Easy Weeknight Meals - Seafood Edition

Here are three more easy meals that can be made in 30 minutes or less.

Vietnamese Crispy Fish with Cilantro
from Hook, Line and Supper by Hank Shaw
serves 6

This dish will come together in about the same time it takes to make the steamed rice that goes along with it.

2 pounds of lean white fish, cut into 2-inch chunks
sea salt
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large onion, about 3 cups, thinly sliced from root to end
1 piece ginger, about the size of your thumb, peeled and thinly sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
3 to 5 jalapenos or other hot chiles, seeded and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons fish sauce
4 tablespoons water
1/2 cup cilantro, chopped
juice of two limes

Sprinkle salt over the fish. Heat the oil in a large saute pan or wok and add the fish. Sear the fish in the oil so one side gets a nice, golden brown crust. Don't flip the fish; you'll finish cooking ...

Jelly Roll

This is an old-fashioned dessert that my mother made many times when I was a child. I made them for my children and my grandchildren get very excited when I make them for family dinner. I hope you will give it a try!
This is a basic recipe for vanilla cake and a jelly or jam. You can vary the flavor of the cake and the filling. There are thousands of recipes on the internet.

Jelly Roll
4 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons water
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
a pinch of salt
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup jam or jelly
powdered sugar

Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Line a jelly roll pan (sheet pan) with parchment or waxed paper. Grease the paper generously.
Beat the egg yolks and water together until smooth.
Add sugar, vanilla and salt and beat well.
Add flour and baking powder and beat until batter is smooth.
Beat egg whites until fluffy and fold into batter.Read More...

How To Cook Dried Beans

Dried beans are not used often enough! They are cheap, store for long periods of time, are nutritious, and are very easy to cook. There are hundreds of ways to use them and you can freeze them.
The key to cooking a successful pot of beans depends on two things: the age of your beans and knowing when to salt them. We will talk more about this later.
This simple stovetop method can be used for small, medium, or large beans such as the following:
Chickpeas (garbanzo beans)
Navy beans
Black-eyed peas
Black beans
Pinto beans
Great Northern beans
Lima beans
Red beans
Cannellini beans
This method will not work for lentils or split peas, which are not really beans, but are still in the legume family. Lentils cook much quicker than beans and don’t require pre-soaking.
Help! I've cooked these beans forever and they won't get soft!
The culprit probably isn’t the recipe or your cooking technique, but rather ...

Benefits of Gelatin and Collagen

Gelatin is the cooked form of collagen, which is found in animal bones and connective tissue. Gelatin contains lots of amino acids, which is why it has so many health benefits.
Bone broth is an excellent source of gelatin, but you can also find powdered gelatin sourced from grass-fed cows at your grocery store, at Costco, or online. Gelatin powder can be added to almost any recipe, including soups, stews, smoothies, coffee, and even DIY skin care recipes.
We recommend purchasing gelatin and collagen products from animals that have been grass-fed or pasture-raised, since these animals are healthier overall and are not raised using artificial hormones or antibiotics.
Going one step further, look for organic gelatin whenever possible to ensure the animals did not eat a diet that consisted of GMO grains or crops sprayed with chemicals. You also want to be careful about where you get your gelatin products from, especially beef gelatin, because you don’t want to be ex...