Trout and an Easy Rice Side Dish

My husband will be happy I posted this because he is actually the one who made it. We try to eat fish. Usually we buy frozen Tilapia or Mahi Mahi filets at Costco. Last time we stocked up on fish we decided to get some trout too. It's just been sitting in the freezer, because I have no idea how to cook trout.  After a day of flying back into town and also going to the hubby's work picnic we wanted something light for dinner. I said there was trout in the freezer if he could figure out something to do with it and he did and it was delicious. He found this recipe and made minor changes, sorry we don't keep fresh jalapenos on hand.  I cooked some white rice in chicken broth with some sauteed green onions to eat on the side. It was a nice simple meal.

Foil Wrapped Jalapeno Lemon Trout

• 2 trout fillets
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 teaspoons garlic salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 can diced jalepeno
• 1 lemon, sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Rinse fish, and pat dry.  Rub fillets with olive oil, and season with garlic salt and black pepper. Place each fillet on a large sheet of aluminum foil. Top with diced jalapeno, and squeeze the juice from the ends of the lemons over the fish. Arrange lemon slices on top of fillets. Carefully seal all edges of the foil to form enclosed packets. Place packets on baking sheet.  Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on the size of fish. Fish is done when it flakes easily with a fork.              

Easy Rice Side Dish

• 1 green onion, chopped
• butter
• 1 cup white rice
• 2 cups chicken broth

In a pot large enough to boil rice, melt butter and lightly sautee the green onion. Add the chicken broth and the rice. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and let simmer until rice is done.

Sun Hat

I took a ton of pictures
without realizing I had the hat
turned inside-out. Oops!

It's been awhile since I've posted anything crafty so this post makes me happy :)

Our friends invited us to a party for their daughter's 1st birthday.  I wanted to bring a gift so I decided I would make a hat. I looked through my yarn and found a coarse yellow 3 weight yarn and envisioned a big floppy sort of straw sun hat with a huge brim.  Well, I didn't have a lot of yarn so a big floppy brim was out of the question, so I came up with this hat instead.  I think it turned out rather nicely. I made it for a one year old but it could easily be made into larger side by adding additional rounds.

Click here for an adult sized hat

Sun Hat
Supplies:
3 weight yarn, size H hook (I found some of the yarn I used at Wal-mart the other day, turns out it was Peaches and Cream Brand and it was a 4 weight, but it really does feel a little thin to me, more like a 3 weight. I guess you could use a worsted weight yarn.)
Instructions: work in continuous rounds
Round 1 Chain 3. In second chain from hook work 6 sc .
Round 2 2 sc in each sc 12 stitches
Round 3 [1 sc in next stitch, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 18 stitches.
Round 4 [1 sc in next 2 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 24 stitches
Round 5 [1 sc in next 3 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 30 stitches
Round 6 [1 sc in next 4 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 36 stitches
Round 7 [1 sc in next 5 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 42 stitches
Round 8 [1 sc in next 6 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 48 stitches
Round 9 [1 sc in next 7 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, 54 stitches
Round 10 [1 sc in next 8 stitches, 2 sc in next stitch] around, join with slip stitch 60 stitches
Round 11 [ch 3 (counts as first stitch) Dc in last stitch of previous round. Skip stitch with chain 3, skip next stitch, (This creates a crossed over X pattern) [Skip next stitch. Dc in next stitch, double crochet in unworked skipped stitch.] around. Join with slip stitch to chain 3 stitch.
Rounds  12-15 Repeat round 11
Round 16 Chain 4 [skip next stitch, dc in next stitch, ch1] around, join with slip stitch to chain 4 space (because the chains tend not to be as stretchy as the stitches in the previous rounds. I added and extra chain to every 4 or five ch1's)
Round 17 [Chain 3, 2dc in next ch 1 space. 1dc in next dc] around. Join with slip stitch to ch stitch.
Round 18 Reverse sc in each dc. Fasten off.
Run a ribbon through row 16, join the two ends of the ribbon together and fasten a flower on to the ribbon.

Don't worry, this one's right-side-out.

