Spice Rub Baked Tilapia with Asparagus and Quinoa

Tonight's meal was another variation of the baked fish dish we've done several times in the past when we want a quick, easy and satisfying meal. The frozen fish from Trader Joes has always treated us well and is good whether or not we add any significant marinade or other seasoning to it.

For tonight's meal I decided to create a spice rub out of salt, pepper, smoked paprika, dried oregano, cumin, and minced garlic. I lightly spread some olive oil on the tilapia fillets first and then rubbed the spice mix all over the fish. The tilapia was baked at 450 F for about 12-13 minutes and I tested them by inserting a knife into the fattest part of the fish and feeling no resistance.

The quinoa was seasoned with the same spice mix, minus the garlic, and the asparagus was steamed and then dressed with balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper.

The spice mix was a winner and I will definitely use it again!

Quick Curry Shrimp with Couscous & Green Beans

We originally planned to make a baked fish with curry marinade, but unfortunately Trader Joe's was plum out of frozen fish. So we got frozen shrimp instead!

This was a pretty good meal. Not one of our best, but definitely a recipe to revisit when we're in a pinch and need a quick dinner. The leftovers were also better than the freshly prepared version, surprisingly.

On the side, we served steamed green beans with a touch of olive oil, salt and pepper, along with couscous seasoned with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper (to taste).

Curry Shrimp

1 package frozen shrimp (medium-sized), thawed
1 medium onion, diced
4-5 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2ish bottle Trader Joe's red curry marinade
black pepper to taste

In a skillet over medium heat, add oil and onions. Saute for about 5 minutes, or until onion is just translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and saute for an additional 2 minutes to release and mingle the flavors. Add the red curry marinade and cook, stirring, until the marinade comes to a steady simmer. Add the shrimp and cook for 5 - 6 minutes. Add black pepper to taste. This dish definitely did not need any additional salt.

Overall, not too bad.

Quinoa with Cheese

This recipe is a real winner. Mike found it on Simply Recipes, and boy is it hard for me to turn down any recipe where cheese is the main event. We did have to make a couple of minor changes, though, since queso fresco was nowhere to be found (well, not within walking distance of our house, anyway).

Quinoa con Queso
(slightly adapted from the Simply Recipes version)

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1 cup chopped onions
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 large fresh tomato, chopped (about 1 1/4 cups)
1 roasted, peeled, seeded, and chopped large green chile, either Anaheim or Poblano
2 teaspoons tomato paste
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2ish teaspoon of dried oregano
1/4 pound (4 ounces) Fontina cheese, cut into small cubes
1 cup milk
Fresh basil, cilantro, or chives for garnish (optional)

Put 1 cup quinoa and 2 cups of water into a medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce to a low simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

While the quinoa is cooking, prepare the sauce. Heat olive oil and butter in a medium skillet on medium heat. Add the onions and cook for a couple minutes. Add the garlic, cook for a minute more. Add the chopped tomato, about 1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt, dried oregano, and tomato paste. Add chopped green chiles. Sprinkle with freshly ground black pepper. Stir until well combined. Let cook until the tomatoes have cooked through and the sauce has cooked down a bit. Then stir in the cheese. Taste and add more salt or pepper if needed.

Stir 1 cup of milk into the now cooked quinoa. Serve the quinoa in bowls and top with sauce. Garnish with chopped basil, parsley, cilantro, or chives. (We chose cilantro.)

I think next time we'll add a meat (maybe a sauteed chicken sausage?), but this was a very filling, tasty dish.

Chicken Marinade with Cous cous and Asparagus

Brit and I needed an easy meal to make as we had a very narrow amount of time between when we both got home from work and when we would have to leave to go see Bush and Chevelle in concert (with Filter opening). To briefly describe the concert: Gavin Rossdale rocked the house and Filter has become really, really awful. The lead singer lost his ability to sing and none of their new music is tolerable.

Chicken Marinade

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1.5 lbs chicken breasts (we got ours from the fantastic Halal meat market around the corner)
Soyaki marinade (a great TJs marinade)

Trim the chicken, slice thin, and stab a few times with your knife.  Immerse in a sealable container (whether it's a ziploc bag or a bowl with saran wrap on top, and marinate overnight (we did 48 hours because we're crazy).

We then baked the chicken at 450 F until it was done (prob 30 minutes).

