I see seafood!

When we go out to eat and there's seafood on the menu, there's a good chance that I'll order fish of some type. I love it. My family, not so much. But as the kids have gotten older and ventured away from chicken tenders, a few have tried fish and found they like it too! In fact, the last time we went out, my youngest daughter shared a fish dinner (O'Charley's Santa Fe tilapia) with her older sister, and decided it "wasn't terrible!" Yippee! Maybe now I could try cooking fish at home again.

Of course, I wanted to start easy. No complicated recipes. No unusual spices and seasonings. No cooking a salmon in the dishwasher a la Tim Taylor. Something quick, something I was reasonably sure the family would eat, something simple.

Kroger has been advertising their "Easy for You!" seafood service for a while, and now seemed like a good time to try it out. In case you haven't seen or heard the advertisements, all you need to do is 1) choose your seafood, 2) select your seasoning and garnish, and 3) take the oven-ready bag home and bake. Baking instructions are on the bag, according to weight. So the next time I was in Kroger, I gave it a try.

Since tilapia had been acceptable at O'Charley's, I decided to try the tilapia seasoned with rosemary and garlic, both seasonings I use often in cooking. I placed my order at the seafood counter, 4 filets of tilapia with rosemary and garlic. The seafood clerk took the tilapia back to the table in the middle of his area and went to the cupboard to get the dry seasoning mix. I was a bit surprised by the large container of mix because in the middle of the seafood displayed at the counter, there is a nice little tray with rosemary sprigs, lemon slices, parsley, and other fresh accompaniments. But I didn't get any of those. Maybe I needed to ask for the garnish in addition to the seasoning? The pictures in the advertisements always show some type of garnish in with the fish in the bag, so when he gave me my two bags of fish (for better cooking) with only the shaken-on seasoning, I felt a little gypped. Lesson learned for next time!

(Later that day) Time to make dinner! I took the fish out of the fridge, and after reading the directions, poked small holes in the see-through window on the top of the bags. The bags went onto a baking sheet and into the over for about 20 minutes. While they cooked, I finished making potatoes, steamed cauliflower, and a salad as sides. I was really going all out for this meal! At the buzzer, we removed the fish from the oven and follow the directions to cut open the bag. These are some really thorough directions!

Upon opening the bags the fish seemed pretty moist, approaching too moist, and the filets did not lift off the bag in one nice piece, but broke up a little. I wonder if the holes in the bags were not big enough to let the steam escape as it should. But the flavor was good. Dinner was eaten by all with no complaints.

There was about half a filet left over, which I had for breakfast the next morning. I put it in a hot frying pan to heat for just a few minutes, then ate it with eggs and bagels. Pretty fancy breakfast around our house!

Take aways?
1) I'll try the service again because it's free, and I feel a little more safe trying new things this way. But I'll poke bigger or more holes next time. And I may ask for garnish because it makes me feel special!
2) I have way too many seasoning mixes at home that need to be used. So, I'll try buying seafood and cooking it with my own seasoning mixes in a foil pouch. Cue scouring the internet for cooking times...
3) It's a good thing to take chances, make mistakes, and get messy, as Ms. Frizzle told us. Onward in the chancy, messy adventure of cooking, with hopefully few mistakes!

Want more information on Kroger's "Easy for You!" seafood? Check out their website here.

Falling in love again - with cooking. Is it possible?

I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. Or maybe it's love/boredom, or even love/indifference. I love food. I love eating. And sometimes I love cooking. And baking, there's love there too, but that's another post!

I love cooking when I have time, and ingredients, and equipment. I love cooking when I know someone is going to love the results. I love cooking for a crowd because it means my family and friends are gathered together. I love cooking for a really big crowd because it means I'm helping a group that needs help. I love cooking...sometimes.

But more often, I'm indifferent to cooking. I wish someone else would tell me what to cook, or what to buy, or what to try. Of course, there are lots of blogs, and magazines, and recipes, and TV shows giving lots of advice. But for them, it's kind of a scatter-shot approach, and for me, inspiration and ingredients and energy and time don't always fall in that perfect alignment that equals love. So with encouragement from friends and family, I'm trying to change my approach to cooking. And for the sake of anyone who cares, I'll write about it.

And so, like every journey, I began with a single step. Want to know what it was? Read on...