For this has, I just made the greed bow out of an icord.

Boiled Craisin or Raisin Cake

I was first introduced to this raisin bread by my Mother-in-law, who gave it to me with some hot cocoa while I was visiting with her during the winter.  She got this recipe from her mother, who remembers eating it as a child during the holidays.  It was fabulous! Cloves, allspice, cinnamon, just perfect for a cold winter day. Now, well call it what it is, basically a fruitcake but lighter and much tastier. It has much more of a heavy bread like consistency than a cake like consistency. For some reason it sounded really good the other day and even though I wouldn't call it a summer food at all I made some anyway. Since I have a super-sized bag of craisins from Costco and no raisins I used craisins instead. I do have to say, my house smelled like Christmas while it was baking and I loved every second of it.

Boiled Craisin Cake

• 2 cups water
• 2 cups raisins
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup shortening
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. allspice
• 2 tsp. cinnamon

In a large pot bring the above ingredients to a boil and boil over medium heat 4-5 minutes. (I assume this process is just to plump the craisins back up because the liquid didn't seem to thicken at all) Remove from heat and let cool. While mixture is cooling preheat oven to 250ºF and grease and flour 2 loaf pans. (That's about how long I let it cool, so it was still warm okay, maybe more than a little warm.)

Add to the warm mixture:

• 2 eggs, well beaten (if you mix in a small spoonful of the warm mixture to the eggs before adding them it will keep them from cooking to quickly when you add them to the mixture )
• 3 ½ cups flour
• 2 tsp. soda
• 1 cup nuts (I used pecans)
• 2 cups candied fruit (optional, I didn't use any and like I said, it's almost a fruit cake)

Mix well.  Pour into loaf pans and bake for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. 

Grandma's version recipe calls for one large loaf pan, but notes that she preferred to use 5 small loaf pans. She notes it can also be made in a spring form pan. She also notes that you can put a pan of water in the oven while it bakes to help keep the cake moist.  

Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll Ups

WARNING:  Highly addictive!

Sometimes you need to throw together snacks for a party. Chips and dip is easy. Cookies are great. But sometimes you need a finger food that isn't a sweet and is a little easier to eat than chips and dip. This is where these delicious little treats come in. They are super easy and I'm sure they are versatile. I've never tried to put anything other than green chilies and olives in them because I love them that way. However, if you are more creative than me you could probably think of other things that dice up well and taste great mixed in cream cheese. One of my friends mentioned to me that cream cheese and strawberries sound good. I agree cream cheese and any fruit or a fruit salsa sounds fabulous.

Cream Cheese Tortilla Roll Ups

• 1 package flour tortilla (the bigger the tortilla the better)
• 2 8 oz package cream cheese, softened
• 2 small can diced green chilies
• 1 small can diced black olives

Mix cream cheese, chilies and olives together. Spread a thin layer of some of the cream cheese mixture over one of the tortillas. Roll tortilla up tight and slice into one inch thick spirals. Repeat on remaining tortillas. Keep refrigerated.

Strawberries and Cream Popsicles

So I have been out of town and will be out of town for another week. We went back to Colorado to visit our Families. With both of our families in the same spot that means running around from one house to another trying to visit parent, grandparents, siblings, cousins, etc., I really do mean everybody! That means I have little time for blogging so sorry for the slacking. Anyways here is something I threw together a few weeks ago and have been waiting to post on a day like today, a day with little time for blogging. Enjoy a nice summer treat!

I had a little bit of sweetened condensed milk left over from something I made and I had some strawberries that needed used and decided to try and make a popsicle out of it. This is what I came up with.

Strawberries and Cream Popsicles

• 1/4 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/4 cup whipped cream
• 1/2 lb Strawberries

Mix all ingredients together in a blender. Pour into Popsicle molds and freeze several hours or over night.

This recipe only makes about 1 1/2 cups, which got me about 4 Popsicles (which was all the molds I had available, hence the small recipe). It can easily be doubled, tripled,you know the drill. Also, they aren't very sweet so you can play around with the ratio of sweetened condensed milk to make it sweeter if you like.