Everything Baked Bassa fish & Plantains

Hey loves! Happy Thursday I keep hearing about this storm that's coming to NYC I just hope it isn't too bad. Anyways :) been a minute since I posted any treats from my kitchen but todays share is a nice one I came across in my web travels that I tweaked to my liking. No greasy pots, pans or skillets.

Thursday's Treat...Everything Baked Bassa fish and Plantains!!!

Ingredients: serves 2 people

-bassa fish fillets

-green plantains

-olive oil

-lemon juice

-honey

-mustard

-salt

-cheese (optional)

Heat toaster oven at 425 degrees, in a large bowl mix 1tbsp of olive oil, 3tbsps of honey, 2tbsps of mustard, 1tsp of lemon juice mix well set aside and clean your fish fillets then place in mixture making sure you coat both sides thoroughly. Cut pieces of aluminum foil big enough to make a pouch like seal around your fillets, wrap up and put aside. Don't discard left over sauce you can drizzle on top of your fish once done.

Take 2 plantains (was making dinner for 2 so adjust recipe to your serving size) rinse and cut off the ends. Make 2 slits top to bottom on each of the plantains this will make it easier to peel of the skin. Place in microwave on high for about 6 minutes, depending on your microwave. Skin should turn black and center should be semi soft to touch. Remove from microwave be careful it will be very hot!

Peel off skin carefully, place on cutting board or a flat plate and cut pieces a little over an inch slightly slanted so when you flatten them out they don't crumble. I use what in Spanish we call a Tostonera but you can use the bottom of a glass or cup just make sure you cover with wax paper or something that will allow it to slide off or else you will have a mess.

Once you have smashed down your plantains, place them in a lightly oiled baking sheet, I used some olive oil and I sprinkled the plantains with some salt. I baked both dishes at the same time for 20 minutes then each separately for another 10 minutes. The fish should be soft and flaky and plantains a nice golden color all around.

I served with mixed plum tomatoes, baby Spinach and cubes of Mozzarella cheese. You can combine with any variety of salad ideas. Delish, healthy and fun to make. I never had Bassa fish before so it was a nice surprise. Any fillet type fish will do, Enjoy!

Always stress free xo

Mari

Super lazy Chicken and Pasta

One of the perks of your child getting older is they can fend for themselves when it comes to dinner. Gone are those days when you just have to cook because you don't want them to eat crappy food. Yes sorry guys no matter what the commercials say chain food restaurants is still crappy food for the most part.

I've commented before how my lil mama and I though we live under the same roof sometimes due to our schedules can't sit down to dinner like we use to so we schedule dates. The other day after work though I was super tired, had numerous pictures to edit from a camera date I had gone out to and still wanted to squeeze in a workout and walk in the park. I always take out something each morning to prepare even if for lunch next day and this time it was my go to chicken tenders. I looked in my pantry and saw packet of Pasta sides Chicken flavor and just went with it.

Thursday's Treat...Super lazy Chicken and Pasta!!!

Ingredients:

-Knorr pasta sides packet

-pieces of chicken(tenders work best for small portion size)

-lemon pepper seasoning

-honey 

I told you this was super lazy you just handle your chicken as you normally would. I wash/rinse mine out with some lemon juice then cold water and seasoned with 2 tbsps of lemon pepper and 2 tbsps of honey. Let it sit for a few, turned my toaster oven to broil at 325 and prepared my baking sheet with strip of aluminum foil sprayed with some Pam so chicken wouldn't stick. I placed in toaster oven for 20 minutes turning once halfway.

Ten minutes in I prepared the water for the pasta side, 2 cups. You can add margarine or butter but I opted out and left with just the packet flavoring. I let it cook for 10 minutes. Turned off the flame set it aside cut my chicken into smaller pieces so I could sprinkle on my pasta.
Served myself and set a plate aside for lil mama when she got home.
It was tasty, fast and filling. Delish!

I love getting out of the kitchen with enough time to really engage in the things I love. I was able to edit while I ate(I don't always have gadgets on at dinner table but this was solo night me time) then head out to the park. Enjoy!

Always stress free xo

Mari

Locrio de Marisco / Stewed Rice with Seafood

Coming from a Dominican household rice is pretty much a daily given. Either for lunch or dinner you can always be sure someone is making a huge pot of rice. White or Yellow and something on the side or in it.