The chicken was paired with some cous cous and asparagus we boiled and then seasoned with white balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Mediterranean Chicken Stew

I subscribed to an unhealthy number of food blogs (or maybe it's the other way around) and I'm always excited to read their daily suggestions. Tonight's recipe came from The Kitchn (yes, it's lacking an e on purpose) and was appealing to me because of how good the recipe looked and how quickly it would be to cook it. Part of what makes the dish so quick to make is that the author created a shortcut by buying a pre-cooked chicken from the store and just tearing off chunks to be included in the stew. Brit makes an incredible roast chicken on her own, so I figured I would just ask her to cook a whole chicken for our meal instead of buying one from the store.

Mediterranean Chicken Stew
(Adapted from a recipe posted on The Kitchn food blog)

Serves 4

Olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
1 (28 oz) can diced tomatoes
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup chicken broth
2 bay leaves
Black pepper
1/2 roast chicken, cut into bite sized pieces
1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1 tbsp lemon juice

Heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat and saute the onions until they are soft, about 7-8 minutes. Throw in the garlic and oregano and stir for another minute to prevent any burning. Toss in the tomatoes (with their liquid), chickpeas, broth, bay leaves, and pepper to taste. Stir, bring to a boil, and cook for 5 minutes. Add in the chicken pieces and simmer uncovered for 10 minutes. Remove the stew from the heat, stir in the olives and lemon juice, and serve!

We served our stew over some cinnamon couscous (as was originally recommended in the recipe) but only seasoned the grain with some olive oil, salt, pepper, and cinnamon. We did not include the recommended raisins and orange juice.

Overall, the stew was fantastic. Perfect weeknight meal and made some great leftovers. Just be careful not to get any pieces of the bay leaf or you'll end up choking on them or chewing for far too long. I'd add in some more olives and lemon juice the next time I make this and I'll definitely be making this again.

Baked Tilapia with Roasted Tomatoes and Basil

The last two issues of Bon Appetit have been chock full of celebrity cameos and largely devoid of appealing recipes. A harsh statement, I know, but for some reason it just felt like I was reading Marie Claire with chefs. So, needless to say, we were very excited when this month's Bon Appetit had not one, but several great recipes for us to try. The first is this delicious baked fish dish - boy is it a hit.

Baked Tilapia with Tomatoes & Basil
(adapted from the September 2011 issue of Bon Appetit)

1 lb. ripe tomatoes, quartered
8 garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
handful of basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
4 6 to 8 oz boneless tilapia fillets (the original recipe calls for flounder, but TJ's has a limited frozen fish section)

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Toss first 5 ingredients in a large baking dish. Season with salt and pepper. Spread out in an even layer.

Bake tomato mixture for 8 to 10 minutes. Season fish with salt and pepper. Arrange fish in a single layer over tomato mixture. Roast fish with tomato mixture until a knife is easily inserted in the center, about 10 minutes.

We served this dish with rice and a veggie side. The tomato mixture and the drippings were delectable, and this was such a quick and easy dish to make!  

Scallop Crudo

This recipe comes from the Bitten Word blog and was originally printed in the August 2011 issue of Bon Appetit. The title was intriguing, the picture looked delicious, and the description clinched the deal. We served this dish with a side of brown rice, seasoned with zatar, and some steamed broccoli and roasted cauliflower.

Scallop Crudo
(Modified from a recipe found on the Bitten Word blog)

Serves 2

1/4 cup orange juice
3 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1.5 tbsp lemon olive oil (was supposed to be sunflower oil)
1 tbsp finely minced ginger
1 jalapeno, finely diced
1 tbsp red wine vinegar + 1 tsp sugar (this was a substitution for sherry vinegar)
1/2 lb scallops (we got ours fresh from Seafood Unlimited)

Whisk together all of the ingredients except the scallops. Add the scallops and marinate for 10-15 minutes. Eat!

The crudo is really amazing and we used it as a sauce for the rice and veggies. The scallops were so soft and delicious; this dish was fantastic.

Summer Vegetable Soba

Brit and I used to make a soba noodle dish with asparagus, garlic, prosciutto, parmesan cheese and a fried egg. It was incredible. We made this dish several times until one time the leftover soba noodles tasted like ass. It was just awful. I had a suspicion it occurred because we had purchased a new brand of soba noodles and that the original brand would be fine. Nonetheless, Brit had lost her desire to eat this dish.

