Blackened Tilapia Sandwich with Jalapeno Slaw

• 3 Tilapia fillets
• 3 Hoagie Rolls
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 1/4 cup mayo (I use Kraft Olive Oil and Cracked Pepper Mayo!)
• 2 tbsp whole-grain mustard
• 2 tbsp pickled jalapenos and 1/2 tsp juice from jar
• 1 tbsp dill pickle juice from jar
• 3 cups of shredded iceberg lettuce
• Blackening spice

Blackening Spice:

3 tablespoons smoked paprika

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp onion powder

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp cayenne pepper (substitute chili powder if you don't want the heat)

1 tsp dried ground thyme

1 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp garlic powder

Combine scallions, mayo, mustard, jalapenos, and juice from jalapenos and pickles in a bowl and set aside. Add lettuce to this mixture to make slaw when you are ready to assemble sandwiches. If you add it too early the lettuce will become soggy.

Coat Tilapia fillets with spice mixture and fry in olive oil for about 4 minutes on either side until blackened.

Toast hoagie rolls in oven.

Put one fish fillet in hoagie roll and top with slaw mixture. Enjoy!!!

(Recipe courtesy of Aaron McCargo Jr.'s Blackened Tilapia and Paula Dean's Jalapeno Slaw)

Random Cool Stuff

My besty Cynthia bought me an awesome cook book for my 30th Birthday last year.

Not only is this cookbook awesome but the author is hilarious! Check out her website www.thepioneerwoman.com


She also just introduced me to Pinterest! http://pinterest.com/  Apparently it's a super cool website where anyone and everyone can post there faves of whatever! Of course I went straight to the food + drink section! And what did I find?? Only the most genius idea ever!!!

Bacon filled pancakes!!?? Why have I never thought of this before???




So if you need ideas for pretty much anything, I recommend checking out these two sites first!!!

Who Cut The Cheese?!

 I do not know a single person who does not like cheese! It is so versatile! It can be served with really anything if you think about it. I figured since I love wine so much I better learn a little about cheese too since it pairs well with it. I love all kinds of cheese but I have never actually eaten cheese with my wine so I had to do a little research. I went to an online school to learn about cheese. You may have heard of it. It's called Google. So far in my research I have learned the VERY basics of cheese and serving said cheese. So for all you foodies out there that want to serve a little cheese with that wine, here is what I have learned....

The first thing I learned at cheese school is that cheese should be served on a "board". In layman's terms: a cutting board so you can "cut the cheese"! hehe! Whether you need one to serve with wine, or to finish a meal, it pays to put a little effort into it.

Choosing Your Cheese

Plan on serving five cheeses in order of creamy/mild to really stinky! So you should serve a goat cheese, a soft variety, a hard variety, a washed rind cheese, and a blue. Goat cheese is really creamy and my personal fave! My daughter loves it as well and will eat crumbled goat cheese straight out of the container! Pick a soft cheese like Brie or Camembert. The hard cheese is easy because everyone loves a Cheddar, Parm, or Swiss. The washed rind cheese is cheese washed in alcohol such as cider or brandy. It's generally stinky so if you are not into stinky cheeses I would leave this and the blue out and just add more soft and hard varieties.

Accompaniments

Put some crackers and bread on the board that are mild so they do not distract from the flavor of the cheese. Also add some fruit like grapes, apples, pears, and peaches. Olives and nuts work well too.

Wine Pairings

Goat and feta pair well with a Sauvignon Blanc or Pinot Noir. Soft cheeses can be served with a Chardonnay. Cabernet Sauvignon, Zinfandel, and Burgundy taste yummy with hard cheese. And blue or stinky cheeses pair well with dessert wines like Port.

Serving

Serve cheese on a platter or cheese board large enough to keep them from touching each other. Remove the wrapper but leave on the rind and bring cheeses to room temp before serving. Also each cheese should have it's own knife. Buy a cheese knife set to make it easy!

There you go! Now you are a cheese serving expert!

Get a Good Knife!

Before you decide that you are going to learn how to cook, the FIRST thing you need to do is go out and buy a good knife. If you spend some money and get yourself a good knife it will last forever and you only need one! I guess a real chef has many knives for different things but a Mom who loves to cook, like me, just needs one. I bought my first chef's knife 5 years ago and I remember the day I bought it! We had just gotten our bonuses at work, so I dragged two of my co-workers (Denise and Mark) to Bed, Bath, and Beyond to "hold my hand" as I made this monumental purchase! I use it EVERY day and the only thing I have to do is sharpen it. Technically you should take it to a professional to have it done but I don't. I just use a sharpener!