Whatever your taste buds desire you will never be disappointed with Dominican food.

I don't make Dominican dishes as much as I use to because my interest in length of time invested in the kitchen and the clean up afterwards have changed. Lil mama also is older and she is the real rice eater in the family, she can eat a plain plate of rice and be in heaven. But on those days I am missing a taste of my roots I go to rice. 

I wanted to surprise Lil mama the other night so I whipped up the following:

Thursday's Treat...Locrio de Marisco / Stewed Rice with Seafood!

Ingredients:

-rice(your fav brand)

-bag of shrimps(any size you like already cleaned and cooked is easiest)

-2 cans of octopus(store brand or your fav brand is fine)

-olive oil

-salt

-adobo

Now just so we are on the same page Locrio in English just means stewed rice mixed with let's say:

-vegetables

-fish

-meat

-chicken

-seafood

-beans

And for me I don't know if it was just in my house but I always have a banana on the side and drink only water.

Ok so let's get started. In a medium plastic bowl I wash 21/2 cups of rice, drain and set aside. In another medium bowl I added 11/2 cups large cooked shrimps this time removing the tails (I was upset I hadn't noticed my bag was the one with tails still on I was not happy) and 2 cans of octopus in garlic sauce. I mixed the seafood in the bowl and added 2tbps of Adobo. You may think it will be salty but the cooking down and added water of the rice will balance it out. In a large rice pot(those metal ones you sometimes see in bodegas) or your regular pot add 1 large spoonful of olive oil and pinch of salt turn heat on medium and cook for 10 minutes.

After 10 minutes add 3 cups of water and let it boil then add your rice, mix and make sure heat is on medium. When the water starts to dry up(don't let it waste away completely or the rice will get burned) lower the flame almost as if you are turning it off I would say if your knob has numbers to put on 1. Cover the rice, now I use aluminum foil on my cover better to hold the steam in and let it cook for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes I turn rice over once all sides and taste. If not soft enough to your preference you may add another spoonful of water with another pinch of salt. I let cook for another 10 minutes and I am done! Feel free to use your Rice cookers if you wish also.

As you can see my Lil mama's plate has a banana on the side and gadgets around because she got in late and had homework due by midnight. It was moist and very tasty and the banana was a great sweet mix Delish! Hope you enjoy and if you have any questions on how to cook rice without a rice cooker I would love to help you out. Rice cooking can be tricky especially the water to rice ratio lol.

Always stress free xo

Mari

Chicken Quesadilla

Hey loves, are we getting ready for the kids to be done with school? Are they already home? I'm sure we have plenty on our plates as to what to do with the kiddies for the summer. I'm going to try to help by sharing with you another quick treat. 

Thursday's Treat...Chicken Quesadilla 

Ingredients:

-chicken cutlet or tenders

-mustard

-honey (raw if possible)

-lemon pepper

-wheat wraps

-sweet peppers

-tomatoes

-sour cream

-mozzarella cheese shredded (not pictured)

I used 2 tbsp of raw honey, 2 tbsp of mustard and 1 tbsp of lemon pepper mixed in a bowl then added my chicken (4) pieces (cutlet size) covered and let sit for about 10 minutes. I then cut my chicken into cube size pieces and placed on baking sheet sprayed with a little Spam and actually broiled for 10 minutes in my toaster oven, turning midway.

I chopped up 2 plum tomatoes and 1/2 of a sweet pepper, cube sizes, set aside. Once my chicken pieces were cooked I removed from toaster oven to cool lightly and changed setting to toast and placed my wraps in for a few minutes. I then removed them, spread a tbsp of sour cream on each wrap layered the chicken, cheese, tomatoes and peppers folded and placed them back in toaster long enough to be lightly crisp.

I cut the wraps into 3 triangles each and placed on a plate, everyone could grab their own. These measurements served 3 people. I would double slightly to taste if serving more. Nice glass of cold Green Tea and I was done.

Quick and easy light meal and fast clean up in the kitchen. I love Quesadillas because there are so many varieties as far as fillers and no way you can go wrong with it.

Enjoy!

Always stress free xo.