Recently, I came across a recipe in on of the food blogs that I follow that utilized soba noodles again. I've been craving/missing soba noodles for a while, so I approached Brit about giving the recipe a try. Brit agreed to give it a try with the original brand of soba noodles and we're all crossing our fingers that the leftovers turn out well.

Summer Vegetable Soba
(Originally posted on the Macheesmo food blog)

Serves 4

1 12 oz package of soba, cooked according to package
1-2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp olive oil
1-2 cups green beans
1 onion, diced
2 ears corn, corn removed from cob
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 cup carrots, shredded
2 scallions, only greens
Fresh basil, chopped
Peanuts, chopped
Sauce: 2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp mirin
1 jalapeno pepper, minced without seeds
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 inches ginger, minced

Cook the soba noodles according to package directions, drain, and return to pot. Toss with the sesame oil and set aside.
Mix all of the ingredients for the sauce and set aside.
Meanwhile, saute the onion, pepper, green beans, and corn in the olive oil over high heat for just a few minutes so that the veggies stay crunchy. Mix in the sauce and saute 1-2 minutes until the sauce is very fragrant. Mix in the carrots and then transfer all of the ingredients to the pot with the soba noodles. Mix in the scallions and stir it all together very well.
Garnish with basil and peanuts and enjoy.

This meal turned out really, really well. The vegetables were fantastic and the soba noodles are a very flavorful pasta. We felt like there wasn't any heat coming from the jalapeno so we'd consider adding some of the seeds into the sauce. We also felt like there wasn't enough sauce so we had to season our dish with some extra soy sauce and pepper. For future preparations we would double the sauce portion.

Fish marinade with Cous Cous and Green Beans

Making this fish marinade dinner is so easy and is always so delicious. We often vary the kind of fish and marinade that we use, but have had very good luck recently with tilapia from Trader Joe's and we have always enjoyed their yellow curry as well. The accompanying carb and green will also vary, but ultimately it doesn't matter. It's a simply, complete, delicious meal that definitely satisfies us both.

Fish Marinade

1.5 lbs fish fillets (we used frozen Tilapia from TJs)
Marinade (we used 1/2 a container of TJs yellow curry)
Black pepper

Place your fish (thawed if necessary) in a glass baking dish or a foil lined baking pan and cover with the curry of your choice. Season the top of the fish with some ground black pepper. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes. Bake at 450 F until cooked through and the fish is flaky. I usually test by inserting a knife into the thickest part of the fillet. If the knife glides in with no resistance, you're done!

Cous Cous with pine nuts

1.5 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
Cumin
Zatar
Onion powder
Garlic powder
Salt
Pepper
Cumin
Smoked paprika
Chili powder
1.5 cups cous cous
1/2 cup pine nuts

In a medium sized pot, bring to a boil the water, oil, and all of the spices. I add the spices to my own taste/desire, but I'd guesstimate 1-2 tsp per spice. Once the water has boiled, stir in the cous cous, turn off the heat, and let sit with the lid on it for at least 5 minutes. Fluff the cous cous with a fork. Meanwhile, toast the pine nuts in a small saute pan until browned. Stir in the pine nuts to the cous cous after they've been fluffed.

Green Beans

1 cup of green beans
Salt
Pepper
Balsamic vinegar

Cook the green beans until tender in a medium sized pot of boiling water. Drain, return to pot, and season with the remaining ingredients.

Linguine with Pea Pesto

This dish is one that we've made before and turned out really well. Well, it was even better tonight. Previously we used a mix of fresh peas from the farmer's market that we shelled ourselves and frozen peas that we already had, but this time we just stuck with the frozen peas. Frozen peas are a lot less work and cook faster too. This is a definite keeper recipe and we plan to make it again on a regular basis.

Linguine with Pea Pesto
(Originally printed on the Smitten Kitten food blog)

1.5 cups peas
2-3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp pine nuts, toasted and cooled
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup olive oil
12 oz package linguine

Boil a large pot of salted water with olive oil for the linguine and cook to according to package directions. Reserve up to 2 cups of pasta water before draining, drain pasta, and return to pot.

In the meantime, boil a smaller pot of water for the peas. Cook for 2 minutes, transfer to an ice bath, and drain. Also in the meantime, toast the pine nuts and set aside.

Mix half of the peas, all of the garlic and pine nuts, 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, salt and blend. Add in the olive oil and blend for a few minutes until smooth.