This is the knife I use. Wusthof is like the Mercedes of knives. This one cost me close to $100.00 but it is an investment that you need to make! My motto is "Go BIG or go home!" So go down to B,B&B and buy yourself one of these bad boys! Trust me it cuts like butta!

Mexican Sangria

• 1 bottle of Spanish red wine (such as Rioja or Tempranillo)
• 1 cup Grand Marnier (I have also used 1/4 cup of grenadine before if I did not have GM on hand)
• 1/2 cup Brandy
• 1 cup orange juice
• 1 orange, cut into wedges
• 1 Lime, cut into wedges
• 1 can pineapple chunks with juice
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 2 cans (24 ounces) Lemon-Lime soda
• Ice

Put all ingredients, except soda and ice, in a pitcher and stir to combine. Cover pitcher and let sit in fridge for several hours.

Just before serving add soda and ice. Pour into wine glassess and garnish with orange or lime wedge. Then enjoy!!!

My Family

Just wanted to introduce you to my awesome family if you don't already know me. And I am sure from time to time I will post some random pics of my girls eating and/or just being adorable.

There's me (Natalie), my husband Mike, and our two girls Reese (almost 5) and Riley (born in March of this year!)

About The Blog!

So I wanted to give a little background story about my blog. First of all if you are looking for proper grammar and/or spelling you are in the wrong place!
It all started when some friends of mine wanted to get together for game night. We decided on a menu and when I told my friend Dunja what I was making she asked me for the recipe so she could put it on her food blog (http://moderndaycook.com/about/). This started my obsession with food blogs! She has an awesome one complete with great pictures taken with a professional camera made specifically to photograph food! I on the other hand have a simple Sony camera so don't laugh at my amateur pictures!!

When I got married the only thing I knew how to make was hamburger helper! I have an Emeril Lagasse love for food. So you see how this could potentially be a problem? I started watching "Food T.V." and salivated every time Emeril came on. So I immediately went out and bought my first cookbook!

I wanted to learn how to cook and thought "How hard can it be if I just follow a recipe??". Little did I know!!! So fast forward a week and I quickly realized a beginner should not try to cook Emeril! So....back to the bookstore I went. This time I came home with something a little more "beginner-ish". Rachael Ray's 30 Minute Get Real Meals. The first meal I made from that book was Braciole! And I must say it was pretty darn tasty!!! My husband enjoyed it even if it took me an hour and a half to make!!! This was the birth of my food snobbyness. My hubby is my guinea pig. He let's me know if I should make any changes. I love feeding him because he loves to eat. It brings me great joy to see the look on his face when I make something that knocks his socks off! Cooking for me is also therapeutic. I love to grab a glass of wine and spend 30 minutes in the kitchen chopping and stirring. Making my family yummy things to eat. I also want my daughters to grow up with an appreciation for food. My 4 year old will eat just about anything I make and she loves to help me in the kitchen. I show her how to make delicious and healthy things to eat. So when she wants a snack she will grab some hummus and veggies instead of candy!

My family is from the South so growing up everything we ate was either fried, sauteed in a gallon of butter, or "casseroled"! I like butter like the next Southern girl but unless I wanted to die of a heart attack at the age of 30 I needed to learn how to cook things I love in a more heart healthy way. My Dad is also an amazing cook. We are from a small town so until I opened him up to new things he stuck to Southern staples. He said to me one day "What is this sushi crap you and your brother love so much?" HAHA! So if I want to know how to make swamp cabbage (hearts of Sabal Palms) or cheese grits I go to him, if I want to know how to make giblet gravy I go to my great-grandmother! Everything else...www.foodtv.com!

Oh and just so you know that Emeril cookbook has about 2 inches of dust on it because to this day I'm still afraid to open it......

After the birth of my daughter in 2006 I went for my first Mommy's night out with a couple close friends. One of those friends ordered a glass of wine (Pinot Noir). I took a sip of it because I had never had wine before. After that I became a self proclaimed wino wine connoisseur. I L.O.V.E wine!!! All kinds!!

So anyway....the blog! I am constantly printing out recipes off of www.foodtv.com. All of my faves I started to save in a folder. I take the recipe and add/subtract things to make it my own. So all the printed out recipes I have are all cut up, taped back together, and written on. So my best friend Cynthia bought me a recipe organizer. I love it but I also created this blog to kind of categorize my recipes. I also want to show off what I make so my friends/family can steal the recipes. So feel free to steal away and make them your own or just enjoy what I have created!