Happy Easter! (For the next 39 days)

Spend Easter Sunday at a friends house and I made a Berry Triful.


 It was very good. I made 2 and they ate all of one. The other one is sitting in my frig waiting for someone to come along and eat it.




This is what I wore for Easter Sunday.

I got the skirt on Saturday from Goodwill. I forgot I didn't have anything to wear until Good Friday and then we didn't get around to going shopping till Saturday. I guess all's well that ends well. And I got the skirt for $6. It's a Talbots skirt. I also picked up 4 more skirts, a dress, and 4 shirts that match with 3 of the skirts. All for under $55. Not too bad, I have to say. The Baron picked up a solid wood coat stand for $14, and a 100 year old Catholic school reader for $2. Overall it was a nice productive trip to Goodwill.

The Baron wanted to know if anyone else shopped like we do. I have to say, lately I've had better luck at Goodwill than I do at department stores. Why spend more if you don't have to, right?

Broiled Tilapia

Hello Readers,

I know I've been gone for a while but my parents came into town, we did some minor home improvements, did some major spring cleaning and then we had lots of company over. While my parents were here I made something new. It's pretty good. I discovered it's best if you use thin tilapia. I made it as directed but used I can't believe it's not butter and olive oil mayo. I liked it and thought I'd pass it on to all my readers.

Broiled Tilapia Parmesan

8 servings

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 teaspoon dried basil
• 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/8 teaspoon onion powder
• 1/8 teaspoon celery salt
• 2 pounds tilapia fillets

Directions

1. Preheat your oven's broiler. Grease a broiling pan or line pan with aluminum foil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the Parmesan cheese, butter, mayonnaise and lemon juice. Season with dried basil, pepper, onion powder and celery salt. Mix well and set aside.
3. Arrange fillets in a single layer on the prepared pan. Broil a few inches from the heat for 2 to 3 minutes. Flip the fillets over and broil for a couple more minutes. Remove the fillets from the oven and cover them with the Parmesan cheese mixture on the top side. Broil for 2 more minutes or until the topping is browned and fish flakes easily with a fork. Be careful not to over cook the fish.

Purple chickens

Ok so Cam at A Women's Place posted about her husband describing the appearance of her dinner as "Disgusting". I linked her blog entry here.

I have had one very memorable experience when my food looked ... well.... less than appetizing. One night we had ..um .. lavender chicken for dinner. No the chicken didn't have lavender in it. The color of the chicken was lavender.

It was one of those well we have this and this and this so let me try putting all of it together and see what we get. I made stuffed chicken breast in a wine sauce. I stuffed the chicken breasts with onions, bell peppers, mushrooms and cream cheese. Sounds good right? I didn't have any white wine but we did have some red wine in the fridge. Well apparently when you mix red wine and cream cheese together to make a sauce it makes a nice purple color not associated with most food.

I wasn't overly happy with the way it looked but my husband didn't say a thing. If you could get past the color it was actually very good. In fact it made an encore. I actually made it on purpose the second time. And it was great. It's one of those meals that you just close your eyes and eat it. After our meat free lent it might make a come back. If it does I'll have to post pictures of it.

What kind of mishaps have you had in the kitchen?

The weekend's plans

This weekend my parents are coming over. We are going to start off the weekend with going to Catholic Date Night together. Then on Saturday my dad is going to repair my husband's car (again). It's the AC (again). The Baron and my father are going to repair the sprinkler system together and possibly repair some sewage pipe (Or at least I think that's what I was told). Inside my mom and I will do the normal thing, cook, clean, maybe hang some curtain's. They will be here all week because they are meeting my dad's first cousin's who are coming to my house next Sunday. I'll try to post again soon. As you can tell nothing major has been happening around here lately.

Strawberries just like I promised

Ok so I promised if it was good I'd post my recipe for Strawberries 'n' cream Trifle. Well it was good so here you go.

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Strawberries 'n' cream Trifle.

1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 1/2 cups cold water
1 (1 ounce) package sugar-free instant vanilla pudding mix
1 (8 ounce) container frozen reduced-fat frozen whipped topping, thawed
1 (9 inch) prepared angel food cake
4 cups sliced fresh strawberries
3 whole fresh strawberries

Directions

In a bowl, whisk the milk and water. Whisk in the pudding mix for 2 minutes. Let stand for 2 minutes or until soft-set; fold in the whipped topping. Cut cake into 1/2-in. cubes.
Spoon a third of the pudding mixture into a 4-qt. trifle or glass bowl. Top with half of the cake cubes and sliced strawberries. Repeat layers once. Top with remaining pudding mixture. Garnish with whole strawberries.
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I made it just like it says except I made the pudding out of reduced fat milk instead of condensed milk because I didn't read the direction well and didn't understand that's what they meant when they said milk. Next time I will make it the right way and I'll add some bananas to it. I think you could make it with blueberries too. Everyone at the party loved it.