Almond Flour to the Rescue

I like fish and so does my husband but he always requests that it be fried. I usually do because it tastes so good. Nowadays I stumble around in food blog world always on the look out for different healthy ways to cook the everyday homecooked stuff that makes us happy. I stumbled upon a recipe for baked Tilapia using almond flour as the breading. I have had a bag just hanging out in the pantry waiting for such an occasion. We were not dissappointed! This is very good and so easy and guess what ...lo carb. The web site i found this on is one of my favs and I go to it a lot. Kalyn knows her lo carb stuff. She follows the South Beach diet and gives tons of info. Its worth becoming a follower and keeping up with all her recipes. http://kalynskitchen.blogspot.com/2005/09/almond-and-parmesan-baked-tilapia.html
I started out with thawed Tilapia filets. Dipped them in melted butter. After I made this I think I will try buttermilk next time and see how that goes.

I put about 2 cups of almond flour 1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese and because I didnt have all the spices called for in Kaylns recipe I used what I had. Lemon pepper, sea salt, and Mrs Dash's southwest chipotle. This tasted great by itself but I put the spoon away and got back to the task at hand. So after dipping the filets in butter I layed each filet in the coating and carefully placed them on a Sprayed pan. Dont forget this step. I baked them for 20 min at 350 then carefully turned them over and continued baking for about 10 minutes more. They turned out lovely and tasted awsome. Even my husband liked them. I will even do this method for my famous fish tacos. I served it with a coleslaw salad and took some to my dads that night and he really liked it. But then hes the one who always told me that black bottom cookies were his favorite! Just to make me feel good when I was a kid.

I did not make a tartar sauce with this because i am trying to limit calories and it was not even noticed because these filets had so much flavor.

I am so excited about finding almond flour and actually using it that I intend to go further. Maybe I will do up an almond flour chocolate torte that I have saved to my favorites. What do you do with almond flour?

Taking care of your greens

I feel as if a switch as been turned on in my head. It's March the days are longer and I feel energized and so excited for spring and green. It is still very white here in N.W. Nebraska but the temps have been in the mid 30's for a couple of days so I expect the snow to shrink quite a bit. I was so desperate that I walked my new bike (xmas gift from daughter) down my slushy lane to the gravel road which was nice and dry and road from one hill to the next. I live in a valley on the bottom so I have 1/4 mile of fairly flat ground to ride before the grade rises. I did try the first smaller rise to the east. Lets just say I need more practice! I have not been on a bike in 20 yrs plus! Living on a gravel road will do that.

This has been a truly long winter and one thing I do to break up the monotony I grow my greens indoors on a steel rack with flourescent lighting. Flourescent lighting is perfect for greens and herbs that grow quickly.

This year I even tried a cherry tomato plant and have harvested cherry tomatos 3 times already and now there are about 10 clusters on the three plants in the pot. It sits in front of a huge window facing the south and is 5 feet tall. Nice conversation piece.

I treat all greens the same way. Even the store bought ones. First I give them a good rinse.
Then I spin them around in my spinner. Dont have one? Five bucks at Wal-Mart. Makes a great gift.

After the big spin lay the leaves on a couple sections of very absorbant paper towel and roll gently. Then place the rolls of paper towel and voile' you have greens that stay fresh and nice for up to 2 weeks.

I shop every 2 weeks so I need to have my greens last. Ya at the end the lettuce might be a bit rusty but I just pitch those parts.