Over a low heat, mix the pasta, remaining peas, and pesto. Mix well and slowly add the reserved pasta water to smooth out the pesto. We didn't actually use more than 1/4 cup of the reserved water, but add more or less to your preference.

Season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with additional Parmesan cheese.

Poached egg on Toast with Chipotle Mayo, Bacon, and Avacado

I've become a huge fan of the Closet Cooking blog and I'm always impressed with how the recipes turn out. After seeing this blog entry I had to try it myself and thought it would be great as a brunch entree. Instead, we cooked this as a dinner entree (who doesn't like breakfast for dinner?) and I'm so glad we didn't wait for the weekend.

Poached egg on Toast with Chipotle Mayo, Bacon, and Avacado
(Originally posted as a Closet Cooking blog recipe)

Serves 2

4 eggs
4 slices of bread, toasted
Chipotle lime mayo (see below)
2 avocados, sliced
8 slices of turkey bacon, cooked

Poach your eggs in a large pot of boiling water. We poached ours by adding some vinegar to the water, cracking the egg in, and using a spoon to try to contain the yolk and white together while the white cooks. After 2-3 minutes the white should be cooked and carefully remove the egg without cracking it.
Assemble your sandwich and be satisfied!


Chipotle lime mayo

1/2 cup mayo (we use the low-fat TJs variety)
1 chipotle chili in adobo sauce, chopped
2 tsp adobo sauce
Juice from half a lime

Mix everything together.


The chipotle mayo is really awesome and a great idea. It would go well on a variety of sandwiches and burgers as well. The taste from the runny poached egg, avacado, bacon, and mayo is so good. I can't wait to make this dish again and especially during one of our regular brunches.

Garlic Noodles with Shrimp

Tonight we re-made the garlic noodles with shrimp dish from last month that we both really enjoyed and appreciated for how easy it is to make. There were a few minor variations that we added to tonight's recipe that definitely made the dish better and more fun.

Last time I made this dish I counted out 40 pieces of pre-cooked shrimp thinking it was approximately half of the bag. Turns out we still had well over half of the bag remaining and we decided to just use it all. Since there was significantly more shrimp this time, I doubled the volume for most of the marinade components (oyster sauce, sugar, salt, and pepper).

We also had a 1-2 ounces of cooked pasta leftover from the linguine with ground turkey meat sauce that I added to our freshly cooked package of linguine when it came time to stir fry the noodles in butter and garlic.

The increased amount of pasta complemented the increased amount of shrimp very well and the concentration of seafood in this dish was a lot better than the previous time we made it.

Sadly, we forgot to get parmesan cheese for tonight's meal and ate it without the garnish. Everything was still delicious, but I would highly recommend to anyone making this recipe to ensure you have parmesan cheese nearby.

Turkey and Apple Quesadillas

Brit and I needed something quick and easy since we had a short period of time before meeting some friends. We had planned this meal specifically for this purpose as we've made it before and know how quick and delicious it is.

Turkey and Apple Quesadillas

Serves 2-4

Sliced turkey breast
Apple, sliced thin
Tortillas
Honey mustard (we make our own)
Grated cheese (we used a mexican blend)
Salsa
Sour cream

Our homemade honey mustard is a simple mix of Trader Joe's dijon mustard and honey that comes from Brit's grandfather's own hives. It has a great kick to it that can really clear out your sinuses if you eat too much.

Over low heat, add a tortilla to a pan, spread some honey mustard on one half, layer with some cheese, apple slices, turkey breast, and more cheese. Fold the tortilla in half and grill on both sides until the tortilla is browned and the cheese is gooey.
Cut in quarters and enjoy with either more of the honey mustard (Brit's choice), sour cream (both of our favorite), and/or some salsa (my choice).

It's nice having another quick and easy dish that has some great flavor and textures to it. We made three quesadillas to split between the two of us, as one is not enough to be full. As it would be with any quesadilla dish, it's great how quick and easy it would be to simply make more if we had company or wanted some leftovers.

Marinated Fish

Brit and I were in Oklahoma this past weekend at her maternal grandmother’s family reunion. We got home late and needed something to eat that would be quick and easy, so we picked up some pre-marinated salmon and frozen green beans.

