Honey Lime Tilapia

Yesterday was an amazingly productive day for me. One of those days where you are busy getting things checked off the "to-do" list and at the end of the day you just feel so accomplished and tired out in the best way possible. I wasn't even thinking about taking a picture of my plate because I was so hungry from running around all day, but then one of my roommates Whitney told me to get my camera because it looked too good. Thank you Whit :)

A couple of days ago I saw a recipe on www.onelovelylife.com for honey lime tilapia that just looked and sounded soo good and simple to put together. So when I saw that tilapia was on sale at Harris Teeter I knew it had to be done. After class I picked up two filets of the fish and brought it back home and prepared the marinade so I could let it sit in the fridge while I went to the gym. (Don't ever go to the gym around 5 pm, apparently that's when everyone and there mother decides to get there workout on)

After getting back and jumping in the shower I dredged the marinated tilapia in whole wheat pastry flour that I had on hand and put it in a frying pan with a splash of olive oil. Now let me just say, the stove in my apartment is so freakin' crappy. It's an electric stove with half of the burners either completely broken or unable to be used because they smoke up and set off the fire alarm.Which leaves me with either a tiny burner that takes forever to boil water or a big burner that is crooked resulting in uneven cooking. But it's all I got and it could be much worse, so I just make do with it. Anyway, this fish was so delicious! The honey was subtle and the lime really brightened it up, it was such a good combo. It was so easy to make too! Took me about 5 minutes to put the marinade together and another 7 minutes to cook the fish thoroughly. Pretty sweet :)

You can find the recipe at: http://www.onelovelylife.com/?p=3118

Southwestern Sweet Potato Mash-Up

As a college student I am always on the hunt for something something quick and cheap. However, unlike other college students ramen noodles and Hungry Howie's pizza just don't do it for me. I want something not only quick and cheap, but healthy and delicious. Thus the "southwestern sweet potato mash-up" as I like to call was born. It's so good I honestly wouldn't mind having it for dinner every night... would you want ramen noodles every night? I hope not.

A baked sweet potato topped with (consecutively) spinach, warm black beans mixed with salsa, a squeeze of lime, red onions, Mexican cheese blend, and a dollop of sour cream.
Goodness knows if you haven't had the combination of black beans and sweet potatoes you are missing out!
The spinach slightly wilts from the warm sweet potato and black beans, the cheese gets melty and the lime juice gives it a nice little zing. It takes me no more than 8 minutes to make this dish (cooking sweet potatoes in the microwave rather than the oven saves a ton of time), it's super healthy and filling. Absolute perfection.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala

A couple of weeks ago my friend Laura and I went out for dinner to a new Indian restaurant that had just recently opened up. We were so excited because (A) I had never been to an Indian restaurant before and (B) she had visited Indian over the summer and fell in love with its cuisine. We ordered two dishes, chicken tikka masala (because it's the most well known, kind of like the pad-Thai of Thai food) and paneer saag (because she loved the dish in India). The chicken tikka masala was awesome and I loved soaking up the excess sauce with the pita, the paneer saag on the other hand... well... lets just say it's not how she had remembered it. A gloppy, thick, green mush with a taste like it had come straight out of the depths of the earth (and not in a good way). I apologize to anyone who loves this dish, I have a hard time finding things I don't like... maybe it was the restaurants fault?

Any who when I saw a recipe for slow cooker chicken tikka masala on http://smells-like-home.com/ I knew it had to be done. One thing about Indian food is that it tends to be very rich. A lot of butter and cream and such. This recipe had been lightened up making it that much more appealing to me. Also it uses the crock pot which is awesome because I have been meaning to get more use out of mine. When I came home this afternoon, after I had combined all of the ingredients into the crock pot this morning the apartment smelled amazing! I felt like I had just walked into an Indian restaurant. I'll tell you that is definitely another perk to the crock pot, it makes your house smell sooo goood. I was a little nervous since I had never made something like this before but I must say this one's is going in the books. It was absolutely delicious and I highly recommend it!


Head on over to http://smells-like-home.com/2011/11/slow-cooker-chicken-tikka-masala/ for the recipe.