Roasted Shrimp w/ Tomatoe and Spinach Penne

Good Morning lovelies have crazy busy day today but love it. I didn't want to miss sharing this with you so I wrote it last night, enjoy.

Hey guys hope your week is going well thus far, I just came in from a great walk in the park by my house, missed my walks for sure.  I took some wonderful pictures of the new flowers they planted this year. Such vibrant colors and different types I will share them shortly once I edit and watermark.

You can imagine I don't want to invest to much time in the kitchen after that so I am whipping something up that will only take me around thirty minutes.

Thursday's Treat!
Roasted Shrimp w/ Tomatoes and Spinach Penne pasta

Ingredients:
-shrimps
-pasta
-olive oil
-black pepper
-crushed pepper
-salt
-lemon juice

Before I left for my walk I left 2 handfuls of medium shrimps already cooked and cleaned in a bowl with cold water to defrost/thaw out. When I came back they were ready to go.
In a bowl I mixed 1/4 black pepper, 1/4 crushed pepper, 1/4 salt, 2 tbsp of olive oil and 1 tbsp of lemon juice. I added the shrimps tossed together a few times and set aside.

I took medium pot added water, some salt and a little olive oil and set on medium heat. I added half a bag of my pasta mixed it all up and began to cook that for about 10 minutes. I set my toaster oven to bake at 425 for 10 minutes as well and placed my shrimps in a cooking pan already sprayed ready to go. I saved a little of the mixture to drizzle on my pasta after if I choose to.
Remember my pasta is already Tomatoes and Spinach so it doesn't need to much extras.

Once my shrimps were nice and pink and my pasta al dente, I drained the pasta served in a plate topped with my shrimps. I tossed the pasta with remaining mixture before I served. I added a few slices of Gouda cheese I had from my last deli visit just for fun.

Done easy quick and fun.
Enjoy!

Always stress free xo.

Quick & Easy Pizza

Thursday Reveal....

So my reveal today is I love Pizza, yeah who doesn't? I love Pizza but I don't want to order it, pick it up or make it from scratch that is unless it is easy and stress free.

When a girlfriend of mine shared with me a way that I could make Pizza  at anytime for under 20 minutes I was hooked. She said she couldn't believe I had never tried it. I explained to her I had never thought of it actually. Can you believe that? Please do, its the truth I never thought of it or even heard of what I am about to share....

Here goes

1- Slices of bread, English muffins or bagels (depends on your liking and amount depends on family size).

2- Sauce, whatever flavor or brand you like. I use Ragu Traditional when I want to keep simple.

3- Mozzarella Cheese already shredded is best saves you time but if you want to cut your on slices go right ahead!

4- Toppings, this time I used Pepperoni for my added topping but as always I say use what works best for you.

Lay out the slices, spread the sauce, add toppings and cheese. Place on a tray toast till cheese is melting and bread is crisp....DONE!!!!!

I got home tonight at 6:15 and by 6:35 we were eating. 

This is my idea of quick and easy. Here are some pics!!

Honey-mustard Chicken Cutlet Salad

Yesterday I had one of those days where I just wanted to come home and not have long fuss in the kitchen. I was hungry too so that didn't help. I had left some chicken out from the morning so that part was covered. Here is what it turned into.....

3 pieces of chicken thin sliced or strips
1 egg
1/2 cup or 1 cup (depending on amount of pieces) honey
1/2 cup or 1 cup mustard depends on your taste and amount of pieces
1 cup of plain bread crumbs
Any type veggie you like tomatoes, lettuce etc...amount depends on your serving needs
Optional:
Parmesan Cheese
Croutons (although chicken is already breaded sometimes I like the added crunch)

Beat egg in a bowl add the honey and mustard. Drop the chicken pieces in let marinate for about 20 minutes (sometimes we can't spare 20 minutes so I just make a few slits on chicken so it grabs flavor)
Dip in bread crumbs, coat evenly.
Heat skillet on medium, light coating of olive oil enough to cook and give some color.
Places pieces in when oil is hot, cook each side about seven to ten minutes use your judgment.
Remove, let sit and when manageable cut into bit size pieces
In a separate bowl mix in your veggies
Add the chicken pieces to bowl of veggies season to your liking
Serve