Herb Breaded Tilapia

For whatever reason I had a craving for fish and I remembered I had this recipe bookmarked for awhile now.  This recipe was nice as it was designed for 2 people (I almost always have to either scale things down or save lefteovers).  I was hesitant because the fish is pan fried and I never use more than say a Tablspoon of oil when I fry things.  This one called for a pan full of oil!  I went with it anyway and I'm glad I did because the end result was a crunchy crust with a beautifully flaky fish beneath.  Chris said it tasted like fish sticks...silly boy.  It's much more gourmet than that!  Worthy of sharing with company.

I forgot to get a picture this time so please enjoy Elly's for now.

Herb Breaded Tilapia
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Ingredients

• 2 tilapia fillets
• 2 Tbsp. flour
• 1 egg
• 1 lemon, divided
• 1/3 cup bread crumbs
• 2 Tbsp, fresh chopped parsley
• 2 tsp. fresh chopped thyme
• 1/4 tsp. garlic powder

Directions

1. Season the tilapia with salt and pepper and then dredge in the flour, shaking off any excess.
2. Lightly beat an egg in a small baking dish or bowl and mix in the juice of half the lemon. In another dish, combine the breadcrumbs, parsley, thyme, garlic powder, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Dip the floured tilapia first in the egg, and then into the breadcrumb mixture, coating evenly and pressing to adhere if necessary.
4. Heat a nonstick skillet over medium heat, and add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Once hot (if you flick a little piece of the breadcrumb mixture in there and it bubbles/sizzles, you’re good to go), add the tilapia. Cook for approximately 3 minutes per side, or until fish is cooked through and flakes with a fork.
5. Cut the remaining half lemon into wedges and serve alongside the tilapia.

Source: Elly Says Opa!

Best of 2009

Following our wedding in 2008 I started posting to our personal friends/family website (Chronicles of the Chrises) the recipes that I was making.  The purpose was merely to share photo, news, and recipes with our friends and family and hopefully have them contribute some of their favorite recipes as well.  While the whole sharing back thing didn't seem to work out, people did tell me about how they tried the recipes I was posting and enjoyed them.  After some inspiration following various cooking blogs, I decided why not start my own on blogger so that the whole world can see "what's cooking" (the name of the tab in Chronicles of the Chrises). 

And thus, during the middle of November 2009 just before Thanksgiving, Christine's Kitchen Chronicles was born and I added all the other recipes (backdating them) from Chronicles of the Chrises.  I maintained the site but my husband Chris was not convinced that anyone in this big world wide web was looking at it.  So, at the beginning of December, Chris taught me how to use Google Analytics to track hits to my site. 

In the approximately ONE AND 1/2 MONTHS that I started the site and began tracking hits, there have been 395 unique visitors, 558 visits, and 1,137 page views to this website.  I've had visitors from the US, Canada, Germany, UK, Qatar (where is that anyway?!), Hungary, Spain, Isle of Man (again, where is that?!), Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Vietnam, and the Philippines!  For that, I thank you all and I hope that the site continues to gain readership (tell your friends!). 

Since it seems there ARE people out there (Google doesn't lie!) please leave me a message and talk to me.  What recipes have you tried from my site and enjoyed?  Did you have a personal favorite in 2009 not already listed here?  Is there a recipe you'd like to see me make?  Help me continue making this a better experience for you and help to prove to my husband that I truly do have readers out there!

As usual, inspiration has driven me to make a "Best of 2009" entry even though this wasn't a full year and we're already a full week into the new decade.  (By the way, do you say "Two thousand and ten" or "Twenty ten"?...I personally go for the latter).  Out of 69 recipes in 2009, you'll find reader and personal favorites below.  Better late than never, right?  ENJOY!

Top 2009 Googled Results:

1. Cha Cha's White Chicken Chili
2. Finn Nisu Bread+
3. Cheesecake Cupcakes

Top 2009 Reader Favorites*:

1. Christmas Sandwich Cremes
2. Iced Sugar Cookies+
3. Assorted Truffles+**
4. Spinach Sausage and Cheese Manicotti**
5. Caramel Apple Cheesecake Pie+**

2009 Additional Personal Favorites:
  

1. Loaded Baked Potato Soup
2. Penne a la Vodka
3. Hot Spinach Artichoke Dip
4. Chicken Pot Pie
5. Jamie's Minestrone
6. Momma N's Chili
7. Sweet Potato Souffle
8. Honey Lime Grilled Chicken
9. Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Maple Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting
10. Christine's Fried Rice

NOTES:
+Denotes original photography.  Please provide credit to Christine's Kitchen Chronicles if you choose to use any of these photos.  Many photo credits to their original respective owners from which these recipes were reposted.  I'm working on photographing my own food but some of these were posted before I truly understood food blog repost ettiquite.
* Based on Google analytics data beginning 12/6/09...so, to be fair, it's not a true best of this year but hopefully next year there will be better data!
** Denotes that these are also personal favorites

Clone of Cinnabon

Happy New Year!

I was thinking that there's the possibility that I should make healthy substitutions (ie: whole grains for refined, ground turkey for beef, even more low fat versions of items, etc.).  The thing is, I'm not sure how much it would last...especially the whole refined carbs thing.  I LOVE white bread and pasta....

At any rate, here's a nice unhealthy recipe for you.  In my defense, I actually made it in 2009 for Christmas Eve and am just now getting around to posting it due to festivities and going out of town.  It made a lovely Christmas Eve dessert (still have a few of them frozen for next time!) and made the house smell heavenly.  Not quite a Cinnabon (pretty sure they use even MORE butter and sugar than this recipe did!) but still darn good and I was excited to be putting my adopted bread maker (hand-me-down from the in-laws) to use!

If you don't want to wake up in the wee hours of the morning to prepare fresh cinnamon rolls, don't fret as reviews of this recipe say that you can prepare them in advance and just put them in the fridge (or freezer).  Pop them into the oven in the morning and voila - heaven.

Here's a picture of them "naked"...























....and then below you'll see one "dressed" :)

Personal and Unrelated Sidenote: I realized that we drove through/visited 8 states (1/6 th of the Continental US! Ohio, W. Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, Conneticut, and Massachussettes) within the last week on our adventures to NYC and Boston.  Talk about a lot of road time...phew!  No more cars or cold weather destinations for awhile, please!

Clone of a Cinnabon
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Prep Time: 20 Min
Cook Time: 15 Min
Ready In: 3 Hrs
Yields: 12 Servings

Ingredients
For the rolls

• 1 cup warm milk (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 1/3 cup margarine, melted
• 4 1/2 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast

For the cinnamon sugar filling

• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 2 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/3 cup butter, softened

For the icing

• 1 (3 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle; press Start.
2. After the dough has doubled in size turn it out onto a lightly floured surface, cover with a damp dish cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
3. Roll dough into a 16x21 inch rectangle. Spread dough with 1/3 cup butter and sprinkle evenly with sugar/cinnamon mixture. Roll up dough and cut into 12 rolls. Place rolls in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking pan. Cover and let rise until nearly doubled, about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
4. Bake rolls in preheated oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes. While rolls are baking, beat together cream cheese, 1/4 cup butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla extract and salt. Spread frosting on warm rolls before serving.

Source: All Recipes