So, I missed two days. We had a TERRIBLE day on Friday and I wasn't feeling well so we ate out. Saturday night, I pulled out the chicken I was originally going to cook on Friday and it was smelling kinda funky so we ate out again. I felt terribly guilty both nights. I'm being held accountable with this blog. That's a blessing and a curse. It's great because it keeps me on track and keeps me motivated. It's awful because I know that there are a few of you that are sweet enough to keep reading these and I don't want to give up now. I'm almost a third of the way done! Plus, I'm really starting to enjoy the kitchen. Scary thought, huh?
So Sunday night rolls around and guess what, I have NOTHING thawed out. I'm thinking I have a few options. I can find something and thaw it, but there's not too much time because it was already getting on the late side of dinner. I can go pick something up, but I do not want fast food again. That's the whole point of the 30 day challenge. Or lastly, I can use that thing in my head that was hurting me so bad on Friday! So I go searching. I find: frozen fish fillets, egg noodles, tomato, carrots, onions, frozen broccoli, and parsley. I also found some Cajun seasoning. My brain goes into "Chopped" & "Iron Chef" mode and I start thinking of all the possibilities. Let me back up for a minute to the fish though...
Fish may very well be my enemy. Not really, but I'm very scared to cook it or have it in my house. My dad got food poisoning either before I was born, or when I was very young. Evidently he had a very nasty case of it, and has not eaten fish since. I don't remember my mom ever cooking fish. My grandmother did occasionally when my grandfather used to fish so I think I developed my love of catfish then. I'm not sure to be completely honest. I started eating salmon because Russ' family makes it occasionally and I didn't want to be rude. It turned out to be really good, but I've never cooked it for Russ although I want too. Also, last Summer I went to the beach and tried flounder. Anyway, I'm just scared of the temperature and it going bad and making my family sick. I opted for the frozen fish fillets from Sam's when I went on my crazy meat shopping spree. I figured we would start with the easiest and progress from there.
I preheated the oven to what the bag said and I washed the fish fillets and put them in a pan. From here, there are no other directions other than cook time. So I pulled out some Cajun seasoning, prayed for the best and sprinkled some on the fish and threw them in the oven. I was cooking the egg noodles when I decided to cook the broccoli as well. Then I got an idea. I would steam the carrots, saute the onions, and cut up the tomato and parsley. I did all this and once the noodles were drained, threw the veggies and noodles back into the pot and poured about 3/4 to 1 cup of Italian dressing on it. It wasn't by any means drenched because I had made half a bag of egg noodles. It was just enough to be really good though. I've never made any kind of pasta salad so I was happy with my first attempt. The fish came out pretty well. I took them out of the oven and they were flaky on the fork, but I got a little apprehensive and stuck them in the oven for another couple of minutes to be sure (and they ended up overcooked...). I found some strawberries, blueberries and grapes in the fridge and washed them and cut up the strawberries and made a fruit salad also. It was pretty interesting. The whole meal took probably 20 minutes and I did it without a recipe! (There was a card I had been looking at that had a similar salad I was wanting to try, but I didn't have all the ingredients and didn't look at it while I was cooking. )
The result? The fish was a little spicier than I liked, but it was pretty good. The fruit salad was a big hit. We are big fruit eaters. I'm surprised Andrea doesn't look like the girl in "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" since she wants blueberries daily. The pasta salad was mine and Russ' favorite part of the meal. Getting Andrea to eat it was like pulling teeth, but we got her to eat about half before we just gave up. I had enough to have leftovers too. :) I didn't get pictures, but all in all, it was a good night other than we discovered that our house smells like an aquarium afterwards! Russ walked outside to take the trash out or get something out of his car, but I just caught his face when he walked back in. Here's our conversation:
R: Do you smell that?
K: What exactly is that?
R: That nasty smell. Is it from the fish? UGH!
K: (I go around sniffing) EWWWW. It stinks in here like nasty aquarium.
I spent the next 10 minutes cleaning up everything pertaining to the fish. The pan, the aluminum foil, the little bits left on the plates, the one fillet that we couldn't eat. I didn't just throw it away. I zip locked that mess. Yuck. And then I took the trash out the following morning because I guess I was afraid the zipper lock would melt away from the nastiness. I'm glad it didn't smell like at first or we would have made a fast-food trip for sure! haha
Happy Cooking! :)
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