I grilled the fish on Brit’s cast iron grill, made some brown rice seasoned with curry powder, salt, pepper, and cumin, while Brit boiled the green beans and seasoned them with some salt, pepper, and balsamic vinegar.

For being incredibly cheap, quick, and easy, the meal was fantastic. It’s nice to not have to think too much about what you’re cooking and be able to sit down to a delicious meal in a short period of time.

Seafood Mix with Garbanzo Beans

I made one of our favorite dishes tonight that we've blogged about previously: seafood mix with garbanzo beans.

We only had 3 cloves of garlic in the house and didn't have red pepper flakes, so I modified the dish by adding 1-2 tbsp of cayenne pepper. Probably was a bit too strong, but I do love the kick that spice provides.

The dish was served over some curry-spiced brown rice that Brit made and was garnished with the usual parsley, lemon juice, and additionally green beans seasoned with lemon juice, salt, and pepper.

As usual the meal was delicious; it's so easy to make and always turns out well. I hope we make this again soon and I'm sure Brit will agree!

Garlic Noodles with Shrimp

Brit sent me this recipe a few weeks back and I immediately agreed that it looked delicious. The original recipe calls for prawns, instead of shrimp, but we had conveniently just purchased a bag of pre-cooked frozen shrimp the night before. Buying frozen (and especially fresh) shrimp from anywhere besides the wholesaler we had gone to would be too far out of our price range, but with the shellfish purchased, we were both excited to give this dish a try.

Garlic Noodles with Shrimp

Serves 3

8 oz linguini (we ended up cooking all of it, but only using 3/4 of the package)
1/2 lb shellfish (we used 40 of the fairly small frozen shrimp we purchased)
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar (original recipe called for 1/2 tsp)
2 tsp pepper (original recipe called for 1 tsp)
4-5 tbsp garlic, minced (original recipe called for 3 tbsp)
3 tbsp butter, divided (original recipe called for French buerre demi sel..... yeah right i'm going to buy that....)
3 green onions, chopped (original reciped called for 1 green onion)
Grated parmesan cheese

Cook the pasta, as the package instructs, until al dente. Drain and set aside. In the meantime, marinade the shrimp with the oyster sauce, salt, sugar, pepper, and 1/3 of the minced garlic for 15 minutes.

In a wok over medium heat, melt 1 tbsp butter with 1/3 of the minced garlic. Add the marinated shrimp and stir fry for 3-4 minutes. We were using pre-cooked shrimp, so this step is purely to cook the flavors together. The original recipe indicates that this step should be used to cook the shellfish until they are half-way done. After a few minutes, remove the shrimp to a bowl and set aside.

Melt the remaining butter with the garlic and add in the pasta. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes, tossing the pasta until it's well coated with the garlic sauce. Add back in the shrimp and cook an additional 3-4 minutes (if using raw shellfish, make sure it is fully cooked at this point). Mix in the chopped green onions and serve. Garnish with the parmesan cheese.

We also garnished our dish with steamed broccoli we bought from our farmer's market that had been quickly tossed with salt, pepper, and white wine vinegar.

Oh wow. You have got to try this dish. No real surprise though; it's shrimp cooked with butter and garlic! We both ate our full plate and went back for another full serving. That was a mistake as we felt stuffed after and we should have just eaten another half serving at the most. Adding the additional amount of pasta, that we didn't incorporate, could help this dish stretch a little further and provide for guests or leftovers, but we'd need to add more shrimp at the beginning. Additionally, I need to peel the shrimp tails off before cooking so that the shrimp can be eaten without having to use your fingers.

Veggie and Bean Tostadas

Brit and I had leftover tortillas that needed to be eaten and expected to have leftover black beans from earlier in the week. We love all "Mexican" dishes and decided to make tostadas (my first time!).

Veggie and Bean Tostadas

Serves 4

Refried beans
Salsa (we have Costco salsa in the house right now)
Cuban Black Beans
Brown rice
Limes
Guacamole (Brit made from avacados, minced onion, minced garlic, diced tomato, lime juice, salt, and pepper)
Tomato, diced
Diced onion
Pepper, julienned
Chicken stock
Mexican blend cheese
Tortillas
Sour cream

I heated the refried beans over low heat after mixing with a few large scoops of salsa.
The leftover black beans and brown rice were re-heated from our meal earlier in the week.
The onion and pepper were sauteed and I added some chicken stock because I was worried the onions were going to burn before the peppers were done cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
Tortillas were briefly heated (2-3 min per side) in a frying pan sprayed with non-stick olive oil until they were browned and crispy

