
3 eggs, beaten
1/4 cup canola oil

Sauce (double these ingredients if you want an extra batch of sauce. I'd recommend it!):
3/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 cup vinegar (I'd use a teensy bit less than 1/2 cup)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Cut chicken breasts into chunks. Season with salt and pepper. Coat chunks in cornstarch using a plastic bag, and then dip in egg. Fry in a little oil until brown but not cooked through. Place in a single layer in a baking dish.

I used two breasts of organic chicken (left), and two of the kind that comes frozen in a bag (right). Is it weird that they look so different? They all tasted the same in the end...haha.

Mix the sauce ingredients (one batch) and pour over chicken (I don't have a picture of this, so you'll have to imagine!). (If you're making an extra batch, cook the sauce on the stovetop at a simmer for 10ish minutes until it reduces and thickens).

Bake for one hour at 325 degrees. Turn chicken chunks every 15 minutes so they end up evenly coated with the sauce.

Serve over rice! Definitely make the extra sauce to pour over the top, especially if you're planning on eating some of it as leftovers. :)

Salmon Chowder

Here's a yummy fall recipe for you all! It's kind of labor intensive, but you could be like me and chop all the ingredients and cook the salmon and bacon ahead of time, and then you just have to dump stuff in pots. :) It's worth the work, I promise. Perfect for fall!

Recipe adapted from here.

14oz can chicken broth

½ cup chopped onion
½ cup diced celery
2 cups diced carrots
1½-2 cups diced potatoes (about two potatoes)
2 Bay Leaves
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 tablespoon old bay seasoning
1 tablespoon parsley
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon dried dill weed

½ stick butter

1/3 cup flour
1 qt. (4 cups) milk
1 teaspoon cornstarch
8 slices bacon, cooked and diced
1 1/2 - 2 lbs frozen salmon (not thawed)
2 cups frozen corn
1 12 oz. pkg. Cream cheese

To cook the salmon: Brush both sides of the fish with canola oil. Cook uncovered in a large skillet over medium-high heat 3-4 minutes or until browned. Turn the fish over, season with salt and pepper, and cover the skillet. Reduce the heat to medium and cook 6 more minutes. Let salmon cool on a plate, then flake apart into bite sized pieces. Set aside.

Simmer chicken broth, onion, carrots, celery, potatoes, bay leaves and other seasonings for 15-20 minutes in a covered medium saucepan, until vegetables are soft. (This took way longer than 20 minutes when I did it... just go until the veggies are soft).

Heat milk in microwave for 2 minutes. In a separate large-sized stockpot, melt butter then add flour and pepper. Cook together for a couple of minutes, then whisk in warmed milk. Stir and heat together on medium-high heat until the mixture starts to thicken slightly, being careful not to let the it boil. In a small bowl, mix 1 tsp cornstarch with a little bit of water to create a slurry. Add to the pot and allow to thicken slightly. 

Remove the bay leaves from the chicken broth and add the chicken broth and vegetables into the milk mixture.

Stir in corn, bacon, salmon, and cream cheese. Cook on medium, stirring frequently until heated through and cheese has completely melted. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary.

This makes a TON of chowder, so I went ahead and froze half of it. I thawed it in the fridge for a couple days and then reheated it on the stove, and it was still quite yummy! 

Lemon Tarts!

I'm on a lemon kick recently. If it has lemon zest in it, I will bake it excitedly. I think it has something to do with my new Martha Stewart grating set:

If you're engaged, put this on your registry NOW! You'll thank me later when you're collecting lemon zest in your cute little plastic container. 

When I saw the recipe for these on my friend Marissa's blog, I knew I had to get out my graters again. These are so cute, and so easy to make! I give this recipe five stars. :)

(adapted from Marissa's recipe)

For the tart shells: 

1/2 cup softened butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 egg white

1 1/4 cups flour

For the filling:

2 eggs

1/3 cup sugar

1 tablespoon of butter, melted and cooled

2 teaspoons lemon zest

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 325. 

Tart Shells: Beat butter and sugar until fluffy. Blend in egg white. Add flour and mix until blended. 

Spray a mini muffin pan with cooking spray, and divide the dough up into 24 pieces and press into mini muffin shells.

Tart Filling: Whisk the eggs, then whisk in rest of the ingredients. Spoon filling into tart shells.

Bake 20(ish) minutes until light golden brown. Let tarts sit in the pan for a few minutes, and then remove to a wire rack. Store in the fridge. Remove from fridge 10ish minutes before serving (or else the shells will be a little hard).

I liked them, Jeff liked them, and a dozen or so of my fellow law students liked them. I even ate a few for breakfast one day!