I layered the tortillas with refried beans, cheese, black beans and rice, guacamole, sour cream, onions, peppers, and tomatoes. I then squirted some lime juice on top and dug in! It's really hard to cut into the tostadas and eat without making a mess, but that's something that Brit and I love about "Mexican" food;. It doesn't matter how you eat it (by hand or with utencils); it's always delicious. Brit's friend Kirsten has been visiting and both Brit and Kirsten got seconds. All of the flavors work so well together and we will definitely be making a dish like this again

Baked Mahi Mahi

Thankfully Brit and I have nearly identical food preferences/likes and we love to cook seafood for its flavor and healthiness. Trader Joes sells some great frozen fish and we often end up buying the Mahi Mahi for itds taste and cheap price. We almost always pair our fish with a grain such as brown rice, quinoa, or cous cous, and then will steam some broccoli or cook some carrots and peas to put on the side. Brit was making peanut butter cookies for her work colleagues, so I put myself in charge of preparing tonight's meal. I decided to do a simple seasoning for the fish, make some quinoa, and sautee a bunch of veggies sitting in the fridge

Baked Mahi Mahi

Frozen package of TJ's Mahi Mahi
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Smoked paprika

Preheat oven to 450 F
Thaw the Mahi Mahi, place in a oven safe baking dish, lightly coat with olive oil, and then rub on some salt, pepper, and smoked paprika. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a knife can be inserted without encountering any resistance from the flesh.

Quinoa

1 cup quinoa
2 cups water
Cumin
Curry powder
Salt and pepper

Mix seasonings in a small bowl together. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium sized pot over medium-high heat. Add seasoning to heated oil and stir 1 minute. Add dry quinoa and stir 1-2 minutes until the quinoa is well coated. Add 2 cups water, bring back to a boil and give the pot a good stir. Cover, reduce heat to medium, and cook for 20 minutes.

Sauteed Veggies

Olive oil
Onion, diced
Pepper, diced
Carrots, chopped
Asparagus, chopped
Chicken stock
Balsamic vinegar

The veggies were sauteed in a little olive oil until soft and some chicken stock was added and cooked until evaporated. A small amount of balsamic vinegar was added and mixed once the veggies were done cooking.


Everything turned out really well and Brit and I were really pleased. The simple seasoning on the Mahi Mahi helped the flavor of the fish come through and we're both always impressed how well TJ's frozen products end up tasting. The quinoa and veggies needed some extra salt and pepper seasoning, but were both really delicious. I always feel good about going through the fridge and cooking up all the leftover items before they go bad and tonight's meal was a great example of well it can turn out.

Seafood Mix with Garbanzo Beans

This dish comes from the April 2011 issue of Food Network Magazine. It is so simple and delicious. At one point we were making this dish every week and I had to ask that we make it at least every other so we didn't risk getting tired of it.

Garlic Shrimp and Chickpeas
(adapted from Food Network Magazine's Garlic Shrimp and Chickpeas)

Serves 4

2 x 15 oz cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
Olive oil
Kosher salt
1 1/4 lbs shrimp, peeled and deveined (we actually buy a mixed bag of frozen seafood from TJs that contains shrimp, scallops, and squid)
6 cloves minced garlic (This is already an increase from the 3 that the recipe recommends)
1 tsp grated lemon zest
1 tsp red pepper flakes (This is a doubling from the original recipe. I love the kick that red pepper flakes provide)
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Lemon wedges

Preheat oven to 450 F. Toss chickpeas with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt. Spread out into a singe layer on a baking dish and bake until golden, approximately 20 minutes.

Toss seafood (whether you use just shrimp or a seafood mix) with 4 tbsp olive oil, minced garlic, lemon zest, red pepper flakes, and 1 tsp salt and let marinate 10 minutes.

Spread the marinated seafood over the cooked chickpeas and return to the oven until the seafood is done. We go based on whether the shrimp is cooked and pink. Drizzle the remaining 1 tbsp olive oil over the cooked dish and serve with parsley and lemon wedges.

This is one of our favorite dishes lately. The freshly squeezed lemon juice goes so well with the flavors of the seafood marinade and the chickpeas. I personally love the flavor and texture of chickpeas and need to find new ways to add them to my dinner recipes.